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I thought Lesnar looked blown up during the match. Am I seeing it wrong, or was he slowing down for Taker?

Given the delay in playing Lesnar's music, etc., I wouldn't be surprised if it was kept secret from more people than usual. In the bigger picture though, the only people with exact knowledge as to how the booking decision played out are Vince and Taker. And they don't seem like the type to leak to the sheets.

Quote from Tigerpride... So what's a match that you think is boring, knew it was boring, and sat through it again anyway? For me, maybe HHH-Steiner from the 2003 Rumble. Just to confirm how bad it was.

YES!! Dude, this match PISSES me off...I get it get kicked off the feud and all....but HOLY FUCK was it fucked up after the cage door slams...Kerry should have been out, and Flair either pins him or slaps on the figure 4 (since Kerry had the bad knee) and Kerry is out and gets counted down.. Instead Kerry actually gets some offense in before the match is stopped...the ending is a clusterfuck and should not have ended that way....I know they were WAY over so it didnt matter, but man, that should have been WAY better ending to really push the fact that the Birds DIRECTLY caused Kerry to be pinned or passed out... AND...one punch from Hayes and Flair is out long enouigh for them to argue for a few minutes? Come on...that sucks... Not ending the match immediately after the cage door spot served a vital purpose. It kept the fans' attention partly on the match and allowed the Freebirds to get back to the dressing room in one piece. WCCW didn't have the type of crowd control we're accustomed to.

The first wrestling match I ever watched was the Warrior versus Ted Dibiase. NBC's the Main Event. He was a favorite, though he seemed to lose his aura after his comeback in '92. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the BBC series Father Ted. Dermot Morgan died of a heart attack no more than a week after filming the finale.

Someone compared the reaction to the loss with what Sammartino/Koloff must've felt like. I wish I could remember where, I could swear it was this forum. I may be in the minority, but I really liked the ending. Because it was different. I've been a fan of wrestling since 1990, when I was eight years old. For the most part, I generally know what's coming because I'm familiar with booking patterns. The slow builds, the heat, the comebacks, etc. I've never encountered a reaction like this, ever. And that a wrestling match can inspire that reaction after all this time, I appreciate that. Warts and all. Two other notes. One, I think it's a credit to the Undertaker that when presented with situations where it seemed the win was obvious (which I felt every year from WM's 24-29), he manages to work the crowd into thinking the result is in doubt. Every year. Second, people continually freak out over the Undertaker losing, or Bryan losing, or Cena winning, etc. When the fans still care about the result, it doesn't matter how much behind the curtain they've seen, or think they've seen. They're emotionally invested. (Coke to Ohtani's Jacket, who posted some similar thoughts while I was typing.)

Flawless on my end. WWE's kindle app is much better than MLB's app, FWIW.

My devices of choice are an iPhone 4 and a Kindle Fire. Is the WWE Network worth the investment as far as quality? I'm not terribly concerned with HD quality as long as it streams smoothly.

This lawsuit might have greater relevance. Minor league players suing for better wages. Keep in mind minor leaguers are not part of the MLBPA. http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/players-sue-for-better-salaries/

I don't think there's a parallel. The NCAA is an abusive monopoly. The issue is whether the athletes have the right to unionize. We know wrestlers already have the right to unionize. They lacks the means and wherewithal.

Agreed 100%.

Hodge puzzles me. You have a guy beloved by your most famous announcing voice, with the ceremony roughly in his home territory and best of all, is alive to accept the honor. Footage or no, seems like a no-brainer.

I think it depends on the length of the card. A four hour Wrestlemania, you probably need something like a Piper/Downey interview segment to break up the wrestling. But if you're running a card at 120-150 minutes, you should just run the big matches straight through. Starrcade '83 where the three biggest matches ended the show comes to mind. Alternatively, I would speculate the idea of the buffer match replaces intermission, which television has eliminated on live shows.

I was stunned to learn Phelps actually fought for african american rights in the 1960s. My political science professor told us the most effective way to get attention to your cause was to blow up a building. Phelps found a method that didn't involve murder. So kudos for that.

Hornswoggle is fairly prominent in the Muppets Most Wanted film. I thought it was a mediocre film but knowing his love of the Muppets, I got a kick out of seeing him there.

Well played. I was hoping for "Worst Blowjobs", but you still did an awesome job. A thread like that may merit some discussion too. Worst in terms of losing money: allegedly Randy Savage/SMH Worst in terms of bad booking: Mark Henry/tranny Worst in terms of "what the fuck?" shock: Chyna/X-Pac or Hogan/Bubba's wife. Best in terms of attaining mainstream publicity: Hokuto in North Korea. Pretty sure you could stretch the subject to talk about Sunny Days, Fujiwara/the Swedish bodybuilder chick, Ryuma Go's post wrestling career, Buck Zumhofe (too soon?), etc. I thought about the merits of a "worst of..." thread before. But more along the lines of terrible things about wrestlers we enjoy/respect. Like worst arms (GIant Baba), worst pecs (King Kong Czaja), worst abs (Bulldog Brower).

The low end of the totem pole is the Warlord, who came in and was shipped off for a year for seasoning. Ryback wasn't as good as Luger but probably better than that.

I thought that's what they were going with when they introduced Lord Tensai. But then he took the entrance garb off and he was Albert again. Who was the most successful Japanese wrestler in WWE history? Probably Killer Khan or Taka Michinoku. Hakushi and the Jumping Bomb Angels come to mind. Giant Baba main-evented MSG but that was a one shot deal. Any others?

Win. You could add a few if you counted professional football player as a job. Bronko Nagurski, Leo Nomellini, Wahoo McDaniel.

I remember reading an item I think in PWI where the Renegade had been stripped of his face paint and just named "Rick." That seemed like the most ridiculous name possible for a wrestler.

I'd actually argue in favor of Evers and maybe Tinker for the Hall, but that's way off topic. James Dudley I find interesting because if he were born at a different time, he might have been a star athlete. There's clearly a lot of information missing about him though.

You've also got promos for an hour with the wrestlers mentioning Owen before going on with their spiel. There's no way you can view that show without Owen being the huge white elephant in the room. And if you whitewash the incident, it's just as uncomfortable.

Beefcake wouldn't be a bad idea next year, when the festivities will be in the vicinity of San Francisco. On that note, I'd be surprised if they didn't induct Ray Stevens next year either.

I think I remember in the days when the WWEClassics crew interacted with viewers that modern/newer wrestling drew a lot more hits than the territories. Those of us who prefer watching old footage are really a small minority.

F@^$#. I thought George Scott had already passed.