C.S.

Apollo should be released. He needs 2-3 more good years in the indies/Japan. Despite having all the tools on paper, that guy has not connected at all.

Agreed. I'd even settle for 75 minutes to eliminate the inevitable Cornette profanity and anything that goes against the "WWE narrative." 19 minutes seems like a cruel joke.

That's true too, but only because they were actually backed into a corner and had to push Bryan after Punk left. Otherwise, we'd remember it as Steph emasculating Bryan and Trips cutting him off at the knees at every turn. True, but I'm not sure that means "Authority Figure" deserves a separate category as one of the 5-6 successful basic wrestling storyline archetypes. In all of those cases, it's still a 1 on 1 feud. Story-wise, what's the difference between Boss Man vs. Hogan and Vince vs. Hogan? One guy's playing a cop vs. Hogan and the other guy's playing an evil executive vs. Hogan.

A great post! Although, I personally wouldn't add "authority figure abuses roster" because that has never truly been successful. Yes, of course Austin vs. McMahon was a smash hit, BUT that was one authority figure vs. one wrestler and could probably loosely fit in one of the other categories. While the Mr. McMahon character surely had other targets from time to time, it only worked because of the dynamic between him and Austin. It has not worked since, in any combination, and is now one of the stalest and laziest crutches around and has been run into the ground by every fed. Edit: Evil "Easy E" Bischoff also worked, to a lesser extent, but the nWo would have been perfectly fine without it too.

When Steve-fucking-Lombardi and various no-name d-list comedians (Ron Funches, etc.) have been talking heads, Russo doesn't exactly have a high mountain to climb. And when did this turn into an either/or argument anyway? No one is saying Russo should replace Cornette.

At the same time, having the two hottest stars means less than jack shit if they're not put into a position to draw - e.g. Austin in WCW, the entire history of TNA, etc. Right place, right time for Russo? Maybe to an extent. But without him pushing the WWF to go from family friendly to Attitude Era, Austin and Rock are far different characters.

Russo as a booker drew money (albeit for a very brief time, and not by himself). Cornette as a booker never has. That earns Russo a spot at the "talking head" table IMO. Both men's flaws are otherwise widely documented, both in this thread and elsewhere, so no need for me to go into that

Agreed, although - thank God - I don't remember the Mideon farm animal stuff. Brand extension? Russo takes Raw and Heyman takes Smackdown? Oklahoma was actually created in the WWF - not with that name or the full costume, of course, but Ed Ferrera debuted his idiotic J.R. impersonation on Sunday Night Heat.

So many possibilities here: Vince Russo was responsible for record high ratings during the Attitude Era. What if he never went to WCW but instead remained in the WWF? - Can he sustain those numbers? - Even if he can't, is he remembered in a much more favorable light? - What happens to WCW? Do they remain in business? (I always felt it was a very naive and simplistic view to blame Russo for everything when there were clearly other and much bigger problems and factors in play.) - Does TNA ever become a thing? (We already know Vince Russo came up with the name, so it would have at least been called something else.) - Does Chyna get a second chance in the WWF because of her friendship with Russo? - Who gets pushed under Russo that otherwise wouldn't have? (Not counting Jeff Jarrett, whom I assume Vince McMahon would have continued to veto.) - How long does Russo last in the WWF overall?

You wouldn't love a Table For 3 with Russo? The other two could be Bischoff and let's say AJ Styles for the hell of it because they have to put someone random in there who is kinda, sorta linked to both guys. Credit: WhatCulture.com Because Russo comes across like a complete out of touch ass now. His trolling about Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, etc. - which I doubt he really believes, but still - makes him seem like a relic of a bygone era. Still, with all the other assholes who get Network interviews, "talking head" segments, Table For 3 appearances, etc., Russo should too. The heat he has with others would make for entertaining viewing in that format.

Table for 3 with Jim Cornette, Eric Bischoff, and Michael PS Hayes was the best episode of that show ever, by a country mile. It's just a shame that an obviously much longer conversation got cut down to 19 minutes. I kinda wish Vince Russo would get back into WWE's good graces, at least as a "talking head," so he can appear on these sorts of things. I know there was new footage of him shot for the Monday Night War series and a couple of other things, but not much.

If that happened, WWF would have still had a disastrous '94-'95, but without WCW Nitro there to give them a kick in the pants, wrestling spirals downward and becomes another obscure curiosity like roller derby. There is no late-'90s comeback and none of what we have now. ECW would have served a niche but that would have been the extent of it.

I love these "What If" threads, and I think this is a good one. According to lore, John Cena was almost fired before he impressed Stephanie McMahon by doing freestyle rapping on a bus. Whether bullshit or not, everything about WWE changes if that happens. Who becomes the "face that runs the place" instead of Cena? Can anyone match Cena's longevity, merchandise sales, years of great matches, etc.? Does Cena end up as "just another face in the crowd" in TNA, where he makes no difference at all? Between the trainwreck management and the fact that Cena wasn't yet a main eventer and "Super Cena," he's unlikely to get the WWE nostalgia act World Title push most others received. See: Punk, CM. Do we get several more years of Triple H on top? So many "what ifs" and potential ramifications.

Don't forget Stone Cold Steve Austin's cringe-worthy "I see sand people" promo directed at Hassan and Daivari. Still arguably the lowest point of Austin's career.

I caught debut of the Velveteen Dream (Patrick Clark). I'm not quite sold on the gimmick, and Clark doesn't seem entirely comfortable with it yet, but he was much more impressive in the ring than I was expecting him to be.

Meltzer apparently said Lita was being considered as a commentator for the tournament. I hope not! She's awful in that role.

From "that Indian guy" to WWE Champion...wow.

LOL at JBL citing Nakamura's 3 IWGP titles and then saying "this is the big time now" about WWE. Please tell me I misheard and he really said NXT.

Imagine an alternate universe where Nia Jax had an extra year of seasoning in the PC and debuted as the person to beat Asuka.

They're not signed full-time?! I'm glad Dunne won, but both are great.

I'm surprised this doesn't have its own thread... - Roderick Strong vs. Eric Young - WWE UK Championship: Tyler Bate © vs. Pete Dunne (with guest commentator J.R.) - NXT Tag Team Title Ladder Match: Authors of Pain © vs. DIY (Ciampa might be injured) - NXT Women's Championship: Asuka © vs. Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross - NXT Championship: Bobby Roode © vs Hideo Itami From the main NXT thread:

Roderick Strong is good in the ring but has zero personality. Whereas, Roode is strong character-wise but a bore in the ring. Eric Young is really who I don't care about on any level.

More "Broken" TNA drama, this time between Reby Hardy and Dutch Mantell. http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2017/5/19/15667954/hardys-vs-impact-wrestling-twitter-fight

I don't think Foley's reigns get affected. If anything, I see a great Foley/Bret feud over disagreements in their differences in style. Didn't Undertaker and Kane have a couple of short reigns during the Attitude Era? I think those would be the casualties. Austin vs. Bret would've headlined WM14, Austin would've won, and it would've been a much better match. Triple H still ends up in the same place, more or less, because they were always grooming him. Remember, he was originally going to win KOTR the year Austin did. Shawn in WCW ends up in the same kind of position that Jeff Jarrett eventually did - a few meaningless World Title reigns. It would be worse though, because unlike Jarrett, Shawn's best years would have been behind him due to a combination of drugs and injuries. In WCW surrounded by his enabling junkie drug buddies, Shawn may not have even made it to 2000 alive.

Not worth its own thread, but there's a new hashtag going around - #BL2017 - which supposedly means Block Lana 2017, and it has caused some controversy among the women. It started with Melina defending Sasha's loss on Raw to Alicia Fox as a good storyline, Lana "liking" those tweets, and then Sasha, Summer, and someone else tweeting out #BL2017. If it really means Block Lana 2017, I think that's childish as hell. If Sasha wonders why she's constantly the Randy Savage to Charlotte's Hulk Hogan and now putting over Foxy, this is why. Hopefully it really means something else - Becky Lynch 2017? - and there's nothing to all of this internet speculation. I'd really hate for Sasha's career to suffer due to maturity issues, because they have something special with her. It always sucks when a really talented wrestler is his/her own worst enemy. You can see some of the tweets here: http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0518/626314/lana-likes-comments-made-by-former-wwe-women-champion-on-sasha/