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I think Dave answered that one recently, Chief. Basically it was decided (can't remember if it was Vince or not) that it was time to associate the move with someone else.

FWIW wasn't Vince furious they did it and maybe didn't want to seem to condone it the next night?

You could have it both ways regarding the issue of having him billed or not. Have Heyman announce on a RAW leading up to the PPV that he has managed to get his suspension lifted and that he intends to make an appearance at the PPV. But he doesn't have to say what the nature of that appearance will be. Do this, then have Brock show up during the match and demolish everyone. Paul is screaming "Brock, no!" throughout and then he takes the briefcase. This also gives WWE the chance to write one of their wacky storylines about lawyers as they try to wrest the contract from him.

Wade was saying that Brock's walk out a month ago was over the money he was to be given for his merchandise sales. I think, as mentioned above, the UFC offer would have asked Brock to commit to more fights than he was willing to do considering his age. And--again, pure speculation--they are supposed to be stepping up drug testing. That may have had a role in it.

He seems to have a good attitude about it and clearly wants to leave WWE on positive terms.

I think WWE will give it a decent push without much emphasis behind it but when ratings either dip or don't improve they'll blame Bryan and lose interest.

Everyone else seems to be speculating on this: What's the reason for the farewell tribute to AJ on the last Raw? Was it just to seem like the "good guys" considering all the invective they've hurled at her husband?

In matches like Lesnar-Reigns and Bryan-Sheamus the blood adds something. If this is leading to WWE treating the in-ring stuff more seriously then I'm all for it.

I was going to post pretty much what goc wrote. Vince knew the audience would pay to see him humiliated. Stephanie is too much like her husband.

Zack Ryder had to wear a neck brace everywhere to sell his injuries from Kane tossing him off the stage but they can't talk as if wins and losses matter on their own TV shows. "Reality Era" my ass.

I still own a Chris Benoit "Toothless Aggression" T-shirt.

Matches being made no-DQ at the last minute to prevent someone from having to job clean and/or smoke-and-mirrors jobs to hide that someone shouldn't be working.

I regret taping over hours of VHS tapes my uncle gave me. He recorded hours of pro wrestling from the mid-80s to around 1991 and gave it all to me in the early 90s. It was all sorts of TV broadcasts and live PPVs and tons of Coliseum Video releases. I wound up taping over or losing lots of that stuff over the years.

Lanny said on this week's Wade Keller audio interview that Savage wound up taking his mom to the hospital at the same time Hulk was there. When Savage found out Hulk was there he found him and they hugged.

If I remember correctly 1/1/96 was a year in review show or something and they just aired a ppv match from 95. I think the Raw Bowl was 1/1/96 and the week before they aired the Bulldog-Bret match and spent all week hyping that you would see a five-alarm blade job on cable TV. Just a few weeks before Vince sent his Strongly Worded Letter to Turner about the grotesque self-mutiliation taking place on Nitro.

Anyone who says "Back when it used to be real" and they're usually referring to the 70s or some shit. One of my co-workers is a major conspiracy theorist and also quasi-pro wrestling fan. Somehow he knew the Ultimate Warrior had died and it was because Vince McMahon had him killed over money dating back to SummerSlam 1991. I started backing away like Homer Simpson into the bushes when he said Vince and Dana White are two of the most powerful, well-connected men in the world and they have people taken out who get in their way. The people who used to insult me for watching pro wrestling were usually the same ones who spent hours upon hours watching anime and Cartoon Network.

There were a lot of kids in the crowd last night with Finn Balor shirts.

I think I'm there after eight months of being a Torch subscriber. I realized Wade isn't breaking news and pretty much he and his buddies just rant and ramble on about whatever is going on in WWE. The analysis isn't even insightful; it's often just Wade and Caldwell fantasy booking for 90 minutes a day. And Wade's constant gushing about how great Seth Rollins is is as bad or worse than Bryan and Dave slobbering all over Brock. Also, Wade's constant plugging of everything is beyond grating. If you're already a VIP member do you really need to hear 10 minutes worth of plugs for the newsletter and other audio in every podcast?

The fact that Reigns didn't win last night and pretty much got his ass kicked may be enough to get the current audience to accept him.

I was in attendance last night and absolutely loved it. I haven't seen the telecast yet. My seats were in the lower bowl, directly opposite the ring and stage. Until the Sting-Triple H match it was blisteringly hot in there. Once the sun set a breeze rolled in and we finally got some relief. I just let myself mark out all night and ignored the absurdity of things like the NWO coming to the aid of Sting. It was a blast. I'll go back and nitpick the show with you guys and Dave and Bryan later At about 7:55 PDT one of the refs ran out to ringside and began frantically waving his hands to get Lesnar and Reigns' attention and gestured to "wrap it up". That was pretty funny. Right before the Steph segment I jumped up to get some refreshments. My seat was right by a concession stand and there were no lines. The stadium was built to try to eliminate concession and restroom lines. Anyway, I grabbed my food and beer and heard Stephanie's voice and something told me a big angle was going to take place. I kept thinking Wade was going to lose his shit if Triple H and Steph started thanking the audience. As soon as they started heeling I figured Rock was due any second now. The crowd ate it up. Throughout the event I was getting texts from friends who passed on going telling me how much they hated me. The stadium was well managed. No security issues that I saw, though there were a few fights in the crowd. It was easy to get around and in and out of the building. The parking wasn't as bad as I'd heard. As for the main event finish, I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. For what it's worth the live crowd was calling for Seth to cash in all night and when his music hit the place went nuclear. Oh, and when Pat Patterson came out before the ladder match (off-camera, I think) everyone thought it was Ric Flair and started "Whooing".

Sorry, I should have said "special attraction" shows. Ticketmaster had seats for the San Jose and Ohio shows at $100. The Florida shows are priced at $20 for the same seats.

Does Wade even break news anymore? I've been subscribing to the Torch VIP site since August and it seems everything is just Wade reporting other sites' news and uploading hours of audio of him and his staff commenting on WWE angles.

It's on YouTube on the WWE Archivist channel. I had no idea it was on the Network.

I voted "somewhat enthused." Now that Brock has re-signed I'm interested in seeing how the main event plays out. My interest in the rest of the card isn't high but I'm excited by the spectacle of it all. One thing I can't stop thinking about is that this is taking place on the west coast, which means the sun will be up for the entire show. The crazy entrances they have planned for The Undertaker and Sting will seem weird in broad daylight. It's going to be like WrestleMania IX out there.

How long is the live show going to be with all these inductions?