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So it looks like Edge is the guy Dave keeps blind-iteming about when mentioning a top WWE guy (and not someone you'd assume like Taker) who's looking to retire soon. That makes me wonder how much of this feud with Dolph is being booked to try to entice Edge to stay, since it sure doesn't seem to be helping Ziggler out at all.

Also, you better believe the NFL cares who makes the Super Bowl after several lopsided blowouts in the 80s/90s where anyone who bought ad time in the late 3rd quarter on lost money because people tuned out early.

No way a Jags-Bucs game gets the ratings a Giants-Pats game would. For one, no one cares about the Jags (they actually had a decent squad making a playoff run this season and the stadium was maybe half filled every game), and both the Giants and Pats have rabid fanbases. There's basically a few levels of "draws" in the NFL: Teams with huge fanbases that draw year in and out: Steelers, Patriots, Colts, Giants, Packers, Bears, Cowboys, possibly Chargers (they were in the second group for a while but they've been good long enough to graduate to this level now) Teams who have fairly recent fanbases due to winning: Falcons, Saints, Jets, Chiefs Teams who have decent fanbases but don't draw much because they've been losing a lot recently: Redskins, Browns, Raiders, 49ers Teams who have been bad recently but have shown signs of turnaround and will attract people who root for the underdog: Dolphins, Rams, Seahawks, Bucs Everyone else pretty much has no rating/drawing power. There are some exceptions, like the Vikings being a draw despite losing but that was more due to Favre and the trainwreck factor of the wheels falling off that team at a record rate.

Just saying, the Steelers have one of the largest fanbases in all of sports. To steal a phrase, IT DOESN'T MATTER how big the market is in Pittsburgh, Steelers = ratings. The AFC title game was the highest rated ever and I don't think people are predicting the Super Bowl to be the highest rated TV event ever just for Green Bay. I will concede people probably aren't watching to see Ben, the Steelers have been able to succeed at getting the brand over instead of the players in a way WWE could only dream of. Also, didn't Dave used to make fun of old time wrestler types who used to insist all sports were worked?

I'm pretty sure WWE wasn't upset at these leaks since it made TNA look bad.

Another one that has to be a Vince quirk since all the announcers do it: starting a train of thought with "some people say".

Is Mike Sweetser still their tech guy? Back when I was posting there (oh man) years ago, it would go down quite often while he was busy with his Transformers and porn obsessions.

I would think that Striker's mark-out moment was legit, since I'm willing to bet Vince wouldn't want his announcers using "insider" terms on commentary. Also, and I'm not signaling anyone out here specifically, it seems a lot of the negative response I've seen to the Rumble match comes down to the same old "they didn't cater to my exact tastes" routine.

"Superstar" Berry "O" makes me laugh for some reason. Poor guy just can't ever catch a break.

I was always surprised Nash let his hair go grey, it made him look 15 years older than he was (which was still pretty old). In that video of him in the airport he pretty much looks like Diesel from 1995 or so.

Oh man, this 1000x. His reactions to Goldust's antics were the best.

Fun fact I found while looking on WWE's corporate site: The only person on the board of directors who didn't have a photo on their bio page was Kevin Dunn.

From WO.com: Should be interesting what this means in terms of the power structure of the company.

Apparently another tidbit that came from that guy's blog is that the Usos got their legs cut out from under them because Vince doesn't understand hip-hop culture. Guess that showed them to try to go outside the approved WWE Samoan stereotype.

I never got the impression he was cribbing from Jericho, just that he was trying to create a distinction from his goofy mid carder persona and his more serious main event champion one. Which now that I think about it, is what Jericho had to do as well so I see where the comparison came from. What other choice would someone like Miz have though? He wouldn't have a prayer being a main eventer being the fedora wearing chick magnet.

Then they fast track a guy like Mason Ryan up to the main roster because he looks like Batista, while Daniel Bryan is made to look like a goof who's afraid of girls and he doesn't even get his entrance on TV most weeks despite being US champion.

I never understood that mindset, even a little. I wonder how much of a role Miz's success played into that. He's clearly a huge fan and used that as part of his motivation. Also seeing how the wrestlers who were hired during the "no fans" period clearly had no passion for the business, and either quit or just gave up until they got endeavored probably played a part too.

I think that is by far the worst thing about the main WON crew these days, they clearly aren't paying attention to stuff. Not only do they end up getting mad/complaining about wrong things, they then get twice as mad when the proles dare to point out what they missed. Well Bryan definitely, Dave doesn't seem to have enough interest to get mad in the first place or be bothered to go back to see what he missed. What's worse is that it's the exact attitude that makes it hard to refute when people like Bischoff go on rants about sheet writers getting things wrong and then not owning up to it.

I hope whoever decided to have Lawler deliver the line last night about Vickie attending the birth of her next boyfriend truly appreciated the irony.

Today's Herb update mentioned that THQ not only insisted on Hogan being in the game, but that he'd be one of the guys on the cover. Also: Really? I mean, I'd like to hear more about the controls before passing judgment on it as a game, but to say it looks terrible doesn't seem accurate.

That video even got picked up on game sites like Kotaku where it was framed as Savage and WWE making up after 16 years. What was more surprising is the overwhelming response of "I missed that guy, he was awesome" from their readership. If WWE was half as in tune to the pulse of the "WWE Universe" as they think they are, they'd bring him in for an appearance on Raw. I'd imagine the roof would blow off the place for a moment like that.

Considering McCool gets to skip houseshows to take care of Taker, the idea that she doesn't get special treatment is laughable. You pretty much never see anyone allowed to miss a show unless it's a main eventer out filming a movie or trying to protect an injury.

This. Still the most douche-chill inducing thing ever on WWE TV, especially her looking like she was coached to say how grateful she was to Vince.

Vince would just throw Bryan's papers in his face and walk off in a huff after 5 minutes anyway, so it's a moot point who would fare better in a debate. We've seen enough of Vince in environments he doesn't have 100% control over to know he loses his shit the moment anyone even slightly goes after him.

There's an article in the new Nintendo Power that pretty much gives away Hogan being in the game too, so that makes the current list of known legends 1. Rock 2. Savage 3. Andre 4. Hogan 5. Bret Plus Howard Finkel announcing and JR and Lawler doing commentary.