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Post by clodhopper on Jul 12, 2022 6:25:10 GMT -5
I don't care at all. If I can suspend disbelief far enough to accept piledrivers etc not straight up paralysing dudes then I can also suspend it enough that I can buy any wrestler, regardless of physique, beating any other if the story is told right and the match done right.
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
Posts: 24,161
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Jul 12, 2022 21:25:12 GMT -5
I like bigger guys with a bit of beef on them who mow people down like Bam Bam, Vader, Jeff Cobb, Scott Norton, etc. its not a requirement that every one looks like that.
The bigger key to wrestling is having a connection with the audience. Eddie Kingston looks like a guy who’d get plasters and want to fight everyone at the bar every weekend but, you know what? I’m much more invested in him than I ever will be someone like Omos.
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Squirrel Master
Hank Scorpio
"Then the Squirrel Master came out of left field and told me I'm his bitch!"
Posts: 6,694
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Post by Squirrel Master on Jul 12, 2022 23:19:18 GMT -5
Little Spike Dudley kicked ass.
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Post by smokinvokoun86 on Jul 13, 2022 10:43:43 GMT -5
To me, it really doesn’t matter at all.
Here’s a question to people who care so much about the look. Is it really the look that draws you in, or the character and charisma?
Because to me, the real appeal of 80s and 90s wrestling, wasn’t that almost everyone was jacked and huge, but that they all had characters and a shit ton of charisma. Guys like Hogan and Warrior were massive yes, they LOOKED larger than life. But what was more important is that they ACTED like larger than life. And that is an ability that far rarer in wrestling, now more than ever. Because for every Brock Lesner or Goldberg, you get a lot more guys like Brakkus or Mason Ryan.
Batista didn’t get over because he was massive, it was because he highly charismatic and intense. Mason Ryan, who is always compared to Batista in the looks department, was probably one of the worst wrestlers ever, and the guy had the charisma of burnt toast. Probably even less.
So I don’t care what you look like, if you can’t get over then your muscles don’t mean shit.
I’ll go to AEW for these examples. Adam Cole and Eddie Kingstonnget constant shit for their lack of top level physiques. But they connect with the audience and are over as hell. And if you want to use Wardlow as an example of muscle guys, he’s not over because he’s massive. He’s over because of the story they told for him and, like Batista, he has a ton of charisma and intensity.
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Post by Confused Mark Wahlberg on Jul 13, 2022 11:30:30 GMT -5
In wrestling you can have everyone from Dusty Rhodes and JBL to Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude.
There's room for everyone if you can work and have charisma.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Jul 13, 2022 16:55:51 GMT -5
This If we are being completely honest, watching a guy like Batista struggle with a guy like Adam Cole would be absolutely ridiculous to most people. In a real fight, it's clear the bigger guy would break the skinny guy with barely any muscle in half. Just flat out isn't true As for my view on builds, wrestling is fake fights. I don't give a shit what build anyone has. I'd be amazed if a properly braced Kenny Omega would even feel the sensation of being splashed by someone the size of Marko Stunt. But if I gave a shit about what is realistic in fights, I wouldn't be watching wrestling anyway, realistic fighting is for real fights, keep that shit in the UFC I say this as someone who generally doesn't care but specifically wishes Adam Cole had just slightly bigger arms to fill out his look. He's over as f***. This stuff just does not matter in the industry any more.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Jul 13, 2022 17:33:37 GMT -5
What I realize from discussions like this is that there are people who aren’t really good at listening to counterpoints and harp on the same things even though those people have eyes and ears and can see what works and what doesn’t.
Adam Cole is popular. This isn’t me trying to throw my view here, I have ears and can hear him being super over, I have eyes that can see crowd reactions, I can see he’s one of the more popular merch sellers. These are tangible things. Same with Cody, same with Seth, same with AJ Styles, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, I can keep going on here.
Why are we having these same discussions over and over again when the evidence is literally in front of us? Especially when, in this particular section, WWE gives people their characters. If they’re shit and don’t fit the worker, you know exactly whose to blame.
Like…it’s f***ing boring, people. Just the most tedious and boring shit.
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Post by The Thread Barbi on Jul 13, 2022 17:57:24 GMT -5
In wrestling you can have everyone from Dusty Rhodes and JBL to Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude. There's room for everyone if you can work and have charisma. Wrestling at it's very best is a variety show. 1997/98 WCW Nitro was the best example of it. The cruiserweights, the mat technicians, the powerhouses, hosses and megastars all had a place on the card. However, each one brought an athletic physique of various mass to the play - be it Juventud in the opener or Goldberg at the top of the card. The exception being big bruisers like Bam Bam or a literal Giant.
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Post by "The Natural" Bustin Loads on Jul 13, 2022 18:45:15 GMT -5
I care about them more than my rent, gas and food
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Fade
Patti Mayonnaise
Posts: 38,531
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Post by Fade on Jul 13, 2022 18:46:28 GMT -5
It’s weird because guys like rey, spike, etc have been around but someone whose physique did kinda irk me was zack sabre jr. I think it mainly had to do with his style of wrestling. But since he’s bulked up, there is no qualms. I just buy everything. I think changing up his physique went a long way as far as perception goes.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2022 18:50:25 GMT -5
Physiques don't matter to me. The only thing that makes it hard for me to suspend my disbelief is when somebody like Shane McMahon, who's usually gassed five minutes into a match and already has some of the shittest looking strikes ever, can go toe to toe with somebody like Riddle.
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Post by jivesoulbrah on Jul 13, 2022 19:13:32 GMT -5
Physiques absolutely matter, these people should be larger than life. However I also believe there should be variety as well.
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Post by "Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat on Jul 13, 2022 19:40:57 GMT -5
Physiques don’t matter to me. As long as a good story is told I can buy Rey Mysterio beating Khali, Adam Cole beating Kieth Lee or any lady beating a male wrestler. Wrestling comes in many forms, and to quote some of the early UFC’s “styles make fights”. Would I buy Rey beating Khali in a fist fight? Not 100% but I’ve seen enough early MMA fights/bar fights in my time to know you can never safely bet on the bigger person. Royce Gracie is also proof that size doesn’t matter, just look up him vs Akebono.
Wrestling is always compared to a male soap opera when people try to defend it. It is about stories more than looks. Now would a giant muscle bound freak be an attraction to your story? Sure, it’d attract some people. But if I was writing a story/booking wrestling I’d want that muscle freak just as much as a suave manipulative person, a speedy underdog or relatable Everyman that wears his heart on his sleeve.
Final thought, to quote my old mum “the world would be very boring if everyone was the same”.
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Post by zrowsdower on Jul 13, 2022 19:58:42 GMT -5
I think Doudrop is one of the fittest big girls in wrestling, so, no, not really.
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MolotovMocktail
Grimlock
Home of the 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time 5-time Super Bowl Champion 49ers-and Wrestlemania 31
Posts: 14,058
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Jul 13, 2022 20:00:44 GMT -5
They should look something like an athlete - they can’t look like a slob or a guy I could beat up. But by the same token, they don’t have to have as JR might say, muscles in places where most people don’t have places.
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Post by darbus alan on Jul 13, 2022 20:13:18 GMT -5
There was only one guy I was never able to buy as a wrestler because of physique and that was Colin Delaney during his WWE appearances. Though he was also played off as a joke so I guess that was part of it. And to Colin's credit he looks fine now.
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Post by BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps on Jul 14, 2022 13:21:01 GMT -5
There was only one guy I was never able to buy as a wrestler because of physique and that was Colin Delaney during his WWE appearances. Though he was also played off as a joke so I guess that was part of it. And to Colin's credit he looks fine now. At the time he was more or less an NWA 1980s jobber. Most of those guys were weaker than WWF enhancement talent, both presentation and skill set wise.
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Schizo
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 3,929
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Post by Schizo on Jul 14, 2022 13:43:34 GMT -5
No
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Post by darbus alan on Jul 14, 2022 13:50:23 GMT -5
Speaking of the subject, Renee Paquette just uploaded an episode of her podcast on this subject. She's not a fan of the body shaming of wrestlers, using Eddie Kingston as an example.
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Post by stoptheclocks on Jul 14, 2022 13:56:48 GMT -5
Physiques don't matter. But looks definitely do, and there is some overlap between the two.
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