DaneBramage

Posted on 5/5/08 9:11 AM

What criteria do you use? Good matches? Kayfabe achievements? Importance of promotions wrestled for?

This week Triple H came top of the wrestler of the week poll, and as the new champion on Raw that can't really be argued with. However, being champion is nothing new for him as this is his 12th reign at the top. So for that reason, I only voted him in second place, instead giving my top spot to Matt Hardy. Obviously the US Title isn't as prestigious as the World Title, but winning it is more important for Matt Hardy's career than winning the World Title is for Triple H's. This is a sign that WWE still has faith in him after his long break from action, and the pay-off to a long running feud.

Similarly, that is one of the reasons that Jeff Hardy had such a good run towards the start of this year, as despite not managing to win the Title from Randy Orton, he was putting in good battles against him at the top of the card, an area he had never really had an extended run in before.

Good matches is a bit of a tricky one to use as criteria to include in the voting, as some weeks ROH shows are reported on as having several ****+ matches. The week with the Supercard of Honor/Dragon Gate shows could have been filled entirely with ROH wrestlers just for these. However, these are just fans' opinions on the matches, a proper educated opinion on them cannot be formed until several months later when the DVD is released, and so I try not to include wrestlers included in good matches on the indy scene unless there is universal opinion that it was a classic. For WWE and TNA good matches in the ****+ range are less common, so this is normally a good enough reason to include the wrestlers if it happens on one of the TV shows.

I normally check out the results for lots of promotions, so chances are that my nominations are more varied than most. In recent weeks I have voted for wrestlers from WWE, TNA, ROH, PWG, IWA-MS, CHIKARA, and IPW:UK. If more Japanese wrestlers were available I also would have voted for Keiji Mutoh (winning NOAH's IWGP Heavyweight Title for the fourth time), Suwama (winning AJPW's Champion Carnival Tournament and Triple Crown) and Gamma (winning Dragon Gate's Open The Brave Gate Title). I also would have voted for MsChif for winning the SHIMMER Title from Sara Del Rey.

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Posted on 4/27/08 5:51 PM

There's been a lot of blogs with fantasy booking recently, so I thought I'd point out this game for everyone.

It's a wrestling sim, where you take over a company and book shows for them, obviously trying to get the best shows possible. Wrestlers have stats for brawling, speed, technical, charisma and overness out of 100, with obviously the likes of Kurt Angle being rated higher than The Boogey Man.

Here's the website for it, which also has forums for updated data and scenarios, diaries based on the game etc.

http://www.ewbattleground.com/forum/index.php?showforum=5

This is the link to get the download you will need.
(Extreme Warfare Revenge 4.2)

http://www.ewbattleground.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43603&st=0&start=0

Games it could be compared are Football Manager 2008 and other text-based sims. (Though I doubt if many of you will know that game, the site being predominantly American).

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Posted on 4/24/08 10:19 AM

I'm all for more shows being added to this page, I'm just wondering what the relevance of these seemingly random 10 year old shows is?

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Posted on 4/21/08 8:00 PM

(For the sake of interest and different responses, let's not include the weekly Raws and Impacts etc)

The most recent show I've watched is Thunder Down Under. It's from when WCW were in Australia in November 2000. I'm a big WCW mark from back in the day so from when I downloaded this I'd been looking forward to watching it.

The show kicked off with a tag-team match featuring Shane Douglas and Canadian Champion Lance Storm against Konnan and General Rection (Hugh Morrus). Morrus scored the win for his team, hitting the No Laughing Matter Moonsault on Douglas after interference from Billy Kidman. The match was pretty good, but I am biased as Storm v Morrus is my favourite ever feud in wrestling. Morrus's moonsault is possibly the best in the business, especially for a big guy. And it is also worth pointing out that Torrie Wilson is so hot at this time, it's almost a disappointment to see more recent photos of her. And I digged the M.I.A.'s entrance music. [8/10]

Speaking of cool entrance music, next up is 'The Cat' Ernest Miller. He introduced an Australian kickboxing champion Sam Greco. He goes on for a bit, then out came 'Above Average' Mike Sanders (great nickname) and the Natural Born Thrillers. They jawjacked a bit, and Miller v Kevin Nash and Sanders v Sting got booked. Greco then knocked out Stasiak with a big kick. I like Sanders and Miller so this was okay. [6/10]

Next up was World Champion Booker T, and it has to be said he looks a lot cooler nowadays with dreadlocks. He called out Scott Steiner for at Halloween Havoc, but KroniK came out (more cool music) for a match instead. They lay a beatdown on Booker, until Goldberg makes the save. The brawl was a bit ugly at times, but was a decent enough segment. [6/10]

The Lava Lamp Lounge! Oh dear. Was this really the best use of Mike Awesome? At least as That 70's Guy he wasn't the Fat Chick Thriller. And his guests are Kwee-Wee and Paisley (Sharmell). It looks like they're going to get into a brawl, but instead are both laid out by Johnny 'The Bull' Stamboli (RelliK) and the Harris Brothers. Was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. [6/10]

Chuck Palumbo v Goldberg is next. I'm guessing squash. Spear on Stasiak! Spear on Palumbo! Jackhammers to each! Goldberg squashing bitches is always fun. [7/10]

Sting v Mike Sanders is supposedly next. But instead Jeff Jarrett came out dressed as Sting. Jarrett is about to take a dive, but of course the real Sting is out and runs him off before beating Sanders. Strangely, for a WCW mark I was never a particularly big Sting fan. [6/10]

Midajah is with Scott Steiner! [10/10]

Rey Mysterio Jr. (unmasked) is out for a match with Steiner, this can't end well for him. He gets destroyed. Steiner squashing dwarves is also always fun. [7/10]

Main event time - Kevin Nash v Ernest Miller. This gonly lasts a couple of minute, before Sanders hits Miller with a chair and he and Nash plan to destroy him. Booker makes the save, but if followed to the ring by Steiner. And then Sting. And Jarrett. And Goldberg. And KroniK. the show ends with a big brawl. [6/10]

Final rating [7/10]

Overall, it was a good little show. Nothing great, but nothing bad either. Without adverts it was only an hour long, and a lot was packed into it. It was good watching it, a lot of nostalgia and appearances by some favourites (Storm, Morrus, Kidman, Awesome). Would have been nice for any match to go longer than 5 minutes though.

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Posted on 3/11/08 2:17 PM

What a complete and utter bellend. Biggest push of his career and he messes it up. Moron.

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