cm funk

What? Shawn Michaels WANTED to retire. That was his idea. He was going to be finished wrestling either way. Not only did he want to retire, he wanted to go out losing to Taker at WM AND is one of the very few guys who's actually honored his retirement stipulation peachchaos is probably one of those people who bitched about HBK 'retiring' Ric Flair I posit to you peachchaos.....who should HBK have 'put over' in his retirement match? Who should have beat Flair in his last WWE match? Carlito? Chris Masters? Gotta give those young guys the rub, right? I can't think of a single opponent to retire Michaels that would have had the gravitas and indelible all-time "WM moment" feel to it other than Taker. Would you rather it was Hunter?

Yeah, there's no real difference between a * scale, 1-10, letter grades......it's all the same thing in different clothes I don't do star ratings. If I feel the need to comment on a match I'll explain what I liked/disliked and use some superlatives (fun, great, loved it, MOTY candidate etc.). If I did star ratings I don't even think I would be consistent with my own ratings and would constantly be revising them on re-watches I agree with whoever said * ratings are a useful reference sometimes, but everybody rates matches differently and unless you know their tastes and familiar with how they rate matches they're essentially useless. Meltzer's ratings of current stuff are pretty much meaningless to me after seeing all the matches he rates highly which dont' rate with me at all

One thing that annoyed me on a recent Ross Report He's reviewing the Cena-Owens match, and putting it over, and his main negative and harping point is all of the finisher kick outs, which I actually agree with because I thought they really went overboard there. I completely agreed with his general point, it was what I was thinking watching the match, and Kevin Sullivan and Les Thatcher on their podcasts also echoed the thought But then he goes into a rant about the young guys today who don't know how to work, the kids on the indies wrecking their bodies, "less is more", the fans, etc. etc. and I'm like, "I actually agreed with you, but now you take a generalized, grandstanding bully pulpit..." and it's such a "shut the fuck up old man" thing for me And, it's especially hypocritical from JR who called the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom show one of the best shows he's ever been at ringside for, and those matches and that style is FULL of finisher kickouts and shit. I'm actually not a huge Tanahashi or Okada fan specifically for that reason, but JR raves about them and that match, a match which in my book was good but nowhere near great Basically, I respect JR and his opinions, but for a guy who's been in 'the biz' for 40 years he still sounds like a godamn mark half the time

I know it's a rhetorical question, but the answer is, of course, Vince Russo. :\ They've had years and plenty of opportunities to rebrand, but never did. The perfect chance fell in their laps when they made the switch to Impact Wrestling, but it was confusing and half-hearted at best. Sheer incompetence at its finest. One good thing Bischoff/Hogan did when they came in was push to rebrand and drop the stupid TNA name. But of course Dixie didn't want to lose it because it was "established", so it became the muddled half-assed mess it became

Adore is a pretty great album. I was pleasantly surprised by it when I first heard it, which was a couple years after it was released

Edge counts Kurt Angle was a top main event heel in 04-05 Ric Flair his entire first run late 91-early 93 Ted DiBiase was on top for 2-3 years

I'd probably say The Hart Foundation first answer, but this is such a tough question because there have been so many great tag combinations over the years. I wouldn't argue that they were the greatest team of all-time, but as far as personal favorite, it's probably them, and they were certainly one of the greats. Had longevity as an act in a competitive WWF, worked as heels and faces, great chemistry, could work as a heel team or a face team, from top or underneath........great tag team

Dave always showed surprised with how poorly Batista did in the voting, but he just wasn't set up to wrestle the sort of matches that the WON audience has been conditioned over the years to appreciate. He was the sort of wrestler that they have always traditionally railed against. So, it doesn't really matter that he was probably a much better candidate from a drawing perspective than most WWE guys from the 00s, he never got a real look. That's a generalization but it's got enough truth in it that I feel comfortable saying it to you. Pretty much. And Big Dave Meltzer was genuinely surprised how little support Batista got when he hit the ballot. A television ratings mover on RAW and SD in his peak years, a PPV and merch mover, a house show draw, and also a pretty damn big draw internationally.....about as big a star and good draw for WWE as anyone not named Cena or Rey over the past decade Also, I think he's a pretty underrated worker with some really high end matches with a variety of opponents on his resume, but yeah, not the kind of guy the average WON voter would think highly of workrate wise

If guys like Edge and Batista aren't in, if Sting isn't in, if Luger isn't in.......there is no chance of Kane getting in Great character, longevity, versatile performer, very entertaining at times and other times not so much........not a high end worker.....not a lot of great matches on his resume.....doesn't really strike me as a WON HOFer I doubt Big Show goes into the WON HOF......though I think he should. Both are no brainer WWE HOFers though

absolutely amazing TNA really is the gift that keeps giving. did not expect to get online and find out ROH is on Destination America now. Bwahahahahah

Josh better hope that Meltzer is full of crap (which he isn't) because his arrogant burning of bridges is doing nothing for his career yeah.....this was just a complete WTF for me Anybody who knows anything knows that Joe was a huge superstar before he went to TNA. And, personally, I'd kinda dropped out of watching TNA in 03-04.......Joe coming in got me back into their shit. I'm not alone in that. TNA did not create Samoa Joe. In fact, they did more to fuck up his career thru sheer incompetence than anything. And Joe made good money, and he's moved on, and he doesn't shit talk TNA when he does interviews or anything like that. I don't know where Josh Matthews is coming from, and I don't understand this idea he has of 'hipocracy' when it comes to Joe and WWE....... He comes off like a guy who's bitter he's not in WWE and the promotion he works for is a sinking ship. All these TNA people going on social media just come off pathetic and desperate.....it just makes everybody look bad. Going into defense/attack mode......I don't know....it's pretty stupid......but stupidity and not learning from past mistakes sums up TNA's history pretty succinctly

Hogan beat Jericho on a SD, and it was one of the better matches he had in that 2002 run

WO/F4W frontpage

with all their international tv deals I think they'll limp along for a while, and if they can't find tv go online in the states. they might actually get better advertisers that way, and the ad revenue would be pure profit for them. I assume the DA deal was like WWE has now and the station got all the ad revenue and paid a fixed rate for the shows, which is why they're so quick to drop it now honestly though, as much as I rip on TNA for their years of stupidity, I think DA looks pretty stupid here. The problem attracting advertisers is that you're Destination America, a 3rd rate cable channel nobody gets or watches, that's populated with ghost and bigfoot crap. What were they expecting?

Owens was great. Cena was great. That segment was great, and it put over NXT and hyped the Takeover special in addition to introducing KO strong to the main audience. Haters gonna hate

They're also pushing it like Cena is wearing himself down with the open challenge against hungry talent every week, while also dealing with and taking regular shitkickings from Rusev.....so there's a bigger story to lower guys hanging with him and pushing him to the limit. They're really positioning Cena as an old dog vet with his never quit, never give up schtick

Ok then..... Like I said, didn't read it, don't read the board, don't read anything by Nason........don't care. But, it would have been a good 'in joke' and on the nose because WWE literally debuted Uhaa without a name.......and it was talked about, and written about on the damn website quite a bit So maybe this Nason character is just a shoddy ponce I find it funny though that people think something like that lowers Dave's standing as a journalist, or "that's why I don't subscribe". Really? Didn't say it lowers Dave's standing as a journalist, although Nason, along with many others under Dave's employ, make me really question Dave's eye for fellow journalistic talent. As for the not subscribing part, why should people spend money on a journalism based product that doesn't bother to do adequate journalistic research? It's not like this is free content, it's something that should ascribe to a certain quality because customers are paying to read said content. It's no different than a newspaper or any other reporting venture in that regard; if the journalism being offered is of a subpar nature then people shouldn't subscribe and give their hard earned money to a subpar product. I subscribe for the audio content and the Observer. That's worth my $9.99 right there I've subscribed to many magazines over the years, ranging from SLAM to Rolling Stone to The Economist. I don't read every single article in every single issue. I used to subscribe to The New York Post......there was lots of stuff in there I skipped, but I liked sports coverage and some of the tabloid wackiness and it made for a good easy read on the train. When I read The Times or WSJ I don't read every article......I skip stuff I'm not interested in I assume everyone is this way

Hogan would have spent a lot more time in Japan, to the point where that would be considered his home territory. He has an unprecedented reign with the IWGP title. With the talent sharing arrangement with the WWF he'd come to New York a few times a year for short runs, but I don't see him taking a lot of bookings outside of those offices. Hogan never would have gone back to Florida as someone suggested, because he hated Matsuda, and after tasting success in Japan and New York it would be too small time for him. But without Rocky 2, cable TV, national expansion, WM etc. Hulkamania never truly runs wild in the states

Ok then..... Like I said, didn't read it, don't read the board, don't read anything by Nason........don't care. But, it would have been a good 'in joke' and on the nose because WWE literally debuted Uhaa without a name.......and it was talked about, and written about on the damn website quite a bit So maybe this Nason character is just a shoddy ponce I find it funny though that people think something like that lowers Dave's standing as a journalist, or "that's why I don't subscribe". Really?

They advertised Steph and Hunter being back on the show and.......No Steph I thought they'd open the show with Ambrose......but I was 10 minutes late tuning in and shock of all shocks I missed nothing because it was another boring HHH & The Authority talking segment..... There was good stuff on the show. Cesaro and Big E was good. Neville and Cena had a pretty damn good match. No divas on the show, but I missed a couple segments stepping away to do stuff, maybe I missed a diva match? The Bryan stuff was really good and respectful, but sad. Sad truth is it's time for the guy to hang em up. when Wyatt came out to cut another shitty boring promo I changed the channel to basketball and never looked back. I like Orton and Seth and they have good matches, but that is far from a must see RAW main event right now. It's paint by numbers that you know they'll have a match, the authority will run in, Roman runs in, Ambrose runs in.....and it's a schmozz "hot sell" for the PPV. yawn apparently, from what I read on another board, Ambrose had a hot run in and the show ended with him standing tall with the crowd going nuts. He's obviously doing the job on Sunday, so kudos to WWE for putting him over strong like this leading up to the match. Will they keep him hot and strong and keep the momentum going after the PPV (I can't even remember the name of it, which is how little I care about the show. Payback?).......past results say no.....shuffled back into the midcard of death

Didn't read it, first I heard of this "controversy"......but it clearly seems like an in joke on the fact that they debuted Uhaa with no name....and to anybody who didn't know him (which let's be honest....he's not a huge name outside of hardcore pockets of fans)..... And, anyone who subscribes to WO/F4W.....should be listening to the audio shows....reading the Observer......and should at least know him from that It was a joke. But you know.....sarcasm and the internet and all....it gets lost in translation sometimes

I haven't listened.....but yea.......I really have no interest in anything that comes out of Dixie's brain. Be it Twitter, her Youshoot.....I've seen and heard enough from this silly woman I suppose I should listen to it.....but I just know I'll become immediately infuriated. Same reason I can't listen to anything Russo related anymore Plus, I've been pretty down on Austin's podcast lately anyway, been skipping the majority of the episodes. Shows with Kristen or Ted Fowler are fun.....other than that, his act has worn thin with me and I don't think he's a particularly good interviewer. And his shows where he's just talking to himself, reading e-mails......I generally skip

I'm not defending Austin at all.....don't get it twisted......I'm just saying when you have all those drugs and stuff and the crazy rasslin biz involved.......sometimes bad things happen I do respect that Austin seems to have gotten his shit together and seems to really regret his past behavior when he was younger and during the crazy years.......and nobody actually knows what happened with Debra. None of us do, and we never will. Austin says there's a 2 or 3 year period where he barely remembers any of it......which sounds like bullshit.....but he also says he was all pilled up and drinking 15 beers and a bottle of whiskey or two a day at some points......so yeah....... I'm certainly not defending the bad stuff he did......but he has to live with it for the rest of his life, and it seems like he's tried real hard to become a better person

It wasn't one bad moment though when he had domestic issues with his next girlfriend, Tess Broussard, also. Now she does sound crazy and maybe he likes them that way, but probably shouldn't have put himself into that position again less than two years after the Debra incident. Makes him look really bad even if it was blown out of proportion. He's pretty much said (without actually saying it) that he was running hard and fast and wild those years and was pretty reckless and out of control, living the gimmick, angry and pissed off all the time, and that he regrets a lot of stuff from that time in his life. Debra seems like a pretty crazy woman too, who bounced from Mongo to Jarrett to Steve.......I have to assume she was into some of the gimmicks......when people are drunk and pilled up and coked up.....shit happens I'm in no way defending Austin for smacking around a woman, but he seems to be in a much better, healthier mental and physical state these days

It was a match in which Striker early on referred to Regal as the "Ringleader of the Tormentors". That was the line (and match) that for me moved his announcing from "enthusiastic goofball" to "nerd imbecile trying to get himself over". It definitely wasn't a Regal-Christian match, which was always in the main event spot. It was a middle of the card geek match, and it wasn't just one line, it was commentary peppered with jokes and references to The Smiths, but it's interesting that he didn't just do it in the match I'm thinking of