Matt D

He'll be a no brainer to a bunch of them if the first fight draws. I can't imagine it not drawing, if only for the trainwreck appeal. The comics thing was kind of funny because 8 years or so ago, there would have been a huge backlash because it would have meant another seasoned writer was getting passed over by an outsider (usually a low level TV guy; for instance, a Kimmel writer just got pegged to do a three part story at Marvel). That's not nearly as big a deal anymore because A) they've pulled so many people that it's become a desensitizing thing and b ) because of the Marvel movies, you get more earnest participation from these writers instead of just guys who are slumming.

Let me put it this way: I see both sides on this, but it took TRMD explaining his for me to see it. The Hunter/Bryan match felt "right" to me to the point I never even though of it. I guess sort of like generations of people watching Steamboat/Savage.

Amazing what happens when you actually watch the footage.

The Bryan match was probably the only match in his career this century that was exactly the right length.

He could work like Brody. He'd actually probably have been really good at that.

I don't remember exactly how I felt about that PPV at the time. I think I was mostly glad that the guys I liked were just getting elevated in big matches all at once, win or lose.

re: royal rumble 90 I kind of love this idea. I know Helwig would have never gone with it, but they could have run short programs with Dusty or Piper or Kerry or Jake or Duggan.

It's not that kind of company.

It's a hell of an argumentative shield. He bought up the talent. They could have stopped him.

Oh. Also, shy Vince~

We talk about the death if the territories a lot and we never talk about the idea that yeah, most of the territories had more capital than Vince but didn't use it defensively. Is that bs or not? You get the impression he convinced himself it's not at least.

Honestly he went deeper than I expected. The strangest bits were Vince saying he didn't know the answer when it came to Cesaro and the silence from Austin after the Savage question. The Brock is Jake's python analogy was weird too. And the whole streak question. You get that Vince really loves the bug eyed fan though. I kind of liked his territory killing answer.

Did they announce Harper-Ziggler as a ladder match?

I actually would have liked the other more. I feel like Punk with the three Shield guys (even with Hero in there) would have felt too much like New Nexus or something. Punk was right on one level in that we've seen Show turn before and what not, but how many heel stables have we seen in the last ten years with 3-4 major guys being the entire stable? It feels different than La Familia (Edge, Chavo, Edgeheads, Bam, Vickie) or The Cabinet (JBL, Bashams, Jordan). Those feel a lot more like Punk + Shield to me. Punk/Show/Bryan/Rollins feels more Horseman-y to me. Or at least Evolution. Leader/Heater/Technician/Upstart.

I feel robbed we never got the Punk, Big Show, Bryan, Rollins stable. That would have been pretty great, actually.

WCW ceasing to exist was pretty striking in that regard.

It's a little silly to talk so much about Dave here, but what the hell: I don't think he necessarily should need to know what's out there and what's not at this point, but he should know who to ask, if that makes sense.

Would it apply to HHH in 96-98?

Would that apply to Jarrett too?

Anything in this that wasn't widely circulated before?

I think the most damning thing about TNA, out of a thousand damning things is that so many people who either identify themselves as wrestling fans or once did have never even heard of it.

There's usually a honeymoon period before people realize it though.

I think the Doc thing is interesting actually. There was a certain level of familiarity there, or camaraderie. I'm not explaining it well but it came off to me odd that he kept referring to him that way.

Sounds like a job for Bix. EDIT: I do find it pretty unlikely though.

Am I crazy to think that Vince should lean hard into this. I know it's not 97 and WWE is publicly traded now but if they went all out and presented this as Pro Wrestling bullshit and he came at Austin in full Mr. McMahon mode, even with Austin calling him on it, and they announced in the days of the lead up that he'd be commenting heavily on this... would it give them the sort of buzz for the network they were looking for? I have a feeling, like they have time and time again, they could sweep this under the rug as "pro wrestling is fake and so is this," and get a lot of people to sign up for the network for at least a month at the same time.