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Scott Keith, for all his faults, used to have a thing he called "Mt. Perpetually Over" to describe someone who's so beloved it's impossible to turn them heel. He mostly used it in context of WCW trying to turn Ric Flair heel when it was clear their fans would not boo him over the nWo types, but it's something that applies to Bryan at this point too I feel. For as good of a heel he can be with the "I have till five" stuff and his Obi Wan robes in ROH, after everything he's gone through the last two years he could murder puppies in the ring on Raw and get YES chants.

Imagine if you just started watching in the last couple of years, mainly WWE stuff and maybe ROH or some New Japan since you hear everyone raving about it. Then think about the moment you say a match is the best you've ever seen. you get dogpiled by people basically calling you dumb for not having watched every similar match in history. That's why there's the snobbery claims that get thrown around. People who've been watching tapes since the 90s have had 25+ years to pour over all this stuff, so it's a little unreasonble to expect everyone to be on that level. The exchange should go like this: New fan: Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks was the best match I ever saw! Longtime fan: If you liked that, you should really check this stuff out! *links and or recs for other stuff* Instead it goes like this a lot of the time: New fan: Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks was the best match I ever saw! Longtime fan: *RT's new fan* Look at this idiot who's probably never even heard of the Midnights vs Rock n Rolls! What's funny is often I'll see someone do the second and try following up with the first. They already poisoned the well, why would someone take recommendations from someone who's first impression they gave was being a condescending dickhole?

To be fair, the amount of complete footage available is only recently started to grow. It was hard to find much non WWF stuff earlier than the mid 80s, Lucha stuff earlier than the mid 90s, or any Japan stuff that was not shown on NTV or on a comp tape of some sort. It would be hard for me to be mad at a newer fan for thinking the Golden Lovers are the greatest team ever if wrestling itself did not make it such a fucking ordeal to see that Midnights match in JCP that probably is better but you have to know where to go to find someone who can get you a copy of Cornettes personal copy. I mean, people here will do it no problem because were crazy like that. I think its somewhat of a bubble we find ourselves in to expect all fans to make that level of effort in a world where people expect to have content served to them.

Ronda's aura in MMA was being a silent ass kicker with the world's scariest mean face. It was always a long shot she would go into wrestlng and suddenly have Austin like promo skills. She should come out, break people's arms, and leave. Kinda like how Lucha Underground did with Pentagon Jr. It'll be fine for Mania, Steph will bump like crazy for her, Ronda will arm bar her, and the place will pop like crazy. The problem will be 6 months later when she's in a match with someone who isn't going to be able to carry their end of the deal as much, and ends up looking like a green pro wrestler instead of the biggest badass on Earth. Not to mention Shayna's in NXT already basically being what they want Ronda to be right now.

Ronda was never a good promo, even by MMA standards where most of the time the best ones sound like they're doing a pro wrestler imitation. The funny part is Dave mentioned the company doesn't want Heyman in that role because they don't want him paired with someone who will ultimately get the best of Stephanie. Ronda's been so bad at promos so far someone needs to be there and god knows Kurt's not the one do to it.

Isn't her boyfriend/fiancee/whatever a makeup artist? Would explain why she's the only one who doesn't look like Heath Ledger.

Joe would be a good call. He's ready to go, and the segment with Braun and the Bar on Raw seemed like what they would do if they changed who Braun's partner would be at the last minute due to IRL shit happening. Plus he would be a perfect fit with the established story of the other three being guys who grew up in the indies together. They're already crediting the hernia part of Shane's injuries to the beatdown on SD, so Bryan can just do a promo saying he made a deal with Raw with another person who came up the ranks with them.

The make-up department of WWE is absolutely god-awful, it has to be said again and again, they are doing a terrible job. I'm sure all those women look a hundred times better IRL. Alexa looks like a completely different person on Total Divas.

Wow, really gonna wait for the go home show to do whatever they do with Taker? You would have thought one of the few legit dream matches WWE has left would have more behind it than Cena having a tantrum.

Looks like Kurt doesnt clean the mats wherever hes training Ronda at and she just got through a bout of pink eye.

Was that Sarah Stock playing the role of female Adam Pierce breaking up the Sasha-Bayley fight?

IIRC, it wasn't until Hogan came around that Vince turned into the muscle loving gym rat we know and love today.

AJ and Bryan are probably 1a-1b in my book. Bryan was ahead for a long time but AJ's caught up and maybe by this point surpassed him. I never expected him to do as well in WWE as he has, and he's managed to work miracles with guys I wouldn't think he'd mesh well with. One thing that I think sets them apart is Bryan being on another level when it comes to connecting with the crowd. I consider that a big part of in-ring ability since you can be as techincally sound as you want but it means nothing if no one gives a shit when you do it. AJ's got a lot better in this WWE run, but I don't think anyone can come close to Bryan in that aspect.

Molly Holly will be inducting Ivory. Also it looks like Mark Henry might be part of a more exclusive club if reactions to his induction are any indication. He seems to be one of the handful of people to spend significant time in wrestling that no one has a bad thing to say about him as a person.

I'm sure matches with AJ/Nak/KO/Zayn will all be great and worked in a manner as safe as possible. The beatdown angle on SD was a master class in doing a violent beating in the safest way possible. What worries me is when he's in with stiff/sloppy guys and gets an unintential boot to the face.

I kind of want Joey Janela to book Funk vs Biden for his Spring Break show.

Bruno only came out of retirement to work matches and do commentary as a favor to Vince in return for David getting a push. I think Bruno always felt like Vince just used David to get Bruno back, and that was really the source of his grudge against the company all those years. David and Bruno had a falling out IIRC and I wouldn't be surprised if Bruno blamed Vince indirectly for it.

In my experience, there are generally two types of wrestling fans on the internet . Those who are genuinely interested in wrestling and/or its history and enjoy finding out new information. Those kind of folks tend to fit in well here. The other type are basically WWE only fans and get irrationally defensive if anyone questions the official company line. That's where the "snobbish" stuff tends to come from, as there tends to be a big overlap between those folks and those who think education is bad.

Braun-Ellsworth is probably the greatest squash in wrestling history, can't think of any other where both parties involved launched careers from it.

Guys from that era have shown to struggle mightly in the current script heavy WWE. Piper and Flair had issues, and Kurt is 50-50 if he can make it throught a typically overly wordy promo without bumbling. Hogan's always been a case of diminishing returns post 2002 or so, the best case scenario would be to show up on a Raw-after-Mania level show to get the big nostalgia pop and then have Heath Slater run into a few punches for him. Having him as any sort of recurring character would not be best for either side.

I'm sure the Snickers people would love that.

The link in the OP basically stated WWE has reached out and could have plans, hardly "Hogan is returning to WWE" worthy. Especically in light of having the Moolah Battle Royal blow up in their faces, I doubt they want to have the guy on tape making racial slurs as their next WM plan.

The AAF already will have a year head start so the XFL will have to pick from the guys who washed out from the NFL/CFL/AFF first. At that point you could probably field a better team from 11 random dudes from here.

Owens slowly going more and more crazy was great too. "YOU DID THIS!"

I know everyone hates KO and Sami now, but god damn that show ending angle was great.