A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

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NWK2000
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A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by NWK2000 » Sep 25th, '20, 17:15

On September 24, 2020, T-Bar posted this on Twitter

[tweet][/tweet]

Let's examine this.
He locked replies so only people he mentioned can reply, which happens to be Mace.
Most of the re-tweets are roasts about how he ripped off Bane.

Let's look at how this comes across thus far. A grown man claiming to be an anarchist ripped off a line from Dark Night Rises like an edgy 15 year old, he then locked tweets so that he is safe from the (deserved) trolling and only his echo chamber can cheer him on. Not a good look right? Compare this to AJ Styles' Flat Earth controversy. He's spent a ton of time on Twitch, podcasts etc, spewing parentheticals so that he doesn't come out looking like a loser.

In contrast, how did T-Bar handle his Twitter cringe escapade? In a situation where Retribution is already looked at in an unfavorable light , he doubled down, going as far as to take potshots at Tom Hardy, spinning completely irrelevant information to make himself look better, concluding in a completely hyperbolic statement.

[tweet][/tweet]

As absurd as this is to some, spending time on political Twitter indicates that T-Bar is a reflection of the world in 2020. That is to say, uninformed, egotistical people trying to make themselves look and sound better in the face of their worst takes, instead of doubling down. And why shouldn't they? Why should they care what the layman, who is capable of introspection and taking criticism, think? He's got his echo chamber, Retribution, cheering him on.

He's also managed to reflect the state of the world, while being completely unlikeable in a PG environment. On the other side of that coin, let's look at someone like Flip Gordon, who, at present, is leaning heavy into conspiracy theories and general stupidity like throwing away your voting slip and not wearing masks. Comparing the two, you might say Flip's antics are more biting,, more current. Well yeah, but that's the issue. Trying to be "current"

In fiction, it takes a lot of talent to craft a political narrative that will make sense even as the time in which it was written fades to a memory. Final Fantasy 7's narrative about corporate oppression and saving the environment and Metal Gear Solid's narrative about manipulation of information by the powers that be is relevant to any age at any time. It takes no talent, however to put a non-playable character in your game called "Tonald Blumpf" and have him parody The Donald. That's something that people will lose sight on as Donald Trump's presidency becomes less current as time goes on.

Wrestling is much the same. Flip Gordon may be getting heat and attention right now, but as his talking points become points of history instead of current news, will anyone remember it? I think a guy who tries to act harder than he is, makes twists the truth into absurd statements when confronted , and then retreats to his safe space to celebrate with all of his anarchist friends is something that everyone can point to and say "Wow he's unlikeable, regardless of the time. " and for a renegade heel character in modern wrestling, that's an almost impossible get And that's why, barring any significantly more provocative characters appearing in the next two months, I'll be nominating T-Bar for WR Heel of the Year.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by cero2k » Sep 25th, '20, 21:03

sorry dude, all I see is a wrestler and his buddies, that wasn't that clever to begin with, trying to pretend he is cool the gimmick he knows for a fact is shit ( I want to believe he hasn't drank the Seth Rollins flavor-aid and actually believes he's the last coke in the desert). They're burying themselves into laughable go-away heat, all of them, J-Pop, Slapbuts, and Maiz.

Stuff like Flip Gordon and Styles doesn't go away, everyone knows they're flat earther morons, Styles has never been able to escape the 'Gay Community' comment from YEARS ago. Flip will always be a moron and his best hope is to go to Japan full time where people don't; know or care about his way of thinking.

the second tweet has already been deleted
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by NWK2000 » Sep 25th, '20, 22:09

cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 25th, '20, 21:03 sorry dude, all I see is a wrestler and his buddies, that wasn't that clever to begin with, trying to pretend he is cool

You're describing %98 of Twitter anarchists, which, while it might not be intended to work, ends up working by the grace of God.

( I want to believe he hasn't drank the Seth Rollins flavor-aid and actually believes he's the last coke in the desert).
I still think it's commendable that they're just going the fuck in instead of endlessly being like "Nooooo guys we're cool really." That kind of attitude makes completely ludicrous gimmicks like Goldust, Stardust, and Impersonator Sandow work for me, because the extent they go to make a bad gimmick work inevitably manifests in something entertaining.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 26th, '20, 18:09

cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 25th, '20, 21:03 sorry dude, all I see is a wrestler and his buddies, that wasn't that clever to begin with, trying to pretend he is cool the gimmick he knows for a fact is shit ( I want to believe he hasn't drank the Seth Rollins flavor-aid and actually believes he's the last coke in the desert). They're burying themselves into laughable go-away heat, all of them, J-Pop, Slapbuts, and Maiz.

Stuff like Flip Gordon and Styles doesn't go away, everyone knows they're flat earther morons, Styles has never been able to escape the 'Gay Community' comment from YEARS ago. Flip will always be a moron and his best hope is to go to Japan full time where people don't; know or care about his way of thinking.

the second tweet has already been deleted
This.


NWK, your desire to like things and look for the positives are commendable, but you are assigning far too much credit and giving far too much benefit of the doubt to people who don't deserve it. If this was CHIKARA or some sort of Jimmy Jacobs thing then maybe, but it's not.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by KILLdozer » Sep 27th, '20, 10:00

Side note- so this whole group's gimmick is basically Aces And 8's mixed with an Edgelord twist, right?πŸ€”πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by cero2k » Sep 28th, '20, 08:21

KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 27th, '20, 10:00 Side note- so this whole group's gimmick is basically Aces And 8's mixed with an Edgelord twist, right?πŸ€”πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ
They're making Aces & 8s look like the Horsemen, but yeah, PLUS having 5 year olds manage their social media

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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 28th, '20, 21:43

cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 28th, '20, 08:21
KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 27th, '20, 10:00 Side note- so this whole group's gimmick is basically Aces And 8's mixed with an Edgelord twist, right?πŸ€”πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ
They're making Aces & 8s look like the Horsemen
I wouldn't go that far. Aces & Eights were pretty f*cking terrible. This is worse, but it's more like this is an F making Aces & Eights' D+ look like a C.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by NWK2000 » Sep 29th, '20, 10:42

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Sep 28th, '20, 21:43
cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 28th, '20, 08:21
KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 27th, '20, 10:00 Side note- so this whole group's gimmick is basically Aces And 8's mixed with an Edgelord twist, right?πŸ€”πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ
They're making Aces & 8s look like the Horsemen
I wouldn't go that far. Aces & Eights were pretty f*cking terrible. This is worse, but it's more like this is an F making Aces & Eights' D+ look like a C.
It occurred to me as I watched the angle in which Retribution were signed to the company with no explanation that at least Aces and Eights had to win that stipulation match at Bound for Glory to get signed/gain access to the Impact Zone. The individual components of Retribution are far better, but the booking for Aces and Eights was more fleshed out.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by cero2k » Sep 29th, '20, 13:08

NWK2000 wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 10:42 The individual components of Retribution are far better.
Not even with that I can agree, at least A&8s had Team 3D, Tazz, Tito Ortiz. The group that calls themselves Regurgitation has an internet troll called J-Pop
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by KILLdozer » Sep 29th, '20, 13:50

I say Aces and 8's simply because of the masks and all of this biker gimmick name stuff, which Aces and 8's really didn't do, so aesthetics alone really.

Style: Aces and 8's.

Personality: Edgelord tough guys. Uh, yeah sure...
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 29th, '20, 16:08

cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 13:08
NWK2000 wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 10:42 The individual components of Retribution are far better.
Not even with that I can agree, at least A&8s had Team 3D, Tazz, Tito Ortiz. The group that calls themselves Regurgitation has an internet troll called J-Pop
And Aces & Eights also had Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff, and half of their reveals made no sense, and are you really calling Tito Ortiz a plus in 2013? Also, you're forgetting that this was TNA Tazz, not AEW Tazz. This was a Tazz who didn't give a sh*t.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 29th, '20, 16:11

NWK2000 wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 10:42
Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Sep 28th, '20, 21:43
cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 28th, '20, 08:21

They're making Aces & 8s look like the Horsemen
I wouldn't go that far. Aces & Eights were pretty f*cking terrible. This is worse, but it's more like this is an F making Aces & Eights' D+ look like a C.
It occurred to me as I watched the angle in which Retribution were signed to the company with no explanation that at least Aces and Eights had to win that stipulation match at Bound for Glory to get signed/gain access to the Impact Zone. The individual components of Retribution are far better, but the booking for Aces and Eights was more fleshed out.
You're forgetting the fact that that match was irrelevant because even when they didn't have official "access" to the buildings, they still showed up every week and did whatever they wanted. So yeah. These stables are the same.

Dijak tried to justify the contracts on Twitter by saying that WWE found it cheaper to just hire Retribution than to keep paying medical bills for the security they would beat up every week, but 1) if that's the case then HAVE SOMEONE SAY IT ON THE TV SHOW and 2) that's still pretty dumb.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by cero2k » Sep 29th, '20, 19:27

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 16:08
cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 13:08
NWK2000 wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 10:42 The individual components of Retribution are far better.
Not even with that I can agree, at least A&8s had Team 3D, Tazz, Tito Ortiz. The group that calls themselves Regurgitation has an internet troll called J-Pop
And Aces & Eights also had Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff, and half of their reveals made no sense, and are you really calling Tito Ortiz a plus in 2013? Also, you're forgetting that this was TNA Tazz, not AEW Tazz. This was a Tazz who didn't give a sh*t.
Ortiz was a joke, but I don't really blame them for Briscoe and Bischoff, I think that at one point they considered that they could be built to something and had them in the group for it, but as many 2nd/3rd generation wrestlers, they didn't. First time I saw Briscoe, I legit saw potential, then I saw him wrestle.

I was also not trying to make a case that A&8s had the best era of such and such, Bully Ray had some good stuff and some of his worst during that stable. But A&8s if anything else, had brand names, Team 3D, D'Lo, Tazz, Briscoe, Bischoff, Anderson. We all know in hindsight how it all ended up being, but at least on names alone, good booking and people caring could had yielded a strong stable. Retribution, as of now, doesn't have names in kayfabe or not.
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Re: A Case for T-Bar's Heel of the Year 2020 nomination

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 29th, '20, 21:03

cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 19:27
Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 16:08
cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 29th, '20, 13:08

Not even with that I can agree, at least A&8s had Team 3D, Tazz, Tito Ortiz. The group that calls themselves Regurgitation has an internet troll called J-Pop
And Aces & Eights also had Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff, and half of their reveals made no sense, and are you really calling Tito Ortiz a plus in 2013? Also, you're forgetting that this was TNA Tazz, not AEW Tazz. This was a Tazz who didn't give a sh*t.
Ortiz was a joke, but I don't really blame them for Briscoe and Bischoff, I think that at one point they considered that they could be built to something and had them in the group for it, but as many 2nd/3rd generation wrestlers, they didn't. First time I saw Briscoe, I legit saw potential, then I saw him wrestle.

I was also not trying to make a case that A&8s had the best era of such and such, Bully Ray had some good stuff and some of his worst during that stable. But A&8s if anything else, had brand names, Team 3D, D'Lo, Tazz, Briscoe, Bischoff, Anderson. We all know in hindsight how it all ended up being, but at least on names alone, good booking and people caring could had yielded a strong stable. Retribution, as of now, doesn't have names in kayfabe or not.
It was bad at the time, too. No hindsight here. I watched every moment of it at the time and took notes. It was terrible. Both Bischoff and Brisco were only on the company because of their last names, Tazz was terrible, and D'Lo was basically retired, and was never more than a midcarder, and that was back in 1999. This was a company with AJ, Angle, Sting, RVD, Jeff Hardy, Austin Aries, Daniels, Kaz, Bobby Roode, James Storm, and Ken Anderson, and you're going to tell me that singles wrestler Bubba Ray Dudley and D'Lo Brown constitute "names?"

They were a sh*t stable in a storyline that didn't make much sense throughout. In hindsight, it was just the first example of Bully Ray manipulating a mark promoter/booker. No different than what we saw later in ROH.
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