Loss

While it's not the type of thing that would break the angle, I agree that it's some really terrible continuity. Why, if he cares about her so much, was he getting a blow job on RAW from Candice Michelle while Stephanie was pregnant, and why was he playing sight gags on Vince all night when Stephanie went into labor? Was Shawn, HHH's best friend, able to forgive Stephanie for poisoning him in the build to Wrestlemania 22? I mean, I know he forgave HHH for attacking him in a parking lot, costing him a championship multiple times, walking away and laughing when Kane caused him internal bleeding, and putting him in a wheelchair, among other things, but surely he has his limits at some point, don't you think? You ask yourself these questions and you will drive yourself crazy. It really doesn't make sense at all, and to me, the lack of storyline continuity is a far bigger reason for people not being able to invest in characters as much anymore than the destruction of kayfabe is. Just a few short years ago, it stuck out like a sore thumb when Sting would trust Ric Flair and Lex Luger after they had both turned on him many years earlier. Now, Chris Jericho can team with guys like JBL, who insulted his family and cost him a championship in his first high profile match back, and Randy Orton, who he came back for the sole purpose of "saving us" from, and no one notices.

Poor Hogan, denied his Oscar nomination.

From Lords of Paste: Hulk Hogan has done some amazing radio interviews in his time. This reads as one of the best.

Taker will never lose. The streak has been so mythologically inflated now that they will never have him lose at Wrestlemania. He'll retire with a perfect record. Austin is scheduled to appear unannounced (make sense of that) on RAW tomorrow night, which should confirm whatever direction they're going with him, if they are in fact planning anything at all.

I thought London's theatre background would have made him a natural coming into WWE, but it's interesting that a guy who is actually trained is the one who can't keep a straight face when Vince is about to meet his demise. I remember at the time he came in, the idea was to push him on RAW as an undersized heavyweight instead of a cruiserweight, and keep him in the upper midcard. Interesting how ideas change.

Promo quotes from a random episode of Worldwide in January of '86: "The first time, the devil made me. The second time, well, that was on my own." -- Baby Doll when David Crockett asked her about her first day with Dusty Rhodes "Harley Race! You're a nut! In St. Louis, I'm gonna doublecross you! If you think I'm doing a job for you, you're sadly mistaken." -- Ric Flair

Supposedly, Jericho has future confrontations on the horizon with Jimmy Snuka and Sgt. Slaughter. Neither one of those seem like they would do a great promo, I'd rather see them use Michael Hayes and bring Dusty Rhodes up from Florida for a night. Jerry Lawler is also right there.

Is it supposed to be something huge, or something? What are you asking?

I have actually heard this story before. The WWF was doing a house show in Nashville on May 6, 1989, and the NWA had Wrestle War the next day. The WWF used to do this all the time so they could run house shows really late into the night to exhaust or turn people away from attending the PPV the next day. Anyway, Flair was in town because the NWA was in Nashville too, and that's where he met Bret. Bret mentioned a story of them having a brief encounter years earlier than that in his book too, but there really wasn't much to the story.

Which of course is impossible since Nitro hadn't started yet when Savage jumped.

Anyone confirm what was in the WON at the time regarding Savage leaving? My understanding is that Vince and Savage made a mutual decision because Vince felt Savage should stay out of the ring, and Savage wanted to continue wrestling, so Vince gave Savage his blessing to leave.

That Roddy Piper promo last night is probably the best interview I've seen in wrestling in years, and it actually got me excited about current wrestling (not a small task).

Promos to build Jericho/Austin would be interesting. I'm curious if they would have Austin give him a stunner as part of the build, or avoid any physical confrontation prior to the match to build to that moment. The Jericho promo about how he was able to defeat Austin (and The Rock in the same night) in Austin's prime before Jericho had even peaked, so what makes Austin think he could beat Jericho all these years later when Jericho is at his peak and Austin hasn't had a match in six years would be great. Jericho/Flair would be the absolute worst idea possible. According to the latest F4W, they actually have discussed some type of Jericho gauntlet against all the legends he insults between now and the road to Wrestlemania, but that seems ridiculous, and the way Bryan wrote it, I can't figure out if that's his idea or WWE's.

Wrestlemania has almost nothing to do with the matches. The show will do a buyrate based on how well they can sell the Wrestlemania brand, just like every other year. I don't think most people tune into Wrestlemania because of the line-up -- moreso, because they know it's the biggest show of the year, so whatever is happening must be important. This year is going to be a tough sell no matter what they do because of the economy. For the record, Dave said on the audio update on F4W today that they have no idea where this Jericho/Rourke thing is going. Vince apparently told Jericho not to worry about it, and that he would have something big for him, and left it at that. But even though Rourke told them no, they're going on the assumption they can get him to change his mind after the Oscars. But there is not a deal in place. There was no mention of Austin. I have no idea if Austin is doing a match or not at this point, but if he is, with Orton/HHH now locked up, Austin/Jericho is really the only direction they can go. Dave and Bryan talked about their idea of doing Jericho/Lawler with Flair and Piper in Lawler's corner as a back-up, but that would really seem like scrambling to do something.

WWE has tended to try to be more unpredictable the last couple of years. I think there was something in the WON a while back about Vince flipping about regarding all the finishes being too obvious.

I'm in a weird place with wrestling watching and have been for a while, but yes, this will eventually be updated. Some things are right on and some I don't think I'd agree with now. There's also quite a bit that I've watched and haven't added.

Savage was a big show performer in the WWF through and through. There are going to be some gems, but I doubt as many as you might think. I'd like to see maybe the bloody Toronto match with Steamboat. I suspect more WCW than anyone cares to see. This really makes me wish WWE owned the Memphis library.

The fact that they're repeating matches so much shows that they really need to mix some new people in. Is there anyone in the top mix Orton hasn't feuded with multiple times? I guess he could feud with JBL if he ever turns face, and maybe Edge, since that wasn't as done to death as everything else, but he's faced Cena (which I think would have been the better choice for a WM main event), HHH, and Undertaker way too many times.