SteveJRogers

I have to agree that since its their Hall, they are free to honor Scott, or anyone (i.e. William Moody going in as Paul Bearer and not his real name/Percy Pringle) with a past elsewhere under a different gimmick or persona however they want to. You honestly think Glenn Jacobs will go in as anything BUT Kane for example? Isn't Curt Henning listed as "Mr. Perfect" in the Hall Roster? Its probably the same reasoning behind Kevin Nash making Rumble appearances as "Diesel" even though he HAS wrestled in the WWF/WWE as "Kevin Nash." And they have acknowledged that Scott is in fact the legit Razor Ramon, they aren't going to pull a fast one and have Rick Bognar sharing the stage with Scott Hall! And yeah, I'm sure "Scott Hall" will become a Two-Time HOFer when it comes time to put the nWo in as a unit. I don't think he was a mess backstage during his first few years with WCW, but he was mostly with Nash in the tag scene and more of a background enforcer with the main squad/Wolfpac before going off the deep end. He did win a title shot at a World War III but sadly I think that was pretty much dropped. He did have two US Champion reigns in 1999, and was the TV Champion that tossed the belt in the trash, only to be found by Jim Duggan!

There really wasn't any deal until WCW decided to launch Nitro. Monday was considered just another night. Although some areas, like Memphis placed a higher priority on it because that was the day of their biggest show. Prior to the Monday night wars, Saturday was probably the wrestling day, for most of the country. Raw wasn't considered the flagship show for the WWF when it debuted through when Nitro debuted?

It could also be a GI Joe refernce, but on an episode of the sci-fi program Babylon 5, Sheridan tells a story about an old commanding officer of his whom he said was nicknamed "Sgt. Slaughter" by his troops. He also did Remus' Sarge voice when saying it.

Or even Tweet when he doesn't have to. Wasn't he dragged kicking and screaming to Twitter in the first place? Definitely a long form LiveJournal type of guy than the soundbite nature of other social network platforms like Facebook, MySpace, Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter and even YouTube.

And now for an insane development, there is a Twitter handle called @PhilBrooksMMA with a YouTube video channel called SociopathicPunk that is either "Phil" getting himself set up for his post-WWE life, or someone punking (no pun intended) Internet marks.

I watched the Greatest Moments episode, and Flair was on that too. What an insecure, petty man - sniping at Mick Foley, burying people, puffing himself up in a way where you can tell he doesn't entirely believe it but is looking for validation from others. It made me feel sad for him. "I never won with The Horsemen [in reference to the nWo never putting anyone over]." Yeah, except when your title would be on the line.

I question whether they needed a "WrestleMania moment" to solidify his position at all, really. Considering the internet butt hurt concerning Bryan and Punk allegedly leaving partly due to getting dropped from the Main Event spot, I'd say getting "the WrestleMania moment" was, and still is, a big deal when it comes to the careers of wrestling characters.

Probably reasons Steve Austin can't use "Stone Cold" on anything he does publicly.

Why would two on screen employees of a television company that produces live TV shows every Monday night schedule a wedding to happen the same day of a Monday night? Especially one of the annually biggest ones of the year? No matter how unconventional the groom might be, that does sound a bit insane to do.

Okay, I'll add that while they did go through the "Open Challenge" route, I loved the idea that Dean Ambrose was ducking having US Champ title matches for months because "well, there is all this paperwork involved..."

I don't know if that's Hardwick being a douche or not, but doesn't Punk own his stage name?

Thinking about it a little, you can draw comparisons with Punk and Shawn Michaels in terms of how Vince is handling the situation. Obviously Punk not being a drug and booze addicted fuck up that needed the spotlight of his profession to keep him going, Punk isn't as ready to accept Vince's "advances" as Shawn was back in the 1990s. Too bad they never will follow up on what could have been a hell of a program with Punk vs. HBK after the interaction at the Slammys Raw. But given what we know now about Punk and Vince, could easily be great fodder for blogs and podcasts to crack jokes that it really was a match more for Vince's affections than it was a straight wrestling match!

FWIW, The Rock planned out his for realz exit in 2003 (I'm not counting his brief cameo run in 2004), and it didn't matter (no pun intended) if he jobbed to Goldberg or not, everyone knew he was leaving and he made sure his affairs were all in order. Ditto Brock Lesnar, Goldberg and Batista as well if you want to look at it in the vein of "I've had enough, playing out my deal and I'm DONE!" If "old-timers" were pissed, it probably was out of jealousy that Dwayne found something that he realized he could be more successful at in a way that was beyond B movie/straight to video popcorn action flicks (not that he's done award season worthy work or anything) that pepper Pro Wrestlers' IMDB listings to this day. Sure he left a business just as his prime was starting and did seem to treat it as "beneath" him, but it did seem that the criticism said more about the people doing the criticizing than it did about The Rock.

The other thing that points to Punk being an unprofessional jerk is his radio silence. Yes he doesn't owe a public explanation, and I know he doesn't give a shit about his own public perception, but all that is needed, as I said, would be a Tweet or PR release saying that he'd like this to be handled privately and would say something if the time was right. Because, well he is a public figure and all, it does come with the exposure of being a top star in a billion dollar entertainment machine. That would probably make it seem somewhat understandable for people like me that see it as an unprofessional dick move. In other words, okay its unprofessional, but there are underlying reasons behind why it went down the way it did.

Until something is said on anyone's end to clear up what happened that day, that is my perception. Punk acted unprofessionally and deserves scorn more than he does clamoring for his return and fans acting as if he was fired. Vince wants to call it a "sabbatical" to answer investor's questions, that's fine, but until a full explanation of what happened is detailed, then it is no different than Austin on a phone saying he wasn't going to be showing up anymore. Which again, Austin freely admits to one of the biggest mistakes of his career.

You're right, he doesn't. Just saying a simple "its a private matter, respect my privacy" tweet, PR release, whatever would be a professional response if that,or any reason to be honest, was the case. My point is there is nothing about how Punk has acted that says he's nothing but an unprofessional piece of shit and shouldn't be prasied for "principles" or "leaving on his own terms" and have fans clamoring for his return as if he was unceremoniously turfed from the company.

Hence why, if it is your choice to leave, it should be handled much more professionally, and with public explanations if in a very public arena, than what Punk did.

Oddly enough this is consistent with his feelings about people who pull stuff like what Punk did. On the Austin DVD he outright disses Austin for the "taking his ball and going home" incident. Basically conduct exit in a more professional manner I guess is what Triple H's beef would be, on top of Punk refusing to work with him at WrestleMania.

My guess they would have built it around Bryan vindicating himself for the 18 second match from XXVIII. Despite having a longer match a month later and being in the WWE title picture for the next two months before Team Hell No started and a successful title defense at XXIX this past year.

I was going to say, WCW still promoted the hell out of projects Hogan was working on AS A MEMBER OF THE NWO! Only allowing Hogan to act more like a Hollywood "I'm the reason for everything and my movies are top grossing films" douchebag diva on their own promotional vignettes for it (saving the usual Terry Bollea act for appearances such as with Regis during the same era).

This can't be true, right? People quit without two weeks notice all the time (just as people get fired or are 'let go' without notice all the time). If you want to leave on good terms, sure, give some notice, but there's no obligation. It's difficult to compare professional wrestling to a real world job. In the abstract, someone like Punk walking out to never return is odd (though, as many have conceded, we still know very little about all this), but (i) this is still a business full of carnies, why do I care that they may have been burned by one cog in their wheel doing what he thinks is best for himself?; and (ii) in a conflict between HHH and pretty much anyone, most are going to side with the latter, especially when the feeling is that Punk left because he didn't want to be in a program with the man (which seems...understandable). If he's unhappy, on autopilot, etc., what other leverage does he have? There is no obligation, but yeah, if you just decide you have had enough in a very public company, project or whatever, you might be considered obligated to give a response other than "reasons" because you do seem like that flaky and unprofessional worker that just quits his 9 to 5 office job one day because he feels more passionate about being a music artist or something. Put it this way, there is a reason why Steve Austin to this day says that his "taking his ball and going home" for those eight months was the biggest mistake of his career. It was extremely unprofessional of him, and it caused strain on his relationship with a boss that treated him well when Austin was a top earner. Yeah Pro Wrestling is a low down, dirty rotten business, but you should still rise above the seediness and conduct your exit professionally. This really isn't the mafia (despite the jokes on the latest Titans of Wrestling, and what happened to Bruiser Brody), no one is going to think the lesser of you and try to whack you if you simply state your reasons and come to an understanding with the boss on your way out the door. HELL, on the last Place To Be Network they discussed Mick Foley's exit promo in 2001, where Mick was allowed to get things off his chest and have Vince simply let him go, complete with a "Have a Nice Day."

I can understand a lot of the points being made about what the reasoning behind Punk leaving could be. But it still doesn't take away from the fact that Punk was still very much in the wrong for handling it the way he did. Its unbelievable that only in sports and entertainment that someone can just up and leave a job, contracted or otherwise, with an half hour notice, leaving that place completely in the lurch and with zero explanation for their actions with fans and media treating the employee like they were completely justified due to their own speculation about what exactly happened. With the lone exception of collegiate basketball and football coaches that do get criticized by media members when jumping contracts, but sadly most of the media members get the "get off your high horse, you'd do the same if a bigger outlet came calling to you, or why don't you get on college kids for leaving their schools for the draft early" type of flack. Then again, maybe it does go towards the whole wish fulfillment aspect of fandom. We know we can't just say "take this job and shove it" whenever we feel like it with anything less than two weeks notice. And if we did, good luck taking chances getting another job in the industry, or trying to explain to someone conducting an interview why you left in a completely unprofessional manner. And not only that, but have fans clamor for his return (though I agree that the WWE's stunt Monday should put that fad to rest, or at least lessen the "movement" as an "organized" thing) as if it was a case where the company fired him. He left on his own accord, he wasn't forced out the door or wrongfully terminated. To say nothing about the fact that by his own admission he had been feeling burnt out and wasn't giving it his all in recent months, so even if the "fans" wanted to see him return, chances are it would be more of the same burnt and worn out Punk that had been going through the motions since the fall.

The guy was saying there was like only a handful of stuff they could find on Steve Austin. I also saw a FB friend of mine who is a big Rock mark complain that his search for The Rock only came up with 4 things. Something may have been wonky with the search engine at first. Granted, I don't know if they were expecting something like a YouTube video that splices together 20 minutes of promos/skits or 20 minutes of a finisher being put on or something, but my FB friend said that all he could find was just 4 clips for "The Rock" at first.

True, but to be fair, we live in an age where you can do a Google search for "The Rock vs. Stone Cold Wrestlemania" and easily find a site that will tell you every single time they faced each other, my site of choice over the years is ProWrestlingHistory.com, or it will point you to Graham's HistoryofTheWWE.com, or Wiki pages. Either way, if you want to know it, it is a Google search away. Then, after you found it, just go to the Network and find what you were looking for.

Especially when there is no basis to what he was talking about (lack of Austin in the On Demand library). I think there was something wonky going on with the Search Engines at first, maybe THAT's what he was complaining about, as a fan of The Rock was bitching on Facebook about only 4 things popping up when he searched for "The Rock." But lets look at what they had rolled out on Day One: EVERY SINGLE FREAKING PPV appearance by Stunning Steve Austin, Steve Austin on an ECW PPV, The Ringmaster, and of course Stone Cold Steve Austin. There was the Zamboini episode of Raw, and the 1/19/1998 episode with Austin confronting Tyson at the end. And last Saturday the documentary part of his latest DVD set was uploaded onto the Beyond The Ring section of the library. Sure I'd love to have the Raw library from 1996-2005 (or whenever he finally parted ways as a full-time onscreen character), but I'd think that's enough to satisfy anyone for their Steve Austin needs!