Matt D

I don't blame him too much. If something feels like a work and smells like a work, it's usually a work. That's just wrestling logic. It's just that we're in a different age, where there are things that trump wrestling logic, and generally, Stephanie having the public perception of being a strong working mother businesswoman who plays a bad guy on TV is more important to the WWE brass than any angle possibly could be. I do blame him for being a jerk about it though.

I'm not sold on it. This is different than 2004. I'm curious to see what the next really smarky crowd does.

The brand is god

NPR turned heel on you.

Also, so long as the Sting match is smart enough to hide his weaknesses, they should use him again vs Cena at Summerslam, then maybe one or two more times buried in a tag and put him in the HOF. That's getting about as much value as they can out of him.

I'm not saying it's not an angle. It's just weirdly against Steph's whole social media "brand" thing where they do things like push HHH being nice to a kid (or Sami rescuing a lady from an overturned car or heels doing make-a-wishes) and what not. Even during the midst of the Bryan "B+" stuff, was Steph using twitter for any of that build?

Steph has spent years building up her social media image as some sort of compassionate female voice (at least in her own head) and hasn't used it as a gimmick before. That seems way more important to her as a business brand than something she'd use in an angle. Her job is the brand thing and they put it as a higher priority than all active stories. Add in the lawsuit which they can't gimmick and it's a bit of a stretch, even for wrestling. Not impossible, but still a bit of a stretch. It just feels like a reverse course if a work.

My biggest problem with the Cena match was how he was anticipating bumps more than usual. I don't know if he's just not used to working with Rusev or what. I didn't notice that in the tag team fancam.

I kind of foresee this weird scenario where Reigns is the champion but Cena is US champ and Bryan is IC champ.

Some silly part of me kind of wonder if Putin knows about the gimmick and is amused by it.

That's called a retreat.

Triple threat. Tell me that you honestly couldn't see them doing it. Tell me.

Sell concessions like Bugsy McGraw in World Class, I think.

God this would've been way more entertaining that what actually happened. Personally, I'm just glad you still have such hope in your heart after all these years.

I have read it six times and I still am not sure the meaning of it. Alright, alright, alright you two Canadian numbskulls step aside and let me, The First Ever Winner of the First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster answer the good doctor's question. You see he is wondering where the clip of Hulk Hogan shaking the hand of a unknown kid in wheelchair seen in Hulk Hogan's Real American Story originated? After much deliberation and careful thought, I came to the conclusion that clip in question is from none other than Hulk Hogan's Real American Story! The BrainBuster Kid strikes again! Like you two even have a prayer against me. I changed my mind. You're more Tekno Team 2000 than The New Breed.

And if they're going to depush someone heavily?

You're the future, kid.

It's not the worst thing in the world to have a few major feuds in the battle royal I Guess. Last year they had Sheamus and Christian.

Also my argument isn't that you necessarily need Bryan involved in the Stewart stuff, but that there's nothing good to be done with him at all given how they've booked, so why not give him the celebrity rub and give the celebrity match the Bryan rub and utilize his skill as a great wrestler. Put him in the most visible spot possible, basically. Unless they're going to run Sting/BABYFACE vs Hunter/Heel instead of just Sting vs Hunter (which is a far superior idea btw, but oh well), there's no more visible spot than Bryan than holding together a celebrity match. I think that's better than some meaningless workrate match.

Hart Foundation too, from a kayfabe perspective, certainly. Trust me, I want Demos in as much as anyone, but they have an ax to grind with Eadie.

First, YES. Rusev vs Bryan is the best thing they could do with Bryan at this stage. they won't. This is second best. Let me break it down: I'm on the side that thinks Stewart is Trump-level celebrity. He is HUGE. I know he's hugely popular with almost every single person I know from every aspect of my life. Having Dolph in there to take bumps and Bryan in there to hold the match together with both of them together to make sure the hardcores don't shit on something that could bring the WWE a ton of mainstream publicity in a more positive way than usual is worth something to the company. Show/Kane/Harper are all physically imposing and will work with casuals and Stewart can play off of them. They've also been built up and protected (at least Show and Kane). So best to get some fucking value for that. Other than that, really, what the hell are you going to do with Bryan? There's nothing you can do with him that has any meaning. Yeah, vs Dolph or Harper or Sheamus or someone would be a workrate match to get the crowd going at the start, maybe, but it wouldn't mean anything. You can't even do a #1 Contender's match because they just had Bryan lose one. So put one of your best workers and most popular guys in the match with a shit ton of publicity. Actually, you're right. I did mess up one thing: Bryan/Dolph/Orton/Stewart vs Rollins/Kane/Show/Harper makes more sense. That way you get rid of one more singles match anyway and loop Rollins back in because he's the one the feud is over. Everyone can hit their spots. It can be a big feel good celebrity match, the kind of thing WWE wants on a Mania card. More people will know who Daniel Bryan is the day after it than they did the day before and that's worth something. I think DDP was a bigger deal on a national level after the Malone and Leno matches. WCW didn't do anything meaningful with that because they're WCW and because Goldberg was ascendant at the same time, but it's not innately a flawed idea. I think the only problem is that the match is a little crowded. Dolph and Harper could probably get shifted to the Battle Royal in that case.

The best use of Bryan now is Bryan/Dolph/Stewart vs Kane/Show/Harper or something.

Bushwhackers are a fine choice. They're so representative of the Federation era, being all over TV for years and years. They lasted all the way into 96. I think they were all over the place on a promotional level too and were closer to being household names and recognized than lots of guys further up the roster. That goes without their pre-wwe career, which doesn't matter at all for the HOF.

A new Brainbuster game should be "Create a scenario utilizing wrestlers x, y, and z that even Johnny Logic can't defend." x: Great Kabuki y: Joey Abs z: Kelly Kelly

It's easier to justify being blindly positive about things and invoking "wrestling logic" when said logic was actually used more successfully? That'd be my guess. You can't invoke wrestling logic for the sake of it when it's being wielded poorly by a bunch of writers who don't understand why and how it works.