The Wrestling Discussion Thread

It was a great moment Cena/Nikki, all the fans began to cheer as well; they have a lot of respect for Cena it's just there gimmick to boo the hell out of him much like the sarcastic you suck chants directed at Angle. Cena has earned respect. Nothing will ever match Savage/Elizabeth, its one of the greatest mania moments ever; Elizabeth and Savage had a lot of backstory, they were in a relation off screen we all knew that and on screen they were a beloved couple whom the fans cherished but then would break up so to see them reunite was just something else its one of my all time favourite mania moments.

WWE will not turn Reigns heel and I see no reason for them to do so, people can say all they want that the "heat" equals a genuine disdain for Roman and while that may be true the reaction they give Reigns and all that nuclear heat is money, WWE want the new Cena and Roman is half way there! it's only when fans do not react, turn their backs or go buy some food or merchandise during your segment that there's a problem. Reigns when it comes to generating heat is on the same level of John's initial run as WWE champion during his monster push and he's over with the kiddies and females as well although not as much as John. I don't have a problem with Reigns tweener character, promo work or in-ring skills; he was green a few years back but much improved now and one of the best all round talents in the WWE not perfect but still world class. That segment on RAWwas genius, it was all that needed to be said.

Some rumours swirling around that AJ will be heading for RAW during the superstar shake up, would be a shame if true because AJ had established himself as a leader of the blue brand much like a Taker or an Angle in the early 2000's, he's a big draw for them and it wouldn't be a good move getting rid of a spearhead who has done well to reboot SD and compete with RAW once again. There are some exciting possibilities for him on RAW but Smackdown need him a lot more.
 
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My Wrestlemania 33 Dave Beartzer star ratings:

[MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] [MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION] [MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION] [MENTION=134981]Bhaag Viru Bhaag[/MENTION]

AJ Styles vs Shane: 4.25/5

HHH vs Seth Rollins: 4.5/5

Jericho vs KO: 4/5

Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg: 3.5/5

Undertaker vs Roman Reigns: 3/5

Womens RAW match 3.25/5

Womens Smackdown match 2.5/5

Ladder Match: 4/5

Randy v Bray: 2.75/5

Nakamura entrance on Smackdown: 6*/5 :steyn
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]
Roman Reigns is too bad**s to be the face imo.

The HHH v Rollins was boring as hell. Not a 4.5 lol. :)) All I saw was a bunch of pedigrees and ratchet McMahon.

And that Nakamura entrance was really g** lol.
 
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[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]
Roman Reigns is too bad**s to be the face imo.

The HHH v Rollins was boring as hell. Not a 4.5 lol. :)) All I saw was a bunch of pedigrees and ratchet McMahon.

And that Nakamura entrance was really g** lol.

You too ignorant to enjoy anything beyond matches between spot monkey's :mv When did you start watching Wrestling again :)) #BachaParty

And Reigns isn't a pure heel or face, he is a tweener e.g something in between, they wont fully turn him heel because the bacha party and female buy his toys and merchandise :yk3
 
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You too ignorant to enjoy anything beyond matches between spot monkey's :mv When did you start watching Wrestling again :)) #BachaParty

And Reigns isn't a pure heel or face, he is a tweener e.g something in between, they wont fully turn him heel because the bacha party and female buy his toys and merchandise :yk3

I would love to see someone like Evan Bourne back in the WWE.

Have been watching since 03-04.

I'm fine with Reigns as a tweener as long as he doesn't go face. He is no Cena.
 
I would love to see someone like Evan Bourne back in the WWE.

Have been watching since 03-04.

I'm fine with Reigns as a tweener as long as he doesn't go face. He is no Cena.

They tried the Cena experiment, it failed:


:))) That's actually still so funny, glad they pulled the plug on that one.

The current Reigns is the middle ground between a face and a heel, seriously don't know why people are still complaining because he does not cut those goofy promos any more lol
 
My Wrestlemania 33 Dave Beartzer star ratings:

[MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] [MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION] [MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION] [MENTION=134981]Bhaag Viru Bhaag[/MENTION]

AJ Styles vs Shane: 4.25/5

HHH vs Seth Rollins: 4.5/5

Jericho vs KO: 4/5

Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg: 3.5/5

Undertaker vs Roman Reigns: 3/5

Womens RAW match 3.25/5

Womens Smackdown match 2.5/5

Ladder Match: 4/5

Randy v Bray: 2.75/5

Nakamura entrance on Smackdown: 6*/5 :steyn

Haven't watched SD yet, now I gotta check it out just for Nakamura's entrance :afridi
 
They tried the Cena experiment, it failed:


:))) That's actually still so funny, glad they pulled the plug on that one.

The current Reigns is the middle ground between a face and a heel, seriously don't know why people are still complaining because he does not cut those goofy promos any more lol

The first segment on Raw was so epic, really enjoyed it. Loved how he basically let the crowd do all the work lool. I thought he handled himself pretty well.
 
Haven't watched SD yet, now I gotta check it out just for Nakamura's entrance :afridi
Don't waste your time on that boring crap. Nakamoro took 10 minutes to get to the ring. His theme song was just a damn violinist. No charisma or energy whatsoever.
 
Haven't watched SD yet, now I gotta check it out just for Nakamura's entrance :afridi

It was brilliant he didn't even need to do anything that entrance itself was the attraction for the people in the audience, read this J.R's incredible tribute to the Undetaker:

"

Did He Speak With The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33:

“Yes, I did. And I had interactions with him before. He used an RV as his dressing area. I went in his RV when I arrived hours before we were going on. So we had a very good personal conversation. We’ve been joined at the hip for a long, long time, even back to the WCW days. I helped get him into WCW from World Class Championship Wrestling. I thought at the time, you don’t see too many 6-foot-9, 300-pound guys who were athletic. Young Mark Calaway was an athletic beast. So we had a nice conversation. [And after the match], a big hug afterward. I cried, he didn’t want to cry, though he might have had a tear. It was very emotional for him afterward, and I didn’t want to monopolize his time. It sure as hell wasn’t about me, it was about him. What he helped facilitate for me was the greatest honor I have received in wrestling. I’ve been in three Halls Of Fame, and they pale in comparison to having a legendary guy wanting to bring me back—whether I was under contract or not—to be part of the broadcast team, so I can add to his soundtrack of that match. It was a really emotional day.”

"
 
Watched mania again, AJ v Shane was definitely match of the night
 
Watched mania again, AJ v Shane was definitely match of the night

Shane actually wrestled in the match and did not just jump off things. A quality performance. Goldberg vs Bork was another good match. Intense and short but well-executed.
 
Shane actually wrestled in the match and did not just jump off things. A quality performance. Goldberg vs Bork was another good match. Intense and short but well-executed.

My match of the night without a doubt, great story; Shane pulled out all stops including trying to wrestle the phenomenal one, he got in a fair amount of offence and once the tank had dried up the one mistake he made proved to be costly because it was always only going to take one bullet from AJ Styles to put him away. People just do not appreciate Styles as much as me which is why they were complaining about Shane as his opponent, he is the closest thing to Shawn I've ever seen and he's such a big draw and talented to the point where am so excited to see AJ regardless of who his opponent is.

Shane deserves credit for holding his own to, I feel he is underrated the man has wrestled giants like Shawn, Taker and Angle; most of those bouts were more then entertaining. This match was a big challenge in that there was no stipulation but AJ bought out the best in him and Shane did well to, he has been doing a lot of MMA and you could see that when it came to his striking.

As for AJ and the complaints about him deserving a high calibre opponent, I get that! and would love to have seen him in the ring vs a Nakamura, Orton or Joe but he will get many chances to wrestle those guys! but rarely do you get the chance to prove your ability against an opponent like Shane now I mean no disrespect to him but this was a chance for AJ to prove how good he is with an opponent which wasn't elite, many a time legacies are defined by such performances when your back is against the wall, e.g look at the match Shawn had with Austin with a broken back and his encounter with Vince at mania, both were very very good and further advocated Shawns in-ring prowess. And the same can be said about AJ after his performance which on an individual level from my perspective is his greatest given the odds that were against him on a high profile platform.

Yeah leathers Lesnar/Goldberg was as great as it could have been, safe to say they exorcised their mania 20 demons; it was a sprint bah gawd they destroyed each other :)) didn't care about being stiff and you could see from Lesnars face how fast the pace was and it was booked beautifully, I actually enjoyed the match and off course the right man won
 
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wow reading this I just realised most of you seem to be in your teens lol

dont get me wrong ,I watch Mania but no one of my gen could ever say "Cena has done a good job" or whatever you lot were saying
 
Thoughts on Jinder Mahal? In case, people didn't notice, he's returned with a remarkable body transofrmation and being putting in convincing performances in ring. Was good to see him lasting till the final 2 in the Andre The Giant battle royal. Been a hopeless jobber and sidekick for too long. Time for big things.

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My god Shibata vs Okada was off the charts.

IMO it was better than Omega vs Okada.

Okada will finish as the greatest wrestler of all time [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]
 
My god Shibata vs Okada was off the charts.

IMO it was better than Omega vs Okada.

Okada will finish as the greatest wrestler of all time [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

I only watch spotfests with no psychology once a year at wrestle kingdom :yk Okada has not even established himself as a Japanese ATG never mind ending as his career greatest, he got a long way to go before he even catches up to the likes of The Great Muta, Jushin Thunder Liger, Kenta Kobashi and the the legendary Antonio Inoki. Nakamura is on the path to cementing himself as an ATG, he didn't want to hide in his comfort zone in a territory where he could get away with a lack of versatility.

Having said that, Okada is my favourite Japanese wrestler and someone who will need to come to the WWE asap if he wants to be an all time great. I actually see him thriving in the system.
 
Highest paid wrestlers for 2016!

10. Randy Orton – $1.9 million
9. Seth Rollins – $2 million
8. The Undertaker – $2 million
7. Shane McMahon – $2.2 million
6. AJ Styles – $2.4 million
5. Dean Ambrose – $2.7 million
4. Roman Reigns – $3.5 million
3. Triple H – $ 3.8 million
2. John Cena – $8 million
1. Brock Lesnar – $12 million

Really happy for AJ Styles! well deserved, he earned every single penny! but we all know that the best part for AJ is that his checks actually cleared :yk :yk2 :yk3 #TNAwful [MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] [MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION] [MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION]

Another thing to note is that Taker made $2 million just for one appearance and obviously merch extras but just goes to show that had Taker worked 300 dates the deadman would have made $600 million :akhtar but naw he rather give back to the E and let the youngsters make their way [MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION] haha

Not all surprised to see Ambrose at the top, he's a solid worker and a great draw at live events; Seth is at the bottom due to injury and Reigns at the top due to his monster push, decent A/R performances and popularity at the house shows. Cena has been taking time off so he has lost his top spot and Lesnar has worked more dates in 2016 given the long term contract he signed with WWE. HHH has duties beyond the squared circle being in charge of NXT, main roster Vice President for creative, talent and house shows. Shane's salary is a bit too high for my liking, as far as am concern his only contribution is playing the TV role of a GM and appearing for once a year to wrestle; yes he has a big fanbase from the AE era and probably does decent in terms of merch but it's still a bit high
 
That was basically AJ's wage for his debut year in WWE! unprecedented! another feather in his cap :afridi
 
Highest paid wrestlers for 2016!

10. Randy Orton – $1.9 million
9. Seth Rollins – $2 million
8. The Undertaker – $2 million
7. Shane McMahon – $2.2 million
6. AJ Styles – $2.4 million
5. Dean Ambrose – $2.7 million
4. Roman Reigns – $3.5 million
3. Triple H – $ 3.8 million
2. John Cena – $8 million
1. Brock Lesnar – $12 million

Really happy for AJ Styles! well deserved, he earned every single penny! but we all know that the best part for AJ is that his checks actually cleared :yk :yk2 :yk3 #TNAwful [MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] [MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION] [MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION]

Another thing to note is that Taker made $2 million just for one appearance and obviously merch extras but just goes to show that had Taker worked 300 dates the deadman would have made $600 million :akhtar but naw he rather give back to the E and let the youngsters make their way [MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION] haha

Not all surprised to see Ambrose at the top, he's a solid worker and a great draw at live events; Seth is at the bottom due to injury and Reigns at the top due to his monster push, decent A/R performances and popularity at the house shows. Cena has been taking time off so he has lost his top spot and Lesnar has worked more dates in 2016 given the long term contract he signed with WWE. HHH has duties beyond the squared circle being in charge of NXT, main roster Vice President for creative, talent and house shows. Shane's salary is a bit too high for my liking, as far as am concern his only contribution is playing the TV role of a GM and appearing for once a year to wrestle; yes he has a big fanbase from the AE era and probably does decent in terms of merch but it's still a bit high

Nice to see Styles in there, so happy for him. Just goes to show what a superstar this guy is. Also, damn Brood is making crazy money rofl. Wonder how much Goldberg made after his recent run.
 
Hardbody Jinder Mahal just unhindered Balor with a stiff elbow to the head. Did he confuse himself for Misawa or Stan Hansen by any chance?
 
Nice to see Styles in there, so happy for him. Just goes to show what a superstar this guy is. Also, damn Brood is making crazy money rofl. Wonder how much Goldberg made after his recent run.

Berg must have made 1.5-2 million at the very least, Broid been doing the business sucking up to Vinny Mac :afridi
 
Hardbody Jinder Mahal just unhindered Balor with a stiff elbow to the head. Did he confuse himself for Misawa or Stan Hansen by any chance?

:))) What a jobber put Jinder back in the dumpster he came from, Balor reportedly has suffered a concussion; pretty messed up to happen in his first match back. Hopefully it's not anything too bad.

What did you make of the superstar shake up and braun killing Reigns bah gawd? Thankfully AJ remains on SD they've rightfully positioned him as the brands leader
 
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:))) What a jobber put Jinder back in the dumpster he came from, Balor reportedly has suffered a concussion; pretty messed up to happen in his first match back. Hopefully it's not anything too bad.

What did you make of the superstar shake up and braun killing Reigns bah gawd? Thankfully AJ remains on SD they've rightfully positioned him as the brands leader

AJ Styles has become a good guy once again. :shezzy He is the number 1 contender for the US Championship and is going to face either Y2J or KO. KO looks strange without a beard. :inti
 
AJ Styles has become a good guy once again. :shezzy He is the number 1 contender for the US Championship and is going to face either Y2J or KO. KO looks strange without a beard. :inti

I think he is faking it like my ex-girlfriend used to. Dripping with insincerity and soccer mom hair.
 
Nakamura entrance on Smackdown: 6*/5 :steyn

That entrance was top notch!! Really was great to see!

I don't have a problem with Reigns tweener character, promo work or in-ring skills; he was green a few years back but much improved now and one of the best all round talents in the WWE not perfect but still world class.

You have seen the light during my absence I see :ghalib :)) :))
 
Listened to Kurt Angle on Steve Austin's podcasts (more interested in the podcasts than the shows these days) and apparently he was taking 65 Vicodin a day at the height of his drug problems.

As a pharmacist, I'm amazed he's even alive after that. Delighted he's turned his life around and deservedly in the HOF, no question. He could do anything - in the ring he could brawl or put on a technical clinic. On the mic he could be funny, or deadly serious - and given he's a legit Olympic gold medallist you believed him.

He's apparently got a new app out called Angle Strong which supports rehabilitating drug abusers which is a great initiative.

Nice to see he's the GM. Hope he passes the physical and has a nice retirement match.
 
Every time someone tells me that Cesaro does not deserve to be World champion, I just point them to Roman "Wooden despite 3 years of rocket push" Reigns. Incredulously, some jabroni told me that Roman has improved on the mic. Apparently talking only 60 seconds is sign that you can cut a good promo. :))
 
Listened to Kurt Angle on Steve Austin's podcasts (more interested in the podcasts than the shows these days) and apparently he was taking 65 Vicodin a day at the height of his drug problems.

As a pharmacist, I'm amazed he's even alive after that. Delighted he's turned his life around and deservedly in the HOF, no question. He could do anything - in the ring he could brawl or put on a technical clinic. On the mic he could be funny, or deadly serious - and given he's a legit Olympic gold medallist you believed him.

He's apparently got a new app out called Angle Strong which supports rehabilitating drug abusers which is a great initiative.

Nice to see he's the GM. Hope he passes the physical and has a nice retirement match.

Yes, he was on the good morning show in the UK like a year ago and was explaining his issues, injuries, how he's in constant pain and his specimen being incredibly banged up; I was absolutely stunned! his body has been through hell and Kurt push's it to the limit being an Olympian he just did not know when to stop. This must be a recent interview? the old interview which Kurt did with Austin he mentioned how he still had 5 years left as a full timer :)) Austin would laugh a bit to and pointed out how the man needs to slow down lol I think what was the turning point for Angle was his lovely wife who threatened to leave him if he did not sort himself out.

Am sceptical of him passing a WWE medical (also notice how he was turning his entire body during HOF rather then his head, those damn neck injuries!) and if he doesn't then am cool with his current role because like you say he is so talented that he ought to succeed and be incredibly entertaining, am just thankful for being able to see him on WWE TV; if he gets that retirement I'll be over the moon, if not no worries.

The product is no where near as bad as it use to be 5 years ago, the brand split has improved the quality in general and there are some entertaining performers to look forward to including the likes of AJ Styles, Charlotte, Nakamura, Alexa Bliss, Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, The Revival, Bray Wyatt, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Kevin Owens and The Mizz. The booking however could be a bit better at times no doubt but we're passed the dreadful PG era level quality.
 
Every time someone tells me that Cesaro does not deserve to be World champion, I just point them to Roman "Wooden despite 3 years of rocket push" Reigns. Incredulously, some jabroni told me that Roman has improved on the mic. Apparently talking only 60 seconds is sign that you can cut a good promo. :))

60 seconds was all that was needed in that promo for his segment to be effective and come on, some hipster smarks take it too far with their criticism but you cannot deny that Reigns is much improved in the ring and on the mic because the script is a lot better to begin with, he no longer cuts those goofy suffarin sccotash promos and tends to come across as a badass; also refer to his heel persona in NXT. And while it may have looked like WWE sabotaged Reigns in terms of his perception amongst the fans it is working directly in their favour, he is one of their biggest draws as it stands and the smark heat benefits him.

Cesaro mic skills are not the best but he is incredibly over due to his in-ring work and has a decent gimmick; he also has been strangely entertaining in his tag team with Sheamus and I enjoyed him as a "real american" as well. He does deserve to be world champion no doubt about that and booking would have to support him as well.
 
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AJ Styles has become a good guy once again. :shezzy He is the number 1 contender for the US Championship and is going to face either Y2J or KO. KO looks strange without a beard. :inti

Maybe, maybe not :yk3 hasn't fully turned face but whatever role is given to him I know he is going to do well. KO is the new face of america :afridi one which doesn't give off dodgy vibes :moyo
 
The Roman Empire will rise from the dead

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Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss continue to be the highlight for me on RAW, thoroughly enjoying how the two are performing and being built up.

Just watching Smackdown now bah gawd Jinder Mahal just became the no.1 contender for the WWE title [MENTION=134981]Bhaag Viru Bhaag[/MENTION] :))) that will put butts on seats :yk 3MB going to dominate the world, Drew to become NXT champ, Heath to win the tag belts and Jinder to win the WWE title, this jobber is the new face of WWE LOOL only last week he gave Balor a concussion :yk2

Jokes aside, congrats to Jinder people don't realise how tough the business is and very rarely do you find a breakthrough even after years of toiling, Jinder's previous run didn't work out but he was talented but booked like rubbish, he wasn't the best but there were fundamentals he could build on. Now he has returned and is in fantastic shape, his in-ring work is a lot more crisp as well;

it's a genius move really because the internet is blowing up with disgust at this booking decision because they don't believe Mahal to be talented on any level but that is heat for Mahal which he can utilize, my problem is with the stereotypical gimmick due to its short shelf life as we saw with the great khali and his finishing move needs to be stronger, rather have him use that knee strike he used in that match. Had a good outing in the match and cut a solid promo after that
 
Payback is shaping up to be a decent PPV:

Wyatt v Orton, some type of hardcore match for the wwe title

KO v Jericho US title

Alexa Bliss v Bayley Womens title

Neville v Aries (can expect some excellent lucha libre and technical wrestling)

Samoa Joe v Seth Rollins (really look forward to this one)

Roman Reigns v Braun Strowman (should be another cracking match which is very physical)
 
Hard work pays off. So glad to see Jinder Mahal getting the deserved push. The guy can actually wrestle, is in prime shape, cuts intense promos, great heel. Just the kind of guy WWE's been missing for a long long time. People see bit of Mohammad Hasan in him and they're not wrong.

Loving the Punjabi coming out from his mouth too. Dasso ki kami ae mere vich? :yk
 
I don't know from where the heat is coming from, its mostly the self hating delusional noobs who whine at everything. From what i gather, Jinder got over with his last promo against American stereotype and people are liking him as a heel prospect.
 

Botchmania from Jobbinder on the mic during talking smack here's the short clip wwe uploaded but his entire interview on the network was so cringe-worthy, once a jobber always a jobber :)))
 
It seems Shibata has wrestled his last match.

Source : Wrestling Observer Newsletter

In a cruel irony of fate, it now appears likely that the match designed to bring Katsuyori Shibata into a top tier position with New Japan Pro Wrestling may be the last match he’ll ever wrestle.

Shibata, 37, who remains hospitalized after his 4/9 IWGP title match with Kazuchika Okada at Tokyo Sumo Hall, is said by friends of his to be unlikely to ever be cleared to wrestle again after surgery due to a subdural hematoma from a sick skull-on-skull head-butt spot as a counter to being hit with the rainmaker.

The combination of the length of the match, dehydration and the trauma from the head-butt led to doctors advising New Japan that they would likely never be able to clear him to wrestle in good conscience.

New Japan has not announced this publicly, nor has anything been said publicly about Shibata’s situation after some brief statements in the days after the match.

Shibata collapsed backstage and was rushed to the hospital in a situation where nobody knew what was and wasn’t real, because Japan does have a history in keeping the lid on its most protected angles and making them seem legitimate.

But while there was a lot of questions last week, almost everyone at this point is going with the idea the injury and situation is exactly as it was described last week.

Dr. Shunji Asamoto, who performed the surgery, noted that he would need a strict examination before being cleared to wrestle and that he’s not optimistic at all.

One of the reasons why the company and its doctors are so cautious in this situation has to do with an incident 17 years earlier that also involved Shibata when he was breaking in.

Masakazu Fukuda captured the national high school wrestling championship in 1990 in Japan under coach Yamato Oshino at Ashikaga Kogyo High School. He was the third national champion that Oshino had coached, with the first two being Mitsuharu Misawa in 1980 and Toshiaki Kawada in 1981, who had gone on to become two of the greatest wrestlers in history. Fukuda went on to place second in the nation in freestyle wrestling in 1994 at 180 pounds, and was a 1996 Olympic hopeful. But he left amateur wrestling before the Olympic qualifying tournament to turn professional with the RINGS promotion. But he quit in camp and instead started working independent shows. He was brought into New Japan as an outsider for the 1998 Best of the Super Juniors tournament and impressed officials to where he was signed to a full-time contract in January 1999.

On October 17, 1999, in a match with Shinya Makabe (Togi Makabe) in Kobe, Fukuda suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which required brain surgery. He got extensive testing but was given a clean bill of health and returned to action in February of 2000.

On April 14, 2000, he wrestled Shibata in Kesenuma, Japan in the Young Lions Cup. Fukuda was scheduled to win the match and do well in the tournament, and be moved into the heavyweight division and be put into a shooters group with Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Yutaka Yoshie. Shibata delivered a routine elbow drop barely six minutes into the match and Fukuda was supposed to kick out. Instead, he began snoring in the ring and was rushed to the hospital where he underwent emergency brain surgery, and passed away five days later at the age of 27.

The only word we’ve received on Shibata is that he’s awake and alert, can carry on a conversation and has memories of the match with Okada. At first, he had some right side paralysis, but that has gotten better.

Shibata lost to Okada in an incredible match which boosted both men’s stock because they sold out Sumo Hall in advance with more paid attendance than any non-G-1 show the company has run in the building in more than a decade. It was done with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega working undercard tag team matches, so it showed that Okada had become a legitimate top drawing champion on his own, and that the crowd saw Shibata as a strong challenger who they were behind in his quest to win the IWGP title as opposed to it being just another main event match. The match was given no special angle and established Shibata as one of the big five stars of the company.

Shibata, the son of 1970s New Japan wrestler Katsuhisa Shibata, went to Kuwama Kogyo High School where he was a national high school wrestling champion in 1997. He was best friends and teammates with Hirooki Goto and the two started together in the New Japan camp.

He was groomed for stardom in New Japan. The company, in a declining phase, chose Shibata, Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi to build around. But Shibata quit the company in 2005 when one of the New Japan promoters left and started a new promotion where Shibata was to be the top star. During the period he was in New Japan, they were putting some of their wrestlers with strong legitimate backgrounds in shoots. Shibata did one professional kickboxing match, which he lost via second round stoppage from a body blow, and one MMA fight in Brazil, which he won in 52 seconds.

He left pro wrestling and spent five years doing MMA. Shibata, who fought as a middleweight, was a huge name in the MMA world but not a great fighter. Because of his fame, he had matches with some of the top middleweights who fought in Japan during that period, with losses to the likes of Ralek Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Hayato Sakurai and the much larger judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii. He was knocked out five times as an MMA fighter, and compiled a career record of 4-11-1.

He returned to New Japan with Sakuraba in 2012 and was a heat machine. He played the role of an outsider doing a shooter gimmick, no selling traditional wrestling spots and working matches to look legitimate with hard strikes and working a match to make it appear there was no cooperation.

Owner Takaaki Kidani, a big MMA fan, particularly of Sakuraba, brought them in at a time when most of the roster didn’t want them around, remembering how previous overuse of MMA fighters had greatly hurt the popularity of the promotion.

But Sakuraba & Shibata were a big success as outsiders. In time, Sakuraba’s injuries and age caught up with him, but Shibata only became a bigger star, having strong matches in particular with Tomohiro Ishii and his big feud with Goto. He and Goto later became a tag team and won the IWGP heavyweight tag team titles from Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows on January 4, 2015. That fulfilled a teenage dream that he and Goto had of winning the titles together at the Tokyo Dome.

He also held the Never championship three times. While he got wins over most of the top stars, he was always booked at the level just underneath the top guys. The Sumo Hall show was his first chance to carry a major show in a championship match on his own, and many thought he would win the title. Evidently, the idea is to keep the title on Okada and build up Omega as the big challenge, but Shibata was scheduled to be in the top mix going fo rward.

There are ways to safely do head-butts in pro wrestling, but the legitimate skull-on-skull type that Shibata did with Okada, and also did with Katsuhiko Nakajima last year in a feud that never got out of the blocks, should be banned by all pro wrestling companies.
 
It seems Shibata has wrestled his last match.

Source : Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Absolutely horrifying, this is why the WWE American style in the current era is the best; wrestlers do not need to kill themselves in order to get a reaction. Bret Hart is the greatest technical wrestler ever because he could be intense and physical without taking risks which would put himself and his opponent at danger. The current Japanese style goes over board with their spot fests and there's not as much of an emphasis on selling.

I suggest the NJPW talent to jump ship to the WWE if they want to learn how to actually wrestle in their performance centre and adjust to the western style through their NXT Brand which will make their transition smooth. If they don't then they are putting their lives and careers at risk, absolute morons and those who book them to wrestle like that need to be fired.
 
It seems Shibata has wrestled his last match.

Source : Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Absolutely horrifying, this is why the WWE American style in the current era is the best; wrestlers do not need to kill themselves in order to get a reaction. Bret Hart is the greatest technical wrestler ever because he could be intense and physical without taking risks which would put himself and his opponent at danger. The current Japanese style goes over board with their spot fests and there's not as much of an emphasis on selling.

I suggest the NJPW talent to jump ship to the WWE if they want to learn how to actually wrestle in their performance centre and adjust to the western style through their NXT Brand which will make their transition smooth. If they don't then they are putting their lives and careers at risk, absolute morons and those who book them to wrestle like that need to be fired.
[MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION]
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] very sad to see this. And shame on the fans who call these guys the GOATs just because they nearly kill themselves. Seth and AJ could wrestle a match better than Omega vs Okada but the WWE style doesnt let wrestlers kill themselves in spot fests just to get a pop and make smarks happy. Like u said NJPW and other indy spotfests like Ricochet and Will Osprey have made fans crap on actual storytelling matches that are paced to have a beginning middle and end and not just people doing move after move all that does is desensitise fans to an actual big move or finish. These same smarks would probably say Brett was boring or Flairs 45 min 60 min matches in NWA were a borefest.

Also when fans say their Indie darlings and NJPW darlings are better because they do more moves its because they wrestle much fewer dates so can afford to take more risks. Sami Cesaro K.O AJ Seth could all wrestle like that if they wanted to. But they would break down and wouldnt last 5 years in WWE.
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] very sad to see this. And shame on the fans who call these guys the GOATs just because they nearly kill themselves. Seth and AJ could wrestle a match better than Omega vs Okada but the WWE style doesnt let wrestlers kill themselves in spot fests just to get a pop and make smarks happy. Like u said NJPW and other indy spotfests like Ricochet and Will Osprey have made fans crap on actual storytelling matches that are paced to have a beginning middle and end and not just people doing move after move all that does is desensitise fans to an actual big move or finish. These same smarks would probably say Brett was boring or Flairs 45 min 60 min matches in NWA were a borefest.

Also when fans say their Indie darlings and NJPW darlings are better because they do more moves its because they wrestle much fewer dates so can afford to take more risks. Sami Cesaro K.O AJ Seth could all wrestle like that if they wanted to. But they would break down and wouldnt last 5 years in WWE.

These guys are an insult to the Japanese style in its purest form, there is definitely a lot more an emphasis on striking with some big spots but in the 70's, 80's and 90's they sold a lot more and told a story in the ring, guys like Antonio Inoki, Jushin Thunder Liger, Kenta Kobashi and The Great Muta are all time greats and pioneers in the business with immense respect, Inoki only was in the WWE for a short while and won their world title but the fact that he was inducted in their hall of fame just goes to show the impact he made beyond America. Ric Flair has wrestled many times in Japan as well! he was incredibly over with their fans and adjusted to their style really well, during that period Meltzer did some fantastic work as a journalist during the territory days and had immense respect which he has now flushed down the toilet but I see he has done so to appeal to the fans and evolved to ensure his business is fruitful so it's hard to see entirely how much he is in awe of wrestling in this era because he comes across as a NJPW stooge. Look at the awards Meltzer awarded Flair, he also gave him a 6 star for a match vs Steamboat he saw during a house show.

Now NJPW realise that there are lot of hipster smarks which follow their product in this era of high spots which even the WWE utilise given it's what the fans want to see but NJPW take it too far and as we've seen in this instance it resulted in a career ending injury. Personally I didn't even enjoy Omega/Okada that much! at best it was a 4 star match, I do enjoy spectacles and can put up with their style even if it is dangerous like a few times a year on their high profile shows because am a fan of many styles in wrestling and while it was great to see something different in terms of all the stunts they pulled non-stop am an old school guy, like to see emotionally invested in a feud and witness psychology/story-telling between the ropes; but some of of the few reasons we do not see it these days is due to the current era and also due to a lack of ability.

Seth Rollins, Sami, Cesaro, KO etc all came from the same system, they worked some very physical and intense matches in promotions such as ROH but incorporated selling as well and it wasn't just about stunts, it's great you bring up AJ because he was in Japan only recently and adjusted to their match types from the word go, but it's not always everyone's cup of tea and those matches are not necessarily better but there are times when story's are told and there's an emphasis on selling, I really enjoyed AJ vs Nakamura at wrestle kingdom that for me is Japanese wrestling at it's absolute best and one of the best matches I've ever seen, Omega/Okada is a hype job people have to build it up as such just goes to show that it's not what it is made out to be.
 
Absolutely horrifying, this is why the WWE American style in the current era is the best; wrestlers do not need to kill themselves in order to get a reaction. Bret Hart is the greatest technical wrestler ever because he could be intense and physical without taking risks which would put himself and his opponent at danger. The current Japanese style goes over board with their spot fests and there's not as much of an emphasis on selling.

I suggest the NJPW talent to jump ship to the WWE if they want to learn how to actually wrestle in their performance centre and adjust to the western style through their NXT Brand which will make their transition smooth. If they don't then they are putting their lives and careers at risk, absolute morons and those who book them to wrestle like that need to be fired.

True. Sometimes NJPW does go overboard with the wrestling style they have. We all love prowrestling but its not worth it.
 
Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss continue to be the highlight for me on RAW, thoroughly enjoying how the two are performing and being built up.

Just watching Smackdown now bah gawd Jinder Mahal just became the no.1 contender for the WWE title [MENTION=134981]Bhaag Viru Bhaag[/MENTION] :))) that will put butts on seats :yk 3MB going to dominate the world, Drew to become NXT champ, Heath to win the tag belts and Jinder to win the WWE title, this jobber is the new face of WWE LOOL only last week he gave Balor a concussion :yk2

Jokes aside, congrats to Jinder people don't realise how tough the business is and very rarely do you find a breakthrough even after years of toiling, Jinder's previous run didn't work out but he was talented but booked like rubbish, he wasn't the best but there were fundamentals he could build on. Now he has returned and is in fantastic shape, his in-ring work is a lot more crisp as well;

it's a genius move really because the internet is blowing up with disgust at this booking decision because they don't believe Mahal to be talented on any level but that is heat for Mahal which he can utilize, my problem is with the stereotypical gimmick due to its short shelf life as we saw with the great khali and his finishing move needs to be stronger, rather have him use that knee strike he used in that match. Had a good outing in the match and cut a solid promo after that

Shocked to see Jinder Mahal as the number 1 contender but happy for him. His punjabi touch is great.

Rusev is coming to smackdown and will most likely face Orton at MITB.
 
Decent show yesterday was sitting there doing some work and before I knew it the show was over! Forgot it was only 2 hours, since I don't usually watch Smackdown.

The Reigns-Strowman Rivalry is getting intense, can't wait to see the final chapter in that story.
 
Decent show yesterday was sitting there doing some work and before I knew it the show was over! Forgot it was only 2 hours, since I don't usually watch Smackdown.

The Reigns-Strowman Rivalry is getting intense, can't wait to see the final chapter in that story.

Jinder Mahal has gotten pretty big. :kohli2
 
:)) Watching SD after Raw is weird sometimes since Raw is 3 hours long.

Raw is better. The Miz is probably the most entertaining guy on WWE these days. He should win more matches. His wife is cool too. Smackdown isn't too bad. The 6 match tag team was awesome yesterday.
 
Something To Wrestle With - great podcast. Bruce Prichard was McMahon's right hand man for over 20 years and his stories are fantastic.
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]
Why does the Miz always lose? I like him. He's awesome.
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]
Why does the Miz always lose? I like him. He's awesome.

He won today via DQ but he did. The bookers listened to you!

Seriously though, I think Miz has been phenomenal and his promo work is legit awesome. He made that DOA Nikki/Cena vs Maryse/Miz feud interesting. I would not mind him getting a run with the WWE/WWE Universal title if only a brief one. He has earned it.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just appeared at Pakistan's 1st ever wrestling show. I could write a book about the things I experienced in the past 36hrs. &#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816; Zindabad! &#55357;&#56397;&#55356;&#57340;</p>— Stu Bennett (@StuBennett) <a href="https://twitter.com/StuBennett/status/864976561040216065">May 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="et" dir="ltr">آپ کا شکریہ Pakistan and PWE &#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816;&#55357;&#56397;&#55356;&#57340;&#55358;&#56636;*♂️</p>— Stu Bennett (@StuBennett) <a href="https://twitter.com/StuBennett/status/864979065329078272">May 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


591da3dd8b997.jpg
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

Watch Takeover this Saturday. Incredible card.

Roddy Strong vs EY
Asuka vs Ruby Riot vs Nikki Cross for the Women's title
DIY vs Authors of Pain - Ladder Match for the Tag titles
Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - UK Title
Bobby Roode vs Hideo Itami - NXT Title

Backlash will most likely fail in reaching the level of this card even if Takeover underperforms and I am looking forward to AJ vs KO.
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

Watch Takeover this Saturday. Incredible card.

Roddy Strong vs EY
Asuka vs Ruby Riot vs Nikki Cross for the Women's title
DIY vs Authors of Pain - Ladder Match for the Tag titles
Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - UK Title
Bobby Roode vs Hideo Itami - NXT Title

Backlash will most likely fail in reaching the level of this card even if Takeover underperforms and I am looking forward to AJ vs KO.

Very solid card, may watch it; handed in my final coursework few days ago and have a few exams now but they are in a bout a couple of weeks time.

Have not followed NXT as much but have bits and bobs, aren't Drew Mcytyre, Alceister Black and the Mexican fella booked for the card? the trio are exceptional. I hope that Itami can show the Americans exactly how good he is, his epics with Bryan in ROH are the stuff of legend; want to see him bring that intensity. The tag match will probably steal the show and am excited for Bate/Pete(a fellow brummie bear :afridi), not sure if you watched the UK tournament on the network but it was amazing!

What do you think of Ruby Riot?

Speaking of the women, watch out for Daria in the future; think she can fill the void left by Asuka when she moves up to the main roster.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just appeared at Pakistan's 1st ever wrestling show. I could write a book about the things I experienced in the past 36hrs. ���� Zindabad! ����</p>— Stu Bennett (@StuBennett) <a href="https://twitter.com/StuBennett/status/864976561040216065">May 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="et" dir="ltr">آپ کا شکریہ Pakistan and PWE ����������*♂️</p>— Stu Bennett (@StuBennett) <a href="https://twitter.com/StuBennett/status/864979065329078272">May 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


View attachment 74141

How many people attended the shows?
 
Very solid card, may watch it; handed in my final coursework few days ago and have a few exams now but they are in a bout a couple of weeks time.

Have not followed NXT as much but have bits and bobs, aren't Drew Mcytyre, Alceister Black and the Mexican fella booked for the card? the trio are exceptional. I hope that Itami can show the Americans exactly how good he is, his epics with Bryan in ROH are the stuff of legend; want to see him bring that intensity. The tag match will probably steal the show and am excited for Bate/Pete(a fellow brummie bear :afridi), not sure if you watched the UK tournament on the network but it was amazing!

What do you think of Ruby Riot?

Speaking of the women, watch out for Daria in the future; think she can fill the void left by Asuka when she moves up to the main roster.

She is very talented. Her promos need improvement but she has time. Nikki is the real deal though. Very talented, good promo and great gimmick.
 
[MENTION=47617]Red Devil[/MENTION] [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

I just found out that Jinder's real name is Yuvraj Singh :))

Yuvraj Singh is WWE Champion!!

jinder_mahal-6-696x422.jpg


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Triple H @TripleH

Congratulations, @mipaltan. [MENTION=3262]WWE[/MENTION] has something headed your way! [MENTION=3262]WWE[/MENTION]India
Mumbai Indians @mipaltan
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Meet your IPL 2017 Champions! 🏆
 
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3MB is back to rule the world baybay!


Respect to Jinder for probably one of the most dramatic turn arounds to a wrestler's career. From a jobber nobody to main evening and winning the belt with a month. From a chaprassi to MAHARAJA.
 
Randy getting a lot of heat for carelessly throwing one of the Singh brothers on his head. Escaped a serious injury luckily. Poor toss that.
 
Guessing WWE is very popular up North , even Priyanka apparently had some comments on him.
 
Isn't it one of those fake fights where everything is fixed already and these so called "wrestlers" jump around in chaddi in the ring for no reason at all?
No wonder [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] is a fan.
 
Guessing WWE is very popular up North , even Priyanka apparently had some comments on him.



You mean Priyanka Chopra? She is doing a movie with Rock so I guess she took interest and everyone growing up during her time knows about Rock and wrestling..
 
Jinder has got a lot of heat from the hardcore wrestling fanbase due to a perception of his lack of skill given that he's a big dude and among the casuals it's more to do with xenophobia. They're not students of the game. Jinder has been wrestling for 15 years now; spent 8 years on the independent circuit scrapping it out in high school gyms before crowds of 50 people and then he finally got the big breakthrough when WWE signed him in 2010.

He'd not make his main roster debut immediately but would work in the Florida development territory where he'd craft out his character and adjust to the WWE style; then a year later he'd make his debut for WWE and between 2011-2014 he'd spend most his time in the lower to mid-card, the great thing is you're making some guaranteed money but career progression wise you don't really go anywhere. His run would culminate in a faction called 3MB who were basically "jobbers" it's a derogatory term for wrestlers who never quiet break the glass ceiling and are often fed to other stars to make them look invincible. Jinder despite being the victim of poor booking tried to make the best out of whatever was given to him and 3MB despite being a jobber faction were actually pretty entertaining but soon the group would fall apart and Jinder would be released.

Jinder would then return to the independent circuit and work even harder especially on his physique, the mic work is okay and the ring was okay to but he polished them both and returned to the WWE recently as a star who was a lot better when looked up as an all round package. While he has benefited from WWE wanting to expand in the India market and reach more people there; am not really sure how they will do in terms of long term financials besides the instances where they tour there but credit must be given to Jinder as well because he worked his behind off and paid his dues the old school way. I've also met him after a show in Brum, one of the nicest people in wrestling and extremely humble/classy. He's like say the polar opposite of an Umar Akmal, always looking to improve and work hard, no ego at all and we see many of them in wrestling but his work ethic has held him in good stead so fair play to Jinder.

The Great Khali is the worst wrestler of all time it was a bigger insult to put the WHC title on him, who was basically just big and nothing else; in Jinder India and Canada have a champion they can truly be proud off and I expect him to have a great run as WWE champion. He is the first sikh world champion in WWE history, Jinder is also a 2nd gen wrestler being a nephew of legendary Gama Singh. Truly happy for the guy, this is was wrestling is all about; moments like these, I could tell he was fighting hard to stay in character at the end of the match he wanted to desperately cry when the final 3rd count was made
 
So on my YouTube in suggestions there was a video and watching it I got to know an Indian is the WWE champion again.. [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] is this just to tap more into the Indian market or the guy is actually talented? I remember Khali being champion and that made news in our Hindi news channels.. I saw couple of Khali's fight and man he made giant Gonzales look like Ric flair..
 
Orton was interesting in the Wyatt family and then went back to being his usual uninspiring, under performing robotic self although I credit him for putting over Jinder and going out with a bang because their title match had great heat. So this is a great move to put the belt on a new face at the top, SD truly is the land of opportunity; what do you think [MENTION=95766]leatherface58[/MENTION] ? this reminds me of all those yeas ago when they took a risk with JBL on Smackdown but it paid off and he ran with the ball
 
Jinder has got a lot of heat from the hardcore wrestling fanbase due to a perception of his lack of skill given that he's a big dude and among the casuals it's more to do with xenophobia. They're not students of the game. Jinder has been wrestling for 15 years now; spent 8 years on the independent circuit scrapping it out in high school gyms before crowds of 50 people and then he finally got the big breakthrough when WWE signed him in 2010.

He'd not make his main roster debut immediately but would work in the Florida development territory where he'd craft out his character and adjust to the WWE style; then a year later he'd make his debut for WWE and between 2011-2014 he'd spend most his time in the lower to mid-card, the great thing is you're making some guaranteed money but career progression wise you don't really go anywhere. His run would culminate in a faction called 3MB who were basically "jobbers" it's a derogatory term for wrestlers who never quiet break the glass ceiling and are often fed to other stars to make them look invincible. Jinder despite being the victim of poor booking tried to make the best out of whatever was given to him and 3MB despite being a jobber faction were actually pretty entertaining but soon the group would fall apart and Jinder would be released.

Jinder would then return to the independent circuit and work even harder especially on his physique, the mic work is okay and the ring was okay to but he polished them both and returned to the WWE recently as a star who was a lot better when looked up as an all round package. While he has benefited from WWE wanting to expand in the India market and reach more people there; am not really sure how they will do in terms of long term financials besides the instances where they tour there but credit must be given to Jinder as well because he worked his behind off and paid his dues the old school way. I've also met him after a show in Brum, one of the nicest people in wrestling and extremely humble/classy. He's like say the polar opposite of an Umar Akmal, always looking to improve and work hard, no ego at all and we see many of them in wrestling but his work ethic has held him in good stead so fair play to Jinder.

The Great Khali is the worst wrestler of all time it was a bigger insult to put the WHC title on him, who was basically just big and nothing else; in Jinder India and Canada have a champion they can truly be proud off and I expect him to have a great run as WWE champion. He is the first sikh world champion in WWE history, Jinder is also a 2nd gen wrestler being a nephew of legendary Gama Singh. Truly happy for the guy, this is was wrestling is all about; moments like these, I could tell he was fighting hard to stay in character at the end of the match he wanted to desperately cry when the final 3rd count was made


Great post man feel happy for the guy hard work does pay eventually..
 
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