Strummer

There was a JJ Dillon interview a few weeks ago where he said that Vince thought the Gobbleddy Gooker was going to get over huge. Now I wish it was Vince on commentary instead of Roddy and Gorilla putting that over with his hearty laugh and guffaws. Tugboat is a good one. Vince really got a kick out of that gimmick. "Here comes the Tugster!" he seemed to like babyface Doink quite a lot. Andre is an obvious one

yeah why did they talk like Curly from the three stooges in all their promos? Was that some sort of inside reference? I'm usually pretty good at that stuff but I have no idea here

I would agree that he comes off smarmy and somewhat conceited on Twitter but he is pretty great on televised media/radio. There is no sarcasm font!

Brooke has learned from her father I guess. She is implying that the Knockouts division will be a shoot:

Todd is giving up the RAW reports when the show moves to 3 hours in July

RAW is moving to a 90 minute tape delay in July. Content issues or are they about to tape another show? Cruiserweight show that was supposed to be on the network?

Apparently Heyman will be a semi regular and will cut Brock's promos for him while he's gone. It helps cut down on his contractual dates and will build towards Brock v Hunter at Summerslam obviously Tensai v Punk is also on the books for Summerslam apparently (Scott Keith is going to kill himself) PWI

incredible review Loss! I remember you alluding to this in the 95 yearbook. Specifically during the Pillman-Badd match at Fall Brawl. Even WCW, which was known for a stiffer style had dialed back considerably. I'm guessing it was the influence of Hogan on the company. Or maybe Bischoff just wanted to copy the WWF style. Interesting point and probably a reason ECW stood out in the US with all the nasty bumps and stiff shots. It's amazing how light Shawn was working during this time in retrospect. Scott Hall may not have been a great worker but his punches looked great and stood out in this era.

Apparently they shot an angle putting AJ Styles as Dixie Carter's lover. this has to be a reference to the Nash stuff before last year's Rumble and the the rumors that Dixie and Serge have an open marriage, right?

oh man we might be into another Mike Johnson v Meltzer war

yeah according to PWI Brock already may be on his way out. The angle tonight could have been done to write him off the show: PWI is usually dead on so I'm inclined to believe this.

yeah the blading thing can get real annoying. I've had several discussions with people who simply refuse to believe the blood is real. Back in 2000 I was working for a professor doing survey research at college and somehow wrestling came up with the whole group at the phone bank (I'm really dating myself here) I was the lone fan and blood came up and I mentioned blading and was quickly shot down. A couple of middle aged woman gave exasperated repsonses and looked at me as being macabre. Blading is usually something that sounds horrifying to non fans. So horrifying they just don't want to believe it.

I had a very strange experience with this one. We were all gathered to watch a PPV in 1995 or so (I was around 16). In fact it may have been KOTR 95! Well one of my brother's friends, who was about 12 or 13 starts spouting how no one really gets hurt and they're just "playing around" I responded with a "well not really they can get hurt if they don't perform a move properly or land wrong..etc" Well the kid starts getting teary eyed and says "No, oh no they DON"T get hurt" He was seriously almost in tears and started shaking. Then one of the parents who was there said "stop, you're scaring him" or something of that nature. It was awkward to say the least. I have no idea why he got upset other than he was a very compassionate and empathetic kid

lost in all this is that Punk is headed towards 6 months with the title. Yeah the title doesn't mean as much but they seem to be invested in him as a top guy. Hopefully that is the blowoff to Punk/Jericho as I can't think of any reason after losing at 2 straight PPVs they could rematch Jericho again

I didn't mention it for fear of being scoffed at but I had a feeling with the way Cena had been booked the last few weeks that he was going over Lesnar. It's just the way WWE does business. He had done 2 clean jobs in a couple weeks and there was no way he was losing another big match

Meltz seems to be in a particularly prickly mood tonight covering the PPV. It's like he's reviewing a TNA PPV from 2009-2011 (now he doesn't seem to give a shit anymore)

I liked the angle where Jericho broke the bottle over Punk's head. The stuff last week was hit or miss. I don't think that segment would have got over if anyone but Punk was in it. Punk really seems to be into it I'll give him that. I think he thinks it's good stuff. The Jericho/Foley comparison is apt

wow the days when they announced Wrestlemania matches almost 2 months in advance! Although WM 10 was unusually early that year. But still

the first cast of Tough Enough (11 years ago!) seemed particularly markish. I'm not going to outright claim that some of them thought wrestling was real but by some of their reactions you had to at least wonder. That little smart mark Josh Mathews was rolling his eyes in disgust at the rest of the cast all the time. and Les Thatcher on WOL years ago said every new class he gets a high percentage that say they want to be the Ultimate Warrior or Hulk Hogan where they just bulldoze the other guy in the ring. Years ago there was a thread at DVDVR about meetings and dealings with marks and I remember almost crying from laughter

If I were to pick one match to define what the WWF thinks wrestling is or perceives it to be I would choose Warrior/Savage from WM 7. Maybe this is hyperbolic but I don't know if a match booked and worked like that could have taken place in any other company or territory

The most vivid wrestling dream I had was when I was teaming with a faceless jobber against Demolition in a squash match. I remember being scared but when I got in the ring I was suprised that all the punches and moves didn't hurt at all. I took the fall I believe. This was late 80/early 90s. Puts me at 10 or 11

first show I ever attended: WWF @ Albany, NY - Knickerbocker Arena - February 18, 1990 Debut at the venue The Genius defeated Hercules after Mr. Perfect interfered The Red Rooster defeated Bob Bradley Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty defeated the Powers of Pain via disqualification Dusty Rhodes defeated Randy Savage via count-out Bret Hart fought Greg Valentine to a draw WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Mr. Perfect As Jingus mentioned the "Oh man I see these guys on TV" vibe starts to catch on and it's an awesome experience. Not much to say about the matches but I remember the Rockers bumping like absolute beasts for POP in a match they probably had hundreds of times in 1989/1990. Hogan was so over it was scary live for me as a ten year old. I remember thinking that they wouldn't mention Perfect losing on TV and of course they didn't. There was supposed to be an Akeem match ( I believe against Tito) but they had announced he had missed his flight Bret was directionless at this time working against Valentine around the horn and they would put the foundation back together for one last run soon after. Fun experience. The next show I went to later in the year was headlined by Warrior v Bravo so this wins out for 1990!

The 30th anniversary of Lawler/Kaufman was this week so the angle has been discussed quite often. Dave has never seemed to be a big fan of the angle. Was that the consensus among smarks at the time?

According to PWI Cena had to stall during his promo because Brock showed up late (30 seconds before he came out)

The one thing going through my mind the whole night was is if the Bryan stuff is specific to Miami or will the casual, react to what the company wants crowd keep it up? Eve is molten hot looking right now. I have a feeling she is going to win the feud with Zack and will probably end up getting the push from that angle. Tensai was awesome although I don't know if a claw hold will get over in today's environment This was an awesome show