Skip to main content

Blog fodder

Scott, scouring the web trying to pass time on the overnight shift.  Figured id get your opinion on some completely random stuff.

1) If you had to bet your house on: The Rock appearing on wwe tv again but not wrestling, never appearing on wwe tv again, coming back at some point and doing a short run that includes a WM match, which do you pick (excluding HOF tv appearances.)

2) Where in the blue hell is Big Johnny in this Bryan/HHH angle?  Hed be the perfect HHH lackey.

3) If Hogan decides he doesnt want to turn NwO, what happens?  Doesn't he position himself as the top opposing face and eventually go over the entire NwO, thus killing it in less then a year? 

4) Rank these in order of ability to work: Austin, Rock, Cena, Brock.


1
.  Safest bet would be appearing but not wrestling.  The injury from last WM was apparently really bad and I can't see insurance companies letting him continue doing that with $20 million paydays on the line.  But I can't see Rock staying away from WWE forever either. 

2.  He got fired ages ago and replaced by HHH and his cronies in real life.  I think he's still working as a road agent for house shows, but Johnny is very much a product of the previous regime and was gonna be one of the first to go when HHH took over.  

3.  Yeah, I couldn't see Hogan as a babyface opposing the nWo working out for them very well.  

4.  Austin could do anything pre-injury and almost as much post-injury.  Brock is a freak of nature but within a limited style so he gets #2.  Rock was great with someone greater than him but didn't tend to carry weaker guys to strong matches so he's #3.  Cena always delivers in the big matches and can carry guys within his one style of match, but he's a total product of the WWE system and he'd be lost if forced to do things like they did in the old days.  Which isn't to say he's not great in own way but he can't touch any of the other three.  

Comments

  1. Didn't someone mention Johnny Ace taking part of Pritchard's TNA duties after Bruce was shitcanned?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Man, WWE IS sabotaging TNA.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If I remember correctly, didn't Foley break Johnny Ace's arm during a top rope backdrop and screw his chances in NJPW or something way back in the day?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm not sure it was Foley, but that story does ring a bell... something about Johnny being Mrs. Baba's favorite wrestler, and whoever injured him seriously displeased the lady.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Big Johnny was a guilty pleasure of mine in his corporate role vs Punk. His doofy natural demeanor was just so great.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Is there anyone left in the camp that Rock wasn't truly injured? There were some funny conspiracy theorists around that time...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rock is the best ever on the mic and his moveset is still more interesting to me than Cena's (even in 2013), but ranking Cena last here is just wrong.



    Look no further than both of their respective matches with CM Punk.


    If you're talking 1999-2000 Rock (who had actual cardio and wasn't 2002 HHH'd with roids) then maybe it's closer, but I still think Cena has him beat there. And I am not a Cena fan.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think I agree with you. Rock also only wrestled one style and probably would be lost in the 80s NWA.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yea, it seemed completely overblown now. I dont remember the details but was definitely disappointed he didnt show up at the Raw to give his "good byes" to the WWE. Never thought he was faking though

    ReplyDelete
  10. Other than his time in Memphis when that was an unofficial developmental league for WWF, Rock basically came up through the system too. I think Cena outranks Rock easily. Of course, I've never loved Rock in the ring to begin with.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Austin
    Cena
    Brock
    Rock

    ReplyDelete
  12. You can't use the Punk matches. That's like using some shitty gassed-up Randy Savage match from late 90's WCW against a really good worker.


    I think Cena is better than Rock but it's closer than people would like to admit, the style nowadays is so sanitized. But out of that group, it's a battle for last.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I know its old news but the NwO topic fascinates me. How does WCW play out those years in a political power struggle between Hogan (assuming hes the top face) vs Hall, Nash, whoever the third guy would be, and possibly the hottest angle ever. Yea, I know its not nearly as big without Hogan turning, but if they coulda milked it until Bret being the 3rd guy it woulda still been huge? Does Hogan insist on going over everyone? Would Nash and Hall have enough political pull to hold off Hogan and keep the nwo strong? Someone invent a time machine so we can go back and play out this alternate reality.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Baby face Hogan against the nWo and them jobbing immediately would have killed wrestling.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just want to add that Bret Hart also would have been a total disaster as leader of the nWo. Sting might have worked but he just doesn't have the mic skills to pull it off. Ditto for Luger.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is why it's so easy to dismiss Cena, even though he always delivered "good" matches. They're good, but they're almost always the exact same kind of match. That's also why Cena's match with Lesnar from last year is remembered so fondly, because it was a great John Cena match and it was a DIFFERENT John Cena match.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I don't know, maybe Scott is right with Rock being a naturally better worker than Cena in his prime, but Cena has worked much better matches than Rock has in his lifetime.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I don't agree. His great matches with Punk were distinctly different than his great matches with Triple H which were different than his great matches with Shawn Michaels. The guy adapts to opponents' styles FAR better than Scott gives him credit for. Plus, Rock only pushes himself as far as his opponent is willing to push, whereas Cena goes full throttle no matter the devotion of his opponent. I'd rank Cena above Rock.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Savage as the leader of the nWo would have been fascinating, starting the group to finally take out the cancer than is Hulk Hogan. But then, they would have been jobbed out immediately.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Austin was heads and shoulders above those other 3 guys. He's an all time great worker.
    I think its pretty clear Brock is #2 but I'd put cena ahead of rock. Not by much but cenas probably carried a few more guys and hit a higher level of match more often. However rock didnt have as good of guys to work against in the attitude era. All 4 guys are fantastic really. And if you wanted to say Brock should be 4th because his sample size is so much smaller I couldn't argue that.

    ReplyDelete
  21. But you can use the Punk matches as part of his body of work. The man has delivered, and delivered big, in the main event spot for years with many ****+ matches against a variety of opponents (form Umaga, to Punk, to RVD).

    ReplyDelete
  22. Rock is one of the best ever on the mic. I can't get over how good CM Punk was against him this last year though. Made me second guess myself whenever I say Rock is the best talker ever.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It's a shame Brock quit so quickly during his first run b/c he had the athleticism and skill to be an all time great big man worker as well. Just looking at his range in the great HitC with Taker and then the WMXIX match with Angle is amazing. Of course, without the sabbatical we wouldn't have gotten the fairly innovative style he's used in the matches vs. Punk and Cena now.

    ReplyDelete
  24. This is spot on.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I find it amusing that the Rock/Cena combo led to a VERY disappointing WM main even this year, from a workrate standpoint.

    ReplyDelete
  26. And Hogan had the mic skills? His promos as nWo chief sucked.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I think it's kinda funny that people are accusing Cena of only knowing one style but putting Brock at #2. Lesnar has one match in him.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I'd go so far as to say that Austin is actually a really underrated worker, but I'm a total fanboy.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Maybe now, but compare Angle WM19 and Cena Extreme Rules and I think there different enough. Brock is hard to rank though because he does have his limitations and his preferred style. I could be talked into putting him 2-4 depending on my mood

    ReplyDelete
  30. Cena's career has also been fair bit longer.

    ReplyDelete
  31. He definitely was. Pre-neck injury, he was awesome yet you rarely hear about it (except places like the BoD).

    ReplyDelete
  32. Without Hogan on the stick, I don't see the nWo going nearly as far a they did. Granted, by mid 97, we were all tired of Hulk's 20 minute tirades, but his bash promo is one of the all time great interviews of wrestling history. Hogan's promos set the tone for the nWo.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Any first major promo after a heel turn is gonna draw heat.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Jarrett took over Pritchard's role as head of Talent Relations. Bischoff took over Pritchard's other role as head of Creative. Big Johnny is not in TNA

    ReplyDelete
  35. It needed to be Rock from ten years ago for it to be a great match

    I think rock did as well as you could expect for someone who barely wrestle for 10 years & who was injured mid match

    ReplyDelete
  36. I have always thought Austin was one of the top ten workers of all time- his rep suffers because of the type if matched he had after a near career ending injury- but before that he was step-for-step with Hart and HBK. Even after he could still work with Kurt and the two Canadian Chris(s) without missing a beat.

    ReplyDelete
  37. They overdid it, but after Vince got fired/HHH is COO angle, i thought they were going for a Johnny Ace corporate takeover angle.


    Like "okay Vince got fired by the board of directors.... HHH is too green at his job so he needs toi lean on me (Ace), Im going to play him and get him out the way and then I WILL BE IN CHARGE OF THE WWE."

    ReplyDelete
  38. i thought he was faking

    ReplyDelete
  39. Set the tone? Well I'll give you that.


    Weren't they so long and nonsensical they had to be edited down to the weird clip things that made nWo distinct?

    ReplyDelete
  40. If Hogan isnt the 3rd guy, the nWo is dead by Starrcade.


    Or else they would be in a parallel universe ala Punk/Heyman/Brock



    He had COMPLETE CREATIVE CONTROL over his character. He vetos everything.


    "not gonna work for me brother."

    ReplyDelete
  41. Scott


    You are super off on this one.


    Austin, or course
    Cena, and its not even close between 2 and 3
    Rock
    Brock


    Cena has turned out classic after classic after classic with a wide variety of wrestlers with differing styles.


    Jericho, Christian, Angle,HHH,Edge,Umaga, Lashley (forgotten classic), HBK, Batista, Punk, Bryan, Brock, (im not a fan of the matches) Rock.


    Because he came up in the santized WWE system (along with Brock Lesnar I might add at the same time as well) doesn't mean anything.


    As Drunk Murphy said, Rock did the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Nash says that Hogan would go into his wacky 80's "wrestling voice" (which drove Nash nuts) but they wanted the nWo promos to be more realistic and not that cheesy. So they ended up editing most of them down.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hence my incredulity at how they needed Hogan's "mic skills".

    ReplyDelete
  44. My question was semi-rhetorical, but thanks for the backup anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Ah, thanks. I thought it was a rumor... but I wasn't sure.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Yeah definitely. The fact that he was able to find a style that allowed him to have memorable matches even while in crippling pain that limited what he could do, shows that he was just an elementally great worker.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I thought it was a superplex, some move where Ace's arm got caught underneath him and broke. He was Mrs. Baba's favorite wrestler and Foley was done after.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Yeah, I thought he had this awesome anti-charisma.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Eh, Rock was mailing it in HARD the last two years both in the ring and on the mic.

    ReplyDelete
  50. If it's Sting I wonder if it works out like the Invasion did?

    ReplyDelete
  51. If Austin never injures his neck he's the GOAT, no question.

    ReplyDelete
  52. For me it's:
    Austin
    Brock
    Rock
    Cena


    Austin, if he doesn't have the neck injury, is the GOAT and it's not even close. Austin moved into the underrated category because his last year of in-ring action and his post-retirement characters were stale. But having watched more of his pre-injury stuff and thinking about how great he was as the brawling champion, it's amazing. IMO, because the Rock went into movies we forget that Austin was always the bigger star in the wrestling ring until they both weren't active.


    Brock is just a mutant to me. You can't pin the HHH matches on him (because he was forced to work Hunter's match) but man is he amazing.


    Rock could probably be #2. I admit that I've been biased against the guy in part because he mailed it in for the last two years as a part of the WWE and in part because of the fawning people did over him. But 1999 and 2000 Rock was the tits. Though I've always loathed face Rock.


    Cena is a guy who I'm underrating and I'll probably regret this in a few years.

    ReplyDelete
  53. "Anti-charisma" might be the best description of Big Johnny ive ever heard. Im stealing this term.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Thank you, but he played the character perfectly. He was supposed to be this wooden, oblivious stooge and he was so perfect in the role. If anything, I thought his problem was that he was too subtle.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Yea, I agree with you. It completely amazes me that he single handedly could have killed the entire thing.

    ReplyDelete
  56. and looks like George Takei

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment