(BP)

I don't think I've actually ever gotten grief about being a fan. Usually I'll get, "Does Kane still wrestle?" He gets a lot of shit, but for some reason he's the one that sticks with former/non-fans I've talked to.

If they do the UFC/WWE mixed tag they need to book it like Sting/HHH. "That's Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn! But whose side are they on?!"

Based solely on things Harper has thrown Ambrose through this week, I'm guessing a TLC with them on the card.

Unless I just didn't hear it, the crowd pretty much gave Ryback the right reaction. They definitely knocked their snark bullshit off when he lifted Show. I think he's finally past the Goldberg chants for the most part. It's a shame he's probably trapped in a late-career Kane/Show role of turning a dozen times and straddling the upper midcard, but he'll probably have a decent run as a gatekeeper for up and comers.

Rusev and Lana should be the Savage and Liz of their time. There's no reason to break them up besides that they get bored and break every act up regardless of whether it's the right move or not. I think he could survive a lot of bad booking with Lana by his side, but alone he's screwed. Maybe they should turn Wyatt face and have him work Rusev. It'd be different, and Rusev's so good he could probably carry Bray.

I think part of what made Brock/Reigns special is that the story told in the ring and the match's real-life backstory were the same: Roman Reigns is taking the beating of lifetime to prove himself.

I think HHH wants to put Reigns over sometime this year. If that's the case, then putting Sting over too would hurt a Reigns win.

JBL screaming things like, "Damn you Razor!" was hysterical.

Keeping up The Authority angle for another year to build the mixed tag is going to be rough. The NWO and Austin/McMahon petered out in about the length of time the angle will have run by then, and people actually loved those storylines.

Rusev is basically in Bray's spot last year. If they don't have a plan for him he's going to end up putting Cena over again next month, losing Lana, and wandering around the midcard until they need him to be rebuilt for a job to someone else.

I was going to jump in and defend Taker/Bray, but I realize that being unobjectionable isn't the same as being good. Taker should have hung it up after 28, but he looked better than I expected. Also, Roman Reigns is a bad man.

Haha. El-P, a WWECW thread in the vein of your WCW thread would rule (I'd never suggest TNA. That'd be mean.)

At least Truth winning would tie up his long-running story arc of being terrified of ladders.

I think Angle was starting to turn it around when he was traded to ECW right before his release. He was booked as a "serious shooter" and it led to a lot of his issues being minimized because the structure of the matches necessitated it. I remember him having a good match with Orton at One Night Stand 06 during this time. I'll have to give it another watch.

I think she had a no-compete still in place and they couldn't do anything but show her in the crowd. Then either Sable or WCW lost interest.

Austin will be probably be heavily involved in 32 as well, even if they can't coax him into a match. We could very well see Bryan, Reigns, and Rusev near the top for the next year and still end up in the Andre battle royale in Texas.

I listened to Bray do a radio interview promoting Mania in character. The hosts, who are big WWE fans, were good sports about keeping it kayfabe, but Bray brought absolutely nothing. If his promos are heavily scripted and they're trying to protect the character then they shouldn't hang him out to dry with promotional stuff. They were easy layup questions about the Undertaker match and he giggled and muttered through it for 3 minutes. I heard he was good in character on Jericho's pod, so maybe it was just jet lag.

If Reigns loses and then they do Rollins cash-in/win courtesy of a Shield reunion, they can eventually do Batista/HHH with Reigns/Rollins for the title. Ambrose can feud with Orton, Bryan, Cena, etc. We'll get more awesome trios matches. I'm willing to look past any logic gaps or character inconsistencies to get there.

Yep, for The Legends championship, which was the often rebooted TV title.

The only logical use of The Rock at Mania based on the way they're treating Reigns: Rock watches Brock beat Reigns nearly to death and then swears revenge to set up Brock/Rock.

"Every place I go, every airport I'm in, people are asking me about Eddie Guerrero. 'Is he really that fast? Is he really that capable? Is he that good?' I just tell them to leave me alone." - Bobby Heenan

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lcb8RoxQPD0 Name of worker: William Regal Promotion: WWE Year: 2004 Why I think it's great: It's short and sweet, but Regal is on fire. He gives a backstory on his relationship with HHH and reminds us that he's a nasty villain himself, but he has a soft spot for Eugene. Hunter made a terrible mistake by attacking Eugene and now he's screwed because Regal's going to get his gear and fight him. He's glib, vulnerable, and then frothing at the mouth angry in under 2 minutes. Absolutely sublime, and the crowd ate it up. It's a shame that this wasn't it's own program instead of just build for HHH/Eugene.

They called it an "administrative oversight." I think they'd rather look like TNA's front office than admit Rock had them by the shorthairs and they couldn't make him happy.

Vince has the lowest possible opinion of his own audience, so it stands to reason that he'd think people wouldn't want to see Rock in the ring after playing a gay man.

They didn't have major heat, but Vince didn't want to expand with Backlund as the ace, and Backlund refused to turn heel, so they parted ways. I'm not that familiar with it besides a couple of Backlund interviews, and I don't know the story on his second run in 93. He's certainly a non-entity to them for the most part.