Best Coast Bias: For The Win

Wins and losses aren't everything, but Sami needed this one
Photo Credit: WWE.com

You either lose close to the top-shelf talent, or you win a lot. These are generally the acceptable ways to make a wrestler. Being who he is, Sami Zayn seems to be transitioning out of the former and into the latter.

If there was any doubt NXT was the Bizarro World WWE, let this week's post-Arrival episode wipe that from your mind. Corey Graves was standing in the middle of the ring having dispatched Yoshi Tatsu via countout in a fine display of douched-out smuggery before locking on a pointless Lucky XIII, drawing out Sami Zayn for the save. But before the "match" had gotten underway, Graves decided the squared circle was a butcher's, and thus the place to unload his beef. He was frosty that he wasn't on the showcase Network-per-view show last week. Moreover, why didn't he get the chances that certain ginger high-flyers got? Why was Sami Zayn getting all these accolades for fighting a man he couldn't beat? And when's the last time this Syrian-Canucklehead won a match?

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 67

A lot of questions swirling around Bryan for Mania
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, especially around Friday night after Smackdown, and wait for the call. Anyway, time to go!

First, @HummerX wants to know how he can quit going to wrestling message boards.

I used to go to a wrestling message board quite frequently as well. I've even referenced it on here a few times. Honestly, I can't talk too much shit about that place, because the linkbacks I got from it gave me some page hits back in the day even after I left. But why did I leave? I was a posting member there for over a decade.

As it turns out, message boards tend to attract the worst kinds of people. Not all message boards are garbage. Dylan, who has a question below, will swear by places like Pro Wrestling Only. But intelligent discussion doesn't usually happen at these places. Furthermore, they also tend to attract the misogynists and the transphobes and the unironic versions of @PFTCommenter. So in addition to HOT RASSLIN TAKES, you tend to get the Bitcoin enthusiasts and birth certificate truthers as well.

Anyway, the best way to quit those kinds of places is just to stop going altogether, like I did with the one site in question. Quit cold turkey. Take refuge in the warm, comforting blanket that is Twitter, where you can filter out the people whose feeds you choose to take in. I joked the other day that I see and hear more people bitching about people who do nothing but complain about wrestling than I do the people who spam complaints all day long. The reason is that I don't follow anyone who is an Eeyore about the art. That fact about Twitter is utter brilliance. Just stay swaddled in Twitter, load up your RSS, and keep track of all the folks' birthdays you care to remember on Facebook, and your online life will be not as painful.

Instant Feedback: Believe in Brotherhood

Just some brothers scrappin', that's all
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Brothers don't always see eye to eye. I should know firsthand. I am the oldest of two brothers by blood, and I am in many ways the black sheep of the family. We're not estranged, but our childhood wasn't exactly built upon sunshine, puppy dogs, and never disagreeing on anything. Having scraps with friends can sometimes lead to cattiness, sub-tweeting, or drifting apart, but when you scrap with your brother, more often than not, you're gonna throw hands. I've had more than a few fights within the family.

Adam Rose and the 24/7 Party People

Photo Credit: WWE.com

When I heard the news that Leo Kruger was going to be discontinued for the man behind him to play a different character, I was disappointed. Kruger had finally found a niche by emulating the infamous Kraven the Hunter from the Amazing Spider-Man comics, and to discard him in favor of a vague sounding prima donna gimmick sounded like a bad idea. However, as with judging most ideas before they come to fruition, Adam Rose and his Rosebuds proved me wrong last night with an amazing debut on NXT. Rose hosting a rave (with Solomon Crowe on DJ duties and Kalisto as a roving light-stick acrobat even!) and then coming out with an entourage of motley looking hangers-on was the king of above-and-beyond execution on an idea that will quickly endear any character to me. I admit I had to view the entrance a second and third time to get the full appreciation for it, but his shtick in the ring was spot on as well.

I think what will make this character work best in the future is his entourage of Rosebuds. They look like they are just having the best goddamn time out there dancing to the ring, letting Rose crowd-surf on them, and then waiting for him at the top of the ramp. The Kruger character might have been great from a critical standpoint, but not only is this Rose persona just as entertaining, it might actually get the man, who has been in developmental since 2010 for crying out loud, to the main roster in a meaningful manner.

Throwback Thursday: The Greatest WrestleMania Moment of All-Time

WrestleMania 12 will be remembered most for the Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, but my favorite moment will always be embedded in a midcard match between a returning superstar and a guy whose best days were ahead of him. Of course, if this match were booked just four years later, the results might have been inverted. However, bask now in the glory of the Ultimate Warrior no-selling the Pedigree. It. Is. GLORIOUS.

On Triple H, "Burials," and Necessary Evil

Pictured above: Bryan, Steph, and a necessary evil
Photo Credit: WWE.com

When I was younger, I believed in a lot of stupid things sight unseen, no questions asked. Granted, none of them were on the level of incredulity as "WWE had to replace the original Ultimate Warrior," but in various states of like or dislike, I allowed myself to believe things that may or may not have been true. For awhile, I swore that Triple H was this diabolical political machinist who held everyone down and made sure he was the only person on the show who mattered despite the fact that he wasn't nearly as organically popular as those who came before him.

In fairness to my younger self, some of those rumors could have rung true. I believed them so steadfastly, but I only had whispers, rumors, and gossip to go by. Without being backstage at a WWE show or in creative meetings, I had no idea what was true and what was manufactured story by people who also didn't like Triple H. I've read and heard quite a bit of apologia about WWE's in-storyline COO (I'm not sure if he shoot-holds that title or not; I also don't particularly care), and while I appreciate the gestures of wanting to couch criticism in truth, I still can't get over the tonality of some of the rhetoric. Mainly, I don' t particularly think Triple H deserves to be lauded, and attempting to be fair to the man, as a wrestling television character at least, does not mean that the person judging him needs to stay out of the negative.

Best Coast Bias: And Now, a WWE Network Production

The match was good, but the inherent symbolism was better
Photo credit: WWE.com

At the table, Road Dogg was telling Dad Jokes while begrudgingly putting over the young talent in the ring. The Usos who'd taken the belts from him the night previous and the Matadores who hoped to ascend to that place one day, and one day soon. Billy Gunn sat next to him, selling a faux bout of encephalitis, and in that moment there was no better reminder of the surety of time and change than this juxtaposition on display.

In 2014 on the WWE Network, the former Champion Outlaws may be of age, but there's nothing new about them anymore. Preserved in amber like a "My Love Is The Shh..." cassingle, long-time fans of the product look at the former King of the Ring and the former Intercontinental Champion as not entirely beloved relics of an age when there was glory to be found in being too young to know better. But those sort of days are over: nowadays, the tag teams look like each other as if to be Winklevii, flying around with topes and planchas that are just as big a jab in the mind's eye as sharing a table with Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, or tiny bulls running around ringside more than willing to put their horns to your junk. Not that El Torito can be blamed, since Billy shoved him down first. When are people going to learn: you mess with the bull, you get the hurricanrana.

ANNOUNCING - The Wrestling Blog Retro Live Tweets: WrestleMania II

Come watch and tweet about the Lost WrestleMania with me!
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Mass, coordinated live tweeting of old wrestling events has become all the rage amongst the corner of the wrestling fan universe I inhabit. Those tweet-ups have been rallied around torrents from shady Russian hubs, bad rips on YouTube, or DVDs that may or may not be in everyone's possession. The WWE Network, however, has provided the best gift for dorks like you and I who gather around classic events to watch through a modern lens in its expansive video on demand library. The confluence of these events has led me to jump into the fray and announce that a week from tonight, I am going to experiment with my own mass live-tweet of a past event.

I am pleased to introduce The Wrestling Blog Retro Live Tweet Series, where I invite all of you readers and Twitter followers to join along with me as I watch a classic event and tweet my observations to the world. The first installment of this series will happen Wednesday, March 12 at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time. The event?

WrestleMania II

What I Learned from Starrcade '83

Piper and Valentine worked a modern match 30 years ago, and wrestlers of today can learn lessons from it.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Starrcade '83 is widely regarded as the first ever attempt at nationally distributing a "super card" to an audience outside the territory the promotion was mainly housed within. While the show was not a pay-per-view as the wrestling world would know it from WrestleMania II through Elimination Chamber 2014, it was certainly the precursor in spirit and format to the supercards of the last major epoch in wrestling history. The grainy video quality, low tonality and matter-of-factness of Bob Caudle and Gordon Solie in the announce table, and builds of a good portion of the wrestlers showed the age of the event, but a lot of the meat of the program looked modern, especially in the ring.

If one went just by the match finishes, that statement would seem contrary. The highest impact move, by today's standards, that finished a match was Ric Flair flying off the top rope in the cage match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship over Harley Race. Moves that finished matches included a knee drop from the top assisted by an arm-wringer, a superplex, and a double team military press-assisted splash. All of those moves are transitional today, especially in the hyperactive independent scene, where moves that wouldn't be introduced as match-enders in Japan for a few years at the time this Starrcade happened elicit only two counts.

Buff Bagwell, Male Gigolo?

What a headshot
Photo via Cowboys4Angels.com

Via SLAM! Sports

Buff Bagwell always said he was "the stuff" when he was an active wrestler. He had a sculpted physique, oozed what he thought was swag at least, and his most iconic pre-nWo tag team saw him with Scotty Riggs affect the wardrobe and mannerisms of male strippers at the very least. That art has now become possible foreshadowing for real life, as Bagwell has been linked to the male escort service, Cowboys4Angels, in the Atlanta area. He has a profile and everything on the service's site, and he even appeared on the Showtime documentary series Gigolos:

Your Midweek Links: Hijacking the ArRIVAL

Cena helped keep the unruly crowd under wraps
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week:

Wrestling Links:

- Wrasslin' Story Time: WWE doesn't hate you, but it doesn't mean they don't care [SB Nation]

- The Best and Worst of RAW: #HijackBestAndWorst [With Leather]

- The hypocrisy of #HijackRAW [Voices of Wrestling]

- Some genius made 35 black velvet paintings of wrestlers [Deadspin]

- The Best and Worst of NXT ArRIVAL [With Leather]

- NXT ArRIVAL [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- Seven Things: Stages of being a wrestling fan [Wrestling on Earth]

- WWE's indie logic: On the science of wrestling and the importance of character [False Underdog]

- Top ten worst pay-per-view posters [Wrestling on Earth]

- WWE main events that should've happened at WrestleMania [Camel Clutch Blog]

- NETWORKED [Pro Wrestling Update]

- The Best and Worst of Impact Wrestling: We Have Books on TV! [With Leather]

The Best Moves Ever: Glam Slam

Beth Phoenix recently had a child, and she's reaffirmed that she's trying to live life on the outside now. Still, her run in WWE was about as spiffy as a woman's could be, which isn't actually saying a whole lot. Still, before the Divas of Destruction were derailed, Phoenix was ever-cromulent in the ring, in part due to her finisher. The Glam Slam was more often than not a sight to behold, from arching the victim up as high as they could go through the seamless rollover into the gloriously triumphant pinning combination. The following video has 18 for your perusal. Enjoy!

Wrestling Six Packs: The Next Six Whom I'd Like to See Signed

Steen's done it all on the indies. He needs a shot in WWE.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Drake Younger is headed to the Performance Center, another in a long line of indie standouts that WWE has signed and brought into its ranks. The company has mostly had success with these wrestlers, and Younger looks to be another one who will shine first in Florida and then nationally (that is, unless he comes in as a referee as is rumored). Of course, Younger will work a different style than what most fans of his from Combat Zone Wrestling or Pro Wrestling Guerrilla will recognize, a pitfall of going from the free-form indie circuit to the structured WWE. I know some of my peers would disagree with my desire to see as many great performers at least get a shot in WWE, but WWE's in ring style is awesome right now, and I like seeing the guys I love to watch in the ring get paid top dollar for their services. The next six pack doesn't necessarily list the next likeliest to get signed, but the next six that I would like to see get their runs through the WWE machine.

1. Kevin Steen

Steen has been there and done that in nearly every corner of the independent scene. About the only thing left for him to do is tour Japan or Mexico before getting a shot with WWE. I know why the big company might not want him; it judges books by their covers all the time. Steen's body type went out of style sometime around 1988 to Vince McMahon, but regardless of what the preconceived notions about what a WWE superstar should look like are, Steen transcends them. He is a master in the squared circle, able to work any style and capture any crowd within the palm of his hand. Steen not only is ready for his close-up, but he, more than any wrestler on the indies, would nail it.

A Week of The Network

It's been a rough first week for The Network

Last Monday, I ordered WWE Network. I didn't even sign up for the free week. I did the paid version right away. I was so excited to have every pay-per-view at my fingers, to watch pre-and-postgame shows, to have something to watch that was more than Food Network or background noise when nothing else was on. A week later, I still am excited to have it. I finished watching Starrcade '83 yesterday, and as I type these words right now, I have the first WrestleMania on my live stream. However, that first week hasn't been without headache.

As a Roku user, I experienced the hiccups that plagued the app through the early going. I couldn't load any of the video on demand content, and the live stream had several outages and changes between standard and high definition. The first apparent nadir took place during NXT ArRIVAL, when the stream ducked out for nearly everybody, causing most viewers to miss out on the beginning of the main event. However, rock bottom could be described as The Network's inability to work on X-Box.

Drake Younger Has Been Signed

The Ultraviolent Golden Boy is headed to Orlando
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Drake Younger, the man who conquered the death match scene and moved out to the West Coast in an attempt to make California his stomping grounds, has been signed to a WWE developmental contract. The news was broken last night by the All-Pro Wrestling Facebook page. Younger's final match for the seminal NorCal promotion will be against Adam Thornstowe for his Universal Championship. Younger wrestled for old stomping grounds Absolute Intense Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling recently as well against Michael Elgin and Danny Havoc respectively in matches that were said to have tones of finality to them. He will also appear one last time for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla at Mystery Vortex II on March 28.