Have you seen this shit? http://www.effinfunny.com/legend-of-neil/seasons?vid=3208&sid=1&tid=3 It has NOTHING to do with wrestling, but the premise is ridiculous.  As a gamer and someone my age, you might get a kick out of it. Rob I should note that I'm not able to view this video being that I'm in Canada, but Rob was very passionate about trying to find a link for that would work, so I'll put it up here for others to enjoy.  

Hi Scott, Long-time fan. Question: suppose you meet someone who is vaguely familiar with pro wrestling, but has never really watched it and knows very little about it (I work with a lot of people from foreign countries, especially China).  I was wondering, if you could offer this person only one match to show them what our so-called sport is really all about, what wrestling is when it's at it's best, what would it be? Then I got to thinking: there are so many different choices for this because there are so many different types of wrestling styles in the world.  If this hypothetical person was patient, could you think of example matches in each of these sub-sections (feel free to add or ignore groups as desired)? * the best lucha match * the best puro match (e.g., Misawa vs. Kobashi) * the best "WWE Main Event Style" (e.g., Rock vs. Austin) * the best wild brawl (e.g., something from ECW, Benoit vs. Sullivan) * the best ladder match / TLC / MitB (e....

Hey Scott I was watching the HBK HHH 2002 summerslam match and it got me thinking.  Let's say michaels back injury healed after a year or so and he returned the day after wrestlemania 15.  Does he return as a face and fight newly turned HHH.  Does he come back as a heel and fight Austin? Where does he fit in the corporate ministry garbage? For this question let's assume he knows he is coming back before he became commissioner and gets betrayed by DX. Thanks I think that finding Jesus saved his life, personally.  I bet he would have stayed heel for as long as possible, and Hunter's emergence as a main event guy would have been delayed for as long as he was around and in Shawn's shadow.  That being said, I honestly think that he was on the road to being the latest in the painkiller and booze crew with his partying and injury problems, and I don't think he would have made it past the Invasion once his back really started to fall apart.  But then I thought Hall ...

http://www.stormwrestling.com/093012.html Man's got a point.  It always drive me nuts when someone is "pinned" and their shoulders aren't even on the mat.  That's why I always love the spot where a guy goes for the pin, the other guy kicks out, and so the first guy hooks the leg and tries again so that he makes his opponent work for it.  

Scott, With all the talk of guys who "should have been champ" or "could have been more", I wondered: Who would have benefited the most from coming up in the "other company?"  You mentioned Curt Hennig likely seeing his peak in the WWF, but I think he could have been a World Champion in the NWA/WCW had he been down south during his prime.  Nikita Koloff has been mentioned as another guy who would have been on top had he been in the opposite company (WWF).  Sting is a guy who comes to mind: if he comes up in the WWF, do you think he gets higher than an Intercontinental title contendor type (without roiding up like Warrior)?  Maybe BamBam Bigelow would have been a World Champ in late 80s NWA or early WCW? Conversely, I think Sid, Luger, Vader are examples of guys who would have been up top regardless of which company they came up with. Honestly, I don't know how or why Vince missed the boat on Lex Luger in 1986.  If he had better talent scouting...

Isn't it possible Tensai is doing exactly what he was brought in to do? Not get over, lose every match, and tank ratings?  What an oddly specific business model. 

I'm curious about two eras of wrestling, of which I know I little.  The first is the chunk of the 80s where Dusty Rhodes was a top-tier guy. If I wanted to watch some matches, and I know Rhodes' ringwork wasn't particularly legendary, which should I seek out? The second chunk is basically TNA pre-2010, when I started watching. I've seen a few of the variations on Samoa Joe v Daniels v Styles, but that's it. What matches with Christian, Raven, Angle, etc. that are worth finding? Thanks for the help. I wouldn't say Dusty was ever a "top tier" guy.  He held the World title for about a week total, combined, and other than that it was all Flair, all the time.  There's a million Flair matches from the 80s to recommend, basically close your eyes and pick 20.  The great thing about Flair is that you can plug any opponent in there and get a great match out of it, which is why he was a travelling champion who drew such big money.   As for TNA, that w...

Just wondering if anyone else is having trouble with the mobile version of Disqus on their phones.  For some reason, lately I can only load Disqus on my phone if it's using the 2012 version, because otherwise it just hangs at the loading screen.  And it's not just the blog, it's also on the AVClub and a couple of other sites with the original mobile Disqus on it.  I've tried both the default Android internet app and Chrome and neither one works, and neither does loading the desktop version on the phone, so I'm getting kind of annoyed wondering what other troubleshooting I can do.  I've got a Samsung Galaxy S2X with Android 4.0.2 on it if anyone is technically minded enough to figure out what's going on here.  I tried tweeting at @disqushelp but they don't tend to be terribly helpful.  Any ideas?

I rarely look at these lists but these have the potential for some funny entries.

Scott, I just realized why I love Aces & Eights: They're not a Geezer Squad. They're not The Main Event Mafia or The Millionaire's Club, a group of old guys we love to see... just not controlling the main event, robbing younger wrestlers of their time to shine. They're not a Job Squad. They're not NXT or The New Blood, a group of unproven wrestlers who deserve it, but since we know they'd probably lose a fair fight to a main eventer, they pose no real threat. As long as Aces & Eights remain unknown, they exist somewhere in between. When we see one take out a guy like Austin Ares, we believe it, because for all we know it's Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, or someone with enough "Superstar Points" to pull it off. And yet, it somehow also doesn't feel like backstage politics keeping the same old guys on top, because for all we know, it's some new badass we haven't seen. Aces & Eights feel *simultaneously* established *an...

Good evening, Cruentus Libri Press is pleased to announce that our latest horror anthology is now available in print and Kindle editions and we were hoping you could mention it. Lucha Gore: Scares from the Squared Circle features stories from 16 of the world's finest horror authors, each set in the wonderful world of professional wrestling. Authors represented in the anthology include former WWE, WCW and TNA writer Ed Ferrara, current Riot City Wrestling trainer Steven Gepp, British wrestling manager J.T. Wilson and former IWA: East Coast colour commentator Frank Larnerd. The anthology can be found here - www.amazon.com/dp/B009FRSIM6 and here - www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009FRSIM6 and we have attached a copy of the cover art. The full story listing is as follows... 'Gig Marks' by Ed Ferrara 'Zombie Night Mayhem' by Terry Alexander 'Lucha Lobo' by Patrick MacAdoo 'Bo Wulf' by Frank Larnerd 'No Souls Barred' by James Gardner 'The Legend...

This is actually the first time I've heard him cut a real wrestling promo, and it was pretty good, too.  Hopefully he turns on Santino to give him SOMETHING to do on TV.

I needed a break from work, so I put together a list of video clips of (just about) every single Meltzer-rated ***** match. Thought your readers might be interested. http://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/10n5xl/video_links_to_every_wrestling_match_dave_meltzer/ That's quite the break!  Thank you, oh MightyGodKing, you rule as always. 

Smackdown Date: September 28, 2012 Location: First Niagara Center, Buffalo, New York Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews Reviewed by Tommy Hall After last week's tag team show, it's time to put some focus on the world title match at the upcoming PPV. By that I mean actually setting up a match there. The main event for tonight is Orton vs. Big Show which would be fine to make a #1 contenders match. Show returned from a brief absence on Monday and beat up various big men so I guess he's a heel again. Let's get to it.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/27703-official-wwe-release Pretty soon it's just gonna be Eve and Natty left.

So tonight's announcement of the Roode Vs Storm Streetfight got me thinking, what is the difference between a Streetfight and a regular No Holds Barred, No DQ match??  I seem to remember an old NWA show saying that a Streetfight allowed you to wear anything you wanted, but nowadays there seems no distinction.  It used to be that you'd dress in your jeans and bring weapons, like Shawn did at Summerslam 2002.  That's pretty much died off in the PG era.  Although really, wrestlers wear tights because that's the best thing to wear for the sake of movement, so you'd think that wearing jeans would be counterproductive.   

Hey Scott, With the discussion of Jack Swagger, it got me to thinking that the Money in the Bank winner today is like the King of the Ring winner except much worse. In both cases, WWE wants to push a midcard guy to the main event level with the easy way out. Sometimes they are successful like with Owen, Brock, and Kurt (KotR); and Edge, RVD, Bryan (MitB). However, in many cases, he is just not there yet. With the KotR winner, if he flops at the next level, no big deal. Examples of this would be Mabel and Billy Gunn. Sometimes the KotR winner is just not ready to be a main eventer but would be in a year to a few years like HHH, Edge and Steve Austin. Imagine if Edge, Austin, Mabel or Gunn won the world title through a KotR win, it would  hurt their careers because they are not good enough to be a world champ and be seen as a joke (like Swagger) or just too soon to be world champ (Punk's first reign or Miz). If Austin had won the title in the fall of 1996, his rise to main evente...

Just a quick note, I will be going on vacation for a week starting on Tuesday so unless I am able to write up reviews this weekend, there will not be any TNA or WWF stuff from me until for a little while. September 18, 2002 Goldylocks is backstage and starts off by explaining the rules for the tag-team “Gauntlet for the Gold.” It’s a battle royal in which there is an entrant every 60 seconds and the last two men that are left will be joined by their partners for a tag match and the winner will be awarded the tag-team championships. Scott Hall joins Goldylocks and says he has a great partner, which is Sean Waltman. He quickly says hi before walking away with Hall. Waltman left the WWE just a few weeks before this aired so appearing on this PPV isn’t that bad of a score for NWA-TNA. Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/09/25/cookie-monster-grover-avengers-hunger-games-video-sesame-street/ Awesome.  Also, given the amount of Sesame Street I watch in my daily life now, I'm IMMENSELY glad they finally scrapped Elmo's World after 20 years of the same ones, because it wasn't in HD anyway and Mr. Noodle's Brother has been dead for quite a few years and it was just getting creepy.   ME ALWAYS HUNGRY.

The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 09.27.12 Live from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Mike Tenay & Taz

By, J. Ryan Buck (Lostscribe) Ultimates #5 “Hulk Does Manhattan” July 2002

It's Championship Night and the continuation of Aces & Eights continues

Hey Scott, When Brock Lesnar made his debut in the WWE, he was billed as "The Next Big Thing".  He was young and ready to dominate the company for years to come.  What do you think the state of the company would be if he'd been content to stick around?  His departure was right around the time that John Cena was ready to break through as a megastar, which was going to happen whether or not he left.  But would it have just been a Cena-centric focus for all those years, or would the spotlight have been shared?  The move to PG was inevitable, but would having Brock on top throughout the 2000's have kept the product edgier than what we otherwise saw?  What else do you think would be different, if anything. Thanks, Dan Not much, I don't think.  Brock was losing his "specialness" by the day at the end, and most of his aura now comes from his UFC association and rare appearances on TV.  I think if he had stuck it out past 2004 he would have ended up just anoth...

NXT Date: September 26, 2012 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Byron Saxton, William Regal Reviewed by Tommy Hall Back to Florida for another NXT today. The main story now is Ohno vs. Steamboat which has been building up for a few weeks now. Other than that we have the Usos vs. Ascension in the main tag feud which may wind up being for a spot on the main rosters, which the Usos already have. Hopefully NXT can get its spark back tonight. Let's get to it.

From this morning's Observer radio show, Brock Lesnar just made himself look a whole lot better in WWE's eyes because Summerslam did 265,000 domestic buys, which is up close to 50% over last year's show.  International did terrible so it kind of evens out overall, but obviously people are still interesting in watching him sports entertain.  Now if only he had a contract where he could appear on more than a few shows a year and actually build on that sort of momentum.  Regardless, Wrestlemania should be epic now, since Brock will probably be sticking around as a result of this.  

Not the greatest installment but the Backlund story is funny. Also, Hornswoggle joins in on a prank against a friend of a fan and Buff Bagwell gets tanked backstage. This installment also closes with three Virgil stories. http://deadspin.com/5946696/bob-backlund-is-an-insane-person-more-wrestler-run+ins

Hey Scott, Curious which finishing moves from the past no longer used in WWE/TNA would you want pulled out of the mothballs. Personally I always like the Buff Blockbuster, though not the wrestler. Jerry Lynn's cradle pile driver was also pretty cool but that one surely would be reappearing in WWE any time soon. STONE COLD STUNNER, DAMMIT.

Hi Scott, I've got a couple of unrelated blog questions.  Feel free to answer one, both, or neither. 1) Given that both Punk and Sheamus are enjoying decent title reigns in terms of length (Punk just over 9 months, Sheamus at 5 months), I would say that some prestige has been brought back to the titles, for those of us who actually enjoy the idea of them meaning something.  But it got me thinking: do you think there's a minimum length of time for a title reign to be considered "valid" or legitimate?  For example, during the time when Kane only had held the WWF title for 24 hrs in '98, it still seemed like a valid reign to me, for whatever reason. Contrast that with Tommy "My Boy" Rich's NWA title reign, which last only a few days, but which I'm sure no one took seriously.  Then you've got Dolph Ziggler's "reign," which is ludicrous even to acknowledge as actually having existed (he never even got to hold the belt, let alone we...

Monday Nitro #86 Date: May 5, 1997 Location: Jenkins Center, Lakeland, Florida Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan Reviewed by Tommy Hall It’s another hour long show this week which was a nice change of pace last week. We’re finally getting close to the end of the build to Slamboree which has gone on way too long now. I believe Hogan is back tonight which will help a lot with the levels of interest on these shows. If nothing else the main event is better than Mongo vs. Barbarian. Let’s get to it.

Hey Scott, Long-time listener (from way back in the usenet days), first-time caller.  I'm currently ring-announcing for a Raleigh, NC-based promotion, and we're putting together a web show for promotional/recap purposes. The first episode dropped today, and we're promoting our show on September 29th in Apex, NC, with some guest wrestlers from Ring Of Honor.  Wondering if I can get a plug for Episode 1 of iGouged? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxtgaRNEXuM Thanks! --Wade Hey, I remember you from RSPW.  Hope the plugs helps!  

Just wanted to say I'm shocked to find you're doing rants again! In a good way. You're the reason I created an e-fed about 12 years ago. I ran the thing for a decade, using your ratings on Raw and Nitro to make sure my cards didn't read like total crap -- and that the storylines, etc. all made sense.  Well, I never did Nitro, but thanks regardless.  I never really left as such; the blog has been running in various forms for almost 10 years now.   Anyway -- Here's a few questions for you regarding the current state of wrestling:  What can TNA to get Samoa Joe over again?  Why is AJ Styles on the midcard do you think?  CM Punk -- You think he retains at HiaC to surpass the Cena title reign? wwe.com seems to be pushing that angle a little.  1.  Let him beat people up and then unveil him as the leader of the Aces & Eights. 2.  Because he had his run at the top and he's the kind of guy to step aside and let other people have their runs. 3.  Unless he...

Hey Scott- I was wondering if you'd be able to plug this for me again.  On October 13th, I will be participating in Extra Life for the fourth year in a row.  Extra Life is a 24 hour video game marathon in which we raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. My brother was born with a cleft palate years ago.  With help from this organization and the Children's Hospital in Richmond, VA our family was able to afford the many surgeries, years of therapy, and doctors visits needed to fix his mouth.  Today you'd never even notice anything had ever been wrong, and that's all because of the wonderful work and care he received. All donations are tax deductible and can be made with a credit/debit card or Paypal.  100% of the funds donated go straight to the Children's Miracle Network...there are no administrative fees.   Right now I've raised over $1,600 dollars and am inching slowly to my goal of $2,000.  EVERY DONATION HELPS.  It doesn't matter i...

Well now we can all rest easy.

The SmarK DVD Rant for Mid-South Wrestling’s Greatest Matches I didn’t even KNOW that Micah Watts sold DVDs of the UWF footage, but it’s right there at universalwrestling.com, and you knew I was gonna be all over that once I found it. It’s all divided into 2-episode discs for $20 a pop, but there’s also this sampler disc available for the same price, and I figured I’d give it a look. The disc presentation isn’t particularly impressive (the case lists such luminaries as “Rick Flair” and “Kerry Von Erik”) but I’ve seen worse, to be honest. Video quality is tremendous, pretty crisp and looking like it was recorded yesterday off 24/7.

March 17, 1984 Your announcers are Gene Okerlund and Vince McMahon Vince and Gene run down the card, plugging Andre the Giant appearing on ”Piper’s Pit” and the featured bout, Tony Garea vs. Greg Valentine

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/27660-raw-rating-was-a Uh oh.  2.7 means the return of Mr. McMahon next week I'd bet, and endless skits and references to the NFL and how they're a bunch of poo-poo heads.  Look for at least one DID YOU KNOW about how WWE triumphed in some way over the NFL in any way they can lie about.  This is gonna get ugly.  Especially with the same pattern of giant viewership drops in the third hour.  

Live from Marietta, GA Airdate: May 3, 1998 Hosted by Joey Styles

I thought this might make for an interesting topic for the blog, given recent events involving CM Punk: what do you consider to be the greatest (in other words, the best executed and/or most significant) heel/face turn in professional wrestling history and the worst? Also, which heel/face turn would you consider a personal favorite (whether or not it did anything for business) and which did you absolutely hate with a passion? Oo, fun list! Best executed:  Paul Orndorff on Hulk Hogan.  Made sense from a business standpoint (#2 face upgrades to #1 heel), made sense from a storyline standpoint, drew MILLIONS of dollars in house show revenues alone.  Turned me into a fan for life.  Secondary honors go to the Midnight Express for making the Dynamic Dudes look like the gullible rubes we all knew they were.  The best ever face turn was clearly Virgil in 1991.   Worst executed:  British Bulldog on Diesel in 1995.  Made no sense because they had no prior interaction, set up a t...

The SmarK RAW Rant – 09.24.12 Live from Albany, NY Your hosts are Jim Ross & Michael Cole

After the end of tonight's Raw, I really want to know, is there no fucking point screaming at how God-awful things have gotten with Cena vs Punk this fall? That come hell or high water, they plan on destroying what is left of Punk's credibility to prop up the piece of shit John Cena all in the name of having Cena get the belt and beat the Rock (another thing NO ONE but Cena and the WWE want to see)? I came back to the WWE because of Punk and given the shit sandwich being served for three fucking hours daily, I have to ask if there is any point fucking bothering with wrestling again if the WWE seems dead set on spiting fans and fucking going out of their way to vindictively bury the only guy to give the company a sniff of mainstream attention these last couple of years, for the sin of getting over without permission and humiliating their "chosen one", who was made to look like the unliked bastard stepchild he is in real life? Should I just fucking quit watching, ou...

I feel kind of bad that I'm completely lost in what's going on in the WWE right now. It's not that the program is any more or less stale than it was a few months ago. Hell this Daniel Bryan/Kane stuff should have me watching, especially given the fact that Kane's involvement in the Punk-Bryan was generally not appreciated. It's always the things you don't expect that take off. Anyway enjoy the show, come out swinging and keep 'em clean!

Scott, What exactly was WWF Radio? I remember it being sparsely promoted around 1994 or 1995 but I never got a clear explanation of what it was. Was it a weekly radio show? Did any of the blog readers tune in?  I'm pretty sure it was some sort of syndicated radio show, back when people listening to the radio was a thing, but it was never carried anywhere near me so I don't know the details of what was on it.  I remember them doing PPV simulcasts on there for a while but other than that I think it was just stuff like kayfabed interview segments hosted by Todd Pettingill.  

It's always the quiet ones you least suspect.

Hello Scott I was wondering when the worst face/heel imbalance was. I remember in '95 you had Diesel, Bret Hart, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon and British Bulldog as faces, and the heel side was Owen Hart, Bob Backlund and Yokozuna. In fact, Owen and Backlund had both been faces who had fairly recently been turned heel. The only way they had to get strong heels was to turn Diesel and Bulldog heel, as well as midcarder Mabel. Which brings me to today. Guys like Swagger, Miz, Del Rio are basically the top level of heels. Yet they get beaten by the faces over and over. The only heels with any chance of winning a big match are Big Show and CM Punk. And again, Punk was a face until they turned him heel as the heel side was so pathetic. For someone trying to get away from "rasslin"'s past, Vince sure loves the idea that heels are essentially losers who can only beat jobbers, and need to be "rulebreakers" to have any chance aga...

Hey Scott, Adam from the blog here. Couple quick questions that I hope the rest of the DOOMers can chime in on too: 1. I was poking around the old DDTDigest site, and they have an article about the history of blading ( http://www.ddtdigest.com/features/blading/ ). At the end, they say "Think about that next time you see Kevin Nash's un-scarred forehead" or something like that. It got me thinking, how many well-known wrestlers besides Nash have never really bled? Come to think of it, I've never seen Scott Hall blade, though I've hardly seen any of his AWA work. I never saw Rey Jr. or Owen Hart blade. Sting, to my knowledge, only juiced in his match with Vader where he got slaughtered (awesome match right there, BTW). Can you think of any other well-known guys that never bladed, or at least only did it once like Sting? Not counting guys that made their debut in the WWE after it went PG and the old exacto-knife-blade-in-the-wrist-tape was banned, obviously... 2. ...

Not sure if you've seen these or not, but Punk's DVD is looking like a break in the mold with how WWE does most of its DVD production http://www.wwedvdnews.com/video-paul-heyman-cm-punk-best-in-the-world-dvd/27338/ http://www.wwedvdnews.com/exclusive-roh-footage-wwe-cm-punk-dvd/27225/ Apparently they got Michael Hayes in there as well, offering managements point of view of punk during some of his salad days.  I was going to get this anyway, but now Im really looking forward to it. Seems interesting, especially because I wasn't watching during his rise up through ECW and such.  Wish they would have dropped a few thousand ROH's way and bought the rights to, say, Punk v. Joe or something, but I can see why they wouldn't want to highlight a TNA guy anyway.  If it comes up in my monthly care package, I'll give it a review.  

Hey Scott. Really enjoy pretty much everything you post. Anywho, I've been watching some old WWF Prime Time Wrestling episodes specifically from January 1990. They advertised that "Widow Maker" aka Barry Windham I believe was supposed to be in the Royal Rumble match. How come he never entered it? Also, why did they drop the "Canadian" name from Earthquake's persona? One last question, how did the WWF and the cable companies resolve their issue back then because they spent 1/4th of each episode whining to the viewers to call their Congressmen and demand WWF PPV's? Thanks Scott and keep up the great work! 1.  Windham left the promotion pretty quickly after some sort of falling out, and went back to WCW early in 1990.   2.  As I understand it, the dropped the Canadian portion because they didn't want him getting babyface reactions in Canada.   3.  Don't remember that whole deal.  I don't recall any specific issues with WWF getting dropped ...

So as you know, WWE booking isn't exactly lighting up the logic meter these days; we have the heel champ making the valid points and the top babyface acting like the disrespectful punk, not to mention Sheamus pulling cheap shots to win and committing grand theft auto (Maffew summed it up best on Twitter: "WWE: Where faces are heels and heels are faces!"). That got me thinking about what would be some of the most counterproductive angles in recent memory, ones that made the good guy look like a dipshit, undermined a guy completely, etc, basically achieving the opposite of what the goal is.  The first thing that jumps to mind is the Lance Storm/Stone Cold "Boring" angle. I understand the endgame there (repackaging Lance Storm into a goofy, cabbage-patching face, just give him some kind of persona), but having maybe the biggest 'face of all time bury Storm out of the gate with "BOOOORRRRRRRINNNNNG" chants (and as we learned with "What?...

Your favorite semi-regular column on the world of independent wrestling is back, gentlemen. Inside I have news for you on CZW's return to iPPV, ROH's plans for the next TV taping schedule and their involvement in the forthcoming CM Punk DVD, news about the misfortunes of the National Wrestling Alliance with companies bailing from the organization, the line up for Tommy Dreamer's first House of Hardcore event, and more. Join me, won't you, as we go Inside the Indies.....

*unnecessary introduction redacted*  Scott, there's been a lot of talk on the blog over the years of who made who, or didn't. We all know Triple H loves to talk about how no big star (like, say, Mick Foley or Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin) ever laid down for him. My question is, who made the most stars by feuding with, teaming with, and/or jobbing to them? Rock's great, but he ruined people as often as he made them. My money's on either Shawn (absolutely made Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, and I'd argue he was a pretty big part of HHH breaking the glass ceiling in the first place with DX. And that's just before his comeback where he laid down for pretty much everybody.), or Savage, who made everyone he feuded with look like a million bucks, win or lose, and pretty much singlehandedly turned DDP from scrub into Main Eventer. But then you know more than I do, so who would your picks be?   Yeah, Savage is a real good pick.  When it came time to do business, he woul...

Scott, Was there a specific moment you began thinking the nWo was getting old?  In retrospect, we know they rode the gravy train too long and lost all imagination with the booking of it (with endless run-in DQs, Dusty finishes, and no satisfying babyface wins that meant anything), but when did you think "this shit is starting to get old"?  Further, and without delving into fantasy-booking obscurity, is there a specific "ending" you think made most sense to pay-off the whole nWo story? Well we didn't even get Nitro in Canada until well after the nWo was past its best before date, so my perceptions of it are largely based only on PPVs and WCW Saturday Night recaps.  I think that the perfect ending would have been Hogan losing the title to Sting at Starrcade 97, at which point Nash and Hall turn on him and he goes back to the nostalgia run again while the nWo splits up an everyone does their own thing.  The Wolfpac can split off, whatever.  If you wanted to...

The disappointments post, along with the Barrett/Gabriel match the other night got me thinking... What if Nexus reformed, say, next week on RAW?  Cena or Sheamus (or anybody really) would be cutting some standard promo about their current feud and all of a sudden, Barrett, Otunga, Slater, Gabriel, Young, Ryback and Daniel Bryan all come out, in their current gimmicks more or less, and just wreck shop.  Is this feasible?  If you were booking, what are the pros and cons of doing it?  If so, when would be the right time to pull the trigger? Holy god, are we really to the point where we're nostalgic for the NEXUS?  Is this what the state of pro wrestling has done to you poor people?  It was a nothing gimmick and was never explained in the first place, we really don't need to revisit it again past the Corre and New Nexus and Punk Nexus and all the other tries at reviving the original idea.  Let it die, we need original ideas, not recycling 2010 ones.  

Smackdown Date: September 21, 2012 Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews Reviewed by Tommy Hall Night of Champions is over and not a ton has changed on Smackdown. Sheamus is still the champion after pinning Del Rio with a Brogue Kick. This is of course more exciting than the other two times he pinned Del Rio with the Brogue Kick because in this, the move wasn't legal until seconds before the match. Hopefully someone new challenges the champ before HIAC. Let's get to it.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/27602-wwe-performer-leaving-company And now Beth Phoenix is gone.  Can't blame her, going to TNA or even just working indies for a while would be a much better move for her at this point anyway.  At least she'd be able to train against rollups that way.

Waiting for the Trade By Bill Miller Avengers: Hawkeye by Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant, Stan Lee, John Byrne & Don Heck Collects Hawkeye # 1- 4, Tales of Suspense #57, Marvel Super Action #1, Avengers #189 and Marvel Team-Up #95. Why I Bought This – This was another of my Avengers movie week frenzy purchases. In this case Hawkeye is my second favorite of the core Avengers. This is also focuses on his relationship with Mockingbird and they are my second favorite comic couple of all time. Throw in that Mark Gruenwald (who is basically tied with Roger Stern as my all-time favorite comic writer) wrote the main story arc and this was something that needed to be in my collection. The Plot – Hawkeye, on hiatus from the Avengers, is working security for a private company when he and Mockingbird stumble upon a supervillain conspiracy. Also we get some of the earliest appearances of Hawkeye and Mockingbird reprinted as well. Spoilers ahead:

August 28, 2002 Goldylocks is talking to Brian Lawler in the parking lot. They make their way towards the arena as Lawler is about to reveal what Jarrett did to piss him off but Jarrett attacks him from behind and a mix of referees and officials break up the melee. Still no reveal as to what happened between the two.   Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay

Hey Scott, Just wanted to get your opinion on the booking plan for TNA's Bound For Glory. I, for one, think they've fucked up royally. At first the Aries title win in June seemed like it could be a great idea, because they were picking a hot babyface and sticking a rocket up his ass. Sure that screwed over James Storm, but at least they picked SOMEONE to run with. But now it's becoming obvious that Aries is undergoing a slow heel turn for the match against Jeff Hardy. So I ask: how, in a world in which we all bemoan the CM Punk heel turn, can one justify that decision? Using Hogan/Bischoff past booking decisions as a basis (decisions which always favor the heels and a SWERVE), I'd say there's three possible outcomes for BFG: - Aries turns heel, loses to a face Jeff Hardy - Aries turns heel, defeats Hardy via heel shit. - Aries seems to turn heel, but SWERVE Jeff Hardy turns heel and wins the title The chances of a face Aries being elevated by Jeff ...

The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 09.20.12 I’m reading the side of a bottle of bubble mixture today, and it says “Non-toxic. Do not drink.” Well, which is it? Like, talk about your mixed messages. Live from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Taz

Waiting for the Trade By Bill Miller Annihilators: Earthfall by Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning; art by Tae Eng Huat & Timothy Green II Collects Annihilators Earthfall 1 - 4 Why I Bought This – By now everyone should know that I love me some cosmic Marvel and especially Quasar, who is featured prominently on the cover. I also loved DnA’s writing on Guardians of the Galaxy which this book grew out of. It also stars the Avengers so I was all over this. The Plot: The Annihilators sense a cosmic threat is about to manifest on Earth and head our way to stop it, leading to the usual superhero misunderstanding fight and team-up formula. Also in a series of backup stories Rocket Raccoon and Groot are kidnapped by Mojo. Spoilers ahead.

I'm stuck at work but you can all watch and post here.

NXT Date: September 19, 2012 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Byron Saxton, William Regal Reviewed by Tommy Hall We have our first challenger for Rollins tonight in the form of Rick Victor, but I'm not sure if it's a title match or not. Also we're getting a workout from Kassius Ohno, which could mean a lot of things. I'm liking that they're slowly bringing in storylines instead of the random matches they were having for the first few weeks of the show. Let's get to it.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/27573-tna-and-spike-make-official-announcement-about-remaiining-live-through-end-of-2012 You can't argue with the quality increase thus far.  And thus is obviously a big vote of confidence from Spike, so hopefully they continue not fucking it up.

Inspired by Chris Jericho's most recent run, how does it compare with the some of the most disappointing runs in WWE history, at least in the modern era (Hulkamania onward)   Ric Flair '92 - BY FAR the biggest star Mcmahon acquired to that point, but the run left a lot to be desired, most notably WM8 vs Hulk Hogan. Ultimate Warrior '96 - biggest mis-match in terms of star power : financial/creative gain Goldberg '03 - 2 years (at least) too late. If his debut had occured after WM X-7 in the same fashion but with the newly heel Austin on the recieving end it would have been HUGE, even if the WWF crowd would have turned Austin face again in about 5 minutes! Nexus - Shoulda/Woulda/Coulda been big, but mis-managed. Brock Lesnar '12 - He's pretty much just another 'rassler at this point as opposed to the biggest star in MMA.   There are numerous others of course...   Thank you kindly! I don't think Jericho himself really wanted his lates...

Well, no real shock that Dan was annihilated by Ian in the final two.  But I don't really think it was a massive dropping of the ball as much as his biggest mistake has to go back to the final 4.  I think he really over thought the Shane is a threat deal - He had his shot to take out Ian but chose to take out Shane instead.  With a final 3 of Shane and Danielle, I think he has a higher probability of winning the HOH.  However, he still might end up being the victim of the bitter jury.  All in all you can't play the game that Dan played and end up against a player like Ian, you will just get crushed every time.  Frustrating end to an amazing season, but it is what it is.  I was more shocked that Frank won the America's vote. Big Brother isn't bound by game show regulations, so I'm thinking Frank "won" America's vote to justify his position in All-Stars 2 when it happens.   And I think the jury will look back in a week and agree with Janelle's sum...

http://www.xkcd.com/1110 A better way to waste 3 hours than watching RAW. That is quite the webcomic.  It just keeps going and going!   Also:  Big Brother 14:  Miscarriage of justice on a massive scale, or massive dropping of the ball at the last minute?  Also, FRANK!  

Monday Nitro #85 Date: April 28, 1997 Location: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia Attendance: 9,467 Commentators: Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan Reviewed by Tommy Hall This is a special edition of Nitro which only runs for an hour due to the NBA Playoffs airing after the show. That being said, after the debacle of last week's show, cutting this in half is probably best for everyone involved. We're still creeping towards Slamboree and the main event that only WCW seems to care about. Let's get to it.

---------- Forwarded message --------- Who knows is this is a work or not, but this series of tweets is kind of amusing.  It starts here:  https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/248517045417820160 Some #jackwagon from @wwe dotcom apparently posted me recovering in 14 days. I spoke in depth with my surgeon Dr James Andrews....And he specifically told me due to the amount of fragmentation, SIX WEEKS is a safer time table for recovery. I apologize on behalf of a Website whos credibility is now equal to #theonion please @wwe web guys, get your monkey frankin facts straight! ------------------------ Makes me wanna buy the PPV!   Oh wait, no it totally doesn't.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/27557-silver-visionwwe-end-ties-after-22-years Didn't they already end their relationship months ago?

So hockey aside, I don't know how big a sports nut you are, but I thought I'd put this to you and the board.  I was on ESPN's website and looking over the upcoming 30 for 30 series.  Essentially the series in theory was to do 30 documentaries of events that happened sports in the 30 years of I guess what you can call The TV Era or the Boomer Era (1980-2010) produced and/or directed by known celebrity personalities.  Some were terrific (The Two Escobars, The U), some were surprisingly better than I thought (Pony Express, June 17, 1994) and some were big let downs (Silly Little Games, King's Ransom - Berg made the Gretzky Trade a complete bore). So, my question for you and the board is:  if you were going to do 10 documentaries on wrestling, whether a bio, an event, a territory/promotion, and you had access to footage and contact with particular wrestling personalities past and present, and feel you could do it way better without WWE revisionist history, and not do some...

This could be a big hit or a total mess.

I did two weeks worth of Championship Wrestling as I don't have all of the episodes for All-Star Wrestling. This trend will carry over into next week as well. March 3, 1984 Your announcers are Vince McMahon and Gene Okerlund. The hosts run down the card and once again mention how Tito Santana has recently defeated Don Muraco for the IC Title in the Boston Garden . Also, Tito will be guest on this weeks “Piper’s Pit.”

https://www.humblebundle.com/ I'm always happy to support and pimp the Humble Bundle.  I hear Torchlight is really good and I've been looking for cheap games to test out my new computer anyway, so it's win-win for everyone!  

Hi Scott, Suppose you are writing a book on the the great unanswered questions of wrestling. You are given an infinite amount of Sodium Pentothal and have the ability to interview anyone involved in wrestling ever. What are some of the questions you would want to ask and to whom? As an aside, who would you want to see write a "complete truth" biography: Undertaker, Vince McMahon, or Jim Ross? Cheers -- Oh, Vince McMahon by far.  Although I'd rather do it Jack Bauer style with the deal where you're forced to swallow a towel and then have it pulled out of your intestines again.  Far more entertaining that way.  I'd ask what the deal with Randy Savage was, whether he regrets destroying his only competition, and exactly how many times he HAS cheated on Linda.   

by Logan Scisco - Footage of the Undertaker tossing a fire ball into Paul Bearer’s face at In Your House last night is shown . - Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Binghamton, New York . - McMahon interviews Steve Austin, who will face Bret Hart in a street fight tonight.  McMahon announces that Austin will get a title shot at the next In Your House pay-per-view, but Austin just tells him to shut up because Bret Hart is the topic of conversation tonight.  Austin demands that Bret show up within a minute to fight him, but Bret pops up on the Titantron with the Hart Foundation and says that he’ll face Austin in a street fight tonight.  Bret runs down the American fan base lust for violence and complains that Austin has a title match at In Your House.  After those comments, Austin heads to the locker room.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/255397/John-Cena-Undergoes-Arm-Surgery-.htm Can we say low buy rate for Hell in the Cell! 4-6 weeks recovery time, plus SUPER CENA, plus Dr. James "Tape It Up And Work Through It" Andrews = Cena is back after a week off throwing big fat guys around the ring again.  

Hey Scott, reader since (I think) 1999.   Questions :   (1)     I read the hell out of the PWI 'family' in the 1987-1991 period (I was born in 1975).  How did the so-called 'mark' magazines work?  I mean, I know that a number of the 'writers' didn't actually exist, but did the magazines contact the feds about upcoming angles they wanted to promote?  Did they get quotes from wrestlers 'in character'? (2)     Who is / was the greatest ever female wrestler (taking into account drawing ability, wrestling ability, promos etc.)? (3)     Pop culture 'lightning round' (I hear that you 'rule at lightning rounds'!) : (a)     Pacino or De Niro? (b)    Best Guns n' Roses album? (c)     Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth? (d)    Nirvana or Pearl Jam? (e)    Out of the nominees for Best Picture in 1994 (one of the great years in film) – Pulp Fiction, 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show and Forrest Gump – which ha...

Leave it to the WWE to cash in on Jerry Lawler's heart attack by coming up with a t-shirt: http://shop.wwe.com/Jerry-Lawler-Long-Live-the-King-Authentic-Men%27s-T-Shirt/W04560,default,pd.html?dwvar_W04560_color=black&start=1&cgid=superstar-alumni-jerrylawler   -Paul. Yeah, but guys make money off their own merch, so I don't foresee Lawler having any problem with a shirt celebrating him.  Plus it's a nice shirt, I'd buy it.