Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:17 pm  

Roofs wrote:

Only thing with that though is (according to PowerSlam), he decided to quietly retire the Mr McMahon character after the Wrestlemania match with Bret. Unless he was going to go full circle and return to his babyface character (when he was a commentator) of the 80's and early-to-mid 90's, which might be good if pulled off well.

Powerslam have also said he's been told to stay off tv until after the elections in November to stop him doing something that may harm his wifes chances of getting elected.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:52 pm  

DAR130 wrote:

Powerslam have also said he's been told to stay off tv until after the elections in November to stop him doing something that may harm his wifes chances of getting elected.

Lol, yeah presumably all the other politicians and top dogs would not be impressed with the Kiss My Ass Club.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:54 pm  

lister wrote:

That is fantastic for Mick to do that, I have a lot of respect for him. Looking at it he really does huge amounts for numerous charities.

The promo Foley and Ric Flair did this week on iMPACT! was very good, yes there were some problems like shouting over each other but that made it more real. It also did the job of promoting their match on the live iMPACT!, which is now Last Man Standing.

Lister I am absolutely horrified at what I've just seen - that promo was scary, nonsensical, shocking and above all else fookin mental! Two crazy old sods in the ring right there! Seriously I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Flair, he must be so skint to be doing this!

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:27 am  

Roofs wrote:

Lister I am absolutely horrified at what I've just seen - that promo was scary, nonsensical, shocking and above all else fookin mental! Two crazy old sods in the ring right there! Seriously I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Flair, he must be so skint to be doing this!

Well it has been a 20 year feud both in wrestling and real life so that was what was being put across. You wouldn't see that in WWE now as they are scared of blood, bad language etc. etc. Flair has had 3 previous wives before the 1 he has now, 4 children and a grandchild I'm sure he does need more money again.

Thursday nights live TNA iMPACT! drew a 1.33 (1.3) cable rating, with a total audience of 1.7 million viewers.

The show's first hour had a 1.32 (1.3) rating, with a 1.33 (1.3) for the second hour. Quarter hours were: 1.16, 1.32, 1.40, 1.39, 1.44, 1.32, 1.27 and 1.30. The peak of the show was the post-match of Flair/Foley which pulled in a 1.44 (1.4), while the lowest was the Shore's debut and the beginning of the battle royale.

TNA ReAction, which followed iMPACT! and aired LIVE for the first time, drew a 0.71 (0.7) cable rating with 899,000 viewers.

A great decision to go live with the show before Bound For Glory and hopefully some of those turn into PPV buys.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 7:18 am  

lister wrote:

Well it has been a 20 year feud both in wrestling and real life so that was what was being put across. You wouldn't see that in WWE now as they are scared of blood, bad language etc. etc. Flair has had 3 previous wives before the 1 he has now, 4 children and a grandchild I'm sure he does need more money again.

A great decision to go live with the show before Bound For Glory and hopefully some of those turn into PPV buys.

Can see your points mate. However:

Although it's a 20 year fued it's already been done in WWE four years ago and it was a letdown then (e.g. because of them using too many terms/references from their books and the internet, most of which the live audience and probably a lot at home won't have understood).

Yes WWE wouldn't have allowed the blood and language, but to be fair neither of these enhanced the promos anyway. The blood for example did nothing but make both of them look like f'ing psychos (but not in a good "I gotta see this match" way). It was poorly done, neither of them made a lot of sense e.g. Foley going from hating Flair, to kissing his booty, to back to hating him. Flair's promos mean nothing compared to 15 or 20 years ago - he didn't shout and rave back then because he didn't need to. He was cocky, cool, and could wind the crowd up so much with his digs at the babyface (e.g. watch clips of his superb Randy Savage fued in WWF). Now he's just a deranged shell of his old self (and I hate to say that because I used to think the guy was class).

Are you saying that you sympathise with Flair's predicamant? He wasted so much money through four decades it's untrue. I've only heard the odd story but it sounds like he (same as Hogan) lived like a king for many, many years. I have no sympathy at all for him now. His 3rd marriage breaks up, costing him a sh*tload of money, so what does he do - quickly get married again, ffs! To go from one of the richest wrestlers in the world to where he is now is his fault and his fault only mate.

If you really want to see what Flair thinks of TNA, search for an Off The Record interview he did about 6 or 7 years ago (it's on that popular video sharing website). He's a hypocritical old get, so is Foley - both claiming that they couldn't stand each other, and Foley stating in 2004 that he would never work an angle with Flair, this is now his 2nd one. Neither of them have a place in TNA anymore IMO, and like I've said, that's coming from someone who was a fan of them both for many years, but the business moves on (well, in theory it's meant to ).

Anyway, that's my rant done...

On a more positive note, All-Star Wrestling was a great show at City Hall last night, great tag match involving El Ligero (a fantastic British worker who does some superb high-flying moves in a similar style to Rey Mysterio), strong women's match (far better then any I've seen in WWE for several years), and a fun Royal Rumble at the end, good stuff. Gutted though cos (apparantly) if the Hull date had been a week later Gangrel would have been there.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:30 am  

Roofs wrote:

Are you saying that you sympathise with Flair's predicamant?

I don't sympathise with him at all. I think too many celebs live for the moment, waste their money and don't think of what could happen in the future.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:56 am  

The promo was impromptu & was done ok for me. The match was brutal in every sense of the word.

I was a big mark for both Flair & Foley when they could both go a bit, but this was rotten. What really gets me about this is that Flairs problem with Foley was always that Flair saw him as a stunt man rather than a wrestler. Relying on dangerous looking high spots & lots of blood. Well 'scuse me Rick, what was the last match standing then ??? And, come to think about it, every match since he retired at Wrestlemania.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 1:40 pm  

I still mark out a bit for Foley, having seen what could be considered the peak of his career during the Attitude era, but in all the time I've watched wrestling (since about 1996) Flair has always been complete rubbish. A spotlight hogging embarrassment. I appreciate he may have been one of the all time greats, but I've never seen it.

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:04 pm  

gulfcoast_highwayman wrote:

I still mark out a bit for Foley, having seen what could be considered the peak of his career during the Attitude era, but in all the time I've watched wrestling (since about 1996) Flair has always been complete rubbish. A spotlight hogging embarrassment. I appreciate he may have been one of the all time greats, but I've never seen it.

Agree with everything there. Foley deserves tremendous credit for playing a big part in keeping the WWF's head above water in 1996 when they were really struggling (e.g. his series with The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were both good from what I've seen read), and then with Mankind and the Mr Socko gimmick he was a huge factor in the turnaround and Attitude Era. He, like many wrestlers, has gone back on his 'retirement' word several times, but he's still a great talker and overall I love his work as a performer (Randy Orton for one should always be grateful for what Foley did for his career).

I started watching wrestling in April 1991 (Wrestlemania 7 been the first PPV I saw). Flair debuted later that year and believe me mate, he was outstanding. The guy had charisma, the looks, and most importantly could tell a story as well as anyone else. His performance at the 1992 Royal Rumble is still one of my fondest wrestling memories (he lasted approx 60 minutes in it, to eliminate Sid Justice and become WWF champion). Until probably the mid 90's or so he was still having great matches in WWF and then WCW when he went back there. But, since probably 1998 you could count on one hand how many great matches he's had (Bret Hart, Vince McMahon believe it or not, Triple H, HBK at WM24). No shame in this at his age, but therefore he should not still be hogging prime time TV as a wrestler IMO. The guy's a legend and he always will be, but the more he does now the harder it is to remember the real Ric Flair, the guy who wrestled all over the world doing one-hour matches on a nightly basis, and inspired guys like HBK and HHH to become wrestlers. In terms of the wrestlers during my era (91-present) he's at best third, behind Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, but I loved the guy back in the day.

Hey so what happened with the match anyway?

Re: Men in Lycra - the Wrestling thread : Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:09 pm  

lister wrote:

I don't sympathise with him at all. I think too many celebs live for the moment, waste their money and don't think of what could happen in the future.

Agreed, same with Hogan, was watching a Honky Tonk Man shoot interview after the show last night, he gives you an impression of the money Hogan was making in the 80's (nevermind 90's in WCW). HTM said guys like Hillbilly Jim would get merchandise royalty cheques for $80,000 - imagine what Hogan was getting therefore?! (x the figure by four or five perhaps). Him and Flair must have made millions, and millions in the 80's and 90's, figures most guys can only dream of.