C.S.

Interview with Piper about Punk in UFC. Here's an excerpt: “The bottom line is, don’t be a lifer,” Piper said. “Get in, get a business, get five years of what you can and get out. What happens is they start listening to the promoters, ‘You’ll get the next main event.’ And then, all of a sudden you become a lifer. That’s the kiss of death there. Get in shape, go in, get the money, get out and have a wonderful life.” I wonder if Piper gave this advice to Punk and whether it had an influence on his decision to leave WWE and join UFC. http://mmajunkie.com/2015/03/rowdy-roddy-piper-on-cm-punks-ufc-jump-thats-what-a-mans-made-out-of

Andre/Hogan is much like Rock/Hogan and Sting/HHH...a blast to watch for those who were "there" but probably doesn't hold up in subsequent years.

The HHH stuff about Owen is interesting. I've never heard that before. Do you have any direct quotes? Alberto Del Rio said this about Miz on a radio show a few years ago: "I hate The Miz. This is not part of the show. I really dislike that guy. I've tried to punch him in the face several times, not in the ring, I mean outside the ring. He's like a little girl. He's always running away from me..." "There's a big difference between The Miz and I. I'm a real athlete. He's just a loud, stupid little kid. He's one of those guys who was probably bullied when he was in school and that's the reason now that he's so loud and he wants to get attention from everybody." http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1062300-wwe-news-alberto-del-rio-calls-the-miz-a-loud-stupid-little-kid

Until he loses it. Then it's back to being the meaningless, irrelevant albatross it's been since the WCW sale. I pray the I-C and U.S. Titles are unified into the I-C Title. Yeah, Rusev's reign was good. Cena's will be too. But it's been hot garbage for the most part otherwise since WCW.

This is kind of a blind stretch. Wrestling made titles seem more important 20-25 years ago. WWE was the same way back then.

No. They'll try for a while and pay lip service to the idea, but then - like everything else - all of that will be forgotten about.

Kinda sucks. I think he had upside as a solid midcard heel. His character was more over to me than Baron Corbin, Lucha Dragons, Blake and Murphy, and a lot of other people they push.

Then why do the damn move at all? Surely there are a million other moves he can do that would look a lot better while being just as safe.

It would have worked but Cena would have actually needed to apply some pressure for once. I agree with the idea in theory, but yep, Cena has the worst STF I've ever seen. Erik Watts did it better.

Except, to be honest, this was not a match worth "protecting." Very few people wanted to see Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns main event WrestleMania. Yes, granted, they got us into the match as it was happening, but too little too late by then. Seth Rollins cashing in was an incredible ending. As tired as people might be of the Money in the Bank formula, this particular cash-in was handled perfectly. Also, a cash-in has never happened at WrestleMania itself, so that was novel too. In the end, everyone came out stronger - even Reigns, who was struggling before the match. They all have far more character and storyline possibilities now than they did even before the match.

"Don't touch, don't touch, don't touch." Awesome selling by Steph. But yeah, segment went way too long.

Except, they kinda did. Accolade, broken out of. STFU, broken out of. I was underwhelmed by this match (I don't mean who won - I'm okay with that). Last month was better.

That's the rumor, isn't it?

Bray Wyatt overcame being named Windham Rotunda. He can overcome anything!

What does philanthropy have to do with Connor's induction? They're two totally different things. Being a philanthropist generally means donating money to good causes. The Connor and Make-a-Wish stuff is something else entirely.

My guess is they're bringing J.R. back for NXT. It makes perfect sense too. He'd be ideal to train the younger, up-and-coming voices on that show - including, yes, Renee Young. The more relaxed taping schedule would probably also appeal to Jim Ross at this point. And he was recently in attendance at an NXT show.

I'd argue that Hogan is a minimalist. We've seen him bust out a more athletic style in Japan. In the States, he does only what he absolutely has to and gets a monster reaction for it. Scott Hall would also qualify, and he's done several interviews stating as much. Ditto for Jake Roberts.

I've never been able to access them on Roku. The Arnold interview booted me out within seconds on Monday but worked last night. WWE Network, one year in, still feels like a beta product. It's embarrassing.

What?! That seems random as hell. What am I missing? I don't remember there ever being a great friendship between them, either on or off-screen (Foley's books, etc.).

I remember reading in the Observer, possibly a direct quote, that Dwayne was surprised "the old man" didn't get in touch about a new contract.

Made more ironic by the fact that Elmore Leonard based that character specifically on The Rock and although the movie tanked and was critically panned. The only performer to get good reviews across the board The Rock. Despite people heavyweight character actors like Harvey Keital and James Woods being in it. I remember hearing about Vince's reaction at the time, and it really struck me as completely out of touch, not to mention offensive. Surprising too, with Pat Patterson being Vince's trusted lieutenant for all those years, so you'd think Vince would be a little more open-minded. It just goes to show, for all of Vince's aspirations to be seen as mainstream entertainment, he was and is way behind-the-curve. He doesn't get it at all. I hope it's the former. Probably the former. It is wrestling, and Backlund comes from the era where kayfabe was protected at all costs.

I don't know if that's necessarily true. He had several cameo appearances after the '93 run, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame a couple of years back. But he certainly isn't highlighted as often or treated with the same reverence as other past company aces. Then again, Bruno wasn't mentioned at all for decades.

Except, there's a difference between walking out onto the street dressed like that vs. some kind of comic convention or live wrestling event. Those two scenarios are not exactly the same as "going out in public" and doing mundane things like shopping at the supermarket, buying coffee, etc. while fully dressed as Dr. Who or Sting. Even if it's not for you (and it's not for me either, truth be told), surely you can still see the distinction?

Where? How? Is it on PS3/4, Roku, etc.? If not, you can't compare them to WWE Network or WWE's presence on Hulu. The latter gives mainstream audiences and casual fans access to WWE. TNA and ROH absolutely need a presence on Hulu or Netflix. The fact that they seemingly haven't pursued such an avenue is mind-boggling to me.

It's currently a tie, thanks to my vote for Arn. It's really close though, and both were very valuable in teams and stables. But I give Arn the slight edge because he could talk up a great feud or scenario. Bobby couldn't. Anyone remember the short-lived but great Anderson-Eaton team with Michael P.S. Hayes as their manager? It was basically promoted as Horsemen + Midnight Express + Freebirds. I loved that. Shame it didn't last.