NintendoLogic

I kind of had the opposite reaction. Even if it is a shoot and Punk gets over, what does that mean? He goes back to the indies and gets a marginally higher payday than he would have otherwise received? He takes some time off and returns to the WWE and the incident is consigned to the memory hole? I think we can all agree that Punk is too smart to go to TNA, but if he did, something like this isn't going to put him on the level where he'd be a game-changer. The Nexus, on the other hand, was genuinely shocking. Having a bunch of guys who were portrayed as, and treated like, total goofs come out and lay waste to everything was so far outside the box for the WWE that I felt like it could have gone in just about any direction. Besides, they couldn't have fucked it up too badly. Look who they got on board:

The Nexus debut?

For comparison's sake, here are the other notable worked shoots of recent years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vswZ73WETpc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWnmYLW54YI It's pretty interesting how Vince gives Paul Heyman or someone connected to him carte blanche to bury him and his product on one of his own shows every five years.

(from reading his tweets I'm not surprised he's in favor, but he's also been in pro wrestling a long time and we all know it's not the most progressive industry in the world) I don't think it's that uncommon. Batista of all people is a big supporter of gay rights (his mother is a lesbian, after all). Anyway, counterpoint: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?show...p;#entry5475215 I don't think anything sums up what the gay marriage debate amounts to more than those two tweets.

Proof positive that Benoit wasn't in his right mind during his final days.

I distinctly remember the WON saying that moving up the draft was a panic move in response to Edge's retirement. Speaking of which, they're now reporting that Hero and Castagnoli had WWE tryouts and they both went well. This ought to be interesting, since we all know how much the WWE loves tag teams and guys who made names for themselves outside of the WWE machine.

So is cocaine. Granted, novocaine doesn't have any euphoric effects, but they're in the same class of local anesthetic. Just to be clear, though, I'm not arguing over whether you can take painkillers and be straight edge. I'm addressing whether you can take painkillers and not be a pussy. To the extent that this is true, global warming is a far bigger factor than fluoridated tap water.

Seeing the WWE in full panic mode is morbidly amusing. On the one hand, they're blowing through every ratings-popping gimmick at their disposal at a ridiculous clip. On the other hand, they're doubling down on Cena and Orton as the untouchable centerpieces of their respective shows. Vince must be praying for a long NFL lockout, because if they have to go up against Monday Night Football in their current state, they'll be in a world of shit.

There are two things that for me are indispensable elements of good wrestling. First, realism. I don't mean shoot-style. What I mean is this. If wrestling were real and you were trying to beat someone in a fight with wrestling moves, what would it look like? I want it to look like your main priority is winning the match, not impressing people with your athleticism. Matwork is a big part of this. In most matches I see nowadays, it's too fluid. Locking in a hold should be a struggle, not something that just happens with no discernible resistance on the part of the other person. And once it's locked in, the other person should be trying to break it or make the ropes or at least showing some signs of discomfort. I've been watching a fair amount of old joshi lately, and seeing them apply holds and then release them for no reason is driving me crazy. Second, transitions. Structurally, most matches are pretty similar. What makes or breaks a match is how they connect the dots and move from one segment to the next. What causes a shift in momentum? I think that's the biggest problem with the WWE from an in-ring standpoint right now. The transitions absolutely suck. Most of the time, it's "heel applies chinlock, face powers out." Most of the rest of the time, it's "heel attempts high-risk maneuver for no reason, face rolls out of the way." This goes back to what I was saying about looking like you're trying to win a match. If these things backfire on you every single time, why would you keep doing them? On a somewhat related note, I really hate simultaneous hot tags. They completely go against the logic of tag team wrestling. The face in peril gets beaten down for an extended period of time, but he hits one big move and they're back on equal footing? And why does the fresh face always come out on top over the fresh heel? I understand why this happens from a crowd heat standpoint. But "FIP gains upper hand, makes hot tag, fresh face goes to work on weakened heel" has the same effect and has the added advantage of being simpler and making more sense. I don't understand why anyone would throw out the old formula only to replace it with a different, stupider formula.

Given the precedent for how these things turn out, I'd say the chances of this happening are less than zero. But this reminds me, does anyone think that Eric Bischoff's bitterness toward the Internet is related at least in part to his attempt at a worked shoot blowing up in his face so badly? Back to the novocaine thing. A few of you seem to be unaware of some comments Punk made. Someone had asked him how long he could last in wrestling without taking painkillers. He replied that he wasn't a pussy. Someone else then asked him if that meant that wrestlers who took painkillers were pussies, and Punk replied in the affirmative.