The Chief

It's sad that he's just done with no fanfare whatsoever. He should be treated just like Shawn or Taker, hell even the New Age Outlaws are treated as bigger legends than him. Bottom line, Rey is one of the most likeable people in and outside of wrestling. He is a true once in a lifetime performer that will never be replaced.

Check back in six months Johnny, well see if my crystal ball is legit

Looking forward to all the lukewarm post Mania programs too. Presumably Bray Wyatt loses to Undertaker despite the fact that they need heels for Reigns. But in their world Bray will be a made man just by breathing the same air as the 50 year old guy who wrestles once a year. Speaking of needing heels, Reigns will be occupied with Big Show and Kane for 4 or 5 straight PPVs with Rollins waiting in the background. Who knows, if Rollins cashes in then maybe that makes Big Show jealous and he turns face for the 37th time. There's a good chance Zayn and Neville could get called up and they'll debut on the hot post Wrestlemania Raw then fall out of favor with management for god knows why and be on Superstars every week having good matches that mean nothing. Bryan will continue to have great matches but he'll never be positioned where he should be. His heat will be killed off for good when fans finally realize that their voices don't matter. Orton will take Bryans spot as a mega babyface and will be positioned to take down the authority. We'll have plenty of long winded Orton vs HHH segments. Ryback, Dolph, Ambrose, Harper, Barrett and all those guys will be in the exact same spot next year. Maybe Ryback wins the Andre Battle Royal and it looks like they'll finally do something with him. Then he'll be left off PPV for 3 months. We'll get some more Steve Austin podcasts where Vince assures us that he listens to us and he has a grand vision for all of this. It's sad.

Maybe the Bryan/Kane feud will heat up with the Intercontinental Title added.

WCW did too!

Not much of a surprise and I don't think his body had anything left to give to WWE, but it sucks that Rey in WWE just kind of fizzled out. He's deserving of legendary status.

IIRC, New Jack matches were left off the Network at release due to the difficulty of dubbing them (exception being the ones that were already done for DVDs). Has that been changed?

Depends how connected you are to mid nineties culture. Personally I love it, so the music enhances ECW a great deal to me. The November Rain videos, Pantera RVD, Public Enemy and the stuff Cheapshot mentioned, it doesn't come across the same with dubbed music. Welcome to the board!

I feel like the best thing to do right is just let Brock keep the belt. Have him go over Reigns and have a dynasty run with the title. I know people say that it's a joke that Brock is allowed to defend 4 times a year, and I wouldn't really argue strongly against that, but at this stage there ae so many other problems with this company I feel it's the least of their concerns. With Bryan and Cena involved in secondary title feuds, it almost makes me think this is possible. Have Brock beat Bryan at SummerSlam. Have Brock beat Rollins when he tries to cash in. Whoever wins Money in the Bank this year, make him scared to cash in after what Brock does to Rollins. And in the meantime, BUILD SOMEBODY. If you don't have somebody ready by next year's Mania, then Bryan can be the one who beats Brock. I think that scenario would help everybody involved. These are of course all big if's with Brock's contract status.

Digging the resurgance of mid 2000's SmackDown guys on NXT! The Brian Kendrick came back last night and looked decent against Finn Balor. Rhino's cut a promo backstage, so he's not just a one time thing. Crossing my fingers for a Chris Masters run!

It's a shit deal. Back when Batista vs Randy Orton was the planned Mania match, there was so much rebellion from fans, people were even talking about leaving the show if that match went in last. There were similar talks this year about Reigns vs Brock. Daniel Bryan dominated segments he wasn't even involved in because he was so over with the fans. But that rebellion doesn't even really exist anymore, everyone's just numb. Instead of the "vocal minority" chanting and taking over shows, people just don't react to anything now because they've been so burned out from this shit. They've done so many things to actively kill his heat. Go watch that piece they did on the network about him then look at him now, it's fucking mind boggling. It's amazing how much work they've done to actively kill their top babyface and in turn THE CROWDS. I think fans are just tired and they gave up.

Funniest opening ten minutes to any podcast I've ever heard

What was so controversial about Stephanie's tweet? Insincere or not it's typical corporate speak.

I wonder if it's ever crossed their mind to make Bryan into Reign's cornerman at Mania? It's such a bad idea that I could see them at least thinking about it. Their logic being that Bryan will give Reigns his approval and he can siphon off the Yes! chants.

They're awfully good at sending mixed messages to their talent. Reach up and grab brass rings and speak up for yourself and give ideas, except for when we don't care what your opinions are. I can picture the scenario, Writer: "So Brock, here's the creative for tonight. After a brief in-ring scuffle which you back down from, you're gonna be hiding from Roman Reigns backstage. He's gonna be chasing you around with a chair, looking in the catering area, locker room, etc, but you'll be hiding in a closet. We'll occassionally see you poke your head out and ask Heyman if Roman is still out there. When Roman finally finds Paul, he runs up and grabs him and throws him through the catering table, covering him with ketchup and mustard. Paul will scream your name for help but you don't come out until Paul stops screaming. You think Reigns is gone, but as you're attending to Paul, Roman comes back and then you run away but you slip on the ketchup and mustard..." Brock cuts him off "I ain't fuckin doing that."

How about finding out exactly what happened before likening him to a 13 year old girl? With how awful creative is and with how WWE acts like all of these guys are replaceable, I find it refreshing when a guy has enough balls to stand up for himself. That's if it had anything to do with creative.

I actually wanted to see Miz vs Mizdow since it's the only thing that's had more than a six week build and I think both guys deserve a reward for getting the angle over.

Isn't it their job to try and make it work? Couldn't they also try to make Bryan's reactions work for Bryan? Honestly, his reactions are getting more tepid by the week. So mission accomplished, I guess...

The Authority had nothing to do with Bryan losing the Rumble or losing at Fast Lane, I hate how he's bringing it up in his promos. Makes him seem so meek and petty, it's painful watching him get chipped away at week to week. The crowds are getting less and less behind him too.

Hopefully, if Undertaker can get through the match without a concussion, it will be decent. He could retire on a high note after looking bad in the Lesnar match. Then, they could put him in the Hall of Fame next year in Texas. I don't have any faith in the match being anything more than ok, which isn't what you want from the all-time legend status Taker Mania matches are supposed to command. Plus Bray Wyatt isn't even 30 years old yet, he's presumably going to be around for a few more years. I don't buy the notion that he gets a rub just by being in the same vicinity as Taker. That's WWE BS that they've touted for years now and it's a big reason why there's no stars on the April to February portion of the roster. Why does Taker need to redeem his loss? Why would he need to beat Bray instead of the guy who beat him? Wrestlers are supposed to go out on their backs, I don't understand what he needs to redeem.

Uggh, I honestly feel Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt is the worst "on paper" match they have ever booked for one of these things. I don't see a single positive that comes out of either result. Bryan really doesn't fit anywhere unfortunately and that's just sad. I'm guessing Sheamus turns on him tonight to set that up. Maybe he's jealous that Bryan didn't call him in the hospital or some other rush-job nonsense. Meh. You also have the anti-authority trio of Ziggler/Ryback/Rowan where all three of them have been aimless since getting reinstated. It really sucks that all of the heat from that Survivor Series match went towards building HHH vs. Sting. Ziggler winning that match was mentioned for maybe two weeks after that PPV, now all three are back down in the aimless midcard. I'm guessing they get some combination of Big Show, Kane and someone else. If you look at all the roster as a whole, there's really nobody left who's over enough to even do a battle royal. This is shaping up to be a pretty weak card. They need to build stars on their active roster, there was so much momentum coming out of last year's event and they pissed it all away.

Kane and Big Show win a tag team turmoil match to become number one contenders. They go over Cesaro and Kidd at the PPV. Hey, if they're gonna go all out...

And your response is a sentence with even worse structure. You continue to have such valuable contributions.

I can't say I'm excited for WrestleMania after tonight. So many guys are just drifting right now.

I think their goal was to put sympathy on Reigns. Bryan was working total heel in that match.