Reading The Complete WWF Video Guide Volume 4 and in it it says that Bret was gonna win the 1997 Rumble but Russo, as Vic Venom, said on Live Wire that Bret was the only reasonable person who could win the Rumble, and in the authors words, broke kayfabe. So Vince changed it to the Austin. Now I wasn't reading the Torch or Observer back then but I read every website like Tidbits, Micasa, Online Onslaught etc, which I assume got all its news from Meltzer and Keller and remember nothing ever being reported like that. True? False? And was Bret supposed to beat Austin at what ended up being IYH Final Four to get his title shot back? If so, what becomes of Austin at Mania? Austin/Vader? ​The Rumble one is correct, the Final Four one was a bullshit online rumor that ended up getting spread by myself among others. From the Observer: " The attendance was the story of the show and the saving of the show, which saw Shawn Michaels capture the WWF title from Sid in the main event...

So … whatever happened to that guy Sting? Seriously, does he have an Undertaker-type contract, or does creative have nothing for him? Maybe he's returning now that the Authority's returning? ​He's on a really limited contract, but it's definitely weird that they don't even fly him in for appearances.  Clearly the HHH v. Vigilante Sting match is where they're going, so that's probably why they were waiting.  But still, sheesh, he could come out and talk or SOMETHING.  Even WCW showed him sitting in the rafters.  ​

http://challonge.com/bodtag Only one I'd consider an upset, with the Jericho/Benoit team taking out Shawn & Diesel in the first round, and by a handy margin, too.  It was a rough day for Shawn Michaels all around, as D-X got slaughtered by the Hart Foundation as well.   Next round to be posted soon, assuming I'm not too drunk to make polls properly.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm home. Are you? If you are, come by and hang out, talk about whatever. NBA action, plenty of NHL, the Orange Bowl happens. Wrestlemania XXX being replayed on the Network live stream. Happy New Year, BoDers. Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999. Which means I'm going to get on Napster and download everything I can before Y2K hits.

RIP Authority storyline. We hardly knew ye. It was fun while it lasted, I guess.

Monday Nitro #200 Date: August 9, 1999 Location: Idaho Center, Boise, Idaho Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone Reviewed by Tommy Hall We're at a milestone show here and there's a pretty well known main event. At the moment we have the battle of the old guys with feuds ranging from Kevin Nash vs. Hollywood Hogan, Rick Steiner vs. Goldberg and Sting vs. Sid Vicious. That sounds like a reason to mix those guys up in a big match. Oh and we have country music with Chad Brock. Yeah I don't remember him either. This is also the go home show for Road Wild. Let's get to it.

by Logan Scisco Here is your year end win-loss report for the WWE in 2014.  The following statistics are calculated taking the results from WWE pay-per-views and television broadcasts (RAW, Smackdown!, Main Event, and Superstars) this year.  NXT was excluded because it was not a main roster show. Also, battle royals and Royal Rumbles did not factor into win-loss calculations, but they did factor count for a wrestler logging a "ring appearance." Records below show wins-losses-draws (.Winning %) To get the full spreadsheet, you can go to this Google Docs link:   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qKiLU2bdefm_i-8lPOruT0z5Xpy32FaoSAsOUxeAQCE/edit?usp=sharing It is also possible that I could have mistabbed a win or loss here or there.  It's bound to happen when looking over a full year's worth of results, but these should be accurate give or take a few.

Not much in wrestling news today but use this thread to talk about anything you want. And vote in today's PTBN "Greatest Song of the 90's" poll as the 2nd Round Group K and L brackets have been released. Click on the links below to vote. http://placetobenation.com/ptbns-greatest-song-of-the-90s-tournament-pool-round-two-group-k/ http://placetobenation.com/ptbns-greatest-song-of-the-90s-tournament-pool-round-two-group-l/

In this episode of the Place to Be Podcast, Justin and Scott welcome in the one and only Jeff Jarrett! Jeff discusses the creation and future of Global Force Wrestling, Wrestle Kingdom #9, what keeps him energized in the business, his all time favorite wrestlers to watch and why the future of pro wrestling is bright. Jeff also plays some wrestler name association and talks about his relationship with Owen Hart and Randy Savage, his NWA gimmick in 1998, his favorite promotor to work for, and whether or not he would ever return to WWE before wrapping with a fun nostalgic trip through his territory and early WWF days. After that, Scott and Justin reveal their next interview guest! So fire up this action-packed episode and join Scott and Justin because it is time for another edition of the PTB Podcast! Place to Be Podcast Episode 353: Jeff Jarrett

February 8, 1987 From the Lee Civic Center in Fort Myers, FL Your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon Tonight in action will be Koko B. Ware, Jake Roberts, and Adrian Adonis.

The SmarK Rant for WWF Smackdown – 04.27.99 It’s the original pilot, which the Network files under the “12 Days of Attitude” section in the Vault, rather than with the other episodes of the show. Because WWE. Fun fact: UPN was not available in Edmonton at the time, so I never saw this show. This was of course in the thick of the Vince Russo era, following the Russo-est show ever in the form of Wrestlemania XV. This was originally pitched to upstart network UPN as an all-Divas show, headlined by Sable, but cooler heads prevailed and we got RAW Jr. instead, where it remains to this day. Taped from Hartford, I think? They never mention it on the show. Your hosts are Michael Cole & Jim Cornette

http://challonge.com/bodtag Mostly as expected, although I thought the super-patriot team of Hogan and Edge would destroy Sheik and Volkoff, which is not what ended up happening.  Some mighty routs in this group, but also some surprisingly close ones, with the US Express getting upset in something of a surprise to me.   More first round matches later tonight!  

Figured we needed a thread for the evening. The WWE 2014 TV year wraps up tonight with Main Event. Georgia-Louisville and Maryland-Stanford are the evening's bowl games. Assorted NBA and NHL action is also on tap.

In regards to my suggestion of Chris Benoit adopting  The Unstoppable Erection  as his finishing move,  It’s False  quickly reminded me: You mean that wasn't the name of Benoit's 69 submission hold from  a few months ago ? Can I tell you how excited I am for this particular recap? No, not because I anticipate anything incredible (but that would be nice!), but because my wife bought me a wireless digital thermometer for Christmas, and I’ve put it to work in my Green Egg on an 8 pound pork butt. I can smoke AND recap at the same time – it’s multi-tasking at its FINEST! One week to Starrcade means the biggest edition of WCW Worldwide EVER. You’ve got Konnan, Big Bubba, M. Wallstreet, Galaxy, and Ciclope. Yes, Ciclope. I knew you doubted me, but you shouldn’t. TONY SCHIAVONE  and  “SOBER” BOBBY HEENAN  are on commentary duties, and make no mention of the fact that nWo members have started appearing on the C-shows.

We're back and we've actually got to recap the last two episodes before the hiatus.  In our last episode, "Cross Country Catastrophe", the Divas learned more about themselves and different relationship types.

by Logan Scisco -Not sure if there are any Fantasy Golf players on the Blog, but if you are, feel free to join my Head-to-Head League entering its eighth year.  It is located on Yahoo Fantasy Golf.  Group ID#806, Password:  shark.  Now, on with the review... - Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler are in the booth and they are taped from Dallas, Texas.  This is the go home show for the Survivor Series.

Randy Orton Update Orton appeared after RAW went off of the air and hit J&J security with RKO's then celebrated with Cena, who had just hit Big Show with the AA, at the top of the stage. http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/1229/588074/randy-orton-appears-after-tonight-wwe-raw/ WWE.com Article on the 10 Ways 2014 Changed the WWE Forever http://www.wwe.com/inside/10-ways-2014-changed-wwe-forever WWE Diva Injured at House Show At this past weekend's house show in Hershey, PA, Emma landed hard on the apron after getting tossed out of the ring by Brie Bella and appeared to have injured her back. Trainers checked on her for about five minutes after the match. http://wrestlingnewssource.com/news/37420/WWE-Diva-Suffers-Injury-Scare/ And don't forget to vote in Place to be Nation's "Greatest Song of the 90's" Tournament as The Group I and J 2nd Round brackets have been released. You can vote by clicking on the link below. http://placeto...

Hey Scott, You mentioned not too long ago that it might be better at this point to have Brock Lesnar drop the World title to Cena and have Cena drop it to Reigns, but I was wondering: what does the WWE do with Rusev then? Common logic was that Cena beats Rusev at Wrestlemania, so does WWE push the win back a month to one of their lame PPV's, or give the win to someone who could use the win to give themselves a kickstart/elevation/whatever? The whole "This is Your Life, Ryback" thing WWE did on Raw tonight kind of implies Ryback would be a good (or at least likely) choice, and if Daniel Bryan comes back as a surprise Royal Rumble entrant he could probably use the win to get heat back onto him since the World Title would be occupied for a while. Thoughts? ​ I think, if my Google Translate is accurate on WWE bullshit politics to English, that the Ryback push is a fuck you to CM Punk rather than any serious attempt to make him, since Punk buried Ryback in the podcast.  But ...

http://www.avclub.com/article/introduction-brutal-spectacle-new-japan-pro-wrestl-213017 That's some pretty mainstream coverage for the New Japan PPV right there.  

Starrcade is a week away, and the top babyface, the person drawing the most pops on a consistent basis is … Sting, who is not booked to work. On the plus side, top contender Roddy Piper did NOT appear on Nitro this past week, and the show was among the best they've done in quite some time. I choose to believe this is just a shocking coincidence, yes sir. Meanwhile, in the Cyborg Factory,  DUSTY RHODES  is dressed like a human marshmallow. He vows to analyze the Sting situation, which is “stealing thunder” from Roddy Piper. You’re kidding? A compelling storyline with a beloved superstar is getting all the attention? Perish the thought. Oh yes,  TONY SCHIAVONE  is here too.

Oh hi, I’m the WCW guy. Andy PG won’t be here tonight due to a medical issue. (I don’t wish to start rumors, but I hear he got a new TV for Christmas and when he removed the old one it BLEW UP IN HIS FACE!) As a result, you and I are going to forge some sort of unholy alliance to get us through the next 3 hours. I haven’t seen any of tonight’s previews, but I heard through the grapevine we’ll be treated to a number of matches we have seen many times before, and will see many times again. Also, after months of teasing separation, will Dean Ambrose’s tongue officially take on a life of its own and start a solo push? I’d love to speculate all night but the show is starting.

On Episode 25 of The Kevin Kelly Show, Kevin welcomes in the legendary Jim Ross for a lengthy chat about his career, upcoming work for New Japan Pro Wrestling and Global Force Wrestling and much more!  JR also discusses Oklahoma’s 2014 bowl woes, this year’s college football playoff, his excitement and trepidation for calling what could be his final PPV, advice for aspiring announcers, his time as WWE VP of Talent Relations, his Royal Rumble weekend shows, where he ranks Tanahashi and Okada, his thoughts on Ring of Honor, how wrestling today could benefit from echoing the territory system and more! The Kevin Kelly Show Episode 25 – Jim Ross

This has nothing to do with the WWE

First round voting for the first 8 matchups is complete and there’s nothing here that anyone who has watched wrestling for more than a year couldn’t have predicted, although Flair & Batista scoring something of an upset over Kane & RVD was a bit of a surprise to me.    http://challonge.com/bodtag# The next eight groupings follow, and I can think of at least one of these matches that should be as close to a unanimous vote as we’re going to get.  But we’ll find out tomorrow!  Tag Tournament Group I Tag Tournament Group J Tag Tournament Group K Tag Tournament Group L Tag Tournament Group M Tag Tournament Group N Tag Tournament Group O Tag Tournament Group P

Howdy Blog O'Doomers! I'm doing this early because it's date night, which turned into double date night and we're going to the Leafs-Lightning hockey game. How romantic! Anyway it's the final RAW of 2014. I don't know if these are special or not, I don't remember any of them. So use the board to bitch about Roman Reigns' push and how much he sucks and you hate him, etc. etc. I want to do something leading up to the Rumble but we went through all the previous Rumbles last year. So any suggestions would be appreciated. As for TV tonight beyond RAW Three Bowl Games (Liberty Bowl should be over by the time this is posted but the Clemson-Oklahoma and Arkansas-Texas game sound like fun, non-offensive matchups) Six NBA Games (Houston-Washington looks like the best) A shit-ton of NHL Games, I think 11 (Go Lightning!) As for some non-sports those of you that like old, classic movies might want to check out Houseboat on Turner Classic tonight. The plot is worthles...

Scott, Was reading this bit about Eric Bischoff talking Starrcade 1997 mentioning how Sting came in out of shape and unprepared. While obviously taking him with a grain of salt, it does make more sense in my mind as to how that match played out. Doesn't make it right, obviously. But if I were Hogan I would have taken it as a big "F you" from Sting. No wonder he started the match beating him up for like 15 minutes. Guy maybe didn't lift one dumbbell in his time off.  Eric talked about how he had a hard time booking the finish because Hogan was Hogan: I didn't really see his point of view. I had a hard time reading between the lines with Hogan because he didn't come flat out and tell me what his issues were. But I think Hogan was disappointed with Sting's preparation. Sting was clearly out of shape. He looked like he hadn't seen a gym or a tanning bed in six months. Up until that time, Sting could get away with that. He'd show up at the arena and do...

WWE.com RAW Preview http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2014-12-29/five-point-preview-26939592 Kevin Nash Update Nash has been pulled from the "RAW Reunion" show, despite still being advertised for the event according to sources at Wrestling Inc. The WWE announced this week that Nash's Legends Contract had been suspended following his arrest. Credit WrestlingInc.com Heath Slater Update Slater has been given time off by the WWE to deal with his legal issues stemming from an alleged assault incident that occurred after WrestleMania 27. A misdemeanor arrest warrant was issued for Slater on December 3rd. Credit Wrestling News Source WWE.com Article on the Most Unexpected Breakout Stars of 2014 http://www.wwe.com/inside/2014-most-unexpected-breakout-stars And don't forget to vote in the Second Round of Place to be Nation's "Greatest Song of the 90's" Tournament. Vote for the Group G and H brackets by clicking on the links below. You ...

The SmarK Rant for WCW Monday Nitro – 02.05.96 Live from somewhere not mentioned. But it’s LIVE. Later confirmed to be Lakeland, FL. Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Mongo and Bobby Heenan

I hope everyone has had a fantastic holiday season. I’m back after a quick road trip with my wife, where we shuffled on over to the  North Pole , and met Santa Claus. The original plan was to see Mick Foley’s favorite, Santa’s Village in New Hampshire, but unfortunately they shut down during the holiday season (what the heck?). Nevertheless, it was a wonderful getaway, where I was able to forget about things like Work, and whether or not Glacier Is Coming. With 3 days left in the year, will I meet my goal of getting the entire WCW 1996 run completed before then? 8 shows, including a PPV? I may never sleep again! TONY SCHIAVONE  is shrieking like a giddy school girl, LIVE from Pensacola, Florida, one of the 30 largest cities in the great state of Florida!  LARRY ZBYSZKO  sits nearby, but is interrupted before he can say anything of significance (which may have taken another 25 glorious years). ERIC BISCHOFF ,  TED DIBIASE , and  VINCENT  ki...

Tag Tournament Group E Tag Tournament Group F Tag Tournament Group G Tag Tournament Group H

Tag Tournament Group A Tag Tournament Group B Tag Tournament Group C Tag Tournament Group D Voting closes tomorrow night!

Just for fun, I thought I'd generate some discussion by running another massive tag team tournament, this one featuring all the teams to ever hold a version of the WWE tag team titles from the start of the Hulkamania era until now.  That gave me a nice 128 team limit to work with.   The bracket is as follows, and it was generated completely at random: http://challonge.com/bodtag So we'll throw up polls every day to hopefully generate some discussion and have fun.  Rules for the tournament are that each version of a wrestler is a different person for the purposes of matchmaking (so Big Show & Undertaker can face Undertaker & Kane or Big Show & Kane), and voting criteria is whatever you want.  Pick whoever would be booked to win, whoever you like best, who would win in a real fight, whatever.  Polls will run until there's a clear majority or until I feel like it.  As a reminder, last time we ran this years ago, The Hart Foundation defeated Edge & Christian in ...

Talk about anything going on tonight here.

Chikara The Renaissance Dawns May 25 th , 2002 St. John’s Auditorium in Allentown, Pennsylvania

For the last few years on the Blog of Doom we've tossed around ideas about having a year end series of awards voted on by the posters of this site.  This year, I am going to try to put this idea into action and - to use a snarky analogy from this place - we will let it play out and see where it goes.  If you have suggestions for what we should call these awards - our version of the Slammy's - then feel free to include them in the comments section. Listed below are a series of categories for this year's awards.  Most of them pertain to the wrestling world in general, but there are a few Blog awards as well.  I avoided negative awards because we know that will not end in anything good.  I also tried to keep the categories below twenty so we didn't have to vote for a million things.

After going 3-2 last week, I am now 37-37-1 for the season. Here are my picks for today: Atlanta -3 vs. Carolina Chicago +7 at Minnesota Green Bay -7.5 vs. Detroit Pittsburgh +3.5 vs. Cincinnati New York Jets +7 at Miami Also, vote for Place to be Nation's "Greatest Song of the 90's" tournament as the 2nd Round ballots have been released for groups C-F. Vote by clicking on the links below http://placetobenation.com/ptbns-greatest-song-of-the-90s-tournament-pool-round-two-group-c/ http://placetobenation.com/ptbns-greatest-song-of-the-90s-tournament-pool-round-two-group-d/ http://placetobenation.com/ptbns-greatest-song-of-the-90s-tournament-pool-round-two-group-e/ http://placetobenation.com/ptbns-greatest-song-of-the-90s-tournament-pool-round-two-group-f/

Hey Scott, big fan and all that. I've been thinking a bit about Wyatt, and I'd like to think I saw the problems with his gimmick a bit earlier than other people (e.g. he can't do any of the stuff he promises, the gaspy promo is repetitive as hell). So my question for you is this, has there been a time in which a good deal of people were raving about a wrestler and you had a strong feeling that they just wouldn't work out and then they proceeded to fizzle? Who were they and why did you know that it wouldn't work? ​Well I knew Raven was going to die on the vine in WWE, but then that was hardly a Nostradamus-level pick.  I knew they would give up on Bo Dallas pretty quickly and that's exactly what happened.  There's tons of cases in WCW, but that was different animal, where typically it was because WCW fucked it up and not because of anything they did.  ​I can't think of any other cases specifically off the top of my head, though.  

Hi Scott, I have no idea how WWE decides its match listings for its DVD but there sure is one DVD I would love to see, a best of Halloween Havoc boxset. Something like the below, what do you think?   The Best of WCW Halloween Havoc Lex Luger vs. Brian Pillman (Halloween Havoc, October 28, 1989 - NWA U.S. Title Match)   Doom vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (Halloween Havoc, October 27, 1990 - NWA Tag Team Title Match)   Bobby Eaton vs. Terry Taylor (Halloween Havoc, October 27, 1991)   Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. Steve Williams & Steve Austin (Halloween Havoc, October 25, 1992 - WCW Tag Team Title Match)   Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack (Halloween Havoc, October 24, 1993 - Texas Death Match)   Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Halloween Havoc, October 23, 1994 - WCW World Title/Cage Match)   Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair & Sting (Halloween Havoc, October 29, 1995)   Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (Hallowee...

Here by popular demand!

NXT Date: December 25, 2014 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Jason Albert, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley Hosts: Renee Young, Corey Graves Reviewed by Tommy Hall Back in the 1980s, Fritz Von Erich had a great insight about Christmas: Once you open the presents, what else is there to do? Well apparently we can watch NXT, which is on a roll as of late. The main story coming out of last week was Kevin Owens destroying Adrian Neville just like he did to Sami Zayn the week before. Let's get to it.

Scott, I remember last year after Bryan won the belt, you advocated for him to be a fighting champion and take on all comers. Ignoring that the creative team will inevitably screw it up, if Reigns is indeed the anointed one, how would you book him after WrestleMania? Similar deal? Fighting champ? Might be a nice change of pace since Brock has been invisible for the last several months. Plus, it might be fun to see Reigns VS Barrett or Sheamus or Miz or whoever main event Raw once in a while. Thoughts? My presumption is that Rollins is going to screw him out of it fairly soon and then Reigns will chase until Summerslam.  It's a weird deal because they want him to be a long-term champion and they still need to pay off the MITB briefcase, and this would be a situation where having more than one title built up to mean something would be incredibly useful.  I think long-term it's best to give Rollins all the main event rub they can now, since Reigns is on the gravy train any...

Thunder Date: August 5, 1999 Location: Lacrosse Center, Lacrosse, Wisconsin Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko Reviewed by Tommy Hall We're coming off an actually decent episode of Nitro, even though it was dominated by the over 40 crowd. Ok maybe I need to be more specific as that could be a lot of different episodes of the show. In this case, it ended with Nash powerbombing Hogan through the table, likely setting up a six man tag soon down the road. In addition to that, we have a lot of musical performances to plug because that's what WCW is about anymore. Let's get to it.

Just in case you're bored and just want a place to throw out randomness for discussion. Some college bowl games today: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl on ESPN at 1/12c; Arizona State vs. Duke in the Sun Bowl at 2/1c on CBS; Miami (FL) vs. South Carolina in the Independence Bowl at 3:30/2:30c on ABC; Boston College vs. Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl at 4:30/3:30c on ESPN.

From the Feb 90 SNME... I realize Buster Douglas pissed in the punch bowl of WWE's plans by knocking out Mike Tyson, and his appearance was largely uninspiring. But let's say Tyson won as expected. Would his appearance have gone the same way, or were there any different or long term plans for him? ​There were tons of crazy rumors at the time, but the Observer notes in the week where Tyson pulled out that WWF was talking to tons of different celebrities and boxers as the replacement ref (George Foreman, a couple of football players, etc) and the finish would always be Savage getting knocked out by the boxer and pinned by Hogan.  The context was basically that Tyson was doing the same thing and the goal was never getting Tyson over, but getting Hogan v. Warrior over.  ​

While reading through the blog, I noticed in a 80's tv show report, a match that ended with a time limit draw.  I remember back then whenever two non jobbers would fight on WCW/WWE tv, if there wasn't a disqualification, there would be a time limit draw to protect the stars.  When did the idea that matches having time limits end and what was the last "significant" time limit draw in wrestling? ​That reminds me, I was watching the first episode of Primetime posted to the Network as background noise while I wrapped presents this week, and holy balls who decided that Lanny Poffo v. Rene Goulet should run through a commercial break?  I can only imagine the reaction if they tried to fill 2 hours with the kind of curtain-jerking garbage that filled that show.  Main event of Sgt Slaughter Jr. v. Iron Sheik with a DQ finish?  NO BUYS. Anyway, it's been a long while since there was a draw on TV, actually.  The Regal TV title matches in the 90s were the ...

Smackdown Date: December 26, 2014 Location: Tyson Events Center, Sioux City, Iowa Attendance: 4,000 Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Tom Phillips, Michael Cole Reviewed by Tommy Hall It's the show after Christmas which means that Hulk Hogan is still in charge tonight. All that means is he'll make a match and say BROTHER a lot, but that's at least better than some of the previous bosses this company has had. Other than that we're still in the dull period before they start caring about the Rumble so let's get to it.

Smackdown on SyFy at 8/7c. NBA action highlighted by Houston @ Memphis on NBA TV. NCAA football has the BITCOIN ST. PETERSBURG BOWL!!! NC State vs. UCF. Bring your B game to the only evening thread that matters.

I was watching the higher power raw and obviously it made no sense.  Was there anybody besides Vince that was in the running to be the higher power? Who would have been the best selection? Vince was in fact the only choice, which is kind of hilarious when you think about how the angle progressed from start to finish.  Personally I would have gone with either Jake Roberts or Ultimate Warrior, depending on who they could have convinced to take one last big payday as the big reveal.  Really though, there was very little available talent out there who could step into the role and then have a meaningful feud with Steve Austin, so Vince was as good as anyone, I guess.  

So with PSN being wonky yesterday, I couldn't get into the WWE Network to review the first of many PPVs for your pleasure.  New schedule, then: Today: a WHAT IF. Tomorrow: a TNA PPV. Sunday: WrestleMania Recall. Monday: Raw in DC. Tuesday: A wild card PPV. Wednesday: BoDWF News Report with Wade Michael Meltzer.

Morale In WWE Locker Room Very Low? Since the McMahon/Austin interview, morale has been reported as worse than before among the WWE locker room. After the interview, HHH gave the locker room a speech that was described as "damage control" that not only backfired but has been said to have lost him a lot of crediblility, especially among those who have been there for some time. Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter AJ Lee Update AJ is currently out with an injury. Originally, they were going to plan a significant injury angle that would write her off of TV for a while but that did not happen. Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter WWE.com Article on the Top 25 Matches of 2014 http://www.wwe.com/inside/top-25-matches-of-2014 And, don't forget to vote in the "Greatest Song of the 90's" tournament from Place to be Nation. Round 2 begins today as you can vote for up to 4 songs in each bracket. Click on the link below ...

Impact Wrestling Date: December 24, 2014 Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz, Don West Hosts: Christy Hemme, Jeremy Borash Reviewed by Tommy Hall This is the final episode of Impact Wrestling on SpikeTV before they head over to Destination America early in the new year. It's also the second half of the Top Twenty Moments countdown, which hopefully is capped off by someone who still works for this company. Let's get to it.

Scott, Seth Rollins' theme sounds like the musical version of clip art. Did WWE cut back on the budget for entrance music, too? Howard Yeah, ever since Jim Johnston moved into the movie division the entrance music has gone to SHIT.  Their in-house ripoff band does a decent job pumping out crap for them to sell on iTunes, but really what was the last memorable theme that they came up with as a company?  Ziggler's maybe?  

My son (who turned 2 in August) opened the gift in the attached picture and exclaimed "John Cena!!" Frankly I'm surprised they don't have licensed WWE potatoes as it is. 

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals. Happy Hanukkah, you Jews. Happy Kwanzaa, you crazy dancin' fools. Did I get everybody? You can talk about your Christmas hauls here.

No sporting events I can find tonight, and I'm sure everyone can figure out what's on the the Network tonight if you have it. Science Channel is showing every episode of Mythbusters in order if that's your thing, outside of that it seems to be the usual holiday fare. Talk about whatever the hell you want, unlike Princess I want to to keep things as dirty and nasty as possible. You know how how I roll... Merry Christmas, and stay safe out there.

https://www.seetheinterview.com/ Well, in the US.  Us Canadians are unable to spend our hard-earned cash to destroy the terrorists.  #THANKSOBAMA Carry on with the Nash thread.  

Monday Nitro #199 Date: August 2, 1999 Location: Sioux Falls Arena, Sioux Falls, South Dakota Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Scott Hudson Reviewed by Tommy Hall I'm really starting to feel sorry for the wrestlers in this company. They have to work hard and try to carry this show to something resembling wrestling while the old guard just won't shut up and get out of the way. There's room for the older generation in a company because the young guys have no credibility without wins over established names, but there comes a point where it's time to pass the torch. Unfortunately that was well over a year ago. Let's get to it.

It appears that alcohol was involved and that his son might have assaulted his own mother. http://m.tmz.com/#Article/2014/12/24/kevin-nash-arrested-battery-wwe-wrestler

With the lack of wrestling news today we are going to have another open thread in place of the Daily Update. Talk about whatever you want here.

From the Reigns thread: Remember, this time last year everyone kept saying that Bryan was only a placeholder feud (even Scott) for Orton before Batista or Cena came in to save the day. There was NO WAY Bryan was going on to Wrestlemania to win the title. Nope, not at all. And there was NO WAY he was going to beat all three members of Evolution in one night to win the title on top of that. Nope, not happening Is this REALLY still a thing?  Like, how many times do we need to have it verified that: 1)  Batista-Orton was the planned WM main event and; 2)  Daniel Bryan was not in the long term plans of the company, especially considering his first post-win feud was with Kane ...before people accept it?  Yes, they might still change their mind and back into a different plan for WM this year that's Dolph or Ambrose or whoever, but that doesn't mean they suddenly had amazing long-term planning skills all along and were just fooling us dumb marks.  If it hadn't been for an extraordi...

February 7, 1987 From the Sundome in Tampa, FL Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Vince McMahon Tonight, we will have both Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant on "Piper's Pit." Also, the British Bulldogs put their Tag Team Titles on the line against the Hart Foundation. Plus, the debut of Outback Jack and more.

Andy PG was supposed to cover me but never got around to it. I am supposing this was because of the holidays. In any case, I hope everyone had a nice holiday.

> If Reigns is the guy, why are they booking Ziggler like he's Shawn Michaels in 95? They're telling stories!  We're having fun Maggle!

On tap for tonight: WWE Main Event is on the Network tonight at 8pm with Big E taking on Stardust. The NBA has 11 games on the schedule tonight. At 7pm EST on NBA TV the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the NHL there are also 11 games on the schedule. NBC Sports Network will have the St. Louis Blues vs. Colorado Avalanche starting at 8pm EST. College Basketball has many games going on tonight. At 7pm EST on ESPN2, Stanford takes on #9 Texas. And, for a new Evening Thread feature, lets take a look at a relatively unknown great match. Here is Rey Mysterio taking on Juventud Guerrera from 4/21/95 in Mexico's AAA promotion. Feel free to discuss this match in here as well.

by Logan Scisco - A video package recaps Shane McMahon ranting at his father on last week’s show.  Will Vince hand over the company to his son tonight? - Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are live from Houston, Texas .

Happy ChristmaHanuKwanzaaSolsticeKuh!!! I'm Matt Perri in for Andy PG who is unable to recap RAW due to inclement weather. Since my weather is rather...uh...clement (thank you, I really put thought into what my weather was like), I will be recapping from the West Coast -- hence, a later cap time.

Hey Scott, Hope this will distract you from the clenching fury that are your kidney stones, although reliving a few of these is probably just as painful. The worst closing scenes in WWE PPV history, covering some serious ground. http://camelclutchblog.com/25-lamest-wwe-ppv-endings-ever/ ​Thankfully water and Flomax passed the stuff out without incident this morning.​

Since there is no news to speak of in wrestling today, I thought I would just post this instead. So, discuss whatever is going on today or talk about RAW from last night if you want to as well. 

Just days away from Christmas, will WCW load their biggest syndicated show with loads of top stars just to please me? Why yes – no less than the likes of Madusa, Hugh Morrus, Big Bubba, and Hacksaw Duggan! TONY SCHIAVONE  and  “SOBER” BOBBY HEENAN  host from the Disney MGM studios.

This has nothing to do with the WWE

The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 01.29.96 Woke up at 2:00AM this morning feeling like my wife was punching me in the kidneys, and while that was not something that would out of the ordinary, it was not her in this case. Three hours later in the ER, I discovered that I’ve reached the special age where I start getting into troubles like kidney stones. And they fucking HURT. Like someone squeezing your nut until you want to puke on the floor. Still better than watching RAW these days, though. We’ve been plowing through season 3 of Sons of Anarchy during my recuperation this afternoon and we’re almost done the season, and this fucking Ireland deal…fuck. Enough already with this priest and JImmy! Just give Jax his kid back so we can get the hell out of this country. Taped from Stockton, CA Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

Hi Scott, Why hasn't Lawler been put out to pasture yet? He has been going through the motions for years and adds nothing to the broadcast. Having some new blood like Regal or Christian would at least make the product feel a little less dated. ​There is a million zillion things wrong with the announcing, and Lawler phoning in his commentary is the least of them.  Besides, we'd just get some other poor bastard who then had to listen to all of Vince's crazy yelling in his ear if Lawler stepped down.  ​JBL is a much bigger problem at this point, I think, as he's gone from interesting color guy to Vince's ventriloquist dummy, mindlessly yelling about how much fun we're all having and how when they say "Us-" we say "-O". They already told us that during their entrance!  That's not new information in the least! 

Howdy Blog O'Doomers! Hoping all of you are having a Happy Holiday if you are celebrating. Not sure if RAW is live or in the can but the pre-Christmas one is usually fun and lighthearted. Thankfully Royal Rumble season is nearly upon us. Otherwise I have of lot of prepping to do for family. My excitement for this can't be contained in this blog post. So enjoy TV tonight, we've got RAW. Broncos-Bengals on the Monday Night Football Finale. 7 NBA games, 6 NHL clashes, 5 GOLDEN RINGS! (sorry had to do it.) Enjoy and keep it clean!

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    December 22, 2014   DESTINATION AMERICA EXPANDS WEEKEND WRESTLING LINEUP WITH ADDITION OF TNA WRESTLING'S GREATEST MATCHES     (Silver Spring, Md.) – Destination America today announced it is adding TNA WRESTLING'S GREATEST MATCHES to its weekend lineup of wrestling programming. An hour-long show, GREATEST MATCHES presents the most remarkable and unforgettable contests of iconic TNA superstars such as Kurt Angle, Sting, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. TNA Wrestling's Greatest Matches debuts with a three episode mini-marathon on Saturday, January 10 beginning at 10 AM ET followed by two new additional premieres on Friday January 16 at 9AM . TNA WRESTLING'S GREATEST MATCHES will continue to premiere in its regular time slot starting January 17 on Saturdays at 12PM.   "We joined forces with TNA because of their rich history with wrestl...