sek69

What I don't get, is that no one seems to think guys like Monsoon/Ventura/Finkel were anything more than just good fits for what the WWF wanted to do at the time. If it was that simple, why has everyone else who's been doing those jobs since been so noticeably inferior? Ring announcing in particular has suffered, I don't think anyone can seriously say Tony Chimel and his ridiculous sing-song pattern are an improvement over Finkel. Justin Roberts is probably the least horrible guy in the role post-Fink and even he gets grating with how he seems to have a running contest over how long he can stretch out John Cena's name. They had to bring back Lilian recently so it seems like even WWE knows its something they could do better. Announcing has been even more abysmal, other than JR they haven't had an announcer who didn't generate channel changer heat since Vince gave up the headset. When they do find someone who seems like they could be okay, they get their ears screamed out until they quit or become an emotionless robot churning out Vince-speak. I honestly wish Vince would just go back to doing commentary since it doesn't seem like he can stand having anyone else do it.

I know HHH was really pushed down people's throats before he finally got over, but to say he's the Kamala of the 2000s makes you sound as ridiculous as Dave did in the 80s with his obsessive Hogan hate. His politics have been debated ad nauseum and he sometimes is too smart for his own good ("I'm good enough to have a long match with Scott Steiner!"), but lets not start pretending he was just another broomstick who happened to nail the boss's daughter. *Note that I'm not even a huge HHH fan but some of the arguments against him here seem kind of silly. Also the mention of Ken Shamrock earlier reminded me that the story about the ESPN piece on fighter pay is giving Dave plenty of chances to mention Ken being the guy that put the Zuffa era UFC on the map. I get the feeling he's going to start pushing Ken on the basis of that.

Between the names listed on the polls and the people who usually end up winning them, there's definitely some trolling going on. Not sure if it's Dave or the readers doing it. Maybe both, but if you include Kevin Nash on a HOF poll someone's being fucked with for sure.

Still, it's not like they were going against reruns. Just because the game didn't set records doesn't mean they didn't potentially draw viewers away.

Bryan making a fuss over RAW having low ratings as if it was an indictment of the Kane/Cena angle and not a result going up against the goddamn National Championship Game was comical.

Pretty much any time a heel was accompanied by a tag partner or some other non manager person, Gorilla would debate if that person had secured managerial credentials or not.

Probably the deal they have in place to carry WWE 24/7 that someone misinterpreted to mean a new carriage deal for the network. That would be my guess at least.

inDemand is the company that runs video on demand services for most major cable companies, like the current WWE 24/7 setup. inDemand =/= cable clearance just because they are owned by cable companies.

I don't know if anyone else has heard about it/mentioned it elsewhere, but the annual Bryan and Vinnie Christmas show was quite a thing. Nearly two hours in, both are hammered (considering Bryan's size it probably only took 2 beers) and he says to Vinnie "ask me anything you want, and I'll answer truthfully". Vinnie blurts out "Is she shaved?" referring to Bryan's wife, and Bryan seemed to pause for a moment before mentioning he spends a lot on laser treatments. There seems to be some debate on how intoxicated they really were; and clearly Bryan didn't edit anything out when it was uploaded, so there may be some working going on. Still, Mrs. Bryan's vag was not something I was expecting to be a topic of discussion. If it wasn't "part of the show" I have a feeling the jiu-jitsu classes they teach may have been pretty awkward.

I always had the impression it was done like that because they were probably trying to talk him into actually jobbing the title up until moments before Vince made the announcement most likely.

That really shouldn't be a surprise, it's the WWE self fulfilling prophecy in action. Book someone like a chump, decide to start giving them a serious push, they cause a ratings drop (because who wants to see guys booked like chumps in the main event) and that just seals them with the "oh well, can't draw" stamp.

Yeah, I couldn't tell if by putting his hand over Cena's nose/mouth if he was trying to murder him or rape him. Also Punk's been tweeting since the PPV how this is the change he's been talking about and posted a pic of all the current WWE champions (himself, Bryan, Ryder, Cody, Air Boom, and Beth) saying this is what he was trying to do in the WWE.

Actually, I think he's pretty accurately rated. He certainly had good matches, but I've never seen anything to suggest they should have been pushing him any further than he was.

I take that as Bryan's way of admitting he was wrong without admitting he was wrong? John Pretty much the way I read it. He did a "Todd was right" post that came across like a smarmy heel not believing what he was saying, so I guess the gimmick now is any time he gets completely clowned in a debate he's just werkin'. Also those daily trivia blurbs were all worth it for the payoff of a young Bob Barnett and VKM blowing up toilets.

I wonder what the odds are the SK has even seen the match, or did someone just tell him it was the greatest thing ever and he ran with it?

I actually went to the board to see what the fallout was, the thread for the show had 3 and a half pages of EVERYONE (even other WO.com folks like Alan4L and Mike) saying Bryan was wrong, the only "bryan was right" post was from Bryan himself that he reply-as-quoted several times. Then on page 4 he was all "6 years later I still can get a reaction" so evidently it was all just his master plan to show he can werk the boys instead of him being a stubborn shit. Of course, there's only like 6 years of recorded history in the archives that suggest otherwise.

Good Lord, the latest Bryan show with Todd Martin is the most Bryan-est show ever. Todd makes the point that in real sports sometimes the worst team beats the best team, but that doesn't mean the lesser team takes the better team's spot (in the context of explaining why when main eventers have to face JTTS's to get a shot at the title in pro wrestling, the JTTS guy wouldn't get a shot if he were to theoretically win the match). Bryan's normally embarrassing lack of any knowledge or understanding of real sports makes him look like a complete tool arguing things like NBA/NFL teams have ranking (they don't) and that guys who win upsets in MMA get title matches if the guy they upset was in line for a shot (sometimes they do but not usually). He tries to play the card that MMA books solely on marketability of fighters which Todd surprisingly shoots down as a quote-unquote "as a bullshit Dave line". Bryan just keeps coming up with more and more impossible hypothetical scenarios that supposedly back up his argument, and Todd shoots down every one, and Bryan just gets more obnoxious in his stubbornness to the point of willful ignorance. It's actually perversely entertaining watching a guy who's supposed to be one of the top voices in his field sounding like the exact same kind of obstinate troll he rages about on the boards.

I might be Captain Late Pass on this, but is thecubsfan = Joe Gagne from joevstheworld and the wrestling video game reviews on YouTube? I've recently become a fan of the game reviews and noticed when cubs calls in to Bryan's bi-weekly lucha shows the voices sound sort of familiar. Can't tell 100% though since it's telephone quality audio compared to much clearer YouTube audio.

It seemed to come from his amazement that a Japanese guy and someone from the Southern US were capable of any means of communication.

I remember the Hirohito idea, but I thought the billed towns thing was due to Vince having another one of his quirks where he decided babyfaces wouldn't be billed from Canada anymore.

This is all true, but if there's anyone in the history of wrestling who had a right to say "fuck this" it would be Kevin post 1986.

I get the feeling some people seem to be under the impression Dave invented the "WWE/Vince changes their minds a lot" meme as a cover for when he's wrong about WWE stuff. That doesn't seem entirely fair when there is tons of evidence supporting shows get rewritten several times and plans change at the drop of a hat.

I guess the real question would be are negotiations that delicate or is Jericho trying to work the boys and/or Dave?

The odd thing is that they were pretty intent on Rock-Cena being for the title (Cena mentioned it again on RAW last night), and apparently that's no longer the plan per this news?

I wonder if anyone ever asked Bryan if he seriously would have gave two shits about World of Hurt if Lance wasn't a regular guest on his show. I mean, this is the same guy who makes it sound like it's a huge fucking imposition on his time to watch Smackdown every week (despite the fact he usually ends up liking the show). The idea that he wants us to believe he would have willingly watch a show full of geeks learning how to wrestle is just hilarious.