Arena The Squared Circle (Pro Wrestling)

I heard a lot of the wrestlers were upset with the way The Rock carried himself and spoke at the Hall of Fame ceremony. I guess I could see that, but I'm sure every active (and former) wrestler took notice of how hot the audience was during The Rock's speech. Even having been gone for years, he still is the most electrifying man in sports entertainment today. Glory Days!

 

LOL! I was jealous ever since I started seeing he was going in his sig, LOL.

About the HOF and RAW stuff. I have a feeling a lot of what was on the HOF as it pertains to Flair might be seen on DVD sooner than we think. I have heard that WWE wants to put out a new three disk Flair DVD later this year and his speech from the HOF and his RAW Farewell may very well end up on that. Obviously the HOF speech will also end up on the WM DVD. Pevious full versions of HOF speeches have ended up on previous DVDs. (Did he really mention Benoit in conjunction with the Four Horseman? Just asking because I suspect THAT might not end up on the DVD version of the HOF speech).

Rock's stuff will probably end up on his DVD that's too out soon.


Edit: And yes, the Radicals/DX Vs Rock, Foley, Kane and Too Cool match was the one I was thinking of. Too bad we will never see THAT on DVD.

 

Sorry. Oh did I mention I'm going to Summer Slam this year?

 

There was tension regarding the whole thing. Rock was requested to come to Wrestle Mania as well, but he had to fly back to LA for shooting. They just think he should give a little more back.

One of the reason that the speech went on so long was because the original microphone was not working properly, and Rock's voice was getting messed up. The crowd was chanting for a new mic, and for Rock to start over again, which he did.

He did say to Stephanie that if she buys cheap stuff, that's what happens. He tried to get Cena over with the crowd, as did Flair later on. He said that until you have a full arena of fans booing you, you haven't made it.

Flair actually during his talk about Cena said that Cena won't be leaving WWE in his prime to go make movies in Hollywood, which actually got a negative reaction. Not for Flair, but because the fans love the Rock, and don't like Cena as much.

Cena actually went on stage as well, and tried to get himself over. Talking about how tonight is meant to be about the legends that made the business. He got a small pop for that.

 

LOL!!!!

Yes, Flair did mention Benoit. Which started a Benoit chant.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWaEHmLDROI

Listen to that crowd. You don't hear that in WWE events any more.

 

Thanks for the link Marcus, that was a great match. I can't wait to get The Rock's DVD when it comes out later this year. I almost feel sorry for people who watch wrestling now - if they only knew what they were missing. I wonder who will take the torch from HHH, HBK, Kane, Undertaker, etc. when they finally hang up the boots? Cena seems to be stuck in between a face and a heel, and (unless I'm forgetting someone) they have no real face. They should turn Cena heel (a la Rocky Maivia NoD and The Rock's Corporate Champ phase) to get everyone against him, then turn him back. Edge would be a good face too - I thoroughly enjoyed his tag days with Christian, and you know he's great on the mic.

 

Okay, it's official. I hate you.

I went to Armageddon and a Raw last year. But I don't have the money to spend traveling all over creation to go to events. Especially any of the big four because the tickets alone are ridiculous.



And as for The Rock... I think that the fans give him too much of a pop. He hasn't truly wrestled in years and he's not coming back to wrestle any substantial amount, so people need to let him go. Yeah, he was great back in the day and we should appreciate what he gave to the wrestling business, but his time is over. I get tired of people freaking out everytime he appears; he's not a wrestler anymore, he's a movie star.

 

I think the interesting thing with The Rock is why he still gets a huge pop. On one hand, it could be because of how good he was when he was wrestling, and on the other it could be because the WWE doesn't currently have anyone that can hold his jockstrap when it comes to charisma, mic talent, and skill. I'm not sure, but it's an interesting thought...

 

Oh I bet that went over really well with the McMahons who have been trying to erase Benoit from existance since June.


Ugh, SummerSlam too? I'm really jealous now.

Edit: Rock's been where Cena is at now albeit on a much lower scale. Before he went with the Nation, he was the babyface that got constantly booed. So although he wasn't the Champ at the time, he definitely knows what Cena's going through when he said what he said about a crowd full of people booing you.

I do feel sorry for Cena at events like this because he's right, the focus should be on the legends and not on booing current wrestlers. Fan hatred towards a wrestlers/Divas like apparently was showered on Lita at the 2006 HOF her last year with the company is uncalled for and ruins the event for many.

and since this is now apparently the offical wrestling thread for the arena, I'm going to post Lockdown results, courtesy of WrestlingObserver.com. Please click back now to avoid spoilers.


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TNA Lockdown match-by-match coverage



by Dave Meltzer

Dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Welcome to our live coverage of the TNA Lockdown PPV from the Paul Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA.

We're looking for your thoughts on the show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

They are doing a great job of making the main event feel special by having the announcers go into the stands and have fans predict who would win. The fans fit into the pro wrestling stereotype, but they were enthusiastic as hell.

X Division escape match is opening the show with Sonjay Dutt, Curry Man, champ Jay Lethal, Shark Boy, Johnny Devine and Consequences Creed. Good match, but it was way rushed since they were doing pinfall eliminations. The highlight was Curry Man doing a flip dive off the top of the cage onto Devine and Creed. It came down to Devine vs. Lethal. Devine tied Lethal to the ropes, but Sonjay Dutt kept the door locked so Devine couldn't escape. Devine climbed to the top, but Dutt threw a knife or scissors so he cut could himself free. As Devine was climbing over, Lethal ran across the ring and did a tope through the door Dutt opened to win.

They interviewed Frank Trigg, noting he'd been in with Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. Trigg was mad because he lost both of those matches. Trigg's a heel totally favoring Angle, smirking and saying there's now way Samoa Joe can win. Trigg was great in playing his role. I don't know if he can wrestle, but he sure understands how to talk.

Queen of the Cage is next. I'm going to be really mad watching this thinking of the time they took away from the first match for this. Christy Hemme, Salinas, Jackie Moore, Traci Brooks (who now has her last name back), Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Roxxi Laveaux and Rhaka Khan.

The climbing only took 90 seconds with Laveaux and Love getting in. Match had super heat because the crowd loved Laveaux who is local, although they couldn't say it since she's got this New Orleans voodoo gimmick. Laveaux won with the Voodoo drop, and now gets a title shat at Awesome Kong.


They have a new announcer named Lauren. She's more plastic and not as smooth as Kristal, but more glamorous.

Kip James vs. B.G. James is up next.

B.G. won with a roll-up out of the corner after Kip missed a charge. Post-match saw them shake hands and of course, Kip clotheslined him after. Everyone saw this coming. The announcers were way over the top trying to sell this.

Kurt did a different promo saying he beat everyone in WWE but saw Joe on T

 

Really? I thought I was nice guy.

I agree with you, tickets can be expensive. Summer Slam kind of just happened, got caught up in the moment! LOL!!!

 

I got two tickets, you can come if you want.

Flair I believe felt that he had to mention Benoit because of the IV Horsemen legacy. I'm sure WWE will cut that bit out.

Cena said something along the lines of "You don't have to know me, or care about me. Just realize that we're all here because of the legends that made all this happen."

It was about two minutes long. Don't know if that actually showed that on TV.

Regarding Cena. I arrived at the Citrus Bowl at about 3pm local time, just to take it all in and talk to some of the other fans. There were fans walking about with large Cena Sucks posters that they were getting fans to sign. Almost as a petition that they wanted to send to the WWE staff to send back to Vince. I mean these guys were everywhere.

 

Not to derail the conversation, but how would we get this to become the official wrestling thread? I'm kind of excited one of my threads got an official status - makes me feel like doing my own five-second pose!

Has Cena ever been a heel? If not, that seems like a no-brainer...

 

I think the difference between the Rock and Cena is why the fans are booing him. Rock was booed when he first came up as a babyface because fans hated the character. Rock first came up in the interim period between the "New Generation" period and the "Attitude" period. He was playing the classic "babyface" character as Rocky Maivia. The fans hated the character and booed him mercilessly. He then became a heel at the time the "Attitude" period took off. He started playing himself and the fans loved him.

Cena, on the other hand, is hated because as a wrestler he sucks, yet he is being pushed as a top card performer. It isn't his character that could thrive as heel. It is his lack of in-ring ability that is hurting him with the fans. This will remain the same regardless of whether he is a heel or face.

Rock in contrast was all about his character and why he didn't take right away. The in ring performance was always there for the Rock.

 

When he was on Smackdown around September/October 2002 (around the time the rapper gimmick started) to right around the time Stephanie was ousted as Smackdown GM in September/October 2003.

And yes, Cena's mini - speech at the HOF was aired on TV live. As were the boos.

 

See, I disagree here. I have no opinion on The Rock comments because I never saw him in his prime, but with Cena I think that it isn't so much his in-ring ability. With Cena, yeah, he's a so-so performer, but I personally think his character is absolute crap. It's old and no longer funny. He needs a new character and they had the perfect opportunity for that when he was gone with his injury, but they didn't capitalize on it. His in-ring abilities (or lack there of) could be over-looked if (1) he wasn't shoved down our throats and (2) he got a less annoying persona.

 

Where is SummerSlam at this year?

I remember my first wrestling event. King of the Ring 1996 - Milwaukee, WI. It was awesome. The beginning of Stone Cold Steve Austin's uprise. HBK beat the British Bulldog...good times.

And the next night we caught RAW tapings in Green Bay, WI. This was back when they taped the whole month of RAW in one night. So 6 hours of wrestling after three hours the night before. And we had front row seats, so I got to shake hands with HBK, which...was to die for in my eyes. The rest of the people in our group had second row seats behind the announcers, but my best friend and I were the bigger fans so they let the two of us have the front row seats right by where they came in.

Look at how dorky we were:

[image=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/s65horsey/gang.jpg]

[image=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/s65horsey/raw.jpg]

 

^^ You look like you were having some fun! haha. I would die to shake hands with HBK... Heck, I'd settle for any of them. And front row seats??? Lucky!!!

 

Yeah, those were probably the best seats we ever had. My friend (the tall guy in th picture) dressed up like someone and won floor seats (6 rows back) for the Royal Rumble in 2002 (I think, whenever it was in Atlanta) and we got to have those too. The atmosphere was awesome, but as far as viewing things it was probably better to be up high.

I think I liked House shows the best though. The wrestlers tended to interact with the fans more at those, reading signs and laughing or giving thumbs up. Got to see HBK do a cage match at one (during when he was champion in 1996). He spent 15 minutes climbing to each corner of the cage and thanking the fans. Very cool.

[image=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/s65horsey/hbkwaves.jpg]

I don't remember the wrestler's full name, but he was hairy and first name was Miguel. He didn't have a huge role, but we were trying to come up with something funny to do so we made about 15 signs that said "Miguel's my dad" and handed them out to people around us. So when he came out we all held our signs up and he pointed at them and laughed a lot. That's the kind of stuff I enjoyed.

 

Shawn Michaels is my favorite wrestler of all time, and I've been to several WrestleMania's where each time Mr WrestleMania stole the show. This one against Flair was just too emotional, such I love Ric too.

I mean, take a look at my name, taken directly from the Heartbreak Kid himself. Total homage to the icon!!!!!

Man I remember the times back in High School, when the Clique ruled Pro Wrestling. Me and my best friends were known as the Clique, and the wrestlers were our alternate egos. I was Shawn, my closest friend was Nash, he was tall enough!

We had some high school pics taken before we left, and most of them were the Two Dudes With Atitude pose. I started working out at the time, so I could pull of the double bicep pose. LOL!!!!


Oh, Summer Slam is in Indianapolis.

 

I agree with this. They have just forced Cena onto us, instead of allowing him to grow on us. The problem is, his lack of skill in the ring does show a little too much, and when he just keeps on winning and winning, especially when he has been outwrestled, fans react, and rightfully so. I mean even The Rock lost matches, even Stone Cold did, but Cena....

I was a few rows away from the ring at WrestleMania 23 in Detroit last year, and Shawn had to carry that match completely on his own. He had to control the tempo, the movement, everything. And when he lost, I couldn't believe it. I never saw an arena clear out so quickly, and there 80,000 in there! LOL!!!

 

See, that's something I admire about HBK though, now. He does that, he works himself and carries people and then loses. He doesn't have to be the champion. Been there, done that.

 

That is exactly why I love Shawn. He doesn't have to win; he's content to put another guy over, something that other wrestlers could take note of. HBK is one of the all-time greats, but he's not afraid of losing. I mean, what's his all-time Wrestlemania record anyway? Like 4-12? But yet people all agree that's he's just amazing.

Winning doesn't make a great wrestler. Vince needs to realize this and stop the Cena push. I used to be a big Cena fan, but now I just roll my eyes everytime he comes out to the ring. He's just not believeable when he beats every person he wrestles.

 

Holding the belt doesn't really make you the champion in the eyes of certain fans. A lot of wrestlers have stated that titles are for those that really need them to further their career. Accomplished wrestlers don't really need it, Shawn is one of them, Undertaker is another.

I'm just biased towards Michaels!

 

I'm so excited to see other HBK fans. I'm giggling at my desk.