sek69

Shamelessly stealing from Loss, but with a twist. Bill Watts Fritz Von Erich Jerry Lawler Dutch Mantell Jim Cornette

I hope "Austin" was in on the joke, otherwise this could cost WWE some money.

What's the deal with Lesnar anyway? It appeared to be a done deal but WWE.com is so OMGITZASHOOT~! now it's hard to tell what's real and what's work.

Eddy and Chris were neck-and-neck to me until Eddy started having his problems. He really didn't seem to have any enthusiasm from the time he won the title until his current program with Rey. I'm digging Eddy more now just because he seems to be enjoying his work more. Lately it seems that if Benoit mails it in any more his matches are going to start coming by UPS.

I was going to start a thread about this week's RAW, then I realized absolutely nothing of note happened.

Next week. 8/15. Raw. In Montreal. Let the Speculation Begin. It happens every time WWE heads north, but now it actually has a chance in hell of happening. Personally I hope it happens. I've never been a huge Bret fan, and as I discussed in the WOL thread, I don't think he was completely without blame for what happened. Having said that, if WWE never ever does anything right again they need to have him make an appearance next week. The reaction he would get would quite possibly be the biggest pop in wrestling history. It would make the reactions that made Flair and Hogan tear up when they returned look like X-Pac heat by comparison. Bret deserves his chance to say goodbye on his terms, Canadian fans have had to put up with Montreal getting rubbed in their faces since 1997, and WWE needs the closure to hopefully get the fuck over it already If they do it the right way, there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house, since you'd have to be a cold son-of-a-bitch to not get the least bit choked up at the thought of a guy dealing with what he dealt with and getting the chance to end things the right way.

I guess the answer is Rey *could* be made into a credible champion, but it would take more work than the WWE creative team would be willing to do, since they'd need to think of unconventional finishes to compensate for the size differences. Since they probably spend most of their time trying to get over the latest jacked up stiff Vince wanks himself to, they can't (won't) spend the time needed to get someone like Rey over as a main eventer. It's too bad, Rey gives them a chance to tap into the Hispanic market they really haven't been able to capture since Pedro Morales's title run.

I wonder if they're interested in this St. Louis and World Class stuff just to pad WWE 24/7 or if they plan some historical DVD releases.

Anyone know what time frame this footage would span?

I think Rey's probably too small to be a credible world champion, and I'm sure WWE thinks so too. I think a feud with London for the US title would do wonders to elevate everyone involved.

I get that, but you can't say Hogan wasn't pushed as an All-American hero, if not a more cartoonish one. If anything, it's almost like Hogan was the superhero Bret believed the Hitman was.

I don't see how you can disagree, Hogan was pushed as All That Is Right With America, single handedly defeating the evil forces that seek to destroy it. It's the only way they could sell the Hulk vs Fat Heel of the Month feuds he was always in. A heel beating up Hogan was sold as a heel destroying America. I will give you that Bret was the first person who's Canadian-hood was made a part of his push.

ok... Hulk Hogan's entire 80s WWF run was the American Hero defeating all comers, starting with the evil Iranian Iron Shiek.

Talking about Bret causes so many emotions since he was so popular, it's hard to look at what happened clear-headed. No, WCW destroyed his worth by botching everything they planned for him. If WCW wasn't run by retarded monkeys they could have turned it into a bigger angle than the nWo. Vince could have easily countered by saying that refusing to job in entire countries goes beyond the standard creative control clause. Vince threw that huge 20 year deal at Bret, realized he couldn't honor it, and let Bret persue other options. All he asked is that he drop the company's top title before he left and Bret saw it as an insult to his wrestling character.

Wasn't Bret's contract up at the end of November, meaning that he would have been at the next RAW (which was still in Canada) but the December PPV was pretty much Bret promising he'd appear just to drop the title? If I'm Vince, there's no way I'm taking someone's word for it that they'll show up if they've already signed with the competition.

Bret didn't want to job in Canada. You can see in Wrestling With Shadows that he was becoming too much of a mark for his own gimmick. He spoke about the Hitman like he was a superhero. Don't get me wrong, I think what Vince did was messed up, but in his mind he didn't see any alternative. This is Vince we're talking about, all he saw was his champion about to leave for another company and using his creative control to refuse to job in entire countries.

I know he isn't now, but he was for a very long time. I got the sense from comments he's made post-stroke that he was willing to accept what happened and move on, and I'm glad to hear that seems to be taking place. And yes, Vince did screw Bret, but I understand why he felt he didn't have a choice. It wasn't right, but WCW had him so paranoid he didn't want his champion showing up on Nitro with his championship belt.

I hope Bret was able to finally understand that Montreal happened because Vince felt he did what he had to do to protect his company and that Owen's death was a terrible accident. I hate to ever be on Vince's side on anything, but it was so sad seeing Bret still hung up on those events like they just happened. Anyone can tell you that until you deal with something you'll never move on with your life.

I've always wondered why it seems that Keller dislikes Jericho. Any particular reason for it? Wasn't Keller the one who used to get info from X-Pac? I seemed to remember him being tight with the clique guys, and that opinion of Jericho sounds like it could have come directly from HHH's mouth to Keller's keyboard.

I miss WCW if for no other reason it kept Mark Madden away from his day job of being the local Sports Talk Asshole. The day the legendary voice of the Steelers (and Terrible Towel inventor) Myron Cope retired, Mark had to be the one guy to bash him.

Somewhere the Devil is walking around wondering who cranked up the A/C.

That would make sense, but they don't even seem to be teaching these people whay THEY want them to know.

These stories only put more emphasis on the question: why does WWE frown on hiring people who know about wrestling? That has to be the most ass-backwards system I've ever seen. I mean can you imagine that in the real world? "Well Bob, you have 15 years of experience in what we do, but I'm afraid my boss doesn't want to hire anyone who knows about our profession"

Bret posted this pic on his website to celebrate his 48th birthday in June.