Slasher

Doubt it. Even though Owen was relatively young at the time of his death, he was definitely winding down in his career. It has been said a few times he was ready to look at a life post-wrestling and maybe becoming a firefighter instead. He was miserable to be away from his family and he seems to be the most normal Hart of the whole bunch so I can believe him stepping away to do the family man thing. The latest I'd see him still wrestling would be 2001.

I think Punk would probably have gotten the same support as Chris Jericho did. A superstar in the cruiserweight division but a joke if put against names that carried political clout.

I think it is largely the issue of the whole operation being in this weird limbo where it is obviously being transitioned over to Stephanie and her people from Vince but Vince still having the strongest voice over the shows. I am sure Triple H would be willing to experiment with newer ideas but like often anecdoted, Vince has made it clear that the money is made on Cena and in a larger picture, the status quo. It is like owning a sports team and wanting to rebuild but your crazy dad-the original owner-insisting on going all in with the same tired diminishing core of players.

Didn't you say parents would call WWE if Cena lost matches? That would go against the idea the audience would let the WWE do new things. Other than that, I totally agree. It is a low risk investment to actually try to make that attempt but the WWE obviously has a cap on their creative manpower that it has to be expended on Dolph Ziggler sucking faces with Lana while Rusev fumes on crutches.

If he ever turns heel, this would be the best way (now that costing Undertaker his streak is forevermore off the table), but this shines a big nasty spotlight on PEDs, an obvious big no-no in WWE.

Cena doesn't strike me as a character who could give a shit about other people's wrestling. He has a passion for wrestling but part of the whole deal with him being a guy who deals with internal struggles is that he is an internal guy. He worries about himself only really. This is why the angles where he comes out to save "buddies" looks so fake or forced like Hulk Hogan used to. He is just a guy who is really better off left alone in his own planet as a character in a way. So him being uninterested in the match beyond "who wins to face me?" makes sense to me.

Sasha Banks is a talent that exists out there that the WWE could make a star on the same level as the men even if they did all the right things. They have that transdescant talent already. To actually answer the question, I am not sure really. I cannot actually name anyone off the top of my head. And to go back to the WWE's own history, I also cannot find anyone in their long and storied annals (or any of the promotions that preceded modern WWE either) a woman who stood out as someone who was used well and her popularity maximized in a positive way. Yes we see girls like Sable and Sunny reach impressive heights in their time but they were promoted for everything that you're not going to appreciate if done for Sasha. You also have girls like Trish Stratus who is held in high regard by the WWE but again, she was initially promoted as a sexual being and they only fleshed out her wrestling background in a manner only described as adequate by WWE standards and quite subpar by global standards. Then there's Chyna...and well...we know her deal. The women before them like Alundra Blayze, Bertha Faye, etc were never really presented as anything resembling equals to the men and were used mostly as a sideshow attraction thing. Obviously we have Japanese women wrestling which obviously were treated better nationally and through hardcore wrestling circles but they never reached international fame really. But that's not their fault. Not many men reached that level either. But the women were lesser so on scale even in that respect anyways. No idea about luchadoras so someone else can deal with that but I haven't heard of anyone mentioned the same way I do the Santos, Negro Casas, Rey, Psicosis, etc etc so I'm guessing not. Again this is an entertainment geared towards men. There's something not quite so mainstream accepted about women being taken seriously in the battle arenas. Obviously people here might pull up Ronda Rousey of the UFC but first of all, UFC is a legitimate fighting sport. It is an actual sport...like women's soccer. Like tennis. Like WNBA (although not many people treat that one seriously either). It is a skill based sport where Rousey gets to show off her otherworldly abilities against women. She is being presented as an once in a lifetime sorta individual within that sport. She stands alone in her own world within UFC. She isn't being presented as a person who has been assimilated within the men's portion of the sport. The WWE isn't a sport. Pro wrestling isn't a sport even though the athletic aspect is a big component of its presentation. Pro wrestling is a battle form of soap opera or story telling. And in my humble opinion...men who watch wrestling...and worse yet/more importantly men who runs wrestling...just do not care to expand the women's spotlight. But at least its not midget wrestling.

I don't know. It would require a major culture change in the creative booking room for me to see them give the women a fair shot. At the heart of it, pro wrestling is really a men's thing. Yes we all enjoy and appreciate what someone like Sasha does but for her to be a "franchise changer", she has to be booked as an equal to the men storylines without reducing her to a role that I alluded to, a jezebel or a damsel in distress or even a non-wrestler (but that isn't what you want, right? You want her wrestling as well). There has been topics here on PWO in the recent past about if women's wrestling can be a main event on a pay per view or a top of line angle on the main shows, and I remain unconvinced. You said Sasha needs a dance partner? No. She needs a dance club filled with different partners. Giving her one rival is only going to go so far before burning the feud and in the process the characters out. To be a viable long term featured performer she is going to need at least 3 to 5 viable partners, and that is just in her first 2-3 years given the structure of their storytelling model. It ain't happening.

Psst...you do know this is the WWE, right? For all the lip service Stephanie does about the divas and for all the good they do with the NXT women's division, this is still Vince McMahon's WWE. I have ZERO good expectations for Sasha or any one that is called up on the main roster that is a woman. ZERO. To answer, yes it will be all forgotten about and swept under the rug once the feel good story of the women's soccer team fades out and men's sports takes dominance again. I would be shocked if they gave Sasha a 20 minute per show role as a wrestler. Maybe she will go the AJ route and be booked all over the show as some jezebel who messes with men wrestlers but no...not as a wrestler.

It is tough because the first 5 or so years of his run as the Undertaker his gimmick and the people he was programmed against really limited what he could do in the ring. It is not like he could have lifted Giant Gonzales often or King Kong Bundy or etc. And going to the mat would have run counteractively to his character. He was really shoehorned into that really limited spot. He showed more of his ability later on but he ate up his opponents as the Biker and as a result he was still not putting on good matches. It seemed that when they started booking him as a part timer who would be up against his peers (main eventers and legends) he started putting out decent matches in the whole "epic" style that is so revered around here (yes that was sarcasm) but I think it was just too late. Not gonna be on my hypothetical list.

What did Austin expect from his position in 2002? He turned down the Hogan match and the title match was always going to be Triple H's. What else was there for him given these facts?

There you go. Unfortunately that is all true. I would say though that if the belt was left on guys like Cena, Lawler and JYD/Duggan that things would be much better. However I know that spreading out the card so you had multiple matches with some importance is something they have done for ages but I still think it is somewhat of a failure if the title match isn't treated with the most respect. Then again maybe that is why we see Lawler with 20 title reigns or Cena with 15 or etc. Because the belt always have to find their way back to the key guys.

Rock vs Hogan was also a rarity in itself. It isn't something that could be relied on as a year round storyline. When that match ended, what is left to carry the company? The world title. So yes it should be treated with the utmost respect and urgency it deserved, not an once in a lifetime dream match. Come on. Use real examples here to support your arguments.

Jericho vs HHH was not built up on the need to be the world champion. It was built on Jericho taking shoddy care of HHH's dog. Bad example.

There is some truth to that but I can't imagine Cena ever really having a retirement either. I don't know what he has done to set himself up post-wrestling. I know he is probably wired to keep his ambassador duties going with charities and he will probably stay involved with the WWE in a capacity a bit more than just a retired guy popping in for a few dates a year.

Judging by his house on Total Divas, Cena is still doing alright there.

It isn't like the Japanese fans have never seen a babyface lose his cool in their matches. But yeah the spectacle of WWE being in there overruled all of anything they intended to elicit with booking.

Ok gotcha. That makes sense now.

I am not sure I get it? She is being unprofessional for not wanting a rival there?

Isn't Jarrett like undefeated in the KOTM matches? In that context and only that context alone, it makes sense to have him involved in the match especially with a new "title" instituted for such a thing. But yeah there was no point for any of that nonsense. Just have Jarrett show up and accept his induction in their HoF and then if necessary, have him be the guy to present the new belt to whoever wins it. Oh well.

I agree that TLC is a bad gimmick to end the year on but in all fairness, December holds the disadvantage of: 1. It is sandwiched between two big time events (or it used to be before Survivor Series was downgraded to just another event but its name still holds some value) 2. Not many people are going to invest in the show due to the holidays, whether it is money being spent or attention being paid. So they kinda have to just get through the show to get to the Royal Rumble. Here is the deal though, they essentially have two special events revolving around a ladder as a concept with MITB and TLC. If it were me, I'd merge the two concepts into one show under whatever billing you want and give the other month that would be vacated with the return of the KOTR as a show. In fact you could give the KOTR the same stakes it had in 2002 which was Brock winning a Summerslam title match through the tournament. Could be better than giving the crown to midcarders before being shoved down the card.

I don't know about that. Certainly he bears responsibility for himself but the WWE is responsible for the culture where guys feel the need to rush back from injuries and/or needing to hide them. The Punk interview is the strong counter-point for anyone trying to absolve the WWE.

Which category does the triple decker cage of doom fit?

Props for the Rasheed "CTC" Wallace reference.