I just...well, just take a look at this damn thing:

 

 

I don't even know where to start.

I either want whatever drugs the person who made this bracket was taking or I don't want them. I can't decide which. All I know for certain is that drugs were involved.

 

Ceasaro (9)

Andre the giant (11)

 

Lol

Wasn't seeing any big issues with this until I spied James Ellsworth as a number 11 seed. The seeds can't actually mean anything; just look at it like a random collection of 64 wrestlers.

I'll drop these in here too. Did it twice, once for straight picking who I think is better, the other for how I think it would be booked.

 

 

With all of these, what is your freaking criteria? It's all over the place.

Benoit's going to beat Lawler, right?

That was a tougher call, but I kinda figured that babyface Memphis Lawler would have the book, and Benoit never had a problem putting anyone over.

Considering that it's geared toward mainstream US wrestling fans, the brackets are mostly fine. The only really egregious selection is Ellsworth.

 

From those brackets, my Final Four would be Hansen, Vader, Misawa, and Kobashi.

Did Terry Funk vs. Vader ever actually happen?

They might have crossed paths during the '97 Rumble, but I think that's it.

This is somewhat of white noise to me, as a lot of stuff on the net is. I saw this at some point (days, weeks ago?) and right away knew what it was by the site. The type of fans that come here are a certain type (A lot of us wish the "Masked Man" would mail all his paychecks back then hang himself). But this isn't one person, so it is actually easier to explain. Cageside is an SB Nation blog. The people that own SB Nation could give a shit about wrestling, they're in the website content business. They just want to monetize the site. They could care about wrestling. It's cool that a few people there at the actual site seem to care about wrestling, but at the end of the day they need to drive traffic to get they $5 or whatever the site can pay them. Bracket is about what my 11 yr old niece - a WWE TV watcher - would write out today (complete with the immediacy of Ellseworth) along with the type of fan who has sort of heard Hansen is important, and Funk, and....they just prob Googled a few equally mainstream lists and tossed it all in.

They might have crossed paths during the '97 Rumble, but I think that's it.

 

Officially, it's just the '97 & '98 Rumbles and they weren't in the match at the same time in '98, so yes.

Predicting who will win by whatever polling method is pretty easy except the top left.

 

Shawn, Flair and Savage are mortal locks for the Final Four. I will be shocked if any of them falls off before the Final Four. Shawn's biggest competition is Bryan and Angle. I think Angle has fallen quite a bit in last couple years. Bryan may be able to do it. I think that would be interesting.

 

Flair's biggest competition is Eddy and Bret, but I think Flair's rep and the fact everyone loves the Nature Boy character will get him the bracket handily.

 

I could easily see Brock upending AJ in the first round. Savage in a fucking cakewalk in this bracket. Maybe Rey can challenge him. Macho Man will crush.

 

Top left is the most up in the air. I could see HHH, Taker or Austin winning. I think HHH and Taker have been pushed like Michaels as a great wrestler so that will help them. I think it is a close call between Taker/HHH. I could really see it going either way. Going with Taker.

 

Savage over Taker easily.

 

Shawn over Flair in a squeaker.

 

Savage over Shawn in a squeaker.

 

Are the results up?

For those interested. there was a nomination process. It looks like the most nominating votes determined your seed. Explains the whacked out seeding and why the fuck Ellsworth is in there.

 

Also I liked that pitted Ellsworth against the Owen Hart, the wrestled who died the most tragically. I could easily see Ellsworth doing well with ironic votes. I could see him beating Benoit for instance. By putting him against Owen, definitely will make people think twice. Cageside Seats was thinking when they put this together.

Mick Foley v Trish Stratus would be an interesting match.

When I saw this a while back the first thing I thought was how eye rolly this would be on this board (and I completely agree with the eye rolling). I am guessing Michaels wins this over Austin or Taker. Flair could eek it out, but it is basically a race between the people who are king shit in the WWE's narrative.

When I saw this a while back the first thing I thought was how eye rolly this would be on this board (and I completely agree with the eye rolling).

But it's a snapshot!

What am I missing about Becky Lynch and her legion of internet fans? I made some very neutral statements about her at Segunda Caida, nothing bad nothing good, and some person flipped out on Twitter about it. For everything I've seen her do well, I've seen her do just as many things that came off badly forced. And I can't see what criteria would have landed her on this list with so few females present.

Her biggest fan is Rovert. Extrapolate from there.

 

But I actually do have Becky as my #1 main roster woman. But that's because I just really like her general personality more than anything, and I don't really see anything egregious that she does in the ring.

Becky was in my opinion the best woman on the main roster until Charlotte closed gap in the last couple months and now it is a pick em. I'd go as far as to say Becky is the best pure babyface on roster male or female. Incredibly likeable, awesome at selling and makes awesome, hot comebacks.

 

To me she is chicken soup for the traditional wrestling fan's soul.

Yeah, I agree that Becky is one of the best two women workers on the roster, probably just pipping Charlotte to top. I think she's been given less great big match opportunities than the other 3 horsewomen, but she's excelled each time she's been given the chance (vs Charlotte at RR, vs Banks at an early NXT Takeover). I also think her overall all round ability is why she's been put on Smackdown where the heel side of the roster are either still green (Carmella, Alexa) or tired acts (Natalya). She's a much better face than Charlotte and feels more likely to get a good match out of these girls than Sasha or Bayley.

they cancel the whole idea? strong no round 2.

Misawa is going to lose to Angle today....

 

 

..... sigh

 

 

 

In all honestly, it has been relatively fun watching it unfold, but it is also a bit maddening. I think the takeaway - if there is one here - is how prominent the WWE's narrative is in how people justify their picks. The results have been and will continue to be predictably WWE-centric, no surprise there, but the company's talking points are coming up a lot more than I expected (maybe naively).