SteveJRogers

BTW, speaking of kayfabe, what is Kane’s official record total of Rumble appearances? Out of kayfabe they of course acknowledge Glenn Jacobs’ assorted characters, but two of them made a Rumble appearance each. So is the record the portrayer’s total of 20, or the “Kane” character total of 18?

I could have sworn a heel like Miz may have done that before. Lose the championship match, only to enter the Rumble later in the night. I think the kayfabe point is that he cares more about getting back at Reigns than getting his automatic rematch from Lashley.

Pretty much overthinking Mickie’s announcement that she was in the Rumble. Instead of realizing it was a “yeah we fucked you over on your way out, and this is a “no hard feelings” olive branch until we get to induct you in our Hall someday” move, it suddenly became an “OMG! FORBIDDEN DOORS ALL OVER ARE BEING OPENED! WHO ELSE IS GONNA SHOW UP!?” explosion of silly social media “hot takes.”

-Hell of a way to reward a main event heel -Leads to a great concept for the Feb PPV, puts the title on Bret that potentially gets things right for the Shawn rematch. Not their fault that the “knee wasn’t ready and the smile wasn’t found yet” so plan B was belt back on Sid, and fed to Taker, while Austin gets turned face in a loss to a heel turning Bret at Mania.

Ugh…to quote that year’s winner, WHAT!?

The year before was also a rock bottom moment.

True, but an insufferable heel can make it work to get more heel heat out of it. Yeah, a face can get away with that as part of the gimmick more often than not, but the insufferable heel will get “what are you talking about!?” reactions from others he’s sharing the promo time with and commentators.

BTW, I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing, but thankfully Miz’ love for his hometown was never a dominant part of his gimmick. But then again, as I said, it would have made his heel persona more tone deaf insufferable in a good way, by constantly mentioning why one of the least regarded major cities in America really is the best place in the world.

Is Page “handling his high” since winning the belt? I wonder if they’ll tone down that part of the gimmick with Mox’ real life issues being entered into kayfabe.

FWIW with the whole wrestler name ties to known high ranking Nazi military leaders. You know the whole YouTube meme with Hitler’s final meltdown from “The Downfall” that is titled “Hitler Reacts…”? Commander Felix Steiner is referenced, as an offensive he was told to carry out failing was what triggers the epic meltdown. Every time I see a version of the clip, I keep envisioning either Rick or Scott (oddly enough their last name is also a stage name), comically, as a Nazi commander. Point being, it probably would be hard to come up with a German sounding name without it having ties to the name of someone affiliated with the Nazis. Not sure if I blame them for not Googling or going on a Wikipedia rabbit hole, but on the other hand, probably add German sounding to the list of “names that we will get blasted for on social media.”

Telling that it’s said by the only one who refused to get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by the gimmick character name usually used/achieved notoriety as during their time in the promotion.

It could be BS to throw off rampant speculation about a return of Y2J to the Judas singalong-ing Saint Louie crowd, but there is a report saying expect no one from AEW at the Rumble. Of course doing things sans an actual contract is a different story entirely. But as that piece says, Rhodes is a major player in the company, sure for the sake of a “getting the most out of AEW” storyline it’d be fun one-off, but probably not the best idea in the world if it’s not for an AEW storyline (ie if Omega showed up at last year’s Rumble in a scenario akin to his Impact appearances).

I find it a little amusing that no one called me out on mixing up the summer of 2007 major event’s non-wrestling competition segments between Hardy and MVP. SNME was the boxing exhibition with Evander Holyfield subbing for MVP. And the later SummerSlam was the drinking contest.

Especially when you consider how short his time as the unquestioned company ace actually was (1997 face turn through losing the WWE belt to Jericho in December of 2001, so a little under 5 years) in comparison with other big runs.

Is MVP “straight edge? Doesn’t drink for religious reasons, or at least a regular non-drinker that just has a thing about consuming it? I’m watching SummerSlam 2007, and he and Matt Hardy are scheduled for a drinking contest. Naturally Steve Austin comes out and the segment ends with MVP eating a stunner and Austin does some beer bashes. Thing is, MVP was the driest I’ve ever seen an Austin stunner victim that’s still in the ring as Austin does the whole bashing, toasting and chugging routine. Not a single drop got poured on him!

I hear you when it comes to the NFC East. And while Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder fit the comparisons to Vince, there have been times where George Steinbrenner often directed his Yankees’ GM to make moves to counteract the crosstown Mets for New York sports pages headlines, and more importantly inter-division rival Boston Red Sox. It is rare in team sports, but not unheard of.

Brock Lesnar in Philly, doing a knock-knock jokes!? is all kinds of meta levels coming from Paul E. himself. Yes, he’d still be Minnesota, but now I’m envisioning young Brock in a 911 role kicking ass in ECW Arena, then stopping to cut that knock-knock joke promo on a faceless jobber he’s about to F5 into oblivion!

Yup. Kind of crazy for mid-1980s WWF to have Terry Funk and Harley Race on the roster with no mentions of their history with the NWA title. I’m shuddering now thinking of a fall of 1991 where Flair was like “fuck it, here is the belt and deposit back. I’m still gone though!” and Vince can’t use, or refer to The Big Gold, or Flair as a “real world’s champion” I mean he could claim he left his former promotion as an unbeaten champion, but not quite the same as walking in with the title you haven’t “lost” yet.

I’m amazed he never had that kayfabe detail changed. Even after it became kayfabe how close he was with the Harts and Calgary (Bret IC feud)

Surprised Punk didn’t name drop Urban Meyer, since his dumpster fire of an exit from Jacksonville just happened, but GEEZ! I forgot the Jags brought Tim Tebow in for their training camp this year, and then cut him early in the Preseason (mid-August). Yeah, THAT happened. Though to be fair, Meyer deserves comparison to MJF’s wrestling persona far more than Tebow does.

Yeah, Cody’s act is the definition of the tone deaf douche born into wealth, but acts like he hit a triple, despite being born on third base. I agree the act had to be babyface at the start, but unlike fans turning on Cena and Reigns (and further back Hogan) for babyface characters that hadn’t evolved much from their first incarnations. This is someone continuing a heel like persona but expecting to be treated as a face by others and the audiences.

Also Dusty’s girth added to the idea that he was akin to Rodney Dangerfield’s character in Caddyshack, compared to Ric Flair’s Ted Knight in the same movie (and now I’m picturing both spouting iconic lines).

Personally I still love to know if MJF’s plan was more to cause a division within The Inner Circle as opposed to absorbing most of them into the yet unnamed Pinnacle. That whole bit seemed way too much like “okay, we need to get to Point C, so forget Point B where MJF retreats from a standing tall and stronger Inner Circle and just skip to Wardlow, FTR and Spears attacking”

Andre never being body slammed or defeated prior to III

I wonder if Vince was expecting Bob to stick around as an attraction. Akin to Bruno after losing to both Koloff and Graham. Otherwise I could see them leaning into an “Arnold threw it in too early” angle as soon as that night. Looks like Bob was gone by early August of 1984 though. I mean sure at the time you lean into Sheiky Baby being a dangerous and underhanded creep to keep him formidable for Hogan at the next show. And he wouldn’t be seen as that strong if he and Blassie had nothing to do, in terms of the storyline logic anyway, with winning the title. But if it was clear Bob was going to run out the clock on his deal, then (not really planting seeds for a future return), but you can use “my manager threw in the towel too early” as the reason, or the catalyst for kayfabe disillusionment for his impending departure from the promotion.