artDDP

Loss, I love your commercial idea. It sounds like something WWE should run during the Super Bowl as part of a re-branding campaign. The first thing that leaps to my mind is to ditch the toilet humor. Camp is great and a little bit of "wink, wink" humor that us fans would get is needed. But to broaden your audience you have to ditch the toilet humor, which, sadly, seems to be a mainstay because Vince hates "snobby elitists". Institute a little logic to storylines. Steve Austin should have been arrested on warrants for failing to appear in all the cities he was arrested in. I know he had court dates he couldn't make because he'd be appearing in another city that night. Then he'd come back to St. Louis or wherever six weeks later to murder Triple H or something with no repercussion. And things like Triple H coming back a week after being murdered from being dropped from a crane. How can anyone invest in anything if they feel there's no reward for paying attention? You can tune in and out at will and really not miss anything with the constant resets. Off the top of my head I can't think of much beyond that.

If only there was a positive spin style podcaster out there who is completely comfortable on the air... Could that podcaster hold back on the F-bombs, though?

It's not cheap to maintain but he's also active in the bodybuilding and fitness industry and I imagine very popular in his native Wales. He's probably got some money coming in from his modeling work. The cost in food to maintain that physique alone is not easy for a per-appearance pro wrestler. He's likely able to leverage his celebrity into expensive personal training sessions, too.

Triple H's first televised WWF match was against Zumhofe. It was on his old "That Damn Good" DVD. Everything leads back to Triple H.

I agree completely with this. I was motivated to tune in every week leading up to and immediately following WrestleMania but since the Warrior tribute show I've found my interest waning and there's more and more I fast-forward through each week. I've been watching since he debuted so I've seen all I need to of Kane. I have zero interest in Bray Wyatt or his zany family. I'm not seeing enough of the characters I do like (Bad News Barrett, Cesaro, Ryback) and too much of characters I don't care about (Fandango, Curtis Axel, RVD). There haven't been many good competitive matches on "Raw" and there's a ton of guys on the roster that could use one or two of those four segments featuring Evolution or The Shield each week. It looks like I'll be spending more time watching classic footage on the Network than tuning in to the first-run shows every week. They should offer the condensed version of "Raw" on the Network and maybe an hour-long "Smackdown!", too.

If you watch the home video version of the 2000 Royal Rumble you get exclusive home video footage of Hunter lying bleeding on the stretcher, his leg about to be stitched shut, groaning "Somebody go find my mom and tell her I'm okay."

I can only think of Twix bars when I hear that song.

I am working on the yearbook for 1998 and the Home Video version also edits out Highway to Hell You get your fill of the song in the RAWs leading up to the show. I know, I know; I just liked the "big card" feel the WWF created for this event with the months of hype and the music video productions only added to it. Without it it just seems like any other PPV card, at least to me.

I watched about an hour's worth of SummerSlam '89 the other day and the tape is pretty messed up during the Dusty Rhodes promo. I've noticed some of the cards I've watched are direct copies of the original PPV telecasts and some look like the home video versions. For example, Judgment Day 2001 (from right here in Sacramento, California!) is clearly the original telecast as it still has the intro with the RC Cola plug. SummerSlam '98, however, is the home video version with all the AC/DC music cut out and the backstage interviews are left in with the chyron "exclusive home video footage". I thought WWE would just upload the masters after dubbing over any copyrighted music but it seems there's no consistency with which versions they post.

I prefer some sloppiness since I think it's too fake when everything looks as crisp and choreographed as Cirque du Soleil. Things like Punk vs. Elijah Burke, however, are just too much for me.

I try but I'm also a father of a two-year old and have a lot of other things pulling me in so many different directions. Whenever I do have time I like to watch highly recommended cards and/or things I may have missed over the years. I quit watching from 2004-2013 so there's a lot to catch up on.

I agree with this. Just have Paul Heyman cut a promo saying Brock is a huge sensation who wrestles on his terms and he (Paul) negotiated a generous contract for him that guarantees this. Then just say Brock doesn't feel whatever city they're in is worth his time or something.

Looking back I thought the No Way Out match with Foley was pretty dull. The only matches I like from that period are the "last man standing" match with Chris Jericho and his "Raw" match with Taka Michinoku. I thought that during that time Triple H was a decent main event worker but wasn't the four-star-plus-all-the-time worker he was being heralded as by Wade.

People who use (abuse) HGH tend to get enlarged facial features as a result of their skulls growing. It's why Barry Bonds' head grew over time. There are lot of professional bodybuilders whose faces look like cro-magnons now as a result. A lot of celebrities use it as an anti-aging treatment and it's not unfathomable to think a WWE Diva would use it to accelerate muscle growth, which would help minimize body fat.

Definitely checking this card out. Watched this last night and holy hell was that fun. The crowd was white-hot from the very beginning and Jim Ross' shirt was soaked in sweat by the end of the first match. I thought it was hilarious they left that Hotline commercial in there. How could you forget the Scott "Gator" Hall video? For those who haven't seen it, it's clips of Hall wrestling cut with clips of him poking alligators with a stick and facing off with them on a bridge. Also the karaoke version of "Iron Man" in the Road Warriors tribute video. Got a good laugh at the crowd loudly chanting "Bullshit!" during the Doc-Gordy double-countout. And that Funk-Steamboat match? Wow that was fun. Steamboat works a Funk brawl pretty well and shows some serious attitude, like he's enjoying kicking the crap out of Funk and they have a really great match. Thanks for the recommendation, clint!

I don't resent it at all. I think it's great that he got himself a pretty sweet deal.

For what reason did WWE decide the Bellas would be their top female talent? They released them once, then brought them back and I don't remember them getting much TV time upon their return. I also don't recall them doing anything to be ambassadors for the company but then "Total Divas" comes out and they're the stars of the show.

Definitely checking this card out.

Which reminds me, whatever was the truth behind Alberto del Rio's black eye earlier this year?

They listed them under their real names in the credits of their PPVs.

I caught that on both the Extreme Rules and "Raw" telecasts and wondered if he didn't get some heat for that since he seemed to be enjoying the reaction a little too much. He shouldn't be insulting the crowd and then relishing their popping for him anyway.

Agreed.

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention but is it a new WWE "thing" to not actually call moves? I don't think any of three used the names like victory roll or hurricanrana, they just described the moves as "Paige rolling up Tamina" or "Bryan launching Kane". Is using any name that isn't trademarked by WWE too "pro wrasslin'" for them?

That cracked me up as well, but fuck be honest...how big did you pop when Bryan whacked the fuck out of Kane with a fucking tire iron? Sorry, I didn't pop because I just don't care about Kane and I wasn't emotionally invested in the match.

I liked his hair style in 2001. It looked a lot better than his Joe Biden style he's been rocking since almost the day he returned to WWE.