Timbo Slice

I'm gonna jump ahead here and recommend all Bork Laser/Mark Henry matches. I can't see those not being awesome.

It's more about the audience he's presenting this stuff to and the platform he's doing it on. Basically, he's a guy presented as someone with "inside knowledge" about pro wrestling, yet his interviews are full of fluff. It's pretty obvious in the Triple H interview that he was putting him on something fierce, and here, he's given time with one of the best stories in pro wrestling in a long time and doesn't really get into the parts of his backstory that aren't easily accessible on the WWE website. That's not an "elitist" take. It's more about why a guy like that is being given time on a major website when there are many other prominent writers on the subject (some that post on these forums) who would do much better. You mean a company that has Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd, Stephen A. Smith and Chris Berman as some of its most visible personalities trots out a lead pro wrestling voice who pushes fluff over insight? I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Grantland is presented as an alternative to ESPN that isn't supposed to feature the fluff of the guys you mentioned. It's SUPPOSED to push insight. Shoemaker isn't.

It's more about the audience he's presenting this stuff to and the platform he's doing it on. Basically, he's a guy presented as someone with "inside knowledge" about pro wrestling, yet his interviews are full of fluff. It's pretty obvious in the Triple H interview that he was putting him on something fierce, and here, he's given time with one of the best stories in pro wrestling in a long time and doesn't really get into the parts of his backstory that aren't easily accessible on the WWE website. That's not an "elitist" take. It's more about why a guy like that is being given time on a major website when there are many other prominent writers on the subject (some that post on these forums) who would do much better.

Fucking ay, Regal/Cesaro. What sucks is that there will only be one match.

That's true with basically all WWE at this point, though. The heat isn't throughout the match. It's basically them playing for the stretch run. That's how it's been for a while. Only matches that are truly "special" like Cena/Brock or Cena/Punk from MITB 2011 have that heat that lasts the entire match. It's rare that fans are so into a match going in that they're going crazy the entire time. Hell, even the Rhodes/Shield match from Battleground only got big halfway through the match.

Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards debuted tonight at NXT. Richards took the last name of Billington. Imagine the shock.

John, if you missed this incredible lede, I wouldn't blame you. "The Case for Randy Orton - Why the guy who was one the most boring man in WWE is now the champion we need" Seriously? Grantland's trying to cater to "Smart" fans in some aspect and this is what they come up with?

Does AJ Styles do anything as well as Kofi Kingston?

There are a couple tags involving Los Guerreros that were absolutely money. Also, the Rey/Edge tag matches were sensational thanks to Rey. I know people aren't favorable of Angle and He Who Shall Not Be Named, but I got no problem thinking fondly of those matches. I think there are better finishes to the matches we are seeing now, but there are some great FIP segments in the Rey/Edge matches from both guys, and a couple finishes that actually rank up there with some of the finishes we've seen lately.

There's a Kawada/Nagai match from 2001 where Nagai basically gets nothing in at all and Kawada just destroys him. He busts out the half crab and stomps, which made me cringe.

Also, Will, I think the gas money saved was a good move.

I liked the match in a lot of ways. I thought it was built right, they hinted at things from previous matches, Cena's escape was actually smart as opposed to him just breaking the cuffs. Orton did bring it a bit and everything was clean, but there wasn't anything about the match that screamed memorable. It reminded me of the Flair/Sting Clash match to unify the titles, where it was treated like a big deal, but there wasn't much to distinguish it as above their previous matches because of the stakes.

It's not a boring ending. It's that the guy holding the belts at the end is boring.

I do find it funny that Punk supposedly winning so that he's not as pissed off at the booking happened against a group that supposedly has the company's next golden boy. Meanwhile, Bryan jobs clean as a sheet.

I'm trying to figure out why that was so definitive from a booking standpoint, but It was a great match from a work standpoint. Bray is figuring it out a bit.

Brodus threw a fucking heart punch in the match. The Miz is officially a heat suck at this point.

I had reservations about those two teams being on last, but they made it look damn good. Rey getting the better of some reversals he has been on the receiving end of was neat to see.

What's this in reference to? Punk not liking the booking?

Christmas always gets overbooked. Too many story lines that get wrapped up and not always in a satisfying way.

Thanksgiving is always the big draw. Christmas seems like that yearly tradition that a lot of people go to, but the food isn't as good. That damn turkey goes over everyone, I swear.

But if you're a wrestling fan selected to be a part of this vote and you decide that Hulk Hogan isn't one of the biggest wrestling stars in history, there is a total lack of credibility for that voter. It's not about where they "deserved" to be. Hogan should have been on every ballot. Whether it's at 1 or 100. I can't see someone forgetting to put him on a ballot.

El Santo at 11 to me is hilarious. As much as the 10 guys above him mean to wrestling, there is no wrestler who meant more to his COUNTRY than Santo did. I'm sure national impact was gauged (or international impact, which is what I'm guessing helped you drive Londos to the top, Dylan), but I can't see an argument for any wrestler being as big a deal in their home country as Santo was. Only joshi rep I could see going in is Chigusa, maybe Dump. People would make arguments for Bull, Hokuto, Aja or Toyota, but they didn't have nearly the impact Chig or Dump had. Jaguar was more a super worker than a "star." Hogan being left off two ballots reminds me of every baseball Hall of Fame vote ever. I like the idea of the list being 100 "stars" in the sense that it is more of an open interpretation, too. It takes in the entirety of what a wrestler meant to the business rather than specifics.

Bryan didn't get buried. They just didn't go the full monty with him. In the "smart" fans minds, that automatically gets generalized to buried. I really wish that they would sign the Briscoes so that they could join the Wyatt Family. It would be an awesome way to bring them in.

I thought they'd go the streaming route only as a secondary measure. Working with MLB.tv is smart, too, as they are the only major sport that has their online shit together.

"A brief history of the indie scene, plus an interview with Chris Hero, the wrestler who almost became the next CM Punk" Yeah, that sub-headline alone is hilarious.