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The Papparazi

HugeRockStar760Posted on 12/17/06 at 05:29:47

If Russo is behind those PCS skits, congrats. It's good. And to my amazement, it makes guys like Jay Lethal and Sonjay look like they have some personality.

Alex Shelley is like the Paragon of Virtue Chris Jericho at this point in his career. I haven't seen too many of his matches, but I've seen a lot of the Papparazi skits and he at least has the charisma down that will allow him to advance to the heavyweight division.

Everyone seems to play off well of Kevin Nash's personality as well.

It's unrelated to the Papparazi, but even Chris Sabin doesn't seem so bland anymore.
AnubisPosted on 12/19/06 at 23:45:14

Honestly, since the Paparazzi sketches started before Russo came in, I'm guessing that Alex Shelley himself is the creative guy behind the early ones and that Kevin Nash is helping him with the creative side of it now. Either way, it is the best thing in TNA right now.

Awesome use of a veteran who can't do much in the ring in Kevin Nash and a great use of younger talent in Alex Shelley and Austin Starr. Those two are the hope of the future for wrestling in America, and it's especially funny that they're both better than any and every worker WWE has developed in the last several years.
CarlzillaPosted on 12/20/06 at 09:47:51

On 12/19/06 at 23:45:14, Anubis wrote:...and it's especially funny that they're both better than any and every worker WWE has developed in the last several years.
That isn't really true, sure they are better than some, but there are some guys, James Gibson springs to mind, that are very capable wrestlers, and I'd definitely put him above Alex Shelley...

Just because WWE chooses to focus on a specific style of wrestling, doesn't mean that the wrestlers it produces can't compete on a different level, they just don't showcase that style on TV.
rey619Posted on 12/20/06 at 10:49:50

What Kevin Nash does now will hopefully change people's perspective of him from a broken-down, power-hungry backstage politician to someone who's helping put someone over through hilarious comedy skits that undoubtedly are the best thing going in TNA now.

"I was in the Budokan two nights ago defending my X-Division Title"

Pure gold..
AnubisPosted on 12/21/06 at 00:51:19

On 12/20/06 at 09:47:51, Carlzilla wrote:That isn't really true, sure they are better than some, but there are some guys, James Gibson springs to mind, that are very capable wrestlers, and I'd definitely put him above Alex Shelley...
While in my opinion I would not agree that James Gibson is better than Alex Shelley (and I have seen ROH work from them both and I do find them both to be excellent workers), can you really credit Gibson as being a worker developed "by WWE"? I would say he is more one of the last good graduates of the WCW Power Plant and that he honed his craft into the excellent worker he is today in Japan and ROH.

When I say "developed by WWE", I mean workers who were trained primarily in WWE by WWE for WWE. Guys like John Cena, for instance, and there is no doubt in my mind that Shelley and Austin Starr (and Gibson) are all a hundred times better than guys like Cena.
wizardneedsfoodPosted on 12/21/06 at 08:37:28

On 12/21/06 at 00:51:19, Anubis wrote:


When I say "developed by WWE", I mean workers who were trained primarily in WWE by WWE for WWE.  Guys like John Cena, for instance, and there is no doubt in my mind that Shelley and Austin Starr (and Gibson) are all a hundred times better than guys like Cena.
Yet Cena will cell a thousand times more merchandise than all those guys combined. Quality doesn't equal popularity or success, in anything.
Critic of the DawnPosted on 12/23/06 at 05:02:41

Austin Starr
His last name will always be Aries to me...

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
AnubisPosted on 12/23/06 at 07:56:16

On 12/23/06 at 05:02:41, Critic of the Dawn wrote:

His last name will always be Aries to me...

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
His name could be The Gobblety Gooker and he'd still be awesome as all Hell.
TerryFunkaPosted on 12/23/06 at 12:14:48

Cena has the charisma so of course he is going to be featured predominately in WWE. Gibson and Aries don't have to rely on their Charisma to get over, cena does.
TrancePosted on 12/30/06 at 03:26:27

On 12/21/06 at 08:37:28, wizardneedsfood wrote:


Yet Cena will cell a thousand times more merchandise than all those guys combined. Quality doesn't equal popularity or success, in anything.
Which is really what WWE is all about... selling merchendise. They focus more on advertising the newest movie, book, video game, action figure, ect than they do concentrating on their in-ring product.

It's like one big commercial.
AllPowerfulGARTHPosted on 12/30/06 at 17:50:05

On 12/30/06 at 03:26:27, Trance wrote:

Which is really what WWE is all about... selling merchendise. They focus more on advertising the newest movie, book, video game, action figure, ect than they do concentrating on their in-ring product.

It's like one big commercial.
Replace:
-"WWE" with "(insert popular band name here)"
-"Merchandise" with "albums"
-"Advertising the newest movie, book, video game, action figure, etc." with "their next single or music video"
-"In-ring" with "musical"
And you have the primary talking points of like 60% of the people with whom I went to college.
pszPosted on 12/31/06 at 04:00:39

Replace
-"WWE" with "Microsoft"
-"Merchandise" with "Software"
-"Advertising the newest movie, book, video game, action figure, etc." with "their next OS or Console"
-"In-ring" with "programming"
And you have the primary talking points of like 60% of the Linux Fanboys Of The Internet.

;->
TrancePosted on 12/31/06 at 14:02:55

Sorry folks, the ability to sell mass merchendise does not make their in-ring product any better.

It just means they are good as selling mass merchendise.
pszPosted on 12/31/06 at 15:19:34

Nobody said it did? However, more merchandise means more fans. Wrestling is all about the fans.... Sorta.... Ok, when the corporate bigwigs want it to be.
TrancePosted on 12/31/06 at 15:37:39

On 12/31/06 at 15:19:34, psz wrote:Nobody said it did? However, more merchandise means more fans. Wrestling is all about the fans.... Sorta.... Ok, when the corporate bigwigs want it to be.
So I guess most of the fans want to see eye candy in skimpy clothes, rather than the action in the ring, right?

Don't get me wrong...not that I don't enjoy it, but it is meant to complement the action in the ring... not over-shadow it.
HugeRockStar760Posted on 12/31/06 at 18:02:37

On 12/31/06 at 15:37:39, Trance wrote:

So I guess most of the fans want to see eye candy in skimpy clothes, rather than the action in the ring, right?

Don't get me wrong...not that I don't enjoy it, but it is meant to complement the action in the ring... not over-shadow it.
The best example of your second paragraph is Sunny circa 1996. I think the only other female that can come close to being as effective as Sunny while looking as good is Melina.

Hopefully, Tammy is still losing weight to get back into "Sunny Shape."
AllPowerfulGARTHPosted on 12/31/06 at 21:26:59

On 12/31/06 at 15:37:39, Trance wrote:

So I guess most of the fans want to see eye candy in skimpy clothes, rather than the action in the ring, right?

Don't get me wrong...not that I don't enjoy it, but it is meant to complement the action in the ring... not over-shadow it.
Didn't fans on wwe.com vote Extreme Strip Poker as the "most extreme moment" of the year?
HugeRockStar760Posted on 12/31/06 at 21:45:02

On 12/31/06 at 21:26:59, AllPowerfulGARTH wrote:

Didn't fans on wwe.com vote Extreme Strip Poker as the "most extreme moment" of the year?
More like Vince McMahon voted that way.
Rick GarrardPosted on 01/01/07 at 03:15:11

if WWE.com online voting isn't "rigged" then WCW's 1-900 interactive matches on WCWSN weren't pre-booked and didn't actually use the real fan votes for determining the matches the two or three times they did it.   (WCWSN was pre-taped you say?  Even on the eps when they did the "live" votes?  No kidding?!  ;)  )
AnubisPosted on 01/01/07 at 12:08:25

I love looking at attractive women as well, but I watch wrestling for wrestling.  If I want porn, I'll go look at porn, and nine times out of ten, I can find far more attractive women (and fewer breast implants) than WWE showcases.

See I never said I'm against eye candy or anything like that, I just don't like that this seems to be a focus of WWE's product.  I want wrestling, dammit!  Hence why I have such disdain for WWE.
TrancePosted on 01/03/07 at 01:11:52

On 12/31/06 at 18:02:37, HugeRockStar760 wrote:

The best example of your second paragraph is Sunny circa 1996. I think the only other female that can come close to being as effective as Sunny while looking as good is Melina.
Sunny and Melina are somewhat credible as they are actually wrestlers/managers. They do more other than dance around, shaking their ass.
JustinPosted on 01/03/07 at 03:34:07

I don't remember seeing Sunny wrestle... especially since back then the women's division was either defunct or dominated by Medusa (Alundra Blaze), Bull Nakano, & Bertha Faye.
Rick GarrardPosted on 01/03/07 at 05:06:13

Sunny didn't wrestle much... she was never a trained spot monkey like Lita or a talented wrestler like Melina.  
HugeRockStar760Posted on 01/03/07 at 07:18:38

When Tammy gets back into Sunny shape, watch out. She's still relatively young too, (around 33). The women's division will be seeing Sunny Days.

Got to love how HBK tried to insinuate Sunny was having an affair with Bret when it was with HBK all along. What an arrogant bastard Shawn was back then.