NintendoLogic

I'm curious as to how many of those who professed to find Savage/Steamboat at WM3 underwhelming have seen the previous month's match between the two from Toronto. Anyway, my pick would be the M-Pro 10-man from These Days. I've never actually watched it in its entirety. Every time I try, I turn it off after like five minutes because it bores me to tears. Then again, flippy juniors wrestling in general doesn't really do anything for me.

I guess I'm one of the few who didn't think Cena was losing under any circumstances. Building up monsters to feed to the ace has been the WWE business model for the past 50 years.

Jarrett announcement? What? Did I miss something?

For the second year in a row, I had to miss Mania due to work-related travel, so I'll limit my comments to the booking. Like everyone else, I was legit shocked when I heard that Lesnar ended the streak. I guess this means they're not doing anything with Sting. As for the ending, I actually agree with Matt. I'm a sucker for the locker room clearing out to celebrate the big babyface win. When was the last time WWE did that? With Angle at Unforgiven 2001?

It should be noted that WWE continues to pay people for the duration of the no-compete, which is probably why it hardly ever gets challenged in court. Also, it's not really that restrictive in practice. Plenty of guys have started working the indies within days of being released by WWE. Pretty much the only place they're forbidden from working is TNA.

My understanding is that Marvel owned the rights to "Hulk Hogan," "Hulkster," and "Hulkamania." I guess Hulk by itself was fine.

Marvel still owned the rights to the name "Hulk Hogan" at the time.

That's how retribution in wrestling works. Steph is basically the equivalent of a manager, and managers have to be able to bump. Plus, she's already involved herself physically. I've been watching this shit for nearly 35 years. The idea that Steph can only get hers is by getting beat up is ridiculous. the Grand Wizard never got beat up. The Grand Wizard also never got involved physically. You really think that someone who laid a hand on Bruno or Backlund would've gotten off scot-free? Plenty has been written about how the authority figure plays the same role today that the manager played in the old days. And I'm struggling to think of a heel authority figure who never received an ass-kicking. Even Vickie has taken plenty of tombstones.

That's how retribution in wrestling works. Steph is basically the equivalent of a manager, and managers have to be able to bump. Plus, she's already involved herself physically.

I'm not really feeling Steph's involvement. It's good heeling on her part, but what's it supposed to lead to? It's not like she's going to get put in the Yes Lock or anything like that. How's she supposed to get her comeuppance?

That video package would be useful to point to if HHH ever tries to play the "what big star ever laid down for me" card again.

Wrestlers are willing to work for peanuts in developmental because of the prospect of earning much bigger money when they get called up. I don't see unionization in the NCAA fundamentally altering that calculus.

What I heard was that Shane would probably be backstage, but he wasn't expected to appear on camera.

There's an interview with Jake Roberts in the latest issue of WWE Magazine in which he mentions that he first suggested bringing a snake with him to the ring in Mid-South. Bill Watts flat-out shot him down, saying that it wasn't a circus and that the idea was stupid.

I went to a house show at the Norfolk Scope tonight with my brother and his friend. It was the first event I've attended live since WM23 and my first house show since right before WM21. The turnout looked really good. Every section was full or close to it except for the area above the Titantron, which I'm guessing was closed off. First match was Miz vs. Big E. About what you'd expect between these two. Miz worked the leg for a little bit but then forgot about it. Big E won with the Big Ending. I've heard that it looks even worse live than it does on TV, but it didn't really come across that way to me. Next was Real Americans vs. R-Truth/Xavier Woods. There must have been a lot of little Jimmies in attendance, because Truth was super-over. Zeb got some cheap heat first by confusing Norfolk with Roanoke and then by bringing up UVA's loss in the NCAA tournament. He asked Cesaro what the Swiss word for choke was, which was pretty funny. Solid match with a really good FIP section. The Real Americans got tons of heel heat overall, but the giant swing got a nice pop. Cesaro only did eight revolutions, which was kind of disappointing. He then got the win with the Neutralizer. Next was Damien Sandow vs. Sheamus, who got the biggest pop of the night so far. The match started with Sandow Pearl Harboring Sheamus while he was high-fiving fans at ringside. Sandow showed some pretty impressive viciousness on offense. Sheamus got the win with a Brogue Kick after a short comeback. Sandow then cried foul and demanded another opponent, which prompted Big Show to come out and hit him with the KO punch. Next was the Bella Twins/Eva Marie vs. Alicia Fox/Aksana/Layla. Fans got to vote via text and Twitter whether this would be an actual match or a dance-off, and the match won. To be honest, I don't really remember anything about this match. Next was Daniel Bryan vs. Kane. Bryan was insanely over. This was a really good match. Bryan's shoulder was taped up, so Kane spent most of the match working on the arm. Bryan had Kane in the Yes Lock, but Ryback ran out for the DQ. Bryan fought him off, but the Real Americans came back out to make it three-on-one. The Shield came out to make the save, which got the biggest pop yet. Kane tried to attack Bryan from behind with a chair after the faces cleared the ring, but Bryan caught him and hit him with the busaiku knee. Intermission. First match after intermission was Fandango/Summer Rae vs. Dolph Ziggler/Emma. This was basically a comedy match. The finish came when Dolph hit the fameasser and Summer Rae tried to break up the pin only to inadvertently low-blow Fandango. The girls then brawled to the outside and Dolph hit the Zig Zag for the win. Next was Bad News Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston. Barrett cut a "Look at my crazy passport" promo before the match. There were several "CM Punk" chants during the match, which tells you how much the crowd was into it. Overall, it was solid but unspectacular, but it did get better as it went on. Barrett got the pin when he hit Kofi with a forearm as he was coming off the top. The main event was Goldust/Cody Rhodes/John Cena vs. the Wyatts. Cena got the biggest pop of the night, but there were quite a few boos as well. I was under the impression that house show crowds were uniformly behind Cena because the fans who booed him didn't go to them. Maybe the rise of Bryan and the Shield and the like is bringing them back. Someone should look into that. It should be noted that once the match began, the crowd was 100% behind Cena. Not only was this the MOTN, it'd probably be my MOTY so far if it had happened on TV. Goldust and Cody both played FIP, and both were awesome at it. Dustin's was the best, but Cody was no slouch. The roof came off the place when Cena tagged in and again when he got the win with an AA. My brother thought the Goldust FIP section was boring. In related news, I no longer have a brother. Overall, the show was really good. It was like a high-end Raw from a match quality standpoint minus all the bullshit. Two and a half hours just flew by. Thumbs up for sure.

That is a point of commonality, but it's not the one I was looking for.

Whenever people mention matches that were hurt by crowd burnout, it's always the same matches that come up: HHH/Jericho at WM18 HHH/Orton at WM25 HHH/Lesnar at WM29 All those matches seem to have something in common. I can't quite put my finger on it, though.

I thought this deserved a topic. Say what you want about the guy, but he knew how to get over. Talk about nuclear heel heat. He even managed to turn the Klan babyface: Unfortunately, he won't be having a funeral of his own for people to picket. Pretty unprofessional of him to refuse to do the job on the way out.

The social views of Rockwell and his ilk are pretty clearly reactionary. They may oppose using the power of the federal government to impose such views, but they also oppose federal intervention to prevent individual states from imposing those views. In their view, if a state wants to ban abortion or impose segregation, let them have at it. Back on topic, I'm pretty sure Shawn Michaels is a Republican. He also bears an uncanny resemblance to Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.

Speaking of which, Kevin Von Erich is/was a Ron Paul supporter.

Yeah, Bryan is a pretty hardcore left-winger. Recall his "down with capitalism" speech on NXT. I don't really think Inoki qualifies as a neocon. His Sports Peace Party was at least nominally left-wing and formed an alliance in the Diet with the Democratic Socialist Party. Of course, he's currently affiliated with the far-right Japan Restoration Party. The impression I get is that he's basically an opportunist with no deep-seated principles beyond his own advancement. It should be noted that the real-life John Layfield isn't nearly as conservative as the JBL character. I remember seeing an interview with him from the 90s where he said he was a centrist who voted for Clinton. And after the 2012 election, he said on Twitter that Obama and Romney both sucked and that his ideal candidate was someone like Bloomberg. Some of you may be surprised to know that Kevin Nash is an Obama supporter.

I believe Meltzer has said that promos in the WWF weren't scripted until 2001.

All this talk about how unprofessional Punk is being reminds me of those old-timers who were pissed at The Rock for disrespecting the business by getting out with his physical and financial well-being intact.

Flair/Funk at the Bash wasn't an I Quit match. That was Clash IX. Also, if you're going to include Vader matches, I'd start with the 1992 Sting matches. Plus, I think it might be interesting to see how someone who knows Sting mainly from his Crow persona reacts to surfer Sting.

Fuck realism in wrestling. Real fights are boring. Wrestling is great precisely because it's fake.