Loss

Well, Cornette didn't even like the major league *look* of the WWF, but yeah, he might have liked some of the televised house shows okay.

Yeah, Kevin Owens recently debuted in a huge way, but when your first PPV match has you beating Cena clean, there's nowhere to go but down.

That might happen, but it didn't happen with Ryback at the height of his strong push, for example. It didn't happen with Rusev during his undefeated streak either. People usually like winners. I agree that heel to babyface is a good plan to wash him clean though.

Even when he does win, it's not really convincing because he doesn't get enough offense throughout the match. His opponent takes most of the match, then he hits his signature spots at the end and that's that.

Shawn said he'd have to be asked to do something unprecedented to return, and teacher vs student was old hat. Perhaps he'll return for a selfie stick match against Tyler Breeze. First person to climb the ladder and snap a selfie wins.

It's actually pretty common for creative professional types to follow other stuff going on in their field. Not doing it is pretty rare actually. It's arrogant, especially when, as DR says, they think they are qualified to make sweeping statements about who the best guys are in the business when they ignore entire swaths of it.

Gunner vs Chrisjen Hayme More guys should really douche spell their names. Such easy heat. I think this match was a little long for what they were going for, but this is a master's class in how to make a musclehead babyface look great. I tweeted that if Chrisjen Hayme, KT Hamill and Chip Day were in WWE, Roman Reigns would be by far the biggest star in the world. All three of them are just excellent at working with a bigger babyface and making him look like a million dollars. Lots of fun for that reason.

Jimmy Rave vs Anthony Henry This was a great vet vs young lion match. Rave is really good at adding these personal veteran touches to matches to make them stand out from the pack. They were doing a style very much consistent with where wrestling is now, but things like Rave spitting in Henry's face and all the rolling outside the ring gave this some extra weight. Rave was doing character work without seeming hammy. This was really well laid out with a strong beginning, middle and end. What's impressive is that they enhanced Rave's credibility as a veteran, but Henry also came out of this looking much better than I suspect he did going in because he pushed Rave to the limit. This is a guy with great athleticism that will be great one day if he keeps facing opponents of this caliber. That vet vs young guy dynamic, when done properly, is my favorite in wrestling, and this match definitely gave us that. All the jockeying for position on the apron felt like a 1995 Akira Taue match. Only one more match to go in Round 1, but I suspect that this will be match of the night. ****

After watching all the 1981-1982 Tiger Mask, I've come away thinking he isn't in the GOAT conversation, but he was a good high-flyer who could be very good when he was in with a great worker. I think the reason people were more into him than someone like Hamada comes down to the mask and whatever crossover celebrity he had, but I don't think he was embarrassing either. This will raise some eyebrows, but I kept comparing him to young 2 Cold Scorpio in my head. By young, I mean 1992-1993.

Yeah, I think that's the biggest issue. Most problems or unknowns in wrestling have precedent, but I guess because of the no off-season nature of wrestling, they don't even really learn from their own successes and failures most of the time, much less anyone else's. The nature of the beast is just to keep plowing ahead.

It even raises the question of if Flair knew WCW was ahead at that time.

I've been trying to find you, Dylan, but I'm having trouble. Where are you in the crowd?

You are just jealous of the guy who got a chance to talk to Missy Hyatt and chose not to speak about PRIDE. Whatever happened to that guy anyway?

Yeah, I am reduced to recycling my material. Seriously, I think chances are high that Flair has no idea that Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi became stars and headed All Japan after Jumbo retired. Is there even proof he knows who Kenta Kobashi is? I know they were going to do a handshake for some indy once, but I'd be shocked if he's ever seen one of his matches.

Chip Day vs Gunner Miller While they have showcased a variety of styles, one common theme in all the matches is that one wrestler is mostly dominant. I'm told this was really the first time Gunner had been on the defensive or looked vulnerable in any way, but he did that very well for someone not accustomed to it. Fun match, and between Hamill and Chip Day, I guess all the guys best at making others look good work at Empire.

Yeah, I wouldn't call them his inventions so much as something that is consistent about how he booked starting out and how he books in 2015.

Jason Collins vs Caprice Coleman Probably the best match so far. Mostly worked on the mat and no real signs of excess, which was cool. Both guys impressed me. I think based on what I saw and how the announcers talked up his credibility, Collins winning was the right call, but Coleman strikes me as someone who could be a star because his very unique ring style, so he's someone I want to follow. This was closest in style to the first match, but the biggest difference was watching two guys who look like they're just about to put all the pieces together and here, I felt like I was watching two guys who had already solved the puzzle. Collins and Coleman worked with a lot of confidence. Part of me wishes they'd built a little bit bigger of a finishing stretch, but part of me likes that they didn't because they produced something different. Very good. ***1/2

To me, though, when I think of hallmarks, I think of aspects of his booking that have rung true from day one more than things he picked up along the way.

The start of a program between Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj, one of the endless attempts to create a new Michael Jackson with The Weeknd and Kanye cutting the best promo of 2015 to close out the show. More drug culture than your average ECW show too! I think they have successfully set up some interesting things long-term.

I'd put Jerry Jarrett, Bill Dundee, Dusty Rhodes and Kevin Sullivan ahead of Paul Heyman.

I hope to one day meet Nikki Bella so I can ask her if she preferred RINGS or PWFG.

I get that. But most guys read the Observer, right? So never hearing about the Midnight Express at all seems weird, unless they just skimmed for their own name.

I always felt like his promos made people overlook a lot of flaws in his ring work, even if he was in some great matches. But even that is a positive -- the ability to get people to look away from your weaknesses.

Odd coming from Funk since he has usually followed everything and was even the one who instilled that mentality in Dave Meltzer.

Yes. The WWF product basically grew up with Generation Y in terms of their presentation in the 80s, early 90s and late 90s. Interestingly enough, the Gen-Y crowd became adults and WWE has sort of floundered (not business wise, but in terms of a clear mission of what they are) since.