Timbo Slice

John mentioned it during the DVDVR 90s poll in his WCW Pimping Post, talking about how Brian was getting frustrated with the booking and felt like he was getting "stuck" with Badd. Not sure what his source was, but considering Brian ended up joining the Horsemen at the next PPV, the match with Badd ended up being a great segue into his movement up the card.

Yeah, that match sold me on Mero as a worker. At some point in 94 or 95, Mero really turned it up a notch and had some pretty good matches. The story is Brian trying to show up the booking team by taking a "schlub" like Mero and leading him by the nose, but Mero was MORE than up for the task. Great, great match.

Yeah, it seems like they still have some holes to fill overall. A lot better on VOD for me at this point. Was able to fast forward through the event a lot easier. Seems like they've fixed those issues.

If Punk isn't there on Monday I'll be shocked.

Another question I have for the VOD people who are finding success: Anyone else having trouble fast forwarding? I was trying to get to Sasuke/TAKA on Canadian Stampede by fast forwarding through the HHH/Mankind match and it just stalled out on me.

Yeah, I just tried it again a few minutes ago and nothing budging. I think they're realizing it's a lot more than 20%.

Looks like they've prioritized the live stream over everything else, which is odd considering the Shows portion should be easy to manage. Instead, the PPV section has horrible streaming capabilities. They really need to boost that soon. I'm trying to watch GAB '92 and it's buffering at 6:30 on my Apple TV with an ethernet connection, not Wi-Fi. So there are some issues there that need to be fixed pretty quickly or else they've rendered the major part of their service basically useless.

But that's what made them great. It wasn't about the individual talents of the wrestlers. It was about wrestlers being paired off thanks to the booking leading into the match. Booking, not talent, made Wargames.

CESARO/SHEAMUS TO START. FUCK YES.

That's the match of the year right now. And as much as I loved Cesaro/Cena, I'm not sure it's close.

Yeah, I don't get why they would bring Larry out unless they were gonna give Rybaxel the rub. Kinda sad.

The tag match had the awesome Sheamus/Cesaro interactions that turned up the whole match another notch going forward, but Cesaro/Orton was really great stuff. Orton knew he had to step it up in there and the finishing stretch was pretty fantastic. If that was on Raw, it would have been a better finish, but it was still great.

I think Bryan's shoulder thing gives him a target and he'll be jobbing, but I think that the next night, he'll be a part of the Main Event. The Shield/Wyatts match has me absolutely amped. Batista/Del Rio is an absolute afterthought at this point, and with Del Rio supposedly on his way out, the crowd could shit all over the match.

It's mostly because they interface with Apple products and let you play stuff through iTunes on your TV. People who use Amazon Instant will have no appeal with it. That being said, HBO Go is on there and if you have a Comcast account, you can actually use it on there, as opposed to the other boxes.

Yeah, Flair/Steamboat wasn't a draw. It was booked as a draw finish, but Steamboat got the shoulder up when Flair bridged back on the flying chicken wing. I always hated the idea that matches had a shorter time limit than normal, which made a draw a formality. A lot of 30-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute draws. That type of stuff. Takes away a lot of the drama. As far as matches themselves go, The Flair/Jumbo 83 match was a great draw. Kobashi/Kawada in 95 (both draws, the 60-minute in January and the 30-minute at the Carnival, even if the booking itself stunk.) Still haven't seen the heralded 1/15/95 draw between the Four Pillars of Heaven. If Rock/HHH counts, Rock/HHH. And if that counts, then Steamboat/Rude at Beach Blast 92. My exception to that short draw rule is probably Taue/Misawa from 04. Taue was a fucking king in that match. Another one of those times were booking kills the result, but the match itself was good stuff. On the negative side, Bret/Shawn, Angle/Brock...maybe a few others.

Segunda Caida (segundacaida.blogspot.com) is a good one.

So, knowing how this works, the Network will report their (probably big) earnings, but at the same time, it's destined to be in the red come Q4 2014. And the $260M for rights fees right now still looks hilarious. They should be looking for a similar number while looking to expand on the streams they have already, especially considering TV rights fees are only going to matter for a few years longer before networks get smart to consumer demand for Over-The-Top apps...like the WWE Network.

A 30+ year career. Remarkable. The saddest thing is to see the greats not be able to end it on their terms.

Spike's biggest ratings are in the 1s. This would give them ratings in the 3s, but the question is how much the investment would be. They have the narrow advertising that fits into the pro wrestling landscape, they're well known...it seems like the perfect fit. Jarrett's show gets ratings but isn't a money maker. This would give them both.

Does it make sense to me? No? Then it's bad wrestling. I know that's a cut and dry pair of statements, but that's what it comes down to for me.

Comcast holds all the cards anyways. They can call their shots. Vince doesn't expect it to get paid as if they are a sporting event. The major pro sports work in multi-billion dollar contracts. Vince even thinking about $280M is pretty hilarious, and the ad revenue that can be expected from pro wrestling is limited anyways, especially given that's how show values are generated. For the production costs, Vince has to continuously ask for a number that high in order to keep his profit margins where he wants them. That's why the questions about the revenue garnered by the Network are such a huge deal. If Vince is assuming a yearly revenue generator that can offset what his live programming will garner, there's a major issue considering the first year of the Network will most likely be in the red.

I can't believe I forgot it, but the Cow Palace was a pretty awesome place to see a show. Really open arena, not a bad seat for a place that large, always a good crowd. Except if you're trying to run a convention and split with the money afterwards. Then it goes on the other side of the spectrum.

Korauken, Budokan for a big AJPW show, Sumo Hall for big NJPW shows. I'm actually a bit indifferent to the Tokyo Dome. I understand it's a big deal and all that, but the smaller venues did best. Hammerstein in ECW is another big one. Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. MSG. Arena Mexico in its heyday was ridiculous for big time matches. My favorite all time is Greensboro. Absolutely the best. Baltimore during the NWA run was a close second, with the 1989 GAB show being the magnum opus.

Too meta.

I'm actually going back to school right now for an analytics masters degree, so this is right up my alley, Chris. Really interested in seeing what comes out of this thing.