DMJ

i think Kane/Rollins is perfectly passable as the midcard title match at Hell in a Cell. With Taker/Lesnar in a Cell, the rest of the card barely matters, especially to fans who are currently on-board with the product (haters gonna hate). Throw in what looks to be Orton/Reigns/Ambrose vs. Wyatts, the Ryback/Owens rematch, I'm guessing some sort of Cena defense (I'd like it to be someone vastly different from Owens and Rollins - maybe Henry? maybe Miz? Jericho? - that can wrestle him in a match that doesn't rely on popping the crowd with crazy moves every 8 seconds), plus Charlotte vs. Nikki again (?) and you have a perfectly reasonable show headlined by the biggest match possible in October 2015. Whoops, left off New Day, Rusev, Cesaro, and Sheamus too. I don't think Kane/Rollins would be an interesting, attention-getting main event on 9 out of 10 Network specials, but like the Kane/Bryan match at Extreme Rules 2014 (which also featured, if I'm not mistaken, Cena/Wyatt in a cage, and Shield/Evolution), it makes sense storyline-wise, it isn't necessarily positioned as THE top match on the card, and it may surprise us by being fun.

No need to google it. You can strap 10 rockets onto Sheamus, he couldn't then and he can't now fly as a main event guy when he probably isn't even in the Top 10 when it comes to getting consistent live crowd reactions, selling merchandise, or having his matches have that "big match feel." He's an upper midcard act that has been overexposed and doesn't have the charisma/character/mic skills/"it factor" to project himself back into that top tier the way, say, CM Punk could in 2011 or Daniel Bryan could whenever he comes back or, arguably, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, or even Rusev probably could in 2016.

I only saw part of the "pipe bomb" promo, but totally agree that if this is their attempt at turning Paige heel, they have once again overbooked what should be a really simple story. Charlotte won the title. The crowd liked it. She's a face. Paige is jealous, she attacks Charlotte. She is now heel, even if she's justified and the crowd isn't yet hating her. Then, next week, you have Paige bring up the nepotism, maybe even spit or slap Ric in the face. The crowd loves Ric and now they have reason #2 to dislike Paige. I know the WWE loves their "shades of grey" characters, but if you're building a division from scratch - which is essentially what the WWE is doing when 30% of your active female characters are relatively recent NXT call-ups that are unknown to a sizable part of the audience - you need clear good guys and bad guys. This isn't just a Paige problem either - I think Sunday night showed that Nikki Bella, when in clear cut heel role, can be pretty darn good. Unfortunately, her feuds with Paige and AJ weren't scripted that way. At one point, several months ago, she basically cut her own pipe bomb promo, breaking the 4th wall by confidently expressing how hard she works, how much she loves the business, how she doesn't care that she's not "different" or "indie" like AJ and Paige, etc. etc. that was practically cribbed word-for-word from her boyfriend's playbook. Throw in the fact that, on Total Divas, all the girls are depicted as likable (or, at least, as characters you "love to hate," and therefor, like).

Really agree with this and I might add that you don't have to look much further than the Macho Man elbow drop he started using. To me, it looked pretty terrible, like he was just tossing himself off the top, not really aiming for any specific part of his opponent and rarely connecting with the "sweet spot" that Savage always seemed to land on. But man was it a great tool in his arsenal, one that worked on two levels too - the first being the obvious nod to Randy Savage The Wrestling Legend that every fan under the sun remembers, the second being the slightly more subtle nod to Randy Savage The Excommunicated Black Sheep. Punk's adoption of Mach's elbow drop worked fine as a desperation high risk move (even if sloppily executed), but its real brilliance was that it further defined Punk's own status/character as the company's chief outspoken outlaw, the pipebomb-throwing individualist who stood for the future by standing up for the past. So, yeah, not a very elegant worker - but it absolutely worked for him, arguably more than if he would've been smoother.

Ugh, gotta disagree. The nu-metal garbage is one of the reasons watching those shows back is a bit of a chore for me, especially the Manias and whenever they were trying to sell another WWE music CD and all of a sudden everyone had new theme songs for 3 months (the most atrocious example might've been Austin's comeback theme in 01'). Since then, though, I *do* think the WWE has improved substantially in this department. If you look at the current roster, I'd argue that (especially with guys like Edge, Batista, Matt Hardy, Jericho, and other "Aggression Era" guys gone) this is the most diverse entrance music period in at least 15 years. Orton, Dolph, and Sheamus are still holding down the heavy metal/pop metal dirge rock, but at least they cut the lyrics from Reigns and other guys like him. Without lyrics, the songs are much more bearable and generally fit the character. Extra note - my buddy brought this up and it is absolutely true 10,000 percent. The problem with Dean Ambrose's music/entrance has nothing to do with Ambrose or his music. It's the fact that it repeats the fucking engine rev multiple times within a span of maybe 90 seconds. What the fuck kinda stupid shit is that? The engine rev should be the same as Austin's glass breaking sound - it should happen once and only once while the song itself can repeat as needed and if it does loop back into the song, maybe stretch it out so that you don't hear it so many times. Meanwhile, if you think of acts like the Wyatts, the Bellas, Charlotte, The New Day, Stardust, John Cena, Mark Henry, Los Matadores, Neville, the Usos...none fall into the metal trap. To me, to complain about the modern product being too focused on heavy metal/pop metal/hard rock in 2015 is at least a decade late.

I don't mind the guitar shot as much as the sledgehammer. At least with the guitar, you get a great visual - with the sledgehammer, there is no payoff. Its like the kendo stick or the phony aluminum trash can - at the very least, those objects made awesome sounds. The high heel shoe is the first thing that came to mind when I read the title of this thread, but that's likely because I'm in the midst of a WCW PPV marathon watch and have recently finished 95' and half of 96'. How about Jim Duggan's Taped Fist finish? I never really understood it conceptually. Tape or not, it's a right hand to the jaw so its going to hurt - but wouldn't athletic tape covering the knuckles, however slightly, weaken the punch by "cushioning" the knuckles? If not, why not just wear the tape from the beginning of the match too - I mean, it's not even illegal. Maybe this is the wrong thread for delving into the theory behind that gimmick.

I'd love to see Kurt back for a "one-off," but with Daniel Bryan out indefinitely and CM Punk gone, I'm not sure I see many "dream matches" for the guy. Despite their history, Lesnar/Angle would have to be considered a longshot in 2015 and I don't think Triple H or Taker, despite also having a history of good-to-very good matches with Angle, would be put up against him either. Angle/Rusev would've been gold, but Rusev is not as hot a heel as he once was and they've even downplayed some of his anti-US stuff a touch in his current storyline. I could see Angle/Rollins working if it happened in 2015 but I don't think it will happen. In this fantasy booking scenario, Rollins would retain against Sting, retain against Kane at Hell in a Cell, gloat about being the most decorated athlete in WWE history before Angle would show up and challenge him - all of this building to an inevitable Rollins/HHH match where Rollins represents the future who has defeated all the 90s stars (Angle, Sting, Kane) and HHH reps the Old Guard. But, yeah, no Punk and no Bryan (the two guys Angle referenced most over the years as who he would want to work with) makes me think that, while an Angle Farewell Tour is a cool idea, it is not one that is as easy to book as one might think.

Maybe Mark Henry in that spot? He's a Texan. He could show up and have a stare off with Braun. He's a babyface (I think?).

When Flair had Austin on his podcast, Flair's co-host had to correct him on Austin/Hart from WrestleMania 13 not being a 60-minute match. Flair then admitted he'd never seen the match. That one kind of boggled my mind mostly because of just how iconic that match is, plus, it did happen on the biggest show of the year for the rival promotion (the one show you'd think everyone watched). It didn't totally negate any of Flair's praise for Austin and its obvious the two get along well - but it almost reminded me of if I met Robert De Niro, we had a long talk about his accomplishments and the actor's craft and his successes, we shared a lot of laughs and had a great time and became drinking buddies, and then, sometime around our 20th hangout, I told him I'd never gotten around to seeing Taxi Driver.

What about "reinvention" of territory/indie stars? I'm not super knowledgeable about WWWF and pre-Wrestlemania WWF, but I feel like the number of examples of guys that Vince "reinvented" or gave wholly new gimmicks to (Curt Hennig becomes "Mr. Perfect," Harley Race becomes "King Harley Race," Cactus Jack becomes Mankind) certainly outnumbers the guys he took in and didn't "retouch" (Ric Flair, Jim Cornette, Rob Van Dam).

Other bright WCW spots from 95'... * The matches aren't all there, but aside from Savage/Flair, there's also the Savage/Luger tension. I always liked that Savage and Luger had a "frienemy" thing going on and it felt real because everyone can relate to those friendships where you have two buddies that should get along, but don't and always end up at odds. It was like an ongoing episode of a Disney teen drama starring Sting as "the girl torn between two friends." * Reunion of Horsemen (I love the Pillman/Anderson vs. Sting/Flair match) * Cobra vs. Pittman at Fall Brawl 95'. Maybe my favorite bad match ever. Worth watching if you've never seen it. Absolutely ridiculous. * DDP's overblown, super sized selling. See the matches with the Renegade. * Pillman vs. Wright at GAB 95' is solid

The bad news is that the likelihood of us getting an Over The Limit 2012 main event rematch has now gone from 0% to 1% and that's 1% too much.

The point about building up talent to face eachother is one that I wholeheartedly agree with - and yet another reason why the lack of a "ladder" is so frustrating and counterproductive. Look no further than the current Rusev/Ziggler storyline. It should've been a clear-cut storyline of Rusev trouncing Ziggler repeatedly to impress his ex-girlfriend, but instead, Ziggler (whose strength is being an underdog) is presented as being his equal - eventhough the company spent the better part of a year trying to make Rusev look like an unbeatable monster. In the process they've done serious harm to Rusev's longterm earning potential and, counterintuitively, by presenting Ziggler as equal or better than Rusev and Harper, they've actually hurt him too because you're only an underdog when you lose consistently (which makes your victories that much more meaningful). This is also a reason why having squash matches is key - if I see Reigns demolish guys for 5 weeks and see Braun demolish guys for 5 weeks, then on Week 6, when they square off on the big show, I'm going to be interested because both guys look like absolute destroyers impervious to pain. Something's gonna have to give and it's gonna be live on the Network for $9.99!!! Which brings us back to the new wrestling economy - I think its a really interesting idea and one that I'm guessing more and more of the execs are understanding...but I wonder if Vince McMahon himself is fully confident or open-minded enough to consider that TV ratings and crossover appeal should no longer be his prime focus. I think it'd be hard for him to see that because, I'm guessing, in the early-to-mid-90s, he was hearing the same thing ("It'll never be like Hulkamania again"). Then, boom in 97', the company catches lightning-in-a-bottle again and all the people that said the company had "peaked" with Hogan were wrong in his eyes. It wouldn't surprise me for Vince to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder and fully believe that he's only one star away from doubling his ratings again...just like in 98'-99'.

If she wouldn't like to be called a Nazi, she shouldn't put pro-Nazi art on her walls and then share them on Instagram. I totally get that there are ignorant, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ageist, xenophobic people in the wrestling world (hell, there's probably an argument that there's a pretty big example of one in charge of the US's top promotion as we speak), but that doesn't mean she should be let off the hook. If anything, fans should be more unwelcoming of her to show that what flew in the 70s and 80s and 90s and 00s isn't cool in 2015. As for Lemmy, his own words are enough for me: http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/mot-rhead-s-lemmy-talks-about-his-world-war-ii-fascination/ If this woman had a quarter of the tact, talent, or common sense of Mr. Kilmister, I might give her a similar pass…till then I'm gonna keep rocking "No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith" without feeling bad about it.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this story: http://uproxx.com/prowrestling/2015/08/wwe-nxt-zahra-schreiber-racist-instagram/ Reminds me of a girl I knew in high school. She was dating my good friend and had an interesting butterfly tattoo. She was an older chick and explained to me that she had to have it fixed because it was originally a swastika. Me and my friend being Jewish made it kind of a funny story? So, part of me says, "Hey, that photo is from 3-4 years ago. Maybe she's changed." And then I clicked on the links later in the article (https://i.imgur.com/Gtn16mu.jpg and http://36.media.tumblr.com/1646a4eea3762e786d65b9d7e66a51a9/tumblr_nhgjz2xiKI1tg8n0bo1_500.jpg) and I say "Fuck this woman." I don't want to see her fired just yet. I'd much much much prefer if this story gains steam and the next time she's in front of a live crowd, the NXT fans chant "You're a Nazi!" in unison. That way, her career's not only ruined in the WWE, but hopefully in any number of other promotions. I say this, too, with full respect to the indie worker "Basket Nazi," who I thought was great when I used to see him at indie shows in Cleveland. It was an obvious gimmick and designed solely to get heat. There was never any doubt that if you went to his home, you wouldn't see Nazi paraphernalia (sp?). It was an insensitive gimmick, but it also was one he knew could only work in untelevised 50-person house shows (he has since stopped using it). This woman, on the other hand, is someone who, just looking at her own words, obviously is a pretty insensitive idiot who finds casual and not-so-casual racism to be not only acceptable but a symbol of her "independence." She has the right to say and think whatever she wants. That's the beauty of the first amendment. But as I teach my 8th grade students, the first amendment doesn't mean there are no consequences for voicing your opinion. I'd make a comment about Seth Rollins, but this has nothing to do with him - except it might be a sign she's not the "marrying" type.

What did he give Lesnar/Taker?

I have kind of a crazy theory about Woods - basically, what originally was pitched as a "Freebird rule" team quickly changed (or just became) a Kofi and Big E team with Woods as a manager. Seeing the writing on the wall, Woods took a relatively big "brass ring" gamble and started to yell and scream and shout and stage a 1-man show on the outside of the ring during their matches. Now, during interview segments, he was already a bit of the mouthpiece - but it's not like Kofi and Big E are playing strong silent types. During matches, though, Woods needed to do *something* *ANYthing* to stay noticed and his solution was to take the Jimmy Hart model (Who needs a megaphone?) and crank it up past 11 (where Jimmy had it) and up to 12. I'd gladly give credit to the agent or producers for coming up with it, but I'm fairly sure that this was all Woods. I mean, let's be honest, if there were agents and producers focusing on the minutae of the New Day gimmick, it probably wouldn't be as good as it is now. Case in point, Monday's AMAZING tuba moment - I find it hard to believe that some writer said "You're going to learn to play 3 notes on a tuba and that's going to be your entrance" and much easier to believe that Woods pitched the idea (maybe he played tuba in high school or whatever?) and, though it was a great idea even on paper, I can also see the producers being like "Sure, whatever, just don't stretch it too long cuz we got a 20-minute Hunter and Rollins promo going on to close the show." Still, as great as Woods is, I do have to admit to having the nagging fear that the WWE doesn't know what to do with managers and that he'll be cast aside or used as a jobber after the New Day run. Aside from Heyman, the WWE's track record for the utilization of managers recently hasn't been great. I was a fan of Armando Estrada and they didn't do anything with him. I thought Abraham Washington wasn't too bad and he got fired. Zeb Colter was huge for Jack Swagger and, though I'm not sure what else he could've done, he's not around anymore either. Any thoughts on my original theory?

Loved the New Day segment. Loved the Lesnar segment but wish they would've given a real reason for him to leave the ring. Loved the look of the new Wyatt guy, but might have to agree with Jimmy Korderas, who said that the Wyatts need a "bumper." This guy is not that. Also, credit due to the team for not putting him in NXT as I'm glad even a place like this forum had to dig a little bit to find out who the hell he was. Sting/Rollins? Why not? I like that idea way more than one I saw floating around about Sting returning to be involved in the Lesnar/Taker angle. I think people are overreacting about how bad the Divas Revolution angle has gone. There were some positives tonight and at SummerSlam - most importantly that BAD wasn't involved in the RAW match (less importantly, that awesome Alicia/Charlotte spot where they hit kicked each other in the face at SummerSlam). "9-Girl Stand Around" is not a good set-up for engaging matches, though, and only reminds fans of how the divas were booked for the past ten years (as time-filling, throw-everyone-in-an-8-man workers). Here's what they should do - Have the Bellas tag against Charlotte and Paige, let Sasha lead her group in a separate feud with Becky and then have Sasha turn on Naomi and maybe steal Tamina away. Naomi goes face. Then, you can have a Sasha & Tamina vs. Naomi and Becky thing going while you still run Nikki vs. Charlotte, which looks like the eventual direction. Does Sasha deserve better? Absolutely…but I see no harm in having Sasha feud with Charlotte down the line once they've been developed individually. One of the problems, and it was noticeable in the Miz segment and pretty much this whole angle so far is that when you debut 3 new talents, surround them with talents of varying overness (I'm an Alicia Fox fan, but let's be serious, she wasn't very relevant before this, nor was Tamina, while the Bellas and Paige were promoted as vastly more significant), individual characters, strengths, and motivations get lost in the mix. I'm confident that the "revolution" will happen when "The Revolution" is no longer a storyline talking point and we start actually getting to see how and why these individual women got over individually at NXT. Individually. No problem with the Dudleys coming back. I've been really impressed with the Luchas recently and the Primetime Players too. When the Usos come back, we might actually have enough tag teams to run two good tag team matches at a PPV. Los Matadores do nothing for me and the less said about the Ascension the better, but who knows? Blake and Murphy haven't impressed me much, but when you think of how unique each of the aforementioned tag teams are, they kinda fit because they'd be the only generic bland team of the whole bunch.

I'm not sure I agree that Cena's charity work is a reason people don't like him. I think the reasons, in 2015, are mostly that there's a Simpsons-esque "Can't somebody else do it?" sentiment regarding who should be in the main event, Cena's outright goody two shoes gimmick does not appeal to the older, more cynical demographic, and that the "Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks" chants is a thing that happens every night because its by design. Even at house shows or more pro-Cena cities, that chant can be heard. Also, as much as the WWE promotes Cena as their heroic ace, let's remember that everyone from R-Truth to CM Punk to even Daniel Bryan (lesser degree) and definitely Owens and Rollins most recently have had, as one of their major talking points, that they are some version of an "Anti-Cena." Hell, even Edge had that as part of his "edge" 10 years ago. Cena being the "handpicked, PG-friendly Hulk Hogan clone" is kind of the go-to insult against him made by heels and the WWE has gone out of their way to make that clear and, more importantly, profit from it. Cena could never grant a wish again and I don't think any single person will say "Now that's more like it! Fuck kids with cancer! Cena's new attitude is great because he's indifferent and self-centered just like Stone Cold and I relate to that more!" If anything, I think the 500 wishes is a bit closer to Cena's track record of excellent matches this year. It is yet another clear example that Cena is a hard ass worker and that you can hate the character, you can hate the "preferential booking," you can hate the clothes, but at the end of the day, if you don't respect John Cena as a performer and as a humanitarian, you're blind. Granted, if Cena ever pulls a Cosby, we can all go back to hating him, but till that happens, anybody that hates John Cena because he grants wishes to children with terrible diseases and the WWE promotes it is hating on the least "hate-worthy" aspect of the deal.

So, Triple H turns on Rollins tonight?

Obviously this conversation could be its own thread, but when it comes to rating matches (as I've started doing - please check out my blog as I recently posted ratings for hundreds of WCW and WWE matches), I'm definitely willing to admit that I give "bonus points" for the full presentation, production, etc. I, personally, couldn't look at any match as only what happens between the sound of the bells. To do that, you'd have to ignore the crowd's investment or post-match shenanigans or the commentary. I'm not saying I put huge weight on those things, but, to me, that's why I would say Outsiders/Luger & Sting & Savage at Bash at the Beach 96' is a "must watch" for contemporary wrestling fans even if there isn't a single actual wrestling sequence in the whole thing that's memorable. With that in mind, I see Bayley/Banks as an easy 3.5 if you look at just the story told by the performers in the "meat" of the match…but factor in the effectiveness of the pre-match video, the "big match feel" that the crowd brought to it, and the post-match scene and I had no problem boosting it up a full point to a 4.5. Some video games critic once wrote that the pinnacle of gaming design is when playing or completing a video game will make the user cry because bringing that level of emotion is incredibly rare for not only video games but any medium. We all might have movies or songs that make us cry - but how many wrestling moments are there that really draw that sort of reaction? Obviously, trolls will bring up the annual Hall of Fame ceremony, but I'm talking about "in the moment" examples that happen in the ring in the context of an actual wrestling show. There's Savage and Liz reuniting at WM7. There's the occasional retirement announcement/speech on RAW. There's been Daniel Bryan and Shawn Michaels and Eddie and Benoit finally living their "boyhood dream." That Bayley win and the "Curtain Call" ending achieved a similar feeling on a smaller level and I don't think one can overstate how remarkable that is when you also reflect on the history of women's wrestling in the WWE. I'm not going to call it a watershed moment because the momentum of the "Divas Revolution" could vanish in 6 months, but if it does all end, I could think of no better ending to the story of the NXT Divas than what happened last night.

I'm not sure on his health, but I wouldn't mind Rowan returning to help Wyatt and Harper. The "Clan" should've never broken up to begin with, but hindsight is what it is. All three benefitted from being together and though one could argue it would be a "step back," I don't see how reforming would be *worse* than what each guy has done for the past year. In fact, it would've only helped the Taker feud back in February/March. Plus, considering how little they did apart from eachother (at no point did they even really feud with each other in a notable way), the "reboot" wouldn't defy logic...like Ambrose turning on Reigns would. If you're going to have Ambrose turn on Reigns, do it when Reigns is in some position of power, fame, top guy status. THAT would make sense. Turning on Reigns now would have such little impact and, as someone else pointed out, potentially hurt Reigns because Ambrose's "jealousy" (which I'm guessing would be his motive) would come off as him being a bit like CM Punk going after Cena, the downtrodden, overlooked, "unmarketable" guy finally saying "Eff You!" to the cherry-picked guy that's being "groomed." A year from now, though, when Reigns is World Champion, having earned it through a series of challenges, on top of the world, enjoying the good life, Ambrose turning on him would be a total dick move by a jealous asshole. What would Ambrose be envious of in 2015? What "spotlight" has been on Reigns since Mania? By my count, it's Ambrose who got a 1-on-1 title shot more recently. In 2016, Ambrose/Reigns could be money...but in 2015, it's short-sighted midcard fodder. Besides, for all the talk about how much WWE worries about Cena shirt sales going cold, do they ever think that killing Ambrose (even if he is, like, 4th or 5th down the list of sales) isn't such a smart move?* * Separate note - Am I crazy but, this time last year, wasn't there a news item about how Ambrose's merch sales being pretty strong?

Eeesh. I listen to loads of podcasts and multiple wrestling ones, but even making that available to download sounds like a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

I think the main events are pretty exciting, personally. I know on Monday morning everyone and their mother is going to find some way to say "Same old shit!" or "It was so predictable!" but right now, I'm really not sure how things are going to end in either of those matches. In Cena/Rollins, you have Super Cena (who "never loses") going against Seth Rollins, who is not lighting the world afire as champion. It seems cut-and-dry that Cena should win, except Cena already has the US Title and, as we saw on RAW, the WWE just came out with a "15x Champion" tee-shirt that will be pretty meaningless if Cena wins on Sunday. You have Sheamus waiting in the wings with his briefcase but he's less over than Rollins so if the belt find its way to him, one has to figure they'd be "hot potato-ing"it back to Rollins in September (maybe in a 3-way with Cena). I'm not sure Rollins dropping the title for a month to Sheamus does anything for anyone, but its a possibility. I predict that Rollins retains through shenanigans, but betting against Cena has been a pretty foolish gamble for a decade now. If there is concern about flagging ratings and Lesnar won't be around to lift all ships beyond Sunday, it wouldn't surprise me to see Cena get brought back to the main event. I mean, where else does Rollins even go as champion? Reigns/Rollins was a "gimme" after the Mania finish, but 4 months later, with Reigns in a ho-hum feud with the Wyatt Clan, I'm just not seeing it as the big Fall program. Then, in the match I expect will close the show, you have Lesnar and Taker. Again, its hard to be 100% confident in either guy winning. Lesnar should win, no doubt, but Taker dropping two-in-a-row to the Beast is hard to see when you consider that WM32 might be Taker's "Last Ride." Undertaker winning will make the "rubber match" necessary, but it would probably hurt Lesnar more than the Mania loss (which came across exactly as intended - the opportunistic Rollins screwed Lesnar, Reigns, and the fans). Lesnar/Taker III is also going to be a tough sell if their match is as disappointing and "humanizing" for the Deadman as their last one was. After that match, the general feeling among my friends was that we never wanted to see Taker wrestle again - win or lose, I'm afraid we'll have the same thoughts after Sunday. If Lesnar wins, they could still run Taker/Lesnar III, but man, talk about a waste of Brock's talent. It was brought up multiple times during Lesnar's title reign that simply standing up to the Beast will get someone over - that, at the peak their 2014 popularity, Ambrose or Ziggler losing to Lesnar would have made them bigger stars. A year later, that's still true. Of all he's done since winning the title, Rollins mattered most when he was Lesnar's target. There's also big potential in Reigns/Lesnar. If Lesnar wins, there's multiple directions you can go with him - but there's only two directions you can go with the Undertaker: retirement or revenge. That's it. Taker needs to win if they ever want to tell a story with him that doesn't involve the Streak (like, say, Taker/Cena at WM32). So, yeah, I expect to hear that everyone and their mother knew what would happen at SummerSlam on Monday morning, but right now, I'm pretty unsure how things will pan out.

Bryan/Cena at 16a? Man, I think that's one of the top 5 matches of the past 15 years, maybe longer. Great build, great back-and-forth match, emotional ending...I can understand people hating the swerve at the ending, but I'll readily admit I hate the post-match because I got worked - the intention was for me to say "Fuck you, Triple H! You stole the spotlight again! You put yourself over the most over guy in the company! I hate you!" and thats exactly what I did. I'm not as down on the HBK/HHH epics as other people here, but I wouldn't put that in my top 10. Maybe not even my top 20. I won't go through and list, but off the top of my head - Cena/Bryan Hardy/Punk (Ladder) Bret/Perfect Bret/Owen Lesnar/Punk Lesnar/Rock Bret/Undertaker Ambrose/Rollins (Best Lumberjack match ever?) Eddie/Rey and just to throw it out there - Hogan/HBK somewhere in the top 20. As much as that match is cartoonish and HBK is super unprofessional, it was the match that brought me back into being a WWE fan after 4-5 years of not caring at all about pro-wrestling. I've rewatched it since and it is an absurd match, but its also the last Hogan match that interested me at all (I didn't see any of his TNA matches and his feud with Orton the next year was a meaningless joke). I'd readily rewatch Hogan/HBK for its surreal value before I'd rewatch HHH/HBK. Anyone else have any secret enjoyment of that one?