Jesse Ewiak

From the latest observer - "Exactly how much of this is legit or exaggerated you can make up your own mind, but the Vince McMahon vs. HHH dynamic is something that everyone is talking about internally, even more since Shane McMahon appeared on the scene. The feeling is that if Shane McMahon actually does come back into the company in an executive capacity that it’ll be Vince playing Shane against HHH and Stephanie. While publicly HHH will say Vince loves NXT, the internal perception is very different, seeing it as a touring brand filled with so many guys Vince doesn’t believe are money. We do know there was a lot of heat on HHH and complaints for not selling the Reigns beating in public, because he had to get his face on the NXT show in London knowing it would be a super show in front of that crowd and he didn’t want anyone to not know it was his creation and baby. The questions regarding Reigns given how he’s not gotten over with HHH as his adversary for so long has led to plenty of finger pointing, although a lot of people pointed to the crotch chop on Raw as the sign HHH is no longer really behind the cause of getting Reigns over as a face. Perhaps that’s just paranoia and frustration, but the way Reigns was eliminated at the Rumble and the HHH/Reigns interaction with him has been curious to say the least."

The NXT favorites will show up over on Smackdown w/ Triple H so he can babyface himself while Daniel Bryan will be stuck backing up the hated Roman Reigns every week against such hated heels as Kevin Owens and The New Day. #doublepoliticalhit. Only half kidding here.

I think the thing is the Internet Fans of the mid to late 2000's hated the brand split, but the Internet Fans of 2016 were in their tweens or teenage years during the mid-2000's and not on the IWC of the time, so the Brand Split has nostalgia to it.

You guys don't like it, but the gaming forum with the big wrestling thread I read regularly is eating this up with a spoon for now.

I realize you only mentioned him off hand, but here's a story about Bret Como working in the Vancouver area fairly recently I found from since I decided to Google him out of curiosity - http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/news/298941761.html

Say what you will about Lita & Trish, but they probably did help current women wrestlers that are actually good workers, whether it be on NXT or SHIMMER actually interested in pro wrestling.

Pass

If anybody feels "not worthy" to submit a ballot, go ahead and go over to the SquaredCircle subreddit and read any random long thread and you'll immediately feel better about the gaps in your knowledge.

Here's the thing. I think the over reliance on part timers is a problem. But, part timers on big shows have had their place in wrestling forever. By modern wrestling standards, Andre was a 'part-timer.' Bill Watts was a 'part-timer.' The Sheik and Abby were 'part-timers', at least if you were just an average fan watching one territory. But, guys like that, along with the NWA/AWA champ were all important to drawing the houses for _big_ shows. In all reality, only during the Attitude Era, the WWE/WWF was the first promotion not to depend on "part-timers" for big shows, because all the old stars were over on the other channel. The problem isn't that the part timers are on Wrestlemania. The problem is the booking of full time guys the other 364 days of the year. Brock vs. Rock doesn't have to affect Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns if the latter two guys are built well the rest of the year.

Here's my general feelings. I'm fine with the absorbtion as it's been happening with the provision that if for example, somebody comes around who is new, active, and wants to book say, Georgia or say, California, or Stampede down the road, those promotions can reopen with a decent roster. Maybe give them a quasi-crappy roster for a month to see if they're active, then they can do an expanson draft off the other rosters and actually create a decent roster. On activity, I think a month with no contact is enough to say goodbye. I'm agnostic on roster limits, but 36 w/ a couple manager sounds right. That's enough for a tag team division, a singles division, and some jobbers.

WCCW selects Jerry Monti and bows out of the rest of this draft.

WCCW selects Scott McGhee

Thought I'd resurrect this, and hopefully, it'd get a little more love than the August edition did. Anyway... Top 5 Fed's. 1.) Southwest - For me, show to show, Southwest most feels like what stumbling on a random territorial show is like among the active writers. Other people get very, very close (and Kris writing Georgia when it was active was probably even closer), but of the little Southwest I've seen, you could drop a description of a Southwest show goc has written onto Wrestlingclassics and you'd probably get away with it, aside from the David Von Erich heel run. 2.) Mid-Atlantic - Beast is consistent, has a great roster, great feuds, and of course, the future World Champ. And the thing is, the past few months has largely been set-up, on to Starrcade as it gets closer. 3.) Toronto/IWF - With McParv's falls, we have the rise of Grimtunney. For a show full of a lot of people I don't really know, and other people that had wildly different runs, this Toronto is a very different, but very impressive alt-WWF. Plus, Riki Choshu as champ! Awesome! 4.) AWA - Probably one of the most loaded rosters in the game for their area, if Verne doesn't screw the booking up, the AWA might actually survive this era of history. Hogan brawling with OMG, Da' Crusha being Da Crusha, Vinnie Valentino, The Road Warriors killing fools, what could work better among the hard working blue collar fans of the Upper Midwest? 5.) WWA - In reality, almost any of the active feds could be in here, but I got to give props to JHawk for integrating the Central States roster ably into his Lower Midwest crew. Top 5 Feud's. 1.) Martel vs. Valentine/Koloff/Ventura - I know this isn't the official feud, but basically Martel vs. Top Heel's is money, money, money 2.) JYD-DiBiase - LowBlow built it up great, and the Superdome 'blowoff' that wasn't a blowoff was awesome. 3.) Texas Dynasty-Fantastics - In a game full of awesome tag feuds, this is the best, and the even better thing is it's continuing on down the road. 4.) Midnight's-Rougeau's - Remember what I said about tag feuds that will only get better? Yup yup. 5.) Armstrong's vs. The Flame + Friend's - Despite being a bit of a placeholder feud for Southeastern, it has worked really well, and will hopefully remain hot in the transition to the bigger Southeastern territory. Top 5 Face's 1.) Rick Martel 2.) Rougeau's 3.) Hulk Hogan 4.) Junkyard Dog 5.) Ric Flair (Mid-Atlantic only) Top 5 Heel's 1.) Texas Dynasty - Not just because one of 'em is a Von Erich 2.) Jesse Ventura 3.) Midnight Express 4.) One Man Gang 5.) Super Russian / Greg Valentine

WCCW Saturday Night Wrestling September 24th, 1983 (Taped September 19th, 1983) After going over the matches tonight, Marc Lowrance opened up Saturday Night Wrestling with a promo by Tito Santana & Kevin Von Erich, who went over their main event match tonight, then said that they'd be open to fight any member of Devastation Inc. anytime and anywhere. Lowrance brought up Coage's promo from last week, and Kevin said that he'd lost to Coage in the middle of the ring, and that while he'd be open to facing Bad News again, he wasn't going to get roped into a title match against a scummy SOB like Coage while he was trying to take out Akbar & his charges. We then had a highlight video of Bruiser Brody, set to 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin, focusing on Brody's various bloody brawls in World Class over the years. In the opening match of the evening, Norvell Austin, Sivi Afi, & Al Perez got a big win over The Bodacious Blondes & 'Killer' Tim Brooks when Perez pinned Brooks with a top rope sunset flip in 10:01. After the match, the Blondes immediately went after the babyfaces, but they were already celebrating with the fans. Arman Hussain then had an interview with his charge, 'Killer' Tim Brooks, who was largely ignored by Hussain. The successful businessman explained that while it was signed for tonight that Von Erich & Duncum would face Negro & Mongol, he was using a clause in the contract to bring his new charge, who would be announced tonight before the tag match. Coming back from commercial, Norvell Austin & Al Perez were about to start an interview with Marc Lowrance when The Bodacious Blondes came out, and started to call out the babyface team for a match right now. Unfortunately for the Blondes, the babyfaces were ready, and as they headed toward the ring, the Blondes jumped them, starting a short brawl before World Class officials broke it up. Bad News Allen Coage blitzed through Mike Miller in 5:13, pinning him with a simple 'Judo-style' (gutwrench) suplex. Coage then had a short promo after the victor, challenging Kevin to put up his American title once again, then insulting the Texan fans. Before the match, with Kerry & Duncum waiting in the ring, Arman Hussain came out and annoounced his new acquisition...KORSTIA KORCHENKO! Despite the surprise, Kerry Von Erich & Bobby Duncum got the win over Ciclon Negro & Korstia Korcheko in 9:19 when Von Erich pinned Negro with a flying bodypress. Throughout the match, Korchenko dominated when he was in the ring, even throwing around Von Erich a bit to massive boos from the crowd in Fort Worth. As Von Erich & Duncum left the ring, Hussain browbeat Negro for losing the match. Ciclon then pushed Arman back, which made Arman back off as if he was going to simply leave the ring. This made Ciclon be unguarded for a moment, which allowed Korstia to get behind him and...DROP NEGRO WITH THE RUSSIAN HAMMER! Arman then pulled Negro up, and Korstia brought out the chain, but Bobby Duncum ran out to make the save! After various World Class officials made Korstia and his manager leave, Duncum explained that while he had no love for Negro, he was sick 'n' tired of 'that Russian hombre' running over people without any regard or honor, and “that while I'm rainbow 'n' puppies lovin' hippie, I still got a code, Lowrance. So, if Korchenko and his A-Rab manager want a fight, I'll be right here waitin' for them!” In the main event, Tito Santana & Kevin Von Erich got a big win when they defeated Al Madril & Big John Studd when Von Erich pinned Studd with a rolling cradle in 14:09 as Studd was hoisting Von Erich up for another Reverse Bearhug while Santana & Madril brawled on the outside.

WCCW Saturday Night Wrestling September 17th, 1983 (Taped September 12th, 1983) Marc Lowrance opened the show, going after the matches tonight, and also announcing the next big show for Thanksgiving, while also promoting the various house shows all around Texas, with big action including the Von Erich's in action, and Bad News Allen Coage defending his newly won Texas title. Lowrance than sent it to the ring for the opening contest of the evening. In the opening match of Saturday Night Wrestling, Norvell Austin got the win over Rock Riddle in 7:19 with a big top rope dropkick. It looked like Ken Timbs was going to interfere to allow his tag partner to get the win by knocking Austin off the top rope but Al Perez chased the Fabulous Blonde from the ringside area. After the match, Austin & Perez had a quick interview where they stated they were unhappy about the result on Labor Day, but they were moving on, and were open to challenging the Six Man Tag Champ's once again, with new partners or Tito once again. Before the next match, Tito Santana had an interview with Marc Lowrance where he expressed his disappointment with how the Six-Man title match went on Labor Day, but he was sure somebody, whether it was Kerry, Kevin, Brody, or even the young bloods would knock Devastation Inc. down a peg. In a defense of the TV title, Tito Santana © picked up the pinfall over 'Killer' Tim Brooks with the Flying Forearm in 6:19 in an short intense match where Santana shifted the momentum by managing to dive out of the way when Brooks charged him, making the big brawler run into his manager. After the match, Hussain browbeat his charge, pointing to a celebrating Santana, then bopping Brooks on the head, before bringing him to the back. Coming back from commercial, there was a feature on the Von Erich's, focusing on their tough matches at Labor Day, and short promos with both men, challening Devastation Inc., the Freebirds, and Bad News Allen Coage to matches. Coming out of the commercials, The Bodacious Blondes came back out, obviously very upset and challenged “those two losers,” Austin & Perez to a match to show they were just lucky tonight. Next up, Big John Studd defeated Bobby Duncum in 9:13 by making him pass out in the Reverse Bearhug after a physical match between the two large men. But, Studd was able to avoid the lariat from Duncum, squash him in the corner with an avalanche, then get the win. After the match, Lowrance interviewed Devastation Inc., including Al Madril. Madril explained that he was thankful toward Tito Santana for the chance on Labor Day, but darn it, the TV champ was just too good for him. Of course, this was said with as much sincerity as you'd expect. Akbar then ran down the 'stupid savage', Sivi Afi, before promising the World Class fans that tonight, they'd see a downfall of another hero, just like they saw the downfall of Kevin Von Erich to Bad News Allen on Labor Day. Lowrance attempted to ask Akbar about the end of the Star Wars show where the Freebirds, Brody, and Kevin Von Erich brawled with Devastation Inc., but the devious manager simply brushed him off, saying it was no matter to him. In the main event, Alberto Madril gave Sivi Afi his first defeat in a singles match in World Class, pinning the Samoan star after a low blow and modified front suplex, while holding the tights in 12:09. Throughout most of the match, Afi had control of the match his brawling offense and tough Samoan tenacity, but Madril drilled Afi with the branding iron late in the match, then got the win. After the match, Tito Santana ran out to attempt to talk the referee into restarting the match, but of course, he didn't. Santana then went over to Madril, poking him in the chest, but then newest charge of Skandor Akbar simply smiled, pointed to the referee, then walked away raising his arms in victory as Santana fumed in the ring.

Oops. Downside from cutting 'n' pasting from hastily written Word results. Check that show for an update.

Good beginning to Memphis, continuing on right where Trav left off. But as the other guys said, you'll either have to find where the pictures are hosted on the Internet or simply host them on imgur or something like that.

Awesome stuff to move on from the Superdome. Hansen & Brody are absolute monsters, even though Shiek & Abby could be the ones to face off against them. As for the rest, I knew Ted wouldn't be gone for too long, even though coming back right away might be a bit too soon, but it still works. The Japanese & German working together pays off for a world only 40 years gone from WW II, and the Iron Man tournament is a great use of your midcard talent to keep them busy.

Yup, much like weddings, weightlifting contests never end well in wrestling. As for the rest, really solid buildup to your two big matches, while integrating the actual feuds between your actual full time talent. OTOH, I just see something bad happening with Bobo & Brickhouse after their unification match.

I have to say, I didn't see Valentine as the Super Russian. I probably just wasn't reading into it close enough, but you completely blitzed me when it was revealed. Of course, Martel-Valentine will keep the IWF as a top level fed and drawing big houses, even if Choshu isn't exactly talking them into the building as your champ. Great matches with ole' Riki though. Ventura as the proto-Heenan of Tunneyville is nice as well, with Evil Machine being the blandest name possible, but still working as his wacky backup menace. I'm looking forward to Khan running over people, Wahoo possibly getting some revenge on Valentine in the long run, and of course, awesome random Riki Choshu 20 minute matches in MSG.

Great show as usual, and you've seemed to take over the "write really long matches" crown completely from me while I was busy. The quick switch between the Fabs and the Dynasty was masterful as it worked great as a 'hope spot' for the babyfaces in general, sowed dissent among the face teams thanks to crafty work by the heels, and allowed Tully & David to take a loss, while not losing a whole lot of face. As for the rest of the card, Lothario & Mexico is fun undercard fodder, the Ash/Welch is great for a midcard feud between two guys I've never seen, and of course, I'm counting the days to Eddie turning heel, Duggan becoming a main event fixture against The Texas Dynasty in the long run, and San Antonio continuing to do great work as the 2nd best territory in Texas.

Canada might have all the top shows of the year to themselves between you and the nascent IWF. Everybody else hit the high spots, but I've got to add that I love the idea of an alt-history where the Midnight's are best known for their intense feud with various Canadian stars up in Montreal, at least at first. Vachon-Lefebvre wouldn't get five stars from anybody, but I bet the crusty old French Canadian's would've loved it, before going outside and joining a protest for Qubecois independence. Looking forward to the next 'round' of Montreal and your gallant fight to stop the growing IWF.

Fun stuff with the youngsters, the former upper midcarders of Southeastern who will probably be filling a lot of cards know that the Southeastern roster is heavily expanding. Oates & Armstrong taking on Dirty & Bass would probably be weirdly fun. Good start!

Southeastern is one of the strongest territories out there, and it looks to get even more awesome as it's tendrils advance into Georgia, Florida, and the rest of the Southeast. I'll be honest, I was expecting Cornette to screw over his team and align with The Assassin's somehow, but I guess bringing in the proto-Midnight Express/Heavenly Bodies is an even better way, and will hotshot the Bodies Express straight to the top of the tag team division. Mantell being gone for a bit is a good thing, and the Flame + Friends vs. Armstrong's is a good way to fill time until then, especially with the mystery of who is underneath the masks.

- Love the slow, slow buildup to the Freebird-Flair situation exploding. I'm guessing it'll be shortly after Flair finally has the ten pounds of gold. - I'd expect the Freebird's to pick up the tag titles soon as well, especially since it'll be a small victory against the Russian's. - Yeah, why do I think Guerrero & Taylor are having a 'dead cat bounce' before the inevitable blowup? - Sheik-Schultz is either the end of Sheik in Mid-Atlantic, or the beginning of the Iranian title. - As usual, strong show even though I still think Scott Casey is still your best 'pure heel' and honestly, one of the better heels among all of us bookers.