C.S.

Crazy idea, but any chance of Shane being replaced by *drumroll* Kurt Angle? That's the only other name I can think of that the fans wouldn't accept as a disappointment if Shane bows out. Kurt supposedly "retired" from wrestling, only to leave TNA and turn around and take other indy bookings immediately. Probably a pipe dream, but it's fun to think of the what-ifs.

I have to think he picked it himself, with input from his father, so what's the issue? The name's origins aren't only Muslim and Arabic, although you could hardly be blamed for assuming the worst about wrestling (and you may still be right to do just that). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_%28name%29

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, this seems like a severe overreaction IMO. His father was Tiger Jeet Singh, a very famous wrestler. Tiger Ali Singh's name was obviously a reference and tribute to that.

I watched the entire speech on Hulu last night, and one point that dawned on me: Shane went out of his way to mention the 5th, 6th, 7th generations - specifically his three boys, who he then named. Steph and Trips have only girls, right? I wonder if Shane-O going out of his way to mention his sons was somehow meant to appeal to Vince's old world viewpoints and future wishes. I could easily see Vince being the type of guy who would want to keep WWE in the family - the male family.

Reigns has been booked like crap since. Rusev has been booked even worse. They may know how to handle the initial build, but they sure as hell can't sustain it. Even Brock was fucked around with his first year. I don't even mean the Cena loss, which I absolutely praised back then because it was right decision at the time (Brock walked away from his previous run and Cena was the ace, so they weren't about to put their eggs in the Brock basket again right away because that would've been a bad business decision if he had bailed a second time) - I'm referring more to the baffling Triple H series and WM loss.

Looks like this is making the rounds elsewhere on the interwebs: - Cagesideseats.com reader comments: "Political hit" mentioned by name - that you, dylan? - pwfempire.com: "calculated hit" (never heard of this site - anyone familiar with it?)

To me, Shane has always been an innovator and forward thinker, which naturally puts him at odds with out of touch Vince. - Shane ran the New Media department of WWE and obviously saw the benefits and growth of the internet long before Pops, his yes men, and old yokels like J.R. who only associated apples with the shiny red fruits growing behind his woodshed. - Shane wanted to get a foothold in MMA years before it had the major following it does now. I'm not sure if he had any interest in UFC specifically, but I do remember him wanting to buy PRIDE. Whether that would've been a good business move or not, who knows, but he clearly saw the future rise of MMA. - Shane had the balls and backbone to break away from WWE and form his own company - a Netflix-like service in China - which he did before the WWE Network was ever a thing. Bet the Network was originally his brainchild too, because it sure as hell wasn't Vince's. Creatively? Who knows. I have no idea how Shane fares in that dept. But I can say with some degree of confidence that he has a better sense of the bigger business picture than Steph might.

There's always been a vast disconnect between the website and the actual product. I don't think a fantasy piece on .com indicates anything about WWE's plans for Styles.

This sums it up perfectly: There's no political hit. Reigns has been given chance after chance. He has now main evented two WrestleManias in a row! If that's a "political hit," I bet half the roster would love to be "hit" the exact same way. Trips is a great heel when he wants to be, but as we've seen time and time again, he isn't always self-aware and doesn't know how to get out of his own way sometimes. We saw the same with the misguided Trips-CM Punk feud. The booking is bad and has been for years, and the over-reliance on scripting has hurt Roman's natural personality and charisma. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one.

I know there's already some discussion in the weekly show thread, but this really deserves its own thread. It's a major development, hugely shocking, and it takes Mania in a completely unexpected direction. That's assuming, of course, that the Taker match actually happens - but even if it doesn't, this return still has some longstanding ramifications.

There's no way Shane is beating Taker...come on now, LOL. But it will be a fun trainwreck (again, if it happens).

Shane is an awesome surprise and return IMO - totally unexpected - and you know he'll bump his ass off for Taker (if that match actually happens), so it's probably one of the safest options Taker has. Cena is injured, Braun Strowman would not have been good, Taker/Brock vs. Wyatts would have been a foregone conclusion. You can argue - and rightfully so - that they should have built up more stars worthy of Taker. But they didn't. This will be a fun trainwreck (again, if it happens), and Shane returning in any capacity is good news to me.

Yeah, I agree and think Jericho has been subtly building up a heel character for months - the insecure lame dad veteran who downplays AJ's accomplishments, has a beef with other "young'uns" like Ambrose, etc. Where is this Cena/Brock argument?

So now I'm supposed to be psychic and automatically know what you meant when you mentioned Koko? Please... Give me a break! And yeah, Koko is mentioned as a low point for candidates and rightfully so, because he absolutely is. Hot run? I'm not so sure about that. At his height, he was a lower midcarder in the WWF; at his lowest, he was a legitimate jobber. Godfather had a much hotter run by miles as that character and actually won the I-C Title. As forgettable as that reign was, it's more than Koko ever got. Granted, different eras - it's unlikely Godfather would've won gold in the '80s either. I was also going to say it's unlikely he would've had that gimmick, but Slick was around back then, so... You refuse to see that he was super-over. You've constructed a false narrative that suggests otherwise, because it's what you believe so it can't possibly be wrong. No one is saying he was Austin or Rock, but he was legitimately popular. Honest question: Did you have a problem with Rikishi's induction last year? Because, to me, their careers parallel in a lot of ways, and they more or less had similar spots on the card (Rikishi was a bit higher up on the chain briefly).

*I* agree and said as much, but these guys don't seem too sure: http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2016/2/22/11095350/chris-jericho-shinsuke-nakamura-wwe

Jericho is obviously (I hope) in working mode, but his latest tweet about Nakamura: https://twitter.com/IAmJericho/status/701885228516831232

Absurd statement and not even remotely true. The girls were generally barely hot stripper types. They added to the act, sure, but the character was over. Your argument that competing in a bunch of clusterfuck multi-man tag matches should have awoken the workrate giant in him is even sillier. As for Koko, his Memphis work had nothing to do with his WWE HOF induction - do not kid yourself about that. Look, I'm not saying he was a great in-ring technician - of course not - but that was never the point. None of his characters needed to be that.

He was a gimmick wrestler who was never put in a situation where could he have decent matches, and his two big runs came in eras where that never mattered less (end of Hulkamania era and Attitude Era). Workrate snobs will hold it against him, but he was over like rover regardless of his in-ring ability.

Not his fault he was given a pimp gimmick. He made the most of it and was easily one of the 5 or 10 most over acts in the Attitude Era. Plus, the "corporate feminist" was around then too. He was also also memorable as Papa Shango and had minor success during both versions of the Kama gimmick. I'd put this induction firmly in the Rikishi category. Both are deserved IMO.

Godfather now official: https://twitter.com/WWE/status/701853438758547456

The reason Dolph isn't going anywhere - if I had to guess - is probably because he's a spoiled, pouty toddler. I do understand his frustrations, and he is not entirely wrong, but he acts like a whiny baby about them IMO. Look at this vid, where he made Daniel Bryan's retirement all about his own grievances: Someone pointed out that he was wearing his "jobbing frown" during the Owens match (I can't remember if I read that here or elsewhere). I didn't notice that because I'm no expert on Dolph's facial expressions, but it wouldn't surprise me. Also, HBK hit the nail right on the head during the Stone Cold Podcast when he said Dolph tries to be like him (and others) but has never evolved past that. While I'm not sure that Dolph is an HBK clone necessarily, I do agree that he's the "greatest hits" of several of his favorites, but much lesser versions of all of them. Edit: No problems with the feed here (Roku 3), but I started the show ten minutes late because I was cooking dinner.

Felt like a Raw. Not understanding why people are gushing over the decidedly average spotfest main event. It was over too quickly and ended too abruptly. Then again, maybe everyone was sighing in relief that Bray Wyatt didn't do anything to Brock Lesnar. I don't think anyone wanted to see that feud. I'll take an abrupt ending any day over that shitfest. Potential WM card: H vs. Reigns, Owens vs. Styles (?), New Day vs. League of Nations (?) - yuck, Charlotte vs. Sasha (?) or some sort of tag match with Becky? Not sure where Wyatt and Ambrose go from here. Maybe Brock faces Ambrose? Not really nuts about that match, to be honest - unless they pull the trigger and put Ambrose over strong. Not sure where Taker figures in, unless Cena makes another miraculous comeback.

My (wacky and probably wrong but possible) predictions: U.S. Title - Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio: Sin Cara turns on Kalisto. Alberto regains the championship. Divas Title - Charlotte vs. Brie Bella: New champion, unless this is Brie's retirement match (but I can't see her taking off before Mania). Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks vs. Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina): Team B.A.D. after Sasha and Becky turn on each other. The internet explodes in fury. IC Title - Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler is a jabroni. Owens retains. Ryback, Big Show and Kane vs. The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman): Ryback turns on his partners to set up a hoss feud for WM. Wyatts win. A.J. Styles vs. Chris Jericho: Jericho after someone costs AJ the match to set up a Mania feud. Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar: They're staying the course. Roman wins, Wyatts set up something with Brock (yawn), and who knows where Ambrose goes from here.

Yep. He pretty much comes across as an obnoxious, uncontrollable alcoholic in his third book. It's sad to see and rather pathetic.

I may be in the minority, but I never thought Kevin Nash was a good promo. Probably the most overrated promo guy of all time. You can't deny his charisma though.