sek69

I decided to start a thread to discuss this year's nominees (other than HBK since I'm pretty sure everything's been said about that topic already). First up: "HACKSAW" JIM DUGGAN At first blush, this seems like a Nikolai Volkoff level induction, kind of a lifetime acheivement award for a loyal midcard guy. And really, it is, but there's more than just his WWF career to consider. Ted DiBiase is doing the honors for Duggan so you'd guess their time in Mid South would be discussed since there won't be any footage to show. Plus Jim's always had that special kind of attraction since I've always considered him the human equivalent to a big lovable mutt. You look at him and he's kind of funny looking and maybe a little dumb, but there's just something about him that makes you laugh a little every time you see him. He's always seemed to be a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy, which is a rarity in wrestling, and he could end up being the surprise tearjerker speech of the night between his stories of beating cancer and also when he talks about his father who I remember even got a mention in WWF Magazine back in the day when Duggan told a story about his dad being his hero. Hopefully WWE fans get to hear there was more to Hacksaw than a goofy guy with a 2x4. Or at least give him credit for inventing the now-famous WWE Hardcore Brawling With Weapons style with that backstage brawl with Harley Race at the Slammys.

Maybe, just maybe, they should have thought things out a little better before having Rock just obliterate their current top star. I think we had the discussion a while ago that completely burying someone is counterproductive for business, since if you bury someone then beat them all you did was beat a jabroni. My wife was a big fan during the attitude era and she was nodding in agreement when Rock was talking about how WWE went from Austin and Rock to "you can't see me". She even mentioned that's why she doesn't watch wrestling anymore. Even before his rap response they made Cena look like he was honored and grateful to have the Rock slaughter him and it really made him look like more of a chump than the Rock's promo did. Compare it to Miz, who not only pointed out how lame Rock's putdown of him was he turned it around to put himself over even more as a heel. It just was so odd that apparently Miz gets more protected by the writers than John Cena (at least on this occasion). Also: Not to get too POLITIXXXX here, but I'd wager of all the things going on in WWE they probably are upset about the homophobic stuff the least.

Lawler busting out the old school cape tonight, awesome.

I loved how they sold hard the INDESTRUCTIBLE GLASS~! surrounding the chambers then Wade gets thrown through two of them. Also of all the people in that match to do the lawn dart spot, it was odd to see Drew be the one doing it.

The Jacksons-Von Erichs comparison scarily accurate.

Wasn't WCW starting to look the same toward the end with similarly built dudes? They didn't all have the same haircut (that's definitely a WWE/Vince thing) but it seemed like the Power Plant was turning out guys who were pretty close build wise.

That would take getting some fat guys with actual characters and not cookie cutter well built guys with short tights and crew cuts. It won't happen in the current environment. Back to Vickie, this is actually the one way I think she'd work as Bobby Heenan. Give her all the cookie cutter well built guys with short tights and crew cuts. Give her four or five of these guys and have it look like she's trying to turn the WWE into this drab kingdom of these guys for her own personal reasons. The only problem I see with that is WWE actually is trying to turn itself into a drab kingdom of those guys. Speaking of, is that a Johnny Ace thing where the entire roster has to look like an Ambercrombie and Fitch catalog? Vince has always liked big jacked up guys, everyone knows that, but he used to have room on the roster for fat guy monsters like the ones mentioned before. I don't even recall a fat guy on the roster since Umaga, and you have to think even that was only because of his family ties. I guess you might be able to count Husky Harris but he wasn't a monster and he just got skull-punted out of storylines.

Something happened with the Harts, Harry and TJ have disappeared off the planet and Nattie is getting brutally buried on commentary whenever she appears. It was one thing for Cole to be doing it, for Josh to be all "ha ha, I agree with you" in response is just killer. According to Dave on the last WON radio, something happened but he can't get anyone to discuss exactly what it was. Maybe one of Vince's WM plans that fell through involved Bret, and this is Vince's way of getting back at him for saying no? It seems like the kind of reaction Vince would have.

I'm probably reading more into it than intentioned, but the new remix of his theme and titan tron sure reminded me of "Hollywood Rock".

I remember watching it when it happened, it certainly did bite him for real and wasn't censored. I don't know how true it is, but I think Jake said later the cobra (devenomized) they used for the angle got freaked out being in front of such a big crowd and wouldn't let go of Savage's arm.

Oh wow, Rock-Cena for WM? I think this show just got saved.

Holy shit @ at the pop Rock got tonight, that was right up there with Jericho's debut and Austin coming out to help Foley win the title.

Alberto was pushed because they need a new star for the Hispanic audience since they don't think Rey (or his knees) are too long for the WWE Universe.

Well as weird as that sounds, she did manage to come up with an entertaining gimmick to "get herself over" so I guess there is some lesson to be learned. Not sure how that helps anyone in wrestling when WWE wants everyone so cookie cutter.

People have turned on MITB already? Seriously? It's usually one of the best matches on the card, the only downside has been how they've kind of booked themselves into a corner with the winner getting the title every time, so it's going to end up like the Rumble where only certain guys logically can win it.

I guess since the book stops before his last return, there's no mention of HHH trying to undermine him again by openly mocking the "Save Us" promos to pretty much everyone in earshot backstage? It almost worked until Chris decided to become a modern day Bockwinkel. I'm not usually a guy who buys into the whole internet train of thought that HHH is the most evil person ever, but man he sure did seem to take a special delight in fucking with Jericho at every opportunity.

Regarding family names in WWE, from the WON: So they acknowledge who her parents are, yet give her one of those stupidly obvious "take two celebrity names and put them together" developmental names.

I would assume TNA would be #2 because they have TV on at a time people not insomniacs can watch and also are on PPV regularly.

The whole "Did You Know" deal seems to bother Dave so much you almost wonder if they keep doing it just to troll him. I think he's the only person who pays any attention to them.

Wasn't the story that him and Farrah went to high school together or something? There seems to be photos of them being at events together, but nothing to suggest they were doing lines off each others asses or anything like that.

It was touched on before, but man when Nitro went to 3 hours you can see they were struggling to fill all that time. It was cool when you'd get some random undercard matchup or an old school squash, but not so much after the 23rd nWo B team promo of the night.

So it looks like Edge is the guy Dave keeps blind-iteming about when mentioning a top WWE guy (and not someone you'd assume like Taker) who's looking to retire soon. That makes me wonder how much of this feud with Dolph is being booked to try to entice Edge to stay, since it sure doesn't seem to be helping Ziggler out at all.

Also, you better believe the NFL cares who makes the Super Bowl after several lopsided blowouts in the 80s/90s where anyone who bought ad time in the late 3rd quarter on lost money because people tuned out early.

No way a Jags-Bucs game gets the ratings a Giants-Pats game would. For one, no one cares about the Jags (they actually had a decent squad making a playoff run this season and the stadium was maybe half filled every game), and both the Giants and Pats have rabid fanbases. There's basically a few levels of "draws" in the NFL: Teams with huge fanbases that draw year in and out: Steelers, Patriots, Colts, Giants, Packers, Bears, Cowboys, possibly Chargers (they were in the second group for a while but they've been good long enough to graduate to this level now) Teams who have fairly recent fanbases due to winning: Falcons, Saints, Jets, Chiefs Teams who have decent fanbases but don't draw much because they've been losing a lot recently: Redskins, Browns, Raiders, 49ers Teams who have been bad recently but have shown signs of turnaround and will attract people who root for the underdog: Dolphins, Rams, Seahawks, Bucs Everyone else pretty much has no rating/drawing power. There are some exceptions, like the Vikings being a draw despite losing but that was more due to Favre and the trainwreck factor of the wheels falling off that team at a record rate.

Just saying, the Steelers have one of the largest fanbases in all of sports. To steal a phrase, IT DOESN'T MATTER how big the market is in Pittsburgh, Steelers = ratings. The AFC title game was the highest rated ever and I don't think people are predicting the Super Bowl to be the highest rated TV event ever just for Green Bay. I will concede people probably aren't watching to see Ben, the Steelers have been able to succeed at getting the brand over instead of the players in a way WWE could only dream of. Also, didn't Dave used to make fun of old time wrestler types who used to insist all sports were worked?