Matt D

Re: Hunter. I've said it before but I can really see them thinking (and them could be Hunter and Steph) that this is setting WWE up for the next 5 years with the Mr. Hemsley gimmick and that in the face of that Punk is a blip in that roadmap.

People love secrets and mysteries. Did the Higher Power Reveal do great numbers?

Wasn't WCW already gaining momentum in early 96 between interest in the really well done Sting/Luger stuff and the Macho/Flair stuff?

I think if we're straining this entire situation down to one central question, it would have to be "Is this going to pop the territory?" or whatever the modern equivalent of that is.

I rather liked that post, though yes, I did get a little carried away. I still say it was more pie-in-the-sky fantasy booking than what we figured would really happen. It's not my fault my brain has more internal consistency then Vince's. I think at this stage the big question is still just how much or little Punk is going to be able to protect himself moving forward, and the secondary one would be if he's even staying past the end of this angle or if he wants time off.

I'm planning on participating in this one. It's such a black hole for me.

Were there any Masked Superstar vs Sgt. Slaughter matches in 84? How much was Backlund around? Was he just doing Pro Wrestling USA or was he doing AWA tv too? I've seen so little AWA.

That's going into the PPV. After the PPV and he won there wasn't any more "leaving." That's what I was referring to. Sorry I wasn't clear. Except for in that he might be leaving after he drops the belt. You should do a poll right now to see how many people think that once he drops the belt he's gone for a while. Capture this moment so you can more clearly reference it later!

There's a question of what we thought would happen and what we wanted to happen too. I think a good amount of us thought Punk would be back on Raw the night after the PPV.

I have more holes than you could imagine, but you can absolutely follow along with Mid-South (about midway through 84) and 1979 Memphis on Justin.tv right now. I think he's going to run Memphis TV all the way through the 80s all in a row with 5-6 hours a week. It's not the most ideal way to watch it but the convenience is nice.

Wasn't the plan for him not to get the belt in the first place? I think when they're too far out into unfamiliar territory they have a tendency not to want to stay there for long. I harped on it on DVDVR but yeah, this has just become Cena's Summer Feud. Just like how Nexus did last year. I imagine Punk's smart enough to realize that too and will leverage it for as much as it's worth while he still can (see Colt, Claudio, Hero, theme) before they devour his heat, ... And please note, John, this isn't me thinking the angle is real, just commenting on Punk capitalizing on his current heat/momentum to position himself in the best place possible when it comes to those murky backstage politics! All of that said, can you IMAGINE what vince'll be like if this doesn't pop a rating (and in some ways it shouldn't, because if you weren't watching the show at the beginning/middle of the night you wouldn't know Rey/Cena was going to happen) In general, it sort of makes the longform Christian/Orton storytelling all the more impressive (even if I swear to you Christian even getting the rematch on PPV let alone the long program was an audible after the outcry).

My other two favorite WWF Piper matches are Piper vs Hennig 12/90 MSG and Piper/Orton vs Orndorff/Andre 8/10/85 MSG. I'm not sure either are better than Piper/Hart (and admittedly one is not a singles match), but I wouldn't mind someone else chiming in on that.

The most frustrating thing about the Tito/Dibiase feud is that one of the few matches taped from that is a MANAGER CAM MATCH with Sherri, where she says "Teddy Bears" 3000 times. On the other hand she has a great moment where she goes.. "I ALWAYS LIKED YOU TITO" when he's threatening her or something. Edit: Oh what the hell: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2lyl9_te...sensation_sport

This is one of the most memorable angles of my life. Freaking Dark Patriot and his double mask

The hype on the internet stayed on the internet is the most succinct way of putting it Ive seen. Did Rock showing up before Mania pop a rating?

So why didn't the rating go up more?

I feel like we didn't get a huge swath of Post-Mania releases this year? Am I wrong to think that.

I was thinking about pre-04 WWE Regal lately. Now I haven't seen these matches in a long time, but I remember him having ultimately bad feuds with Jericho, Edge, and RVD. At the same time, I think everything he's done for the last three years or so has been great. Was there a point where he just clicked with the WWE style?

I wish someone had gone to Russo and said "Look, let's just give Arquette the TV title. It'll still get the same amount of media attention."

I am SO GLAD this made the tape. It's something that everyone needs to see. It's just so out there.

To me, the most amazing thing about Christian is how he can wrestle someone five times in a row and each successive match will feel 1) different 2) consciously built on the matches leading up to it and 3) not in the least artificial. I didn't get that feeling in the first half of the Orton match from MITB. It felt a little too choreographed with the counters, which isn't like a Christian match at all. Re: Hennig. I think my favorite WWF Hennig match isn't one of the Bret series (though I love the Summerslam match and when I went back to watch it recently, I thought I wouldn't like it much at all having seen a lot of WWF hennig just before that and I loved it) but the Piper MSG match from 12/90: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaejk9_ro...-ic-title_sport http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaek3g_ro...-ic-title_sport (I think that's the one I'm thinking of at least).

Wait, wait, wait... Isn't the WHOLE start/stop push for debuting guys entirely to PREVENT them from leaving? I thought it was reaction to Brock, making sure that new guys didn't get a big head and to see how they did with being in the doghouse before they were trusted with a real push. The idea is that if they have the sort of attitude that makes them think they're bigger than the WWE, they won't get that repush.

My thought would be to pop in that Mania again. Compare the crowd reaction to Hogan-Rock and Trip-Jericho. Close? A "huge" comeback doesn't fizzle out in two months if it truly is huge. Jericho cleaning up after Steph's dog. I don't know what point I'm trying to make with that. I'm just raising it.

Obviously Trips needs to cut his hair.

This is pessimistic. I feel like I know Hunter. Obviously I don't, but from things people have said in interviews and books and shoots and what I've seen over the years and years, I feel like I know the guy who got his way onto the writing team in 97 and never really looked back. Part of me really does think that he's presenting this as the birth of the character that's going to carry the WWE for the next 5 years, Mr. H (or whatever), as Vince has for years, and in order to properly birth the character, he is going to claim that there needs to be a sacrificial lamb in the same way that Bret had been for the Mr. McMahon character, and that is going to be Punk here and now. He devours Punk's heat and then moves on to his "real" feud next year vs Cena or Orton or whoever. So yes, if we're talking the Inside Baseball HARDCORE FAN sort of appeal this angle has as opposed to the wider WWE UNIVERSE appeal it might have had a few days ago, I'm buying into it. They weren't working me before but hey, maybe they are now. Good for them except for I don't think it's going to draw them much. Hell I feel like it's all more "real" now and I'm a lot less excited than when I didn't feel that at all. Anyway, I agree with the post above. It's just gotten a lot shootier.