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Post by jameshilliv on Nov 26, 2022 4:17:14 GMT
That's something a lot of current wrestlers don't get. When every move is a flippy spinny move they lose effectiveness, especially when they are blatantly choreographed. The older matches had a lot more of the wrestlers grappling for control, which made it look real. Then towards the end of the match a few big moves would come out and they made an impact in the match. Some guys today seem to be on the turnbuckle as much as they are on the mat. But look at someone like Jimmy Snuka. He rarely if ever got on the top rope except for his finisher. I don't know, maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old man who likes to complain.
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Post by BakFu on Nov 26, 2022 13:50:57 GMT
Even just the little things, I feel like something as basic as a collar and elbow tie up can set the tone for a match, watching Jerry Briscoe and Steamboat tie up, there’s a lot of physicality and explosiveness there. Even arm drags and hip tosses are crisp and look violent, kind of like those gifs I found of Arn Anderson’s DDT and spine buster, there’s focus and INTENT in even these basics. The slaps and shoots by the Briscoes as the opponents stalk each other in the ring looking for an advantage before a lock up, before even a move is executed, that stuff sets a tone. It’s odd to see how much different things are now, in some cases it doesn’t look like it’s even the same thing anymore. It’s interesting to see the current interpretation of what pro wrestling is, and how it has adapted to its audiences capacity to focus and their likes. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you look at the changes since that old match, it would be like comparing Middle English to modern English, some aspects and the basic structure are the same, but pretty much unrecognizable and incoherent to either party on the opposite ends of the comparison.
OT: Steamboat must have been doing a LOT of push-ups and taking his vitamins back then! 😂
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Post by jameshilliv on Nov 27, 2022 5:17:48 GMT
Those little things made the matches. It was a struggle between two wrestlers to gain control and wear their opponent down so they can eventually hit them with the big move(s) and win. The younger people watching wrestling now grew up with the internet and instant gratification. They don't want the buildup, they want to see exciting stuff from the beginning. Whether it's a good thing or not is up to each individual person. It just seems to me the older style of wrestling had a flow to it. I don't watch wrestling now, but when I do come across a match it always looks more like a choreographed dance than a wrestling match. I also noticed that Ricky Steamboat was way more jacked up then he was later in the WWF & WCW.
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Post by OrochiGeese on Nov 27, 2022 8:35:37 GMT
You know what bakes my holiday goose about many modern matches (especially in AEW)?
You can see high spots to the outside coming from a mile away based on how the other wrestlers start to gather and then suddenly act like they are completely inept or dazed (like in SF2) for 30 seconds to give the attacker enough time to run the ropes or climb the post. It looks ridiculous cause of how obvious it is. It's really just as bad for immersion as when wrestlers would stomp their feet while punching or even calling out their spots too loud. What's worse is that those huge high spots to the outside rarely amount to anything in the actual flow of the match. The cost of getting injured is soooo much higher than the actual value the spots do for the storytelling of the match or the individual wrestler's pop.
I also am getting a bit tired of the 4 person corner post superplex/powerbomb spots where they may as well just turn into a Voltron or something 🤖
There really is a huge difference between the body language of pro wrestlers who act like they want to win and/or hurt their opponent vs. wrestlers who act like they are doing complicated choreography for a wire trapeze act or a Broadway dance number 👯♀️👯♂️ JR used to say this ain't ballet but I don't know anymore 😭
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Post by gotchism4life on Nov 27, 2022 23:58:05 GMT
In leading up to the Survivor Series last night, I was re-watching older Survivor Series events. Even though this was full blown cartoony WWF (which I have a soft spot for), it looked more like a fight than modern stuff. While I can enjoy modern WWE, it isn't the same because they aren't trying to fight. That being said, Balor vs AJ last night looked like they were trying to have a fight, so that match worked well.
I think pro wrestling works when it's presented and treated like a sport. That's why I like older footage. Give me AWA, NWA, NJPW and UWFi over AEW and modern WWE any day of the week.
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Post by BakFu on Nov 29, 2022 20:25:48 GMT
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Post by BakFu on Dec 8, 2022 15:05:42 GMT
Another cool find, sports action comics #9, published in 1951, featured the Ed “strangler” Lewis story (or a version of it). There are just a few pages of the actual comic book, but it’s kinda cool to see that his story was featured in a comic book alongside other sports figures of the era. www.prowrestlingcomics.com/articles |
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Post by BakFu on Jan 22, 2023 16:05:33 GMT
Old ROH from 2010, Kings of Wrestling (Hero & Castagnoli) vs The Briscoes. Castagnoli looks exactly the same, that guy is a machine.
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Post by BakFu on Feb 2, 2023 2:43:43 GMT
Does anyone do the mist better?!   |
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Post by BakFu on Feb 5, 2023 22:43:57 GMT
I’ve been making my way through Brian Solomon’s bio book about The Sheik Ed Farhat, Blood and Fire. It’s pretty interesting, especially if you’re interested in the history of territory wrestling, or just want a glimpse into the very private life of a true master of the sadly lost art of Kayfabe, the Sheik. The Japan chapter has been especially interesting to me so far, especially when you consider Sheik’s first tour of Japan with Baba was 1973, and he’d have been in his mid/late 40s, and his Detroit territory was on the decline, but he ended up having a huge surge in popularity and a career resurgence in All Japan. The Open Tag League tournament sounded pretty amazing, and culminated in the match between Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher vs Terry and Dory Jr. the two teams had a few barn burners, so I looked to see if any of them were available to watch, and found this one that was of decent quality. The Funks were the favourites in this one, and no, there are no acrobatics or anything, but this is a fight. Pretty amazing to see how the crowd reacts to this stuff, especially when now it seems that pretty soon the announcers will be putting each other through tables and smoking each other with chairs, this was a fun one to watch! Match starts after tournament highlights at around 3:45.
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Post by BakFu on Feb 11, 2023 16:21:14 GMT
I’ve always been a Jay Lethal fan, I wish they’d try a bit harder to position him in a top spot in AEW, but that isn’t going to happen. At least there are piles of old matches to watch, and lots of footage of his amazing ability to impersonate other wrestlers! I think he might do Ric Flair as well as the man himself!
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Post by BakFu on Feb 21, 2023 5:54:54 GMT
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Post by BakFu on Feb 21, 2023 6:12:01 GMT
Toss this in there for the hell of it…  |
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Post by unimportantguy on Feb 21, 2023 9:44:43 GMT
Young Minoru Suzuki really was unsettlingly handsome in a yakuza-ish sort of way.
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Post by BakFu on Feb 21, 2023 13:50:32 GMT
Young Minority Suzuki really was unsettlingly handsome in a yakuza-ish sort of way. That dude has always looked mobbed up to me. I remember seeing pictures of him from Pancrase a billion years ago and thinking, this guy should be covered in tattoos and/or sitting in the front row with the rest of the Yakuza and the sumo wrestlers. There are piles of cool, funny, dated pics of Suzuki and Funaki from the early days, and they’re all great in their own way. But yeah, what a mug on Suzuki, and that HAIR! That was part of the Pancrase uniform in the early days, small speedo, kick pads, Otomix on Onitsuka shoes, taped wrists, and a professionally coifed, Hollywood headliner worthy mane (unless your name was Bas Rutten 😁). |
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