Matt D

Cena or Bryan going on a concussion-driven killing spree might do it actually. That's the most reasonable scenario I can figure. Maybe some authoritarian regime coming into power that prevented fan-posted streaming video on the internet so that there was no longer anything like youtube to watch things on. Even a Vince Russo like scenario where you had his very worst of WCW still had some fun stuff on the tertiary shows. I actually think a better question would be "What could they do get me to watch Raw for 3 hours on Monday night?" and the answer is basically nothing. I'm not revolving my life around them and so long as I don't have to in order to follow the product, there's almost nothing that can get me to turn away from it fully.

We'll see what Jericho has for people tomorrow but since I'm not really counting Austin's podcast as new content given it was on the network already, this might be one of those insane weeks where Piper's podcast is the best one. It's rambling as ever but they rapid fire about six Buddy Rose stories (including his nightly Wendy's order) to start.

Hart had a fairly damning list of guys in his book.

That's all part of the reality era new kayfabe, brother.

I watch it on my terms. I'll speed through a Raw on 2x speed and stop for matches that I want to see on youtube the next day. I catch something if I want to. For a long time, I watched the int'l feed of Smackdown on Friday morning on my terms. As long as they're putting on good matches, I'll watch it how I choose and probably enjoy it.

I think people underestimate the element of surprise.

He's now the lesser of two evils?

At the least they have the History of the World Title DVD on there right? That doesn't help if it doesn't get picked up by the search though.

I don't think Bryan is going over but I do think this is a particularly risky move. Just like putting Bryan in the Rumble (and bringing him back beforehand for no good reason except for to pop a rating for Smackdown's night change), this seems like waving a red flag in front of the fans for no good reason. I get the idea that putting Reigns over Bryan, especially cleanly after a good long match where Bryan can help him look good, should, on paper, help give Reigns a seal of approval but I don't think it would work that way in practice. I think it'd be a much better idea to give Bryan something as compelling as possible away from the title picture for both Fast Lane and Mania instead.

I could have sworn that Heenan managed Ramon and Luger in one of the Perfect/Hart tag matches but I think he just did one of the local backdrop promos for it. I would have got cocky and said that I could name 16 Heenan guys and messed up there.

I would much, much rather go to a house show than a Raw taping though.

I feel like Val Venis' signature match should have been a Loveland Street Fight.

Likewise Rotundo/Rotunda.

Ok, this is pretty cool. So there's a WCW Main Event from 92, Championship Wrestling (WWF) from 83, a WCCW from 85, a GWF from 92, an All Star Wrestling from 76, a Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling from 83, a Mid South from 82, a NWA WWW from 82, another Mid-Atlantic from 84, another Mid South from 83, a MSG show from 76.

It's probably you and me and no one else around here that have those memories of Global, with the Cartel and the Dark Patriot and being pissed off at the MLB expansion draft preempting it.

I thought they did a very good job presenting what a potential Bryan vs Rusev story would look like at TTTT.

And we can all see them missing the point and doing that.

It'll especially be a disaster if they don't give them time.

As part of that crowd, I think that's way off base (though I don't disagree with pol's initial post in some ways. I think this just took things in a slightly different direction). People there knew what they were doing. They were vocally expressing their displeasure with what they knew were creative decisions. I think people were more offended that WWE thought they could pull this off than anything else. They didn't pay to leave. They did pay to be able to cheer if they liked what they saw and boo if they didn't, and it was a hell of a time shitting on what was presented and I'm SURE they would sell out in Philly next time as well. I bought my ticket knowing that there was a really good chance that WWE would present something that the crowd would absolutely hate and how energized it would be and how fun it'd be to witness that first hand. I'm not wildly emotionally invested in this stuff like I was ten years ago. So I'm going to maximize the amount of fun I have at a show. It was a hugely informed crowd. And most of those people had an absolute blast and Philly would sell out in a situation like this again in a heartbeat. I said it in my road report, but leaving that building actually felt like a positive experience, a sort of sense of community, and outside of 2 overly gleeful "You fucked up" chants that I wish didn't happen (though weren't ALL that widespread), I thought the crowd was mostly constructive in its negativity. I will say that on some level, instead of booing an anti-russian heel in 1984 that's insulting them by saying that they're weak and foolish and whatever, they were instead booing the company that doesn't have the same creative priorities that they have and is saying that they're dumb and foolish and just need to be fed what they're given. It's not all that different. In both cases the fans know what they're paying for tickets to do, really.

Did Dave ever respond to the three pages of Gary Hart railing on him in his book?

We've been over this ground before, but since we're putting pieces together, Dustin's contract was apparently an apology for getting fired in 95.

Advantage of Denucci is that he trained Foley, right?

Really, if Bryan had managed, in that scenario, to absorb a ton of damage from the reunited Wyatts and somehow beat off both Harper AND Rowan and eliminated them both, then maybe it'd be slightly more acceptable for Wyatt to toss him.

It's funny but this, to me, feels far more precarious in the long run than just going forward with Reigns or turning him heel. We don't know what it is yet but when you start screwing with the basic logic of the universe you're presenting, you get further into death of WCW territory than just trying to push a guy and having to turn him heel because the crowd doesn't take it.

Ok, here's what to do. I got this idea from reading Gary Hart's book and his explanation for why he created the TV title and had it defended in 2/3 matches. He needed to cut two matches out of the TV taping since he was giving too much away that night. WWE Can't fill their 3 hours easily. They need to make the freaking Americas title for Bryan and have him defend it every week over 2-3 segments on Raw. He'll basically be the Million Dollar Champ or the TV champ or whatever and he can hold that belt forever against different guys and they can blow segments off, make him come off as dominant, appease the fan base on some level, and keep him out of the main event. And if his matches tank in the ratings, then that's all the ammo they need to depush him anyway. If they do well, then they have every reason to keep doing what they're doing. That's even better than giving him a year long tag title reign with Dolph. It's no lose for what Vince wants.