Grapple (Pro Wrestling appreciation thread)

[Inconuucl]

Ring of Honor any good? They did a show around here recently and I almost went. I know, cool story.

They are good for live stuff absolutely! They've had a bit of a downward turn in recent years, but it's still a lot of fun.

[samzadgan]

im an 80's kid too...being Iranian, the Iron Sheik was my hook into Wrestling...i loved his style of wrestling to, the camel clutch WAS and IS the best finishing move ever! (in my opinion)

I watched all through the 80's/90's/00' but kinda stopped after people like mick foley, austin, the rock and HHH retired.

Favourite matches...way too many...i mean the Mankind/Undertaker always stands out, as Mick Foley is probably my favourite wrestler of all time, and a great writer.

So here's something that takes my wrestling nerdness to a whole other level...does anyone know what Shootclub is??

Back in the 2000's there was a Wrestling simulation game online called shootclub...you set up characters etc, and there was obviously the automated role-playing side of things where you won and lost matches, and titles and gained experience points. But the real fun of it was the player part, every week you wrote a Promo for your character, and in that you would carry storylines with other players and there were weekly shows that a Manager of the league and team of writers would write up...and monthly shows and annual big events. I was lost in that thing till it shut down, which was such a shame.

anyway...if you were a shootclub member...holla!

[Inconuucl]

I watched all through the 80's/90's/00' but kinda stopped after people like mick foley, austin, the rock and HHH retired.

Technically HHH is still active, it's just that (as the COO) he more or less runs WWE now so he doesn't have the time to wrestle. On the upside he's in the best shape of his life.

[samzadgan]

wow...i haven't seen him for ages he's looking much slimmer, which i guess is a good thing. He was getting a little out of control for a while.

[BetterOffShred]

Diet and exercise...

[Inconuucl]

Keeping this thread alive with probably the best out of ring appearance from Trips.

[More_Divebombs]

I recently got back in to wrestling (I hadn't watched a second of wrestling since before they separated Raw and Smackdown) after getting a sub for the WWE Network for Wrestlemania on a whim. My god, it was shit. Really shit. That Taker/Cena match was uncomfortable to watch. But the NXT Takeover New Orleans was the business. So much fun, and that got me hooked again. I keep up with NXT even though the 60min shows aren't quite as good, but they're still pretty cool. I watch Raw/Smackdown highlights on Youtube now and again, and realise I'm not missing anything (it's so bad!). Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash were both really poor.

The network is cool though. Worth it just for keeping up with NXT, but I'm also working through all the ECW PPVs, as well as the peak-WCW era and Attitude-era PPVs. Still got so many to get through. The Monday Night Wars doc series was a great watch too. A bit repetitive, but there's something so likable about Bischoff even when he's being the biggest shithead imaginable. A real life cartoon villain.

I've seen bits of Lucha Underground and it looks cool, but it seems impossible to watch in the UK, annoyingly.

[Inconuucl]

That's why I'm mostly a NJPW fan, their schedule allows them to have better matches.

Example, since you have a foot in the WWE door, the match that gave the Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. AJ Styles the "dream rematch" flavor WWE has milked dry. Altough AJ is the Heel and Nakamura is the face here.

[codetocontra]

Is Lucha Underground not available in Europe on Netflix? Sounds like some stuff may be region locked or maybe you don't have Netflix. There are some really great matches on YT. I can dig up some links later.

I've been revisiting old stuff. Lots of ECW. Just love what they did. Also lots of Ric Flair for some nostalgia.

Caught lots of Kenny Omega too. Wish more full matches were available on YouTube. I could really get in to New Japan.

Current WWE has offerred me nothing. Watched a bunch of their Royal Rumbles from the past on their YT and confirms there isn't much I have missed in the last 10 years.

[Inconuucl]

BTW, New Japan Uploaded the Second Omega Vs. Okada match for their free match of the week program, all 60 minutes of it. It's essentially a fucking movie, the last ten minutes had me essentially hyperventilating when I first saw it.

[Inconuucl]

Another absolute monster of a match from this past Best of Super Juniors tournament, this set for one of the best Dominion Cards I've ever seen.

[Inconuucl]

Video got already taken down lol

I just experienced what will probably the greatest wrestling match I will ever see, Omega Vs. Okada IV. There are so many factors and stories that all resolved in this 70 minute match, some of them that stretched back over 2 years! The crowd was electric, the storytelling between the two was absolutely perfect with callbacks to all of their previous matches. I was nearly in tears at the end, it had that sense of not just seeing a match, but witnessing a historical event. Damn.

[codetocontra]

Excellent. I caught the 20 minute clip video of this. Even I can see they did callback spots. Which when used after some time are pretty rad. I don't have that perspective after just watching what I can recently. Will make some time to watch the other hour long match then this one. Hope it doesn't disappear. Do you subscribe to New Japan?

[Inconuucl]

Excellent. I caught the 20 minute clip video of this. Even I can see they did callback spots. Which when used after some time are pretty rad. I don't have that perspective after just watching what I can recently. Will make some time to watch the other hour long match then this one. Hope it doesn't disappear. Do you subscribe to New Japan?

I used to, but now that I have to watch my budget I subscribe in month spurts for big events.

It's more than just the matches. One of the greatest strenghts (and weaknesses) of New Japan is in its style of story telling. Since they usually have events mostly every two weeks storylines can range for months and even years. Hell, the story between Kota Ibushi and Omega goes back a whole decade from them being the original Golden Lovers to their competitive spirits breaking them up to them reuniting when Kenny was coup'd out of being the Bullet Club leader, itself being a plot that was a year in the making and only served to push towards this match. I'm betting now that Omega drops the title to Ibushi in a heart breaking match. But I digress, this style is great because the storylines become ingrained in you, but it's bad because new comers lack a lot of context. Luckily they've been doing video packages to catch people up, which I hope increase as they continue expanding more into western markets.

Also, most of the story bits are up on YouTube in the new japan English channel.

[codetocontra]

Video got already taken down lol