Matt D

I think it's going to be a faux-MMA heavy match, actually. Not a ton of bumps, but a lot of strikes and maneuvering. Tonally, it'll be different than the last 5 or 6 years of Taker matches.

I will say this: For years, we've been complaining about how every PPV match has a five minute recap/hype video before it even though everyone watching knows what the story is else they wouldn't have bought the PPV. That said, if they're not going to put up old Raws, then it's pretty useful to have these when you're watching some random PPV from 2006 or what not.

I assume they'll use a few NXT guys. Even if he's not ready yet, that'd be an awesome stage to debut Breeze's entrance.

You figure he has to have a podcast sooner than later.

WON is reporting that the Los Matadors are added to the tag. Brotherhood are left in the cold. Not sure if this is for Colon's sake or what. With all the guys out of the battle royal, you end up with people like Justin Gabriel in it.

Frankly, he's awesome at putting matches together and is pretty good as an announcer, or at least has the potential. He could be a boon as an agent/announcer. I do think he has another few years shelf life as part of a tag team though.

It should just be twenty minutes of Taker shooting lightning at Brock like the Emperor and Brock getting up.

Hunter's promo last night was one of the best of his career.

I find myself agreeing with Johnny a good bit over the last week. I feel like Johnny Logic syncs in to the actual truth twice a year, Mania season and the first couple of days of WWE unleashing their hot summer angle before it all goes south. That said, there's no way in hell they planned for this. I'm kind of sad we didn't get corporate Sheamus though.

Meltzer (I think) keeps saying that it'll be better if Ambrose/Rollins turn heel on Reigns than if Reigns turns face on them, but I don't know about that.

They'll be too annoyed at the failure of the HHH/Steph workout videos to let him in.

I don't agree at all. The last few have felt pretty epic even if the shows weren't the best Manias ever. I thought the builds have been hugely ho hum. Maybe it's because I really didn't buy into the macro story of Rock vs Cena with the breadcrumbs so far apart and with the overlying story of Cena's loss to Rock (Once in a Lifetime) causing his life to spiral out of control for the year, or whatever. I think the Mania before that was hugely hurt by HHH's career not being on the line and then the horrible overacting once the match began. We also had three years in a row of really marginalized World title matches. Last year, I was absolutely looking forward to the Raw after Mania far, far more than Mania itself. I could go into more detail, between the Miz having the title three years ago and Brock vs HHH last year and the crummy Jericho vs Punk feud and just a real lack of surprises and "wrestlemania moments." This year I don't really buy into Brock vs Taker, but in general it feels like more of an event and spectacle to me, partly due to Bryan and partly due to Hogan and the battle royal feeling weirdly important and Bray vs Cena being hugely fresh (they've barely even touched) relative to how stale most things tend to feel by the time Mania hits and the momentum of the Shield babyface turn and even just the Network revitalizing things. That said, it still doesn't feel like how WRESTLEMANIA XXX should feel.

I will say that this feels much more like a Mania than the last two or three have.

Poor 3MB though.

With the AWA set, I wrote a metric ton of words (now lost for all eternity) after each match, then used those to rank each disc after I finished. At the end, I look at the disc ratings and sync it all up. With the lucha set, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Obviously, it's slow moving for when it comes to voting and what not, but I'd have to go through almost everything again. It took me three discs to figure out how to watch this stuff, basically, and I've been able to mow through things less quickly. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy going through everything again. I'm just not sure I'll be able to.

Rybaxel are in there due to corrupt Authority politics. I wonder if Goldust's temper tantrum hurt them?

Matt, please jump in at every possible point with annotations and information. Trust me, it'd be seen as a huge boon to the community and to this thread. I'm sure we could learn a lot that'd help put everything in perspective and provide hugely valuable context. My journey through 1979-81 in Portland has been almost completely textual which is sort of a weird way to do it given the nature of the wrestling business. There was a bit of a gap in the footage I was watching and that threw me, but I'll try to get back into the groove with this stuff next month. I'm hugely looking forward to reaching the face turn and to start to see Buddy in WWF/Japan as I hit that point chronologically. Plus I promised Dylan I'd at least make it to the work with Dynamite Kid to see Buddy out-roperun him. Ideally, I'd get to a couple more sum up essays too, but we'll see.

Most of that stuff was in the vault, so it won't be new saturday morning slam. What kills me with the WCCW and ECW is that they're putting in randomly numbered episodes. Why couldn't they have just started from the beginning? I don't want to watch things like that.

I only hate Raven's character because I have such a liking of Scotty Flamingo/Johnny Polo.

Ok. I'm sticking my thoughts in the Bockwinkel note for now then. I refuse to watch 40 minute draws twice, even if they're pretty good.

AJPW, "REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE", 1980.12.05 Kochi Prefectural Hall 5,600 Fans REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE MATCH; Billy Robinson & Les Thornton vs Nick Bockwinkel & Jim Brunzell I watched this tonight. Gimme a thread. Wait, are we doing 80s threads? Is this just for new things?

Some book mentions the Owen match. I thought it was Foley's.

I basically want all of those. Twice.

I did like that JBL expressed frustration about that very thing. They made it sound like Big Show handpicked Cena to feud with at 20 too, which was kind of neat.

Ok, Massacre on 34th Street - FBI (Guido/Mamaluke) vs Doring/Roadkill has to be the most random thing, right? It was a "Championship Firsts" because it's very important to mark the first gold for Doring/Roadkill.