C.S.

Devastating but inevitable news. When he wasn't cleared and brought back after ALL those other injuries, I think we all kinda knew this was the end of the road for Daniel Bryan. The haircut and shave all but confirmed it.

From WWE.com: http://www.wwe.com/inside/axl-rotten-passes-away

I don't recall that being the case. JBL questioned Bischoff on a lot of things but gave him the freedom to tell his side of the story.

Agreed. Easily the best show on the Network, especially now that Stone Cold is no longer live.

According to Total Divas (I know, I know...), Mandy Rose - Amanda from Tough Enough - was signed to a five year deal. Can that possibly be true? Seems like a long deal for someone so unproven. In other news from that show: - R-Truth is afraid of cats. - Tyson Kidd is depressed. - Big E is involved with Nattie's sister.

I am still having no luck finding much information on the Battle of the Underdogs/Underdog Challenge. Even http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com isn't much help. Is there another/better resource?

There was definitely a tournament of some kind. It was on WCW Saturday Night over a span of several weeks. Bob Cook won it.

Pretty sure there was an entire tournament around this - The Battle of the Underdogs - which featured Bob Cook, Joey Maggs, Mike Thor, and future stars like Mustafa Saed, among many others. It was one of the most awesome wrestling parts of my childhood. I'm trying to find more information, videos, or at least a tournament bracket, but I'm coming up mostly empty. It looks like Robbie V - the future RVD - was in it too! (I don't remember that though.) Sadly, I just found out through searching for this that Joey Maggs passed away in 2006.

I'm with you. Miz is one of their top guys in every way. He has more heat than "favorite sons" like Sheamus and Orton, who aren't over a lick and don't move the needle. He's fantastic in talk show appearances and a great representative for the company in general. He has absolutely shined in every role they've put him in (except his babyface turn, which - like many from that era (Alberto, etc.) - was badly botched. I blame creative, not Miz, for that. IMO, Miz should've turned babyface after his Mania main event victory over Cena and feuded with the loathesome "jock-ass" Alex Riley, who was miscast as a babyface. But that ship has sailed, and Miz should definitely remain a heel now.

Sadly, you're right. He's stale as fuck because there's nothing left for him to do. He has already won: - Several World Titles ✔ - U.S. Title ✔ - Royal Rumble ✔ - King of the Ring ✔ - Money in the Bank ✔ Jesus, he's the personification of why the industry needs major league U.S. alternative other than the WWE. (TNA, ROH, and LU ain't it - sorry!)

Which is a shame, because both Orton and Sheamus would be perfect for it. Orton has kind of transitioned into the "gatekeeper" role anyway. I don't think the fans would be too upset if those two never won another World Title.

According to Dean Ambrose, it's him: http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2016/1/4/10711612/dean-ambrose-thinks-of-himself-as-a-good-mechanic-for-wwe

Disagree. I like Bliss too, but she doesn't have the pizzazz and gimmick Lana has. Lana is unique. Bliss, not so much.

I wonder if people are blowing the Rock/Lana segment out of proportion... The reason I ask is because: aren't Rock and Rusev somewhat buddies because Rusev was trained by Rock's "cousin" Rikishi? If so, then why would Rock agree to go along with WWE's petty heat grudge and shame Rusev's fiancee?

WWE 24 (WM31) and Ride Along (New Day and Dolph/Miz) were pretty solid.

But wasn't that supposed to have something to do with the Rumble finish itself? My guess, and I may be wrong, is that we'll see Reigns have to "earn" a Mania shot against H (maybe against Brock?). I could see that being the main event, with H not defending the title at FastLane.

Maggle and JBL already said Triple H is main eventing WrestleMania. So? There have been a handful of times that they've booked the Rumble winner to not end up in the Main Event of WrestleMania. Either not in the match at all (Austin '97 and Vince) or in the last spot of the night (Del Rio, Edge, Sheamus), but it has happened. Raise your hands if you think there's a chance in hell of that happening this time. I'd love to be wrong, but come on now. Not in the Rumble, but the worst was the camera man almost missing the double table finish of Ambrose-Owens. The footage we saw was at a bad, obscured angle. Just terrible. Actually, no, the worst was Kofi's elimination not being shown (although someone here said there was a replay of that, which I don't remember, but I'm not doubting it was shown).

Are you talking about the Ryback bump? That looked nasty, to the point where I thought the big clumsy oaf had legitimately injured Styles. Kudos to such a great bump and that no one got hurt. Definitely the highlight of the night for AJ.

Fair enough. He has evolved over the years, so I'm sure he's smart enough to make adjustments as needed. You might respond that he doesn't need to adjust anything, but the fact is, any new environment (whether WWE or otherwise) will require those adjustments. Even Jericho, Bryan, etc. had to go through them when they went to the WWE. Now, you might prefer how they looked, wrestled, etc. before they came to the WWE, and that's fine, but it doesn't change the reality of what the WWE is looking for and expects.

One match against Austin, then they gave up on him cold turkey. Agreed about him not being able to go anymore though. Anyway, my original point was, I think we care more about the final four of the Rumble than Vince does. I'm not saying it's not important, but I bet it's not nearly as important to Vince as the final two is. AJ Styles making it to the final four wouldn't have made much of a difference to his overall standing. He'll still get whatever push he's going to get. I don't disagree with the push being what it was ultimately going to be (although final 4-6-8 might have said a lot about what KIND of push it was ultimately going to be) but I think the new guy getting that massive pop, then lasting that long and pulling out a bunch of spots and showing the uninitiated crowd what he was capable of and why he belongs in there, would only help to better serve him in the long run. Like others have said, he was no worse a pick for the iron man spot than Chris Jericho. In fact he was a better choice by almost every conceivable metric. I think him having a really tight 7 minute match with Neville or somebody on RAW tomorrow would serve to do essentially the same thing, but I'm just thinking out loud. And yeah perfect was a guy, AJ is a guy. Close enough AJ Styles will be "just another guy" in a year. Perfect is a legendary wrestler and character and a major part of WWE's history. Even a World Title for AJ won't change that (see Swagger, Jack). My point - which you keep missing or conveniently ignoring to make snarky comments - is that final four doesn't matter, and as Slasher pointed out, the final two doesn't always matter either. Santino is the most extreme example, but how often has the final two come down to obvious winner vs. obvious guy that's going to get thrown out? Every year Big Show made the final two, the outcome was never in doubt. Getting back to AJ, you said they should've put him in the final four. I say it makes no difference. He still had a good showing and he'll be pushed however he's pushed. I agree with you completely that AJ would've been a much better choice for the Iron Man spot than Jericho though. My feeling is that Jericho got it because they know he's capable of going 50, while AJ is new to the WWE and they're not entirely sure what he can do yet - outside of what they may have seen on tapes (and that's being very optimistic) or heard from others. With Jericho, they know him and they've seen firsthand for fifteen years what he is capable of. "Go with what you know" is probably how they made that decision, and let's face it, it's a meaningless spot anyway. Jericho went 50 but he may as well have gone 10 because it didn't matter to the match and didn't break any records, so it won't be on any video packages in the future. That's probably why Vince used to throw meaningless midcarders into those Iron Man spots, because it was never seen as an "honor" until the fans made it one. If anything, it was supposedly a "punishment" spot at first.

Nah, no lifts or anything ridiculous like that. But he can start with his ring gear. What he wore during the Rumble was awful. His hair also looks like a rat's nest where the mama rat had babies and they all died. He's never going to be big, but he can still be larger than life. They're two different things IMO.

It's all about projection. Eddie Guerrero was larger than life. Daniel Bryan was too, with the beard, "YES" and arm movements. Even Rey was, with his colorful mask, outfits, and flashy array of high-flying moves. AJ Styles is not larger than life. I'm as happy as anyone that he's finally in the WWE - he deserves it - but yeah, he looked really tiny.

One match against Austin, then they gave up on him cold turkey. Agreed about him not being able to go anymore though. Anyway, my original point was, I think we care more about the final four of the Rumble than Vince does. I'm not saying it's not important, but I bet it's not nearly as important to Vince as the final two is. AJ Styles making it to the final four wouldn't have made much of a difference to his overall standing. He'll still get whatever push he's going to get.

Not really. Mr. Perfect returned and made it to the final four in 2002, and it didn't mean a lick. Sure, the Plane Ride from Hell derailed his momentum, but he was booked as a lower midcarder even before that - with his odd couple pairing with Boss Man that screamed "we have no idea what the fuck to do with either of these guys." Felt like the type of random pairing someone would choose in those old WWF Superstars or WrestleFest arcade games. I guess this is an apt comparison, kind of, not really It's apt...it's perfectly apt. Mr. Perfect is one of the all-time greats in WWE history. He could have been a big deal upon his return if booked that way. He wasn't. And then the Plane Ride from Hell would've derailed all of that anyway. Still, even with the shitty 2002 comeback, Perfect will probably matter more in WWE history in the long run than AJ Styles ever will. Yeah, we're on a Styles high right now, but let's not delude ourselves here.

Maggle mentioned his elimination - it happened during Roman's attack by the League of Nations - but we never saw it.