C.S.

On that note, Scott Steiner winning the TV Title and turning heel against Ricky Steamboat was a similar situation and upset. Unfortunately, Steiner left WCW right after, and the TV Title was dropped. But that could have been great if he had stayed.

Bob Holly is the latest guest. I wonder how that is. Holly's book was far and away the best wrestling book in many years.

PJ Walker (the future Aldo Montoya/Justin Credible) beating IRS is definitely up there. What was the point of this angle? They never followed it up with any kind of push for PJ Walker. Aldo did get pushed later on, but they never connected that character back to PJ.

Every episode of Total Divas is now on Hulu Plus (which wasn't the case as of a few weeks ago), but the Network still only has Season 1. While I realize no one here cares about Total Divas, the fact that a "competing service" has WWE content that the WWE's own service does not is just flat out ridiculous. I understand why Raw and Smackdown are delayed on the Network (contracts, etc.), but that's crappy too because Hulu Plus gets them 24 hours later. As someone else here suggested, the Network really should be a "one stop shop" for WWE fans.

Didn't he get a low money offer to go to OVW (or whatever the WWE's developmental territory was at the time) and refuse to take it because he'd have to relocate and jeopardize his wife's high paying job in the process? I swear I remember hearing something along those lines a while back.

This smacks of revisionist history. MMA didn't mean nearly as much 15 years ago as it does now. Boxing, while on the decline, was still a way bigger deal back then. Whatever charisma and mic skills Shamrock had never really translated to the WWE environment. The thought that he ever would've been a bigger deal than Michaels in that match is just flat out absurd, and that's even if you think HBK was wildly overrated like some people here do.

Yep, the Rhino win was a genuine surprise, and then they went right back to Jarrett. I never stuck with TNA for long because bullshit like that made them a complete joke.

I never loved him, but I did like him. I remember his TNA World Title win over Jeff Jarrett at Bound For Glory (2005) - as meaningless as it ultimately was - being a pretty decent match and a nice surprise. Edit: According to Wiki, the Jarrett match was only 5 minutes and change, but Rhino was in another huge match right before that, which was under 15 minutes, so I'm probably remembering both matches as one memorable event in my head.

Well, this isn't good... Wrestling Inc. - Arrest Warrant Issued For Heath Slater, WWE Lawyer Responds I remember hearing something about this at the time, but I thought it had long been settled. I guess not.

That was me. Umaga was awesome, but he lost to Cena and then he was back down the card once the feud was over...like an old school Hogan monster opponent.

There is no way the majority of the fanbase is going to buy Daniel Bryan beating Undertaker. He would suffer a major backlash. There might have been a backlash, just because the Streak was broken, but that would've applied to anyone breaking it. This nonsense about it "being unrealistic" for Bryan (or any smaller wrestler) to beat a bigger wrestler has always struck me as a dishonest talking point. It's wrestling. David vs. Goliath is one of the most basic storylines (wrestling or otherwise), and it always works when done correctly. It's not that ridiculous. Other than Bruno Sammartino, how many guys who weren't native English speakers have been really strong promos? Cesaro is perfectly understandable though. His accent is not thick or marble-mouthed by any means. Regal and Barrett both have thicker accents, and they've gotten over as great talkers. (Granted, they're probably better on the mic than Cesaro, but it isn't because of Cesaro's accent.) Even Davey Boy Smith got main event opportunities from time to time - and he was hardly a great talker, with an accent as thick as molasses. Edit: I just realized you asked about people who were not native English speakers. Different situation than Regal, etc. obviously, LOL. But how do we know Cesaro isn't a native English speaker? It's possible, like many kids from other countries these days, that he learned how to speak both languages fairly early on. According to Wikipedia, Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. While English isn't listed, it's plausible that he could have learned it...unless there are stories of him coming to this country and not knowing the language?

Wow... https://twitter.com/MelissaJoanHart/status/539645617702985728

Yeah but I thought Vince made it clear Undertaker was done and he had to work off what was best for 2014 given what they had. It did seem like he was stretching that someone like Brock needed this rub and that now he could always make this claim. That would be applicable for any wrestler. That's possible, since Bryan wasn't on the table this year because they needed him for the HHH match and the main event, but Vince wasn't very clear in his wording.

That was incredible and worth $9.99 all by itself. I can't agree with whoever said that Austin was throwing Vince softballs. Austin asked Vince just about every question anyone would have wanted to ask him. I can nitpick and wish he had gone more in-depth about Savage or challenged the nonsense about Brock being the only one who could end the streak because there was no one else left (what about Bryan a year or two down the road?). Vince was off his rocker when he said Cesaro doesn't have charisma, mic skills ("maybe because he's Swiss" is as groan-inducing as that infamous Vince Russo interview about Mexican and Japanese wrestlers not being able to get over in America) or the "it factor." Just mind-boggling. All in all, this was an amazing piece of television with a long list of newsworthy items and quotes. Edited to add: Yeah, bad booking after WrestleMania completely fucked Cesaro. I do wish Austin had harped on that point more.

That's a great point. If Reigns is indeed chosen to end Rusev's streak, my dream scenario would be for Rusev to beat Cena and then fall to Reigns.

Which is why it will be great when Reigns beats him at Fast Lane as his "final test" before Lesnar at 31. You're probably right, but at least it won't be Cena. I'd argue that Reigns is an even worse choice. As bad as a loss to Cena would be, he at least has credibility.

To hear it from people here, Rusev vs. Sheamus was a MOTY contender. Come on now. It was okay for what it was, with a hot final stretch and a very satisfactory (for us) finish, just because Sheamus is so fucking stale now. I think Rusev is a perfectly adequate wrestler who has improved and become a fun part of the show. Considering how dull most of the WWE is now, that probably makes him seem better than he really is. He's not bad though, with good upside to grow - but let's see where he is in a year. My guess is he'll be a Cena victim at some point and hit his ceiling as an upper midcarder after that, sort of like a Umaga or Rikishi type. My hope is that they don't rush his push (like they were doing with Reigns), and he avoids Cena completely. The slow burn so far has been great. I'm just nervous that they'll find some way to fuck it up like they do most things.

No, I'm not "digging to find a story" - there's no "story" here because the veteran Mick quickly defused it - but Colt was kind of harsh IMO. Seemed unnecessary to me. I thought the exchange was worth pointing out because everyone always wonders why "asshole Punk" is best friends with "funny nice guy Colt." Well, at least in this instance, Colt seems like kind of self-righteous douche too. (I like Punk and Colt, but no need to nominate them for sainthood.)

From Twitter: Kind of a dickhead response by Colt, no? Mick, all class, lived up to his reputation as one of the nicest people in wrestling with his reply to that:

I'm getting this too, on Roku. Watchlist does work for me though.

Geno Mrosko of Cageside Seats typed out a full transcript of the interview. I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer text over audio. For one thing, it's a lot quicker to get through. http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2014/11/28/7301549/cm-punk-tell-all-interview-with-colt-cabana-transcribed

Because everyone tuned in expecting Sting. The internet diehards knew he wouldn't be there, but most of the audience thought he'd show up. Lots of disappointed fans. WWE really dropped the ball. Nothing new there, unfortunately.

I met Foley, and he was super cool to me. Granted, it was at a book signing, so while it's more or less his job to be nice in that type of environment, he didn't have to go the extra mile, and he did. It was a signing for, I believe, the third book. I had it already, so I went in there and bought Scooter - his work of fiction which was released around the same time. The bookstore security douche refused to let me give Scooter to Mick to sign - now, keep in mind, the "rules" were never exactly made clear by the store in the first place - but Mick immediately objected and said, "Why not? I wrote it!" or something alone those lines. He winked at me after the fact, or maybe it was a smile...something friendly like that. We might have shaken hands too, I can't remember. My point is, Mick was very nice in a warm, heartfelt, genuine way.

Yeah, Arn did look bigger, but what do you expect from an aging wrestler who has been retired for 15 years?

I watched a few things on the Network last night: Usos: 10 Hours to Houston: Remember the old "Before They Were Superstars" DVDs? That makes its return - by name - with this special, so I'm assuming we're going to get more of these and eventually a DVD/Blu-Ray. That's just speculation, but I hope so! This was short but great for what it was. Very touching stuff about their uncle Eddie (Umaga). They seemed closer to him than their own dad, Rikishi. I had no idea they were childhood friends with Roman Reigns. Well worth a watch. ECW Exposed Part 2: I wish this and the Usos special were longer. Like the first Exposed, there was nothing groundbreaking here, but I think I preferred the follow-up overall. They dispensed of the bios and old footage entirely and just answered fan questions from Twitter, which made for a faster-paced and more entertaining show. Batista: The Animal Unleashed: The first Batista documentary, "I Walk Alone," was surprisingly good. This one is more of a mixed bag. They spend too long going over Batista's jujitsu and low-rider hobbies. Other than his cool Eddy Guerrero car, those portions didn't really interest me. (BTW, If anyone watches this, please tell me if Joey Mercury and Kofi Kingston were in the jujitsu clips, or if I'm just imagining things.) I'm glad they at least touched on Batista's mixed reaction at the Royal Rumble, but that's where the documentary ended. I wish we could've gotten another hour about WrestleMania and the other PPVs Batista appeared on before leaving again.