Kostka

I hate that shit. It seems like ever since Michaels mouthed "I'm sorry, I love you", WWE started having this obsession with heavy verbalizing in some of their big matches. I guess it ties into the whole "self concious epic" stuff.

Did anyone mention the Jeff Jarrett vs Jay Lethal tv match? I don't know the date or year even, I'm thinking maybe 2005? I think Jarrett was champion. It was a really great Flair-esque caught off guard champion vs lower ranked guy type match. That is still my favorite match from this fucking place. I agree with Will about Angle/Jarrett. And the Joe/Daniels tv match.

Could he win the Rumble and beat Ziggler at Mania?

What is the general perception of the Miz these days? I don't read message forums nearly as often as I used to. I find him especially unbearable as a babyface. Between the terrible 'perched lips like a lemon' faces he always makes and the god awful lame "jokes" (not entirely his fault) in his dogshit promos, I find him the most unlikable babyface on the roster. So fucking forced and terrible IMO. It would take years to get me back after popping for his own mom joke in that Punk segment the other week. MizTV is awful. And this is coming from someone that liked the Miz up until he stopped facing Lawler. It seemed to be downhill consistently from there, and now he's Face Edge-like borderline for me.

My take on Bret is this - He was my favorite wrestler as a kid. As a teen, I thought he was a great worker, maybe the best of all time (that I had seen). Going into my twenties, I watched a fuck load of wrestling from the past 30+ years. I discovered a lot of great wrestlers. I no longer think Bret is one of the best of all time. It isn't so much because I watch Bret matches and am disappointed, but more for the sheer fact that there have been a lot of REALLY great wrestlers that are just better. So, his matches age well for me. I still enjoy him. But due to educating myself on a wider variety of great wrestling, he kind of drops down the ladder a few pegs. He doesn't compare to Lawler/Flair/Jumbo level types to me. Great wrestler, no doubt. But nowhere near the best of all time.

I think Christian/Sandow would be a good program. Over the US or IC title or whatever.

I loved WWECW. That was such a great show. Christian, Regal, Punk, Henry, Hardy, Goldust, Tatsu, Jackson, etc. I wonder where the Jackson title run would have gone if it wasn't dropped. Zeke was awesome during that period and I was really into him and his matches with Christian and Goldust. He was never the same afterwards. I wish they did another completely self contained brand.

Masters has been putting that match over since it happened. He even posted a YouTube link to it on twitter around when he got released. What's he up to these days? Did TNA ever pick him up?

I NEED that Lawler set when it's out, Will. Because hes my 1. Jerry Lawler. I just love everything about him. He's my favorite baby face of all time. He's my favorite heel of all time. He's my favorite talker ever. I just think he's the best total package ever and I get excited about watching any match he's involved in, even at 62. 2. Bill Dundee. I knew of him but he's my pick for favorite "discovery" from the whole 80s project, as far as a guy I saw so little of, and quickly became an all time favorite. I think he was an excellent face but an even better bad guy, especially on the mic in his Elvis outfits. Pure greatness. The 2/3 falls scaffold match blew my mind. I just loved the Memphis set...my favorite 80s promotion. He's another guy who's still great now. 3. Rey Mysterio. He had kind of a weak year, but he's a guy with like a billion great tv matches all over the place. I love watching him. He's one of the most athletically pleasing wrestlers and one of the smartest wrestlers ever at the same time. And I like his costumes. 4. Tully Blanchard. The fuck doesn't like Tully? No one worth a fuck. I wish he had a longer peak because he was awesome as fuck. Tully vs Ronnie Garvin is one of 2 matches I keep on my phone. 5. William Regal. Killer Kahn. Bobby Heenan. Dutch Mantell. Terry Funk. John Cena. Flair. I don't fucking know.

His frog splash sucks.

How would you guys feel about Punk being plugged into the Rock/Cena match as a triple threat? Or is Cena getting his win back in one on one fashion more important/necessary?

Henry is returning? I'm way behind on my interweb scoopz.

I could get behind that. The Shield applying the same strategy they did last night. It could be a really fun, crazy match to compensate for the obvious Taker win.

Was thinking about Taker opponents some more and really, the options are so thin, you may HAVE to go with current roster guys who are hot. They already did Michaels and HHH twice...where do you go from here? Dust off Mick Foley? I still want to see Cena vs Taker, but Cena is locked into the Rock match. Punk is the hottest potential prospect and Taker NEEDS really hot opponents for his once-a-year spectacle to work at all at this point. I would say Taker vs Rybacl, but again, I don't see how that would benefit Ryback. He really needs strong wins. What makes Ryback special if he's just another guy to lose to the Undertaker at WM? I dunno. Could just be me.

Ugh fuck the Undertaker at this point. Punks been so on fire with this run. I'd hate to see him lose to a half crippled zombie who will go away again for another year afterwards. There's no real gain for anyone there. I'd rather he stuck to working retired/semi retired Michaels/Helmsley types for one off epics. Who Punk faces does become an interesting question, though. They have like...no stars. Punk vs Orton? Sheamus? Rey? Been there, done that several times around. Could Punk vs Ryback be milked for that long? I'd rather Cena/Rock be non title, Ryback wins rumble, wins title off Punk at Mania.

Holy fuck that 6 man TLC was the griddiest, most violent WWE match since Cena/Lesnar. In fact, probably my second favorite WWE match this year after the fore mentioned Cena/Lesnar. Amazing put over of those guys. Nuclear crowd. Great big spots and holy shit moments. Shit kept moving and felt chaotic. Great story execution. Great selling. Great shit. Cena/Dolph was really good top. I thought Cenas punches looked great here.

I'm not one of those "the tag teams aren't prestigious!" people, so I'm completely fine with the awesomely quirky Bryan/Kane comedy team. I love the gimmick and all of its absurdity. Happy they won the belts off of the terrible team of Kofi and Truth. Sheamus/Del Rio was really good. Punk vs Cena was fucking great. It wasn't their best match together, but they've had a lot of really great matches. I love how their Chi Town match and their Boston match have completely opposite dynamics and both worked at a very high level. CM Punk is an amazing heel. I almost forgot how good he can be after that long, tired babyface run. Holy shit, he was great in this match. He and Heyman are a great heel tandem. Heyman was great too at ringside with the facial expressions that only added to the selling of the key moments of "how the fuck do I beat this guy". That section reeked of Austin vs Rock WM17. When they went up top for the finish I thought for sure Punk would hit the Pepsi Plunge (especially after he hit the Crooked Moonsault and The Rock Bottom), but then reality set in. I thought the finish was unique and a break from the conditioned WWE style finishes that worked well in the context of the matches story and also got over Punks character going forward. I wonder how good Punk vs Rock will be? I can't imagine it being this good.

Just curious how you separate "wrestling" from "in-ring psychology and storytelling". Psychology/storytelling is kinda what "superb wrestling" is built from. Anyway, Cena demolishes Angle in every way.

I had no problem with Punks title bouts taking a backseat to money-drawing programs that Cena worked against Rock and Lesnar, but once stuff like Cena/Ace, Cena/Show and the Raw MITB started closing the PPVs regularly over the WWE title matches, it started to feel like a rib and I can see why that bugs some people. It doesn't bother me personally, but I get the argument. If Punk beats Cena this Monday (which seems unlikely), does that make up for it? I personally see no gain from Punk being booked as the babyface ace figure over Cena. It would be forced in a way that Ortons babyface ace run was forced. Cena is the guy, no matter how you dress it up. Which then proposes the question Loss' asked - why even put the title on Punk? I don't really have any good answer for that other than WWE obviously sees Cena as a mega-brand and entity that is bigger and far more important than even their top title. Cenas a sure bet guy, where Punk (because of bad booking or not) just isn't. I do agree that if Punk was booked differently and in a way that truly capitalized on his hot run last summer, then maybe things would be different now. But unfortunately, we know how that went down. I think Punk should turn heel. I think he makes a MUCH better Cena opponent/ antagonist than he does as a placeholder Cena-lite type of character. Outside of Big Show, WWE is lacking a really strong ace level heel. I think Punk could be THAT guy. He'd be a lot more effective in that role than #2 babyface.

Punk has been the best booked intercontinental champion in ages. I can't decide if I like AW or not. On one hand, he's pretty funny. On the other hand, he's very distracting, which makes me think that the act won't have legs. I think he'll most likely drop the headset gimmick.

Nor would I. Would they change the way they work the matches on the HS's with them being taped, though? Handhelds aren't meant to be viewed on tv.

What happened to the Von Erich show?

I think booking plays a big factor in that. He has great matches and performances sprinkled throughout the years proceeding 2007, but in 2007 he got to work lengthy singles matches, PPV after PPV, against different opponents with no overbooking or booking handicaps at all. Jim Duggan 1984.

lol That's all I've got. Edit: Oh, and you kinda should answer this