The Wrasslin' thread

[danvitale]

My interest in Pro Wrestling has been perked recently (thanks to CM Punk) - as I have discussed with Scott and Mike on Twitter.. so I'd thought I'd start a thread to discuss the goings on to allow other fans to chime in with their thoughts

[mikesuszek]

This CM Punk angle is, in my opinion, one of the most important ones in the history of the business to date. That's saying a lot, but all of it is based on real-life issues, around how shitty that company and Vince McMahon really are to their talents, and how Punk was buried before he had a chance to shine.

No one has truly earned where he is like Punk has. And he's not lying when he says he's the best wrestler in the world. No one touches him.

[DarthObvious]

All I can say is I haven't been this excited to go to a RAW (next week in Green Bay) in quite some time, and I'm not even sure Punk will be there. Green Bay to me has always seemed like a bit of a hardcore wrestling crowd, so it should be fun.

[danvitale]

Here you go guys - I've been working on this for a while - hope you enjoy it


Dan's top 10 Raw memories



10 - Marty Janetty vs Shawn Michaels (Intercontinental Championship match).

After being the fantastic Rockers for years, these two former tag partners split when Shawn put Marty through the Barbershop window and became both a singles wrestler and one of the top heels of the era. This Raw had already started with the 1-2-3 Kid (Xpac/Syxx) beating Razor Ramon (Scott Hall)… so they topped that upset by having Janetty return and Mr Perfect being involved in a match of great quality.




9 - Benoit/Saturn/Malenko/Guerrero move North

Months and years of backstage politics took their toll on four of WCW's most consistent and talented performers until they finally had enough and moved north at the same time. This moment was the second big shot in the WWF's resurgence in the Monday Night Wars - but the addition of Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero in particular was significant in the history of the WWF at the time. Both would end up embracing holding World Titles at the end of Wrestlemania XX.




8 - Ric Flair vs Mr Perfect (Career Ending match)

This match, that took place in early 1993 was the result of an angle that saw Curt Hennig return from a long term back injury sustained almost two years prior. Formally Flair's "Executive Consultant", Hennig had "led" Flair to two WWF championships. Going into Survivor Series, the WWF had terminated the contract of the Ultimate Warrior, and a brilliantly devised episode of Primetime saw Hennig start as Flair's manager, and end with him tagging up with Savage to face Flair and Razor Ramon. After a storyline that went through the Royal Rumble, the rivalry concluded with this career ending match that ended up being a classic.

(Part 1)
(Part 2)


7 - Diamond Dallas Page debuts in the WWF as The Undertaker's stalker

During the Invasion months of 2001, when the newly purchased WCW was being folded into the WWF, wrestlers were making debuts every week on Raw and Smackdown. Some first appearances were impressive, others were disappointing. However it was the Stalker angle featuring the Undertaker's real life (then) wife, Sara that generated the most interest. Going into this Raw the Stalker was promised to be unmasked, but the reaction was quite unlike anything seen. The crowd noise that was generated by the Stalker riding down on 'Taker's bike went from being severe heat to large pop when the masked man was unveiled as one of WCW's most popular faces, DDP.




6 - Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (Steel cage match)

Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit had been tearing up the WWF during this period, including a fantastic matchup at Wrestlemania, however it was this Steel cage match that had people wowing. Both put their bodies on the line with an Angle moonsault and Benoit headbutt from the top of the cage being the highlights. Add in a heel Austin causing havoc and you have one hell of a match that could have taken top bill on any pay per view

(Part 1)
(Part 2)
(Part 3)
(Part 4)


5 - ECW gatecrashes the Invasion

During the Invasion angle, casual fans were seeing matchups the thought they could never dream of between the two big promotions. However things took a hardcore turn with the introduction of ECW into the fold. The way that Paul Heyman's promotion was introduced into the storyline was nothing short of genius, and had dedicated fans of the Philadelphia promotion marking out. This segment also saw the full debut of Rob Van Dam, who would end up winning the WWE Championship before jumping to TNA and doing the same there.




4 - Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit vs Triple H & Steve Austin (WWF Tag Team championship match)

The team of Helmsley and Austin (called the Two Man Power Trip) were THE top heels of the time and defended the Tag titles against the "underdog duo of Jericho and Benoit. This was perhaps the match of the year, and entertained from start to end. Perhaps even more impressive about this match was that Triple H tore his quad muscle in the last moments of the bout and continued on to finish the bout. He remained on the sidelines for nearly a year as a result.

(Part 1)
(Part 2)


3 - CM Punk "shoots" at everything in site

The most recent memory and one of the finest promos of all time, CM Punk delivered here on all levels. In an angle revolving around his real life contract situation with the WWE, Punk and the creative team allowed an authorised "shoot" type speech, allowing CM to unload on almost anything that could come to mind. The most relevant common complaints about the WWE in the past decade was aired live on television, and even though questions remained on how much of this speech was predetermined, and how badly it may have been received backstage, this moment in Raw history has had fans and fellow wrestlers buzzing ever since and has people like me have their interest in the business reignited.




2 - Chris Jericho debuts

For years before WWF had lost it's finest talent to WCW. Nitro was on a two year ratings win streak and the NWO had given Ted Turner's company the greatest angle in wrestling history. However internal politics and glass ceiling booking had generated enough chaos to drive one of it's best talent out of the door. For once, one of WCW's crown jewels had left to go north, and after weeks of a mysterious millennium countdown on Raw Chris Jericho made his debut by interrupting the Rock promo. The debut generated monster pop from the crowd, an instant rivalry and was the first shot in the big WWF fightback. The WWF would end up winning the war by purchasing WCW less than two years later.




1 - Mick Foley wins the WWF Title

The man known as Dude Love, Cactus Jack and then Mankind ends up top in my list of memorable Raw moments. After years of putting his body through hell, Mick Foley's reward would be a long awaited WWF title reign won during the peak of the ratings wars. At the time Raw was taped every other week, and one of Eric Bischoff's tactics was to broadcast the results of the taped Raw on their live broadcast of Nitro. News of Foley winning the title on Nitro resulted in hundreds of thousands of viewers switching over to Raw to see the Rock be on the receiving end of a Stone Cold chairshot and the resulting three count. Never was one person more deserving of a world title, a record audience to see it, and the respect given to him afterwards.

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