Flying through the 'Verse can be an interesting ride. Sometimes reavers come at you, sometimes you have to follow your favorite performer from one promotion to another, and sometimes your favorite performer is replaced by someone else entirely just to see if anyone will notice (note: I figure someone has to think Misticara is a favorite to someone). The problem with switching out a character is that it can confuse people. It even confuses some people in the Insanity. So let us break this whole thing down and maybe stop confusing YOU.

Average

Can someone set this straight for me please?

Here's how I understand it...

-          Mistico is signed from AAA to WWE;

-          AAA puts a new guy in the Mistico costume and acts like nothing happens;

-          WWE makes a big deal about their brand new Mexican Sin Cara;

-          AAA trademarks the Sin Cara name;

-          Sin Cara is wellness suspended;

-          Hunico wears the Sin Cara costume on WWE television;

-          Sin Cara comes back to WWE and wears the Sin Cara costume;

-          Sin Cara continues to botch everything and is set aside;

-          We end up with some guy in AAA pretending to be Mistico, a different guy (who apparently can't wrestle either) in WWE pretending to be Sin Cara while AAA owns the rights to the Sin Cara name and the guy who is being copied in two promotions is now sitting on the sidelines.

-           

-         
Is this right?

Mike Johns

CMLL. Not AAA.

otherwise, you're pretty much right. The Mistico in Mexico is a newbie. The current Sin Cara is Mistico, and the Sin Cara that we had around SummerSlam was Hunico. CMLL owns the Mistico name and mask. WWE owns the Sin cara name. probably the mask, too.

Average

Thanks, Mike.

I thought there was something about WWE never getting the mark for "Sin Cara" so CMLL did?

T-Dog

Actually, CMLL had a guy debut named Maximo who initially dressed just like Mistico (white gear with gold trim) but he wasn't ready, the fans turned against him and he was de-Mistico'ed and became his own man.

CMLL trademarked "Sin Cara" in Mexico, but there's no way they will actually sue when WWE tours Mexico in October (i.e. they wouldn't win since WWE has it trademarked in the states). It's just a point of if Mistico leaves WWE and goes to AAA (CMLL is petty enough to not bring him back), he can't use either Mistico or Sin Cara.

And it turns out it was Hunico who played Sin Cara on SD this week and had to tape thes match with Slater 3 times. Mistico was sent home from the tapings whatever reason after having a meeting but has worked house shows.

WWE would be foolish to go to Mexico with Hunico under the Sin Cara mask as Mexican fans can tell the difference, but they just might try since the Mexican market is relatively new to them and they don't understand the culture. There's nothing concrete on which way WWE will go with this.

Yes it is really fucking confusing.

                Exx

                Apparently it was one of those deals where he wasn't shaking hands backstage or not being respectful enough or whatever. That appears to be more important than what they actually do on tv.

                                Average

                                Thanks, this makes sense.

Slimjames

To paraphrase J. Walter Weatherman: That's why you don't hype new talent as soon as they're signed. WWE painted themselves into a corner. You can't have a press conference for a guy then say, "tune in next year after he's been in developmental!" Even CM Punk did time in OVW before being called up, even with the big deal of his exit from ROH. If he had been put directly on the roster, even ignoring any resentment from other wrestlers, he might have a tough transition to the deliberate WWE style (assuming he could have fault, which, if you read the internet lately, seems to be impossible). You need to take it easy, let them get their legs under them, then call them up.

JohnnyCraze

So, the current Sin Cara were seeing right now is Hunico?

Drewcifer

From what I've read, Vince is unhappy with Mistico's backstage attitude; he's also unhappy with Hunico's work as well. I also read somewhere that Cara's mask has been selling really well at live events for $75. So who knows...

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to find that they've been working the 'net fans. I always suspected the day would come.

Since the last Hot Threads we've had one other confusing thing go on besides "Who is Sin Cara". Right now the World Wrestling Insanity Forums are going back and forth on how to look at this whole Nash/HHH/Punk/Cena/C-O-N-spiracy/Laurinitis/McMahon/Stephanie storyline. Some people see it as an intriguing storyline while others quickly dismiss it as HHH overtaking the hottest product in wrestling over the past few years. Why don't we see what side everyone falls on after the past few weeks.

RDLee

Same ol' shit, Different RAW.

JohnnyCraze

Unfortunately, everyone probably saw that ending coming.
Well, we have new tag champs and I know they're names this time!!

PeterDawson

Yeah the ending was pretty predictable but we do have a pretty good setup for the next few Raws, not to mention Night of Champions. We've got interesting Tag Team champs, we've got a potential triple threat with Swagger, Riley and Ziggler, and we've got a non-title feud with Punk and Nash, plus of course we've got Cena versus Del Rio.

TheGreatWhiteDope

Here's the thing:

Predictability /= bad

That is what should have happened once Triple H left. Because now we're looking at a few scenarios

1) Johnny Ace is behind this whole thing
2) Alberto Del Rio is behind this whole thing
3) Ace + Alberto is behind this whole thing
4) Steph + Ace are behind the whole thing....Or steph herself
5) Triple H is behind the whole thing but is smart enough to plant reasonable doubt to keep people off his trail.

The main thing is....with Punk playing Punk....he'll go straight to #5. We're slowly inching towards Punk/HHH. Triple H could even actually this time not be behind anything at all. But Punk could just be paranoid about Triple H's past enough to really believe it. So they fight.

Sorry....this is pretty enjoyable programming. Rather or not you saw the ending coming...doesn't change the enjoyment. I knew how The Dark Knight would end (Spoiler: Joker gets caught) but it didn't take away from everything coming before he was finally brought down.

And this time we have lots of ending routes and winding roads to take. So this might not end up as predictable as "Triple H did everything". Although, I could easily be wrong.

The Chosen 1

I love how for a week it's "wow, there's so many options as to who texted Nash..."

then they move the story forwarded by planting that first seed that it was Laurinitis, and everyone goes "ugh so predictable"

What did you want? Iron Sheik? Because that's completely unpredictable....it makes no sense and it's retarded but it's unpredictable...and then we get mad when someone pulls a Russo and does something really ridiculously unpredictable

There are predictable moments in EVERY SINGLE STORY EVER TOLD...it happens, we've watched wrestling for a looong time so we know Nash is coming out at the end, but at the end of the day they felt this story device was necessary to set-up the future of the story, which seems to be that Nash and Laurinitis are in cahoots and that Johnny Ace is in the Starscream trying to under mind Megatron and take his place role....

But of course STILL the story isn't PREDICABLE because next week it will be Johnny Ace saying that so and so told him Nash was in an accident blah blah blah and maybe they'll actually rule out Johnny Ace too...

We're all gonna say next week that it's so OBVIOUSLY Johnny Ace when last week we were all saying that it was so OBVIOUSLY Stephanie McMahon...then when they rule out Ace we're gonna say it was so OBVIOUSLY Alberto Del Rio...That's a LITTLE Schizophrenic

And then one week later....

The Green Teabagger

There ya go, folks.
You didn't want to see Nash wrestle.
We get Punk-Triple H instead.

Thorn_Gabriel

Ok, gotta chime in.....after reading all of the comments about tonight's RAW I think some of you are beyond cynical at this point.

Let's recap the last month or so...

-Jim Ross back on commentary
-The tag team championships have been elevated
-CM Punk is a MAJOR player
-Cena is still Cena, but I am actually not rolling my eyes at everything he says anymore
-The brand split appears to be done
-The Divas division is still the same ole crap, but there is a chance of something good happening if they pull the trigger on Beth and/or Natalya kicking some ass at NOC. Which I think they are setting up now.
-Each Champion has had a match almost every week and they seem to matter.
-The campy backstage "comedy" routines have ceased
-Waaaaay more wrestling. And when they have talking segments they are interesting and move a story-line forwards.
-Interesting story-lines that makes me want to watch next week.
-The matches have been extraordinary, with endings that make sense.

I have read comments from some of you who have been bitching for years about the very things they are correcting now?!?! I mean c'mon....give'em some props for changing things up and making it fun again?!?!

I will step down from my soap box and disappear into the night.

P.S. If HHH wins cleanly against Punk @ NOC, I may retract most of my respect for the new WWE.

PeterDawson

So Kevin Nash has NWO music and the WWE even put up an article on their website explaining the NWO for those who weren't around. They're even suggesting possible candidates. On the one hand, this is fairly TNA-ish, reviving an old concept, but they are trying to make sure people do understand what's going on and helping anyone who doesn't remember it or wasn't around. I'm just really hoping they aren't going to actually call it the NWO, but you do get hte feeling we're gonna get a new heel stable before the year is out tied to Nash and/or Triple H. This could even become the Corporation all over again...I am so conflicted.

But yeah, while its cool that we have a major storyline that doesn't currently involve the WWE title or John Cena, as both Del Rio and Cena have been more doing their own thing right now while Punk investigates the text mystery, this show was fairly weak. The lack of Del Rio and the heavy promotion for tomorrow's Smackdown really hurt it. Hopefully next week it'll pick up nicely.

Xriya

well, if they are doing what i think they are doing.. (and ive been wrong before.....lots). The players are in place.
Hunter will set up a match with Hunter, Miz, Truth and Nash vs Punk and "any 3 guys he can get" knowing that most of the locker room won't team with him. (Freshly turned and all).
He will use HHH's ambiguity to get Colt and the KoW to team with. Introduces the new guys, minimizes Nash's injury risk.. Gets the new guys over strong. the Internet goes nuts if Colt wins by pinning HHH.
(Although the money is on R-Truth). Angle works.. everyone is happy..

Or HHH pinks Punk clean.. one of the two..

Mike Johns

You know, Thorn, I remember saying a lot of the same stuff in December of 2009 about TNA. And you saw what happened.

WWE has a long road to go down if they want to "uncynicize" me. HHH as the New Vince doesn't instill the confidence in me that they'll do that, and their treatment of Punk since MITB (which hasn't been nearly as good) reminds me way too much of what TNA did to Aj Styles once Hogan came in. Sure, he's a "big deal" now (note the quotes. They denote the fact that while WE think he's a big deal, the people in charge still think he's too small and too indy for 'their' audience...and have said so much on television, nonetheless), but once he finishes his program with H, he'll be in the midcard fighting for the IC title again. You know, like AJ Styles now.

Am I the ONLY person here who remembers how quickly the Nexus died?

Look, I like to try and learn from history. It's why I do audios about SHIMMER and DGUSA. If WWE proves me wrong...great. But I doubt it. Credit has to be earned. Over more than 8 weeks.

If I were being truly cynical, I'd be comparing Punk to Samoa Joe. AJ denotes that I at least have some hope for the guy. I mean, he could always wrestle Daniel Bryan for 600 years.

Where are we after this past week's RAW when it comes to people's thoughts? Nash being fired, Triple H and Punk fighting for control of the company, Zack Ryder being in a tag match...what's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?!

Sprout1883

Screw you WWE, in some ways you are making me hate you more than TNA

You have some really good storylines going, and you are burning throough them at 100mph and no one can digest anything. This is has so much potentail to be huge and make money. Just makes Punks line about VKM being a millionaire rather than Billionaire even more poignant

At least we know TNA is fecking nonsensical fom start to finish and thus doesn't anger me so much

E.G. Woods

-Not a bad show overall,(especially as compared to last week's), but not a really good show, either. As is usually the case the past several years, they are really going to have their work cut out for them competing with Monday Night Football for the next 4 months.

-The end to the mystery over "who sent the text message to Nash?" was lame, but I expected that given how WWE ends their whodunits/mysteries. That being said, this whole thing with Nash/Punk/HHH finally has me intrigued, as I couldn't have cared less as of last Monday. Please don't let this whole storyline end lame as well.(Although I'm not holding my breath.)

-I appreciate their efforts at reviving the tag team division again, even if most aren't of the "traditional" tag team cloth. Speaking of which, where are The Usos? Bring them back and toss them into the mix.

-Good thing Teddy Long made the elimination tag match to main event Raw, or else they would've ended the show early, huh? Seriously, I know it's now a "Raw Supershow", but why not have HHH or The Mystery Raw G.M. make that match? Yeah, I know The Raw Mystery G.M. has apparently faded away, yet they still go to the trouble of setting up his/her podium and computer for every Raw since HHH took over. I said it last week and I'll say it again this week; Why even bother if the character is dropped?

-I enjoyed the elimination tag main event, as I feel the elimination aspect spices up what would normally be just a run of the mill main event. Needless to say the wrong guy won, but again something I've come to expect. I find it funny that the whole Nash/Punk/HHH storyline is about The WWE "becoming fun and cool again", yet they go ahead and deliver the tired "Super Cena" finish. Oh, the irony.

Nuwanda

Looks like HHH is going to win at Night of Champions (perhaps outside interference), and the feud will continue. Although I like the idea of HHH losing due to Vince costing him the match...

There are really three problems when it comes to grabbing comments about TNA when it comes to these boards: 1) They're very cynical of an already bad product. 2) They're non-existent because people have slowly tuned out due to bad storylines/being treated like idiots just for being fans. 3) It is incredibly depressing.

I'm taking advice from The Simpsons and not looking at Matt Hardy. He won't get attention from this article at all unless it is something he has done at a wrestling show. The events of the prior few weeks will have no baring on this column. Unfortunately, we are still looking at problem number three. An article (which can be read HERE http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6891795/the-wrestler-real-life ) came out about the story of Ric Flair's real-life. Needless to say it is......yeah.....

Sprout1883

in some ways it's sad, in others not so.

You'd think that after all his misadventures he may have learnt a long the way, but time after time he keeps doing the same shit and getting himself in (more) trouble.

The sad thing is Flair, one of the greatest of all time will die a broken, penniless man

TheGreatWhiteDope

This has done nothing but make me sad. So very sad.

ZAH

Absolutely brutal. Yet...I cannot stop reading.

Mike Johns

I couldn't force myself through it. I'm actually starting to hit Benoit-levels with Flair, to the point where I can almost never watch the guy's matches without being a bit creeped out or wholly depressed about how the man turned out in real life. with Benoit, it's me, watching his matches in near silence, still trying to figure out how this man I had so much respect for was able to do what he did to his wife and son. Flair? I really don't know, now. And I don't like it.

There probably ought to be some kind of law or something that says that once you win the love and respect of a large group of people, you're not allowed to fuck that up by being retarded.

Galaxy

It's incredibly difficult to have sympathy with him when you read about him sexually assaulting the stewardess or Beth's claims that he raped her.

                James Bullock

                I'm just speaking for myself when I say I feel sorry for him not because of what he did, and how he is, but because of the image he created, couldn't get away from the character in his own mind, and is barely living pay check to pay check now. It's just one of those head shakers where you look at a guy, say, "He had it all, and screwed it up," and wonder how he could do it. Unless something turns around for him - and in a lot of ways it shouldn't - he's going to be another wrestling tragedy when it's all said and done.

TXL

It was a difficult article to read, as Flair is not only my favorite wrestler of all time, but one of my favorite entertainers. I just couldn't stop reading, though. Crazy stuff.

Canadian Bulldog

The one thing I don't think this story really explained is how fragile Flair is. Both Flair's book and Bischoff's book talk about him having emotional breakdowns and cracking under pressure. There are few people (even Huge Douche Canoe Matt Hardy) that live their gimmick more than Flair. I guess you don't live the kind of lifestyle he does without reaching some extremely emotional lows...Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending his actions in the least, but I think it's a BIG part of who the guy is.

Going along with this about two years ago Jeff Hardy was arrested and was set to stand trial for some drug charges. To long story short this whole thing Jeff basically got the trial postponed over and over again. How long? Well, he finally went to trial this past week, just under two years after the original trial date. With the pushing and pulling of that system and Jeff's brilliant brother how would he fare? Well...10 days. Yep, two years of delayed trials and the man will be in jail for two business weeks. Chances are he'll even get that one weekend off. But luckily he'll miss at least one set of tapings for it right? I mean...he couldn't possibly go to jail for a drug charge and still be on television every week...or could he?

Sprout1883

what a crock of....

For it to go on that long I thought he was either going to get away with it or serious time.

Mind you it doesn't look good ten days or not, because I am sure the press will run with it

The Chosen 1

Jeff Hardy's comes back to TNA asking for a second chance....then hes goes to jail....
HOW can TNA .....ugh..


You can't make that shit up.

Nuwanda

Oh dear...people got more jail time for less...but hey, 30 months is a long probation, I bet he'll screw that up

The Chosen 1

He'd better AT LEAST miss the IMPACT tapings...If this guy literally shows up on 4 weeks of Impact, then the next week hes there again after serving TIME there's just no justice.

Fuckin TNA will do an angle where he goes to prison now...ya know it

Aaron Wood

Jeff ain't missing shit. The report says he's SCHEDULING when he's going down. He can do it right after a taping set and be back out in plenty of time for the next one, even if it is a hard 10 days and it'll be as if nothing ever happened. For this to IMpact TNA in any way, it had to be longer than a fortnight.

Mike Johns

North Carolina's tax dollars at work. 2 years' worth of work for not even 10 days in jail.

Wonder what Jeff Hardy learned from this? Likely about as much as Lindsay Lohan has...

JohnnyCraze

I bet TNA turns this into a storyline

Anthony.Analog

Obviously he can afford the $100,000...which is all the state actually cares about. I'm surprised he got any time at all, really. Nice to know that he plead guilty to intent to distribute OPIUM. That's fucking cool.

T-Dog

I bet that when Jeff Hardy walks through airports, people ask him when he's coming out of retirement to go back to WWE. To the public at large, he hasn't wrestled since August 2009. This case has hurt WWE more than TNA because only hardcore wrestling fans care about TNA and the headlines are likely to be "Ex-WWE wrestler convicted on drug charges" rather than "TNA wrestler convicted on drug charges".

This Week in WWI Forum History

The boards just seem to be kind of dead in the Mid-August timeframe. I think summer really takes it out of the WWI Forum crowd. So this week we're taking a short trip. First up we're traveling to the Impact Zone and traveling all the way back to August 2006. The reason? Samoa Joe, Samoa Joe, and some more Samoa Joe.

Samoa Joe? Really? Really? REALLY? Reeeaaaal-la-eyyyy? - August 2006

BuzzSawyerWasKing

I don't know if this has been discussed before (I'm relatively new to the board and though I try, I can't read ALL the older threads).

Why all the fuss over Samoa Joe? He is not a great wrestler. He uses power moves like an Ultimate Warrior/Goldberg type, only he's a fat blob. Umaga is WAY more entertaining than this guy, yet Samoa Joe gets nothing but praise from all around. Why? I don't think he could ever make it in the big leagues (WWE). Too one dimensional. Too fat (is he wearing the pants that ate Fred Mertz?). Not charismatic.

Am I missing something? I've seen many, many of his bouts, and frankly, I don't see it.

TheGreatWhiteDope

why do i think Samoa Joe is awesome?....let me count thy ways....

1) constant match quality/wrestling ability - its a tie. Joe's matches are constantly good/great and his wrestling ability is amazing. he can fight a stick and give me a 4 star match. his ability to mesh his strong style with every other wrestlers style just helps. his kicks and punches look like they hurt, and probably do, his grappling is very good, and he can sell when he needs too.

2)   "I wouldn't go so far as to call the brother fat, I mean he got a weight problem. What's the nigger gonna do? He's Samoan."

I'd say I like him just because he has the intensity and makes it look like a fight. I think his match quality is amazing and almost all the dream matches i have in mind have ____ vs Samoa Joe (kurt angle, michaels, rvd, chris benoit).

David

Samoa Joe is the guy who got me interested in Wrestling again. How's that for a statement of praise? I was really starting to lose my interest until I saw Joe wrestle.

As to not being charismatic? Again your tastes; but try again, look at his expressions in the ring, check out some of his promos. Joe is intense without having to scream, and yell at the camera. I really enjoy his promo style a lot.

Xofdre

People love Samoa Joe because he's such a refreshing break from what you've been spoon-fed from WWE. Samoa Joe is not a 'roided-up muscle-laden freak. If that's all you expect from Joe, go back to watching Lashley or Batista or some other shitstain on Smackdown. Like CM Punk, he represents the new-school of wrestling that's just beginning to emerge-- an amalgamation of mixed martial arts, judo and general submission wrestling. And to say he lacks charisma-- his promos are the among, if not the best on Impact each week. He doesn't need to spout repetitive catchphrases or to scream into the camera to get his point across.

If you're still questioning, watch "Joe vs Punk II". If you still don't see it, well, you can stick to the "big leagues"

BuzzSawyerWasKing

Hey Xofdre,
What I like about TNA are the guys like Daniels, Styles, Lethal, etc. I've not been programmed by anyone. I've been watching wrestling since 1973! I've seen 'em come and seen 'em go. I'm not trying to convince you to NOT like Joe, but I don't get it. His "looks at the camera" remind me of the Fat Elvis sneer, circa 1977. Not that powerful, if you get my drift. He, along with Abyss make up the worst of TNA to me (I know Jarrett, Nash, Steiner sucks, blah, blah, blah). An Abyss vs. Joe match is a disaster. I also don't like one dimensional turds like Rhino, who looks like ten pounds of crap in a five pound sack wrapped in his gay little leotard. Gore, gore, gore, my ass. The only gore I want to see is is Spike Dudley ripping off Abyss' head and handing it to Daniels so he can beat Rhino to death with it and then watch Joe come out and eat the corpses. Now THAT would be entertaining!

Clifffside

Samoa Joe is the modern diffenition of "Professional Wrestler". He has the total package except for the "looks" that the WWE wants. He is one of those people who just have "IT". He doesn't even need a gimmick, he can just be himself and everybody will respect and love his matches.

As for the not having charisma, I think your wrong there. Let me break it down for you, a dictionaries definition of charisma is, "having a seemingly uncanny ability to charm or influence people" or "it refers especially to a rare quality in certain people who easily draw the attention and admiration (or even hatred if the charisma is negative) of others due to a "magnetic" quality of personality and/or appearance. ". That in a nutshell is Samoa Joe.

Exx

For the first year that Samoa Joe was ROH champion I kept coming up with excuses in my own mind for why I thought he was over rated. Mainly I hated how strong he was booked because I couldn't envision most of his challengers winning. Title matches are extremely boring to me when I don't think the challenger has a chance in hell of winning. But eventually, I just accepted how great he truly is. Great mma style ringwork. He makes everything he does look like it hurts. He had a match in ROH with Low Ki where those two just stiffed the f**k out of each other. His series of matches with Homicide and his later series of matches with CM Punk really won me over. He's fantastic and he's actually good on the mic also, but hasn't had much chance to show it in TNA. In TNA, Joe is a really a breath of fresh air from all the WWE rejects.

Mike Johns

Does this argument happen every month?!

(Note: It use to happen every month. Now every month we all just bring up how bad we feel for Joe.)

After that small debate, that still rages on with some people today, we're going to park this train right back in to where this article began. We'll be sifting through some more insane picture given to us from forum members from all over.

With that we've reached the end of Hot Threads for the current week. I only have two pieces of advice for any of you reading this column right now:

1) If you're reading this and have yet to join the World Wrestling Insanity Forums you really need to. You can join a fantastic community of people and also maybe get your thoughts put out on a website. Granted, when you post it on the forums it will be on a website...this would be a .com.

2)   While you're on the World Wrestling Insanity Forums why don't you join Season 2 of WWI fantasy Wrestling (Link   right HERE http://s14.zetaboards.com/Wrestling_Insanity/topic/6671769/ ) The rules are simple and it only takes, maybe, 5 minutes out of YOUR MONTH! So go ahead and join for a chance to win prizes, have fun, and see if you're better at knowing what will happen than everyone else.

Until next time.....