Loss

The 11/94 tag did air on TV but it was missing the first 7-8 minutes. A spliced together version exists, hint hint. If you aren't getting the hint, PM me and I'll explain.

Bryan did tons of media last year.

I wish Vince was on camera right now solely so he could absorb the brunt of it.

I think this is an example of how deceptive the wrestling bubble can be. It's probably easy to forget that the personality they see in regular interactions with the wrestlers isn't necessarily the personality the masses see.

Who is clamoring for this match exactly? Vince McMahon and Dave Meltzer.

I don't. Ambrose: Hey, about you trying to murder me with a cinderblock...no worries. Whatever, everyone has past beefs with each other that have been forgotten. It would be a bigger issue in a company that stressed continuity.

I think they should reunite The Shield.

What are the chances they signed a short-term contract so the WM main event finish would remain a question? I doubt it, but that's what Jericho did in 2005.

Heenan was constantly being asked about people in airports. What a strange concept.

I might hate watch. I'm not excited at all for the show.

If I remember right, we just couldn't find it.

I'm expecting Barrett to win at Wrestlemania because of all the jobs he has done lately, although I wouldn't be surprised to see Bryan win the title shortly thereafter. It would be nice to see them save the IC/US title unification match for Summerslam, with Bryan and Cena being the champions at that time. The only issue is that if Cena and Bryan are feuding with each other, who is left for Brock to feud with? Probably Orton, which doesn't intrigue me at all. Barrett, Ziggler and Ambrose getting big pushes post-WM would add a lot of new scenarios to the top of the card, which they desperately need, but I'm not holding my breath.

I've seen the love this has gotten, and I watched it and thought it was good, but nowhere near at the level I have seen others describe it, but I couldn't really articulate why. I rewatched it and I think it comes down to the way everything was sold. I'm all for a good strike or chop exchange in a big match, as I think it's a great way to create drama. However, I didn't like the way they worked the chop exchange here, nor the forearms. The Flair-Steamboat route of selling each chop individually works much better, and considering how good the strikes looked, they could have done that for 20 minutes and it wouldn't get old at all. Tenryu and Hashimoto worked a few matches in that same vein in the late 90s but every single strike was sold. When they aren't sold individually, it feels like two guys just performing instead of fighting to win a match, no matter how stiff the shots are. The cumulative selling was absolutely there, but they didn't give all of the offense meaning in an individual way. That said, I do think they did a lot right -- far more than I thought they did wrong. I loved the collar-and-elbow tie-up to start - not just they did it, but that they worked it with conviction. It's a staple of wrestling that I wish was part of the regular style again in most places and hasn't been for some time. It's a great way to set the tone for the entire match, and I thought they did a particularly good one here. I also really like Ishii as a throwback to some of the 80s All Japan and 90s WAR types like Ishikawa and Hara. He seems like he'd fit right in with that group, and I could see him having a hell of a match with Tenryu ten years ago even. I also really liked Honma's underdog character. He was really in tune with who he was and it was awesome to see the crowd invested in him as much as they were. There were some terrific nearfalls that play even better than they might normally because of his character, and I really got the sense that both guys had an understanding of who they are as performers that's so precise that it's almost rare. There was a classic match dying to get out. I probably would call this my MOTY and give it ****1/2 or higher if the selling hadn't thrown me off. There was so much about this I really liked, but that was enough of a downer to take it to just slightly below great match status. ***3/4

I put in a request to our admin about this but I haven't heard back from him. I'll follow up.

Is this online?

This thread name should be a band name.

For all the crap Cena gets, now that he's being phased down, I think his value is going to become more apparent. They are going to have quite a difficult time replacing him.

I like the ideas put forward here. I'd honestly much rather watch a WWE 100% committed to that sports entertainment philosophy than one that tries to play both sides of the coin depending on what is more convenient at the time. I think about things like wrestlers still half maintaining character in media (Roman Reigns lately), merchandise ideas for Dolph Ziggler getting killed a few years ago because of insider terms and that sort of thing. Not that I'm encouraging more content since they are already so overwhelmed, but since fans are so fascinated with the behind-the-scenes decision making, they should have a worked creative meeting once or twice a week on the Network that includes Vince, HHH and the writers. And they can make that work anything they want it to be. There is such an enormous gap between what WWE is and what it could be.

I know this will never happen, but I have to ask anyway: How much would a Daniel Bryan be worth per appearance on the independent circuit right now? It seems like he could make a killing, although probably not as much as he's making in WWE. I'm just curious how high a star of that magnitude could put his price tag. I know when he was released in 2010, even when he wasn't nearly as hot as he is now, he actually made better money on the indies than he was making in WWE.

One of the things that makes wrestling great when it's at its best is fans who are willing to make fools of themselves because they love it so much. Trying to stifle that seems petty. Instead of making them switch into WWE merchandise, they should have encouraged everyone else to wear costumes.

I think Cena is just more level-headed than any wrestler Vince has ever had on top. Wrestlers usually don't handle it well when their time as the top guy is over. He's never had a problem doing jobs, even when he probably should have, which tells me he is able to step outside of himself and see the big picture.

I should also add that people in WWE are saying this is not true when Dave has asked about it. However, Dave heard the exact same account from two sources.

Dave confirmed in the WON that they really were confiscating pro-Bryan signs. Not a rumor.