Wrestling Thread 7: FTR Baldhausen • Page 16

Had a feeling but hoped that wasn’t coming. Hopefully this is the wake up call and it doesn’t get worse from here

 

If he's not accepting rehab, unfortunately it needs to get worse

 

It's pretty wild considering on the recent Stone Cold podcast he specifically pointed to not accepting rehab help from WWE all those years ago after the Taker feud as a huge regret and missed opportunity to help himself and maintain his career momentum.

 

IT’S SUUUUE absolutely sent me. Trent? looks fantastic.

 

@oldjersey How do we feel about WWE not so long ago using his addiction issues from the past as fuel for not one, but two different storylines?

 

It was so horrible, lazy and tasteless creative. They have treated Jeff like the antithesis of the legend he is in WWE the past few years too. Guy sacrificed his body so many times for some of the most memorable matches and they treat him like shit.

 

I don't know anything about Hook, but them getting an Action Bronson song for him is kinda dope. I thought it was a Ghostface song at first lol

 

Yeah, agreed on all fronts. And I'm not trying to suggest that it's WWE's fault that Jeff seems to have relapsed in some capacity, but I can't imagine working that type of storyline would be beneficial to anyone battling addiction issues sustaining their sobriety.

 

I’m really sad he never got the big break he deserved after Chikara.

 

Someone in Jeff's case (cycle of relapse and some recovery time and back to relapse) needs to just get away from the lifestyle completely for a good amount of time. Jeff especially should retire from working in-ring and then someday come back as some type of teacher or something backstage way down the road.

In my opinion, these types of cases where it's someone under the spotlight of fame and has this up and down history of substance abuse, they need to completely remove the spotlight and stay out for a few years to make the necessary changes. After that, they can assess how they really feel about returning to what they used to do or see if they are happy with their new life.

Of course, that's extremely hard to do. Wrestling is all Jeff knows and how he's made money.

 

Awww man. And he had just come back from injury. At least he got an AEW dark match in.

 

Maybe if Jeff was related to Roman Reigns WWE would have cared more about him

 

I wonder if Roman starts getting movie offers and leaves WWE with nothing.

 

Also, I loved that they played the Best Friends out with the Roppongi Vice music. Obviously they've been playing up Trent's CHAOS and Rocky connections for the past couple months, but having that ending and moment demonstrates the value and story opportunities available when you recognize wrestlers' histories. And yes I'm trying to make this in comparison to WWE who almost always chooses to ignore a wrestler's history.

 

SRS is generally pretty good, and I have little doubt his sources aren't accurate, but I feel like reporting on someone going to rehab or not is a bit invasive and personal and probably shouldn't be done.

 

Yeah, I dont really love this or like the Paige/Del Rio relationship stuff or things of that ilk.

That said, when WWE makes them story line, they become pretty important to the reporting. If they're gonna do blurred line shoots like Nia/Charlotte and Becky/Charlotte, or use Paige's brothers death as cheap heat, then Jeff maybe being drunk/high working a house show aligns with a story they ran not too long ago...

 

I can understand sorta the thinking behind it. People are wondering why Hardy got released. "I've heard why Hardy got released but can't share it for personal reasons" would do even more harm.

But would've been better to swallow the professional pride and just, not report on why he got released. It won't hinder your Jinder reputation too much if you don't have a scoop on one release

 

And this has worked for a bunch of guys. Road Dogg is the first one that comes to mind (hell, most of DX)

 

I want to live in a world where Takeovers from 2015-2018 exist and AEW exists and all of the wrestling is just so beautiful and good.

Honestly from 2015-2018, NXT couldn’t miss and NJPW was insanely good.

Both are generally unrecognizable in 2021 compared to just 2 or 3 years ago.

 

Well fuck

 

ROH going out with a whimper. That show is super weak even before Bandido got pulled.

 

And of all the luchadores, his mask was the most protective...