So obviously, the landscape has been littered with angles and feuds that went on for far too long. Cena/Orton, Kofi/Dolph, Ross/Rachel...but I wanted to ask:
A) what great angles were the perfect length? For me, that was Batista and HHH; first, the slow six-month build to Wrestlemania, where they had small hints of Batista being disenchanted with HHH, then brief bouts of rebellion ("Now YOU are starting to piss me off!"), then the awesome thumbs-up, thumbs-down contract signing. And even with the shitty WM21 and Backlash matches, they had an AWESOME Cell blow-off that cemented Batista as a legit star. Perfect story arc that created a new main eventer in a great slow burn fashion (instead of deciding to do it out of nowhere just 'cause a la Miz).
B) what potentially great angles did you wish panned out longer? The easy one for me is CM Punk winning the title in 2011. I agreed with bringing him back for Summerslam and not having him off TV for too long lest the momentum be lost, but the correct feud after that would've been sticking with the one that turned him money: Punk vs. the WWE itself, not Punk vs. The Kliq once HHH wanted some of that momentum, because HHH ON TOP, JACK, IS WHAT'S BEST FOR *THIS* BUSINESS! Also, Rated RKO had great potential.
Def. interested to see how you and the Commentators of DOOM! respond.
1) I think Hogan-Orndorff was just the right amount of time. Orndorff turned and they did the giant gate in Toronto to kick it off, then ran for a few months of house shows with the Orndorff by DQ finishes, then did all the return shows with the Hogan going over finishes, then let it cool for a bit before finishing it off on SNME once and for all. They generally got 2 or 3 HUGE houses out of each town, and then when it hit the logical end, they ended it and Hogan moved onto the Andre feud. Nice and neat.
2) Sticking with the old school motif, I think hindsight absolutely says that they should have done a fuck finish at Wrestlemania V and stretched out the Hogan-Savage title change to Summerslam. Savage was insanely hot as a heel and was drawing even bigger than he was as a babyface, and there’s no telling how high he could have gone after screwing Hogan out of his “rightful” title and forcing a chase all summer. Yeah, the Hulkamaniacs would have been pissed off, but fuck them for cheering for Hogan and fuck the high rollers who were comped into Trump Plaza and sat on their hands for the whole show. They didn’t deserve Savage’s greatness in 1989 anyway.