cm funk

Yep pretty much. History of WWE says the Champ Wrestling taping took place on 1/3 and I watched the 1/14 show and they announced it on the show before the MSG show even took place. I checked the history website and the matches listed from the 14th were what I was watching so it wasent as if I watched the wrong episode. Can you guess what happened on the 1/21 show? Yep Sheik comes out as the WWF Champion and they are advertising the MSG show of him defending the title. If you want to call something odd heres another example. Last night I was watching Championship Wrestling 2/11/84 and they are discussing Tito winning the title from Muraco during the bit where Okerlund is interviewing both and Albano goes crazy about how can it happen when the tape is missing. Considering this is a taped show probably taped a week or 2 previously to be exact 1/24/84 and that match didnt even happen till the actual 2/11 date but Tito wrestles on this show but he isnt wearing the IC belt and why? Because Vince & Gene are talking about tonights upcoming match between the two so technically it hadent happened yet. During all this they are talking about the Hogan/Masked Superstar title match that is taking place in a few days time yet the week before they clearly discussed Orndorff/Hogan for MSG. Wouldnt it make more sense to advertise the MSG match for the following week than to just discuss something else? One week they talk about Superstar/Andre and the following week its Hogan/Superstar discussion. These shows were recorded from the New York area so no idea why they keep bouncing around with deff matches that havent even taken place yet when MSG didnt happen till 2/20. Its a tad bit confusing. History of WWE is generally accurate on dates, you watched the show and I didn't, I don't have any reason to doubt either of you. If true that is bizarre though. I can't imagine it being a mistake on WWE's part, but I also can't fathom them announcing Hogan beating Iron Sheik for the belt a week before the match actually took place, and this is the first time I've ever heard of it. I'd think if true this would be a bigger/more commonly known thing. Something about this ain't right.

His mentality is clearly "I'm gonna train hard and give it my best shot". It's a very tall order for someone his age who's been so beat up by wrestling and trained BJJ as a hobby to step into UFC, but more power to him for having the balls to do it. That alone is an accomplishment and a victory. If he trains his ass off for 6-8 months and goes in there and gets killed, at least he can say he wasn't afraid to do it. Nobody holds it against Yuji Nagata that he tried his hand at MMA and got killed in his fights, or any of the pro-wrestlers who tried it without years of experience or training. From Punk's perspective it's something he's been passionate about for a long time, he has the name value that allows him an opportunity to do it and get paid handsomely on the biggest stage in the sport, and that alone is a big accomplishment. And for UFC, they're as carny as wrestling promoters when it comes to booking fights, so it's obviously a huge win for them. Their business has been down and Punk fighting is going to draw so much interest for them, they just need to find the right matchup for him with a guy who's an interesting opponent but not totally overmatch him. It makes UFC look like less of a "legit sport" but anyone who follows it already knows that the matchups and rankings are all about who draws eyeballs and money. They cut a couple top 5 ranked fighters over the last year because they were boring, unpopular fighters

I figure the website announcements are two fold. A) gets people tuning in, and B ) they know their taped shows are spoiled all over the internet, so might as well be proactive and get some additional pageviews I'm confused on the Hogan thing. You're saying a show taped 1/3/84, that aired 1/14/84, spoiled the title change. Hogan won the title on 1/23/84. That doesn't add up. Are you saying they announced it before it even happened?

I live in the North East where we don't have any Jimmy Johns. I'd never heard of it before. Jack Links I see around in convenience stores or maybe a Walmart here and there, but it's not a super common thing to see in this area (and as a big fan of beef jerky I'll try about any brand once, and I've tried a few Jacks Links products and didn't like them).......but Brock being a sponsor for those products at least put them on the map for me and made me curious about them. And that's the whole point of sponsorships really. It's been very effectively used in MMA, and in all sports really. If you watch UFC and see some fighter who's cool and a badass and wins in an impressive fashion, and he's wearing gear from some company, you're gonna naturally at least be interested in it and maybe think that brand is cool and something you might want to wear. I'm not one of those d-bags who would wear those bro-tastic Affliction or Tapout t-shirts, but there were a lot of people wearing that stuff, so you can't deny the power of advertising

Now, Ambrose's hoodie went over on the WWE Monopoly game at WWEshop.com. That's a pretty big win. Well, compared to most of the WWE merch it's pretty cool looking, relatively. The A in the D/A logo is the anarchy symbol. The "Dean UNSTABLE Ambrose" is patterned after the parental advisory warning (do they even put these on CDs anymore or is it "retro" now?). And most importantly it doesn't have that WWE tag or logo on it anywhere. The best merch is the stuff that doesn't scream WRESTLING. I don't like that it has his name on it on the back (the D/A logo is enough), and I don't own/buy/wear any WWE merch, but as far as things go it's probably the best merch since some of the Punk stuff

Battlebowl. Some of the matchups were hokey, but I just love the 2 ring battle royale and the "randomly drawn" tag teams Heck, they could do a PPV with both Battlebowl and War Games if they ever got around to the 2 ring gimmick. It seems perfect for the network and playing to WCW nostalgia

While I don't think he's a Top 10 in-ring guy, I do think some of his offense looks good (the crossbody, the chokeslam), so, on that point, I do think he has plenty of room to improve but isn't awful or anything. But whether you call it booking or producing, I don't think its "reductionist" to put the blame on booking. If he is going to be a special character, he shouldn't just be attacking faces and trading wins on PPV (I don't remember Taker doing that when he debuted). If he has no coherent motivations, the writers/producers need to help him develop them. For example, I'm one of those people that think he should've actually HELPED Ambrose beat Rollins - not to get a face pop, but to try to lure Ambrose into his camp. Similarly, I think the mindgames with Cena weren't actually hokey enough during the build to the match (and then got a little TOO hokey during their cage match). The feud with Jericho was completely meaningless. Bray Wyatt was exposed - on that point, I agree with you - but it was someone's decision to treat him like your average character instead of someone who could be a game-changer. That person dropped the ball in utilizing a talent and minimizing their flaws. Obviously Wyatt had at least a little "it" because he got good crowd responses (unfortunately, they were face pops). Still, it shows that the audience, initially, viewed the character as special. He's a cult leader who never added anybody do his cult. What's the point of a cult leader character who doesn't convert people? Raven's nest/flock worked because he had his followers. the Straight Edge society showed Punk gathering followers (including that great debut segment with Serena where he shaved her head). There is so much directionless talent on the main roster and in developmental that is just treading water. Easy way to use some people, it writes itself. Raven's Flock was full of crappy talent, but the gimmick worked and it got more value out of guys like Van Hammer, Riggs and Sick Boy than you would think was remotely possible. They've never explored his backstory or given him any sort of explicit motivation. I find it very hard to place the blame on him for these things. As far as his work goes, I like him. He's got some pretty good hard hitting offense and works at a good pace for a "husky" guy. He's big enough where he can be a convincing ass kicker, but against bigger guys can bump and sell for them and it doesn't hurt him. I thought the Rumble match with Bryan was one of the best of the year. He was good in the matches with The Shield. The Last Man Standing with Cena was good. I thought the Jericho matches were good (despite it being a nothing feud) and the cage match on RAW excellent. The match at Survivor Series with Ambrose was good until the finish. A problem with a lot of these matches though is bad finishes. Other than beating Bryan, and beating Jericho (who's there to put young guys over) they've been afraid to really let him go over on people, and that's another thing that has really hurt the character. How seriously can you take this guy if he's not running through people? The booking of the Cena program was terrible in that regard. If you're not going to let him go over Cena in a convincing manner then don't do it at all. Same with the Ambrose program. Neither guy can really afford a big loss at this point (other than the BS contract on a pole match with Cena Ambrose hasn't won a meaningful match since he heated up as a babyface, and never really got his revenge on Seth). It was just bad booking to pair these two up right now.

How are either of them fake? I could see pretentious, self-indulgent, big egos to some extent, but "fake"? They both are who they are and they own up to it

Punk taking all these cheap shots at Jericho is annoying below the belt kinda stuff. I listen to Jericho's podcast and what he initially said on it was he tried to get in touch with Punk to see how he was doing after he walked out, then texted him about some random rock thing or whatever. Punk clearly does not like Jericho. The "some guy who's not my friend who wants me on his podcast" and the "some guy who sucks who has lifts in his boots" (which I assume was a Jericho diss) really seems weak sauce to me. Obviously have no idea what their personal relationship was like, but Punk comes off like a dick

I was curious about this when the topic came up earlier this week and did some research on Abby. Apparently the shows he worked in 72 were in Pittsburgh, which wasn't a WWWF town at that point. The town was run by Pedro Martinez for the NWF promotion which also ran Buffalo and Cleveland. The Pittsburgh shows used some regular WWWF talent, primarily Bruno (when Morales was champ and Bruno a freelancer on sabbatical from WWWF), Dominic DeNucci, Victor Rivera, Tony Parisi and Baron Mikel Scicluna. The town was sold back to Vince Sr. somewhere around the time Bruno won the title again in December 73 I was surprised he missed Bock being in that legends battle royale, because Thesz being in it and winning is the only thing that keeps him off that list to my knowledge

The issue with people getting hurt is that they DO tuck their chin when they're not supposed to. It's supposed to be taken completely flat, with the head bending back if anything

Cesaro was getting a lot of face pops early this year, the swing and his other offense was getting over huge, and he was primed for a big babyface turn. They even did the Andre the Giant battle royale at WM as a showcase to seemingly lead to this big turn and a feud with his former partner Swagger. Then they totally drop the ball on it immediately and he's a heel with Paul Heyman for no reason when the fans had been begging to cheer for him. It was amazing how fast they squashed his heat after actually playing him up and putting him over and building to the babyface turn and feud with Swagger for months. Just speaks to the schizo booking and constant treadmill 95% of the roster is on. When they actually do stuff with Cesaro for a few weeks his heat comes back, but then they turn around and push him down to "his spot" again. It's insane.

Tenay is such a shell of himself and so synonymous with the awful TNA product that that would be a hugely positive move. Matthews was good at times in WWE and would be a breath of fresh air. Dump Taz too, but he might be under some written contract that they can't get out from under yet

Agreed. A couple years ago I was really interested in Taker-Sting, but not now. I'm a Sting fan but the debut fell flat with me. Maybe it's because I don't have a lot of interest in a feud with HHH, though I acknowledge that given the makeup of the roster he's probably the best choice for a Mania match where Sting is going to go over. Can also do some interesting things in the buildup with Flair, Michaels and others. It's also possible we could see a tag match, something like Cena/Sting vs. HHH/Rollins I also think part of the debut falling flat it is it would have been cooler if the lights went out and Sting is in the ring pointing the bat at HHH, rather than the titantron entrance and the long staredown. Also, WWE spoiled the surprise themselves, so it was a bit anti-climactic. I would have rather seen Orton.

I don't care about it at all which is really sad considering how hot Dean was just a couple months ago. I'm sure it will be a fine match, but I'm not invested in it at all. The build to this show was god awful and the booking is just so bad right now. I'll watch it because I'm signed up for the free month, but nothing on the show excites me. I would like to see a thrown together undercard elimination tag, but it's pathetic how they have all this tv time to promote matches and have all of 5 advertised matches booked, one of which (divas elimination) wasn't even added until SD this week and had no real build to it

I find the guys off the ballot being slotted to return in the 2020's-30's pretty funny I mean, Dave is in his mid 50's? Is the WON HOF even going to be around that long? And without Dave would it continue to be a thing? Who would pick it up and carry it after him? Alvarez? Bix? It all seems very silly. I can't imagine the WON or the WONHOF continuing on or meaning anything without Dave

Steph vs. Brie on the bubble for best feud??! Brock on the bubble for best promo?! That Steph/Brie feud was terrible and I barely remember Brock talking this year

Nothing worth going out of your way to see Harper-Ziggler was fine, but it was an angle where Ziggler was attacked and took a briefcase shot pre-match, then the whole match was him fighting from underneath and kicking out of some big offense from Harper before losing clean. Then post-match he gets curbstomped.....and is back out at the end of the show.....which just highlights how shitty and inconsistent their booking is Sheamus-Show was pretty decent. Crowd was DEAD at the start after a dreadful Steph promo segment to set up the match (and it being the 2+ hour mark where crowds always die). They got the crowd somewhat into it with a lot of big bombs being thrown back and forth, and then it's a fuck finish where they get destroyed by Henry & Rusev 4 vs. 4 tag was fun and the best match of the show, but really just a warmup for the 4 way tag at Survivor. Mizdow was the most over guy on the entire show.......

It's not confusing. She tries to blackmail them. When it doesn't work she books them in a match against each other, adding the title shot stip to ensure they beat the hell out of each other. Then she sends Henry and Rusev out to destroy them when they're weakened. Divide and conquer. Terrrible RAW tonight though, book-ended by an awful Authority promo segment and an awful Authority & Cena promo to close things. They spend the whole show focusing on one match and one angle and it was dreadful and even with it being free I came away from this show less interested in Survivor Series. Kudos to them. And Cena is the absolute worst babyface ever. He sits around backstage while his teammates get taken out one by one, never once does he try to help them, but he's happy to come out at the end of the night and cut a self-righteous promo filled with kindergarten level jokes. And then Dolph and Show and the other guys who team with him look like complete geeks for doing so. Why have Cena's back when he's never going to have yours?

He can still do some PR stuff for them here and there, it sounds like it was a mutual parting of ways. The dude's legs are in bad shape and he had a good run and made a lot of money, it was time to get off the road and call it a career. I'm probably one of the biggest Khali fans around. Sure he wasn't a great wrestler or anything, but there's always a place for a guy like him in pro-wrestling. I was never not entertained by him.

Isn't there an issue with ROH guys being on the show and the American PPV broadcast due to ROH contracts and their own PPV stuff? I haven't been following it too closely, but I know it was talked about as a potential issue by Meltzer pretty recently. If that's the case it's a hangup with Nigel doing PPV, but maybe it was cleared up since last I heard about it As for Tenay, it sounds like everyone in TNA is in a holding pattern right now. Tenay has been there a long time and is office as well as on-screen talent. I have no idea what his contract is like, but he's probably made a good living in the company. Meltzer said his contract is up soon. I'd hope if this was something Tenay wanted to do and he was going to get paid for it while TNA is essentially dark that they'd let him do it, but TNA has been fickle in the past when it comes to these things. I don't think Jarrett/GFW should be waiting around for Tenay with all the uncertainty/stupid politics that would be involved

That's why I suggested MVP in one of the threads here a while back. Good talker, has worked NJPW, and is a fan of the product.

They've overdone it with Rhodes Bros. vs. Usos matches, but they do that with every matchup I think they're building to a 4 way for the titles at Survivor Series, Rhodes Bros vs. Usos vs. Matadores vs. Miz/Mizdow. They've started stuff with the Usos and Miz/Mizdow on tv, and I think the fluke Bull-assisted wins by the Matadores are just a way to give them some credibility after they've been doing jackshit with them since the stuff with 3MB and Hornswoggle. I wouldn't be surprised to see Miz/Mizdow win the titles and feud with Los Matadores

Oh man. I know Jarrett's been wanting JR to jump onboard, but JR calling a Japanese match nowadays really seems like it wouldn't fit. Interested to see who they come up with for that. I think Ross would be great if they could get him. Get him away from the WWE hype machine and he can still call a great match, plus you know he'd do his homework just like he did with his football, boxing and MMA gigs. If they don't get Ross I have no idea. I thought of Mauro Renallo. I happen to like him, but I know he's a polarizing figure with some people. I'm curious who they get for color. I actually think MVP could be great. He's wrestled in NJPW, he's a fan, and he knows all the players and the stories and could get them over to a new audience.

They did a Zayn-Kidd match on Main Event because most of the crew is already over in Europe