Matt D

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.

Ok, Rusev continued to sell the ankle last night. Million billion stars.

I missed chunks of the show. Are Goldust and Stardust going to challenge the Usos now? Also, the head writer of Smackdown is obviously a huge Dolph fan (he's much more prominent on that show, including challenging batista right after his turn for a few weeks, etc), so I'm curious how he's going to use him as IC champion.

A couple weeks off at this point is just going to make the crowd hotter for Ambrose when he comes charging back.

If they didn't for Fuji Vice... Neither here nor there, but I have this feeling that if the Bobby Heenan show dropped today, on Adult Swim or IFC or something, it'd have a huge cult following. Way before its time.

Yes. I bet all of us would agree on that but Will, who would go with headbutts.

What's even the difference between No Holds Barred and No DQ?

He was pretty clear about only wanting to come back as a heel, but who knows.

Selling on offense is the greatest thing in the world. That said, It was so blatant that I figured someone had to take him aside and specifically tell him to do it. That doesn't make it less of a positive trait and hopefully it's something he keeps in mind in the future, now that he successfully done it once, but I still thought it was a point worth raising.

I wish i was that talented and dedicated.