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The saga between former WWE champion CM Punk and his old employer is far from over. ICYMI, last week, Punk went on Colt Cabana's "The Art of Wrestling" podcast to explain why he left the WWE, uncovering details about the organization that were previously unknown to wrestling fans.
Then, in response, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast just a couple days later to clear the air about Punk's revelations, going so far as to formally apologize to him.
However, the wounds between the two parties have yet to heal. Returning to Cabana's podcast this week, Punk reiterated his desire to stay retired from the WWE, and assured Cabana that his beef with the organization is still alive. Responding to remarks made by fellow wrestler Chris Jericho, Punk held nothing back:Jericho thinks that I feel exactly how he felt in 2005. He left for two, two-and-a-half years or something like that. So, from his perspective, he felt in 2005, when he left, he was never gonna come back and he sees me saying that and he's probably like, 'Just wait three years, you'll feel like it'll come back.' And I can see his point of view, but then, in turn, I'd go, 'Motherfucker, they didn't fire you on your wedding day. They didn't purposely and maliciously try to ruin a day that was supposed to be special to everybody—it's your wedding day.Full Interview:
I don't want to hear, 'It was a coincidence." I don't want to hear, 'Oh, the lawyers didn't talk to talent relations.' ... My wife asked for that time off so she could a) get married, b) go on her honeymoon. ... They knew. If the apology was sincere, you wouldn't use it as a publicity stunt on Austin's podcast. You have my phone number, you have my address, you could text, you could call, you could show up when you're a 10-minute fucking drive from my house and apologize to me like a man. That's the fucking reality of it. That's the fucking timeline, ladies and gentlemen. I was sick and fucking hurt and sick and tired and burnt-out and I walked and I can do that because I'm an independent fucking contractor."
https://soundcloud.com/coltcabana/ao...m-punk-returns
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaskedAvenger
--- Lucha Underground is the wrestling show you need to be watching
There is a ton of wrestling on television and the internet on a weekly basis. If you were to attempt to watch it all, you'd be watching eight to eleven hours of WWE/NXT, two hours of Impact Wrestling (or best of Impact Wrestling), one hour of ROH, plus new shows like Lucha Underground, NJPW's upcoming new show on AXS, and whatever local wrestling and indie DVDs you consider your forte. In all of this, there is one hour you MUST watch, and surprisingly, it is Lucha Underground.
For years, I've been begging wrestling promotions to do something different. My theory has been to keep the ring, but scrap the rest. Throw out the normal format of a wrestling show. Throw out the giant arenas with big screens. Throw out the production techniques wrestling has used for years and try something new. Lucha Underground is finally doing this.
Let's start with "The Temple," where Lucha Underground's action occurs. It looks a little dingy. It's small. There are visible walls. The audience doesn't look innumerable on television. It's not the standard wrestling arena WWE excels at producing TV in and Impact Wrestling spent too many years trying to recreate/copy. It is a unique location. It looks like a place fighters would go to fight. It reminds me of the place Ryan Atwood randomly began fighting people at on The OC in season four after Marissa Cooper died. The venue itself completely changes the feel of the show.
Production-wise, The Temple is well-lit. This may seem like a little thing or like an obvious trait, but when was the last time Ring of Honor had a well-lit show (never is the answer)? Lucha Underground is also shot in a different way than most wrestling products. Once again, they look at the standard formula and do something else. This is massively important in wrestling. TNA's director formerly worked for WCW and seems to have developed ADD. Kevin Dunn, WWE's major production force, has been quite talented for years, but has failed to evolve/adapt past 1997. Lucha Underground seems to be the only wrestling company with the budget and the bravery to evolve.
While all of this is nice, wrestling shows are about characters. More than anything else, the characters need to be likable/hatable and mostly relatable. The triumph of Lucha Underground is the characters they have managed to develop. They create characters, almost out of legends, painting with broad stokes to create archetypes, then filling in the details. After just a few episodes, they have some of my favorite characters in all of wrestling. Lucha Underground has found a way to quickly introduce talent without it being overwhelming to the audience.
The character of Sexy Star (despite the worst name I could imagine), has stood out above the rest of this roster. She is a woman who survived domestic abuse and found her strength in lucha. She wears a mask and she wrestles men. It's interesting, because on paper it doesn't seem like much, but when her story is presented visually, it evokes emotion. It causes viewers to connect. She is already the best female character in professional wrestling and it only took a little over a month.
Another fantastic character is Lucha Underground's attempt to create a sure-fire homegrown star, Prince Puma. Puma is a "descendent of Aztec warriors" (see what I mean about characters being created from legends) and he is one of the most athletic wrestlers in the world today. He is portrayed by Ricochet, who is a worldwide wrestling standout. His athleticism alone makes him must-see. Puma was introduced by Konnan as the next major wrestling star and he is living up to Lucha Underground's hype.
As much as I have enjoyed Lucha Underground, they still rely on some tropes I don't necessarily enjoy. The heel authority figure was played out over ten years ago and this is another wrestling promotion with one. While their approach to it is a little different, it isn't necessary. It's also impossible to bring up tropes without mentioning Matt Striker, who has serious issues on commentary. One moment, he seems like a fountain of occasionally accurate knowledge, but he seems to yell half of his lines and throw in a little too much hyperbole. The sound mixing on commentary could also be improved, especially the studio voice overs.
Lucha Underground is the wrestling show you need to be watching. It's one hour per week and it is fun to watch. This is a show I'm happy to add to my regular rotation of weekly programming. It seems to leave fans wanting more each time it goes off the air, and that is a good thing.
WWE Raw Poll: Do you believe Roman Reigns legitimately won the fan vote?
Yes. I believe Roman Reigns legitimately won the fan vote for Superstar of the
Year. 15%
No. I don't believe Roman Reigns legitimately won the fan vote for Superstar of the Year. 85%
How was TLC?
Good to see Demolition is back.
Reminder of a new wrestling reality show on WGN America channel that starts soon.
That show looks like it is going to be stupid.
To say it's taken a while to end up with this iteration of The Ascension is an understatement. Konnor first signed with WWE in 2005. He worked in the Deep South developmental system until 2007, never making the jump to the main roster. He was apparently scheduled to be part of the ECW roster when it re-debuted on Sci-Fi, but got a wellness policy suspension shortly before the show started. He was granted his release, and took some time off from wrestling, returning in 2009, and eventually resigning for the WWE in 2010.
He finally made a jump to the main roster in December 2010, albeit on the 4th season of NXT, in its original, pre-developmental form. His pro "mentor" was Alberto Del Rio, and he worked under the gimmick that he looked like a rat. Inexplicably, this didn't get over, and he was the second contestant eliminated. He appeared on the following season, NXT Redemption, but was again eliminated.
When Florida Championship Wrestling was re-branded as NXT Wrestling, Konnor, wrestling as Conor O'Brian, was part of Ricardo Rodriguez's Ascension stable, which included Kenneth Cameron, Tito Colon (Epico) and Raquel Diaz (Shaul Guerrero). The stable was eventually whittled down to just O'Brian and Cameron, who started to take on modern gothic characteristics, in particular emulating the style of the Underworld movies.
The team appeared on the first ever episode of the new NXT TV in June 2012, defeating Mike Dalton (Tyler Breeze) and CJ Parker. Viktor, who had signed for NXT in 2010 after bumping around the indies for 10 years, also appeared on this episode, wrestling under the name Rick Victor in a losing effort to Bo Dallas. Victor engaged in a brief feud with NXT Champion Seth Rollins before disappearing from TV for almost a year.
The Ascension tag team also had a less than smooth year. They were pushed as a dominant team, facing off and defeating the likes of The Usos, and Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel. But things came off the rails when Cameron was released in November 2012, following an arrest for allegedly attacking a police officer while intoxicated. Cameron has since resurfaced in TNA as Bram. O'Brian, meanwhile, continued as a singles act, and feuded with NXT Champion Big E.
In June 2013, Victor started to appear at the end of O'Brian's matches, watching on impressed. The two reformed the Ascension tag team, and in October 2013, they won the NXT Tag Team Titles from Adrian Neville and Corey Graves. They held the titles for 11 months, but rarely defended them, instead squashing jobber teams. They defeated the returning Too Cool at the first NXT Live Special, Arrival, and defeated the team of Kalisto and El Local at the first Takeover show. By this point, the gothic elements had been phased out, with the team instead being defined by their intensity, and they changed their names to simply Konnor and Viktor.
Kalisto formed a new team with Sin Cara, and they managed to capture the titles at Takeover II. Konnor and Viktor appeared later in the show to attack the debuting Hideo Itami, starting a feud. After weeks of beating down Itami, the Japanese star called in "a friend", the debuting Finn Bálor, and they formed a team that took down The Ascension at Takeover III.
What A Rush.Quote:
Originally Posted by netscape check two
Wait wrong tag team....
^^
ha ha that should be great
Good to see The Authority back.
Is the Bullet Club like the NWO?
Looking forward to watching this
I don't watch much pro wrestling at all these days but I can't help but watch a NJPW super show with Jim Ross as the announcer.
It's pretty cool how Jarrett has tried to align himself with the best companies around the world and create a real global brand. Pretty inventive for an indy promotion who has ties to pretty much everyone.
^^
Was that PPV solid? Did you watch it hectis?
Quote:
Originally Posted by check two
yes I did, and the ppv was great.
Jeff Hardy was knocked out cold by accidently falling from a steel cage onto steel steps on the way down. Anybody have the video footage of it?
Nope.Quote:
Originally Posted by check two
http://wwe.me/HczKT
The one guy that Macho hated...
--- Vince McMahon and Triple H Butting Heads Over Creative Ideas, Direction Of WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon and his Executive Vice-President Triple H appear to be at odds over significant creative decisions and the direction of the company. The conflict has reportedly affected the writers of the company when the top honchos of the wrestling outfit are having exclusive meetings and are keeping the main storyline creators out in the dark.
"Word is that some of the WWE writers feel they are once again being left in the dark on certain parts of the booking. Triple H and Vince McMahon have been meeting a lot with just the two of them to discuss creative," the Wrestling Observer newsletter revealed in its latest issue.
McMahon and Triple H's tension apparently began at the tail-end of last year when the company introduced former WCW superstar Sting during the Survivor Series. Triple H is reportedly adamant to continue his rivalry with TNA Hall of Famer and wants more promotion of the bad blood leading up to a grandiose match at Wrestlemania 31 in March. McMahon is on the other side of the fence with the idea and wants to pair his most loyal employee, The Undertaker, instead.
That was the first instance that the public got hold of some tension in the WWE's first family. Apparently there are other items on the menu which also includes the non-supportive stance of McMahon to the Ascension's prominence, the eventual takeover of NXT talents and the resistance to take on long-term contracts for talents. McMahon is credited for some of wrestling's better moves, even taking the company in the doldrums in the early 1980s to a billion-dollar industry that it is now. It would not come as a surprise if the Chairman of the WWE would resist some big changes to his company, including taking it back to the TV-14 classification.
Triple H's team has suggested reverting back to the TV-14 ratings in an effort to revive flailing ratings, but McMahon is resisting the change. Understandably, the company enjoyed a great deal of success in the latter part of the 2000s when its focus in capturing the younger audiences but with ratings suffering, the creative minds are considering alternatives. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer first reported the said consideration but it appears any modification will be made at the latter end of the year as the WWE is still testing the market for its exclusive television network.
-Due to the impending blizzard in the Northeast and statewide travel bans, WWE has postponed tonight's live event in Hartford and cancelled tomorrow night's live event in Boston. Smackdown will air live this Thursday night. Some type of 'Best of' show will air tonight in place of the live Raw.
check two the njpw show was pretty dope. It was a 4 hour show so I watched a lot of it in 1.5 speed and a few matches in like 2 or 3x speed because they were all big dudes who have mediocre workrate (meltzer gave 5 stars to one of these matches haha the open weight championship match). I like JR and AJ Styles a lot so I was intereseted, I've found a lot of shows on dailymotion but haven't really watched many since then. Supposedly their TV show has a dope announcer, its on the channel AXS, I think it used to be HDNet.
NJPW has a good product. It's just really solid. Their jr tag division is pretty sweet too. I always felt WWE should introduce a jr tag title and hire way more juniors, to me they're the most exciting part of wrestling.
Seth Rollins had a sweet phoenix splash in the match vs cena and lesnar. That was a dope match. Rest of show was wack. It was really funny watching the fans get pissed at the end of the rumble.
One of first wwe ppvs I've ever seen honestly and it was garbage besides the good title match.
Finn Balor looks like a fan favorite. How long is his ring entrance? lol
who's liking the PPV?
There was a ppv yesterday?
It was okish.Quote:
Originally Posted by check two
did anyone see the 30 for 30 piece on the Von Erichs on espn?
Axel mania is running wild.
---- Mexican wrestler dies following match with Rey Mysterio
http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Yw...-del-perro.jpg
Tragic news out of Mexico as Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion wrestler Pedro Aguayo Ramirez (better known as Hijo del Perro Aguayo) died Friday night in Tijuana while taking part in a tag-team match with former WWE performer Rey Mysterio.
Mysterio delivered a dropkick and landed his patented “619” on Ramirez — a move where a wrestler has his head draped on the second rope and receives a kick to the face. Unfortunately the move didn’t go off as planned. Via PWTorch.com:
According to news reports, El Hijo took the 619 in the trachea trying to avoid the move, causing severe whiplash. El Hijo was placed on a backbrace by paramedics and taken out of the Municipal Auditorium arena to Del Prado hospital.
The Zeta publication initially reported that El Hijo was stabilized at the hospital after losing consciousness. However, local news outlet El-Mexicano.com reported that El Hijo was pronounced dead around 1:00 a.m. local time. Zeta followed up with a headline story also reporting that El Hijo died early Saturday morning.
UPDATE (8:15 p.m. ET): Figure Four Online is reporting that Ramirez (Aguayo Jr.) might have already been knocked out before Mysterio delivered the "619.":
Aguayo Jr. had gotten back in the ring after taking a spinning head scissors where he bumped to the floor from Rey Mysterio Jr. Mysterio Jr. gave him a low dropkick to the back to set up the 619. It is not clear whether Aguayo Jr. was selling or not when he first hit the ropes to get ready for the 619. He may have already been injured falling on the ropes, or, while selling, and being positioned badly, when Manik fell into the ropes to set up a double 619 spot, that was when the ropes whiplashed him, although it was likely the first spot immediately.
Sources who were at Hospital del Prado in Tijuana have said that the initial cause of death was cervical spine trauma coming from when the ropes snapped his neck.
He was already out when Mysterio went for the 619 and Mysterio Jr. saw he was in trouble and didn't hit him. The belief was he was knocked out and they continued the match, although went right to the finish.
The match, put on by CRASH wrestling, went on for several minutes before Ramirez, 35, received medical assistance. You can watch video of the final moments of the match here.
The Baja California state prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into possible manslaughter, per the Associated Press. Friday was only Mysterio’s second time wrestling following his departure from World Wrestling Entertainment in February.
The son of lucha libre legend Pedro Aguayo, Ramirez started his wrestling career at the age of 15 in Mexico teaming with his father and would go on to become a three-time Mexican National Tag Team champion. Along with wrestling in AAA and CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre), Aguayo Jr. started his own promotion called Perros del Mal.
AAA released a statement on its website that translates to: "Lucha Libre AAA feels much the loss of one of their star talent, praying for the repose of Pedro Aguayo Ramírez, in addition to the early resignation of his relatives. We thank the media support, understanding, respect and discretion at such a difficult time."
Several wrestlers tweeted their condolences, including TJ Perkins, who was one of the wrestlers in the match:
Life goes so fast man. I can't believe some of us pack our bags and don't make it home.
— TJ Perkins/MANIK (@MaskaraManik) March 21, 2015
We've lost a great friend and one of the best in Lucha history, we all crying for you mi amigo Pedro. #AdiosPerro
— Alberto El Patron (@VivaDelRio) March 21, 2015
Brothers & sisters that lace'em up... Tonight, say a prayer, raise a glass. Do what you do. Honor Perro Aguayo Jr & respect our ring.
— MVP (@The305MVP) March 21, 2015
WWE WrestleMania XXXI predictions
http://www.newsday.com/sports/pro-wr...tch-1.10146454