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Showing posts from November, 2017

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 214

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Strowman's at an intersection for me in terms of the title Photo Credit: WWE.com It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman , and wait for the call on Wednesday to ask your questions. Hash-tag your questions #TweetBag , and look for the bag to drop Thursday afternoon (most of the time). Without further ado, here are your questions and my answers: Can you provide two lists of five: who should be a future WWE world champ and who the company thinks will be? #TweetBag � Star of Savage (@StarOfSavage) November 29, 2017 The first list is my preference: Cesaro, Rusev, Braun Strowman, Sami Zayn, Big E Of this group, only Strowman feels like he has a real shot, which segues into my second list, the ones I think WWE will put the strap on: Braun Strowman, Shinsuke Nakamura, Baron Co...

Pro Wrestling SKOOPZ on The Wrestling Blog: Vol. 3, Issue 14

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CAN HE SELL FIVE FIGURES OF TICKETS? Photo Credit: WWE.com Well, well, well, guess who's back after the Thanksgiving break. NO, IT'S NOT SLIM SHADY, it is I, HORB FLERBMINBER. After you gluttons GORGED yourself on food this past week, the time has come for you to STUFF YOUR BRAIN STOMACH with all the tidbits of news that I can offer you, which is INFINITE. You HEAR ME? INFINITE. Who else offers that kind of capacity for information? DAVE MELTZER SURE DOESN'T. And don't even get me started on 411 Mania. MORE LIKE 411 NEWS TIDBITS PER YEAR, which is fewer than two per day. SAD. Now, if you're content with only a fraction of the news I can offer, fine, just read this post and share it with everyone you know, whether you love them or hate them. CRAM MY NEWSLETTER INTO THE BRAINS OF YOUR ENEMIES. However, if you wish to get the FULL HORB EXPERIENCE, I suggest you follow me on Twitter dot com, @HorbFlerbminber . Who knows when the major news will drop except for YOU if yo...

Your Midweek Links: Thanksgiving Leftovers

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Stop by and read about The Enforcer Photo Credit: WWE.com Wednesday. Hump Day. The midpoint of the week. You've survived the grind of Monday and Tuesday, made especially rougher because you probably came off a four-day weekend. You may be longing for another two days off, but they're just too darn far away. Fear not though, humble readers, because I have some of the best articles about wrestling from the past week to help you while away the time. Click these links to be... INTERESTED! I went to Powerbomb TV's latest supershow, WAZZUP, and I definitely had some thoughts about it that I wrote down. Check them out. [ The Wrestling Blog ] I also addressed RUMORS of a women's Royal Rumble match, and I say it's a necessary stopgap solution that WWE has to come to if it's not going to embrace the fact that gender is a work. [ The Wrestling Blog ] Thanksgiving may only be in leftovers stages, but Matthew Martin has the best analogies for which WWE superstar is what menu...

Wrestling Six Packs: Matches for Daisuke Sekimoto

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He's coming back to America... Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein I don't know if you've heard the news, but EVOLVE announced that Daisuke Sekimoto, the beefy Big Japan/All-Japan HOSS who's all the rage among the puroresu community, will be coming over for WrestleMania weekend this year. Of course, no matches have been announced yet because it's still five months out, but the mere announcement of Sekimoto sent tingles of joy throughout the spines of fans everywhere. He's been to America before, namely for Chikara King of Trios in 2010, but he'll presumably have a singles spotlight on him. In classic fatalist fashion, most people assumed Gabe Sapolsky would book him against just the dullest talent possible. However, Sapolsky may not even be in charge of booking EVOLVE by then, and honestly, I wanna look on the bright side anyway. The following are six opponents I'd wanna see throw down with one half of Strong BJ Mania weekend. 1. Keith Lee - Look, if you di...

Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks to Dream Big

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Rhodes wants five figures Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein Pro wrestling has an obsession with drawing. WWE stokes that with its numbers about how its crowds are just the biggest and best, whether or not those numbers are accurate. If they're not, then Dave Meltzer will be HOT ON THE CASE, because no issue in wrestling is more pressing than telling the truth about how many people watched your show. It's not only a mark of business, but it's a point of pride for the wrestlers themselves who want to be as famous as possible. Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks obviously pride themselves on being the most popular wrestlers in America outside the corporate purview of WWE, and now, they're looking to prove it. As reported on Pro Wrestling Sheet , the core members of the Bullet Club are looking to self-finance a show at a 10,000 seat arena in 2018. Apparently, the desire to book a show in such an arena stems from a desire to prove Meltzer wrong when he said Ring of Honor, the Amer...

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings for November 27. 2017

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PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Photo Credit: TH Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list: 1. PUPPY!!!!! (Last Week: Not Ranked) - Look, the house felt empty without a dog, okay? That's the short of it. The long of it is, the house felt very empty without a dog. We had no real way of replicating what Buddy brought to our lives , because he was a one of a kind dog for a one of a kind family. However, the holes in all our hearts was so big that we had to try and fill it. So we went out and got Zoey, a part border collie, part retriever puppy. She is eight weeks old and so tiny yet so cute. I...

On a Women's Royal Rumble

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Are the new debuts a portent for a women's Rumble? Photo Credit: WWE.com If you want a trendy rumored explanation for why Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan, Sonya Deville, and Mandy Rose were brought up to the main roster to do exactly the same things just on different shows, it's because WWE wants to do a women's Royal Rumble match at some point. Whether it's in Philadelphia at the actual Rumble or in New York, either at Barclay's Center or the Hammerstein Ballroom during the RAW 25th Anniversary Special, the hot topic is to bring gender equity to the thirty-wrestler over-the-top staggered-entry battle royale in the same way the company did for the Money in the Bank ladder match. As it stands right now, with the five new entrants on the roster plus the returning Paige, the number of active female competitors on both RAW and Smackdown stands at 21. If you remove the two Champions, you're left with 19 competitors. You don't get to 30, but it's not a reac...

Powerbomb TV WAZZUP Live Impressions

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You gotta give it up to Jon Gresham Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein So, Powerbomb TV invaded the Chikara Wrestle Factory for its third multi-indie supershow, WAZZUP. It was, as the kids say, a hoot from top to bottom. I don't have a full report, because I didn't take a notebook and just wanted to soak in the live experience. However, I have thoughts about the stuff I saw, including the first ever episode of This Very Second with Bryce Remsburg that aired live afterwards, thoughts that you can read below. The King Is Here  - The advertised main event was Jonathan Gresham defending his Powerbomb TV Independent Wrestling Championship against legendary British indie superstar Jody Fleisch. However, because indie wrestling is a peril-filled death trap for anyone who even thinks about working a single match, Fleisch got injured the night prior at Absolute Intense Wrestling. While he'll be able to go home to the UK and get himself some of that sweet, sweet nationalized healthcare,...

Pro Wrestling SKOOPZ on The Wrestling Blog: Vol. 3, Issue 13

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TRIPLE H CRUSH Photo Credit: WWE.com HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone, HORB IS BACK. Yes, that's right, be thankful for my SCOOPS, and I don't mean of mashed potatoes now. Dave Meltzer's reporting will leave so you sleepy you'd thought you'd eaten the entire turkey. Wade Keller's is as wrong as your Mee-Maw's technique at making gravy. Don't even get me started on Ryan Satin not knowing the difference between stuffing and dressing. WHAT A HACK. You can give EVEN FURTHER thanks to me by following me ON THE TWITTER MACHINE. You can find me @HorbFlerbminber . If you don't follow me, how can you be sure if I'm giving Native Americans equal time on this Thanksgiving by spamming Tatanka with links to my all-herbal supplement, HORBALIFE? YOU WON'T. You can AND SHOULD also buy my back issues. Instead of listing them, however, I will list OL' GRANMAMA FLERBMINBER'S SECRET STUFFING RECIPE, right here, in honor of Thanksgiving. 6 lbs. day old bread 1...

Your Midweek Links: Surviving Survivor Series

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All the Survivor Series takes your heart can handle and then some! Photo Credit: WWE.com So, you're on the precipice of a long weekend, one where you'll be gorging on side dishes and pies and watching copious amounts of football. But what about the times when your family starts a battle royale over politics? Or you're sitting on the sofa, unable to do anything but grab your laptop or phone, but also unable to fall asleep from the food stupor you put yourself into? Well, have I got the solution for you. LINKS! LINKS! LINKS! The best links from the wrestling world all before you, like a buffet for your mind . Read! Nourish your brain! ENTERTAIN YOURSELF! Survivor Series happened, and if you missed it, read my review so you know what to watch, what to look forward to, and when to turn that sumbitch off so you don't get yourself irrationally pissed off at WWE booking. [ The Wrestling Blog ] Butch has the event that happened the night before covered for you too, Takeover: Wa...

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings for November 20, 2017

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You don't fuck with Strowman, even if you're Triple H Photo Credit: WWE.com Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list: 1. Braun Strowman (Last Week: 5) - The legend of BRAUUUUUUUUUUUN grows with each passing minute, even though Team Smackdown really didn't even try to dispose of him last night. I mean, Roman Reigns smashed him up against a wall in a car. Miz and Co. dumped him in a garbage truck. All those Smackdown loonies did was suplex him through a table? Get the fuck outta here. Strowman at least had the last and best laugh by demolishing Triple H to close the show....

It Was Triple H with the Shovel in the Main Event: WWE Survivor Series 2017 Review

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Everything wrong with WWE in one picture Photo Credit: WWE.com Two TH-Style reviews in one day. Not bad. Highlights: The Shield defeated New Day with a second-rope triple powerbomb on Kofi Kingston. Asuka was the sole survivor in the women's traditional five-on-five match, last eliminating Tamina Snuka with the Asuka Lock. Baron Corbin hit an End of Days OUT OF NOWHERE on The Miz to pick up the win. The Usos went over The Bar HOSS International with a splash on Sheamus. Charlotte Flair made Alexa Bliss tap out to the Figure Eight. Brock Lesnar countered a Phenomenal Forearm from AJ Styles into the F5 for the win. Triple H and Braun Strowman were the survivors for the RAW team in the main event five-on-five match. Triple H last eliminated Shane McMahon with a pedigree after hitting Kurt Angle with a pedigree and putting McMahon on top of him. After the match, Strowman beat the ever-loving shit out of Trips. General Observations: I just wanna say that even though I own his breakout ...

Examining Sexual Misconduct in Pro Wrestling: Is a Reckoning Coming?

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Foley, and a bunch of other wrestlers, facing heavy accusations Photo Credit: WWE.com Sometime last week, Mick Foley appeared at an autograph signing. He probably expected people bringing him one of his many books for him to autograph, or glossy photographs, or even some people just there to shake his hand and tell him how much of a fan they were of his. What he probably didn't expect was Angel Amoroso appearing with this sign: Snapchat Screen Grab via: EWrestlingNews.com In case the picture's not showing up, that sign she's holding reads, in all caps, "My name is Angel Amoroso. Mick Foley had sex with me when I was a 15 year-old child." It's a damning accusation that throws Foley's good-guy, rape charity exterior into serious tarnish. She also has videos, one of which she names all the people who bedded her while she was underage . The mantra from the left regarding sexual abuse is to believe victims, but even some folks, the most understanding ones under...