Coffey

A lot of the "names" that have been mentioned (like AJ Styles) would automatically make me write-off a promotion. There are some guys out there that I like, such as Masters & Carlito (when he's motivate) but for the most part, I'll take the folks in NXT over those on the U.S. Indies.

If nothing else, it kinda makes them look stupid, no? I mean fuck, how many years does Heyman have to be amazing to impress someone? Who are the people that were still on the fence?

My first thought as well. I guess now we wait & find out.

WWE.com posted it too.

For the first time, in a long time, I feel like RAW being three hours long tomorrow will be a blessing not a curse. Brock Lesnar ended the twenty-two year long Undertaker undefeated Wrestlemania streak. Daniel Bryan overcame The Authority, Batista & Randy Orton to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Cesaro won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal & The Real American broke up. A.J. Lee defended her Divas Championship against basically the entire female roster. The Usos retained their tag team championships. The Shield crushed Kane/Outlaws. We have to see new feuds start, some people will get rematches, I'm sure. Brock Lesnar said he wanted a title shot a couple months back. Alberto Del Rio & Sheamus eliminated each other in the battle royal. I'm sure Randy Orton & Batista will stick around at the top of the card. Triple H is going to be pissed. The Wyatt Family & Cena saga I'm sure will continue. Definitely a lot going on & that's not counting how hype the crowd will be & any potential big returns.

Great & memorable Wrestlemania. Don't think anyone will forget this one anytime soon. Bryan got his moment & retribution. The Undertaker lost, thus ending the Streak. Triple H was arguable the MVP of the night, with the best entrance, best match & resurrecting the crowd in the main event with his run-in after they were dead from 'Taker losing. Good night all around. Stream was awesome on the Network. Glad I watched, no complaints. I'm a happy fan. Oh and that Bray Wyatt concert introduction was fucking incredible. Holy shit!

I was stunned; shocked at that Undertaker match. Could not believe it. Watched for 22 years for his rub to go to a part-timer...lol. I guess 'Taker just didn't wanna do it anymore & good on him for being a total pro & going out on his back. We know who is the headliner to the Hall of Fame next year! Paul Bearer dying, his body breaking down, having a home family life, launching of the WWE Network...it was time. I would have rather the rub went to someone like Cesaro or Reigns but I can't complain. The dude entertained me for over twenty years. I'm sure it was his call.

Johnny Sorrow's blind optimism is nauseating.

Bret Hart Vs. Owen Hart at Wrestlemania X was the first one that came to my mind. In general, I dislike matches that end with a roll-up. I feel cheated. So I agree with the OP name-dropping Steamboat/Savage too. Actually, come to think of it, that's one of my biggest problems with Steamboat. Most of his matches seemed to end that way & I'm not a fan of his offense at all.

Chyna? lol

Does anyone know why the Bam Bam Bigelow Vs. Kamala match at Wrestlemania IX was cancelled?

You could make a pretty sick-ass compilation DVD of just Shield tag matches from the past two years. Starting with their TLC match with Kane/Ryback/Bryan and finishing with their tag from RAW on Monday.

They don't call him "The Game" for nothing!

I always thought his character was supposed to be at least partially based on the DeNiro version of Cape Fear, which is certainly not a movie I would call fifth rate or made-for-TV.

I have no idea how the paydays work now due to the WWE Network. My first thought though, was that if this was Pay-Per-View like it was before the Network, the André Battle Royal wouldn't be happening because of how many guys would be getting that payday. That might just be the cynic in me though. I'm interested in hearing more about why C.M. Punk left after thinking about that though. I guess that shit might have already sailed.

The thing they're trying shove up Flair's ass was his hemorrhoids. Also, change "trying to think up their next flippy move" to "playing their next video game" or "tweeting about their dinner." The point still stands. The point wasn't about the moves, it was about not taking advantage of learning opportunities from legends of the industry. Terry Funk is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time. If you're interested in being a star in pro-wrestling, why would you NOT want to pick his brain?

I can't foresee NBA leaving TNT. Not with the popularity of Inside the NBA with Shaq, Kenny, Charles & Ernie. That show is like...the most popular show in the entire NBA, even above the damn games. It wins emmys. The players themselves do nothing but talk about that show & make guest appearances on that show, etc. Even the NBA commissioner, the old one (Stern) and the new one (Silver) are guests on the show & talk about it. I don't think it's just about money, I just straight don't think NBA themselves would leave. I could see them being on a different night. I could see them adding more NBA games to another channel (like they did with NBA TV). I don't see anything happening that takes Inside the NBA off the air though. Too many people love Chuck.

My predictions: André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Alexander Rousev Triple H. Vs. Daniel Bryan Randy Orton Vs. Batista Vs. HHH/Bryan The Undertaker Vs. Brock Lesnar John Cena Vs. Bray Wyatt It seems silly to me to have a Royal Rumble on the Wrestlemania card when we just had the real Royal Rumble two months ago. Might as well use it as a launching pad for a new guy though. That being said, at least it's unpredictable & somewhat interesting. I care more about that match than Taker/Brock, Cena/Wyatt or anything on the undercard. Also, I won't lie, if Triple H beat Daniel Bryan clean in the middle and then won the WWE World Heavyweight Title in the main event, I would laugh until I cried. Just reading the internet post-show from that outcome would be worth it.

Plus, his losing to Edge was the curtain jerk of that Wrestlemania...AFTER Del Rio won the FORTY (40) man Royal Rumble to get that title shot. That's just mind-boggling on a stupid scale.. I think Edge even beat him up on his own car. So ADR wins the 40-man Royal Rumble and loses in the curtain jerk of 'Mania. But Miz retains the WWE title in the main event. All right then.

I thought the segment was great & liked the length. It felt very old school & I'm a big fan of that. Triple H is really good, I don't care what other people say. He's great. So is Bryan but for different reasons. The beginning of the show opening with Triple H adding himself to the triple-thread if he beats Bryan was a nice touch. The backstage vignette between Triple H & Stephanie McMahon did a good job of building up the man-to-man segment. For a second, I really thought Triple H was going to turn this into some scwag "respect" match. I liked HHH explaining that yeah, he was a prick, but he had to be & Bryan has earned his respect because he was still standing. You could hear the crowd audibly groan! Then Stephanie came out playing Queen B & it went up another notch. The "cops" were a great touch too. Daniel Bryan with the whole "Yes Movement!" and 1% thing from last week, then this week the cops assaulting him when he didn't do anything wrong. Not really subtle but I thought it was good. Then Hunter showed his true colors & beat the holy living hell out of Bryan, whom was already down from the police assault, with Steph screaming & cheering him on while berating Daniel Bryan the whole time. Triple H dunking Bryan in the ice water with Steph yelling "drown him!" was gold. The chairshot to the post was vicious. The handcuffed Pedigree to end it all. Great, great stuff. Also Stephanie having the handcuff keys on a necklace the whole time was also awesome. All that on top of the underlying Hardcore Fans Vs. Creative that Loss mentioned too. Just really well executed segment on a good show that built to the end. I liked it a lot. Best beatdown that I have seen since the Nexus debut. You could say that The Authority asserted their authority.

Wow, great idea Loss. I was going to say with WWE firing on all cylinders lately that a live thread would have been fun but I think that's better. I came here to fawn over the show and seeing those links to those threads made me realize I had even forgotten some of the great stuff from this show.

I actually quite like Fandango & think Summer could be a big star. I'm surprised that WWE aren't higher on the pair. Maybe they just got scaled back because Summer had to film for Total Divas, I'm not sure.

The in-ring work in WWE right now might be the best that I've ever seen. That's pretty crazy when I think about it as I'm usually so negative about WWE in general on a week-to-week basis but it's kind of hard to not notice. I mean, I remember growing up watching WWF when they had a roster full of great talent like Rick Rude, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Ted DiBiase, Randy Savage, etc. But they always put them in the ring with someone like Ultimate Warrior or had jobber squashed. The Attitude Era, despite there being a lot of great talent, was a lot of crash TV & short matches with fuck finishes. Guys like Austin were kind of broken down. HBK even though he was great was kinda always fucked up on something. Flash Forward to today & a guy like Rey Mysterio, Jr. isn't even top 10 on the current roster. It's insane. Goldust is back & doing crazy work. The Shield are incredible. Daniel Bryan is doing crazy things. Cesaro is doing crazy things. NXT is a ton of fun. I dig the Uso brothers & The Wyatt Family. Even Christian Vs. Sheamus on Monday, a feud I couldn't have cared less about, impressed the fuck out of me on Monday with the Street Fight. That was so hard-hitting & brutal. The finish was also sick. Luke Harper might be my favorite guy in all of wrestling right now. Even above anyone in New Japan. Cesaro is up there too. As a fan of quality wrestling from a work perspective, it's a good time to be a WWE fan. I don't think there's a ton of great promos, too many great characters or a lot of good stories but the work is amazing. The Shield Vs. Wyatt Family from Elimination Chamber is the best, most fun match I've seen in a long time. It's going to be exceptionally hard to top that for Match of the Year. At least to me.

What if the winner of the Rumble was guaranteed a spot in the Chamber & the winner of the Chamber got the title shot at Mania?

It would be cool if they actually had the Rumble be random one year. Like, put all the balls in the lottery style wheel. People the wrestlers draw the numbers, have the powers that be decide what number they want to win. Then have the wrestlers shoot draw numbers. Whomever draws, let's say 29, gets to win. Heath Slater for Royal Rumble 2015! I do miss the vignettes showing the wrestlers drawing their numbers. Ted DiBiase paying someone else for their high number drawn was so genius. I think the Rumble still works it just works differently. It used to just be a gimmick match on a gimmick PPV. Now it sort of starts the official Wrestlemania build. So like others before me said, a lot of the intrigue & suspense goes away. It's still fun to see who comes out when to me.