Grapple (Pro Wrestling appreciation thread)

[codetocontra]

Best matches? Favorite wrestlers, past or current? Awesome GIFs? Go.

Been getting into wrestling again this past year after a 10 year absence. Lucha Underground roped me back in and lately I have been on YouTube watching some random matches over different eras and promotions. I know some people around here are fans.

[BetterOffShred]

I will always love Macho Man Randy Savage. I'm 37 and watched wrestling on TV with my cousin in the 90s.. what a spectacle. I know it's fake. I know it's cheesy. It just had this great vibe and energy and everyone was wearing crazy shit.

[codetocontra]

I am a child of the 80s too. No one could escape Hulkamania (It was running wild, ya know). Lots of household names from that era. I loved the Ultimate Warrior, Jake the Snake Roberts, the Rockers, and Sting. I can't remember when wrestling was even on TV. In the age of early cable. It was a crapshoot for catching a random airing of Saturday Night Main Event. Was Superstars on early Saturday every week? I remember watching it as often as I could but missed a lot too. Remember renting a cable box for a SummerSlam once, and it was a big deal because it was expensive and I was allowed to have a friend over. Caught enough WCW back then too. I just don't remember watching anything with regularity but I loved it when I found it on. Eventually fell off wrestling in the early 90s, just too much going on in life, with sports and then part time jobs. I think I first caught a Raw or Nitro until 1998 I think, hanging with my girlfriend (now my wife) in their living room waiting for wrestling to get over so her dad would go to bed and then we could make out on the couch. Ah, good times. Mysterio and Jericho really impressed me, and they were teasing the return of Sting. I was hooked.

[codetocontra]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0QWqh9qqrg[/youtube]

This may be the best WWE match I have ever seen. I have no reference for the storyline leading up to this match but everything presented here in the video is enough to appreciate the story. The lack of commentary actually adds to the presentation, reminds me of a great instrumental song.

[rustywire]

Randy Savage had top tier charisma and mic presence, but he was not a good dude. King Kong Bundy has had much to say about it, and many other things. Interesting interviews on youtube worth searching.
Nevertheless BE A MAN, HOGAN is one of the greatest achievements in entertainment/showbiz/battlerap/music/comedy/the human experience. What a legend.

WWF Wrestlefest (1991) is one of my fav arcade games. It's so entertaining & animated, I feel nostalgic for that era.
I miss things like the goofy Hulk Hogan cameo in Gremlins 2.
Also WWF Superstar ice cream bar was one of the best offerings at the ice cream truck. $1.25 was the premium tier, and worth it.

As a wee lad in the late 80s I vaguely recall wanting to watch the WWF cartoon but mom wasn't on board with it. In her defense it was totally a trash-toon slapped together to sell action figures with bad budget-animation and mind-numbingly bad everything else, same with GI JOE-- however she let me watch Thundercats & Heathcliff, Dangermouse instead. Anyway I digress...

I have an affinity for heels and side-splitting silliness, showmanship of different types. Ric Flair is the GOAT, Stonecold & The Rock round out my top 3. Iron Sheik & Ultimate Warrior. Also the big nod to Rowdy Rod for his outstanding thespian stylings in They Live...

[rustywire]

[infamousalien]

Was Superstars on early Saturday every week?

Yes. I used to love watching it in the late 80's/early 90's. Ultimate Warrior was my dude. I stopped watching wrestling shortly after he beat Hogan at Wrestlemania for the most part. I tuned into ECW a bit later because I was older and liked it was more graphic. I've gone to a few really small matches locally here and there. I don't think I'd watch it on TV anymore though.

[JonnyAngle]

Jake the Snake
Randy Savage
Hacksaw Jim Duggan

So fun to watch. They’re rockstars without guitars!

[Inconuucl]

NJPW > All

[Inconuucl]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_q2eV6KPCY[/youtube]

[gnomethrone]

I watched from about '93 to 2000. Things went from real silly and cartoonish to suuuuper violent and weird. Remember when WWF got hella goth?

[codetocontra]

I tuned into ECW a bit later because I was older and liked it was more graphic. I've gone to a few really small matches locally here and there. I don't think I'd watch it on TV anymore though.

Watch current WWE? Nah. It is pretty bad. Seems like I haven't missed much in 10 years. Most of the roster has the same look, same fighting style. Snooze fest.

ECW though... I was late to that party. Heard about it online and started ordering some dubbed VHS compilations from a guy. They finally got the deal on TNN/Spike but it aired on Fridays and I was not usually home then. But I loved every minute of it. Every match was different. It wasn't just a gore fest, they had some really great action and storylines too, but I loved the gore.

Lucha Underground captures a lot of what I loved about ECW. They do tapings in seasons. About to air season 4 on the El Rey network but the first two are on Netflix. I haven't seen every episode yet. They aired sort of a "best of" condensed version of season 1 when I was flipping channels one night.

[codetocontra]

Randy Savage had top tier charisma and mic presence, but he was not a good dude. King Kong Bundy has had much to say about it, and many other things. Interesting interviews on youtube worth searching.

There are a lot of old wrestlers airing dirty laundry on YouTube. Kind of hilarious, really. So much drama outside the ring.

I have an affinity for heels and side-splitting silliness, showmanship of different types. Ric Flair is the GOAT, Stonecold & The Rock round out my top 3. Iron Sheik & Ultimate Warrior. Also the big nod to Rowdy Rod for his outstanding thespian stylings in They Live...

Ric Flair was great. He bled the best too, especially when it got in his hair. I loved it when he got on his knees saying no with his hands, or calling for a time out. Also the only wrestler I remember that has a repertoire of moves performed on him instead of attacks, like flipping into the turnbuckle or going up to the top rope only to receive a bodyslam. Did he ever land a move from the top rope? Classic stuff.

[codetocontra]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_q2eV6KPCY[/youtube]

I knew you would show up! Just watched this one last night. Pretty cool. Gimme moar.

[Inconuucl]

I will always love Macho Man Randy Savage. I'm 37 and watched wrestling on TV with my cousin in the 90s.. what a spectacle. I know it's fake. I know it's cheesy. It just had this great vibe and energy and everyone was wearing crazy shit.

But if you think about it, it's only good because it's fake and campy. I've seen my fair number of botches and matches that turn into fights, and the fun is completely gone and replaced with dread. Wrestling is all improv theatrics, a sport in the same way figure skating is; you're showing the mastery of these moves and the story you tell during them. The trick is seeing both the person giving and the person taking a move, how they make it so that it looks like it has the most impact possible while simultaneously making as safe as they can. I linked a tweet below that perfectly encapsulates this.

https://twitter.com/MithGifs/status/976518301202333698

I knew you would show up! Just watched this one last night. Pretty cool. Gimme moar.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyyL-Ti7rlc[/youtube]
Sure! There's a lot of Kenny Omega that's great if you want some really explosive wrestling. If you want something related to the video I posted check the match that happened right after. For context the match I posted he defeated his (at the time) greatest rival Okada after two (60 minute!!!) tries that were hailed by many as the two greatest matches in wrestling history. However, this was during the G1 Tournament, so the kayfabe injuries he sustained in that match play a big role and are ultimately the major focus in the match above versus Naito.

There's also a surprised hardcore match versus Chris Jericho that was simply brutal.

Outside of NJPW (and Omega lol) you can get into NXT, which is the WWE brand for developmental talent. It sounds weird on paper that it would be the best brand of theirs, but they consistently put greater matches than anything the main WWE roster does. On that end I recommend something like Andrade Cien Almas Vs. Aleister Black (who has one of the best fucking themes in the business, as it was sung by the guy form Incendiary.)

There's also Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano is you want some major hardcore ECW vibes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cSZ3Vsugso[/youtube]

(If you do insist on WWE, The Ronda Rousey match form this year's Wrestlemania was better than it had any right to be. )