Fantastic

What a ridiculous statement... I was never a Luger fan, and even I was cheering for him during all of this. One of the most memorable moments of the Monday Night Wars by a mile. A shame his reign lasted only six days, but his victory and post-match speech on Nitro were both beyond glorious. I know! I tried to be sarcastic, following the revelation that I had totally forgotten about Luger submitting Hogan! It was a pretty good moment for WCW, and Luger as well. I don't know whether he was any more over at any time than he was then. And on Smackdown too, wasn't it? Yeah, this was mind boggling, I mean Taker has always had a history of being willing to put new guys over (Yokozuna in 1993, Mankind in 1996, Angle in 2000, Lesnar in 2002, hell, even Khali in 2006 - which was comparable to Brock squashing Cena at Summerslam this year) on big stages, but this was a random throwaway episode of Smackdown. What's more weird is how the finish came across. Kozlov countered the Old School into a Powerslam and pinned Taker. It came across like Taker simply fucked up, rather than Kozlov actually defeating him. An upset nonetheless, as nobody expected Kozlov to go over.

I see my attempt at sarcasm in light of a brain fart went over well there!

Luger submitted him with the rack in '97. Yup, you're right, totally missed that. Guess that goes to show how forgettable Luger's feud with Hogan and title reign in '97 was.

Santino over Umaga for the IC title? Come on... This match was Bobby Lashley destroying Umaga with a chair, spearing him, then holding Santino over him for the pinfall! They gotta be clean victories, no outside interference, etc. Kurt Angle defeats Hulk Hogan by Submission. - I believe this was the first time in his career that Hogan had tapped out. It was a significant upset, given that Hogan was on a twilight megapush and had recently been the WWE Undisputed Champion. Meanwhile, Angle went cleanly over having just come out og a mid card feud with Edge.

No idea what was going on with Keiji Mutoh in 99/00, but here's another pretty big upset (IMO). Muta went down to Ernest Miller I believe at one point, although it involved some kind of interference. Had that been a clean pinfall victory, it would be like Rico defeating Ric Flair (which did actually happen). Mike Awesome defeats The Great Muta - WCW Nitro

Oh man.. I can't believe this slipped my mind! Absolutely this! Great example, just a shame it didn't happen on a bigger stage. Can you imagine Jacques Rougeau going over Hulk Hogan on an episode of Nitro in Montreal?!

Watching the Podcast with Vince and Austin, and the talk about the decision to end The Undertaker's streak got me thinking: Could Brock going over, be considered one of the biggest upsets in professional wrestling history? I mean think about it, nobody ever expected Taker to lose to anybody. Popular consensus, especially following Michaels' retirement match, seemed to be that Taker would retire undefeated at Wrestlemania. A feat that would never be duplicated, and thereby cemented in the history of the WWE as a talking point (and DVD seller) for years to come. Would the streak ending be considered any less of an upset if it was anybody other than Brock Lesnar (or someone similar to Brock's caliber, a name like John Cena perhaps?) who ended it? Also, this naturally lead to more thoughts. Outside of the classic jobber pushes (eg, Horowitz pinning Skip, or 123 Kid going over Razor Ramon), what other examples of incredible upsets have there been in wrestling? Specifically, I've been trying to think of times where major stars have fallen cleanly to the most unlikeliest of opponents in what is considered a huge deal, such as a title being on the line? A few nominations from me: - Yoshinari Ogawa defeats Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Championship - Vader goes over Antonio Inoki in his NJPW debut - Shelton Benjamin pins Triple H - Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship

No, because I don't think it would be possible for any wrestling company - that wants to stay in business - to do something so offensive that it would make even a liberal viewer like myself switch off. That being said... There have been some things that have made me somewhat uncomfortable over the years: - Austin annihilating Lita with a steel chair - props to her for taking it, but it's kinda uncomfortable seeing a young girl (at the time) get full on hammered by a considerably larger man wielding a steel chair. - Triple H/Kane/Katie Vick. - The Father/Daughter I Quit match stuff with Vince and Stephanie.

Continuing with the MITB ideas. The WWE title is vacant for whatever reason, a tournament or something is announced. But, before these plans goes ahead, the MITB contract holder comes out, announces he is cashing in and demands to be crowned the champ by default, since the title isn't held by anybody. Imagine Rollins does this? They could call it the "Rollins Rule" amendment to the terms of the MITB contract. In essence, if the title is vacant or held up, the MITB contract holder has the right to be crowned champion, if they choose, in exchange for their contract.

They probably do, but Vince is the exception to the rule. I seem to recall that he tends to use real names (even if the wrestler in question rarely goes by their real name when not using their character name, eg, a wrestler known by another nickname IRL) when talking with most of the guys behind the scenes. Probably something along the lines of "I'm your boss, but also your surrogate father".

Akira Hokuto - Aged 19, she broke her neck taking a botched Tombstone Piledriver in a 2/3 falls match, had her neck set during the intermission between falls and wrestled the rest of the match holding her neck in place with her hands.. Two years later she tore her knee open, tied a bandage around her leg, and got back into the ring. The match was called to an end because she couldn't physically wrestle with such an injury, but she still tried to! Those AJW girls were tough as shit, there's numerous other examples out there, but Hokuto always cries badassery.

Yeah, I agree that I'd like to see some upset Royal Rumble winners. Here's a cool analogy: In 1913, an un-ranked amateur golfer Francis Ouimet (aged 20) entered the US Open Championship as an amateur wildcard. He tied the top two professional golfers in the world at that time, all the way through the tournament, before defeating them, in a massive upset in the play offs. How do we bring this to the RR fold? One of the NXT top prospects makes their main roster debut at the Royal Rumble as a wildcard entrant. My vote would be someone like Sami Zayn in this scenario, given his natural charisma. The NXT guy manages to last until the final four, and eliminates the odds on favorite that year to win the Rumble and get a title shot at Wrestlemania. They'll obviously lose the title match at Wrestlemania, but the shocking build aftermath of his Rumble victory and subsequent build towards the title shot at Wrestlemania would be huge, and a star maker from the beginning, even though they'll not be winning the title. So, almost like a "season"? I suppose, but it obviously wouldn't be like that year after year. Just something to reset the clock in a sense and make the titles mean something again. Ahh, gotcha. I dunno, it kinda reminds me of WCW's New Blood storyline.

So, almost like a "season"?

Michael Hayes?

I'll go first: - Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Wrestlemania main event. Both end up destroyed from the war and the referee begins his 10 count as they struggle to get to their feet. Seth Rollins runs out, announces he's cashing in his MITB contract and entering himself into this match, - therefore it becomes a triple threat - hits the Curb Stomp on Roman Reigns and pins him 1-2-3. Seth walks out of Mania as the champion, screwing Roman out of his big moment and becoming the premier heel asshole in the company. - Brock doesn't lose the title by actually being personally defeated, therefore he has something to go on when he returns from his inevitable post-Mania hiatius (if a UFC return doesn't happen) - The MITB concept has some new vigor breathed into it. - The post-Mania Raw crowd will be amazing. - WWE shakes itself up by daring to change the landscape at Wrestlemania (the show usually ends with the face winning and having a big moment). - Becoming the first person to cash in at Wrestlemania, and not just in the main event, but also winning the title is a historical career making moment, and something that could set up Rollins nicely for years to come.

Waiting to hear...

Awesome podcast, good hosting by Cabana too. I don't think anybody else at this juncture would be capable of having a decent straight up interview about the subject of Punk leaving with the man himself, without offending Punk or taking it too far. Cabana, being close friends with Punk was the ideal person to conduct such an interview. That being said, here are my takeaways from it: - WWE's schedule, expectations, and physicality are unforgiving unless you are an "enhanced" talent with superior recovery abilities. Punk got pretty fucked up with injuries, and was rushing his way back into the ring at the behest of Vince and others. His lifestyle means he abstains from most prescription drugs, outside of antibiotics and anaesthetics. We've seen pictures of him rehabbing with stuff like acupuncture in the past! - Ryback is a dangerous worker, who doesn't seem to learn from errors. - Triple H doesn't like Punk and probably resented Punk's open line to Vince, and that he would go directly to Vince and speak his mind, vetoing Triple H and Stephanie in the chain of command (if you like). Punk, like everybody else, feels that the loss to Triple H at Night of Champions 2011 destroyed his momentum. - Punk has made more than enough money to never have to work or worry about anything again. Consider this, and then realize that the likes of John Cena and Triple H are far wealthier, have nothing else to achieve legacy wise, yet continue to wrestle - full time in Cena's case. It seems Triple H only went part time for the sake of his kids. It's definitely not about the money in WWE. - One of WWE's physicians is apparently incompetent. This isn't news, they've already had scandals with the physicians in the past. - Most of his dissatisfaction with booking issues seems to stem from the fact he busted his ass, but was denied the Wrestlemania main event on two occasions (XXIX and XXX - Rock/Cena was a lock for nearly a year, before Punk broke out). - Punk claims to be done with wrestling, this probably won't last, it isn't about money, most guys simply struggle to walk away from their craft (wrestling, in this case) and make an inevitable return at some point. TNA will probably never be able to afford Punk's price tag, and the exposure is meaningless for him, they have everything to gain basically, whilst he has nohting, I could see him perhaps wrestling for NJPW in some capacity (a'la Lesnar in 2005-2007). I can accept the possibility of him never working with WWE again though. - I get the impression he'd be inclined to work a big drawing exhibition MMA match as a one-off in the near future, as it's one of his passions outside of wrestling and it's really now or never to pursue it, given his age and battering he received from the road in WWE. - Long term, he's probably going to fall into reality TV, acting, comedy, etc, if he doesn't return to wrestling.

Joey Abs and Rodney were pretty fucking awful too.

A wrestling purist, no gimmicks, just trunks, chest hair and handshakes. A guy who wrestles a slow paced, classic territorial style and wins matches.. ALL...THE...TIME... Despite his opponents clearly out-exciting him and wrestling a more varied style.

Behold, Sting's last great match.

I heard he didn't finalize the decision to come back for last year's Wrestlemania until near the Rumble time. The match with Brock seemed like a real last minute sort of thing. I get the impression that Taker underwent some surgery in mid 2013, fell out of shape during his recovery, and then rushed himself into ring shape when the opportunity to face Brock at Mania came to him. He looked OK at Wrestlemania XXVIII, despite visibly ageing and having lost a noticeable amount of mass. Prior to this event during his hiatus, he and Michelle McCool had a child together. This pretty much gives you the reason for his change in appearance. He looked slightly worse a year later, and was carried through that match again Punk in places, he was definitely a lot slower too. But last year he just looked like shit, you could tell he rushed himself back. In hindsight, the match against Lesnar was a mistake for Undertaker. Lesnar, unless you have the resistance and healing factors of John Cena, or the toughness of CM Punk, is a guy you need time to prepare for. Hell, even Triple H trained extensively with Joe DeFranco to prepare him for his matches against Brock Lesnar. I seem to recall an interview with DeFranco where he said that he designed a program that lasted a few weeks to train Hunter specifically for one spot in the match! (where he lifted Lesnar up whilst locked in the Kimura) All that asides, I want Taker to get a fitting final match for all he's given the WWE over the years. He's been pretty physically active in the past few months (see Michelle McCool's instagram), so that's somewhat reassuring. If he takes his time (maybe even skips this Mania?) and with a little bit of magic and the right opponent, he could easily have one last great match.

Why can't a Japanese native do color commentary? Many of the guys in NJPW speak very good English, like Gedo, Jado, Jushin Liger, and Taka Michinoku. Also, on the main roster alone there are three wrestlers I can think of who speak fluent English: - Shinsuke Nakamura - Masato Tanaka - Yoshihatsu Obviously they are regular performers, but they could easily work guest color commentary at some point.

Is it? An entire arena still saw Hart fall - men, women, children. They also still had the seven second delay option, pretty sure had the vignette not been showing that they would have cut away as soon as Hart fell. Of course, maybe the idea was that on the day, they didn't think the stunt was really going to look that great on TV, so they decided to go with it being for the live audience only with a replay following the vignette if it turned out well. Tragically, it didn't. I'm glad in a way that no footage is widely available to people, the last thing Hart's family needs is people bootlegging footage of his death.

Bagwell stunk as a prolonged singles guy, he was pretty solid as a tag team wrestler on a few occasions. I think of him being in the same category as the likes of Billy Gunn and Bryan "Wrath/Adam Bomb" Clark.

Well, this exploded... Dennis Knight/Mideon was Phineas, not Henry (Mark Canterbury). Yup, you're right! My mistake! Billy was solid in ring when he needed to be. He and Road Dogg were pretty entertaining as a team, they had some good matches together. Yeah, his main event push was absolute piss, and his Intercontinental Championship run in 2000 was garbage, but we can't really judge his entire career on a couple of mismoves, when he could be a dependable tag team wrestler and mid carder when he was needed. Bart Gunn actually had a respectable stint in AJPW after the WWF.