Strand Peanut

Where's a good starting point? If I wanted to catch up til now?

Just imagine when he realizes Rusev is Belarusian.. ha!

But, no one will say "yes" if I sell it like that..

Reverse invasion angle anyone ?

Doing cash in's regularly on house shows with screwjob endings would a fun way to freshen it up. No title changes, weasling out of it being an actual cash in, etc.. Might give some good heat too. Rollins' character would fit that. Having him challenge mid card belts (still screwjob endings) in a house show setting would probably be good fun.

A lot of good talent was signed by Ace, but to me a lot of it is offset by the development system falling apart under him, and all the shitty wrestlers he signed, and all the bathing suit models signed as divas Why did the development system fall apart during Ace's tenure? Was it a result of JA's negligence? Or a desire to stop using outside promotions? I agree Johnny Ace signed a good amount of talent. It's not up to him how they got used. But he wasn't doing kayfabe interviews saying how Vince was under cutting his signings. Or allowed to promote the great TV that OVW occasionally pumped out. Was he ? Not to mention HHH has been involved in booking decisions for a long time. Something JR may have been involved in, but I don't think Johnny Ace ever was. If Vince is HHH's roadblock, so be it Johnny Ace's as well. But JA is a failure, and HHH already a success. There is a reality behind the perception of HHH as savior. Is Johnny Ace still employed by WWE?

Yeah, just ignore the Doc if you don't like his comments. Pretty easy.

Bryan on commentary, and participation in an angle on the show might be a better use of him at this point. At this point tho, I think it's too late to salvage anything for WM. They missed the opportunity to use Bryan's heat constructively all year. What's left of it is being cooled down purposefully. It's business as usual again. The two dozen or so friends who spent so much of the last two year rooting for Bryan have all moved on. Some to other wrestling, but most have returned to not caring or watching. Some we're even first time fans in their late 20's-early 30's. I had to remind the three or so who still keep tabs that Bryan was even wrestling last night. Kinda sad. These are the people who brought me back. It was their unpretentious excitement over him that compelled me to check in again. I don't think any booking of Bryan is going to bring them back at this point.

Did it even come out what ROH needed the money for? I'm guessing increased presentation, and infrastructure. From a corporate viewpoint, I can see a lot of reasons not to add operating costs to a divison. Reasons not necessarily tied to ROH's gross or profitability. Out of curiosity, what're are the biggest crowds ROH has drawn in it's history? It seems like 2,000 people or so is their top level over the last ten years, but I'm not entirely sure at this point.

in 2006 people wanted to see Rey Mysterio win and they went with it I remember 2006 being because they wanted to capitalize on the death of Eddie Guerrero, and having a ready made 'Rey wins it for his tragically deceased homie' angle. There wasn't much of a popular groundswell, and there would have been no backlash had it not happened. Many people thought the timing left a bad taste and made it seem like Rey was just there so they could run a tribute. I'd second that. The way Rey was booked with the belt also turned off quite a few.. even if they didn't turn off their TV 😏 Rey was a huge fan favorite, a good choice for the belt, but there was no huge groundswell to get the belt on him at the time. Eddie was supposed to get the belt but there wasn't a huge groundswell for him either. Straining to remember what the circumstances were.. mixture of injuries and suspensions? anyone? Eddie dies and they just tried to transfer Rey into that spot. And it wasn't done very well at all.

It was more collective ? So Vince didn't have the final say ? HHH has said the decisions are not on him. And Johnny Ace did sign CM Punk and Bryan. I think the main difference is HHH being seen as a proxy for the "promoter" of NXT. He gets to promote his signings. And everyone assumes he'll be taking over.. at some point. So then people see NXT as his vision of wrestling. I don't think that's far off. And I'm not so sure it's true. What is his vision? No idea. But if NXT is the example, his vision of a wrestling show is a lot like OVW, but using the WWE platform to promote it. An advantage afforded no one else. I even question the idea of nationally promoting something as a developmental league. Especially when they have so many guys on the other side of 30. Many coming in with relatively finished acts. How's he doing as talent relations head for the main roster? Things may change, occasionally people even change, but it's the premise of promise I don't think he deserves at this point. Give it to the talent. Not the phony "P." who's in CT.

The perception at the time was that WWE was looking for undercard talent, and that the indies was one of the places they were open to looking. And that smaller talent was finally getting a look. The allure and consistent paychecks from WWE, even as an undercard worker, was enough for some to sign. But I don't think there were any illusions about getting a big push. Also, to note.. At that time, the high point of the business is not too far in the rear view. The idea of things getting hot again, and soon, didn't seem far fetched.

I wasn't paying close attention (if any) towards the end of Johnny Ace's stint. Would love to know more about razing down development under him. Always seemed an odd man for the job. I had always wondered if him coming up in Baba's system was somehow a factor. But he's probably just a real nice guy that everyone likes. ha!

JR set up a system from scratch. HHH has brought their developmental system into their corporate structure. They both have their own challenges. As does every era.. OVW was at times great fun when Johnny Ace was head of talent.. Just call me skeptical that HHH has really changed much to improve developmental at this point. With time, that may change. Too early to celebrate, especially over corporate streamlining.

I always thought the Umaga gimmick was actually a response to Joe. It's been a while, so my timeline may be off. If Joe had signed with WWE, he would've gone to OVW. Not quite the same as the possibilities of returning to Japan on the horizon. People's expectations were pretty low about how WWE would pan out for these guys. Career mid-carder would've been considered a huge victory by some. The Three Muskateers of an era that barely exists.

Pretty sure WWE was interested in Joe back then too. Think Johnny Ace was told to sign either one of, or all three at the time.. as in Joe, Punk, Bryan. Joe chose TNA. Bryan wanted to stay independant. Punk signed. Others may remember more, think Meltzer was the one who reported it.

Makes sense there'd be a bit of burn out from the fans at this point. There was a similar effect with NOAH when many stateside fans discovered it thru the deals made with ROH. You begin with the excitement of the new, into a deeper appreciation and understanding, into "I've seen this." When did the current wave of english speaking fandom really kick in? Okada's push to the top?

cm funk makes a lot of my points for me. Recruiting and devolping high level athletes to sign with the WWE holds more with me then signing established indie stars. But how good is a guy, who keeps bringing employees his two higher ups dislike? Not even sure if that's true. I do think HHH as a fan savior on the business side is screwy. If it's too early to tell in regards to his signings, then it's too early to tell if they're a positive. When did HHH become head of talent relations and start signing people?

That said, he's not gonna kill the business or anything ludicrous. I'm just surprised after so many years, people think his philosophy has changed because NXT gets strong reviews. And he wrestles less ?

8 years ago, or 8 hours ago. Don't matter to me. I can see why people would be less angry with him now. But as some sort of savior, I don't buy it. The guy has been involved in WWE decision making for almost twenty years. Or he isn't 'cause Vince. HHH gets kudos for running a developmental territory? Who has he developed? He's scooped up the more well known indie guys, some with established fan bases. The Performance Center? It strikes me more as corporate orientation, which does make sense in a way. But where are his fresh recruits? It's mostly wrestling families and indie guys. Developing talent in house has always been a bit prickly historically in the WWE. JR helped changed that mentality when he was head of talent. But there's something still kind of built in, it's the NY territory, ya bring the best, and move onto the next. My point being, he's done about the same, maybe less, as his predecessors. I dunno, everything makes sense. Seems smart. There's always a certain logic. But time after time things just seem to flatline around him. Bad penny, bad bet.

Thanks, missed the whole page of posts where the ticket numbers were. I'm one of the people who's dipped back in, and this recent love for HHH has been puzzling as hell to me. I've yet to watch NXT, but on RAW, he's been the same heat leech I've always thought him to be. There was a moment, when CM Punk was just recently starting on WWE TV. Got chants out of the blue during a segment and HHH was quick and slick to try and scoop it back for himself. Sort of a quintessential moment. Anyone remember this?

For goodness sake, take the money off these damn marks WWE. They get the best heat in years, sizzlin' like a steak. But they spend so much time playing with and manipulating their food.. it's gonna get cold soon. And no one wants to ear a cold steak cut into a face with a sly smirk... with frozen cauliflower ears.

Someone will be binge watching this era at some point. I know the focus tends to be on the past, but it'd be interesting to watch something from the last ten years, and see if some of the criticisms are still prevelant. Or just treated as matter of fact. Has anyone put together a set of more recent WWE years?

Truly! Glad I'm not the only one chuckling over that idea. I'm sure they'll have some kind of presence all weekend and will be keeping an eye out. Arnold's going into their hall of fame this year too right? Some kind o' mutual back scratching is likely to go down that weekend. Is Ryback sweating bullets filled with gimmick infringement fear?!!?

It is sold out. It's supposed to be at the LC Amphitheater. It's an outdoor concert venue, with a lawn. 5,500 capacity for concert events. Usually pit seats and lawn seats, and from the ticket layout, I'd guess the ring will be where the pit seats usually are. No idea how many tickets sold, but there's room at that location to sell more. Also is being co-promoted by Arnold. Not sure if there were tickets packages including the NXT show. Was this promoted on NXT in any way? Was there local promotion for the event? Why are they bringing all these guys to a bodybuilding competition/convention where WWE is going to try and recruit? It's an indoor/outdoor venue actually. They're doing it indoors. Trying to run an outdoor event the first week of March would be insanity. A lot of sporting events latch onto the Arnold Expo weekend. WEC did it several times to great success before the UFC shut it down. It's one of the biggest events that come through the city on a yearly basis. The tickets were sold as their own deal. They went on sale at 10 and a friend of my wife could only find standing room only by about 1 the same day. I was on right at 10 to get my tickets. I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of people traveling in for this. But Columbus has always supported wrestling. ECW, TNA and RoH have all done well here. Thanks for the information. Guess on the amount of tickets sold? Some very smart planning, no real way to fail on the first test. Are they promoting it on NXT? Seems like Ohio has been very good for wrestling over the last lil bit.