C.S.

There seems to be a lot of hate around the interwebs for Shane Douglas, and I've never quite understood why. The Dynamic Dudes stuff was before my time, but I'm guessing almost no one could have succeeded in that role. My first exposure to Douglas was as a white meat babyface in WCW. Even as a kid, I hated white meat babyfaces, but Douglas made it work - first as a singles wrestler and then as the tag team partner of Ricky Steamboat. It would be easy and convenient to credit Steamboat, but Douglas "got over" with me even before that team. Fast-forward a year or two later: Douglas was now a heel as "The Franchise" of ECW. Say what you want about his "shoot" promos or obsession with Flair, but that character and his interview style was riveting back in 1994. Keep in mind, this was when the WWF had garbage men and plumbers while WCW was trotting out The Shockmaster and the Dungeon of Doom. His "R.I.P." speech about the worthless, irrelevant (by that time) NWA Title was incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kpEjrKqf3s "The Franchise's" matches were also pretty good - maybe not on an elite level - but he could certainly hold his own with most anyone. Douglas's jump from ECW to the WWF was derailed by a bad character (Dean Douglas) and politics (The Clique). He never quite recovered after that, even when he returned to ECW. His WCW run in 2000 was useless because WCW itself was useless. Even then, he was still cutting decent promos - like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZDkc-hZ4Ms Now, he's the butt of jokes from fans and wrestlers alike, such as Ric Flair, who made fun of him on the "Factions" episode of Legends of Wrestling for working at Walmart. (It was actually Target, and I see no shame in working a normal job and trying to live a normal life.) Granted, Douglas went to town on Flair for years, so some sort of "receipt" is hardly the end of the world. Still, Flair probably didn't realize how insecure, petty, and utterly tone deaf he came across - especially since he has no room to judge anyone else's personal life. At this point, I'd almost have to consider Shane Douglas underrated because he truly doesn't get the credit he deserves. Maybe it's a case of "you had to be there" but Douglas was definitely one of the most compelling characters in all of wrestling as "The Franchise" and even his earlier white meat babyface stuff was good. Great on the mic and crisp in the ring - what more could anyone ask for? I've always been a fan. How about you?

Same issue here (Roku). I had to watch the Texas episode of Legends of Wrestling (2009) by going through the Schedule section. As for that show: Unlike the Raw episode, which felt too long for its own good, this one maybe could have used the added minutes. It seemed a bit disorganized and free-wheeling, which is not always a bad thing, but there was barely any time for any real analysis. It also felt really rushed - e.g. Hayes admitting near the end of the show that they had neglected to mention Blackjack Mulligan, and then another panelist (J.R. maybe?) getting Skandar Akbar in right as the show was about to end. The promoters and Von Erichs got a few minutes devoted to each of them, but there wasn't much time for anything else. A lot of cursory mentions (Ernie Ladd, Gino Hernandez, etc.) but not much depth. BTW, I found it weird that Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, and other Texans of that time period were skipped over. They seemed to go right from the era of the Funks and Von Erichs to Stone Cold, completely ignoring the entire generation in-between. Maybe I'm being too nitpicky though. As I said in my last post about the Raw roundtable, I may be burned out after watching too many of these in a row over the past couple of weeks. Bill Watts was on this panel for some reason, but I actually thought he did a pretty decent job. "I cried for four days after Ernie Ladd died."

Was that the one where they fought out onto the snowy streets? If it's the same one, I liked that very much. Great wrestling, no. Unique, yes.

A new Legends of Wrestling roundtable is now up: Monday Night Raw. At an hour and thirty-six minutes, it's the longest of the bunch. Honestly, it feels slow and bloated. For such a lengthy show, it covers very little. 20 minutes about Twitter really doesn't help. Road Dogg has been added to the panel, and he's not bad, but no one really brought their a-game to this episode IMO. Maybe it's just me though. I've watched every episode of this on the Network over the past couple of weeks, so I might be burned out on the format. Would be interested in other people's impressions.

It appears Meltzer confirmed the theory I posted above, assuming this attribution is accurate. http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0312/572136/why-jbl-recently-knocked-jim-ross-on-raw/ Typical Vince. Glad J.R. is finally growing a pair of balls. They showed footage on the "greatest moments" episode of Legends of Wrestling with Steve Williams and Oklahoma (which was NOT presented one of the greatest moments, LOL) and it made me wonder how and why J.R. ever forgave Dr. Death. I don't believe for a second that Williams was so desperate and hard-up for cash that he had to go along with that and had no say in stopping it. Please...

I watched the Greatest Moments episode, and Flair was on that too. What an insecure, petty man - sniping at Mick Foley, burying people, puffing himself up in a way where you can tell he doesn't entirely believe it but is looking for validation from others. It made me feel sad for him. I was surprised to hear him bury TNA (yes, by name, which shocked the hell out of me), which is ironic because he ended up bolting to that fed shortly after this was shot. It really makes me question Flair's sincerity (he has none). Michael Hayes and Mike Graham didn't always come across well on these things either, but Flair is the worst.

The security guy's name was Jim Dotson. I remember the magazine write-up being interesting but I don't remember what it actually said.

Try changing your site password. I had the same issue as you, but with iPhone, and that fixed it. Another possibility: Are you pressing X to sign in? Press O.

Roku has been solid but not perfect yet. For example, the Factions episode of Legends of Wrestling no longer shows up, even though it was there before. (I watched it, and it was fascinating to see what an insecure, unhappy person Ric Flair is - taking unnecessary shots at Shane Douglas, DDP, etc. while having his ass kissed by every other member of the panel.) The issues with programs showing up on the site but not some of the apps, or programs disappearing, is something I hope gets solved once and for all within the next few days. Then it would be nice for the fast-forward and rewind to include thumbnails (like Netflix). Some programs may already include this, not sure, but it's certainly not a uniform feature yet. It would also be helpful if the resume function actually worked, not only on Roku but across all devices. Would be handy to start something on the site or phone and be able to continue where I left off on a Roku, like every other streaming service already allows. Yes, I realize WWE Network is only a couple of weeks old, but these are basic staples of any streaming service that should have been there from day one. EDIT: Factions disappeared from the website too. WTH?

Where on the Network is this?

That is really strange. Are you sure it's not something on your end? (What that could be, I don't know.) I just tried Firefox and it works fine for me. Edit: Just tried "Main Event Live" (I realize it's no longer live) and got the error, but it refreshed itself automatically and started working.

Do you have any adblock or noscript stuff enabled in Firefox. That could be screwing with the video. Try adjusting the settings on those extensions for WWE.com.

I'd say it's more because this made it onto TMZ. Vince McMahon -- CAUGHT SHARTING ON SMACKDOWN ... Says Jim Ross http://www.tmz.com/2014/03/03/vince-mcmahon-shart-smackdown-jim-ross/ J.R. is no longer playing the battered, abused housewife who comes back for more quite as much. He's starting to break free just a tad bit.

Haven't checked Raw, but I can confirm that Rumble '14 is missing from mine also. I don't understand how stuff like this even happens. Does WWE have to manually approve each event for each app? I hope this kind of crap gets permanently sorted out by the end of the week.

If you signed up the first day, it looks like the six-month subscription ends on August 24th, which is kind of wonky, because the billing cycle is the 3rd of every month. So, it looks like the "free week" counts as part of the six-month package. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but definitely a bit weird. I can see some people feeling gypped that they aren't getting "all of August" if they choose not to renew.

Anyone having problems getting Royal Rumble 2014 to show up on Roku? (Roku 3) Even when I search for it, it doesn't come up.

Interesting clip shot after the Paige vs. Emma match at NXT Arrival: Paige, Ric Flair, and Charlotte. Oh boy, Charlotte certainly didn't inherit her dad's charisma or mic skills.

Agreed. But why tease it at all? It's a completely illogical spot for all the reasons you stated.

Wasn't he in a mask for most of his career? Even if you could see his mouth, facials would have probably been far less important for him in that situation. I'm guessing it's something he's only now really learning how to do - unlike most other wrestlers, who have to work on that from their rookie year onward. I feel the same way. TBH, I'm a bit mystified by all of the "MOTY" reactions. Was it a very good match and probably match of the night? Yes. I certainly enjoyed it. Cesaro, especially, is awesome. But it didn't quite reach MOTY levels for me for the same reasons you pointed out. I also didn't love the ladder match, but I recognize I'm probably being unfair about that. It's not right to penalize Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville because there weren't as many stupid, life-risking stunts as usual. The stunts that were there, particularly Neville's insane jump onto the ladder from the ring, were great. The failed german suplex attempt from the ladder was such a tease though, but I understand why they wouldn't go through with such an insane spot. Ultimately, I think what the match really needed was five more minutes, with Cesaro/Zayn going five less minutes. I wonder if HBK's long, rambling, pointless speech cut into their time? Having HBK there was a cool moment and I understand the significance, but his speech was the shits. Emma vs. Paige was fantastic, but unfortunately, we never get that kind of women's match from the actual WWE. All in all, technical issues aside, it was an awesome show. I'm definitely hooked on NXT now, and I'm a BO-liever. Character-wise, no one in NXT is better than Bo. I fully expect him to get called up to the main roster after WrestleMania.

On Roku, full shows seem to be working (with some hiccups), but clips still don't work at all.

Was able to finally sign up earlier and add it to my Roku. Website seems to be working okay. I assume Roku is still okay. Won't let me sign in through my phone though - "network error" or some such issue.

Still can't sign up, and it logged me out of my WWE.com account. I forgot my password and it won't send me a new one. Will try again later. Day one issues were to be expected, but it's still disappointing. What's going to happen when everyone is trying to stream WrestleMania?

Considering how little the tag scene means in the WWE, the Usos being "a top team now" is something that can change tomorrow. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised and hear about them walking out of tonight's PPV with the belts, but I don't see it happening. The Outlaws are an Attitude era attraction, and the perception is probably that they'll "help" the Network and WrestleMania. Otherwise, why give them the titles in the first place? Taking them off of Goldust and Cody was monumentally stupid either way.

The New Age Outlaws have no business being the WWE's "top" tag team right now, but (IMO) there's no way they beat Goldust and Cody only to lose on a B-PPV to a B-Team like the Usos. The Outlaws are going to WrestleMania!

From what I understand, it will be on 360 at launch, but Xbox One was listed as "coming soon." There's a reason for it, something to do with the way the Xbone handles apps, but I don't recall the particulars.