Your Wrestling Guilty Pleasure
 

So for this week's podcast, we're looking to talk about guilty pleasures in wrestling, and are looking for your contributions on wrestlers, matches, angles, feuds, shows, whatever it may be, that for you is a guilty pleasure - someone or something that typically gets plenty of derision and scorn, but deep down you enjoy, perhaps against your better judgement.

And of course, please explain why you enjoy this particular person or thing, and your perspective as one of the few who takes enjoyment in it.

As always, the best contributions will be read on the show and you'll be credited accordingly. So what's your guilty pleasure in wrestling and why?

EDIT - Our show on Wrestling's Guilty Pleasures, featuring many of your contributions is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean...._Pleasures.mp3

I frigging LOVED JBL as champion. It shouldn't even be called a guilty pleasure because a bunch of fat as neck beard work rate snobs think he sucks

I thought Crash Holly was awesome. Greatest hardcore champ ever 24/7! Also, the Bushwhackers ruled.

Sid, nothing more, nothing less.

He doesn't suck, but he never really had particularly great matches and having a comedy heel as your heavyweight champion is kind of dumb. But to say he sucked is ignorant. Clothesline from hell was dope as fuck and he was a great promo.

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Curtis Axel is mine. Just like everything he's done except Rybaxel. #BetterthanPerfect #Axelmania #Thechainsareoff #Dontchangethechannel #SocialOutcast

For me, my number one guilty pleasure is commentator Vince McMahon. He sounded like such a jackass, but I just get the ultimate kick out of him. I actually do believe Vince is more like his commentator persona than he is his Mr. McMahon persona. I envision him being a snarky, passive aggressive, bullshit schilling douche bag. From devastating maneuvers, to "WILDMANMARKMERO" to orgasming over anything Shawn Michaels circa 1996 did, to laughing at some of his utterly inane "comedy" such as the brilliant work of that dickbag Jameson or his sad attempts to riff off of the abortion that was Rob Bartlett; I could listen to him all day.

What a cornball.

I'm going to challenge you wonderful gentleman of Squared Circle Gazette Radio to imagine everything Michael Cole and Byron Saxton say, but instead in the cadence of commentator Vince McMahon. When you do that, everything begins to make sense, and you will lose all hope. Okay, then maybe don't do that.

Also TNA would count I guess. Generally like Impact every week.

Loved the Bushwackers as a kid and still have them as one of my favorite tag teams of all-time.

If JBL is a comedy heel, then so was Ric Flair and the Rock. JBL was a loudmouth chickenshit heel.

I loved Sid. Sid was the fucking man.

Enjoyed JBL as WWE Champion and thought it was great timing and he pulled that character off great. Wouldn't call him a comedy heel either not sure how Dale got that one. Thumbs up for Sid as well.

JBL was awesome. I think even the IWC likes him for the most part though (at least in hindsight).

Also, definitely wasn't a comedy heel. Don't know what the H Dale is talking about.

I still think a fair amount of IWC folks hold the jarring nature of JBL's push against him and it negatively tinges their view of him. At WM XX he was in a JTTS tag team with Farooq, and just a few weeks later his character is turned 180 degrees and feuding with everyone's favorite vanilla midget, Eddy. I loved JBL's title run, but I can see why a lot of IWC fans still hate him. They're just wrong.

Steamboat tore Flair's clothes off in the middle of the ring in 89. That was hilarious and Flair sold it so well. Wouldn't call Flair a comedy heel, nor JBL.

They hold JBL taking the belt off Eddie against him.

Random question. I know you post your show on other sites, is JBL loved on the other sites or is TPWW just an exception?

JBL at ECW ppv=pure fucking gold IMO.

My current guilty pleasure is Stardust. I don't know how many people realize that he has really taken this and run wild with it as a persona, playing it to the absolute hilt in every form of media he's involved in and best all he seems to be having a blast.

Stardust is also amazing. Cody plays the character incredibly well. Just with they would actually keep him involved in shit.

To be fair, he just kind of showed up and won the title after being a tag team guy for like 8 years. There was no real build up to him moving up to the main event.

That and yeah, eddie was really over and deserved a longer reign in a lot of people's eyes.

I'm also a big fan of JBL's run. One of the best chicken shit heels ever.

My own guilty pleasure would be Santino. Lots of people don't like him. I think he's fantadtic. His delivery and execution, his mannerisms. All of it is so much better than everyone else trying to be funny in wrestling. Wish they would bring him back. He would be perfect for the kickoff panel.

JBL winning a cage match by escaping under the ring after a Big Show choke slam has got to be one of the best finishes to a cage match of all time. How would the IWC feel if JBL would have beat Cena at WM 21?

Could've sworn Santino was beloved by pretty much everybody.

Yeah, who doesn't love Santino? (Except Jim Cornette)

Best comedy jobber ever.

Fucking hate JBL on commentary though. He heels it up way too much, just like micheal cole did years ago.

He's like Ventura in that he tries to make valid arguements for the heels actions, but jesse knew when to reign it in and pick his spots. With JBL you don't even have time to consider the points he's making because in your head its just like "god shut up already".

I dunno about tpww, but the internet in general staryed to sour on him the same way they did eugene. I never got tired ofbhis antics though.

Nah, that was the right time, and the right guy to end jbl's reign.

Fucking mobile keyboard butchering my spelling

I don't mean comedy heel in the sense he is like santino, more his selling and stuff like that. He was "zaney" in the ring with his selling. Not taking away from him on the Mic tho.

I dunno, a 6 foot 7 inch bruising texan is kind of ridiculous as a chicken shit begging off heel.

I enjoy Total Divas

babyface Michael Hayes teaming with the Von Erichs against The Freebirds in 1988

But I guess being a towering chicken shit heel doesn't make you a comedy heel... i just think working wise it's kind of dumb. He used to be kind of like an asskicker (even as a heel) who would never cower, to being a cowering heel who clearly wasn't that great so he had to cheat elaborately to win, so I guess to me it came across as comedy... BUT I'll concede that this is an incorrect assertion. But remember y'all, you only get one, you rat bastards (Especially you #1wwffan, YOU REMEMBER IT MORE THAN ANYONE :rant: )

Hulk Hogan vs. Shawn Michaels from SummerSlam 2005. I recently re-watched it drunk, and it was hilarious and probably the best Hulk Hogan has looked in years at that point. And come on -- Shawn should have been pissed off that Hogan changed the finish.

Val Venis during his Heat run as the resident utility guy getting the most out of people in the ring. His selling was great. He beat Charlie Haas once and I just about Money Shot in my pants.

Goldberg was the first wrestler I was ever a mark for when I started watching wrestling in 1998. My Goldberg markdom never wavered. When he came to WWE and won the title in 2003 and half the people on here went on suicide watch, I fucking loved every second of it. It made me sad to see his last WWE match be such a trainwreck even if it made for a bizarre social experiment.

So yeah...I guess Goldberg counts. I'm well aware that he was the drizzling shits in the ring most of the time. Don't care. He could come back on Raw next week and I would lose my shit and immediately start watching again.

I'm also going to second Curtis Axel. I know people had higher hopes for him, but I find his ring work chillingly intense at times. He's not his father's cocky personality -- he's more like a throwback to a man's man -- except it didn't really survive the feud with CM Punk and now he's a goof, but he's fine at it. He helped train The Rock, remember? Rocky should cast him in Ballers.

Oh man, I remember the days of your love affair with Val being one of the marquee running jokes on the boards.

In terms of random undercard guys that I liked but that didn't seem too highly regarded I've mentioned before that I was a HUGE Deuce 'n Domino mark. I believe it started because I started working on my high school production of Grease and those guys debuted at the exact same time. But straight away I just felt like Domino totally killed it in his role so I wanted to pull for him.

Actually followed Domino/Cliff Compton's career after getting released from WWE. He took a hiatus for a few years but then he started working in OVW/ROH and did some hilarious podcasts with Colt Cabana (the Nigeria one is amazing). Actually he had mentioned like 5 different times that WWE was prepared to re-sign him with a storyline in mind and it never panned out. The ones I can remember were that he was going to join the Straight Edge Society, and he was meant to come in for the first season of NXT when the initial plan was to bring back former WWE guys to compete on it. He just officially retired this past weekend apparently. :( Shame he didn't get another go, fucking funny guy.

The Gum Swat by Mr. Perfect....hell, I do it sometimes.

Jack Swagger's World Heavyweight Championship reign in 2010. Those goofy promos that sounded like a high school speech, him always toting his accolades (ballroom dancing champion and having the sandwich named after him -- long-live "The Swaggie"). He's a good wrestler too. Do you think him not really catching fire as World Champion had anything to do with his losing streak to Santino Marella heading into the WrestleMania where he won Money in the Bank? I would have liked to have seen him beat Chris Jericho and Edge in a Triple Threat at Extreme Rules that year, then beaten Edge one-on-one at Over the Limit before Edge moved over to RAW. Then was the ill-fated Fatal 4-Way where a chickenshit win would have been fine for Swagger. Money in the Bank could have been a more routine defense against someone like Rey Mysterio, and then we'd be in SummerSlam territory. I always wanted to see Kane and Taker's inevitable feud converge with Swagger's title reign, with Swagger capitalizing on them destroying each other in a SummerSlam Triple Threat. Swagger vs. Taker one-on-one could have been arranged for Night of Champions, with Kane helping Swagger win. Hell in a Cell would see the Taker/Kane blow-off and Swagger defend the World Title elsewhere on the card. If this is all feeling too long for you guys, just think -- no Kane as World Heavyweight Champion in 2010.

Someone will surely drag up the picture Xero photoshopped of Val, Brian Kendrick, Paul London and probably Doug Basham with all of the titles.

Oh yeah, Liam -- Doug Basham. Fucking love that guy. Not as keen on Danny though.

Oh, and Vito of course. Honestly probably wouldn't mark out at all if he returned now but for some reason I just started rooting for him as a kid and it stuck and so did different iterations of my user name. He also managed to make a fighting in a dress as a gimmick work for him for a longer period of time than I thought possible so good on him.

Does Becky Lynch count as a guilty pleasure? As in I'd feel guilty if I ever met her because of all the pleasure she has brought me?

Vince Russo. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Just kidding, guys.

Not hating Alberto Del Rio. The guy is really good in the ring and since I don't watch as regularly as I once did, I don't see him as much, and when I do he is usually pretty intense and everything he does looks beautiful.

Deuce, Domino, and Cherry were mine. I was so disappointed that they never amounted to anything. Also all the vampire wrestlers. Gangrel, everyone in the Brood, and even Kevin Thorn and the chick he had with him. Oh, and pirate Paul Burchil... Actually I've had a lot of these.

Brie Bella's theme music. For someone. Surely. Not me though.

I will forever hate Deuce (not so much Domino though) for taking the WWE Tag Team Titles off Paul London & Brian Kendrick. :fu:

Pirate Paul Burchill is a good one, actually. And Katie Lea in general. She didn't really get a chance to do much, but she was smoking and her lingering potential made me want to see her achieve more.

Psycho Victoria and Victoria-whipped Stevie Richards. But I think that was universally regarded as the best thing since Sliced Bread #2, wasn't it?

I found the Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James match at WrestleMania 22 to be the best thing on the show. Does that count as a guilty pleasure? I was just so down on everything else.

Superstars babyface run Chris Masters. He actually got pretty good in the ring and was starting to get a good rapport with audiences going. The WWE brought him up way too early. He was like 14 years old with -3 years experience in the business at the time. I remember reading once that Jim Cornette was high on him and saw big star potential in the same vein as John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista and Matt Morgan. Three out of five ain't bad, Jimmy. I know he has two Wellness policy violations against his name, but I'm really surprised the WWE hasn't tried to bring this guy back. Especially after they published that story about him saving his mother from a burning house with a fucking tree.

I might need to toss The Great Khali in here too. He was a fucking oaf and everybody knows it, but I could never totally get mad when WWE would push him because he was just so bad that it was hilarious. Helps that he's also apparently a super nice dude in real life and donated a shitload of his income to impoverished people in India.

Here's another one: I didn't hate the 2009 Raw Guests Hosts as much as most, especially early on. Yes some of them were total shit and clearly had no interest in being there other than to promote their upcoming movie/TV show/album/book etc. but the ones who actually seemed to put any effort into their performance were fun. Especially during that stretch where Jerishow would interact with every single guest host.

Also if you didn't like Bob Barker hosting you are not human.

Jimmy Wang Yang was one of my favorites around that time too. Lot of fun gimmicks during that "era."

On a more embarrassing note I was pretty big into the Great Khali during his Punjabi Playboy gimmick. Don't know why but I liked it at the time. In retrospect not so much though...

Fucking loved Deuce 'n' Domino. One of my favorite tag teams ever. Wish they had lasted longer. One of my favorite themes as well.

Come to think of it a lot of the stuff going on on Smackdown around that time could be considered a guilty pleasure for me. Jimmy Wang Yang included.

Really, Wishbone? The same minute? Really?

Remember when Jimmy Wang Yang had a cowgirl valet for like... a week or two.

Jimmy Wang Yang was so much fun.

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Domino was so damn good.

Anything involving Ebessan/Kikutaro vs. Kuishinbo Kamen.

It is brilliant.

OK, might as well just get this out there...I enjoyed when Jesse got involved with Cryme Tyme and became a "wigger" called Slam Master J, and I also actually really enjoyed his almost universally panned theme, too.

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Thats not a guilty pleasure. Those guys are great.

God damn it damninator, now everyone is going to think I love cryme tyme.

You've ruined fucking everything.

I never understood why Cherry never got a real chance at singles competition in the women's division. I mean, she probably wasn't championship material, but I think she would've been over for a while as a mid-carder.

I think they'll know you were replying to Vastardikai. I certainly knew.

Lol, Amy Zidian. She was really fucking hot, but apparently she got all uppity when Stephanie McMahon tried to give her advice and she was like "Um, who are you?" :lol:

Jimmy Wang Yang was great, by the way. Even when he was Akio, his Velocity series with Paul London was fucking amazing.

I forgot just how young Jimmy Wang Yang was when he first started on TV. The guy was a weekly fixture in the cruiserweight division in the final couple of years in WCW yet he's only 34 right now. Hard to believe.

Disco Inferno.

Bring him back. Now.

Disco Inferno's theme is definitely one of mine. :y:

The more I think of it I wonder if damn near the entire "brand extension" era is sort of a guilty pleasure for me until they started to basically ignore the split and merge everything. Not just the obviously good stuff like the SmackDown Six era but even the down periods. I would sooner watch some obscure SmackDown from like 2005 than I would watch a current Raw.

Maybe I'm just nostalgic for the days where I was younger and actually felt the desire to watch both shows (and WWECW while it was there). Probably part of the reason I'd be all in on a roster split return.

It's a bit of a mixed bag with people's opinions on JBL, never get a sense of universal praise or scorn on the other forums. Some people hate him with a passion, others think his character work was awesome and is underrated to this day. Nobody really blows the horn for him as a wrestler, but that's not the be all end all with him anyway, it's character and promos.

I do it 75% of the time I spit out gum.

Carlito's alleged poor backstage attitude. The more I try and learn about the wrestling business, the more respect I actually have for him as a guy who was trying to stand up for his character and have the confidence to not try and fall into the bullshit you see ruin guys today, where they basically say "Yessir, thank you, sir" and eat Triple H or Vince cum and pretend they like the taste.

JBL's sudden push annoyed me. It made no sense why this guy who was half of a tag team that didn't really have much kayfabe success when you really think about it (although they were projected as tough guys) could suddenly be the WWE Champion. It cut the balls off SmackDown a lot. The guy can talk, but his matches were fucking dog shit. It never felt like he was being built up as a credible champion, it always felt like he was placeholding for the big face to take it off him -- something which made no contextual sense given the safeguards he had built up.

Why didn't The Cabinet run out and attack Cena at WrestleMania 21? JBL just got his ass handed to him in a 9-minute match because. I know this isn't a popular theory, but if Cena has been screwed out of the title at Mania 21 (but still won), the heat on JBL would have been tremendous, and Cena could have gotten his own moment headlining a PPV like Judgment Day instead of beating JBL in what was essentially a mid-card match. The whole JBL reign and Cena win were actually precursors for a lot of Cena hate, in my honest opinion, despite a lot of critics pinpointing it later. The Jericho feud definitely galvanized it all, but it started with the shoe-horning of 2004/2005 SmackDown.

JBL would have been absolutely phenomenal as a mid-card US Champion heel gimmick at first. He could have decked himself out in the gear he would eventually use during his actual US Title run, and he could have beat Cena for the belt, freeing him up for an organic chase, and JBL could have lost the US Title and challenged Cena later reminding he was the guy who beat him for his US Title, so he'd do it again for the WWE Title.

Carlito could have come in against JBL, they could have brought up the immigrant stuff, and he could have beaten JBL as a babyface that actually mattered. Get those layers going.

To be fair, they probably figured they didn't have to pay attention until the 15 minute mark, it was a WrestleMania title match after all.

WWECW for the 5-6 months of 2006, when Heyman actually had creative control was so fucking amazing...especially that siiiiiicccccckkkkk intro:

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Yeah, the first episode was fucking shit, but I honestly loved and marked out like a bitch when my hometown boy was presented with the ECW belt to go with his WWE title. If only that could have lasted a bit longer...oh, and then they open the wrestling action on the first episode with The Zombie v. The Sandman...so awful.

The Taker vs Yoko Casket Match and aftermath at RR94. Fucking loved the whole deal with the heels beating down Taker, opening the urn, the resurrection, and Marty Jannetty levitating out of the big screen. Loved all that supernatural shit. Watched it recently, still love it.

EDIT: Watched it again last night. Fucking Tenryu and Kabuki. Lol.

World War 3 in WCW. Always loved seeing that many guys in a match at once. It just felt like a big deal.

Luther Reigns over Roman Reigns.

I'VE HAD PEAS B'FORE!

Apparently she suffered from some post concussion syndrome. The "who are you" could have have been related to that. Or she just didn't know who her boss was.

NVM she also did the same thing to Vickie Guerrero. Didn't know who the widow of Eddie Guerrerro was and asked her why she was a signed as a "diva" because she wasn't hot like everybody else.

Johnny Ace got alot of shit for calling her up to the roster.

One event that gets crapped on all the time that I always liked was Wrestlemania 9.

I feel like Trevor Murdoch during his days where he was fighting with Lance Cade, leading to them breaking up and Murdoch's shortly lived singles run in WWE is often criminally overlooked. He could've gotten over huge in the midcard and maybe even held the IC belt. I was so disappointed when WWE just dropped him outta nowhere like a bad habit.

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Trevor Murdoch was incredible. So disappointed he wasn't utilized better.

NOW we're talking!

Bill Alfonso refereed that PPV DADDY! He was the Giant Gonzales's spanish translator/intermeidary when he was going one on one WITH THE UNDERTAKER!

(whistles)

The end of WrestleMania 9 specifically...

It's universally panned. But really, with the concept of MITB existing where a guy can randomly come in and win a title any time they want, we shouldn't complain about the logic of that one. It was a shock ending and the biggest star of all time walked out of WrestleMania with the belt to a huge ovation. I think the hatred of it is pretty overrated.

Hogan also wooed.

Yes, Hogan wooed as well. That, too.

But there was no money in the bank to make it logical, and all it accomplished was burying the 2 guys in the main event. All it accomplished was a pop and massaging Hulk's ego.

It was a heel using the title to try to humiliate a face and having it backfire. It's completely logical. The idea of Money in the Bank is just ridiculous. You can pin a guy who is dead in the ring already and win the biggest title in the company. Cool. It's just a lazy heat prop basically that makes winning the title more and more meaningless.

It was Hulk Hogan hotdogging and grandstanding OOOOO YEAHHHHHH

Money in the bank concept 3.5/7

that's a pretty stellar mark tbh

Pretty sure wrestling IS my guilty pleasure....

But within wrestling, I'd say.... GIANT GONZALES.

I mean, I haven't seen it since I was a kid, and even then, I think I only ever saw his debut, and not the actual match vs. Undertaker.... but I remember being "awed" by this dude who "didn't look human" and how he was "manhandling" the Undertaker.

Also really enjoyed Undertaker vs Undertaker as a kid.....

In fact, I'll say every "goofy"/"over the top" Undertaker and/or Kane story ever. Don't really know if that counts, cause everybody loves Taker/Kane. I'm talking about their most ridiculous stories here only....

Kane putting Undertaker in vegetative state, winning the title, and having those overly elaborate promos in ring w/music and video/effects is some of my favourite stuff ever....

I'm right there with you with the OTT Taker stuff (if not the matches that follow).

Thought of another guilty pleasure; Todd Pettingill doing the "Countdown" show(s?). Think I've only seen the SummerSlam '93 one but it was amazing!!

Pettengill at the coffee table with his potato chips B-)

My guilty pleasures are jobber matches . I love watching old WWF Philly Spectrum/Boston Garden/MSG shows from the early 80's and watching guys like S.D Jones take on Tiger Cheung Lee in the opening match. You never knew who would win and I always felt happy for guys like Jones, Lee, Jose Luis Rivera etc... when they would actually win a match.

Big fan of watching random squash match from the late 80's early 90's on YouTube.... the lesser known the star, the better....

It's probably too late to make the cut, but I hope someone mentions Vickie Guerrero. She took that awkward role she was handed by the company and made some great heat out of it.