91 — WWE Draft Special, UFC 71, Feedback
Episode 91 of Pro Wrestling Blog v2.0’s Official Podcast is now online, featuring:
- Questions raised by the announcement of the WWE Draft Special on June 11
- Lex’s thoughts on UFC 71
- Listener Feedback
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Allow me to publically mark out for Nigel McGuinness in the exclusive intro.
I warn all readers, this is one long bitch of a comment:
As far as the draft lottery’s concerned, I don’t really have anything much to say that you haven’t already said. Concerning the possible new Raw GM though is a different matter. When Bischoff was going to be fired as GM of Raw if he couldn’t sign Austin, he asked Vince [in kayfabe] who would replace him if he was fired. In response, Shame McMahon stepped out of the limo and the crowd cheered. With all the TV time Shane’s been getting recently, I’d predict him over Mick “Make-a-Wish” Foley for the new Raw GM.
If Cena goes to Smackdown, which I agree would help freshen things up a bit, I’d want to have someone like Triple H or Shawn Michaels back to sit atop the ladder on Raw [though, not literally, as they might get injured again and we’d be screwed]. That, and CM Punk needs to take the IC strap off of Italy’s own.
Onto the UFC - as some of you may already know that MMA is my favourite sport in the world - and onto the Jardine/Alexander bout. As a long time UFC fan I’m going to confirm for you, Lex, that the 48 second knockout was both extremely impressive and extremely shocking. Jardine is known as a knockout machine, you don’t screw with this guy. He came out strong, he was in first, and I thought he had Alexander out in the first ten seconds. The fault was probably that he got too relaxed, thinking he’d knocked him out, and then got caught. Jardine was out cold before the gum-shield-launching hammerfist even hit him. Goodbye title shot.
For newcomers to the sport, Karo Parisyan displayed just why MMA is a step ahead of these other popular combat sports like boxing. You always see boxers ducking and diving punches, which is fine in their ring. In an MMA ring or cage, you swing your head into a duck or dive and you’ll and up kissing a knee or a heel before you finally kiss the mat. The perfect jujustu sweep in the second round personifies the beauty of this added dimension to the fights.
I love how you, being a pro-wrestling fanatic, have this almost twisted view of the UFC in which you can relate every factor of a real fight show to those of a worked show. It’s actually opened my eyes as to how Zuffa really do use angles and backstory to promote their fights. I also love the fact that you reffered to Rampage as a ‘heel’ type character.
Well, let’s say that the UFC has its smarks and marks aswell. The marks would mark out for the Iceman, as he’s the two year reigning champ in the world’s most popular MMA company. The smarks would know that Rampage is one of Pride’s top fighters, and Dana White [UFC President] bought the WFA for one reason - to get Rampage’s contract. White also bought Pride, because he knows deep down that each and every fight on a Pride card [and this coming from a true UFC fan] are to the caliber of a UFC main event bout.
Though I marked out for Liddell, and the fact that he got the same ovation that Undertaker would get if he came back tonight and took the WWE title off Cena out of the blue, I knew deep down that Rampage was going to own him, pure and simple. Before this knockout, Liddell had been talking about challenging the likes of Pride’s Shogun and Fedor. For the uninitiated, let me just say that those are probably the two top names in MMA today. Observe:
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/shogun%2Brampage/video/x4t8b_mauricio-shogun-vs-quinton-rampage
[Someone teach me how to embed those in the future]
Summary: Showgun owns Rampage. How the hell would Liddell stand a chance?
Ugh, stupid comment cut off thingy. Full link to the video from the above comment, just join it up:
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/
search/shogun%2Brampage/video/x4t8b_
mauricio-shogun-vs-quinton-rampage
Legend–
I really appreciate your in-depth comments on the UFC.
You’re right, I did try to spin the show for the average wrestling fan, since that’s who listens to my podcast. And I guess that’s how I look at things, too, since I’m a wrestling fan at heart.
I appreciate the link you posted, although I had to paste three times to get it to work, lol. Let me see if I can get it to work right on my comment:
Shogun v. Rampage
Great freaking video, although I laughed at one of the comments saying Jackson looks old and slow. If that’s the case, the UFC guys are in real trouble when more Pride guys come over. Shogun’s kicks to the head in that video are brutal.
Now, a few MMA questions:
1. What was the deal with the match they kept showing clips of last night where Rampage was trying to throw a guy out of the ring?
2. What is the format of a PRIDE fight? I noticed in that video that the round was like eight minutes long. That’s freaking crazy!
Again, thanks for the comment. You mentioned Punk taking the IC strap of Santino, which I thought was interesting, as well. I’m going to address the state of the IC Title in my next podcast.
Ah you know me, Lex, always putting the MMA in PWB. Now here are some MMA answers, or at least I’ll do my best.
1. What was the deal with the match they kept showing clips of last night where Rampage was trying to throw a guy out of the ring?
I think what you mean is the fight between Rampage and Matt Lindland in the WFA, but I’m not too sure. I don’t have a copy of the footage on me, but I assume you meant the crazy powerbomb-like slams that Rampage performed on Lindland.
Not the fight, but the countdown. Interesting watch indeed.
Possibly the fight, but confirm this for me?
Anyhoo, none of the companies that Rampage has fought in has a throw-out victory stipulation that I know. :S
2. What is the format of a PRIDE fight? I noticed in that video that the round was like eight minutes long. That’s freaking crazy!
UFC rounds, even in the championship fights, are only five minutes. I say only, but I know how much of a bitch that is to train for. Try punching a bag consistantly in knockout form for five minutes in a row. Regardless, some fighters believe that if at least the first of these rounds were longer, less fights would go to the judges. Everyone’s pissy when the fight goes to the judges - unless your arse gets saved by a decision.
Anyhoot, in Japan, Pride fights consist of three standard rounds. The first is ten minutes, the second and third are five minutes. Intermissions are two minutes. In the USA, standard US MMA rules are in place, so the first round is axed back down to five minutes.
Pride Bushido is slightly different. It only consists of two rounds, one ten minutes, the second five, split by a two minute intermission.
In the UFC, the referee is allowed to warn fighters to keep the action going, and can take away points from one or both fighters as he sees fit. Pride takes this a little further in that they have a red card foul system. Each red card [and there can be infinite of these without DQ], results in -10% of that fighter’s purse. I find that it’s more effective, though more harsh.
And the big difference about fighting in Japan is that it’s way more hardcore without the US sanctioned rules. This is why I believe that Liddell has to go to Japan, get his ass kicked, and learn to be a better fighter before he chases the new talent flowing into his domain.
In Pride, you can kick/knee the head of a downed opponent, you can stomp a mudhole in them and walk it dry and you can spike piledriver an opponent. All this crazy shit is against the rules in the US.
However, elbows to the head [no matter the angle] are banned in Pride. That, and there is no ten-point-per-round system. Pride judges just judge the entire fight as a whole.
Hope that cleared things up for ya.
haha, im not even gunna pretend to like MMA so, you guys can continue that discussion…
great podcast, shame Jade couldnt co-host, would like to hear him and others on the show soon.
just me who’s dissapointed that cade and murdoch arent in the ladder match at one night stand?
Prodigal–
Thanks for the in-depth response. In terms of the throw-out thing, I was referring to a clip they kept showing of Rampage holding a guy in the powerbomb position on top of the ropes…and it looked like he was going to throw the guy out of the ring…it looked like a PRIDE fight, but no idea which one. I thought that was a really cool clip because it really played into the whole “Rampage” persona.
Marty–
I am disappointed. You know why? Because on Raw, they did a great job playing up how Cade and Murdoch were going to try and be more like the Hardys…then, Murdoch does a freaking splash off the top! It seemed logical that they would be in that match…I’ll hold out for a surprise three-way at One Night Stand.
That being said, WGTT v. The Hardys in a ladder match is about as much as I could ask for as a smark fan. It’s about time Shelton and Haas got a real title shot. Somewhere, SrC is lusting over this match. Perhaps on his blog.
Ah, I remember what you mean. That’s Rampage hooked up in a triangle choke [you’ll remember the same move from the Taker/Angle I finish, where Taker somehow got pinned even though the rules state he shouldn’t]. Basically, with any submission hold, if you feel yourself get lifted into the air you better let the fuck go or you’ll leave your oxygen reserves up there on your way down. Next time you watch that clip, or see him perform a similar move, you’ll understand the term “Slampage”.
Looks like Randy Orton is finally getting punished for his actions, being swapped to ECW as the legend killer of the originals. He’ll probably try and overshadow elijah burke as leader of the new breed (try and mould it together around him) and CM Punk will help out the originalz. Cade and Murdoch do deserve a position at one night stand, but how many riple threat triangular ladder matches have we seen recently. Best thing would be to build from this platform, moving Cade and Murdoch into specialists of the table and Shelton and Haas specialists of the chair (hmmm where have i heard this before… oh yea probably two of the best ever wrestlemania matches) but it would be good to see a TLC match again.