FedEx227

Yeah, perhaps, I don't know if Chicago is ever smark to be smark if that makes sense. Then again, it's 2014 and smark is more mainstream than ever.

I'm likely going to that show but what would be the need for hijacking? Seems pretty silly if this was the guys decision and he's happier doing it. It's not like chanting "CM PUNK!" the entire time is going to do anything...

I saw Hakushi as more of a 2 to 3 month special attraction but I can certainly see the argument both ways.

Hoyt isn't a scrub anymore. One of the most improved guys in the business.

Yeah, massive rewrites are par for the course, it was probably planned anyway.

Watch that Helwani interview as well, he's REALLY unsure about the Network payoffs and maybe was getting out while he could. You could argue that's counter-intuitive to leaving before the Mania payday, but I think there's a lot of smoke to that fire.

It's all about his terms, with this he's leaving "on top" (you could argue semantics here but for the sake of the arguments, let's say that). He's apart of a major storyline, he's a focal point of the company, he's on their advertising or whatever. At this point, they need him more than he needed them and that's exactly what he wanted to achieve.

Certain characters give IPS Driver errors. Mainly apostrophes that are default on Word or Word Processing programs that are different on this particular board.

You also have to think that Punk wanted to leave before he felt his self-worth would be lowered. I'd argue it's about as low now as it was before the Summer of Punk 2011. Sure, he's in more high-profile things but I think we can all agree they've been largely uninspiring and the future doesn't look a whole lot brighter. He sees the writing on the wall, sees a multitude of guys ahead of him that he will likely never jump meaning he'll never be the top guy anymore. Also, I think we have a pretty good idea of Punk's mentality. This is about the exact scenario I thought would happen with him (just not the timing). He walks out at THEIR moment of need and always holds a bit of leverage over them. Leave on your terms, not theirs.

Yeah I think Brock shooting on Taker is insane and I don't think that would ever happen, he may be a loose cannon at times but he respects the business to an extent. With that said, I'm with sek69, I'm more afraid of him not being careful with Taker, throwing him around like a ragdoll and wrestling, well, like Brock Lesnar wrestles these days.

Tajiri got the best run any Asian (not counting Samoans) has had in that company. I think his overall run far outweighed Hakushi's.

This is an interesting debate for sure. I think one of the issues is the improvement = adapting to your surroundings. While that may be true, I don't think that's a fluid argument for "improvement". A guy like Danielson, you could argue is doing a better job of connecting with the audience but then again, it's not really fair to compare what he's asked to do in WWE, who he's asked to do it for and what not to his ROH career. To me, that's seems unreasonable to assume improvement based solely on objectives in wrestling. You could argue he didn't do enough to get the crowd behind him in ROH or didn't get the same impact on his moves and while there's some truth to that, I saw the guy get gigantic reactions at numerous ROH events all across the country. To me, it's the difference between working a style 2,000 people liked to working a style 20,000 people like.

Someone from these parts told me that Vince put the "reigns" on Harper from the beginning and thought monsters shouldn't move around like that or do cool moves or whatever the hell Vince thinks. A few months ago, the chains got taken off and it's not a coincidence he's suddenly IMPROVED.

I think it's hard to say they've become better in the sense of Punk/Danielson because the styles are just so different. Danielson doesn't wrestle ANYTHING like he did before. Do I think he's found some nice middle ground in this current WWE style? Absolutely. Does that mean I think it's better than his 03 stuff? Not at all. Different organizations, different objectives, different styles. They've excelled at both IMO and it's impossible to compare or say they've improved or gotten better in an overall sense.

It was the subject of our first-ever podcast and its the subject of today's brand new podcast - the Wrestling Observer Awards! We give our picks, who we voted for and why, discuss who the WO readers voted for and answer a few listener questions. Discussions include Okada's improvement in the ring, whether Goldust deserves as much praise as he gets, why lucha is unrepresented in these awards and why CHIKARA was our Worst Promotion of the Year. http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/2...awards-special/

We're in the midst of the WWE's "New Generation" and that means we don't have two minutes for guys to come out to the Rumble, we're doing 60 seconds! Allan Blackstock of the Wrestling Eye Podcast joins me to talk about this fast-paced Rumble, Shawn Michaels goes wire-to-wire, ridiculous 1995 gimmicks and much more! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/2...al-rumble-1995/

Austin finally gets his hands on McMahon, Mabel turns to the dark side and the most Russo-rific Royal Rumble takes the fight all the way to the bathroom, it's the 1999 Royal Rumble! I'm joined once again in studio by Sean "spiffie" Flynn to review the 1999 Royal Rumble, we discuss unorthodox Rumble booking, the insane lack of in-ring action in 1999, Gillberg and much more. It's a fun show as always, so check it out! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/2...al-rumble-1999/

Friend of the website Sean Flynn joins me live in studio to review the 1994 Royal Rumble! We discuss the switch from two minutes to 90 seconds, a running count of mullets, Lex Luger's odd skin color and so much more! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/2...al-rumble-1994/

Shawn Michaels looks to repeat his winning performance from 1995, Dory Funk Jr. joins the fray and Vader runs wild over the rest of the WWE, it's the 1996 Royal Rumble! PlaceToBeNation.com's Chad Campbell joins me to review this Rumble as we discuss the dire state of the WWF in 1996, Hakushi, "The Ringmaster" Steve Austin and so much more! Note: Missed an edit on my dog barking, sorry! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/1...al-rumble-1996/

As I said, the mega push began when his neck was hurt and he couldn't wrestle. Sure, the Mania 13 deal helped but he still was kind of toiling away, mid-late 97 he exploded.

Joe and I return with a monster podcast wrapping up the Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year poll including our top 10, biggest surprises, biggest disappointments and more. We also discuss the latest with Daniel Bryan, our thoughts on the WWE Network and much more! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/1...beginning-more/

Glad you're listening! Much appreciated. Best sig on the site too.

Chairshots, Boricuas and Kurrgans... oh my! It's the 1998 Royal Rumble and we're reviewing it on the newest episode of the Voices of Wrestling Rumble Rewind. Brad Woodling joins me to talk about this historic Rumble. We discuss his attendance at the go-home Raw, Austin's rise to prominence, "Cold Stone" Steve Austin, The Rock and so much more! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/1...al-rumble-1998/

That's the one!

1990 with Parv aka jerryvonkramer http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/1...al-rumble-1990/