SteveJRogers

I had problems getting a show in my "Continue Watching" to come up, so it may be a Network overall issue.

I actually wasn't watching WWE in '05 but Eddie's promo after turning on Rey is fucking amazing. Basically boils down to "because the Dark side makes me feel strong". Its a shame what the whole angle ended up being about. Never mind how Eddie's memory was treated for about a year and change after his death in November.

"Die, Rocky Die!" Rocky joining The Nation has to be among the top on this list. Also same year both Bret and Shawn's turns were justifiable. Eddie Guerrero and a few years later Batista turning on Rey Mysterio seemed out of justifiable rage.

2006 Chicago The Fridge, WIlliam Perry I guess Verne would count 2007 Detroit The Sheik 2008 Orlando Eddie Graham The Briscos Gordon Solie 2009 Houston Austin The Von Erichs Terry and Dory Jr, 2013 New York Foley Bruno/Backlund Trump

Actually, WrestleMania in Nashville would be more appropriate for it, as Mud Lick is less than two hours from Nashville!

WrestleMania Live at Paul Brown Stadium or Great American Ballpark in Cincy? = Not far off from kayfabe actually. Jim Morris is from Louisville which is a little less than three hours south of Mud Lick (also the "home" of his show on Sirius' Willie Nelson country music channel), and according to Wiki, resides in Bowling Green which oddly enough is a little more than an hour west of his kayfabe home!

My point with what I said about Koko, Bushwackers, etc was that someone could make cases for them based on stuff outside of the WWE. Something Hillbilly Jim doesn't have. I agree your points are valid, but I guess if Vince didn't put him in already, he's not going in.

Fair point. Just threw up some of the more well worn "WTF is HE in there for" names when people run down the list of the WWE HOF.

Beyond Koko/Bushwacker/James Dudley/Johnny Rodz logic, does he have a case?

BUFF-a-LOOO

Yeah, I don't think he lasts too much longer than, say a year, in the mid-card. I'd have to check Cawthon's site, but I'd imagine the random non-PPV/SNME opponent challenger for the face champion for the house card circuit was winding down, and at the time Calaway wasn't the mold of the IC contenders. Thought maybe a 'Taker mark would somehow say that he'd have a spark of charisma to get over without needing a gimmick change. But I agree, while say a Curt Hennig or Ted DiBiase would have gotten over without their iconic character names, though Hennig's seemed to be more in the vein of say "you need a name for us to market" as it is today with NXT names as characters for real-ish personas, as opposed to Million Dollar Man being a character Ted DiBiase was portraying; Calaway probably would have needed a major gimmick refresh every now and then. Hell, his gimmick itself got refreshed a few times over the 25 years, and I'm not referring to the costume changes!

What if, instead of announcing The Undertaker, DiBiase instead brought out, from Houston Texas...Mean Mark! And he comes out as, probably a gimmick hybrid of Taker's post BikerTaker through today/Biker Taker, with none of the "mystic, wrestling no selling zombie" traits of The Deadman through the years. Does he stay hot enough to be a Hogan challenger a year later? And does he stay hot enough to still be with the company all those years later, through the New Gen, Attitude, Brand Split and beyond? Or, despite his "locker room leader" status, does he move on at some point (be it WCW or ECW in the 1990s or TNA, ROH, or somewhere in the 2000s, based on no "special value" beyond the usual big name status. that he is bringing to the roster?

In a way Stardust counts, as the gimmick was to align himself with Goldust in that sameness. I don't think Edge ever changed his look after the breakup, at least it took a while for Christian to do so.

The fact that Cena is considered on ANYONE'S level as a Machiavellian backstage politician is laughable and shows how much wannabe smarks people can be. I mean the only example of a Cena power play is the Nexus SummerSlam match, and I doubt he had evil "these nerds are going to be soooo buried" intent. It was just a difference of opinion with Jericho/Edge about what the finish should have been.

Didn't Stevie Ray wear an nWo version of the Harlem Heat singlet as Booker T moved to his trunks?

That's because they are all sheeple to the WWE over hype machine *rolls eyes*

I find that a lot of the Warrior hate stems from Warrior being an absolute homophobic piece of shit who was usually in business for himself, and not a good guy to deal with. As oppossed to not liking him for in ring and on camera reasons. Ditto Shawn/Triple H/Hogan hate, I think a lot of it stems more from their political maneuverings that affected their personal favorities (mostly Bret Hart and associates) as political maneuverings and unprofessional acting of internet darlings tend to get passes (well it would have been bad buisness or oh well would you want that guy to go over you?)

Robert Llewellyn did it several years ago with Car Pool, and it worked really well as a weekly short-form video podcast, but didn't really translate when UKTV gave him an over-the-air deal. He was also interviewing his passengers in an informed, anecdotal manner, this has the Bella Twins going on a road trip, so fuck that. Jerry Seinfeld does the same thing, though with the addition of sitting in a restaurant and at times other places in the area with his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee web series.

Brian Jones to your Mick Jagger Stu Sutcliffe to your Paul McCartney (bass players)

Honestly, part of that might just be because Atlanta people don't like the city Charlotte. THAT is down right petty and would be of why live show fans get shat upon. Sure its where the name comes from, but geez! So a Hornet becomes a Hawk and puts up iconic numbers and NBA titles, he is never going to be loved in Atlanta?

Well there is still hope that rat killer thing that from a RAW commercial will still make it. Those awful pop chips have to be a contender Seriously? For over 30 years Rolaids has sponsored Major League Baseball's reliever of the year award. Sure you might need Rolaids after watching some of the matches tonight, but the product is a very respected brand name.

Is there any reason why?

When does the more infamous "throw someone over the top rope is a DQ" rule go into affect? I know that stays in kayfabe terms into the early Hogan era, in terms of confusing commentators as to whether or not the rule is still in affect. Heard a podcast go over the Sting-Jarret 2000 Halloween Havoc match, with people coming out dressed as Sting's past looks. There is a spot where Borden tosses Surfer Sting over the top rope, and Mark Madden quips how that would have been an automatic DQ back in Surfer Sting's day.

Make sure you have a consistent day of release. Fans will be forgiving if you lapse a few weeks due to scheduling conflicts, real life issues, etc (especially if you are up front about it) but don't have sudden and random release changes (unless you want to say toss up quickies every so often for the sake of breaking news or what not). You have a set day of release, stick to that day. I also echo the relationship with the fanbase, even if you aren't going to read stuff on the air. You shouldd have presence on several platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, message boards (notice how many different boards SQG pulls their feedback from), etc) where you promote your show and cultivate a fanbase.

A lot of the "hate" granted does come from after the fact stuff like re-watch podcasts done by smarky hosts who've read/heard things and just wonder out loud why Mero was ever over because he was "so bad." While I'd love to think that wrestlers listen to fan podcasts, umm...no. I meant hate and lack of respect of Mero I find from fans.