NintendoLogic

Eh, the Wrestler's Court thing is overblown. From what I've read, it's done to deal with minor breaches of protocol like booking first class tickets before someone with more tenure. The punishment is usually something like having to buy dinner for the wronged party. So did Booker T put himself over CM Punk by criticizing him for not hooking both legs?

I think Big Show had the misfortune of coming along in an era where the big companies were giving away so much on free TV every week, making it difficult to build up an Andre-like mystique. I guess Goldberg had that kind of mystique for a while, but it's an open question whether that was sustainable over the long run.

I've already given my thoughts on JBL from an in-ring standpoint in the guys you should like but don't thread, but suffice it to say I'm on the same page as El-P. As for Hardcore Holly, I always thought it was funny that he got a reputation as a tough guy by stiffing the shit out of guys who weren't fighting back. Would he have lasted ten seconds against Daniel Puder in a shoot?

It cuts the other way too. In America, calling someone a bloody wanker would be seen as a playful insult. In Britain, it signifies that you're looking to start a fight.

What about Trent Green? When he came into the St. Louis territory, he was scheduled to receive a monster push. But then he blew out his knee after a botched tackle by Rodney Harrison, a notoriously sloppy worker, and lost his spot to a vanilla midget who had never headlined outside the indies. Anyway, for all the complaints about how the NFL's booking has centered around the Brady/Belichick stable, they have given the rub on a few significant occasions. Peyton Manning shook his reputation as the Lex Luger of his generation after he led the Colts Squadron to victory over the Patriots Alliance in the Hoosier Dome WarGames match. And when Eli went over Brady in a MOTYC, he gained instant main event credibility.

I don't think so. Vince has never struck me as a member of the family values wing of the GOP, and it's something he can point to the next time GLAAD gets on his case. I'd say he's just at that heel Punk/Jericho level where they figure he's good enough on the mic to keep his heat even if they job him out constantly.

Twatting someone in the face? Isn't that what X-Pac used to do?

I don't think they're related, since Punk said on the radio show that they broke up in August, which is about the time Beth's most recent push began. Besides, I thought they were just building her up so Kharma would have someone to feud with when she came back. Here's a clip from the radio show in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0azpC68C2c Come to think of it, didn't Punk have kind of a messy breakup with Maria too? You know what, dude, maybe it's you.

I had thought that Vince's hatred of pronouns (or at least its current extent) was a relatively recent phenomenon. But I just noticed that in the HBK/Mankind Mind Games match, there's a part where Jim Ross says "Good suplex by Shawn Michaels. Michaels bought himself some time there. Shawn Michaels has got to regroup or Shawn Michaels is gonna lose the WWF title right here tonight in Philadelphia." That's almost Rickey Henderson-esque.

I can only imagine what the bookstore cashier's reaction would be if someone bought a copy while wearing the Sheamus Great White t-shirt.

I think Miz already did something like that once. He was at ringside doing commentary while Cena was fighting Alex Riley in a cage match, and he took a picture of Cena's face up against the cage and tweeted it immediately.

One of the recent fanposts: A Little Presidential Fun.. Obama is HHH! He buried the economy just like Hunter buried Booker T! Oh, Lord.

Loose Women? Is that some English thing? /checks Wikipedia Yeah, it is. Well, I'll see your English women's talk show and raise you this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVWWehWokiU

I just realized the similarities between Super Macho Man from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Superstar Billy Graham.

My point was that Gorilla talking about hooking the leg wasn't a big deal because of the style. It might have hurt someone's heat in JCP, but the WWF was more kabuki dance than sporting competition.

Sure, it made sense to those watching at home, as long as they're not thinking, "Wow, the Red Rooster is an idiot. No wonder he can't beat Mr. Perfect. I would remember to do that if I was in the ring, why can't this goofball?" Anyone thinking that would probably think the same thing about, say, anyone trying to punch Hogan while he's hulking up. Moving the story along by having someone carry the idiot ball is a hallmark of the WWF/E style, if not US wrestling in general.

I've never seen Citizen Kane or any of the Godfather movies either. I have, however, seen Commando more times than I can count.

When it comes to confusing, Gaelic football takes the cake. It's like somebody wanted to see what would happen if you stuck every sport ever made into a blender.

Assuming footage were as readily available then as it is today, Jumbo probably would have done very well. In addition to being a great wrestler, he performed moves like headscissors takedowns and missile dropkicks that were incredibly high-end by the standards of the day.

I think John severely underestimates the general awareness of various iconic figures. I absolutely knew what Citizen Kane was when I was growing up. Hell, there was an episode of Tiny Toons dedicated to spoofing it. And a generation not knowing about Jordan...seriously? Jordan? Seriously? Christ, Babe Ruth had been dead for 33 years when I was born and I knew about him. With all that said, if you polled current fans as to the greatest match of all time, some Shawn Michaels match would probably come out on top.

Going back to Finkel, I view his HOF case as analogous to Ray Guy's case for the Pro Football HOF. On that note, I recently came across this article concerning Guy's candidacy: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=5415 I'll go ahead and pull a couple of quotes that I think are particularly relevant to this discussion: Of course, you also have guys like Dr. Z and Peter King who argue that Guy actually wasn't that good, which I guess ties into the Jesse discussion.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 7/24/10-Kensuke Sasaki vs. Go Shiozaki This was in the top tier of highest rated matches of 2010 in the DVDVR match rating thread. If this is what constitutes greatness nowadays, then puro has completely passed me by. I've never seen so many meaningless chops and lariats in my life. I don't feel like going back and checking exactly how many chop exchanges there were, but I'm pretty sure there were at least five.

The 2003 match where he won it from Misawa and the 2004 defense against Akiyama both got ***** and MOTY. I like his defense against Takayama the best.

HHH was inducted in 2005. He had already done just about everything that you would put on his HOF resume by that point. If you thought he was a marginal candidate in 2005, I don't see how the DX reunion would put him over the top. From a HOF voting standpoint, he wasn't a Shawn Michaels, much less a Kurt Angle. First, as the thread I linked to pointed out, he also drew well against guys like HBK and Benoit who didn't have track records as strong draws. Second, I don't think you can reduce HHH's status as top Attitude Era heel to "top opponent of top draws" any more than you can reduce Ric Flair's status as top touring heel champ of the 80s to "top opponent of top local babyfaces."

I don't think it was Shawn's absence that hurt the show as much as the fact that his up and vacating the title out of nowhere sent the booking off a cliff.