sek69

If the time goes to the entrances it should be good, otherwise....yikes.

Any word on who the masked guys are/will be yet?

Dalton's entrace was amazing, followed closely by Jay Lethal's WTF face in reaction to it.

Clearly he didn't grab the brass ring hard enough, lazy millennial that he is.

Is it really a bubble or more a result of a man nearing 70 trying to write "hip and cool" promos for a man/demo he's hopelessly out of touch with?

Roman has tons of charisma when he isn't being hamstrung by the lustful eyes of Vince McMahon and his gaggle of writers.

Fascinating show. I do wonder how was WWE able to file these preemptive lawsuits under seal, for years apparently. The way it was described made it sound like some Patriot Act level nonsense. Was Uncle Jerry able to convince a judge Al Qaeda might be selling merch at WrestleCon?

They are clearly in a working relationship with ESPN at the moment, with Simmons being on Raw, ESPN doing a behind the scenes special, and Reigns and Lesnar being on Sportscenter and SportsNation yesterday. Heyman was on, also. So, I think what Dave thinks is total bullshit. I wouldn't be surprised if they make more appearances this week. I listen to the SVP and Russillo show on the way in to work, and Scott Van Pelt did his "One Big Thing" segement on how he doesn't understand why so many people around him are excited about WrestleMania. He didn't go as far as bashing it, but clearly he was bemused at how all these people at the mighty ESPN were fans of this silly thing for children.

Keeping Brock to limited dates harkens back to when Hogan would rarely defend the title on TV and when he did it would be an event. Plus it's refreshing to see someone booked like a world beater instead of another even-steven chump.

Reuniting the Shield would really be the only scenario I can think of that doesn't result in the lasting image of WM31 being a massive fan rejection. I possibly may be giving them more credit than they deserve, but surely they know that this crowd will be the hardest of the hardcores and just won't accept Roman as the new king.

Also this completely changes the crowd dynamic for WM, instead of "guy leaving vs guy we don't want" and getting the Brock/Goldberg treatment you have "guy we like and is staying vs guy getting pushed down our throats" which seems to guarantee Roman's getting booed off the planet now.

Brock said it was an "offer he couldn't refuse", so I guess Vince really didn't want to lose another guy to MMA.

Just announced on SportsCenter.

In his defense. it would be pretty easy to not notice the big green belt was upside down.

It looked like the ladder hit him in the shin, which if you've ever been hit there you know is the most painful thing imaginable for like 5 solid minutes.

Not really, it's the same as a free agent in sports being able to bid his services to whatever team is willing to pay the most. He knows Bellator would easily overpay him to land a big name, UFC would also want him back, so it would be silly business wise for Brock to re sign with WWE before other MMA groups could legally make an offer. Of course this is all moot if: 1. Brock really doesn't want to go back to fighting and is just using MMA for leverage. 2. WWE makes a ridiculous offer he can't refuse just so Vince doesn't have to risk the ego bruise of two ex WWE champions leaving for MMA. In other fun news, apparently AJ and Nikki are going off script at each other frequently. Nikki did a promo on the Smackdown tapings tonight saying AJ's been around less than Brock Lesnar which you'd have to think would never be a WWE approved promo line. I get the impression the company views AJ as a giant mark after the whole tattoo thing, but she's just as untouchable as Nikki for obvious reasons so this could get fun.

Dave was saying WWE really wanted Brock to sign today, considering there's no reason for him to do so before Mania (yet he did appear on Raw) I wonder how that turned out.

I have a relatively recent Mania tradition (as in this is the second year we're doing it) where I take my PS3 over to a friend's house and watch it via my network sub. He's a bit of a foodie so he takes the opportunity to whip up tons to eat while I set up the network/watch the pre show stuff. As far as the show itself goes, I'm mainly interested in Cena/Rusev and Sting/H in terms of potential good matches. I think Hunter will be hellbent on proving he can have a good match with Sting, and the Rusev entrance alone should be stellar. I'm kind of interested in Brock/Roman but in a "how bad is this trainwreck going to be" way. I suppose the IC title match will be good considering multiple man ladder matches on PPVs tend to be showstoppers, but I really don't want to see guys nearly kill each other over the jobberweight title.

I had always assumed the issues with Perro Sr. were physical due to all the years of bumping on notoriously hard 70s-80s era lucha rings, but hearing Dave mention how it's more mental due to decades of unprotected chairshots just added a whole other level of sadness to the story.

ESPN Deportes has a story up saying Perro Sr. hasn't been told the news yet because of concerns regarding his health.

I realize this was an indy show and all, but why did it seem like Konnan was the only one trying to do anything to help him for a long time? Even if you assume the guy's just knocked out you would think the doctor would want to get him out of the way quickly.

Rob Viper posted this on the WO board:

I really hope to be wrong but it's kind of sad to read everyone hoping the WWE will stop treating the IC title like a jobber belt just because Bryan may win it. Nothing would make me happier than seeing the title back to 1987 standards, but what are the real odds whoever wins the ladder match just wont' be losing every week on TV?

It probably doesn't help matters that Backlund is either the most committed to his gimmick guy in the history of wrestling or he's legit insane.

Wasn't part of the issue Rock being a little upset that his contract was allowed to expire like some jabroni and not say, the fucking Rock? Plus it was pretty clear when Cena was taking shots at him that it was Vince's words coming out of his mouth. I wonder too what will happen when Cena's not only no longer "the guy" but not being protected as much as he has been. For all the talk of how even tempered he is, I don't think there's ever been a star at his level who didn't balk at the thought of having to start doing jobs like the normal folks.