Your thoughts on Strikeforce, Brisco, NXT, Richter, Hall of Fame


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Thumbs In the Middle
Best Fight: Luke Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley
Worst Fight: Sara Kaufman vs. Takayo Hashi
 
 
1) Yancy Mederious vs. Raul Castillo.
 
Ok fight, that had it moments.  Yancy really was controlling each round
by dominating with strikes and great take down defense.  Castillo
wanted to take the fight to the mat, but each time he was stopped.  I
for sure thought Yancy was going to stop Castillo in the second round
as Castillo was really tired after the first round.  Decision victory
seemed like the theme of the night.
 
2) Tarec Saffiedine vs. James Terry
 
Same story as the Yancy vs. Castillo fight.   Tarec dominating with
strikes and great take down defense.  Highlight was Tarec landing a
great spinning back kick to the liver of Terry.  Another fight ending
in a decision.   Big highlight for me in this fight was seeing one my
favorite MMA fighters, Dan Henderson work the corner for Tarec.
 
3) Luck Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley
 
Best fight of the night, and Rockhold was super over with the crowd.  
Paul Bradley looked he would have done great in pro wrestling.  Great
look, but his height would probably not have gotten him signed in the
WWE today.    I was shocked Bradley wasn't going for the takedown right
away.  I thought stand for a minute, and then shoot in.  Bad plan of
trying to stand with Rockhold.   Rockhold really had star appeal and
looks to be a great prospect for MMA.   He is a name to keep your eye
on for the future.  After watching him here, I think he should move up
higher Strikeforce cards on Showtime.
 
4) Karl Amoussou vs. Trevor Pangley
 
I was bummed this fight was stopped, but the rules are the rules.  I
really think this took the wind out of the sails in the crowd.  I was
really excited about seeing Amoussou live.   He has the charisma and
ability to be a real star in MMA.   This fight had the makings of a
fight of the night, but Amoussou was poked in the eye bye accident.   
When Amoussou was having a hard time opening it, I knew the ref was
going to stop it.  I hope Strikeforce signs a rematch ASAP.  Both men
didn't take any damage, and I believe they could be ready to go by
April 17th.   Amoussou is not "Challengers Series" level, and should be
put on the bigger stage.
 
5) Strikeforce 135lbs Womens Welterweight Championship
Sara Kaufman vs. Takayo Hashi
 
I was still bummed about the last fight, and it was hard for to get in
any excitement for this fight.  Sara dominated, but never went in for
the kill.  She knocked down Hashi so many times and not once pounced on
her and finish it.  This made for a really boring fight.  Hashi just
didn't have an answer for Sara and was dominated so much, I almost
thought I was dubbed into thinking Hashi was in Sara's league.   I
thought this would be an exciting fight, but I don't think the
Strikeforce Welterweight Championship got off on the right start.  
Crowd leaving made feel sad for the fighters in the cage.  What rubbed
me the wrong way was seeing Nate Diaz the men's Welterweight Champion
walk out at the end of the first round.  As one of the companies
champions, I felt Nate Diaz should have stayed until the end.
 
 
Overall Thoughts:  It was hard for me to write "Thumbs In The Middle"
when all these fighters put up a great effort.  Sometimes the show or a
fight isn't a good one.  It happens all the time.  I am interesting to
see the draw of the next Strikeforce Challengers at San Jose Civic
auditorium.   Unlike the crowd form Dec how at the San Jose Arena, this
crowd was more causual fan then hardcore MMA fans.   Maybe the lower
ticket prices challengers series brought more casual fans.   It will be
interesting to see if this show left a bad taste in their mouth your
not.  The San Jose Civic looked to be perfect venue for their
Strikeforce: Challengers shows.  Hopefully, we will see more of these
shows here in San Jose in the near future.
 
 
John LaRocca
San Jose, CA,

 

I just caught the last three fights so gonna pass on the best and worsts, although either of the fights I missed would have almost HAD to be better than the main event women's fight.

Luke Rockhold blew right through another opponent, Paul Bradley, in the 1st, this time with strikes, and is ready to step up in caliber of opposition.

Trevor Prangley and Karl Amoussou seemed to have a good fight starting but it ended in 1st round tech draw off an accidental eyepoke. The rule not allowing 5 minutes to recover except for low blows is idiotic. Amoussou has a cult following that keeps calling him the future of MMA. I don't see it from the couple three fights I've seen. He needs to be at 170 or maybe even 155, not 185. I don't see him succeeding in a major promotion in either the US or Japan.

Sarah Kaufman and Takayo Hashi stunk out the joint for 5 rounds with Kaufman winning all 5 rounds 10-9 on all cards to take the new SF women's welter title. Hashi wasn't trying to win and Kaufman wasn't trying to finish.

This is SF's 'B', or maybe actually 'C', show series but this was really bad, aside from Rockhold. Hope the two opening fights were better.

Crimson Mask


Hi Dave,

I've finally finished reading your bio on Jack Brisco. This was one of the best jobs you've ever done. I'm watching wrestling since 1985, but Germany was always a WWF country. Of course I've heard a lot about Jack Brisco in later years and saw some matches, but I really wasn't that familiar with him. What a fascinating man. Thanks for the incredible bio!

Cheers
Tim Graefe


NXT is a promising concept. Daniel Bryan is definitely getting the push he deserves. He was the focal point of the show. I thought his mic work was pretty good. A couple stumbles, but he recovered well. He even gave Miz a few burns. I like the "Tap or Snap" catchphrase. Fits him perfectly. And what can you say about a debut match against World champion and 2-time running wrestler of the year, Chris Jericho?! A great match, with both guys expertly building the bout to perfection. Great bump as well. That's an easy way to really get the crowd behind him. Making the champ almost submit is really going to get him over as well. Wonder if that heel hook is going to be his submission finsher?  He is stepping into this company as not the top worker, but probably top 5 already. I love his reactions to pain/punishment. His expressions remind me of his trainer HBK. He is on his way folks.

Barrett impressed me with his mic work. Perfect pairing with Jericho. Otunga came off as a dominant brawler with Kanye West-esque persona. He's alright, but nothing to write home about. This storyline with CM Punk and Darren Young is just golden. Punk's out-of-ring work last night was superb. That hair of Young's has to go. I'm sure Vince and Punk are thinking the same thing. He's a vehicle to further the straight-edge storyline. Slater and Tarver were kind of forgettable. On another note:Michael Cole!! WTF!! He now comes off as big of an asshole as we all think he sucks. He argued with Josh Matthews over the validity of American Dragon's credentials. This show is designed to gain new viewers and to also bring back some hard-core fans with Daniel Bryan. They've won me so far. This is the most excited about wrestling on TV as I've been in awhile.
                                                                                                                                                                  J.C. Gethicker

 


After watching Michael Cole almost single handedly ruin the debut of NXT with his sudden heeling on all the "rookies", it made me wonder just how bad is Vince yelling at these guys while they're trying to commentate. Everyone's noticed Matt Striker's steep decline once he went from a show that wasn't on Vince's radar to one of the big two. Plus you have Taz suddenly improving a million percent by going to TNA and not having to deal with having lines constantly fed. Not saying that Michael Cole would suddenly be the next Gordon Solie without someone screaming in his headset, but it has to be close to impossible for someone to do a half decent job underthose conditions.
Sam Dawes

 

Guys,

Wow.  I just finished watching what I had on DVR and I have to say, this is the best week of WWE TV that I've seen in a long time.

Michaels v. Undertaker - The build was good up to this point and this last episode, it became great in my mind.  This match needs to be saved for last at WM.  Titles be damned.  Now, let's hope the program doesn't start to lose steam.  Considering who is involved and the creative control they must be exercising, I have hope.

Jericho v. Edge - Please, just let them write their own promos and book the program all the way until the end.  If they give these guys the same leeway that Jericho and Michaels had in their program, this could be stellar.

Batista v. Cena - What can I say about Dave Batista?  In my mind, this heel turn has been his best work since the hot program with HHH in 2005.  This man should never be a face again.

With Money in the Bank coming back, I'm already looking forward to this show.

Now to NXT.

Considering how they pumped up Bryan, was it really necessary to change his name since they kept referring to his past?

Nonetheless, I see the point of pairing him with The Miz now and I like it.  Great way to start off his WWE ring career with Jericho.  I have to say, it was exciting for me because I knew that Jericho would work great with him rather then some idiot that would try to "prove a point" and ruin a great main event.  I'm really looking forward to the program over the US Title between Miz and BD.  Considering how it seems like the WWE has made efforts to "re-establish" the importance of certain titles over the past year (IC, Unified Tag Team), perhaps this is the beginning of bringing back the credibility of the US Title by having a "real" wrestler chasing it and ultimately winning it.

WWE really hasn't showcased a technically masterful wrestler at a main event level since Benoit.  You could make the argument for Jericho but Benoit, Finlay, and Regal were in a different category.  Finlay has disappeared and Regal has been relegated to being a "second" for Kozlov and Jackson...oh the humanity.  What a ridiculous role for him.  I mean seriously, I'm still pissed about Christian dropping the ECW title on the last night to Jackson.  Terrible.

BD can fill a void if they do this right.  If they let his work speak for him, he'll get over because even the casual fan had to see the brilliance of the match with Jericho.  The humor in all of this is, as good as Miz has become since he first came in, placing him in an extended program with BD can only make the "pro" better for it in the long run.  Seems like a win-win for both wrestlers and the fans...if the powers that be don't blow this.
 
Bill Douglas

 
Hi Dave,
   I was thrilled to see Wendi Richter will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.  Name any person who was a big WWF star in the 1980s and that person made at least one WWE appearance since their departure.   But Wendi was the one exception to that rule but thankfully that will change.  I always thought it was bad that her WWE tenure ended on such a sour note.  So even if the Hall appearance is a one shot deal, it will finally end her WWE legacy on a high note.  And if it were up to me, I'd hire her as an occasional appearance (possibly a manager for a Diva?) character.  The WWE Diva storylines are in desperate need of some change!
   There have been lots of WWE women over the years but Wendi will forever have the distinction of being the main woman star at the very first Wrestlemania.  And she wasn't some "Diva Search" contestant.  She trained with true trainers, she worked the territories, and she even worked in Japan prior to her WWE run. 
     I was in 7th grade when Wendi last appeared on a WWE screen.  Now I am in my 15th year of teaching.  25 years is a long time.  This is such cool nostalgia!
   And one more thing: back in 1985 Pro Wrestling Illustrated did a cover story with the headline, "Is Wendi Richter More Popular Than Hulk Hogan?"  WWE on Monday showed this cover in Wendi's video.  But some "whiting out" was done.  The headline on Monday said, "Is Wendi Richter More Popular Than".
Ken Raftery
  

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HI Dave, Bryan;

 

I think WWE would be well served to change the current Hall Of Fame format to a Testimonial show.

 

Instead of inducting several wrestlers, giving each a very restricted amount of time and weakening the alumni pool with several inductions per year, they pick one wrestler; have colleagues deliver tributes and stories for the first 30 minutes and have the wrestler talk for the other 30. Spliced in throughout the broadcast could be clips of great moments, promos and matches from their career.

 

Then they can follow up with a DVD set or straight-to-cable pay-per-view showcasing the wrestler's career after two million people have watched an hour of discussing how great they were.

 

Not only would it make each induction more meaningful, but it would extend the life of the Hall Of Fame ceremony, since they're running out of stars. When you had a Steve Austin or a Ric Flair to induct, there was really no point in throwing a bunch of extra names in at the same time which didn’t substantially add to the rating or interest anyway.

 

Also, I'd move it to the Friday, so that wrestlers can drink and relax without worrying about Wrestlemania the next day, and the editors have time to pick the best 15-22 minutes of the tributes, and of the main speech, before the television airing Saturday night.

 

Best,

 

Blake Norton

 

 

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Had Nick Diaz won the same kind of close decision, do you believe there would be any clamor for a rematch?

 

Is that fair?

 

Who was the most charismatic personality of 2011?

 

Who was the best on interviews for 2011?