Board 8 > All-Purpose Wrestling Topic 400: The Ultimate Shill Ride

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/845517529867059201
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https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/846131506057654272

This MAY be my new favorite "autistic meltzer" tweet ever
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iiaattgg posted...

Why?

If it wasn't clear he meant if Angle came back full time he'd kill himself in the ring.

At least the matches would probably still be good though, because Angle is crazy.
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I really feel that if Angle can somehow pass medical and Bryan can't, something's wrong.

I'm not saying Bryan should be out there wrestling his old style. I would absolutely trust him to put together a single great match with Miz where he never has to take a bump though.
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Yeah Miz seems like one of the best guys on the roster to face for that too. Hell they literally talked about how damn safe The Miz is for fuel in the feud.

I bet there's as much politic going on there as actual medical concerns.
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Do you really trust that if you put Bryan out there at WM he WILL hold back, even if you order him to?
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I don't trust Bryan to not do something like a suicide dive to the outside and last I saw Miz is still really bad at catching people.
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He lacks imagination if he feels he has to go all out in any match for it to be good.

Personally if I was a wrestler I would almost enjoy the challenge of trying to put together a match that is actually good that doesn't involve me taking any bumps. It'd be like a puzzle!
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I mean we already saw with Bryan that when he had to miss a bunch of time due to head injuries it didn't stop him from doing the exact same stuff when he was back. History doesn't suggest he's all too willing to learn.
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Btw, wife and I are watching Lucha Underground and loving it.

Though I can't help but draw parallels between Son of Havoc's storyline and Marchie Archie's Losing Streak/losing girlfriend storyline from when I started watching CHIKARA (complete with taking to long to do an off the top rope finisher resulting in losing). And it seems just as effective now.

There are some good storylines and great matches happening though. We love the Lucha Libre style.

I can't tell if they are using Lucha Tag Rules or not though. It seems like they are but Striker/Vampiro never comment on it which seems weird to me.
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The thing is, if you DON'T let him, then in 18 months he's gonna leave and do at least one more match somewhere else. I think he's made that clear.

"You can have a match but no bumps" seems like a reasonable meeting in the middle. Maybe he'll defy you in front of the crowd, but if you don't give him the chance then you KNOW he'll defy you later.

Hell they let 2010 Bret Hart come back and do it.
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I mean that may be-- I'm just saying I feel that reflects poorly on his abilities as a wrestler if he feels he has to.

And yeah I'm finally getting around to watching Lucha Underground now that it's conveniently on Netflix-- also because I have a wrestling void now that I've dropped Raw.

Good stuff so far! Makes me even more upset that MVP was going to be on Lucha Underground at one point but screwed something up with the contract stips and was fired. What can you do.
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Unless of course WWE owns every other company by then <_<
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Lopen posted...

Good stuff so far! Makes me even more upset that MVP was going to be on Lucha Underground at one point but screwed something up with the contract stips and was fired. What can you do.

He spoiled a storyline point on a podcast before it aired on TV
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Right.

Which I mean, is totally dumb to be sure but that doesn't mean I can't think it's maybe slightly harsh and be upset it happened! Like I'd imagine it was unintentional so maybe a fine and a "do that again and you're fired" may have sufficed but who can know.
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It's funny that screwing up LU is why he left TNA too. Telling Dixie and Gaburick that Hernandez's LU contract was over and he was free to sign. Nope! There goes 5 weeks of pre-taped storyline!
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Jakyl25 posted...

The thing is, if you DON'T let him, then in 18 months he's gonna leave and do at least one more match somewhere else. I think he's made that clear.

"You can have a match but no bumps" seems like a reasonable meeting in the middle. Maybe he'll defy you in front of the crowd, but if you don't give him the chance then you KNOW he'll defy you later.

Hell they let 2010 Bret Hart come back and do it.

I think we can all agree Bryan wouldn't agree to a match if it was 2010 Bret levels of non-bumping on his end <_<

From the WWE perspective, not giving him the chance is what they want. If he leaves and does it somewhere else, he's not defying anyone, and they're not to blame if he gets himself killed. Maybe they could find a way to talk him into working a really safe match, but is that even going to stop him from leaving when his contract is up so he can go do flying headbutts on some other show?
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I'm confused as to how Bryan could have a proper match without bumping.

Unless I'm misconstruing what bumping is? But like at some point he's going to leave his feet in some form or another.
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Bryan and Miz have a Quack/Colt style all-Catch wrestling match?
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TheRock1525 posted...

I'm confused as to how Bryan could have a proper match without bumping.

Unless I'm misconstruing what bumping is? But like at some point he's going to leave his feet in some form or another.

He could take Miz down; that would get them to the mat without him bumping

Miz also has that corner clothesline which could easily lead to him slumping to the mat in the corner. Then Miz tries a running DB dropkick to show him up, Bryan gets out of the way, bam now Miz is down and Bryan is grappling him
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Yeah that sounds pretty awful.

I don't doubt Bryan could take out a decent amount of his bad bumps offensively but not bumping at all for Miz would just make Miz look like a clown.
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Well Bryan can probably work a Metamoris style match.
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Also if the lesion on his brain completely healed but they didn't tell anyone, they could do this match and we'd be all like "hey that was really cool and safe! Great job Bryan!" And then Samoa Joe comes out and DESTROYS him

New top heel
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Well I think "literally not bumping" is a bit more careful than he needs to be. Just nothing like diving headbutts or suicide dives. Miz's offense in general should be safe-- if you're going to think he's in any sort of serious risk of injury from a Skull Crushing Finale the guy is at that kinda risk just walking around-- don't trip you may die !!!!
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Yeah Lopen's right if he legitimately needs a no-bump match to be safe then no one should ever want to see him in the ring again. I was thinking more along the lines of just not doing any of the crazy stuff he likes to do with dives and headbutts and taking huge bumps. I'm hoping he's healthy enough for that to be safe if he really does want to wrestle again.
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It's strange how the Dudleyz or Tommy Dreamer can get cleared, but Bryan can't.

Thing is, as much as I'd like to see Bryan back, with WWE booking, they'd have him lose every match because they know he can lose and still be over.
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Well thr trick is that lesion in his brain may not be a problem in one single match.

But every time he takes a bump hes literally playing the lottery with his ability to walk see speak etc. That is his prerogative i guess but wwe isnt obliged to let him take it.
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Well the question is where the odds are. Is winning the lottery getting injured, or not getting injured.

Like if you're taking bumps that have a 1:100000 chance of causing serious damage then why not just let him do his thing. I mean I know you can't assign exact probabilities but you know what I mean-- otherwise you may as well tell people they can't drive to get from arena to arena cause the chances of a fatal car accident.
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Technically, aren't they all playing the lottery with their lives?

Misawa died from a backdrop, some trainees have died from what were supposed to be safe hits too.

Even if he was fully healthy you're not gonna reduce the probability to zero. Tenryu's retirement match, he was an immobile 65 year old, but he was still taking bumps.
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Well there's freak accidents or things that weren't accounted for, and then there's knowing Bryan has head injuries and letting him go out there and do things to damage it more
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It all depends on the extent of the head injuries and their sensitivity.

I mean there becomes a point where the risk of taking certain bumps with a certain head injury being known has a low enough risk to actually cause damage that it may as well be a freak accident backdrop if something goes wrong. I don't know exactly what Bryan's injuries are or their extent, but given the guy is still considering wresting and he doesn't strike me as a super stupid person I would imagine they're closer to the "wrestle with some amount of caution and you should be fine, but WWE is being super cautious because of POLITIC or whatever" than "you're rolling the dice with every light bump you take or doing any sort of physical activity at all"
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Bryan being a smart wrestler and given who he's wrestled with and who he admires, I think he's got an idea of which style to use.

Like honestly, if he wrestles the way Minoru Suzuki does...is he really going to get many injuries? That guy is considered by his peers to be one of the best in the world. He doesn't do flips, ranas, suicide dives, tope con hilos or any of that stuff. He mostly smacks your chest silly, kicks, dropkicks, stomps and uses submissions.

Wouldn't Bryan be able to extend his career just kicking people in the chest and getting slapped on it as well?
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It's not a question of whether he can, it's a question of whether he's willing to.
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What if this back and forth is really a cover for him training under the radar to develop a different in ring style so he can be safe when he makes his return by beating Roman (post Taker match) to close Wrestlemania.
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I will continue to support WWE in and not letting Bryan perform. They don't need the bad press if he dies in the ring and I don't think he will realize they were right until one of the worst case scenarios occur.
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I would also like to say it's not fair to any of DB's opponents either. Because they'd need to be super careful. Because who wants to be the guy that cripples a guy as beloved as him?
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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I would also like to say it's not fair to any of DB's opponents either. Because they'd need to be super careful. Because who wants to be the guy that cripples a guy as beloved as him?

Vince just read this post and had a great idea for how to get Roman over...
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And Bryan shakes his hand while being stretchered out and says "youre the man now roman"
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eaedwards6400 posted...

I will continue to support WWE in and not letting Bryan perform. They don't need the bad press if he dies in the ring and I don't think he will realize they were right until one of the worst case scenarios occur.

There's no chance he would die in the ring due to this

The risk is shortening his life long-term and potentially dealing with some bad mental illnesses

That said, it's been nearly 2 years since he took any bumps. It would be very interesting to me if the rest has allowed his brain lesion to heal at all.
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And there's always a match like this one:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xujf9s_tyson-kidd-vs-daniel-bryan-saturday-morning-slam-10-20-12_sport


Two bumps!
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They let Goldberg end a match with a spear and Jackhammer. Just have the bell ring, Bryan hit a Knee Plus, and end. Not the match him or anyone else wants, but that's about as safe as he can get. Let him squash everybody Goldberg style.
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That match is so great.

I miss Saturday Morning Slam. That was legitimately my favorite WWE show on some weeks (very hit or miss though) just because of how different it was.
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Jakyl25 posted...

eaedwards6400 posted...

I will continue to support WWE in and not letting Bryan perform. They don't need the bad press if he dies in the ring and I don't think he will realize they were right until one of the worst case scenarios occur.

There's no chance he would die in the ring due to this

The risk is shortening his life long-term and potentially dealing with some bad mental illnesses

That said, it's been nearly 2 years since he took any bumps. It would be very interesting to me if the rest has allowed his brain lesion to heal at all.

"Die in the ring" might be an exaggeration but if a routine bump leads to him being carried out with a severe concussion that's already the kind of bad press they're worried about. Even if it was something that could have potentially happened to a healthier guy, because it's not like the media would think about it too much.
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It's Bryan, the same guy who followed up learning he had concussion induced seizures with that match where he headbutted Dolph Ziggler a dozen times. It's cute to assume he cares about dialing it down
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DeathChicken posted...

It's Bryan, the same guy who followed up learning he had concussion induced seizures with that match where he headbutted Dolph Ziggler a dozen times. It's cute to assume he cares about dialing it down

That's the problem. Bryan doesn't care and he can sacrifice his life for wrestling.
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Raw women's match will be elimination rules, which is what every fatal fourway plus should be in my book. Wish that made me more excited for the match though.
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SmartMuffin posted...

It's not a question of whether he can, it's a question of whether he's willing to.

This. When he came back for the horrible Reigns Rumble to the awesome Rollins Mania, he was still going out there and doing damn headbutts and flying headbutts every match. His Intercontinental win was great, but it wasn't fun watching him and Ziggler trading headbutts on top of a ladder. I never even noticed they were part of his repertoire until after his injury. I remember kicks, knees, grapples, suicide dives, anger management, and awesome submissions.

If he just removed headbutts, I'd be a lot happier to see him perform, but I honestly don't expect him to tone it down and switch or alter styles. He easily can and he should, but I don't think he would and that's scary.
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I tuned into RAW and caught the middle of this RAW women's title promo. This makes me just want to turn it off.

They literally just repeated each other's names and then made b****y condescending remarks for five minutes.
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Thank you for reaffirming my choice to study rather than watch Raw.
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I just thought I would watch it this week because Wrestlemania is this week and I like to be more educated going into it at the Wrestlemania party I go to. :(

"Sasha, Sasha, Sasha. <Rude remarks>"

"Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte <Rude remarks>"

"Sasha, Bayley, Charlotte, Bayley Charlotte, Sasha, Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley <Rude remarks>"

I am actually not exaggerating this promo at all. And Bayley just stands there looking mildly disappointed when her friend Sasha is dissing her.
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