Steenalized

I'm in the crowd who loved Wyatt/Cena. I want to see Brock ragdoll Taker like he did Punk, inevitable injuries aside, but since that won't happen I really don't have much interest here. Hopefully this surprises me.

In the WWF vs. WCW context, it makes some sense. Both companies are big, poaching each others talent, and are direct competitors. That dynamic is gone now. If Angle going to TNA didn't boost them all that much, who will? I guess Cena would to some extent, but not that much. No court is going to say WWE can stop guys from going to New Japan or probably even AAA/CMLL unless its a very short time frame.

In practice, the WWE has been pretty lax of late about that and about guys using their WWE names elsewhere. Most guys don't care enough or, more likely, don't have the money to take a non-compete to court. The problem isn't going to come up if JTG ever gets let go. It's a guy like Brock who decides he wants to do something else and has made enough money/can make enough money to fight it.

I imagine the one from Steph's would be too if she fought it. The problem is, I don't think most guys would have the resources to take it to trial. Brock was an exception. Looking through Lesnar's contract (on indeedwrestling.com, mookieghana's site), he does not have the same clause. 9.15 mentions performing for other promotions, but only for the duration of the contract. Clause 12.3 is probably the closest equivalent: Still no geographic limitation, no temporal limitation, though only covering breach.

So one year, no geographical limitation, and it's whether terminated or the deal just ends.

Does anyone know what the standard non-compete that they put in their contracts is? I'm wondering if they're even enforceable to the extent they appear on their face.

This will unfortunately happen, and the crowd will shit on it. Nobody called Alexander Rusev and debuting this way is going to get over in 2014. He will steamroll a load of jobbers every week on Raw to a deathly silence (Michael Cole: "the crowd are hushed, they don't know what to make of this"), wrestle Kofi Kingston about ten times, and then start jobbing when they realise he isn't popular and can't talk. By the end of 2014 he will be wrestling as merely 'Rusev', and by 2015 he'll be a comedy character. Why do they insist on terrible vignettes everytime they debut someone? I have a suspicion that this is eerily accurate. My only counter (and hope) is that they're more focused on really giving people a chance after call ups, but the recent track records are spotty.

Developmental is more akin to minor league baseball than the NCAA and they even have a union. The WWE is still going to treat these guys as independent contractors rather than employees. Plus if guys are willing to take low (almost no) pay to learn skills and get their foot in the door, then they'll do it.

Stephanie hamming it up has become gold. She used to be so bad on TV, but in the last month or so something has clicked for her.

On the one hand, this video package is kinda infuriating, on the other, Triple H's self-awareness is pretty amusing.

I understand that dilemma. I am just slightly amused that we (being the majority of the smart mark section of the audience) were outraged that Shawn Michaels weaseled his way into something we saw as Chris Benoit's rightful place as the challenger to the champion (I'm not even getting into the absurdity of him deciding to chase Triple H's World title all of sudden after laboring to get the WWE title held by Brock Lesnar). Now ten years later, we (myself included) were begging for Daniel Bryan to force his way into the match that Batista "rightfully" won an opportunity to be in. We even booed the guy who simply did what he had to do to get the spot, by winning the Royal Rumble. It just speaks to the nature of the wrestling fan who doesn't care how things get to a point, as long as they get what they want (although to be fair to us, we anticipated and hoped for a much different road to get to this point). How Benoit "rightfully" won his place at WM20 is very different than how Batista got his spot this year.

I can't think of a better Big E match off hand, so I'd say yes. He hasn't had a lot of time to shine, but him and ADR do good in there.

The Taker-Brock opening at least had Brock on top, but I couldn't care less about that match at this point. Brock isn't an unstoppable monster and Taker isn't going to lose.

Couldn't that be the real reason for the buffer match? They want to send the crowd to the concessions stand or the merchandise table one last time before the main event. Could be, but I doubt a 5 minutes divas match is enough at a major stadium to go get in line for those things and make it back in time. Maybe it is if you're okay with skipping ring entrances.

The only "buffer" type match I've ever seen that isn't a waste of time is the match after intermission at indy shows. My local show does like a 10 min intermission, and they cut it short at times, so a lot of the crowd will still be at concessions/merch when that one starts. Usually, the first match after intermission is something of a filler spot. That's a very different idea than "oh no the crowd might get burnt out if we keep giving them a good show."

He's the heel that other heels hate.

Pro Wrestling Only: come for the discussion of heterodox wrestling views, stay for the discussion of heterodox political views.

Aren't Jado/Gedo supposedly big, big fans of American wrestling? That could explain a lot of the little things you see in NJPW that you would never see before. The heel faction interference, well the entirety of the Bullet Club really, the camera work, etc.

That's why I'm not interested in their match at all. It's obvious Taker wins, and I don't see Brock getting to beat the hell out of Taker the way he did to Cena two years ago or Punk last year.

What Dylan said. I loved it, but there was no heat and that killed the drama of the turn.

And this wasn't exactly a hot crowd

Like BP mentioned, their MITB '11 match is good. Short, to the point, and Henry looks like a monster.

I have no clue how voice over pricing works, but I have to imagine he charges the big bucks thanks to HBO. Gary Thorne is an awesome get as is.

He's overdue for a turn, so I'll buy that.

That's a weird one. USA has the NCIS:LA reruns, but that's a CBS show that's still airing.