Matt D

I was planning on being kind. But forget that now. Fine, note of shame it is. Has anyone seen Zandig and Van Hammer vs Jun Kasai and Wifebeater?

One frustrating thing about WWE as opposed to other forms of media in 2014 is that there's just no way to ask a question like "Will the gaps in WCCW be filled?" I don't know if it's because of the carny background but there's just no access.

Slowly making it through. Couple of thoughts on the Mid-Year Awards ---- 1. Global was a major promotion to me as in, during 1991, it was a big part of my life. You could watch WWF on the weekends, but Global I watched on ESPN every day when I got home from school. I tell the story about how pissed I was when it was preempted for the MLB expansion draft, and I was in to baseball that year too. 2. Sherri was also amazing in her role as being the person Warrior could get revenge on between the Rumble and Mania, especially in the cage match at MSG, which ends up really uncomfortable. The manager cam match was vs Tito at the beginning of 92 and it's frustrating because I think it's the only taped singles match between the two of them during that mini feud and we lose it all to the manager cam stuff. 3. Hogan's a really fun choice for Most Improved, Chad, though I do think he had a pretty good 1990 too. 4. Virgil on the other hand, I don't think got all that much better until 1992. He has some really great jobber matches that year where he just demolishes guys.

Goc is the only one to step up so it's going to be me vs Goc. What are the stakes? A note of shame where the loser reviews in detail 5 (easily available) matches picked by the winner? You could toss five Davey Richards vs Eddie Edwards matches at me if you were an ass, or something interesting or outlandish or whatever. Or do we want to put a moderately priced comp on the line here? Put something up.

Dustin, on Jericho's podcast the other day, said he wasn't mad at Bischoff for screwing him in 94 since he made it up to him later. I guess this is the evidence of that.

Thanks a lot. I remember looking at your show reviews back all the way back in 2010 when I was working on the Demolition Project and they were definitely useful at the time. I don't envy you proofreading whatever comes out of my head though. I type faster than I think. That said, I do have some ideas for Halloween Havoc that I'm looking forward to trying to crack.

this company doesn't have the balls to let their champ be off TV and PPV for 3+ months. He's totally dropping the title and it's highly likely it's back to Cena.I'd say highly unlikely. I feel like we should put some kind of wager down here. Me and Russellmania vs the mighty KrisZ and Mr. Zoo before any more Raws hit so there's no more "tenor" to pick up on. I think Cena wins it back at NOC (to then lose immediately to Rollins, but that's beside the point) and that they did all of this just to pop the renewals for the network.

Generally, unless they're going to give us stuff that's completely and totally unavailable, MSG matches or dark matches from before tapings that we've never seen before or territories where they have far more footage than has ever been revealed, I'd much rather have original programming. I love the older stuff, but if I want it, I can get it. I'd rather have something that is new, either to the tape trading community or to the world. There is a near infinite amount of wrestling on youtube that I haven't seen. I'm not looking for more territories on the network if they're things that I can see for a relatively small expense on my schedule and more easily.

At the very least, the Lumberjack match decision wasn't made in ignorance. Ambrose talks about it for a few seconds or so on the Shield special.

To herald the assuredly soon to drop next podcast of Parv and Chad my second column is up. Clash XVI may be the least of all wrestling megashows. Not the worst, just the least. http://placetobenation.com/the-column-beyond-a-dotted-line-through-the-georgia-brawl/

I think it's fitting that Matysik is so high on him because frankly, I think he belongs in 1983 St. Louis. He would have thrived there. Orton is a guy we'd be so much higher on if he wasn't wrestling two competitive 15 minute matches a week on TV.

Me too but that's because I was scared.

How did twenty something people vote the Rusev match the worst?

Dylan is Dark Dylan. That's the twist.

Russo logic: Insane and out of control, unstoppable monster Brock Lesnar enters himself into the Royal Rumble despite the Authority trying to stop him. They have paid off fifteen guys to all attack him so the money in the back winner can cash in during the middle of the Rumble. Brock then gets his revenge on rollins at Wrestlemania.

Neither Martel nor especially Hennig got to play a scientific heel in WWF either.

How much of that do you think is roids, age, stylistic differences, or just him playing a heel instead of a face?

I can 100% think this is all to heat up NOC and that they figure they can just trot Brock out again for a big match at Mania and he'll be evergreen. Why? Because I've watched them do short sighted shit like that for years and years and years. Frankly I think it could go either way but if you put a gun to my head, Cena wins, Rollins cashes in. Yes, they've been more self aware this year, but only by necessity and right now necessity says that they have to heat up NOC at all costs. If the network numbers drop considerably, that's a worst possible scenario. So yeah, I could see them having the Rocky Balboa match at NOC instead of Mania or wherever.

And frankly, after the beating he took, I don't see him possibly losing again.

If you put a gun to my head, I'd say they'd work it like the second of the two Taker vs Hogan matches from 91 (tuesday in texas) where Hogan was desperate to avoid the choke. In this case, it'd be him avoiding the German Suplexes. In that match you had the Flair screw job at the end. Here, you'd have Cena win after a battle and Rollins cash in. You give Ambrose the Foley-in-Winter 98 title win against Rollins with Cena's help, have Rollins win it back, and then go with Reigns or Bryan going into Mania with some Brock vs Cena blow off match or Brock vs Rock or something. That's my guess looking at it right now.

And right back to the Cena well? It looks like this whole story, stunt, etc was to heat up Night of Champions for the initial resubscriptions.

Should have they gone with Greg?

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18073-current-wwe/page-39 Last year at this time.

I think we agree regardless of the fact that agent told Rusev to sell throughout the match versus the old school think where Rusev would have had to contributed that on his own that this was good shit and we can't credit or fault Rusev for the current operating environment. So I don't want to belabor the talking point I had in the past with friends on the overemphasis on praising singer-songwriters versus those who just sing. Everybody has their role that maximizes their value. Some great artists like Elvis are best suited for singers and don't make them any less worthy of praise than a singer-songwriter. It is great that wrestlers used to call it in the ring, but now it is time for those who can execute. At the end of the day, even if Rusev was told to do it, it is up to him to execute. How many times have we seen wrestlers blow off selling or forget about it. It could have been very simple for Rusev to get caught up in his offense and neglect to sell. Where we disagree is that if you insert another member of the roster into a similar match that same praise would be given. What made this so impactful was that Rusev has been this unstoppable force, but last month Swagger was able to wound him with the Patriot Lock and almost get a countout. Rusev sold that through his finish and the next night on RAW. From there Rusev tried to jumpstart the match, but it backfired and Swagger slaps on the Patriot Lock again to great effect. It was the perfect confluence of how Rusev had been built up, previous match storytelling and Rusev's excellent execution. If they did something similar in Miz/Ziggler or Paige/AJ I don't think would be as effective because those feuds don't have the same heat and build. To me it does not matter who the brains because you could tell two wrestlers the greatest layout in the world, but as a fan I ain't going to see that. i am going to see the match that those wrestlers put out. Rusev executed the vision of the agent to great effect and deserves all the credit for doing just that. I don't disagree with a lot of what you said. I did think that I had to say what I said, however, if only because it needed to be raised. I'm fine with then people dismissing it. It was playing devil's advocate. Where I disagree is the last sentence. I think over time, you can figure that out. Like I said, if this is something that Rusev, coming out of this match, comes to appreciate, and it's something that plays into his matches for years to come, then that's great, and I think at some point, it will become very easy to start to attribute that to him. In the scope of one or two nights, no, not yet. He can get all the credit in the world for the execution of it, however.

I got asked today by someone at work who's a lapsed fan why John Cena took a "HHH squashes someone" beating against Lesnar. He was energized by the possibility of Rock coming back to face him at Mania though. On the other hand, I had to try to explain Dean Ambrose.