tim

Now what exactly are we talking here? The stuff Sakuraba and untrained Gracie chumps are doing right now, or all shoot style? Even Battlarts?

Yeah, it seems like Henry is a way underrated numbers mover. His runs on Smackdown and ECW were pretty good ratings successes weren't they? WWE really missed the boat on him. I remember him being drafted to RAW in 2009, having that incredible segment with Orton where the crowd lost their shit ove him, and then promptly doing nothing for months. He's big, over and they definitely pay big money to keep him around so I don't know why they don't utilize him prominently very often.

They're pretty hit a miss for me. The main problem comes from when the counters literally do look like square dancing when Okada or his opponent obviously aims way over the head and does a little leap the the guy "ducking" hardly tucks his head. This usually happens in the Tanahashi matches and it looks awful. When done well I like them.

Did any footage of the July Cesaro/Bryan match from the commercial ever show up? I'm pretty sure they were airing commercial breaks on the app at that point. It sure didn't look like those guys were wont to take it easy for even a minute that night.

When I first started watching again in 2004 (after not having watched since late 2001) it was the most striking difference to me and I really disliked it. At this point, it doesn't really bother me at all. Of course I'd rather see a match uncut but I feel totally inured to it.

I though Naito/Ishii had a lot of really cool stuff in the homestretch and I liked the second half of the match a lot. The beginning stuff though I thought ranged from boring to bad and there were some awkward moments throughout.

10:15-10:45 or so is usually a very tough stretch, throwaway matches with bottom-tier guys.

I know Ziggler isn't nearly as liked on here as on most of the internet but I still think the guy deserves a strong upper-midcard run, with occasional forrays into the main event and heck, maybe even a little more. His bumping is of course great but I think he's got a lot of good babyface fire offense too, I especially like his big splash into the corner into the mounted punches, awesome comeback move. Plus he's got tons of charisma and is good as a character. I definitely think it's a travesty how he's been handled since Payback.

Can we also petition for some extra matches to be added to eligibility?

As someone who tends to hate forced message board style upgrades like this, the Legacy theme makes this pretty acceptable.

PWInsider: You know, maybe we're viewing this angle wrong. We think Bryan is somewhat reprising the role of Austin as held-down guy who proves the bosses wrong, but maybe this story is actually playing toward sociopaths with Triple H as the face as the ruthless, ego-driven parvenu and Bryan is the heel for threatening the ruthless, ego-driven parvenu's well crafted political machine with genuine talent and likable authenticity. We think the Royal Rumble was a missed opportunity for a huge babyface triumphal feel good moment, but maybe it was, and not being sociopaths we just don't see it. And Wrestlemania will be the ultimate happy ending when Triple H goes over.

In 2006 the smarks loved Triple H when he was against Cena, and Triple H actively encouraged it.

Exactly how I'm feeling. As depressing as WWE's handling of Daniel Bryan is, the little things just like their inability to make a big, anticipate match up at all exciting during the build up is more so because it speaks to everything about the product.

It should be noted that Omaha, not a smark town and a crowd that didn't care for the debut of a prominent NXT star and didn't pop too big for Ziggler, has been chanting for Punk all night and booed Batista.

For Trips/Steph's promos calling Bryan a B Player to work with the story rather than against Bryan, they really needed to continually beat the audience over the head with the fact that Bryan beat Cena and Orton clean -- Orton on two occasions and on one occasion had him beat and Orton had to get himself DQed. They really haven't mentioned those facts nearly enough

Ishii having a "top 3 apron spots" list is so PWO it needed to be posted. Gotta say mine would look different, and probably be topped by the big Nowada Taue finally hits on Kobashi in 6/9/95 that fully sets them on the path to victory. Taue hit the nodowa on Misawa in that match. Yeah, what a mistake to make! I think it's that whenever I think of that spot my mind just links it with Kobashi crawling over Misawa to protect him.

Question: Why did Wrestlemania 19 do such bad numbers? It looks like a strong card on paper.

Bryan is elite-level over and deserves a SHOT at an elite-level push. I don't mean a bone-throw semi-push during the off-season. I mean the real deal, Rumble win followed by Wrestlemania main event. Was Batista a draw by the time he got that push? Enormous crowd reactions don't = money, but they are a signal that they have a guy who they can turn into money. To do that they have to invest in him and present him as a real top guy. Giving Bryan the Rumble and the main event could make him a Batista-level star for the rest of his career. Or it couldn't, maybe the naysayers are right and Bryan is fundamentally not a draw for whatever reason. His reactions as of now still demand a shot. They have Batista that they can put in a showcase match for Wrestlemania. They have Cena, Taker -- they can put them in big matches to sell the card if Bryan on top doesn't generate enough interest in its own right. And then all those eyes will be on him looking like THE guy in the company and having the entire crowd lose their shit over it. That's how you make someone take off, that's what they did for Batista.

The problem with that is any match that has to follow Bryan not winning the title is not going to have good reactions. If you thought the Rumble was bad, WrestleMania is the most hardcore of WWE fans. Is Wrestlemania really comprised of the most hardcore fans? I imagine there's a lot of casual fans who only get big into watching around Mania time. Rock/Cena last year didn't get shit on at Mania, but it sure would have in front of the RAW crowd the next night.

This is a match tailor made for Wrestlemania. Cena/Wyatt as a WM match is so perplexing to me.

I thought the Rumble was solid stuff but very much lacking in memorable/big moments. Lacking in name power also. But it had some good work in it. Not a particularly good one though.

WWE really knows how to make you feel like an idiot for giving a shit.

Fuck me if Orton and Batista win tonight following this. The night of the Triple H lackeys.

Depressingly unceremonious end to one of the best things that had been going in wrestling in years.

From a DDT news update: Ishii having a "top 3 apron spots" list is so PWO it needed to be posted. Gotta say mine would look different, and probably be topped by the big Nowada Taue finally hits on Kobashi in 6/9/95 that fully sets them on the path to victory.