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Meltzer was vague in the post UFC show on the specifics but it seemed a TUF incident on Friday helped stem some the anger towards the commission. Glad at least Dave has the balls to say he gave the fight to GSP.

Really dug this podcast. Some running thoughts. First off, I commend both you Joe and Chris from abstaining from categories. I think there is a big disconnect from having a working knowledge on some categories and being educated enough to vote for them. As hashed out in the mega HOF thread, I don't think Colon would have much of a chance in the North American category. I would be shocked if he doesn't get in next year though. The Brock stuff to me is interesting in that I would not vote for him but am interested for some of the metrics of where Mookie is getting his drawing power. I would certainly not give Lesnar hardly any credit for WM 29 and as discussed in the podcast, the SummerSlam 2013 number was pretty disappointing. This leaves Extreme Rules 2012, 2013, and SummerSlam 2012. I think the most telling number of that is SummerSlam 2012 and will give credit that the show drew well (this still shocks me personally since I hated the build). Extreme Rules 2012 being up 35,000 buys from the year before using and average of $30 a buy is over a million dollars added, but then that same logic would have to be used for CM Punk moving the needle even more for MITB 2011. I also don't deny that his increased notoriety has to do with MMA but if he was a sports star, philanthropist, or whatever, I don't see why that should be in a wrestling HOF discussion. The main issue I have with him is again the briefness of this run. If Lesnar is able to have 5-6 more years of this success in a limited role, I would consider him but we are talking about 5 matches in which 2 out of the 5, Lesnar had either none or maybe even a slight adverse effect (your mileage may vary on the 2013 SummerSlam number). For such a brief run, it would be interesting to compare that to other draws for short period (Goldberg in 2003, Goldberg singles in late 1998-early 1999) to see how effective this is. To me, being the 3rd or 4th best draw in the current company is not HOF caliber at this moment. The RNR stuff is baffling to me because again of all the lists from voters I have seen, they have been on almost all of them. The story about Cabana I buy and that opens up another whole can of worms on the type of HOF voter. I agree with the Edge analysis Joe gave and will be interested to see if Batista finds his way back on the ballot. I see him as a low level candidate but do think he has more merits than others (owen, Snuka). I still don't quite understand why Tanahashi is getting all the credit for the ippv draws this year when Tanahashi has been in a supporting role for the uptick. He may be the biggest "star" but this feels like crediting any big buyrate in 2008 to Cena, I just don't understand that argument and can't see what Okada can do to overtake that. Tanahashi putting someone over doesn't to be transfer almost all the praise to him. Did Hart given the rub to Austin a nice critical moment, yes. Do I think Austin wouldn't had been a huge star without that? I am doubtful and there frankly isn't much from a substantive standpoint you can do to look at it. The statement at the end about Tanahashi getting in so soon makes sense and I think if you are less high on him as a worker, its legitimate to hold off on him. Sasaki is the most neutral candidate to me on the entire ballot. I wouldn't probably vote on him since I don't feel passionate either way but I have no problems with him going in. I agree with Joe talking about Ventura completely. The overall non wrestler category seems filled with guys that are at the least good candidates and it is just picking your favorite five.

When Savage is the "sane" backup, it is a miracle the match turned out so well.

Michaels gets a good pop but its astounding how tepid his reactions in his hometown are compared to Bret. Really, Shawn has never felt like much of a Texan during this first run of his career. He begs Vince for a role at SummerSlam and almost takes his khaki shorts off.

This felt long and winded but it was a cool interlude right before the match although ultimately it was forgettable.

The Giant is the king of celebrity matches. This one is in my upper echelon with the LT/Bigelow and Floyd/Show. Great performance while all involved mixing in impressive spots for Rodman and also some embarassment like the spanking and the rack. The opening segment with Luger couldn't have went more perfect and Luger was a pro in putting it over. Savage being out there as the manager feels odd but who knows the Savage/Hogan buddy story continues. Barry Windham makes a much more convincing Sting than Nash. Announcers have played it smart in most of these segments so I don't know why they acted so assured this was the real Sting when clearly it wasn't. Luger racks Hogan to get the win and Rodman gets it for good measure. Fun ending to the PPV.

The big Hennig spot gets mildly botched and I have no idea why anyone would trust him after this. I again think he is good at playing the role, but its not the best role for him at this point in his career. NWO gets some revenge on DDP.

This does feel like a wasted feud overall as we are 13 months from GAB 96 but they have had plenty of matches and starts/stops. I know the yearbooks sometimes make an effort to minimize Benoit but watching this did show how marginalized he has been in a way in 1997. I never understand the finish but nonetheless that is it for the Taskmaster.

Agreed that I love the progressions we have seen with these matches and its a shame they didn't keep these in a prominent role and elevate them up to where they could be a showcase match on the card. This had a ton of good spots and mixed in some comedy elements like Ohno's miscommunication with parka and him immediately pulling out the money. Bobby also is better than Larry in the booth for these matches because he defers to Tenay but sounds interested instead of annoyed. This and the opener make this a much better PPV all around than you might think.

Gene clowning on Tenay was the highlight of this for me. I think they did announce that Hennig was DDP's partner ahead of time (may be wrong on that) but it felt pretty anticlimatic on what purpose Raven served them.

One awkward kick by Glacier but the rest was about as good as an opener as you could ask for. Miller looked good in his debut. Mortis was feeding both him and Glacier and went full force into all of their offense. Wrath was teh big standout as I have never seen him look anywhere near this good. The charishot on the post to Glacier was disgusting and he takes his first loss here. Fun ass match

Tanaka and Kanemura being the focus is fine but everyone else was total dead weight. I like multiman matches with other little themes surrounding the main event conflict. Still waiting for a death match this year from the mens side to really grab me. This was another match that was fine but not spectacular and I doubt I will be able to remember anything in a week.

Taz bullies a fan into giving him his shirt. We then are able to get the shirt set on fire with clips showing Tommy being carted off. Not bad ploy for Paul.

This was a good promo for me putting over how much anquish she has seen Tommy in over the years.

Taz now has brought up the flag for ECW. Something about Taz as a rah rah guy doesn't work much at all for me.

Funny to see Lawler with the WWF backdrop. He states that ECW stands for exposing crappie wrestlers. He talks about how Cornette is the only man Paul E hates worse than himself. Lawler shits on Dreamer going to the hospital.

I didn't like the wayt his was spliced together with the shaky cam and background music. I still think Rude as announcer is one of the most wasted roles for him. The lights go out and Lawler makes his second ECW appearance. We then gets the light going out again and we have the debut of Cornette in a cool moment. Him and Lawler embracing is great. ECW is still able to feel really fresh bringing in these surprises in the wake of Raven and Stevie leaving but it does feel like eventually this string of gimmicks will run out.

Luger was hyping the show this morning on Regis and Kathie Lee. Damn the garbage is getting out of control. It started with Chicago and has continued the past two weeks. This wasn't a bad go home show as Hogan doesn't touch either man to build up the PPV. Bischoff is able to take a good beating.

I had forgotten that Stevie debuted so quickly as ECW now all of a sudden feels fairly gutted with these two. Sad to see Stevie in this role as I think he could have been a big player in ECW if he had stayed.

Larry refuses to leave the announce booth so we have a 4 way booth. Hall as Savage's lackey is good stuff. We get some basic stuff and then Hall stalks off to the announce booth. Announcers do good not to telegraph anything. The execution on the reveal is fabulous. Great segment.

Hennig presents himself as a hot free agent. Hennig has always been able to play this kind of tweener role well I think but I guess he athletic ability couldn't really match up. Flair getting rejected makes him look a little weak.

This was a fun match and the potential is there with HHH as he works hard to keep an intensity level to match Austin. The finish with intertwining Mankind is good and complex and also keeps his feud with HHH up.

We know now that Kane is alive and disfigured. Paul yells that again Taker is a murderer.

The commentary with Christopher and everyone else was really good. I liked this one better than the PPV match because there was more built around the highspots. A couple of botches that looked terrifying but they were able to cover it up. Lawler saying "is that your son" was really funny.

Bret Hart comes out for the big hometown promo to much adoration from the audience. The Taker match is established which finally gives Taker some competition in his reign as champ. Hart throws down the never wrestle on American soil stipulation. Owen and Bulldog get the big intros and Oh Canada gets played. Austin comes out and attacks them with a chair to some massive heat.