Matt D

Eadie, who will be thirty spots higher than Michaels on my list.

The hype of him going in was that he was probably a moron for it and that Joe had made the better call because he was almost immediately featured in a better light in TNA. Obviously he overcame that hype. I think there was an entirely different level of anticipation after the pipe-bomb, and even more so immediately after Summerslam.

Mike Jackson: 3 Reviews here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/27673-jvks-territorial-explorations/?view=findpost&p=5612513 He was the MVP and maybe the "best jobber ever."

He doesn't get credit for the 88 Demolition match. That was good despite him. He just wasn't as nearly as tough as Dynamite when it came to asserting himself in 88.

I don't think it's crazy to think that Vince cares about things more than money after all that we've seen him do over the years? To me, it's more dangerous to attribute rational decision-making to him than it is to almost any other public figure I can think of.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/14115-cm-punk-greatest-promo-ever/ Revisit that. I think you can get a sense of why people feel how they do. I'm not even saying I feel that way, but in that moment, it seemed not just possible, but probable. And the night after? From our good friend John:

What damns him is that for one moment in time, everyone thought that another boom was possible, that the glass ceiling would finally shatter, that he was too hot, too savvy, too big to fail, that he could be the one to actually beat the machine, that the moment had finally come, and then it was over and he was just another guy again and the stars were out of alignment for another three years. For a moment there, he looked like the savior, and the machine ground him up and spit him out just like anyone else. Is that a fair notion to have? Of course not. Should he be seen as a guy who hugely overachieved instead? Who did change things and open doors? Probably. But I think people can't help themselves.

I'm not sure I buy this, but I do think even if it's the genesis of it, they're buying into their own BS at this point.

I'm not sure I'm going to have time to write up the Puma/Virus/Tiger trios match from last Friday, but if I were to do so, it'd be almost solely to highlight Puma. Between the new gear and his mannerisms when he's on the apron through almost the entirety of the match, he feels a step above and beyond suddenly. You get the sense that he's trying to be more, whether or not CMLL is on board with the plan.

I should make another poll.

That's part of why Rock went into business for himself on Raw.

Of course not. That was WWE sanctioned bullying. With the fans they had moved.

aka goc's new favorite wrestler.

Word coming out of Raw was how furious they were at what Rock did.

I think we'd kill for that sort of an angle right now though.

If that's right, it's the same card as Gino vs Harley, most likely.

Thankfully, we have a bearded anarchist who has made it one of his two goals this year to propagate insane but probably correct theories.

It was funny how Boesch totally missed the foreign object though and then, since he missed it, he decided not to comment on it when he noticed it later.

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.