Matt D

Dave thinks that Hall's still on the table.

Toby Keith Promotions.

So if he shows up to TNA, he will or won't have to be called MC Phil?

Can we have Flair manage Batista for 3 weeks? It'd be even better if he turned on Miz to get there.

All I'm going to say is that he better damn well invite Jake to the bachelor party before the HOF.

The only way I can possibly see them swerving is if Punk comes back to spoil it all for Bryan setting up a multi month feud between the two of them.

It's weird to me that they sort of end up appealing to the hardcores every ten years. Bret at X. Eddy/Benoit at XX. Bryan at XXX.

Saturday Morning Slam was pretty great.

I'm sure we'll get Cena vs Harper before Mania. We've still got a few weeks.

Do you think some of this is because a kid watching wrestling might see it as real while a kid watching The Walking Dead would know it was a show? Or at least the likely false notion of that?

Another international deal penned: http://www.tele5.de/raw.html

I actually think it's even more complex than that. Bobby Heenan was hired by Andre the Giant and Paul Orndorff. Bobby Heenan hired Brooklyn Brawler. Bobby Heenan bought Hercules' contract from Blassie (I think it was Blassie) and then sold it to Million Dollar Man. What's the deal with Red Rooster? Did he fire heenan or did heenan fire him. I feel like with Heenan you got the "You can't fire me, I quit" speeches a lot blurring the lines.

Are we sure that it's not sometimes more like a temp agency, where the manager hires you, places you into matches, and then takes a share of your winning?

Because 1) the few public ones have mostly (though not completely) been new posters and 2) we've been over this once or twice in the last few months. I think I was leaning more towards #1 though.

This is usually where Kris chimes in about the people he knows, and since it's Kris, I believe him but in general, I don't see it in my life. I'm not sure if it's a class thing or what. Almost everyone I deal with is middle class or higher and even then not many are super lower middle class. Everyone I know who followed in college were tuned into things and that was back in 99-00 or so. All the people I know from high school still into it have podcasts or whatever. .

What the hell do they show then? I think last thing I watched on TNT was Leverage and I couldn't tell you the last thing I watched on TBS.

Would it be preempted by Braves games again?

I think really we, as viewers with our specific (insane) level of trying to follow and understand this stuff, have more of a need to classify things than people inside the business do. Most of the terms used in literary criticism probably aren't frequently used by authors.

Do you think the figures discussed (NASCAR money) was realistically what they were looking for or just put out there as a smokescreen?

Tim mostly hit on what I was going for though I was also thinking that the bad thing would have been that either the offers weren't coming in or that they were universally low.

I'm actually not super familiar with either of these guys, because I am certainly a novice to lucha. It feels like a title match right from the get go, though, and it's a testament to Virus that if I hadn't read what Phil wrote first and knew what to look out for, I might have missed completely how thoroughly he was leading Titan through the paces. There were one or two sort of odd moments with Titan zigging where he should have zagged but for the most point it was a very solid first fall. I think when I watch title matches that start with matwork it's not necessarily elaborate stuff I'm looking for but either competitive or interesting and I think this hit both marks. The lightning quick way Virus put on the fall-ender was striking. Then Virus just puts on this clinic on how a leg is not supposed to bend, to the point that I'm kind of sad when he goes away from it. I like that we get a definitive cut off hope spot (and one that calls back to the leg work a bit) before Titan comes back with the handspring, and that even that was almost cut off until Titan cements it with the leg whip. That Titan takes the second fall with a crazing handstand backflip roll up thing is just proof positive that Virus should have kept on with the legwork. Or something. 48 year old Titan is fairly explosive. I liked how the flying back elbow in the corner came out of nowhere. Virus, for his age and body type, is deceptively quick and agile. He also does a great job catching Titan's dive. After the rolling figure four variation fight, we get a nice nearfall callback with Titan going for his flipping roll up again. Then the second big dive. Titan sure is flippy. Virus' response to said flippiness is kind of great. After the big springboard sunset flip, he just grabs the legs and pulls (did they call this a Ringo Mendoza lock or did I hear that wrong?). Titan's bridging out of the subsequent pin is nice, with the power bomb as the exclamation point. We get more of that dickish response of the flying stuff, as Virus eats a springboard splash from Titan and then latches on to an arm and tries to dislocate half of Titan's body. He's too tired to finish him off, though, and Titan's soon back up and trying to fly again. A well timed high dropkick knocks Titan off the top rope and then 45 year old Virus does that insane senton to the floor. They probably show stuff like this all the time, but the image of the elated girl holding up her Virus mask after he kicks out of the two post-senton clotheslines is pure gold. I really like how Virus is able to just kick out a positional reversal to almost any spot he's in. I'm not entirely sure I've ever seen anyone do that quite as well as I Do it here (Which I'm sure says more about me than about him). Maybe a Billy Robinson. Anyway, the finish is surprisingly smooth. You almost hear that last submission hold click into place once the arm comes around. I didn't come out of this all that impressed with Titan but I do want to go back and see younger Virus now.

Casas consistently amazes me. Even just the bump he takes off of a clothesline at his age or how high he can get his kick to someone's face. The submission to end the first caida was pretty cool and I'd love for someone to do it with a giant swing. Segunda caida was brisk but super focused with the leg work and the STF to end was nasty. I think only shorter people should use them. Having to reach makes for way more visual tension. I liked Panther trying to lock on one of his own later too. The momentum shift is funny but believable. Stubborn old man Casas really wanted to dropkick Panther. I love how Casas basically toeholds the leg during a pincover after the missed second rope somersault senton. Casas does so many things well but I think it's his mannerisms/body language that I like the best, whether it be the exasperation after Panther gets one up on him by countering the diviving headbutt or the way he revs himself up before launching an attack on an unsuspecting Panther after the ref breaks a hold. I swear I saw him adjusting the camera guy at one point with a little wave to get a better spot at the stuff they were about to do on the apron. They made the shot to the pole look suitably huge since it was supposed to start the armwork but it all ends far too soon with the run-ins. This was obviously very good and I thought Casas especially looked great but I could have used a bit more in the momentum shifts and probably another couple of minutes before the run in.

I am kind of in a similar place. I have a few minutes this morning and while I want to watch countdown/wrestlemania rewind (or whatever) that i can do at work since I'll mainly be listening to it. I can't think of anything I'd rather watch than that Casas vs Panther match from January that got posted here a couple of days ago.

I don't know a ton about the nuts and bolts of this but it's interesting to me that a deal was apparently made relatively shortly after the negotiating period began. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing either.

I think it's very telling that the complaints and questions are from new people. I'm not saying we shouldn't foster and welcome new voices on the site, but we do have sort of a tenor and tone to our discussions.