The Chief

The handling of Wyatt is just bizarre. Wasn't the point of him losing to Undertaker to give him a rub from a main eventer? Because wins and losses don't matter, he's a bigger star now simply by breathing the same air as Taker, right? So now he's back to doing the exact same thing but instead of talking about Taker he's talking about Ryback or Orton or whoever. We don't even mention the Taker stuff. Can he just go away for six months?

Man, I'm pretty bummed I already bought tickets for a WWE house show in Binghamton when they just announced they'll be running NXT in Albany the week before. On the plus side, I haven't been to a show since Simon Dean was feuding with Bobby Lashley so I'm long overdue

I had no clue Stanford was still with the company. I kind of liked him back when he did Superstars years ago, surprised he's still around.

Was it just VHS space issues? I remember in the late 1990's when WWE went back and released full versions of older WrestleManias on VHS, the quality was horrible.

LOL, I just sold a shit load of WWE DVD'S in an eBay lot and wish I did it before they launched the network. I regret they didn't do more with that Zeb vs Heyman feud last year. Heel vs heel managers is my favorite wrestling trope that doesn't get done nearly enough.

If TNA comes out of this, then I'm dead serious, they will outlast WWE. When the world ends nothing will be left except the cock roaches and TNA. It's crazy how many near death experiences this company has had.

Agreed

Decided to watch a 98 Raw while it's up there, popped in the night after KOTR. Some thoughts: Physically, Regal looks horrible. But even if he was in shape, I don't think there's a chance in hell his style gets over in front of a 1998 WWF crowd. Everything the DOA gets involved in is terrible. Ken Shamrock is seriously the most uncoordinated, dangerous looking wrestler of all time. He's trying, but there's such a recklessness to everything he does. It's kind of uncomfortable to watch. I haven't seen any of the Brawl For All stuff since it aired. I'll admit, I kind of liked it. Some of these match ups are interesting to watch with the proper context. You can tell Steve Blackman is winning his match as diplomatically as possible. IIRC, he dropped out after the first round because he thought it was ridiculous. Such a bizarre experiment. They DON'T EVEN MENTION Mankind getting tossed off the cell the night before. There's some brief lip service to it in the main event and Foley is in a backstage segment with Kane and Paul Bearer, besides that, nothing. This completely shocked me given how important the incident is in WWE lore.

I really wish Orton would never main event another PPV again. I get why they're doing it but there's so many guys that would be better off in that spot than him.

Not debating that the decision was 100% incorrect, but how is this on the same level as Austin going heel? Some of you guys can pull out numbers and actually back your stuff up quantitatively. I'm going off of vague memory or feel here, but I guess my argument is that there was a weird buzz around that angle, in that there was a lot of new attention from people who weren't usually engaged with the WWF and that it could have served as a real shot in the arm to help keep the boom going for a while longer, and likewise, that things were already further gone by the time Austin turned. That's my main argument. It drove away a lot of people who were just getting invested in the product and that by the time Austin turned things were already cooling off. As I said, I could be wrong. Nope Matt, you're right. I know a lot of people that started tuning out because of that. Wasn't that also around the time when Stephanie joined the writing team?

I just can't get into Lucha

The Destroyer yelling at everyone within earshot Russ Greenberg's overall enthusiasm. Jobbers pumping their fists in general. PWI headlines about guys wanting to kill each other FOR REAL. (thanks Brainbuster!) Public Enemy ECW vignettes

Pro Wrestling This Week Guys hitting the old school guardrails so hard they almost take out fans Mick Foley toppling through the steel steps like a man possessed The Wrestlerock Rumble Mysterious boxes and their contents Doom's WCW theme music Sid fist bumping fans at MSG in 1996 I like this thread!

So who was Bray Wyatt aiming at with his latest gibberish? Anybody on the roster besides maybe Cena has to be seen as a step down, right? Losing to Undertaker did nothing to elevate him. Anybody who thinks otherwise, I would like to hear your argument.

I could actually see Martel way ahead of Bundy. Bundy seems like one of those guys who literally hates everyone in wrestling. There's a reason why he's never brought back for documentaries or legends nights.

She is? Tamina hasn't been on TV in over a year. What was her deal?

Hell yeah

"I knew it was false because you said Bob Brower" was my absolute breaking point. Holy shit I've never had to hold in laughter so hard in my life. I need to finish listening to this when I get home because my co-workers are gonna start looking at me like I'm a lunatic. This is hysterical, Johnny.

I don't think his gimmick was something that ever translated well into a wrestling character, but he never showed much outside of that anyway. No big loss.

I was thinking more along the lines of Double J MMA but actually played straight.

If you had to pick a new opponent for Rusev right now who would it be? Would Sami Zayn work or does that kill Sami right away?

I said it in the 32 prediction thread but HHH is the only Brock opponent who hasn't been completely mauled by him. All of their matches were worked 50/50. Gotta keep Hunter strong for when they meet next. The booking comedy of HHH vs Sting will pale in comparison to Team UFC vs Team Authority next year.

When it's said that Vince sees Lana as a star I always wonder exactly what that means since as far as I know she's not a wrestler. I'm thinking she might get pushed how Sable was in 1998? I can't see her getting paired with anyone else. I don't think Rusev is in danger of turning into a comedy wrestler or getting fired or anything like that. He will probably get a rematch with Cena at the next PPV but if he's wrestling Swagger or Rowan at the PPV after that I would be worried.

It is interesting that HHH is the only guy since coming back that Brock hasn't been able to completely manhandle. HHH and Steph vs Brock and Rousey oughta provide some great comedy.

Wow, surprised Sting's not a pretape.