dawho5

I'm going to agree with Beast here. My way is simpler and works within the framework of what we had before. Why make major changes when one minor one will do?

I've got one problem with your "be fair and draft" idea. People want to start this and it's not going to happen this week once we get to around 12. So just give punk Mid South and shoehorn him in a picked guy if need be and let's get this going.

There's nothing wrong with that. Since punk listed Mid South I can jump over to Montreal. It's in no way a problem for me. What roster would I be picking from if that were the case?

I tend to agree with Parv on this one. If goc was Southwest and somebody's updates were going to change that at the very least it should have been discussed before it was changed. I'm also in the same boat as far as dkookypunk goes. If it takes three days between him visiting the threads to see what is going on that doesn't bode well at all. That being said, if Dedhemingway is willing to take Mid South while goc keps SW or whatever works out for the best I'm fine with it. As stated above I doubt my ideal setup is possible for a little while anyway. And lastly, I'm sorry Parv but it doesn't seem like there's much worth hanging onto in Mid South besides DiBiase, Butch Reed and Duggan as far as draws around that time who would stay viable. JYD breaks down very shortly after and the rest seems like guys who would have to be elevated to be main event status rather than being there t begin with. And nothing against Reed or Duggan but Ted is the clear draw, which does warrant some consideration even in a fantasy draft.

I know he didn't list it, but if goc wants Mid South he can have that. I'll move over to Montreal or wherever. The way I'm looking at this I'm going to have to build the promotion I want piece by piece anyway, so starting a bit lower won't hurt.

I'm picking the obvious one on the Mid South roster, Ted DiBiase.

I forgot about Rusev. He didn't lose until the completely pointless loss to Cena. Are there some parallels there? Big guys who can work credibly against main roster talent coming up as undefeated heels. Maybe Owens is another exception to the rule.

Here's some Hansen suggestions 4/16/93 vs. Kobashi - Best lariat ever hands down. It's a handheld recording but so very worth it. 1994 CC vs. Kobashi followed by vs. Taue two days later - these will blow you away as Stan Hansen performances. Hansen/Taue vs. Kobashi/Akiyama 1999 RWTL Final - this is a molten hot crowd cheering for babyface Stan Hansen, it has very few peers in that regard, Kobashi/Akiyama as the heels is such a cool dynamic Great stuff as always but I'm shocked you missed the spot with Kobashi running his face into Hansen's boot at full speed in the 7/29 match. There is a version with Kobashi's face post-match shown after the match aired. Watching back, Kobashi never even tried to slow down. On the Kawada vs. Kobashi match, it was kind of an odd match due to Kobashi still a midcarder on the rise while Kawada was just settling into main event status. And Kawada/Kobashi was a feud built around Kobashi's determination to prove he could take the fight to Kawada just as hard as kawada took it to him. The whole macho pissing contest aspect of Japanese pro wrestling stems from these two. It's just they did it way smarter. Kawada/Misawa had a sort of version but it was different in a lot of ways. Also, going forward Kobashi vs. Kawada will always feature one working the other's leg over. They had elements of that before the 12/3 match but it became PERSONAL after that. And Steven is so right about Kawada being better than Misawa. Especially early years Kawada's development is far more interesting.

Wasn't there still a question as to which promotion Dylan was going to run? If he wants Mid South I can move over to Florida if need be.

Everyone jobs their way out of NXT. Bo Dallas, the Ascension, Neville, Lucha Dragons. It's a separate entity that I'm not sure even gets acknowledged on Raw/SD so it doesn't matter. It also keeps the big names moving up that stay at NXT rather than having to build them up from scratch.

I loved this match. Owens was spot with the early stalling leading into the violent, brutal beatdown. Sami is a ridiculously good babyface and it does get uncomfortable to watch near the end. The hope spots and comeback nearfalls are great as well. Owens makes Sami's offense look really good like a heel is supposed to do. Sami comes off great, eating the early beatdown and coming back strong before banging his head on the dive. Owens deciding to powerbomb Zayn until the ref stops the match is a brilliant bit of booking. Sami can say he never lost his title and Owens can say he destroyed Zayn without either being a liar. From the moment Owens powerbombed Zayn at R-Evolution I was impressed by how the WWE turned Owens into a heel and Owens played it. Stabbing the most over babyface in the back right after his big moment and never looking back will always get a heel reaction. It's really simple, but for whatever reason there seems to be a need to make things more complex in the WWE's booking. Great match and great work throughout the feud so far by everyone involved.

I get why they did the 4-way match. Bayley gets her new attitude, Becky gets separated from Sasha and Charlotte doesn't look weak losing in a 4-way with all the double teaming. I'm still not a fan of these kind of matches and I thnk they would have been better served putting Sasha over in singles after the explosion of the alliances. Match is fine for a 4-way match. Those are usually sloppy and hard to get right in my opinion so it's not something I was looking forward to in the first place.

I'm fairly sure I'm not alone on this. But there is one very big reason I think this is the case. It's not the women's division or the fact that guys like Neville, Zayn, Breeze and Balor get a push. Those are certainly wonderful things. What I think makes NXT better than the main show is the overall presentation as a wrestling program. From week to week the stories and matches are presented in a way that builds on what was done before. The characters evolve as time goes on in a (usually) logical way. On the main show it seems like the direction things are moving is constantly changing and impossible to follow. The reason I think this is a huge advantage for NXT is because the matches they build to on their big shows mean something. They seem to have at least three or four matches on each special that have been building since their last special. It makes such a huge difference in that the specials actually FEEL like a special show. All the things that have been happening are coming to a head. I won't say I love all of the booking in January of 2015, but I think what they are doing is far, far better than the majority of the 2014 Raw/SD I watched from a booking standpoint. And I stopped after Mania, cherry picking stuff I wanted to see after that. Another thing I have noticed is that NXT layers their matches pretty well. It's not always done in an optimal way for me, but there is a difference between midcard matches, main event matches and live special matches. It makes the live events feel more like a special show than the once a month show where the wrestlers get a little more time to go. Another huge advantage for NXT. As much as I dislike Triple H for many, many reasons, if he is in charge of the NXT booking it really does bode well for how the WWE will be presented after Vince is no longer in charge. I understand that once Vince steps down/is removed from power/(I know it sounds callous, but it seems most likely) dies the WWE will lose a lot of it's influence and have to build itself back up. I do think that based on the current way NXT is being booked that there is a good chance it will regain every bit of it's dominance if the reaction to new management isn't too jarring. But that also means that we will get Triple H and Steph as heel authority figures with their face all over the TV. I think I can deal with that if it means the rest of the show is coherently booked week to week and the PPV matches get the same amount of added oomph compared to TV matches that NXT has.

I really liked Neville's early offense after the Balor shine. He was playing the subtle heel very well. I agree that it had a lot of WCW cruiserweight match to it. The end got a lot more spotty and was a departure from the early match despite the fact that it built well within itself. But if you're going to do a spotfest ending that was a Hell of a way to do it. I don't hate either part of the match, but I can't say put together they make a great match. It is a very enjoyable watch and something I will go back to from time to time, but it's not what it could have been. I suppose it's a part of the nature of NXT that they are aping several different styles as well as adding in elements of their own and that makes for an odd mish-mash at times. There are definite elements of midcard WCW from the mid-90s with some modern new Japan and American indies thrown into the mix. One thing I am noticing about their big shows is they do a good job of separating the style from TV matches. They tend to go into more indy mode for the finishing runs with a lot more big spots and kickouts where TV matches are a few nearfalls, maybe some finisher teases and a finisher for the win. It does give a more big match feel to the big matches, but in a really superficial way. I have no problem with watching the NXT big show matches because for me they blow away straight indy matches because the big spots stand out more in a WWE controlled environment where the workers have to pick and choose their big spots instead of just having a million big spots to throw out. And they work a lot better for me than Raw/SD matches between good workers that are thrown out there with little to no meaning or story behind them. I love Tyson Kidd and Cesaro both in singles and from what I have seen of their tag work. But if you put them in NXT and give them an actual program that means something in the grand scheme of things with a 20 minute match every three months I would love them more. A smattering of really good to great TV matches that mean nothing can't compete for me. I'll live with the weaknesses of the wrestling style if they keep things moving the way they do so far.

GCW, Mid-South and Stampede would be my picks for promotion.

My first choice would be Georgia.

I feel like the Shield run was booked with Ambrose as the weakest of the three on purpose. And I haven't watched much of his run after the Shield but I imagine that he falls victim to the midcard curse that cuts the legs out from under anyone that doesn't have the backing of the front office. The clothesline spot is annoying after about four times seeing it despite how good of a clothesline it usually ends up being. But if you really think about it, there are probably dozens of guys who have spots that are incredibly awkward/require a lot of setup/can be seen from a mile away that they do every match. That's WWE style for you. As for Ambrose as a worker I like the energy he can bring to a match and I think he's capable of being a very good worker on any given night. I thought he did really well as the crazy guy in the Shield who had to be rescued by Reigns (and occasionally Rollins) when he bit off more than he could chew. He was always the Shield guy left at the mercy of the other team save a few occasions Rollins took that role. And he actually is a pretty good FIP. Could be that he needs a solid tag partner to really shine.

So have him wrestle heel when it makes sense and face when it makes sense. Why is that not an option if that's already the reaction he gets?

In.

Oh, my plan was to book backwards as much as possible. Whatever it was, 6 months or a year between re-drafts, start at the end and figure out major plot points backwards. Seems like the best way to be sure that the lead-in to the big finale fits the actual results. But yeah, an outline of how to handle TV on a monthly basis seems like a good idea as well.

I understand why you are concerned with it, but I mentioned the names I did because all of them seem like they are the type to take this very seriously. One of the reasons I am on the fence is I know that I go in phases sometimes and can be unreliable. And I don't want to do that if other people are going to be giving it their all. Right now I'm trying to figure how much time it would take and how much I would be willing to give.

I don't know if I gauged this right or not. I looked at it as a long-term deal with a commitment to weekly TV write-ups with house show wraps included. There was an example earlier that I thought was pretty good as far as what the write-up would need to be. I'm sure it could be done in greater detail, but why do you need more than this? Flair did a studio interview talking about his upcoming match with Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Heavyweight Title. He focused on how he would be a far better champion than Dusty because he lived the life of a champion while Dusty was not what a champion should be. The Rock'n'Roll Express wrestled the Midnight Express in the main event with the Midnights going over in 17:38 after Cornette hit Gibson with the tennis racket behind the ref's back, allowing Eaton to get the pin. Given that most people reading that will know exactly how that Flair interview looks and sounds and that tag match would unfold, there's really not that much need for more. So basically you'd be writing a few paragraph's worth per week to cover it unless you wanted to do more. I don't see where that would be a huge chore. I also get the feeling that folks like KrisZ, Dylan, goc, Parv and Grimmas are in this for the long haul and where it goes based on what happens. So maybe it should be clarified what exactly it entails a bit more clearly.

Seems like that is more for keeping things fresh rather than having certain wrestlers stay in the same territory for 5-6 years straight. I would agree that only 5-6 seems like a small number as holdovers. I listened to the Exile 6 podcast today and all the talk of losing the big regional names seems to ring true. You'd have to be able to hang on to the guys you have built up as your big name faces and heels for the regular crowd if you ask me. And you're not booking your show entirely on 5-6 guys. You've got your midcard attractions, tag division and guys like Arn who can either be a low end main event guy or a high end midcarder. If you couldn't protect a core of 10-12 guys you'd have a hard time keeping an audience engaged the way you needed to. Yeah you would want to make new stars as you went, but making new stars every year because most of your roster left seems a bit over the top. You'd think the guys being let go would be the expendable midcard types and jobbers. The jobbers can do that anywhere and midcarders that are expendable in one place are often great in others. It all depends on how "fresh" you're looking to keep things.

I'm curious as to how the smaller promotions are being handled. Do they have smaller rosters, more local TV than regional? I don't know how functional I'd be in a project like this so I'd rather not be overly ambitious if I did it.

I don't in any way disagree with comments that were made above. But I love this podcast for a reason it's kind of hard to describe in a few words. There are times where the level of detail gone into on the nuts and bolts and how the moving parts affected the outcomes is tremendous. And there are other times where nostalgia, disappointment and personal recollections dominate the discussion. The parts of the show where things are discussed from a fan vs. business standpoint combine both to a point. I love how all of these flow back and forth as the discussion goes and all three panelists are at home in each environment. It makes for a fun journey through a lot of interesting facts and anecdotes that could very easily have come off as dry and overly long if done wrong. Keep up the great work.