W6P: Interesting Live-Tweet Options for When WWE Network Launches

The six pack has returned, mainly because holy crap, the WWE Network has been announced and it sounds fantastic. In addition to the original programming, television replays, pre- and post-shows, and all WWE's pay-per-view events, the video on demand library will contain every single PPV event ever aired by WWE, WCW, and ECW. This richness in archive presents a goldmine of inspiration for a writer such as myself, but aside from content for the blog, it also provides a different opportunity.

More and more, auteurs out there are organizing synchronized live-tweets of old events, usually found on YouTube. With WWE Network making events available in the best quality and without fear of disappearing due to copyright infringement, not only will other people do more of these live-tweets, but I might partake as well. The following lists the six events I think I would consider organizing a live-tweet for the most. The shows aren't the marquee WrestleManias or the Bashes at the Beach '96 of the lot. However, they hold certain curiosity value for me, and those are the shows I feel are most interesting to revisit.

W6P: Reasons Why 2011 Was a Great Year in Pro Wrestling

The most enduring image of 2011
Photo Credit: WWE.com

In The Wrestling Blog Era (shut up, I don't care if it sounds pretentious), 2011 may have been the finest total year for overall quality across a large quantity of promotions. Sure, Ring of Honor was mired with the dregs of the Jim Cornette-mandated malaise, but they even still had their moments. TNA was turning the corner, and local indie promotions were on point. However, the three promotions carrying the banners in the vanguard for pro wrestling, at least from my point of view, were WWE, Chikara, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Here are the six specific shows and eras that made 2011 for me as a wrestling fan, which all happen to be from those three aforementioned companies, chronologically, of course.

1. The Royal Rumble
Three of the last four Rumble matches have actually been insanely fun, with 2012's being the only exception. I don't know if 2011's was the best of the three good ones, but I guess it's a testament to how well WWE has laid those battle royales out. This particular Rumble is going to be remembered for the false finishes to end all false finishes. del Rio looked like he had the match won until Santino Marella, of all people, sneaked back into the ring after being forgotten on the outside. When he COBRA'd del Rio and tossed him, the TD Bank Garden ERUPTED as if the Bruins had just clinched the Stanley Cup on home ice. Of course, we all know the end result; del Rio skinned the cat and tossed Marella to get himself on the road to his destiny.

There were a bunch of other fun threads in the Rumble match itself, like the infamous New Nexus vs. Corre turf war - the only good thing to come out of that feud, the best Hornswoggle appearance ever, the insane reactions that Diesel and Booker T got, and The Miz dumping John Cena to set up their WrestleMania match. The pitfall of having 40 participants in this Rumble match was perhaps stretching a great concept too thinly. Appropriate pacing was able to nip that fear in the bud. Additionally, the Dolph Ziggler/Edge match for the Big Gold Belt was rollicking and lively, and that's always a plus.

W6P: Updating the Nation of Domination for Today

A great gimmick? Yes? Could it play now? Hell no. Will that stop me from restocking it? Not a chance.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The Nation of Domination was both a stable ahead of its time and a concept that would never play in an entertainment medium marketed mostly towards white males. The stable, led by Faarooq (Ron Simmons) for most of its existence, should have been the most babyface of babyface stables, but strong, militant black dudes (well, in the second incarnation at least, lol Crush in a black power stable) trying to fight to take what's theirs doesn't set well with people conditioned to want their minorities either to be as inoffensive or stereotypical as possible. The following wrestlers are the ones I'd use to fill out a modern Nation of Domination, one that would probably always be a pipe dream.

W6P: Indie Wrestling Matches to Look Forward To

Ricochet. Fox. One more time.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

We have cracked into the final third of the year, and this third act will have a tall order to live up to. While WWE and NXT have had a tremendous amount of great wrestling in America, the indies have provided more than their fair share of excellent wrestling matches. WrestleCon, National Pro Wrestling Day, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Wrestling Is.../Chikara, the Beyond Wrestling explosion, and other companies around the country have been putting their A-game up. They don't look to be stopping either. Six matches coming up in the next couple of months will be featured this week.