Matt D

To be fair, even if the roster was fully healthy, Del Rio might have been in both matches.

Bruce (or Kris, Pete, Tabe, etc?), Any idea about the date on this one?

1. Lack of competition. Vince won the war. 2. The current revenue structure does not punish failure in drawing like it has in years previous. 3. A desire NOT to make new stars that are bigger than the company after the way Brock left in 2004. WWE is the draw, not any specific wrestler. 4. Political Hit? Rollins as HHH's mortal avatar on earth?

This is exactly the sort of match that highlights the service. Twenty-seven minutes of Terry Funk being awesome, basically. It's actually one of the best Gary Hart performances on the outside I think I've ever seen too. He had his limitations physically, but he was very good at worming his way into this match. Lewin played his part perfectly too, stalling and hamming and being absolutely focused. All of the transitions were great. There's almost nothing I love more in a match than dueling limbwork and that was at play here. Funk is maybe the best limb seller of all time, and he showed the absolute perfect way to fight back from it. Every time he would try to get distance on Lewin, the crowd would react. It wasn't even for him getting a shot in. Just getting distance and trying to work his way around Lewin was enough to be a hope spot. That was amazing. When he finally hits the left hand punch in the third fall, it's a huge moment. I thought this was great and it probably deserves a better write up but there's just no time right now. There's a handful more of Funk matches that we know about and I can't wait til Bruce gets to them.

Portraying this solely as Vince responding and reacting to the fans misses a heck of a lot of what's actually going on and what's been going on for a long time.

The Mania crowd was into Reigns by the end of the match because of the performance he was putting on against Brock. That said, my tendency is to believe that HHH is going to undercut him. Past the Bryan match, history's really shown that to be the case.

I'm still way behind, but from the sounds of it, I'd be happier if they established that Ivelisse had been bathed by cosmic rays while riding down Route 66 and they gave her slight levels of super strength and hyper-reflexes or something.

Yeah, right now they're advertising Reigns vs Sheamus, Styles, a Highlight Reel, and potentially Brock vs Harper (though that's a little unclear, so don't get excited.)

So Sheamus has a mild tendinitis injury (which Lana did not cause) and someone else might be down too.

In all seriousness, I'd be especially curious for you to look at how Cena was booked around Wrestlemania 22. I wasn't watching then but I have to wonder.

Cena's last year hurts him but he'll still be on my list. Bryan will be on my list. Cesaro will be on my list. Sheamus will be on my list. Dustin is helped by his last run. Punk will be on my list. Christian had some good stuff when he actually got to work. That is close to it, I think. Joe might sneak on and this last year doesn't hurt. Low Ki just had that great match with Rey last year but i don't know. Brock isn't making my list, certainly not on the strength of the last few years.

Cena. Show your work.

This is a tough one. I'm going to go with Harley Race vs Tony Atlas or Dusty Rhodes vs the Grappler though. They're not the most recent books but from the results we have available, they're the best guesses I have. Tommy Rich vs Kamala would have been another but A) we already got that and B ) 27 minutes? (That makes me doubt the Dusty/Grappler match too, btw).

I'd say that this generally accomplishes what it sets out to do, even if it's lacking in a good deal of modern context/nuance and really doesn't offer much in the way of "well, here's what was really going on instead," which is the more interesting question by far. . My big question to Parv coming out of this would be when exactly was the last time Vince got behind anyone to the degree he's talking, especially someone presented on weekly TV.

Let me put it this way: If that was the only Brody match I'd ever seen, I would believe the hype. I've never seen anyone make him look better. It's probably the best Brody singles match I've ever seen and I'd call it legit good. The way that Bock sold his offense and kept the movement constant was excellent and I really liked the variation of the king of the mountain where Bock kept using the ropes, not just as a boundary, a base to strike from, but as an actual weapon. Very curious to see what other people think.

I watched episodes 15-18 today. I'll be caught up by the time season 2 ends.

The idea that when Jericho first got to the WWE they told him to learn from Kane and how upset every person who liked wrestling and had an internet connection (myself included) got at the notion of such a thing. He came quite a far way in Vince's eyes. I still think a lot of that was him leaving. Leaving on your own terms is Vince's one biggest weakness.

All probably true, but Kane still had a better 99 than Jericho.

As best as I can tell, the channel is down.

The 82 match from Southwest sure isn't great. Bock was on record saying that he hated working with Brody since Brody wouldn't take any direction on things that would have made him (being Brody) look better. 79 might be early enough that he wasn't as set in his ways though, so we'll see.

I could see them thinking that it'd make Becky look bad. Like she had to run to the authority figures when she lost a match.

I think the difference is that no one expects them to ever pull the trigger on him. He's like Arn in that regard. He's a career midcarder.

Cesaro is freakishly strong, strong enough to do things like this: Which transfers both to hitting moves and helping guys by taking their moves. He's credible, fairly Teflon, impactful, tall enough but not freakishly huge, had really good matches with guys of all sizes, can work singles and in a multiman, face or heel, can work over a bodypart or get worked over and sell, can work an eight minute spring with a lot of exciting offense or something longer with a lot of heat.

The answer is Cesaro, right?

I'm just curious: Would people have been more okay with the kiss if she punched him and floored him instead of slapping him?