Matt D

Carmella can't exist in a world with Sasha in it.

I don't think the match needed it. That much I'll say. There were smarter and even more story-driven ways to raise the stakes. But that's not necessarily what's being argued here.

I have no idea if I've ever seen that Cam Am vs Dream Team match. I need to find time for that. I watched an 84 Robinson vs Martel match earlier (from 84, so I don't think it's the few 83 ones I've seen) and didn't love that, so I'm up for a Martel match I'll really like.

This is pretty much the sections of Gary Hart's book about the dirtiness of Texas Wrestling come to life.

The Van Buyten, Ali Bey, Andre trio is a blast.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13dqxm_andre-buyten-bey-vs-kimura-teranishi-sugiyama-iwe-05-02-72_sport I was wrong. It was 72. I didn't realize it was on Dailymotion until just now.

I saw him in a match from 74 in which I thought he was great, so I'm going to watch all I can now.

Taylor vs Volkoff is very cool for the crowd. It has a good start and a good end and a sort of frustrating middle with endless chinlocking. I wrote this back in 2011 (which is forever ago) about Taylor at right about that time from watching Mid South TV. http://russianflagburial.blogspot.com/2011/06/terry-taylot-mid-souths-wyatt-earp.html Don't judge me too harshly on it.

As of now Arn is in my top ten, though Dylan tried to convince me to trade him for Regal.

You're going to have to bite the bullet and do the chronological Buddy Rose deep dive at some point. Wait, you're really that high on Cena? I get the impression you practically hate Cena from your write ups.

The problem is Trips and Stephanie. Got it.

I will have Dustin over Dibiase but Dibiase will still rate somewhere.

It's not hard, really. Have HHH be so pissed off that Sting ruined the ceremony that he immediately wants revenge on Sting and books Rollins in a match with him. Have Sting say "Sure, but only for the title. Otherwise, I'm going to keep ruining everything you try to do." Maybe even play up Sheamus as ready to prey upon Rollins the second Sting death drops him out of nowhere in a ring. And there's your match. Not rocket science. There are plenty of examples of a babyface goading a heel into putting the title up.

Really booking should be simple, just like story telling. Set up something people want to see, make them want it and then give it to them. That's not to say there can't be surprises either. Blue Pants was a surprise, but she was one that was fair game. She was an established character, who has certain things in common with the Vaudevillians. She was really one of the only two options that were even possible (the other being Enzo/Cass/Carmella). Anything else would have been swervy since it wouldn't have been previously established. They went with the most logical choice and it still felt like a satisfying surprise. Wrestling is about anticipation and payoff. The main roster seems to consistently set up situations that are almost impossible to pay off.

Step #1: Have Vader Power Bomb Vince so that he loses his memory and is Lost in Cleveland. The rest sort of follows from there, really.

Right now, with no Japanese wrestlers save for Mr. Saito, I have 78 guys that I feel I could make a list with today. I have another 50 or so that I feel could easily make it with some more watching.

Three sentimental picks I might slip on the end of my ballot: Hector Garza: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/search/label/Hector%20Garza Stan Stasiak: The Andre match from Classics that people looked at The Portland matches in the Portland thread Earthquake/John Tenta: PWSS http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19152-john-tenta/?hl=tenta

Blackwell might be my top fat guy.

Franz Van Buyten (No, I'm kidding. I'm just trolling OJ).

Like anything else, it depends on the context, the recovery, and the selling. In that situation, there was contact between foot and face, and Sasha was stunned for a few seconds, looking for blood, before moving on to the next spot, which then didn't end the match. In that regard, it worked. I had more of an issue with the transition spot of Sasha falling off the ropes, because I didn't think what was happening there was presented well by the wrestlers, the announcers, or the camera work and that was a much more important spot in the story of the match.

I do get a kick out of it when they post something about a wrestler granting his first wish, especially if it's a guy like Bray Wyatt or 2012 Jack Swagger.

I have no idea how to embed tweets, but: https://twitter.com/stephmcmahon/status/581881800659591168 I know this got a ton of heat with Keller at the time.

Rollins wins more than usual since he's a HHH protege, but he's a vulnerable heel champ. Neville is a threat to him, let alone Sting.

Sting vs Rollins might be the first (Non-NXT) WWE PPV match this year I'm actively looking forward to since Bryan vs Reigns.