shawmic

There is definitely a chance that as they get towards the last few entrants in the Rumble people will start chanting for Bryan regardless of if he is announced for it or not. They'd be best served to keep Batista or a surprise for #30.

I'd love for Rovert to go into why he thinks Devitt is a great worker other than pointing out what people on Twitter or Alan4L think of him. Like I said, whenever anyone on here doesn't like a NJPW show or doesn't like Tanahashi, he posts that the people whose opinion he trusts (Observer board/Alan4L) all disagree so we must be wrong. I'd really love to hear his own opinion this time. Not pointing out other people's thoughts as validation.

What a terrible opinion considering how well respected he is in the industry. Can you elaborate on this? Some kind of proof to back this up? Who exactly respects him in the industry? Or even better yet, tell us why YOU like him and what makes him a great worker (other than being funny on Twitter). You get riled up any time someone on this board dislikes a NJPW show or wrestler, but you never add anything other than that other people's opinions who you respect disagree so we must be wrong. Do you have your own opinion? Or do you just go by what your friends tell you? Not trolling here, seriously interested in hearing more about this. Only person I ever hear outside of the Observer message board talking up Devitt is Court Bauer and given what an idiot he proves himself to be every week on his podcast he's not someone I'd point to for validation here. Personally, Devitt is right there with Marufuji as my least favorite workers on the planet. He may be a riot on Twitter but I don't care about that when I watch him wrestle. Ditch, a well respected Puro expert in the message board industry, summed it up best: "Prince Devitt's countless junior title matches lack anything resembling story, intensity, or struggle. They aren't as "epic" as Angle and Davey Richards standard fare, but the flaws are the same."

With Batista turning 45 in January (and it has been said for many years that may actually be a worked age as he's thought to be a few years older), if he wins the WWE title at WM he'd be the oldest person to win the title other than Vince in 99 and Hogan in 02 unless I'm forgetting someone.

Regal vs Cesaro on NXT tonight is an absolute masterpiece of a match. Highest recommendation possible for everyone to go watch this ASAP.

Dave said on WOR today pretty confidently that he believes Batista is winning the Rumble and challenging Orton at WM. Can not think of a less interesting match for those two than that. If Brock/Undertaker is also as definite as he says it is, that makes Cena vs HHH pretty likely I would think unless there's another outside act working the show. He doesn't think Hogan is wrestling on the show because he won't pass a physical.

IT'S GOING TO LEAD TO UNDERTAKER VS BRYAN AT WRESTLEMANIA!

Bryan reuniting with Kane vs the Wyatts is about the worst thing they could possibly do with him at this point. I'm shocked!

Alright, what about Bryan then? That one is tricky because it has to be someone linked to Trips but I don't think The Shield so maybe someone turning or coming back. I was thinking we're getting Cena vs Bryan at Survivor Series after that Bella mishap tonight + Cena can get his win back.

I think you're focusing too much on the lower end/match of the week stuff. If you're having a problem with guys running though the motions with good execution then PWG & DG stuff isn't worth your time especially if you're watching something like the 97 Yearbook at the same time. You should jut pick a top 10 or 15 and watch those. The best week to week stuff can't compare to the 90s. Togo vs Honda was the best match from Japan in 2011 and for good reason. Others that stand out above the pack: Cena vs. Punk from Money In The Bank & SummerSlam Dean Ambrose vs. William Regal from NXT Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan (Cage) from SmackDown

WWE.com says just added to the PPV: Cesaro & Swagger vs. Santino & Khali. Jesus Christ.

Not much at all. It goes from him winning the title from Jericho to resurrecting Flair's career to him and Flair seeing something in Orton & Batista. No mention of the actual heel turn with Shawn, feuds with Kane, Booker, Goldberg, etc. Now that I think about it the only actual feuds they cover are Rock & Orton. Which reminds me of another great line - Rock and HHH were having such amazing matches in 1998 that the main eventers at the time had to up their game to keep up.

Okay, I know pretty much nothing about the situation other than Foley being added so that Austin didn't have to lose to HHH. Why didn't Austin want to lose to him, and what drama did it cause? During that time Austin was causing a lot of drama for not wanting to do programs with Jeff Jarrett and Billy Gunn because they weren't over. He also didn't want to lose to HHH for the same reason. So they added Foley to the match to pin Austin and then HHH would beat Foley the next night. This was all well documented by Dave at the time but it's worth noting that recently he was asked about it on Observer Radio and said they added Foley because they needed a babyface to win because Ventura was the referee. It was a pretty huge topic of conversation in August/September 99. Dave was doing guest columns in August 99 for Wrestleline (to build up to the launch of his first site & the Eyada show I think) and wrote a column about it at a time when news from the Observer wasn't that easy to find online yet.

Forgot to mention Terry Taylor is all over this documentary as a talking head. He was all over the Mid-South one recently but I guess he's the new Steve Lombardi.

If anyone wants to torture themselves I highly recommend the new HHH DVD. Some of my favorite parts: - The narrator saying "Paul worked independents all over Massachusetts for over a year" like we're supposed to be in awe of him paying his dues by working independents for one year in one state before getting signed by WCW. - He claims Eric Bischoff offered him a 2-year deal for $52k a year and he told Bischoff he would only accept one year for $52k and after that year he'll either not be worth it or be worth more and Bischoff agreed. - He claims in his first meeting with Vince he told him he wanted to leave WCW because their wasn't enough house shows and he wanted to be on the road 365 days a year. - The somber music as he is "punished" for the Kliq incident at MSG. We knew he was supposed to win King of the Ring but he claims he was then supposed to feud with Shawn which I'm not sure if that's true since Shawn beat him clean in a nothing match on Raw in May a few weeks before the Kliq deal. - We've heard this one before but DX invading WCW was the turning point in the Monday Night War. - He talks about how he was promised the title at SummerSlam 99 months in advance, not even realizing how bad that comes across. They also say that Austin wanted to lose to Foley by the time the show came around and he got to win it the next day but they don't actually go into why Austin didn't want to lose to him and the drama it caused at the time. - Nothing at all on his feud with Foley in 2000 that took him from a heatless heel to a main eventer. - There's a part where they talk about his humanitarianism for resurrecting Ric Flair's career. - A whole thing on dating Stephanie and how Vince gave his blessing and then took it away. Big Show says before anyone knew about them dating him and his wife caught them making out at a mall and he was scared they'd get noticed and told his wife lets get out of here which I thought was pretty funny. Hunter said he was torn about how it would affect his career and he asked Undertaker's advice and Undertaker said your career will always have an asterisk next to it because of it but you know how hard you worked to make it and who cares what anyone thinks. Undertaker does speak about this and confirms it. - In 2008 he was drafted to SmackDown to cultivate less experienced talents and they specifically show him wrestling Jeff Hardy as they say this. - Perhaps my favorite part is him complaining that the stipulation for the WM25 main event vs Orton (if HHH is disqualified he loses the title) handcuffed them from delivering a great match particularly because they had to follow Shawn/Undertaker and the match should have been a brawl based on the feud. That's all great but YOU RUN THE COMPANY. It's not like he couldn't have vetoed whoever pitched the stipulation. Orton on the other hand thinks Hunter's too hard on himself and it was a great match. - There's a clip of Vince literally covered in tears crying as HHH, Undertaker and Shawn walk back through the curtain after the match at WM28. - And perhaps the most fitting ending of all, the last line as the documentary ends is from Vince: "Paul is one of the best things that ever happened to me and to this company." It's still so strange to hear Vince and Linda talking about how they are grooming him to run the company some day and no mention of Shane when talking about the family.

I don't know if it's on this show but they do mention it on the air at one point and say that Mike Tenay is working on a WCW Home Video release of Pillman with profits going to his family.

They're going for a USWA 91 situation where Eric Embry was feuding with and beating every babyface in the promotion at once.

Could be my memory but I feel like it has been a really long time since he went and at least wrote something like that about it.

SmackDown in San Jose a few weeks ago got me thinking, does anyone remember when was the last time Dave went to a WWE show?

He actually stays in ECW until he leaves for WCW in November.

For those keeping track...spoilers for this weeks SmackDown: