New friend brings up old interests...
No sleepie yet, so I decided to write about an interest that was indirectly rekindled by my new lj-friend holydiver879. The old interest... wrestling.
Cut to spare those not interested in the game of human chess
Ever since I was a young boy (around 8 to 10 or so), and especially into my awkward puberty years where I gained a great deal of size and strength (but little control over it *lol*), I was interested in wrestling. It was even to a point where I seriously considered trying to become a professional wrestler at one point. I even invented a persona and my own signature move. I was going to be called "The Shark" (I know, big surprise *lol*), a tough, streetfighting, but rather skilled technical submission expert (almost like a Chris Benoit). MY signature move was going to be the "Shark-jaw clutch", which was a cross between a camel clutch and a full nelson. The opponent, lying face down on the mat, would be put into a full nelson, and then pulled back like with a camel clutch. It was actually a pretty damn cool wrestling move.
Well, needless to say, that dream never became a reality. Lack of the necessary coordination. Many, MANY injuries, and being accident prone put an end to all that. But, the dream still remains to a degree. Even though I don't watch wrestling much anymore, mostly due to bad writing and some annoying personalities, I still live that dream vicariously whenever I can through wrestling video games (And it pisses me off to no end that the X-box or computer has yet to have a single decent wrestling game!)
I am tempted to go out and buy a PS2 just so I can get some decent wrestling games like "Smackdown VS Raw" series. I bought the X-box cause "Wrestlemania 21" was coming out for it soon and all the buzz said it was going to be awesome... needless to say, it wasn't. Its not Horrible I still can get my wrestling kicks from that and Showdown, legends of wrestling 4 which is an okay wrestling game, but still not great.
But, throughout my childhood, I remember the early days of Hulkamania and really having a true hatred and immediate dislike of Hulk Hogan that lasts to this day, and a deep respect and affinity for Rowdy Roddy Piper (who I identified with almost immediatly). I always had a tendancy to root for the "heel" for the most part back then (of course my mom and dad say when I was little, I used to cry at the end of Jaws when the shark gets blown up and cheered when he ate that dumb shark hunter guy... my parents letting me watch that movie as a child explains a few things, but I digress). I always tended to like the bad guys a little more than the good guys in wrestling ( and yes, my wrestling persona would have been a heel *lol*)
My "Jaws" in Professional wrestling came when I first saw a 6'10" 320 lb monster that began ripping other wrestlers apart and powerbombing them into unconsciousness. His name was Sid Vicious. He was mean, nasty, huge, and scary as hell! He destroyed Sting, Hulk Hogan, and countless others and was teamed up with a young Mark Calloway (AKA the Undertaker) in a tag team called the "Twin Towers". Unfortunaly, he could never stay healthy enough to make a lasting career and his true love in real life wasn't wrestling... it was (believe it or not) softball. So although he was a monster, he was an injury prone, undedicated monster that had his career utterly ended in a match with Scott Steiner in which his ankle was completely shattered and his foot turned all the way around *shudder*
Honerable "villian" mentions go to Bug Van Vader, Hall and Nash, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Degeneration X.
But, around the late 90's... I started liking the heroes a little more. I guess mostly cause the good guys weren't so "Say your prayers, take your steroids, and eat your vegetables" crap and became more "realistic" or "super-heroic" to varying degrees.
My favorite "face" wrestler has always been the man they called "Sting". I kinda thought he was cool when he was the blonde haired california dude... but after the NWO... and all that storyline is when he truly came into his own when he ripped off, did an omage to The Crow and donned black and white face paint, dark hair, and sat up in the rafters waiting to descend down upon Hogan and those other idiots.
Bret Hart was a very close second... never seemed to have a lot of personality, but he was a skilled wrestler and a cool guy. Too bad all the crap between McMahon and Turner, and his brothers death, caused him to commit career suicide and pretty much ended his career on a sour note. He will always have HUGE kudo points in my eyes for punching VInce McMahon in the face after he screwed Bret Hart and forced Shawn Michaels to take most of the rap for it (even though Vince forced the referee to end the match and say that Bret quit when the story line they arranged had it ending in a DQ).
Speaking of which... WCW vs WWFE. I enjoyed WCW a lot more thant WWF for quite a while. Mostly during the whole NWO thing, but I will say this for McMahon... he did manage to turn the industry around and went from "cartoonish" heroes and villians, to more realistic "grey" good guys and bad guys. The turning point (IMO) came when WWF introduced "Degeneration X". Foul mouthed, anti-authority goof balls that weren't afraid to do almost anything. Some of their antics were funny as hell and it made for some great television. Not necessarily great wrestling matches, but definitly entertaining.
Theres not really a point to all this, I am just reminiscing about some of my memories from the days when I used to watch wrestling. I started watching TNA wrestling after Sting came out of retirement, but the story-lines they have him in are just dumb as hell, so I stopped. And I started watching WWE again after the brough back DX... kinda. Its more like 1/3rd of DX, but the only two members that became true superstars and not just wannabes and porn stars (I am talking to YOU Chyna and X-pac! I saw a picture of Chyna naked... and I am scarred for life Yuck! *shudder*. But I did enjoy a lot of the antics of the older, more mature (kinda) DX. But now that Triple H is out for another half a year or more due to another muscle tear... it just seems incomplete.
Favorite Wrestlers
1: Sid Vicious
2: Sting
3: Bret Hart
4: Stone Cold
5: Undertaker
6: Triple H
7: Roddy Piper
8: Big Van Vader
9: Randy "Macho Man" Savage
10: Andre the Giant
Hated Wrestlers
1: Hulk Hogan
2: Sgt. Slaughter
3: Eugene (probably the most idiotic wrestler concept ever)
4: The Spirit "Gay male cheerleader" squad
5: John Cena
6: Bob Backlund
7: Umaga/Khali/Samoa Joe (they are all basically the same character)
8: Kane
9: Lex Luger (even before he became a murderer)
10: Scotty 2 Hottie (has the STUPIDEST finishing move in history... I mean c'mon the "worm"?)
Well, I hope anyone reading this has enjoyed my insomniatic ramblings about something I used to love (and still do to a degree... heres to hoping that they will begin to get some better writers in there to come up with story-lines).
Cut to spare those not interested in the game of human chess
Ever since I was a young boy (around 8 to 10 or so), and especially into my awkward puberty years where I gained a great deal of size and strength (but little control over it *lol*), I was interested in wrestling. It was even to a point where I seriously considered trying to become a professional wrestler at one point. I even invented a persona and my own signature move. I was going to be called "The Shark" (I know, big surprise *lol*), a tough, streetfighting, but rather skilled technical submission expert (almost like a Chris Benoit). MY signature move was going to be the "Shark-jaw clutch", which was a cross between a camel clutch and a full nelson. The opponent, lying face down on the mat, would be put into a full nelson, and then pulled back like with a camel clutch. It was actually a pretty damn cool wrestling move.
Well, needless to say, that dream never became a reality. Lack of the necessary coordination. Many, MANY injuries, and being accident prone put an end to all that. But, the dream still remains to a degree. Even though I don't watch wrestling much anymore, mostly due to bad writing and some annoying personalities, I still live that dream vicariously whenever I can through wrestling video games (And it pisses me off to no end that the X-box or computer has yet to have a single decent wrestling game!)
I am tempted to go out and buy a PS2 just so I can get some decent wrestling games like "Smackdown VS Raw" series. I bought the X-box cause "Wrestlemania 21" was coming out for it soon and all the buzz said it was going to be awesome... needless to say, it wasn't. Its not Horrible I still can get my wrestling kicks from that and Showdown, legends of wrestling 4 which is an okay wrestling game, but still not great.
But, throughout my childhood, I remember the early days of Hulkamania and really having a true hatred and immediate dislike of Hulk Hogan that lasts to this day, and a deep respect and affinity for Rowdy Roddy Piper (who I identified with almost immediatly). I always had a tendancy to root for the "heel" for the most part back then (of course my mom and dad say when I was little, I used to cry at the end of Jaws when the shark gets blown up and cheered when he ate that dumb shark hunter guy... my parents letting me watch that movie as a child explains a few things, but I digress). I always tended to like the bad guys a little more than the good guys in wrestling ( and yes, my wrestling persona would have been a heel *lol*)
My "Jaws" in Professional wrestling came when I first saw a 6'10" 320 lb monster that began ripping other wrestlers apart and powerbombing them into unconsciousness. His name was Sid Vicious. He was mean, nasty, huge, and scary as hell! He destroyed Sting, Hulk Hogan, and countless others and was teamed up with a young Mark Calloway (AKA the Undertaker) in a tag team called the "Twin Towers". Unfortunaly, he could never stay healthy enough to make a lasting career and his true love in real life wasn't wrestling... it was (believe it or not) softball. So although he was a monster, he was an injury prone, undedicated monster that had his career utterly ended in a match with Scott Steiner in which his ankle was completely shattered and his foot turned all the way around *shudder*
Honerable "villian" mentions go to Bug Van Vader, Hall and Nash, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Degeneration X.
But, around the late 90's... I started liking the heroes a little more. I guess mostly cause the good guys weren't so "Say your prayers, take your steroids, and eat your vegetables" crap and became more "realistic" or "super-heroic" to varying degrees.
My favorite "face" wrestler has always been the man they called "Sting". I kinda thought he was cool when he was the blonde haired california dude... but after the NWO... and all that storyline is when he truly came into his own when he ripped off, did an omage to The Crow and donned black and white face paint, dark hair, and sat up in the rafters waiting to descend down upon Hogan and those other idiots.
Bret Hart was a very close second... never seemed to have a lot of personality, but he was a skilled wrestler and a cool guy. Too bad all the crap between McMahon and Turner, and his brothers death, caused him to commit career suicide and pretty much ended his career on a sour note. He will always have HUGE kudo points in my eyes for punching VInce McMahon in the face after he screwed Bret Hart and forced Shawn Michaels to take most of the rap for it (even though Vince forced the referee to end the match and say that Bret quit when the story line they arranged had it ending in a DQ).
Speaking of which... WCW vs WWFE. I enjoyed WCW a lot more thant WWF for quite a while. Mostly during the whole NWO thing, but I will say this for McMahon... he did manage to turn the industry around and went from "cartoonish" heroes and villians, to more realistic "grey" good guys and bad guys. The turning point (IMO) came when WWF introduced "Degeneration X". Foul mouthed, anti-authority goof balls that weren't afraid to do almost anything. Some of their antics were funny as hell and it made for some great television. Not necessarily great wrestling matches, but definitly entertaining.
Theres not really a point to all this, I am just reminiscing about some of my memories from the days when I used to watch wrestling. I started watching TNA wrestling after Sting came out of retirement, but the story-lines they have him in are just dumb as hell, so I stopped. And I started watching WWE again after the brough back DX... kinda. Its more like 1/3rd of DX, but the only two members that became true superstars and not just wannabes and porn stars (I am talking to YOU Chyna and X-pac! I saw a picture of Chyna naked... and I am scarred for life Yuck! *shudder*. But I did enjoy a lot of the antics of the older, more mature (kinda) DX. But now that Triple H is out for another half a year or more due to another muscle tear... it just seems incomplete.
Favorite Wrestlers
1: Sid Vicious
2: Sting
3: Bret Hart
4: Stone Cold
5: Undertaker
6: Triple H
7: Roddy Piper
8: Big Van Vader
9: Randy "Macho Man" Savage
10: Andre the Giant
Hated Wrestlers
1: Hulk Hogan
2: Sgt. Slaughter
3: Eugene (probably the most idiotic wrestler concept ever)
4: The Spirit "Gay male cheerleader" squad
5: John Cena
6: Bob Backlund
7: Umaga/Khali/Samoa Joe (they are all basically the same character)
8: Kane
9: Lex Luger (even before he became a murderer)
10: Scotty 2 Hottie (has the STUPIDEST finishing move in history... I mean c'mon the "worm"?)
Well, I hope anyone reading this has enjoyed my insomniatic ramblings about something I used to love (and still do to a degree... heres to hoping that they will begin to get some better writers in there to come up with story-lines).