cm funk

Right now, yes. Sting's also been wrestling for 25 years. Orton's a decade in. Depending on how the next 5 or so years of his career go I think he'll very likely look like a strong candidate. Stronger than Edge most likely.

I think Nash's negatives outweigh the positives. He was an acceptable worker when motivated and in there with the right opponent (Michaels and Hart, and the surprisingly good Taker match at WM), but he didn't have good matches with a wide range of opponents. His work generally went to shit in WCW, I struggle to come up with one good and memorable Kevin Nash match from his entire run there. If somebody wanted to nominate the nWo as a group for the HOF I'd give it a long look. Nash or Hall as individual candidates? Not so much. Sid? Not a good worker and too inconsistent of a career. Luger? I wouldn't have a problem with Luger going in TBH

I've argued Sting's candidacy before here and other places and don't want to totally rehash it.... But I'll just say that I think his lack of drawing power is really overstated. Nobody could draw in early-mid 90's WCW. That promotion was a f'n mess. I really don't hold WCW's poor houses against him, it was due to total promotional failure. Also, PPVs Sting headlined in that time frame did measurably better than ones that he wasn't on top of. Did they do great numbers? No. But he hit better than the company's average. Also, WCW's hottest run was when he was built as the top babyface opposite the nWo. People discount that because he wasn't in the ring, and because WCW bungled the payoff so bad, but it was an entire year of building up heat and anticipation for Sting that 100% worked, and you can't not give him credit for that. Dave on the HOF WOR show that he thought Sting has become a stronger candidate due to his TNA run, and the voting has showed it. It's been talked about many times that nobody can move the needle for TNA by themselves, so I look at Sting's run based on performance, and it's been good. I also think if Sting chose to go to WWE, that he'd be a big draw for them. Sting/Taker would be huge. Sting/Cena would be huge. Sting/Punk would be huge. If they could drag HBK out of retirement for a match with Sting, that would be huge. Sting is majorly popular and has huge name value still, even after a decade or so of being out of the big spotlight. I'm kind of disappointed in Dave's analysis of him. If Sting had gone to WWE at some point I think he'd be a much stronger candidate in Dave's eyes. He penalizes him for being in WCW during the lean years, when Sting really wasn't part of the problem, and I don't think anybody could have been the solution.

Other than Cena it's almost impossible to judge people as stars and draws in modern WWE. Edge was a pretty big star in modern WWE, was a good draw I think as far as TV/PPV goes, and was consistently in I'd say a top 5 or 6 spot for a long time. I think he did pretty well as a merch seller (the Rated R shirts seemed pretty popular), and had a degree of crossover success (I'm thinking mainly of Slim Jim choosing him to be their rep). He was without question very over with the audience. But it's really hard to judge modern WWE candidates. Edge is hurt by a lot of things that are totally out of his control. His title wins are meaningless because they came during a time when titles have been devalued across the board. The WWE business model and "machine" style promotion makes it hard to get an accurate gauge on him as a draw. He's without question not a superworker, but was really good in WWE style big matches. Arguably in some of the best and most memorable WWE matches of the last 15 years in that regard, if you count all the big E&C matches, the Foley WM match, the matches with Cena and Taker, etc. His work on tv wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but he definitely delivered when put in big spots I think he's a 60/40 candidate, personally. It wouldn't bother me at all if he didn't get it, but I think there's probably enough there to put him in. And I think with time, unless the wrestling landscape in the states changes dramatically, that he will begin to look like a stronger candidate

Franken won on being an intelligent, well spoken liberal at the height of anti-Bush fever I like Al Franken, don't agree with him on everything and he started going too left once he got the political spotlight (his Air America show was a disaster), but him being elected was kind of a fluke thing, and it's not at all analogous to a hypothetical Vince McMahon campaign, or anything else really. It was an odd moment in time that would be hard to repeat

It took years for the NFL Network, MLB Network and NBA TV to get off the ground, they were niche at first, and they still aren't completely saturated in the cable market That timeframe would have been a better time for WWE to launch a network, sure, but it never would have been viable to the extent that they seem to think it can be. At best it would have been a good cash grab initially, then the cable companies would revolt and scale back on them to the point that they'd barely make money off of it Wasn't new media Shane's thing? I kind of think that if he were still involved this wouldn't be playing out the way it has

She promoted herself as a job creator, a vacuous claim in itself.....they could have absolutely buried her if they dug into WWE re: unions and worker benefits

As far as Vince being electable or not..... I'll just say, there is so much dirt that could have been dug up on Linda McMahon that wasn't, her role in the steroid scandal and the independent contractor BS to name two of the obvious, and instead it was just "HOT LESBIAN ACTION" youtube videos We talk about the "wrestling bubble" a lot, but people who are paid to find dirt on people, with millions of dollars riding on it, did a hack smear job on Linda. I'm not sure what that says about anything, but seriously, a lot of us could have done a better job at discrediting her than the Democratic Party of Connecticut and their offshoots did

Because Cena is the alpha male of the company and AJ would be perceived as sloppy fourths at this point? Cena belongs with a pure blue eyed blonde like Kelly Kelly. This is McMahon booking, after all.

Yeah, go for the blue section, but you might want to get to ticketmaster early because it will sell out fast.

I hated that finish because I was a huge Horsemen and Flair fan at the time, and it was heartbreaking. I was genuinely shocked and pissed off at the Flair beatdown and they sold it like it was the death of the Horsemen. But, it totally worked on me, because I was dying to see the Horsemen get revenge......which of course never happened

When the nWo was hot it didn't matter, because everybody would tune into Nitro the next night to see the followup, and everybody still bought the PPVs. But they obviously went to the well far too many times, ran the same old shit into the ground, and never delivered finishes people wanted to see. I think I can count on one hand the high note babyface PPV finishes from the nWo formation thru 1998 I've been reading Torch scans from 1990, and one of the running themes is that everybody is sick of Flair holding the belt and sick of the constant non-finishes with Horsemen interference and never delivering on Luger's big win, and we all know how that ended up. History repeated itself with the nWo.

Well, Garvin was in the NWA at that time, they could have had a feud there. Valentine against young babyface Luger would have been fun I think. Valentine-Dusty would have been great. He'd have been great against the Steiners with the right partner, maybe Arn Anderson? I'd have loved a Valentine-Kevin Sullivan match, even though they'd have both been heels Did Valentine ever have any matches against Flair before or after their team?

Valentine is one of my favorite guys to watch and I'd point to him as one of the best examples of a guy who made his matches believable through simple but effective work. He was definitely hurt by staying in the WWF so long when most guys were cycled in and out. He peaked early with the IC title feud with Santana and The Dream Team. Can't blame him when the Hogan money train was so good, and the office must have loved him as a hand, but he would have gotten a huge push in the NWA if he jumped in 87-88 It's funny, because I hated him as a kid watching WWF (partly because he was a good heel I suppose, but I liked lots of the heels). Discovering his earlier 80's stuff, and his NWA run specifically, later totally changed my opinion of him, and he was one of those guys I was just compelled to watch more of. Dick Slater is another one. Does any footage exist of his mid-70's New Japan tours?

I listened to the Kevin Kelly interview and really enjoyed it. Great job indeed! Can you recommend any of your past episodes with interesting guests?

I think comparing that match to Hogan/Andre, one of the hottest programs in the promotion's history, is pretty silly. WWE has done lots of screwjob finishes that have actually worked. This didn't. Setting the finish aside, the match didn't deliver on any level

Ryback-Punk finish was the worst thing I've seen from WWE in a long time. Knew putting Ryback in this spot would be a failure, but didn't think it would be that bad. Worse than Kevin Nash running in and "sticking" Punk. Kevin Nash run in would have been better than an evil ref low blow. It's amazing how much they panicked when Cena needed to have surgery. Threw Vince into a crazy tv match just weeks after Lawler almost died live on air, threw Ryback into a HIAC way before he was ready for even a simple main event....... Meh, at least they didn't take the belt off of Punk and seem on course for the Punk-Rock match they've been building for 6 months and hopefully a triple threat with Cena at WM

Sure, they'll jump up, but to what, a low 3? And why? Only cause its Wrestlemania time and WWE knows they'll get that number, so they play it safe over the last 6-7 years and stay the course with the PG-esque boring stuff... They, or TNA, need something to really kick pro wrestling back into gear...what it is, I dont know right now, but I doubt WWE, who doesnt even call themselves wrestling will be the answer going forward. They make money, like someone else said, why take a risk with the chance to make less coming out of it? The company has become just like another poster said, a large corporation that is at Step 4 right now.... CMfunk, what do you think about the way the wrestlers are handled now, with complete scripts (written by TV writers) and matches planned out the whole way through? Just curious as I like your differing opinions here! Don't like overscripted promos Don't like matches that come over overly choreographed in any promotion, but I don't see that being a problem in WWE. I quite enjoy the current WWE style.

as far as needing to have "the look" goes....CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, the guys who get maybe the most TV time in the company, pretty much disprove that notion. Sheamus' entire gimmick is that he's a pale ginger rather than a tanned pin up model. Of course big guys with impressive muscles get pushed.....it's always been that way and it's not just limited to WWE. It's an old complaint that doesn't hold as much water as people like to think.

Are you talking about Sandow? Sandow is over, and is one of the best new characters on the roster. I didn't think I'd like him when he first debuted, but he's been a pleasant surprise.

I don't get why people are making a big deal about the ratings, when the reasons for them crashing lately are simple. 3 hours is a killer, and they have a ton of competition on mondays. This past Monday against Bears-Lions, the final debate and game 7 of the NLCS there was no chance they wouldn't drop. Not to mention that their biggest ratings draw, Cena, is kind of non-entity right now. Cena not wrestling on tv hurts them. It's not any more complicated than that. Ratings fluctuate, and they'll swing back up in February-April like they always do. Hell in a Cell is a terrible, fundamentally flawed PPV concept. It was terrible when they first started with it. The only way it could work is if they planned programs months out to culminate at that show, but it's yet to actually be executed in that fashion. They've killed the gimmick, not to mention that with the Elimination Chamber less than 6 months later it's just total overkill. For some reason WWE's themed PPV concepts just never live up to their potential. Overall, I rather enjoy the current WWE product, which I guess puts me in the minority around here. Sure there's a lot about it I don't like and lots of room for improvement, lots could be done better, but there's lots of things I like about it too. Lots of good talent and characters, lots of good matches on TV. The current focus on tag wrestling is good, Punk and Heyman have been great, and guys I like like Bryan and Cesaro are getting good pushes. I've been watching for 25 years or so, it's been far worse in the past.

The Rock N Roll Express were ugly, creepy looking dudes even in their prime. I'm not at all surprised that their act didn't work in the 90's on a national level. They looked totally out of place when the WWF brought them in in 97/98. It was a good act for southern territories in the 80's, Smokey Mountain, and what was left of the independent circuit. They probably would have worked in late 80's WWF with Vince's marketing machine that could get almost anybody over, but The Rockers were a much better fit for that spot. Younger, better looking, better bodies, IMO just as good of workers. I actually think they would have worked as heels in mid-90's ECW, kind of surprised Heyman didn't bring them in for a run

Aren't they rumored to want Brock back after this contract is up? They can always have HHH get his revenge in the future, not that it matters for anything but his own edification anyway Brock costing Ryback the match to build a program between them is clearly the best, really the only smart way to book this, but obviously the internal politics make it less likely

The 3/15/99 RAW was 2 weeks before WM and had 3 title matches, a steel cage match, Shane McMahon v. Patterson & Brisco, and an Austin & Mankind v. The Rock & Big Show WCW's booking didn't help, but it coincided with arguably the hottest period of the attitude era, the peak of Austin v. McMahon, when Rock was firmly becoming a superstar on Austin's level and Mankind was established right below that level. WCW could have been well booked and I don't think they could have competed with all that

I'd be curious to know what exactly was in the language of WWF contracts during expansion and the late 80's I assume some talent would be guaranteed a minimum # of dates at least. I wonder if anybody had house %'s or card placement written in. Using Martel/Zenk as an example, I don't doubt that Martel got himself a better deal just based on how much more valuable he was to the WWF than Zenk, so I wonder if it was just implied or something written? One of those things that we can only speculate on As far as guys moving around in the 80's, I think there's several reasons for it. Firstly, these were all guys who started in the 70's when moving from place to place was the predominant philosophy. Guys like Funk and Murdoch were just doing what they'd always done. Secondly, freedom was a big part of it. Funk could basically be his own boss, call his own shots, and go wherever he chose. He could do his big money tours of Japan, pick and choose where to work in the states, and spend the rest of time on his ranch. There's a lot to be said for having that kind of freedom, and it's also a way for a wrestler to "protect his brand". Third, some guys just love the road. As far as guys who mostly stuck in one place exclusively, there were guys like that in every territory and they tended to be prelim or midcard wrestlers. Generally guys who were local, had a family, had real world jobs etc. etc. or somebody who also did off-screen work for the promotion.