Strummer

I thought since the title was held up that the payoff would be Bryan going over in the cell but with the booking the last couple of weeks I think it's obvious Orton is going over tonight. I know it's been hit or miss but I've liked this whole angle for the most part and I'm going to be pretty bummed about this if it goes through

Today is Hunter and Stephanie's 10th wedding anniversary.

I think we've been through this before but why was there a boom in The UK with WWF wrestling in the early 90s when the company was falling apart domestically? I've always been intrigued by this. Was the TV not available during the "proper" boom in the 80s? Was it all Bret?

I know a lot of people are down on him but Del Rio cut a hell of a promo on Smackdown tonight

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here but what about the "ref didn't see it" is talking down to the audience as if they are grade schoolers? As in "the teacher didn't see it" when the kids did something behind the teacher's back? Or it just sounds too simplistic?

Everything about that main event was fantastic. Dustin was obviously the star but yeah Reigns wasn't that far behind. He was incredible. Even down to his trash talking. Brie Bella being inserted into the main event program was inevitable. I know people will hate it but it was bound to happen. Her acting is pretty terrible but I don't think she has ruined the program or anything. Stephanie has not been as good the last three weeks or so. Multiple segments and she's getting heat put on her in a big way. Time for her to be humiliated circa 2001 sometime pretty soon here. Hunter was pretty good tonight though

I'm tempted to start a thread for this but... everyone has to watch this. Especially the intro

they are doing a concussion angle with Hunter. I'd imagine he'll be off for awhile. (unless they do a match at the PPV) Also playing up "Who let Big Show back in the building?" Maybe Vince is coming back

as an aside this match/RAW went head to head with the infamous 1995 Academy Awards hosted by David Letterman

Attended the show tonight in Albany. Decent crowd. 1. Great Khali b Jinder Mihal. Khali wins with the chop. Heyman and Axel promo hyping the handicap main event. Poll choices are 2/3 falls and no DQ. 2. Kaitlyn and Natalya b AJ Lee and Tamina AJ tapped to the sharpshooter. 3. Justin Gabriel b Damien Sandow. Pre match promo from Sandow saying he is the uncrowned champion. Gabriel wins with a moonsault from the middle rope. Sandow cuts a post match promo once again promising to be champion. Wyatt promo. Usual creepy stuff. 4. Los Matadores b Heather Slater and Drew McIntrye Mascot was way over. Matadores win with their torture rack drop type finisher. 5. RVD b Del Rio via DQ Del Rio hits a low blow for the DQ. Post match RVD lays out Del Rio with chair and hits five star splash. Sandow tries to cash in the briefcase but Van Dam knocks him out and splashes him also. 6. Ryback b Zach Ryder Pre match promo from Ryback doing the bully stuff with Josh Mathews and Ryder. Ryback wins with the Shellshock. Heyman greets Ryback at the top of the ramp after the match. 7 Rowan and Harper b Usos Spinning clothesline for the win. Postmatch Bray Wyatt hits his finisher on one of the Usos 8. Punk b Axel & Paul Heyman no DQ stip won the poll. Bunch of Kendo sticks shots. Punk gets out of the double team and hits the GTS on Axel for the win. fun show if nothing special. Lots of kids and young adults.

Last RAW Stephanie told Big Show that his wife told her he had a small penis. But those who pay attention to past storylines already knew this of course: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5eku1_va...hroom-seg_sport continuity!

According to Meltz the "face palm" Dusty gave Stephanie on Monday's RAW was not planned and she was pissed about it. Also, in their in ring interview a few weeks ago he was constantly interrupting her and going off script and she was "furious" over it. LOL

btw anyone on the net in 1998 will know that "are the new Age Outlaws over or was it just the entrance and sing along that were" was a topic that came up at every single wrestling site and board at the time. Even Herb Kunze would not stop talking about it (he claimed they weren't) Sean Shannon was involved in that one as well. Good times. and Chyna interfering in all the matches and never having to bump for the babyface became really annoying

As Loss mentioned in the 97 yearbook I thought Hunter showed nice aggression in the 97 feud with Foley. He looked like he belonged in the ring with him. I don't think it got him hugely over or anything but it was a minor step. Even in the original DX stuff they had him hanging around the top guys so you knew they desperately wanted to push him to the top one day. Just took nearly two and a half years till it finally worked

Yeah I mentioned that last week. She has vastly improved. Maybe being a mother and 37 years old she is less self conscious than she was in her 20s and is just going out there without a care. Or it just took her a long time to get better.

always thought Rumble main should have been Shawn v Owen. they could have done the Taker/Kane stuff some other way. Although with Hunter injured and the lack of depth I'm having problems coming up with someone for him (Taker) to work with.

someone posted a whole bunch of RAWs from 94/95 on youtube the last few months and it's almost inconceivable where the WWF product was 3 years later

this was in the RAW opening for YEARS. So was the DX windshield wipers bit from earlier

Hunter doing his ultimate Warrior impression in this match made me laugh very hard at the time. Poor Sarge was made to look like a complete buffoon this entire run. At the time it didn't matter to me as I was big time into DX but 16 years later I feel sorry for the big lug. BTW it had to kill Cornette to announce this. Two guys he hates and Vince Russo booking

I can remember people online swearing that not even WCW could screw this up. I was hoping too. It's funny because I don't remember a lot of negative feedback to this. Everybody wanted this to be great and successful so much. I would say on the whole the net at this time was still firmly pro WCW although that would be changing at the beginning part of the next year

this is when the "WWF is going to die" talk started up again on the net. People were *pissed* about Bret. People forget that because they turned it around pretty quickly in early 98 but this was a somber time to say the least

Well improved by pro wrestling acting standards

I did not see this show but called my cousin up to find out who won. He was unsuccessful in trying to explain this clusterfuck but eventually blurted out "Hall won, I think"

if I'm not mistaken Rude was legitimately upset at the WWF for what they did to Bret. Plus he didn't like the direction the company was going with the more adult shock themes. He looked embarrassed to be involved in some of those DX segments, especially the backstage one where Shawn shows his ass to the camera

Stephanie has vastly improved as an actress/actor. Theres's no way she would have been able to pull of that segment 10 + years ago. Dusty was awesome of course. Him telling Stephanie to "drag her long legs out here" killed me. As did him throwing down the Bed bath and Beyond card in disgust