Official Wrestling Thread

Rumors keep saying that Sting could be looking at a stint in the WWE. I just don't know how I feel about this. After Flair and Benoit, Sting is my next favorite and I absolutely miss him. But I just don't think he can gain much by going to the WWE now. WWE already proved they couldn't book Goldberg right. How can you not book him right? Now Sting will show up and he's notoriously non-confrontational in the back. So he'll be booked like Steiner, Booker, and Goldberg were. Though I could see Sting getting a small title run, but nothing substantial. Even then, if he's put on Smackdown, nobody will see him anyway. I love Sting and miss him terribly, but I'm afraid a run in the WWE will tarnish what he's done (at least what's left after the way he was botched in the last couple of years in WCW).

 

Pardon me while I drool . . .


WWE's "Hard Knocks - The Chris Benoit Story" double-disc DVD is set for release in July, but is available now in the PWInsider.com Online Store. The DVD will feature a look into the current WWE World champion's time in Calgary, New Japan, Extreme Championship Wrestling, WCW, WWE, his neck injury and return, his 2003 classic Royal Rumble bout with Kurt Angle, his 2004 Rumble victory, and his WWE World championship victory at Wrestlemania XX.

Matches listed for the DVD set are:

*Pegasus Kid (Benoit under a mask) vs. Jushin Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match (Tokyo, Japan August 19, 1990) featuring commentary by Tazz and Michael Cole and an alternative commentary track featuring Benoit, Dean Malenko & Todd Grisham

*Chris Benoit vs. 2 Cold Scorpio from WCW Superbrawl III (4/21/93) - Great 20 minute bout

*Wild Pegasus Chris Benoit vs. Black Tiger (a masked Eddie Guerrero) from New Japan Pro Wrestling's Super J Cup Tournament Round 2 (Tokyo, Japan - 4/16/94) featuring commentary by Tazz and Michael Cole and an alternative commentary track featuring

*Wild Pegasus Chris Benoit vs. Great Sasuke in New Japan's Super J Cup Tournament Final (Tokyo, Japan - 4/16/94) featuring commentary by Tazz and Michael Cole and an alternative commentary track featuring Benoit, Dean Malenko & Todd Grisham

*Chris Benoit vs. Sabu at the ECW November to Remember '94 - Benoit breaks Sabu's neck, creating the Crippler nickname.

*Chris Benoit vs. Al Snow ECW Double Tables (February 1995 - Great Match)

*Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero from WCW Monday Nitro (10/16/05)

*Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan WCW Great American Bash 96 PPV (6/16/96)

*Chris Benoit vs. Booker T in the Best-of-Seven Finals, WCW Great American Bash 98 PPV (6/14/98)

*Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart - The Owen Hart Tribute Match in Kansas City, WCW Monday Nitro (10/4/99)

*Chris Benoit vs. Sid Vicious - WCW World title victory and Benoit's last WCW match, WCW Souled Out (1/16/00)

*Chris Benoit vs. Steven Regal from the Brian Pillman Memorial Show, (5/26/00)

*Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle - Steel Cage Match, WWE Raw (6/11/01)

*Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle at Royal Rumble 2003 (1/19/03)

*Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania XX

Extras:

*Benoit's Neck Injury July 2001 Raw

*WWE Confidential looks at the Crippler Crossface

*Benoit's Raw Magazine Cover Shoot

 

NWA:TNA Impact! starts today at 3pm on Fox Sports South. It's been pretty good so far!

 

Ric Flair's autobiography "To Be the Man" hits the stores in the next couple of weeks! Woooooo!

Excerpt from Flair's book and because I love when Foley gets cracked on . . .

This is the kind of **** I was putting up with - despite the fact that I was on the booking committee. That?s why it pissed me off when Mick Foley blamed me for not recognizing his full potential during that period. In his book, Have A Nice Day, Foley wrote, ?Ric Flair was every bit as bad on the booking side of things as he was great on the wrestling side of it.?

First of all, I?ll never call myself a great booker, because wrestling always came first. But Foley took a shot at me. Here?s his receipt - I?m taking a shot at him.

When I first started on the booking committee, Foley was working as Cactus Jack and doing an angle where he was living in a homeless shelter. I admit it - I didn?t know what to do with a 300-pound guy living in a homeless shelter. It took P.T. Barnum, in the form of Vince McMahon, to take a guy whose claim to fame was his willingness to get thrown off a cage, to turn him into Mankind, and make him into a champion.

Foley has a cult following because of his contribution to hardcore wrestling. But hardcore is such a small part of the history of this business. When I was training, falling off a ladder was not a prerequisite to making it as a professional wrestler. Being fundamentally sound was. Occasionally seeing the inside of a gym was. When I trained under Verne Gagne, we started with 500 free squats, 250 push-ups, 250 sit-ups and a two-mile run over farm terrain in zero-degree weather. Then we came back to the barn to be wrestled into submission, cross-faced into submission, stretched into submission - and if Verne didn?t like the way things were going, we?d start all over. He would have looked at Mick Foley on day one - after Mick failed to do even one thing Verne required - and said, ?Mick, I don?t think so.?

I don?t care how many thumbtacks Mick Foley has fallen on, how many ladders he?s fallen off of, how many continents he?s supposedly bled on, he?ll always be known as a glorified stuntman.

Verne Gagne didn?t fall off a ladder. Dory Funk, Jr. didn?t fall off a ladder. Neither did Wahoo, Steamboat, or Steve Austin. Terry Funk was a great worker before he started doing that. Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Jericho can do it and maintain their reputations because they?re already respected as athletes. And what about people who never did anything else, like the Sandman? He?s no wrestler. Hardcore became a niche for a lot of guys who couldn?t do **** -all in the ring.

I?m not saying that Mick Foley wasn?t a star, that he wasn?t a great attraction. But in my estimation, Mick Foley was not a great worker. He couldn?t punch. He couldn?t kick. In the World Wrestling Federation, he?d spend half the day before television broadcasts sucking up to the writers - because he?s such a fan of himself.

There?s a difference between being a great performer and being a guy - like Brutus Beefcake or the Ultimate Warrior - who became famous because he happened to be working for Vince. It?s the same with Foley. When he hasn?t been working for Vince, there?s been no demand for him whatsoever. He?s just another guy.

Mick Foley doesn?t understand what it was like to be on that booking committee. Jim Herd humiliated me and made me cut my hair - after I?d won the NWA championship six times. How much power did I have? When I was going through all that, how should I have been able to look at Mick Foley, push everything else aside, and mold him into a superstar?

Sting, on the other hand, was worthy of becoming the champion.

 

All right Robbie - your turn! Hulk Hogan is co-hosting some concert with his daughter down in Morehead City for the Seafood Festival in October. Go down there and thank him for destroying WCW.

 

[image=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/packageart/mugshots/ricflairmug1.jpg]

My man Flair is screwing up left and right! First a road rage arrest, now his wife wants divorce citing physical abuse as well as steroid and alcohol abuse. I love Ric, but I'd never mistake him for someone taking steroids, based on his current physique.

 

I am loving some TNA! Sounds like Sting is about to make his return with TNA, plus Chris Kanyon just showed up last week and he's one of my personal faves also. Then of course, there's always the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal Sabu!

[image=http://www.tnawrestling.com/turningpoint/live/large/07.jpg]

 

It's always fun to go to a Carolina Hurricanes game just to watch the jumbotron.

Wooo! with Ric Flair and the Carolina Hurricanes

 

TNA pulled its highest rating yet! The promo Sting cut was awesome! I expected to be excited to see him, but I didn't think I'd mark out like I did. Saying that he didn't feel he had the chance to say a proper goodbye to the fans was perfect. Then actually acknowledging the history of the business and his matches with Flair was great. WWE is terrified to ever mention the name of anyone in another fed and their concept of wrestling history only dates back to the 80's anyway. It only goes back further when it suits their need to put out another old-school DVD.

Anyway, despite a weird case of amnesia where Sting apparently forgot he wrestled for TNA earlier, the promo was great! The crowd reaction was perfect and his return was handled very much the way it should've been. The whole retirement thing still doesn't sit well so I hope the next show makes it apparent that even though he said he was gone, there is definitely gonna be a reason for him to come back.

 

When good wrestling goes bad . . .

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Looks like West has added promoting to his list of wrestling duties . . .

Wrestling in Ayden on May 7th

Big Time Wrestling

 

Unlocked and bumped per CR's request.

 

TNA Wrestlers coming to Raleigh/Knightdale

TNA's newest knockout, So Cal Val, has been added to the list of TNA Stars participating in the UWF's final two shows of the year December 15 at the Knightdale Recreation Center in Raleigh, NC and December 16 in South Hill, Virginia at the Wal-Mart building.

TNA Stars already confirmed include NWA World Champion Abyss, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Ron "The Truth" Killings, Rhino, Samoa Joe, Brother Runt, and many more stars.

 

Went to the TNA show last week. Incredible show! Best house show I've been to since WCW was still in business. Got autographs and/or pics with everybody working the show. I'll post some pics soon.

 

UWF LIVE in Wilson, North Carolina!
February 2, 2007
Bill Ellis Convention Center
3007 Downing St.
Wilson, NC
Doors Open:
Ultimate Experience 6:00
General Public 7:00

Bell Time 7:30

Scheduled Bouts Include:


Diamonds in the Rough
vs. Team 3-D


Steve Corino vs. Jerry Lynn


Bull Buchanan vs. Brother Runt

Featuring:

Team 3-D, Brother Ray & Devon
"Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner
"The King of Old School" Steve Corino
Jerry Lynn
Brother Runt
Maven
April Hunter
D-Lo Brown
Ron "The Truth" Killings
Lance Hoyt
Frankie Kazarian
Matt Bentley
Plus Many More Stars of To Be Announced!!!