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Michaels clowning on McMahon was great. This did a great job of positioning Shawn as a heel but also against Bret. I liked Shawn bringing up that him and Taker have never crossed paths until now. This is clearly the main event feud at this point. HBK calls out Taker and here he comes! Taker says he has done too much talking lately and he gives some quick, stern warnings to him. Bearer says he talked to Kane last night. Lots of intertwining going on here but done in a cohesive, well done manner.

I didn't hear what he said but he looks menacing!

Good congratulatory promo from Bret even with the audio problems. I do think he has a case that Shawn showed intent of hitting him with the chair. SGt. Slaughter is introduced and lies it out for all the HF members. The pop for Pillman having to wear a dress is big. Stone Cold then comes out to a raucous ovation and I can't believe he was even able to do this. He promises to kick Owen's ass tonight. While we go to break we get some reaction sound bites from some of Jersey's finest about the Hart/Taker match from last night.

Rude had big heat with the crowd and feels like a good fit for ECW at this point in time.

I liked this but agree it does feel like in some ways the feud has already peaked and they were hobbling into Hardcore Heaven.

JC has had an ok 1997 but I was hoping for a bit more with his return now that his WWF days are behind him.

Forgot that I missed commenting on all of this. Amazed that Titan is still getting air time but he does away with Razor once and for all it seems here.

Really liked the way this finish played out as their was an electricity in the air when Bret won and Shawn retreated down the aisle. I know this match goes long but I may still want to see the full version at some point because the finish was well done.

This match was pretty great in the way it built up. Shame with the botch as a hot ending stretch may have made it my #2 WWF MOTY for the year. The work on the hand and finger by Owen added an extra bit of viciousness and played into Austin's comeback. Owen overall was very good at conveying hatred instead of just busting out his athletic spots which he did sprinkle in here. Austin is feeling like the man by this point and I look forward to his time out with this injury and his continued rise.

Will be excited to tackle that when I finish the 1992 and 1993 yearbooks. One of those questions that looks ridiculous on paper but may actually be correct after re-evaluation.

I have watched a few of their matches. I enjoy both of them but think there are far better indy guys out there including locally around Dave such as Timothy Thatcher.

Bummer, always enjoy your thoughts. I attribute me being caught up on the PTB catalog as the reason I quit going to the gym as I had nothing to listen to anymore.

I just enjoyed being on a podcast where for once my dogs werent making the cameos.

You didn't ask me, but the RAW CM Punk vs Mark Henry match from 4/2/12 is right around 10 minutes and its one of my favorite TV matches ever. This is a great choice and one I blanked on.

Jimmy, do you have any examples of either sub 10 minute Punk matches or matches vs. a lesser worker that you would recommend? Would like to find some hidden gems on that front.

Hence, why I said Rey Mysterio might work here in my post. I thought the WM 26 match was fine, but I wouldn't call it good. Punk vs. Rock was extremely disappointing. I saw Flair have a better match in 1990 with Tom Zenk than Punk was able to in the second biggest show of the year with The Rock. Cena also had a better match the year before at Mania even though I don't think that is a great performance for him either. Was 1990 Tom Zenk completely gassed two minutes into every one of his matches? And the Rock/Cena matches weren't good at all. Both the Punk matches blow them out of the water. Come on now. I have yet to see one match from Zenk in 1990 where he didn't do one thing that wasn't incredibly stupid or had a performance I would call good. This whole argument is uncanny ability for you to deflect my original argument into something else. You said Flair in his prime couldn't have a good match with Rock in 2013, I threw up that 1990 Flair had a good match with a renowned shitty worker in Zenk. Now we want to compare Zenk to The Rock??? You know who else was a renowned shitty worker? The Rock during his comeback. Seriously, he was probably the worst wrestler in the world during that period. His cardio was worse than the Ultimate Warrior's, and he was so juiced that he was practically immobile. He made the Z-Man look like Ricky Steamboat. I'd say the Rumble match was close to **** with the NWO match a bit lower. The Cena matches topped out at ***. I have no interest in getting into a semantics debate, so if that doesn't meet your criteria for "blew out of the water," feel free to substitute whatever term you think is appropriate. The Rock was so shitty that he had 3 out of his five matches on his return be *** or above based on your rankings? That is some feather in the cap of Punk and Cena then. I also don't get how this logic works The Rock 2012-2013 = shitty Tom Zenk = shitty Rock makes Zenk look like Steamboat THEREFORE Steamboat = shitty????

Hence, why I said Rey Mysterio might work here in my post. I thought the WM 26 match was fine, but I wouldn't call it good. Punk vs. Rock was extremely disappointing. I saw Flair have a better match in 1990 with Tom Zenk than Punk was able to in the second biggest show of the year with The Rock. Cena also had a better match the year before at Mania even though I don't think that is a great performance for him either. Was 1990 Tom Zenk completely gassed two minutes into every one of his matches? And the Rock/Cena matches weren't good at all. Both the Punk matches blow them out of the water. Come on now. I have yet to see one match from Zenk in 1990 where he didn't do one thing that wasn't incredibly stupid or had a performance I would call good. This whole argument is uncanny ability for you to deflect my original argument into something else. You said Flair in his prime couldn't have a good match with Rock in 2013, I threw up that 1990 Flair had a good match with a renowned shitty worker in Zenk. Now we want to compare Zenk to The Rock??? I also never called the Rock/Cena matches goo and in fact never said anything at all about the WM 29 match. I do think the WM 28 match is the best match that Rock has had since his comeback and really don't see much argument to the fact that Punk/Rock blew both of them out of the water. If that is the case, what would you rank the Rock vs. Punk match. Blowing something out the water to me means it tangibly has to be significantly better, not a "one match is ** another is **1/2".

Welcome aboard Tom and thanks for listening to the podcast. I always enjoy younger fans' opinions too since I more often times than not, feel like the youngest person in any intelligent wrestling conversations I encounter.

Hence, why I said Rey Mysterio might work here in my post. I thought the WM 26 match was fine, but I wouldn't call it good. Punk vs. Rock was extremely disappointing. I saw Flair have a better match in 1990 with Tom Zenk than Punk was able to in the second biggest show of the year with The Rock. Cena also had a better match the year before at Mania even though I don't think that is a great performance for him either.

I may throw out CM Punk here. I think he is a good wrestler but also one with numerous flaws and someone that gets way too much benefit of a doubt based on his anti-estblishment mentality. Here are the criticisms I see from him. 1. He is a very sloppy worker at times. Punk can have some terrible looking botches that would be laughed at on the internet if Nikki Bella had the same equivalent botch. People seem to shake it off for Punk for some reason. 2. Calls spots like crazy. Punk has gotten into Sid territory at times with this. I know its fake and perhaps the heightened production values of current WWE play a role in this, but learn to adapt and shut the fuck up. 3. Doesn't seem to have the wide repertoire of matches I would consider great. What is Punk's best sub 10 minute match? I can think of a few Rey Mysterio matches that might work here. 4. I will also call his ability to carry a wrestler into quesiton. Can someone name the last time Punk had a match with a worker that was elevated significantly because Punk was in there? Maybe something in ECW? He doesn't seem to have the Cesaro vs. Kingston from Main Event matches in his back pocket. I remember the anticipation for both his match vs. The Rock at last year's Rumble and especially vs. Dolph two years ago, and both were really disappointing affairs. I do think Punk is a good worker that has been in some great matches but I could honestly see some people with limited viewing putting Punk in their top 20 GOAT and I think that is absurd.

Really fun match and I love how Hennig and Dibiase both really worked their ass off on this show. The moment felt big for Virgil and they did a good job of protecting his limitations.

I like how the signage just says Hulk. Hulk shoves the door in bobby's face. Continuing this feud.

Coach doing pushups in the ring cracked me up. Bret is doing his sunglasses bit. Gorilla gives a great Will you Stop while Piper and Hennan are yammering on. I liked a lot of things in the first portion of this match. Perfect mixed in some cool subtle heel things like stepping on Bret's back to get in the ring. The comeback from Bret after he was sent into the photographer and guardrail was odd as he just started firing off shots before Perfect cut him off again. Perfect to me has a legit claim at Hebner for the slow count when they tumble from the top rope. I also thought the crucifix cut off after it was execute earlier was a nice touch. The match really seemed to fit to the perfect plex and a formality that Perfect would win. The pop when he kicked out was awesome. Bret then does his superman comeback and get the first big singles moment of his WWF career. Great performance by Hennig and still a really cool moment with the way the match was structured. I have no issue calling this a great match.

Lord Al looks awesome in that hat and sunglasses combo. Ditto Savage's tie dye affair looking like he came from a Dead concert. Nuptials turned to napalm. A MATCH MADE IN HELLLLLLLLL!!!!

The Luger vs. Simmons Omni hype feels odd even more from a national standpoint but also because of what the Havoc main event was. Feels like Luger was set up to fail having his first long term program against someone never before presented as a main event star. I guess this Omni show is still a GAB show. WCW sucks around this time.