Post subject: Any Pro Wrestling fans?
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Just out of boredom, I figured I'd start a thread here about one of my childhood obsessions. I was born just a bit too late to fully experience the WWF boom of the 80s; I discovered wrestling as Hulk Hogan and his ilk were being phased out and Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were being phased in. Of course this was due to the steroid scandals occurring at that time, but I didn't know this back then. A local video store carried lots of old WWF videos, so I often rented them to get a taste of those salad days of Hulkamania. I loved it all, with the match between Hogan and Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III (still possibly the most famous match in the history of the business) particularly sticking out for me. I also had a thing for the high-flying stars like Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, and Jimmy Snuka. I knew nothing about the inner workings of wrestling other than the fact that it was worked (industry lingo meaning "fixed"), and I was perfectly happy with that. I spent much of 1992 and '93 in this mode, also watching WCW once I discovered that. Sting was a favorite of mine from that company, along with 2 Cold Scorpio (the first time I saw his 450 splash, I nearly screamed like a little girl out of amazement), Vader (just an absolute monster, far more athletic than the WWF's big fat guys), and Cactus Jack (the degree of violence in his matches was like nothing I had ever seen at that time). Sometime in late '93, I fell out of the habit of watching it (probably after realizing that god damn did wrestling suck in '93), and remained a non-fan for quite a long time. Fast-forward to early 1998. I had been hearing a lot about the fact that the WWF had signed Mike Tyson to appear at Wrestlemania that year. Additionally, my brother had started watching again and had been telling me about this supposedly awesome character named Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now, I had watched wrestling VERY occasionally over the past couple years, so I knew who Austin was. But I didn't know that his style had drastically changed since I had last seen him, that his interviews and matches were about as far from Hulkamania as anything could be. So, on my brother's word, I had started watching again, and was impressed with what I saw. The entire WWF had undergone a major change, placing emphasis on violence and swearing and sex and general edginess. For the teenager that I was at the time, it was perfect. Also, I began to follow wrestling via the internet, something which I obviously didn't have during the earlier days. This opened my eyes to a whole new world, as I learned in detail how the matches were planned out and executed and how angles (storylines) were written. I became aware of all of the various "insider" lingo through the internet, as well as the history of the business and the real lives of the people involved. And so, I went from a "mark" (common fan) to a "smart mark" (still a fan, but a knowledgeable one). This may sound unusual, but you have to realize that the wrestling business itself generally covered up its history and/or lied to our faces about just about anything (be it attendance figures, the pre-wrestling careers of certain wrestlers, or any number of other things). Not everything on the internet is reliable, obviously, but it was and still is almost the only place where one can find any true information. I can post more of my story later if anyone cares (though there isn't a whole lot left). If you want, feel free to post any thoughts you have on this strange little business we love so much...of course, wrestling games are a welcome part of this thread (Wrestlefest = pwnage, just so you all know) Before I go, here's a simple WWF trivia question: Who won the first Royal Rumble? Hint: He was one of the most popular wrestlers to never win a championship belt in his WWF career, although at one point he did hold the ever-meaningless title of "King of the WWF". Later everyone, Josh.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Haha, I was expecting this to be a suggestion for a speed run of the NES game before I noticed it was in Off Topic. That game is just about my only experience with wrestling...
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Joined: 8/31/2004
Posts: 298
Location: Falun, Sweden
Wresteling haven't exactly been something that one could see here in Sweden before, until a few months ago when a TV channel started sending WWE RAW and WWE Smackdown. I have to say I like wrestling, mostly due to some of the realy amazing things some of them pull of (Ray Mysterio is one of those). I've been watching almost every show the last 6 months and all the major events aswell. (Realy loved the New Years Revolution). Wrestling is to me a way to relax acctually, though it might sound wierd....
Bein' away for like five years, and not a single new post in the ZSNES forum... :'-(
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
I am old enough to remember the 80's explosion, and my friends and I loved every minute of it. Of course, being kids, we couldn't order any pay-per-view matches, but everything we saw we ate up. At some point (late 80's/early 90's I suppose) I simply got tired of it all. Flash forward to 1997. My friends and wanted a new 4 player game for our N64, as we were starting to tire of GoldenEye. We found WCW vs NWO: World Tour and were hooked. Our interest in the game led to us watching WCW on TV. This happened to be smack dab in the middle of the "Monday Night Wars" where WCW and WWF (now WWE) were viciously competing for every viewer and ratings were higher than ever. After we all grew interested in WCW, we slowly migrated over to WWF which had fascinating personalities like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Eventually we stopped watching WCW all together, as did everyone else apparently. We also got really into ECW, a low-budget promotion that operated primarily in the Northeast US. Sadly, they folded but most of the their stars ended up in WWF. Am I still into wrestling? Not really. Around 2002/2003 I just got tired of it again.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Post subject: Re: Any Pro Wrestling fans?
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 25
Josh the FunkDOC wrote:
Who won the first Royal Rumble?
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, however I don't think it was officially called The Royal Rumble that year.
Joined: 8/10/2004
Posts: 173
Location: Bethel, VT
I cant stand WWE (no longer WWF because of some legal dispute the the wreslting federation lost) because of so many moron who insist that everything is real and its not scripted. While I admit that there is danger involved for the participants (mistakes are made), you can blatently see people pulling their punches, among other things.
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 79
Location: Finland
I was 6 years old when I first saw wrestling in the form of El Gigante & Jushin Thunder Liger. I marked out for them so much. Then when I turned 8, we started getting TNT which aired WCW Nitro & Thunder, and since then I've been actively following wrestling...it's been nearly 10 years now. :D After WCW went bankrupt in 2001, I got into some WWE when it started airing here in Finland, but soon got a computer and an internet connection (zOMG!), with which I got to know about other feds. ECW, CZW, XPW, IWS among others...and so I became an indy-mark. Nowadays I follow Japan and the american indies. I haven't watched WWE for 3 years, and haven't watched TNA for a year, since I hate the crap they're producing. Favorite promotions at the moment would be NJPW, NOAH, IWS, ROH, PWG & IWA Mid-South. Oh yeah, I've got a wrestling collection of about 110Gb on my comp & CD's, as well as over 20 wrestling tapes & DVD's...not that much, but it's something. :)
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Where's AxeMan? I thought that little HHH fanboy would be here by now...=P freaksh0w: You roxor, and yes it was called the Royal Rumble even then. I'm surprised someone here actually got that, even some experienced fans are prone to say Big John Studd... feitclub: Ah yes, AKI's whole series of N64 wrestling games was awesome indeed. No Mercy may still be my favorite wrestling game of all time... And I missed out on ECW at the time, though now I've watched some of their stuff. Really goes to show how much of the so-called "WWF Attitude" was blatantly stolen from these guys... itstoearly: Wow, that's weird. At least where I live, nobody in their right mind thinks it's real (hell, the WWE themselves produced a reality show that blatantly exposed the business). And there are some exceptions to the "guys pulling their punches, etc." rule. Vader in his WCW run was the epitome of this, as he became infamous for just hitting you really hard every time. This is what's called "working stiff". Jukeboksi: Awesome, someone who destroys me in wrestling geekitude. I'm wondering whether you should be docked points for marking out for The Worst Wrestler In The History Of Man (Gigante), but probably not...hell, when I was a kid I thought Papa Shango's voodoo magic was real. Plus even then you were smart enough to realize Liger was THE MAN. =) And you actually stuck with WCW to the end? It takes guts to put up with Vince Russo's hack writing...I sure as hell couldn't do it. Kudos! I agree about the current state of American wrestling. The problem is that workrate just doesn't draw here, so it makes perfect business sense to take title belts off of guys like Benoit and Eddie and try to create the next Steve Austin (or even Brock Lesnar). Although there is just NO excuse for the Bradshaw Title Reign From Hell, as he's giving Diesel good competition for the title of "Lowest Drawing Champion Ever". Are there any good places to download stuff besides [expurgated]? I'm rather new to all this, so any help would be appreciated. -Josh EDIT by feitclub: Sorry, we can't have links to sites like that in the forums.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
Josh the FunkDOC wrote:
Where's AxeMan? I thought that little HHH fanboy would be here by now...=P
HHH is one of big reasons I gave up on WWE. Ever since he started dating Stephanie (in real life, not the angle on TV), his subsequent omnipresence on TV drove me nuts. And don't get me started on the Katie Vick idea *throws up in mouth*
Josh the FunkDOC wrote:
feitclub: Ah yes, AKI's whole series of N64 wrestling games was awesome indeed. No Mercy may still be my favorite wrestling game of all time... And I missed out on ECW at the time, though now I've watched some of their stuff. Really goes to show how much of the so-called "WWF Attitude" was blatantly stolen from these guys...
It's so frustrating to know that AKI made this fantastic engine/control system for wrestling games but the only way it manifests itself now is in those cheesy Def Jam games. As far as WWF stealing from ECW, they took everything but the intimacy between the performers and the crowd. ECW was all about small venues. I saw a show and I had front row seats. The best I ever got in WWF was on the floor of MSG twenty rows back.
Josh the FunkDOC wrote:
Are there any good places to download stuff besides [expurgated]? I'm rather new to all this, so any help would be appreciated.
*puts on Moderator hat* By "stuff," you mean material that it otherwise unavailable to you commerically, right? Because you would never download copyrighted material owned by Vince McMahon, of course. EDIT: Edited my post to remove the word I quoted from Josh the FunkDOC.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Mazzic wrote:
Wresteling haven't exactly been something that one could see here in Sweden before, until a few months ago when a TV channel started sending WWE RAW and WWE Smackdown. I have to say I like wrestling, mostly due to some of the realy amazing things some of them pull of (Ray Mysterio is one of those). I've been watching almost every show the last 6 months and all the major events aswell. (Realy loved the New Years Revolution). Wrestling is to me a way to relax acctually, though it might sound wierd....
You're wrong mate. Sweden DID have wrestling on TV LONG before this. I remember watching this when I grew up. I started watching wrestling when I was about 5 years old. So we're in 1987 in Sweden, watching WWF with the speakers Bruno Arvidson and Lennart "Hoa-Hoa" Dahlgren. This was aired on TV3, larger things like Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania etc was aired on PPV on TV1000 with the same speakers. I remember watching Survivor series on TV1000 in 1993. Man that was awesome. One of the best survivor series I've seen I think. After some year a very known olympic wrestler in greek/roman style named Frank Andersson started in WCW, so TV3 decided to pick that up to draw more attention from the swedish citizens. Later on TV3 canceled the airing, or if the licence went out, can't really remember. Anyways.. It was picked up later on by Kanal 5 with some diffrent speakers. One of them I remembered being Micke Dubois or more commonly known as "Svullo", AKA "Elaka polisen". The quality wasn't nearly as good as with Hoa-Hoa as he is a kick-azz guy. Hoa-Hoa is BTW a former well known weight lifter. And I can for sure say that he is a better referee than those american ones which we can hear on TV now days. Todays shows are just tragic if you ask me. It's somewhat sad to see the old man Ric Flair still being active. I mean.. He was old when I started watching. :D Now days I feel that every guy is sooooo buffed on steroids and oiled muscles and the intrigues are not even near as good as they where. It's also sad to see McMahnon (spelled?) wrestle. I mean.. What ever happend to guys like Broklyn Brawler, Bastion Booger and other great characters? Dwen Gill, or more commonly known as "Lillraggarn' " by our swedish voices, what did he do after TV3 stoped airing the show? I heard Mr. Perfect died some years ago. Tragic. But what ever happend to Tatanka, Head shrinkers, Adam bomb, 1-2-3-Kid and the rest we could watch during the early 90th's? I still do watch wrestling some times when I zap between channels. But I mean.. Chris Jericho and Christian are not interesting characters at all if you ask me. Bring the old days back I say! Cheers!
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 79
Location: Finland
Josh, yup...:) Sticking with WCW 'til the end wasn't that hard when it was the only thing we were getting...then again, I remember it becoming totally unwatchable nearing the end... I know a couple of good places, come to IRC and I can share them, not here obviously. feitclub, yup, HHH was one of my main reasons as well. Couldn't stand the guy due to 'backstage politics'. Highness, woah...an old-school fan. That's kinda cool. I totally missed everything WWE spewed out during the 80's and 90's for obvious reasons, and today I find it hard to enjoy any match from those decades, mostly due to the workrate being so different from these days. There are some gems though, which I've been able to enjoy... But that's only talking about the WW(F/E)). 70's, 80's and 90's Japan stuff...pure awesomeness. :)
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Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
The 1-2-3 Kid became X-Pac. He got some heat during the Degeneration X period, but eventually no one liked him. They tried milking that and pushing him as a heel (occasionally teaming with Justin Credible of ECW fame) but eventually they just let him go. The funny part of the story? X-Pac eventually hooked up with Chyna/Joanie Lauer. And I mean hooked up, not "wrestled with." They made a sex video which is currently circulating the Internet. Fair Warning: I will murder anyone who posts links to their sexcapades. I saw one still image and it was horrible.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
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Joined: 8/1/2004
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Location: Seattle, WA
Oh, I'm tempted to link that picture. Too bad I would vomit all over my keyboard...
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Haha!! Sounds awesome that 1-2-3-Kid starred in a porn flick. That should be a good gag. Bwahaha!! I'm off to track it down soon. :D Just forgot about the japanese wrestling world. It was aired by Eurosport, much to my delight. The guys commenting on Eurosport was kinda good as well. Atleast better than the american ones. Named Gorilla or something like that right? Don't like him. Anyways. I have some VCDs with good ol' wrestling. Too bad not much of them are swedish. The language used by Hoa-Hoa is much rougher/nastier/sarcastic/ironic/evil and more, compared to the american ones. Hillarious. Oh.. For the swedish people/swedish reading people I have a link concering wrestling in Sweden. Göteborg wrestling. http://www.gbgwrestling.com/. It's kinda crappy. But still funny. Would luve to see some of those guys on TV. ;) Off to find X-pac now. HAHA
Joined: 8/31/2004
Posts: 298
Location: Falun, Sweden
I bow with humble grace, Highness. I admit being wrong. Thy knowledge in Old School Wrestling is remarkable.
Bein' away for like five years, and not a single new post in the ZSNES forum... :'-(
Joined: 7/5/2004
Posts: 551
Location: Karlstad, Sweden
I think it sucks ass. I can't believe people think it's fun to watch people punching in the air and stomping on the ground :D Just like karate, you can't hurt anyone, worthless.. Edit: Ultimate Fighting is the shit! :D
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 79
Location: Finland
Cazlab wrote:
I think it sucks ass. I can't believe people think it's fun to watch people punching in the air and stomping on the ground :D Just like karate, you can't hurt anyone, worthless.. Edit: Ultimate Fighting is the shit! :D
I'm not that much into shoot-style, if at all...I find it too violent, which is kinda humorous coming from me, a deathmatch-mark. :) (And if you don't know what a deathmatch is...well, it often involves using various weapons and tools in a wrestling match...often the wrestling flies straight out of the window in a deathmatch. Fire, thumbtacks, lighttubes, nailboards, barbwire, high scaffolds & balconies and dives off of 'em...these things aren't unusual in a deathmatch.) Well, anyway, pro wrestling isn't supposed to be real fighting anyway, 'just' a fancy show, which is perfect for me. The wrestling style generally has become stiffer during the past years/months though so I dunno...
Joined: 7/5/2004
Posts: 551
Location: Karlstad, Sweden
So can you kill other people with different weapons in that show? That would rock :D
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 79
Location: Finland
Umm, no. There have been a few occasions where a possible death wasn't far off...due to bloodloss and arteries/veins getting slashed, due to in-ring accidents.
Joined: 7/5/2004
Posts: 551
Location: Karlstad, Sweden
But you can hurt your opponent badly?
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 79
Location: Finland
Yes, but it's still pro wrestling, ie. fake. :)
Joined: 7/5/2004
Posts: 551
Location: Karlstad, Sweden
ok, suckie :/
Editor, Reviewer, Experienced player (978)
Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 3109
Location: Sweden
I used to watch wrestling on TV3 and Kanal5 in Sweden back in the days when Hoa-Hoa commented on it. I didn't see much though since the only place I could watch it was at a friends house. We only had (and my parents still only have) the regular state-sponsored channels. Bah. Nowadays I'm more interested in K1 and MMA. Mostly Pride after UFC went a bit sucky.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Are there any non-fake deathmatches out there anyways? Is this legal anywhere on our planet?
Joined: 7/5/2004
Posts: 551
Location: Karlstad, Sweden
Highness wrote:
Are there any non-fake deathmatches out there anyways? Is this legal anywhere on our planet?
Nope :/ But it's always fun to watch street-fights :D