The Chief

Not really sure why everyone has been writing off Rusev so quickly. He's been in what, two squashes? Has he wrestled any full length matches on NXT? From what I've seen, he's looked fine enough in the limited time he's been given. He looks like a legitimate ass kicker and his look is unique, so he has that going for him. I haven't noticed any sloppiness and he really cranks on that camel clutch which I love. I really don't know why, but there has always been a rejection of any type of monster-squash character by the internet crowd. It's obviously not as bad here as it is on other boards, but Umaga had it, Tensai had it, Ryback even had it with the dumb "Goldberg"chants. I always read how these guys can't work, squashes are so dated, his offense is "dangerous" despite never hurting anybody.... These types of knee-jerk reactions always bother me when they bring in a character like this.

Michael Hayes and Scotty Flamingo had to have met up somewhere in the early WCW days, right?

You know, Sheamus would actually be a very good idea.

Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero? Rey Mysterio and Randy Savage?

I have the bluray. They go out of their way to show that he enjoyed talking with his fans and doing charity. In all fairness, where did that talk come from? The only instance I remember is in Bret's book. And with wrestlers, you never know how much truth you're getting. Like, maybe he was missing a fight or something and couldn't meet a kid and all of the sudden it turns into Warrior hates meeting sick children and avoid them at all costs. It's difficult to tell when somebody has an axe to grind.

Koechner was actually going to be brought in as a precursor to the RTC gimmick. He was shown on-camera a few times holding up a "World Wrestling Filth" sign, but the teased angle never went anywhere. This was in '99, I think, when Russo was still there. Yup. He only appeared when Kurt Angle was on, they were teasing going that direction with him.

If you mean worst as in unintentionally great, then yes! :-)

I really can't see Warrior fitting in 1998 at all. WWE trained the fans to reject anything that was old because that's what WCW did. He really wouldn't have a spot in 1998.

I thought this week served it's purpose. You put tons of heat on the heels after last week's feel-good episode. I do like the poetic justice angle they're running on the Shield and it is going to get them even more over as babyfaces.

I honestly thought this gimmick was going to kill Barrett as a legit contender, and he's managed to get it over. Good for him! Kind of stupid that a Masked Kane video package was just sitting there ready to go just in case...

Lana shouldn't have entrance music.

Piper had a podcast a year or so ago "The Rod Pod", and it wasn't too bad. His humor is cringe worthy at times, but he's not as incoherent and insane as you would think. The Gene Lebelle episode was very good.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the streak of awesome TV WWE's been on and increased TV time for Renee Young are somehow connected.

The sad thing is it's barely been two months and it's pretty safe to say both guys have been written off. They've done this to so many teams over the past decade and it never really worked. Cryme Tyme and Hart Dynasty immediately come to mind. If we really are entering a new era of wrestling, I hope we can look back at breaking up tag teams for no reason as a thing of the past and PTP being the last of that.

He's been wrestling one match a year since 2011 with a couple exceptions. He really shouldn't be doing a match in 2015. All things come to an end and it's time to let go.

It's hard to tell what he means without the full context, he could be taking about how cryptic his promo was in retrospect.

The Daniel Bryan special was very well done, anyone who hasn't seen it should seek it out. I haven't seen them put that much effort into a production like this in a long time. Also I found it cool that they were bringing up PWO talking points like Rey getting booed in the Rumble because they thought #30 was Bryan. They definitely didn't bring that up on TV :-)

Hogan and Austin went in as part of a class, nobody is "beneath" that.

Good. If you're gonna call yourself "The Jiz" you probably shouldn't be posting at a place like this anyway.

Gotta love this mouthbreather trying to convince Jericho that the Lesnar/Taker finish was changed on the fly in the ring. Other than that, part 2 of the Rey interview was great. I actually don't remember Rey ever talking in this type of setting before, I don't think he did any shoots from the time he left WCW until joining WWE. Some good stories. One thing I found interesting is that Rey thinks he's got about three years left before he hangs it up. He mentioned how he can't springboard anymore because his knees will not bend that far so he needs to compensate by climbing the ropes instead. Kind of depressing to hear, I love Rey and hope he doesn't work himself into a wheelchair by hanging on too long.

Do they still air Main Event on Ion?

I'm starting to wonder if maybe he had something wrong with him that he didn't tell anybody outside of a select few. Like he knew he only had so much time. Might explain some of the retrospectively cryptic things he said. Or it could just be coincidence. Still trying to take this all in.

I've been in such a great mood with wrestling the past few days and then something like this happens. Just so bizarre and sad.

I wish that they would give Zeb another Real American to counter what Heyman did to him. And while you're at it, bring back Teddy Long as a manager and give him some guys, he was awesome in 2003. Dutch, Heyman and Teddy on WWE TV in 2014. That would warm my early 90's WCW heart.

Bourne wrestled Sami Zayn on NXT almost a year ago, I think he's been cleared medically for some time.