Be Excellent To Each Other

If you're surprised at seeing Michaels, I assume you haven't seen Michaels vs Undertaker at last year's wrestlemania. You should, it's a great match and really quite touching.

Hang on a fucking second - didn't Michaels take on Rik Flair, and make him leave?
Have I missed a year?

Yeah, he made Ric retire a while ago... but sadly Ric is a complete nob and then just went and signed with TNA.

Richard Morgan Fliehr, (born February 25, 1949)

Jesus. Than man is 2 months younger than my dad!

:\\\\\\\\\

Granted, attitude era wasn't the best time to see Rude, Bulldog or Bret, but, still. :\\\\\\\\\

They've started naming the fighters!
http://www.wwe.com/shows/royalrumble/ex ... ticipants1

*'No chance in Hell' theme plays*

VINCE MCMAHON: *clears throat*
Hello everybody, I am WWE owner Vincent Kennedy McMahon! I am here, in this very ring tonight, to present to you the names! Of the forty participants in this! The two-thousand-eleven Royal Rumble. And here they are, in numerical order. Numbers one to forty: fucking everyone we have under contract! Thank you, and good night!

exeunt

I've heard of seven out of that 20

We should definitely have a mini-meet for it. As long as I can get the Monday off work (and the wife doesn't veto it), then we must do this.

Complete with drinking games, obviously enough.

Bret was a paper champion for the last year he was in the WWF, also he was a munter. All rude did was hit people with his briefcase and bad acted. Bulldog I disliked (RIP) for a different reason. He may have been a fine wrestler and a all round top bloke backstage - it was the character I hated. I hated the way they (the commentators) kept banging on about England and so forth when his (attitude) gimmick would not look out of place at a BNP rally. The thick manc accent didn't help.

Rick Rude was an amazing wrestler and a fantastic heel... He was also a very devoted husband apparently!

A paper champion? You know it's not a real sport, right? Besides, his last year in WWF saw him absolutely make Steve Austin (Survivor Series 1996 and WrestleMania 13), be one of the most awesome heels they ever had (that whole 'Harts being ultimate heels in USA and ultimate faces in Canada' thing was amazing - witness the Canadian Stampede PPV), and drag Undertaker to two of his best matches ever - before Taker was considered the great worker he is now (SummerSlam 1997 and One Night Only). As antagonist to Steve Austin, then Michaels, Bret was the glue that held the promotion together. And not the champion for a lot of it: a one day reign and a three month reign were it.


This is why I said attitude era wasn't the best time to see these. Rude from 88-94 was just fantastic. Best heel, best body, awesome matches. I didn't much like him in his latter days, but it's a bit unfair to judge him on that.


Hey, why didn't Rude get an 'RIP'? Also, yeah, by 1999 he was done. But before that he was fantastic. The Bret-Bulldog matches from SummerSlam 1992 and In Your House 5 are essential viewing.



Plus he could knock you out with a slap.

Being a full on WWE "mark" and a dedicated Cole Miner (don't ask), I've decided to do a quick rundown of the folks entered in the Royal Rumble for the peeps that don't know all the wrasslers along with my odds on them winning.



Lord Rixondale's cut out and keep Royal Rumble Superstar guide



Alberto Del Rio (Heel): Mexican Royalty gimmick. Is so posh he has his own ring announcer. Is a youngster but is a rising star. One to watch. 10-1

CM Punk (Heel): Is one of those straight edge punk types. Is also a brilliant bad guy and will have three chaps helping him in this. 4-1

"Dashing" Cody Rhodes (Heel): Has a funny pretty boy gimmick. His daddy his Dusty Rhodes and his brother is Goldust (in real life). He'll last a while but has no chance of winning. 50-1

Daniel Bryan (Face): Old school submission style wrestler. Terrific wrestler but it's too early for him. 50-1

Darren Young (Dunno): Looks like a black Guile. Is young and shit and will be fired soon. 1,000,000-1

David Hart Smith (dunno): Is the British Bulldog's son. Has no chance. 1,000,000-1

David Otunga (Heel): Is Jennifer Hudson (singer from Dreamgirls) real life boyfriend. Crap wrestler. Will be helping out CM Punk. 1,000-1

Husky Harris (Heel): Flabby son of Mike Rotunda (IRS). Will also be helping out Punk. 1,000-1

John Cena (Face): A rapper who tells Poo jokes. Is the kids' favourite, is a previous RR winner and multi-time champ. Will be there at the end. 2-1

John Morrison (Face): Looks like Jim Morrison. Terrific young wrestler who'll last all night, will do some crazy shit but sadly won't win. 10-1

Mark Henry (Face): The World's Strongest Man (apparently). He looks like a fat version of the Predator. 100-1

Michael McGillicutty (Heel): His daddy was Mr Perfect (RIP). Another youngster that'll be helping Punk out. 1,000-1

Primo (Face): His surname is Colon. Hurr hurr. 1,000,000-1

R-Truth (Face): Bloke who spins around a lot and shouts "Whassup?" at the crowd a lot. 100-1

Rey Mysterio (Face): Shortass luchador who flies around everywhere. Former World champ and holds the record for longest time in the Rumble. Won't win this one. 7-1

King Sheamus (Heel): He's Irish. Very Irish. And he's a King. A big fella who'll do some damage. 7-1

Ted DiBiase (Heel): The Million Dollar Man's son. Has the same gimmick as his dad but with none of the charisma. 1000-1

Tyson Kidd (Heel): Cracking young wrestler with a terrible haircut. It's too early for him, bless. 1,000-1

William Regal (Heel): Brought up on the mean streets of Blackpool, England. A grizzled veteran with no chance. 1,000-1

Yoshi Tatsu (Face): Japanese. Mullet. No chance. 1,000,000-1

Zack Ryder (Heel): New Jersey type. Catchphrase is "Woo Woo Woo. You know it." I've got more chance of winning the Rumble. 15 billion-1

When he was 15, he was fighting grown men on the docks of Blackpool!

Regal is indeed awesome. I like the fact that his unlikely real name is Darren. And his voice is brilliantly posh.

Yes, Alberto del Rio is such a young up-and-coming talent. Good things will come of him, maybe he'll add to his CMLL World Championship. Oh, you didn't know that he is in fact Dos Caras,Jr?

And I think you'll find that Darren Young IS Black John Cena.Seriously. Look at him.

@Throughsilver Canadian Stampede was great. I don't think I've ever heard a crowd so "hot" as they were in the main event... wrestling hasn't been like that for a long time.

Well, yeah obviously Alberto/Dos Caras Jr has been around a while but he's a relative noob in the WWE.

I just saw Darren Young on Raw and he's cut his Guile hair off and he does indeed look like a black Cena He's still shite though.

He's off the hook!

The Rumble will be won by one of John Cena, John Morrisson or Triple H.

I think they're going to let Cena break the record for longest stay and most eliminations by having him go in at #1.

Just hunches.

Oh, and I quote...

He's been in at #1 and won it before though, so I doubt they'll do that again.

I don't think they'll have time to beat the longest stay record - Mysterio's was over an hour.

No they haven't. He only won it from #30.

Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit are the only ones to have won from #1 (though Vince himself and Rey have won from #2, which is basically the same).

EDIT - And if he wins from #1 he'll break the time record... 40 people this year.

Still got my money on HHH - probably him and Sheamus fighting it out at the end.

I can see HHH coming in, chucking Sheamus and then following him outside in a brawl that has to be broken up by security, reigniting their feud for a Wrestlemania rematch.

Randy Orton bores me, so I can see The Miz retaining and holding the title until Wrestlemania. He has heat with JoMo, and Cena, making them obvious candidates to win and face him... but Cena is feuding with the fabulous CM Punk, so I'd expect them to face off at Mania.

That said, anythign could happen between now and then... even someone from Smackdown could win it (though I doubt it).

I reckon Orton will take the title back off Miz, paving the way for a rematch at Wrestlemania. If Orton loses at RR, he won't keep #1 contender any more.

Cena/Punk looks to be fun, as long as they don't just re-do Cena/Barrett. Their match on Monday night was excellent.

Has there ever been a form of fiction quite like professional wrestling?

This is essentially a live play where the outcome of some pretty hyped storylines rely on the outcomes of what are essentially dance recitals.

Has anyone ever rebelled against a decision over a match (stayed in character but refused to be beaten, say), changing the course of a storyline?

Google 'Montreal Screwjob'.

I am NOT googling montreal screwjob at work!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Screwjob

Can you actually bet on the wrestling?

I doubt it. Since the outcome isn't actually in doubt, there's too much chance of you being someone who actually knows what the outcome will be.

You could bet on things like "Who killed Dirty Den" in EastEnders, though.

Oh. You probably can then, yes.

I just logged into my Betfair account for the first time in years (after having to reset my password, natch) to find I have £314.71 in it

Nothing about WWE, though.

I left £314.71 in a Betfair account and forgot the password, I think it must be mine.

Christ, I had a bet in March 2010 that Alonso, Webber and Vettel would all be in the top three of the F1 driver's championship which I forgot all about that netted me £290

That's a fucking "YAY!"

Nice work, Grim...

I've not seen any betting available for WWE personally, and don't really ever see Soap ones either (not in this internet age). Closest I've seen is X Factor betting (producers would have an extremely good view of who is to go based on week-on-week votes).

I've known several sites run a league of sorts though, with one person acting as the 'Bookie' and setting odds for each match on WWE PPV cards. Each player starts with an arbitrary amount of money, and can then bet against the published odds from the 'Bookie'. They then roll their winnings (if any) over to the next month, and continue.

Most have prizes of some description.

I'd be happy to run such a thing if there was sufficient interest.

In the old territories days, it was common for the travelling champion to be someone who could legitimately kick the crap out of challengers, in case one of the territory's boys tried to get clever.

Shoot fights during matches aren't unknown.

As to results changing, it does happen occasionally, though usually due to someone messing up.

Also as a result of in-match injuries, which are relatively frequent.

And he's actually from Staffordshire, not Blackpool. Also, Bulldog was from Leeds, not Manchester (@decca).

Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant was pretty interesting.

Citation please! I'm sure Billington said Smith was from Wigan.

Yeah, that was a Wigan accent if ever I heard one.

Yay! William Regal!

Also I once saw British Bulldog in Sheffield, near the Virgin Megastore. No one was paying him any attention, he was just wandering round quite casually like anyone else. So I left him alone as well.

Wiki says Wigan.

They also provide this:

England & Wales Births Register: October, November & December 1962, Vol. 10d, Page 57

as a citation if you want to know for sure.

I saw Regal at Cardiff international arena fighting Rey Mysterio. Before the match, Regal was subjected to deafening "You Suck" chants. So he got a mike and said "I Can't Suck....I'm not Welsh". I laughed.

I also laughed when the Miz informed us that Cardiff City were rubbish and all their players should be drafted to the "Jack Army".

Superb work Mr Regal. He plays the heel very well. I'm surprised that he's still on the roster though really. He just seems like something which they would have dumped ages ago.

Anyway thinking about my favourite wrestlers, here's my list (which you will all pick on me over):

Daffney
Ultimate Warrior
Undertaker
Dean Malenko
Chris Benoit (as a wrestler and not psycho killer obv)
Psycho Sid Vicious/Justice
David Flair
Crowbar
Kevin Nash
Scott Hall/Razor Ramon
Masked Kane
Roxxie Lavaeux
La Parka
Goldberg (one trick pony I know but still kind of like him)
Short Hair Jeff Jarret
Tank Abbot (only sort of, it was an amusing gimmick for a while)
Early Madusa before her breasts got too large
EDIT: forgot to add Steven/William Regal and his chum Dave Taylor (though I don't recall seeing him wrestle but he looked the part)
Most of the late period WCW roster. I actually enjoyed WCW most just before it died.

He is good friends with Triple H, and he is effective at carrying green or mediocre workers to good matches.

Reeeeaaaaalllly? David Flair? Takes all sorts I suppose.

Favourite wrestlers:

TAKA Michinoku
Rick Rude
Mick Foley
The Rock
Chris Jericho (I actually bought his DVD set, highly recommended, some awesome matches on there)
Ricky Steamboat (oh, those wonderful deep arm drags he used to do)
Steven/William Regal
Eddie Guerrero
Dean Malenko
Arn Anderson
DDP
Kofi Kingston
Raven
Vader
Sting
Zack Ryder (Woo Woo Woo you know it!)
ETA: Ultimo Dragon



Tag Teams

Too Cool
The Dudleyz (in their prime, they're hollow shells now)
The Hollywood Blondes (Austin wrestling his old technical style and Flyin' Brian Pillman)
Kaientai