Timbo Slice

I'm still thinking Rollins cashes in at WrestleMania.

I don't get the idea of them hiding weaknesses, though. Not all wrestlers are going to be well-rounded. Triple H even said that not everyone who comes through is going to be seen as a top-level guy. They're basically looking for things that work, and then go with what works. If it means you're a mid-card guy, you'll go as a mid-card guy. The thing is that right now, there are plenty of guys who have a shot of being above the midway point in the card, it just depends on how things break for them. And JR implemented the system, yes. Ace didn't do much from a development standpoint. He was the conduit between the main roster and the development system, but the decisions he made weren't really on him. They were more collective when he was in charge. He was a great producer, but that was the extent of his talents. I don't think much happened when he was in charge, which is why they handed it over to Triple H.

People forget Baron Corbin was a legit 350 before he cut all that weight.

He lives in Orlando and has a flourishing real estate business where he gets most of his income, which means wrestling can be a passion project for him. If Kevin Owens is any indication, Joe could get into shape pretty quickly at the performance center. The NJPW/ROH combo seems like the best money-making bit, but NXT is looking like a totally worthwhile option if money isn't an issue mainly because of proximity. He'd be a good fit and would be a great agent.

Alfonso Morales ruled. Fukuzawa ruled. Only foreign announcers I can think of.

I'm too biased towards commentary because I always see potential and always want it to be better and because of my own background, but there's very few commentators in history who knew how to get things over to the point where it added to the product that wasn't overbearing, grating or over the top. The best guys from a pure standpoint are normally the color guys who can get over characters. Brain and Regal are the two that come to mind immediately. Ross, Solie and Russell are the best ever from a PBP standpoint, but we're talking about a small number of guys that knew what should be done when they were behind the microphone.

He would be a great get for NJPW. He won't go to WWE unless he's willing to take the pay cut. It's weird to think of him, Hero and AJ as freelancers right now.

Do people think Christian was as good a TV worker during that time frame as Rey was beforehand or Sheamus was after the fact? Is he considered a bridge for best TV worker WWE had at the time?

Good stuff, Chad! Really enjoyed it. Hope we get another one soon. Doesn't hurt that you and I line up on Japanese wrestling together, either.

Ray Stevens was the first guy I thought of. Would love to see more stuff from guys like Beyer, Rogers, Rikidozan, too. But Stevens seems like a guy where if more stuff from him showed up, he'd be considered an all-time great the way people talked about him.

I liked that Charlotte bridging back paid off for Sasha. Totally caught me by surprise that it was the finish. Thought they were going the passout route. But let's do this main event.

They went overboard down the stretch at points but the finish was white hot.

Ugh.

Brock re-signing is definitely not set in stone. WWE can't hand out another contract like they did to Brock and I can imagine Dana will be ready with a pretty large sum for a minimal amount of fights. Precedent has already been set and I can't see Brock going backwards unless UFC shortchanges him, which they might very well still do. That was a weird crowd last night and it wasn't exactly a positive for Bryan, because his whole argument of the title shot is based on the fact that the crowd is partisan almost to a fault with him. I do have the feeling that since he was asked who he'd like to work with before being put in this spot in the first place that they'll give him the opportunity to work Ziggler if they feel like he's not gonna be in the main event. That being said, I can't believe that they're not doing the money match between Brock and Bryan in the first place. It's about as big a non-Cena/non-Taker/non-Triple H matchup they have right now. I think this actually helps Reigns more than it hurts him. This idea of needing to have an awesome first title reign isn't completely necessary. Hell, Bryan getting shafted turned into one of the best moments in recent wrestling history for a lot of fans. Actually giving Reigns an opportunity to get back something that he feels was stolen from him gives his character way more depth than we've seen since he went solo. Him chasing Rollins all summer would be pretty great leading up to SummerSlam.

I guess Solomon Crowe said, "Forget NXT. I'm going straight to the top!"

This is really making me take pause in actually buying tickets. Another 3-way sounds like a really bad thing to do at this point. The only thing that would make me go is the ability to see Brock/Bryan live but having Reigns anywhere near it would make me watch it from the couch instead.

I'm still in the camp where Flair is my obvious #1, but I've now thrown Jumbo back into the Top 5 mix. Flair, Funk, Lawler, Hansen and Jumbo will be my 1-5 in some way. As I said last night, Slaughter is going to be in that 50-75 range for me after the Final Conflict build and match. Just amazing stuff from him. One of the best guys at getting over a feud and making the blowoff that much more special, even if he doesn't have this constant barrage of stuff top tier guys have. He's got plenty of stuff that's better than most top tier guy's best. My most difficult task is going to be placing the modern guys. I know Bryan will be my highest, but Zayn's had a great decade and while his style of matches on the indies aren't everyone's cup of tea, I think he shined bright in the big matches and made them worthwhile. Of course, since debuting on NXT, he's been fantastic as well. Off the top of my head, Bryan is in the 25-50 range while Zayn would be in the 75-100 range. I think I'm gonna have something like a half dozen joshi wrestlers, but I'm not sure who's gonna be the top between Aja, Hokuto and Yokota. As I said in the Kobashi thread, I'm gonna have Taue above Kobashi, but I'll probably have Kawada in my Top 10, Misawa right below him, and then Taue in the Top 25 with Kobashi right below him. Only Musketeer I have going in right now is Hash, even though I have a soft spot for Mutoh. Lucha guys and more 80's territory-based guys are my big blind spots right now that I hope to fill. Maybe have a chance to get into the European stuff that has been showing up lately on Arthur Psycho's YouTube channel.

Easily one of the best builds for a blow off match ever leading up to this one. While it took a while to get going, once it did, it became one of the great tag matches of its time. Slaughter bumped like a freak and even decided to come off the top of the cage, which is always legitimately insane at a time where those cages looked so rickety anyone could fall off of it. Kernodle tapped an absolute gusher and was great doing the dirty work in the match. Some fantastic spots in the match, including a favorite of mine in a cage match where Slaughter knocked Kernodle out of the way on a Steamboat cross body and Ricky ate nothing but cage. The callbacks to everything leading up to the match were awesome. The blood playing off the bloodbath that laid out Youngblood a few months earlier, the Cobra Clutch avoidance, figuring out how to avoid the Slaughter Cannon, which is now one of my favorite double team moves ever and then an all-time great finish. In talking about this with Will and Kris, I don't see how this could be anything below the Top 10 when the 80's NWA set ever gets made, and right now, I could totally talk myself into making it into my Top 5.

He's definitely gonna be on my ballot and much higher than I would have thought earlier. For as much credit Curt Hennig gets for his bumping, Slaughter destroys him by bumping in ways that are way more believable in context. As Dylan said, he's very much the type of guy with the highest of peaks, but that doesn't deter him from being quality even if he doesn't have as much in between as we want him to. Awesome at building feuds, awesome at putting guys over, tremendous brawler...I don't know where I'll have him, but somewhere in the 50-75 range seems very possible.

The Road to Greensboro leading to Final Conflict. Awesome build with some really cool tags (Young versions of Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Terry Taylor and...oh, Mike Rotundo) and some great heel promos from Slaughter and Kernodle. I'm in the middle of the cage match now, but this has both the lead and the match itself and it's just sensational.

It really was off the top of my head that I chose the topic, but considering the amount of work-centric stuff that a lot of the podcasts do (which is by no means a bad thing), I wanted to do something a little different and it couldn't have turned out any better. Really is a cool topic.

Got through episode 6 earlier today. The street fight was a lot of fun and the one thing I'll give them is that due to stuff away from the ring being shot by people who actually know what compelling television looks like, they make everything outside the ring really put a lot more emphasis on wanting to see what they do inside it. Loved the street fight, Ricochet really has his shit on lock. Really enjoying Drago as well. Cuerno's tope is incredible. There's a couple guys coming in that I'm excited to see, too, but so far, they're only behind NXT as far as great hour-long TV programs go.

Nah, Rollins wouldn't cash it in for a straight match like that. He's built this character that's built his reputation on being opportunistic. He'll pick his spot. I still think that if they know Roman's gonna get booed and they still go with him vs. Brock for the main that they could tease a face turn with Rollins at WM and have him cash in after the fact. He could be the #1 face in the company with something like that, and that's with Bryan getting cheered for like he is.

Well, if you hear one of the #DemBoys promos from a couple years back, it's because after the tryout, Johnny said they weren't "cosmetically pleasing":

Big thanks to Will on the show for the inspiration for my new avatar.