Matt D

I'm up to ECW vol 2 on this and I'm enjoying it. A few comments. 1.) It's probably unnecessary but given some of the other feeder systems mentioned, I think the Kowalski camp/Chaotic Wrestling might have earned 20-30 seconds. Mizdow, Palmer Cannon, Chad Toland/Dick, Antonio of the Heartthrobs, Nowinski (I think he went there after tough enough), Kenny Dykstra, Kingston, Mickey Keegan, and probably others I don't know about (EDIT: like Sasha Banks). 2.) I think you guys bypassed the "NEW TALENT INITIATIVE" branding in ECW vol 2, though you mentioned some of the guys they used there, but it was actually presented that way on screen. 3.) The biggest thing I potentially take umbrage with is the Triple H/Vince issue. I get what Dylan was saying, that Hunter was the one who, for years, would cut the legs out of rivals and what not, but what I'd like an opinion on is the idea that the star/stop booking was a side effect of the guys who left in 2002-2004, maybe most especially Lesnar, and it was very much a spiteful Vince thing having to do with making sure that no "superstar" would be bigger than the WWE brand ever again. Maybe Hunter benefited from that, but it always felt like much more of a Vince thing to me, with Hunter's power plays being more of a 1999(and earlier) 2004 sort of thing and maybe not so associated with the start-stop pushes, etc.

All the stuff about him being painfully insecure - you don't think that would/should bother him? No, it's about the character, not the performer. I think things like the Triple H squashes everyone video last year show that they're pretty good at making fun of the difference.

That thing was a love letter to HHH the villain, the one who got his comeuppance last year vs Bryan and likely will next weekend against Sting.

From what I've seen, those AJPW matches had selling in the moment, selling over time, and meaningful escalation. I think they have too much of the third but I woudn't deny the first two for the most part (give or take a few lapses).

Come on guys, no bumping this thread. It reminds me I never watched those matches Bill wanted me to (I forgot) and now I'm obliged to again.

I didn't get to hear anything that wasn't made by someone here this week so this was an especially helpful one.

Next Column, one where I break down the commentary for a Tony/JR match sentence by sentence and then see how the addition of Jesse changed things.

Terry Funk and Flash Funk?

Was Feuerstein the one who guest hosted and was sort of screwing around as the Grand Wizard out there? Because that was pretty great.

I don't understand it. There are a lot of things I used to enjoy as a child that I no longer enjoy today as a an adult. My past enjoyment of those things plays no role in how I currently view those things. Instead of complaining about them and bemoaning the fact that these things I once enjoyed used to be so much better, I don't watch/listen/participate in/play with or consume them any more. Is allegiance to WWE like an allegiance to a sports team for some people? Fans of the Cleveland Browns might do nothing but bitch and moan about how shitty their team is, but the Browns are still their team, dammit, and they still enjoy watching and supporting them, regardless of the misery that comes with it. That I can understand (even if I don't personally feel the same way about wrestling). Yes, but it's also as if the Browns were the only team who played football. And everyone else sort of play rugby and the closest you can get to watching football in the way that you have for decades is to read comic books or watch soap operas. That's actually closer in a lot of ways to watching football than watching rugby is to you. It's kind of like that.

I remember seeing Rey's price tag recently. That'd be a starting point to figure it out at least.

His comments over the last few months have been more along the lines of "I wish people would make the most of their opportunities. I can't wait to have the chance to make Smackdown as great as I possibly can." That to me seems pretty damn healthy. He gets the limitations he's against and he's going to make the best of the situation instead of being miserable. Are the limitations stupid? Sure, but his response is very positive.

There's not really an alternative. Not to that Monday Night fix. Not to years and years of engagement, something that you've invested in for most of your life, something that appeals to childhood memories and some of the best feelings of spectator triumph and heartbreak of your life. WWE feels like "history" in a way that TNA or an indy can't. It's not about quality. It's about being part of something that is literally impossible to replace. You can find other wrestling, but you can't rewrite your life or history so that WWE wasn't a part of it. It'll always scratch slightly different itches. I am always confused when people don't seem to understand this.

I think there's every indication that Bryan's pretty happy.

My first couple of posts in this thread was assuming that this was the case.

I'm only an hour in but I was hoping for a long discussion on Big Daddy Dink.

Is the Vehicle called "Ladies and Gentle,en, I present you with...."

It's a damn shame Tenay stole the professor title. With Solie dead, Kris Z can be the Dean of PWO.

Haven't heard this yet but I hope part 1 is just Pringle and Hayes watching Gulf Coast together.

Look, I have a harder time respecting Flair because there isn't the thought behind what he did. On the one hand, though, Rose said that's how he wrestled too, but then there was all the research he did and how he came up with moves with Wiskowski and the amount of work that he put into things that was on a different level than spending money on suits. It's obvious in his work and his angles and in everything he did. Also the wide variance of working week after week in front of the same crowd, which is something we don't have as much with Flair, and I wish we did. He wasn't good at explaining what he did, but I believe fully that he spent all of his time thinking about it whether he realized he was doing it or not. With Flair, I can't, in good faith, put the world's most talented (and/or drunk) idiot savant as my #1 I think,