C.S.

There is no way the majority of the fanbase is going to buy Daniel Bryan beating Undertaker. He would suffer a major backlash. There might have been a backlash, just because the Streak was broken, but that would've applied to anyone breaking it. This nonsense about it "being unrealistic" for Bryan (or any smaller wrestler) to beat a bigger wrestler has always struck me as a dishonest talking point. It's wrestling. David vs. Goliath is one of the most basic storylines (wrestling or otherwise), and it always works when done correctly. It's not that ridiculous. Other than Bruno Sammartino, how many guys who weren't native English speakers have been really strong promos? Cesaro is perfectly understandable though. His accent is not thick or marble-mouthed by any means. Regal and Barrett both have thicker accents, and they've gotten over as great talkers. (Granted, they're probably better on the mic than Cesaro, but it isn't because of Cesaro's accent.) Even Davey Boy Smith got main event opportunities from time to time - and he was hardly a great talker, with an accent as thick as molasses. Edit: I just realized you asked about people who were not native English speakers. Different situation than Regal, etc. obviously, LOL. But how do we know Cesaro isn't a native English speaker? It's possible, like many kids from other countries these days, that he learned how to speak both languages fairly early on. According to Wikipedia, Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. While English isn't listed, it's plausible that he could have learned it...unless there are stories of him coming to this country and not knowing the language?

Wow... https://twitter.com/MelissaJoanHart/status/539645617702985728

Yeah but I thought Vince made it clear Undertaker was done and he had to work off what was best for 2014 given what they had. It did seem like he was stretching that someone like Brock needed this rub and that now he could always make this claim. That would be applicable for any wrestler. That's possible, since Bryan wasn't on the table this year because they needed him for the HHH match and the main event, but Vince wasn't very clear in his wording.

That was incredible and worth $9.99 all by itself. I can't agree with whoever said that Austin was throwing Vince softballs. Austin asked Vince just about every question anyone would have wanted to ask him. I can nitpick and wish he had gone more in-depth about Savage or challenged the nonsense about Brock being the only one who could end the streak because there was no one else left (what about Bryan a year or two down the road?). Vince was off his rocker when he said Cesaro doesn't have charisma, mic skills ("maybe because he's Swiss" is as groan-inducing as that infamous Vince Russo interview about Mexican and Japanese wrestlers not being able to get over in America) or the "it factor." Just mind-boggling. All in all, this was an amazing piece of television with a long list of newsworthy items and quotes. Edited to add: Yeah, bad booking after WrestleMania completely fucked Cesaro. I do wish Austin had harped on that point more.

That's a great point. If Reigns is indeed chosen to end Rusev's streak, my dream scenario would be for Rusev to beat Cena and then fall to Reigns.

Which is why it will be great when Reigns beats him at Fast Lane as his "final test" before Lesnar at 31. You're probably right, but at least it won't be Cena. I'd argue that Reigns is an even worse choice. As bad as a loss to Cena would be, he at least has credibility.

To hear it from people here, Rusev vs. Sheamus was a MOTY contender. Come on now. It was okay for what it was, with a hot final stretch and a very satisfactory (for us) finish, just because Sheamus is so fucking stale now. I think Rusev is a perfectly adequate wrestler who has improved and become a fun part of the show. Considering how dull most of the WWE is now, that probably makes him seem better than he really is. He's not bad though, with good upside to grow - but let's see where he is in a year. My guess is he'll be a Cena victim at some point and hit his ceiling as an upper midcarder after that, sort of like a Umaga or Rikishi type. My hope is that they don't rush his push (like they were doing with Reigns), and he avoids Cena completely. The slow burn so far has been great. I'm just nervous that they'll find some way to fuck it up like they do most things.

No, I'm not "digging to find a story" - there's no "story" here because the veteran Mick quickly defused it - but Colt was kind of harsh IMO. Seemed unnecessary to me. I thought the exchange was worth pointing out because everyone always wonders why "asshole Punk" is best friends with "funny nice guy Colt." Well, at least in this instance, Colt seems like kind of self-righteous douche too. (I like Punk and Colt, but no need to nominate them for sainthood.)

From Twitter: Kind of a dickhead response by Colt, no? Mick, all class, lived up to his reputation as one of the nicest people in wrestling with his reply to that:

I'm getting this too, on Roku. Watchlist does work for me though.

Geno Mrosko of Cageside Seats typed out a full transcript of the interview. I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer text over audio. For one thing, it's a lot quicker to get through. http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2014/11/28/7301549/cm-punk-tell-all-interview-with-colt-cabana-transcribed

Because everyone tuned in expecting Sting. The internet diehards knew he wouldn't be there, but most of the audience thought he'd show up. Lots of disappointed fans. WWE really dropped the ball. Nothing new there, unfortunately.

I met Foley, and he was super cool to me. Granted, it was at a book signing, so while it's more or less his job to be nice in that type of environment, he didn't have to go the extra mile, and he did. It was a signing for, I believe, the third book. I had it already, so I went in there and bought Scooter - his work of fiction which was released around the same time. The bookstore security douche refused to let me give Scooter to Mick to sign - now, keep in mind, the "rules" were never exactly made clear by the store in the first place - but Mick immediately objected and said, "Why not? I wrote it!" or something alone those lines. He winked at me after the fact, or maybe it was a smile...something friendly like that. We might have shaken hands too, I can't remember. My point is, Mick was very nice in a warm, heartfelt, genuine way.

Yeah, Arn did look bigger, but what do you expect from an aging wrestler who has been retired for 15 years?

I watched a few things on the Network last night: Usos: 10 Hours to Houston: Remember the old "Before They Were Superstars" DVDs? That makes its return - by name - with this special, so I'm assuming we're going to get more of these and eventually a DVD/Blu-Ray. That's just speculation, but I hope so! This was short but great for what it was. Very touching stuff about their uncle Eddie (Umaga). They seemed closer to him than their own dad, Rikishi. I had no idea they were childhood friends with Roman Reigns. Well worth a watch. ECW Exposed Part 2: I wish this and the Usos special were longer. Like the first Exposed, there was nothing groundbreaking here, but I think I preferred the follow-up overall. They dispensed of the bios and old footage entirely and just answered fan questions from Twitter, which made for a faster-paced and more entertaining show. Batista: The Animal Unleashed: The first Batista documentary, "I Walk Alone," was surprisingly good. This one is more of a mixed bag. They spend too long going over Batista's jujitsu and low-rider hobbies. Other than his cool Eddy Guerrero car, those portions didn't really interest me. (BTW, If anyone watches this, please tell me if Joey Mercury and Kofi Kingston were in the jujitsu clips, or if I'm just imagining things.) I'm glad they at least touched on Batista's mixed reaction at the Royal Rumble, but that's where the documentary ended. I wish we could've gotten another hour about WrestleMania and the other PPVs Batista appeared on before leaving again.

Some random observations about out of the ring matters: - Putting aside the wrestling quality of the women's match, what really struck me was how fucking generic most of their costumes were. Practically interchangeable. The men would never be allowed to get away with that. Then again... - It struck me last night that Dean Ambrose's costume is just a cleaner version of Luke Harper's dirty swamp outfit - and both of them are only a couple of shades removed from the Brooklyn Brawler. Just terrible. Even in the mid-90s, everyone looked unique and memorable. Even the shittiest gimmicks - Mantaur, etc. - stood out costume-wise. Now? It's a race to see who can be the most generic.

Yeah, the Show turn wasn't planned ahead of time (storyline-wise). That was made obvious by Hunter's surprised, startled reaction to it. Who knows where they go with it from here, but at least it's something interesting for Show, which was more than we could say for his character only a few hours ago.

I'm not even a Sting fan, and I knew his return was coming, but I still got goosebumps. I can't believe anyone is actually bitching about that. It was an incredible moment! And the match itself was a clear MOTY contender IMO. Fun as hell, unpredictable all the way through, and an awesome star-making moment for Dolph Ziggler. The only thing missing was an "RKO outta nowhere" from Randy Orton. Really wish they had fit that in somehow. I was waiting for it all match. Bray Wyatt is probably the most overrated guy on the roster at this point. Either his style doesn't mesh well with anyone else's or no one has figured out how to carry him yet. Great character, but most of his big PPV matches have been disappointments (and I was the lone defender of a couple of his bizarre Cena matches). The post-match between Ambrose and Wyatt felt like such a fake corporate setup for TLC, which does the antihero Ambrose no favors IMO. To be fair, I was never a fan of their feud in the first place. I didn't like how it came about (at Hell in a Cell, at the expense of the Ambrose/Rollins feud) and I wasn't particularly excited to see them against each other tonight. Still, I do have high hopes for their TLC match. I was hoping Bunny would end up being Darren Young, hellbent on revenge against his stupid partner Titus for breaking up their promising team, but still no reveal...yawn. Just move this along already! I love the hell out of Mizdow's act, and I'm happy to see him and Miz (who I consider one of the fed's most underrated assets himself) with Tag Team gold. I didn't see the pre-show. For some reason, it took me to the Randy Savage DVD preview instead. Stupid WWE Network...

The WWE Network update with the Watchlist, etc. got added to Roku. You may need to force the update through the menu settings. It's a welcome feature, but the app is much slower as a result now. Every time you click on a show or add anything, it has to reload the options. Also, it wiped out my "resume" settings for the Foley episode of MNW. If that happens every time there's an update, that would be next to useless. WWE Network still feels like a clunky beta product, but at least features are finally being added that every other service in existence launched out of the gate with. Two steps forward, one step back...

Yep, even J.R. himself seems pretty clueless about this. He always talks about the "new and unique" experience of watching PPVs on his iPad.

As horrible and irresponsible as that sounds, and it is, weren't steroids legal back then and/or its effects not widely as known?

I'm not a fan of the guest host concept, or Larry the Cable Guy, but his presence at least makes sense because of the movie. The movie itself sounds like a baaaaaaaaaad idea, but it is what it is.

That's what I was wondering too. If it's just snippets from the DVD, I'd rather wait for the DVD and see the whole thing.

The airbrushed singlets, while mostly unmemorable (IMO), at least worked for RVD's character. They don't work for Ryback at all.

I watched the WWE Countdown episode about best ring attire. It was nothing substantial, of course, but it was good for what it was. Dusty Rhodes being on the list was a real head-scratcher. And while I don't entirely agree, I can understand why Undertaker made it. As a kid, I remember thinking that Razor Ramon's ring gear, while never fancy, always looked sharp and colorful (not to be confused with Scott Hall's nWo gear, which was cheap looking and horrendous). Alas, he didn't make the list. I'm a bit surprised RVD didn't make the list, but after thinking about it, I can't remember one thing he wore. Yeah, he had the cool "airbrushed" look, but he didn't make it memorable the way Rick Rude (who is on the list) did. No Sting either, but like Rude/RVD, that's understandable because Warrior did make the list. I would've put Great Muta in my top ten, but I can understand why that didn't happen on a show like this. On a side note, Adam Rose came across really well here as one of the "talking heads" - at least IMO. It makes me think that the WWE is missing whatever it needs to tap into to make that character work. Wouldn't be the first time! Weird seeing people like Naomi, Cameron, and Rosa Mendes commenting on '80s stars though. Brooklyn Brawler and Terry Taylor being asked to comment on this topic must've been a rib on both of them. Ditto for One Man Gang and Hillbilly Jim. WTF? Funny little segment with Michael Hayes trying to defend the fanny pack look. And to think, he was once the coolest of the cool. The former Shield also had talking head segments, and it made me realize how fucking bland all of their gear is. They don't necessarily need better gear to break out into the next level, but it sure as hell wouldn't hurt.