James F'n X

The guy who cares waaaaay too much vs. the guy that doesn't give a shit but gets all the adulation anyways? That feud is probably fire.

I love the OC shtick, but I don't see how it ever draws as a top-line act. At some point, to be that kind of act, he's going to have to go in the ring for extended lengths of time, and I just don't see how you can structure a long match around OC's gimmick as is. And once he breaks that gimmick to show he *can* go in those longer matches, I don't think you can get the mystique back that he has now. It's gonna be a tough balancing act.

Dr. Luther not being dead yet is the real shocker of 2020. He looked rough around the edges 15 years ago in ECCW.

WWE is now advertising Brock for tonight.

Agreed. My point is that the WCW relaunch was shit on not because it happened in Tacoma instead of Atlanta (and people think Atlanta would have reacted well to a McMahon-led WCW?) - it was shit on because the product that was given was bad (thanks, Buff!) and given the nWo Nitro treatment with way too much setup.

You're right, the DDP as the stalker bullshit was a month before Booker/Bagwell. Honestly, what they should have done was put an upper midcard WWE guy in the match with Booker, bill them as moving over to WCW, let Booker get the win to establish him, and not do the post-match stuff with Austin (which means not doing the Booker run in at the prior PPV.) There's so much that could have been done a lot better if Vince wanted to build another brand, not gut the corpse and embarrass it on national television.

I was in the building for Booker/Bagwell in Tacoma. If I remember correctly, they took a good 5 minutes changing out ring aprons, turnbuckles, and bringing in the new announce crew for the match. I think the match would have gone over fine if there hadn't been such a long break of nothing before the match, and if it hadn't been Bagwell. WCW had a successful PPV in that building a few years prior. Seattle/Tacoma wasn't a 'WWE' town, it was a market starved for professional wrestling in general. It wasn't a regular stop for either promotion. I think outside of the big money names that weren't making the jump, had they gotten DDP or Steiner from the start and run Booker/DDP or Booker/Steiner and hadn't killed the crowd with a lot of just waiting, the match probably goes over a lot better.

So, uh.... when does Ruby Riott ask to be released or sent to NXT or NXT UK to do some gimmick rehab? Her and her stable have done nothing since Evolution and she;s getting passed up on by Dana Brooke for MITB? Very nice career trajectory.

I've seen 3 top line title changes live: - Brock Lesnar d. Kurt Angle (WMXIX) - HHH wins the WWE Title in the Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 2009) - Edge wins the World Heavyweight Title in the Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 2009)

Is TARU still wrestling? Still alive?

Christopher Daniels is such a fucking nerd. I love him.

All this press conference needs is David McLane.

Sammy Guevara is incredibly awkward on the mic, wew.

I seem to remember them having done this finish once before. Can't remember where, though.