Greggulator

Your guys write-up of the Anticristo interview was what lured me into this sordid world all those years ago. I've somehow never seen this until now. It's well worth the three-decade wait. NOT GOD BUT MEEEE! # 1 and the best

Bryan could also really easily end up post-SummerSlam entangled in the Kane/Wyatt Family stuff.

Bryan works REALLY well as the underdog chasing the bigger guy. Bryan losing the belt to a heel Orton keeps him in that role for another two PPV's, this time with a good angle (Bryan vs. Vince/Randy) as opposed to this, which is Cena gifting him a title shot because of his surging popularity.

Eddie had a thing for blondes. Eddie and Linda Hogan.

I could totally see the Bella Twins finding out one of them had a match against Nattie that morning and slipping out to some dollar stores in Laredo to execute their hysterical plot.

It's also a case of two rival promotions catching fire at once with a third league in the distance that had the most loyal audience of the entire group. It also all occurred right when Internet access boomed, allowing fans access to rumors and the gossip mill in unprecedented numbers. It was lightning in the bottle at its peak. What else in pop culture has ever had something to that magnitude? The Beatles vs. Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys w/ someone like The Stones or The Who as ECW? Oasis vs. Blur with Ash in the background? Let's also not forget what was going on in-ring. Stuff was completely insane and never seen before. Think of Foley falling off the cage or all of the crazy chairs to the head or New Jack jumping off balconies. WCW was probably the most controlled of the three leagues and even with that you had the dudes us smarks all loved taking crazy head drops. You had the Dudley Boys doing table spots to elderly women. That era of in-ring stuff was absolutely insane but completely unsustainable. It ended up with guys like Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero dead and Chris Benoit murdering his family. And lord knows what kinds of other horrible things have happened behind-the-scenes that we'll never know about. I'm glad the WWE has toned down the in-ring style as much as they have -- I like wrestling but I hate the guilt associated with a guy ODing on some painkiller cocktail or knowing I was a Benoit mark. Dudes don't even blade anymore. That's not really a bad thing.

Didn't Vince say that he wants someone like HHH (but younger) as his champion? He wants another corporate face. Bryan nor Cena (both faces) don't fit his image of a champion.I actually like Vince/HHH/Steph for now. Say what you want, but they have a lot of star power (well, not Steph). They're pulling the strings in the background and limiting themselves to a few short, non-live promos each. They get insufferable when they prattle on and on and on in live segments -- especially Steph, who completely blows as an actress. They're going to be around all year so as long as they're kept in the shadows I'm fine with things.I'm pretty sure they're also setting up Randy Orton: Heel Corporate Champion after he cashes in the title. I'm really into that idea. Orton was the biggest snore in the WWE for a few years until he won the briefcase. Having it and stating already that he will cash it in when it best suits him -- the opposite of Cena and the move of every slimeball champ -- give him something interesting. Randy turning heel and wearing the tailored suits he wore circa Evolution has a lot more legs than "Randy Orton Pretends To Be A Snake."

I liked what I saw last night, which was admittedly minimal.I really liked Cena/Ryback. That was a total slugfest. I loved Ryback breaking apart tables. That makes him look like a psycho. I also loved the spot where Ryback crawled under the ring to set Cena up for a move on the floor. They need to hype that side of Ryback up more. He's adapting! He's adding to his in-ring strategy once he learned just brute physicality can only get him so far. I'm SO GLAD Bryan's winning with small packages. One of my least favorite things in wrestling is how only finishers can seal victories with any regularity. I think the WWE (or all of wrestling) would get so many more interesting in-ring story opportunities if every so often a guy lost to a move that wasn't a finisher. And since a small package can come at anytime in a match, I'll buy into flash pins from Bryan right away.

I liked AJ/Dolph a lot, too. I'm 35. I still have a few single friends. There's slim pickings among people in our age group. My friends have had to date younger. This looked a lot like when a 36-year-old accountant breaks up with a 22-year-old barista.

I never understood the Nexus hate when the angle ended. They were such great heels, especially Gabriel with his 900-mile stare into the distance with smug glare. Everyone in the original Nexus group has had a good spot in the company -- Wade, Skip/Ryback and Bryan all headlined PPV's, Slater's the best jobber of his era, Gabriel's had a bunch of good matches this year and is a good babyface, Darren Young's a good enough tag guy, Otunga's a great leech and Michael Tarver's tearing up FCW and would have had a good WWE run if he wasn't a nutjob. Even their backup entrants have become something -- Curtis Axel's good for what he is and Husky/Bray leads one of the hottest acts in eons.Someone in the WWE read the talent they had on NXT Season One perfectly.That whole story arc was pretty much Orwell Writes The WWE. The peasants of NXT revolt against the machine and do so without mercy while rallying behind a charismatic leader in Wade Barrett. Then the group becomes less of a peasant revolt and more about serving Wade's interests of humiliating Cena/winning the title and eventually leads to his ousting. And in the backdrop was the Big Brother anonymous GM.Oh well. I'm a lone wolf used to riding these roads alone. Wow, The Nexus being the Animals of Animal Farm would have been incredible. Too bad the WWE didn't have the balls to pull the trigger on the Nexus and kept making them look weak come crunch time. But God forbid we don't end a show where the fans go home happy (WWE lingo there). I never got the "make them look weak." They destroyed all in their path until SummerSlam. I would hope a team of WWE veterans would be able to stop NXT rookies in an actual match. (I f'n LOVED that match, too. Such a smartly outlined match.) The Nexus only had their advantage in numbers situations and backstage jumpings. They still had their wins, too -- Justin Gabriel (!) pinned Cena in an elimination match they ended up winning after Wade stole a pin off of Randy Orton. Then they enslaved the face of the promotion and forced him to make Wade the number one contender (by leaving a battle royale at Wade's order) when he wasn't busy fetching water, cleaning the locker room or scrubbing his tormentor's back. They also won the tag titles. Wade also beat Cena in a singles match on a PPV (when Husky and McGillicuddy launched a surgical strike).They never made those guys look weak. I never got that.argument. I thought it was a really well-told story from start to finish.

Eddie GIlbert's one of the greatest ever.The Mark Henry angle we all loved when he lured in Cena? That was Eddie Gilbert sucker jobbing Tommy Rich perfectly. I'm sure I could go back and find so many other things people stole from Gilbert over the eons.Gilbert would have been PERFECT for someone in the mid-90s. Remember how crazy over Pillman got? Eddie could have done that role even better. He also could have very easily eased into a Regal role in WWE with comedy stuff -- dude had a great temper tantrum shtick and his KING OF PHILADELPHIA stuff in ECW was golden. He had absolutely no shame whatsoever; that's a huge strength in playing a heel.If Eddie sobered up, he would have been really good during the Monday Night Wars.

My brother could not have been a bigger WWE fan and no longer watches. He got really into MMA and boxing. He also says he doesn't have the time anymore. There's also so many hours in the day for people in our age bracket (mid-30s) with careers, families, friends, etc. Keeping up with the WWE is hard, since Raw is three hours and there's Smackdown and then the PPVs.He got back into it for a bit with the Summer of Punk angle (and loved Punk showing up at ComicCon) but hated how he came back so quickly. It went from being a really special angle into a dud and then it became some sort of "grand mystery" with Steph and Nash stinking up the joint. They made the story way too complex for him.

I never understood the Nexus hate when the angle ended. They were such great heels, especially Gabriel with his 900-mile stare into the distance with smug glare. Everyone in the original Nexus group has had a good spot in the company -- Wade, Skip/Ryback and Bryan all headlined PPV's, Slater's the best jobber of his era, Gabriel's had a bunch of good matches this year and is a good babyface, Darren Young's a good enough tag guy, Otunga's a great leech and Michael Tarver's tearing up FCW and would have had a good WWE run if he wasn't a nutjob. Even their backup entrants have become something -- Curtis Axel's good for what he is and Husky/Bray leads one of the hottest acts in eons.Someone in the WWE read the talent they had on NXT Season One perfectly.That whole story arc was pretty much Orwell Writes The WWE. The peasants of NXT revolt against the machine and do so without mercy while rallying behind a charismatic leader in Wade Barrett. Then the group becomes less of a peasant revolt and more about serving Wade's interests of humiliating Cena/winning the title and eventually leads to his ousting. And in the backdrop was the Big Brother anonymous GM.Oh well. I'm a lone wolf used to riding these roads alone.

The Pacers are stacked with Scola. Their weak bench kept them from sneaking into the Finals last season. They know have Scola and Danny Granger coming off the bench. They might go from having a terrible bench to one of the best set of reserves in the league. Vogel's a fantastic coach and I think he'll make it work. The Pacers are built to drive Miami nuts.My favorite off-season rumor: Delonte West to Memphis. I really want this to happen so Memphis' roster of maniacs and cast-offs who gel together perfectly continues.

I rewatched Superbad for the first time in a while and it's still so f'n funny. No movie makes me laugh as much.

FTFY, not that I disagree with his point that the demolition of an architectural jewel like the original Penn Station was a fucking tragedy. What, the modern day Penn Station isn't beautiful? Just sit down in the plastic chair at Kabooze (the bar next to the Krispy Kreme) and scan the horizon. You'll see the America we never knew.

That woman's match was terrific. It was just a good, simple match with two well-developed characters (as much as a bad Aussie dancer can be developed) going at it. I really like Brad Maddox during this match, too. They put the near-fall of the Superplex over like crazy. I loved how Paige knew she was in trouble and slid over to the ropes a bit right before the pin attempt -- she won because she's a little more serious and cagey, which trumped Emma's spitfire spunk. The crowd was also great and proof that girls can get over with good wrestling alone. The divas stuff has been getting better in some aspects -- AJ's a terrific character and has the personality to anchor the division, Kaitlyn's a pretty good foil (albeit a terrible actrress), Layla's heel again. Summer Rae's at least a credible second for a goofball character. Once Emma and Paige come up (and once Charlotte Flair, who has "it" in spades), they're going to have a great crop of young faces. They're all really attractive, too, which goes a long way in getting over, obviously. Less Bellas, more this, plz.The Cesaro/Zeb promo was great. That's exactly how it should be -- Zeb and Cesaro attempting to ruin Sami's life. They didn't have to say the real reason for things like the background check (Sami has Antonio's number) but Cesaro's "I am going to take joy in it" line just shows why he's going above and beyond heel duty. That's a heel right there, going completely overboard in reaction to losing.And speaking of heels, I think Tyler Breeze is about to become my favorite wrestler. Selfie-obsessed male model with furry boots as a stylish accoutrement? His Twitter handle of @MmmDelicious is amazing. Brad Maddox's "He has a great data plan" is ridiculously entertaining. He already has some good Zbysco-stalling down with insisting to take his picture even after the bell rings and during the match. He also has a good nastiness a character like this should have. Angelo Dawson's sell of that spin kick (which is a crappy finisher) was top-notch, as well. Great debut squash.I'm just fast-forwarding past any Ascension stuff. I love completely over-the-top gimmicks but these guys are terrible at it. I didn't mind this match, though. They had some good big-man double teams. I really wish they'd do something w/ Aiden English already. I know him a little bit (via The Best Show on WFMU) and he's really talented.Good main event, too. The Wyatt Family is the best act in the WWE in ages. I am a total mark for this gimmick. Sheamus is probably my least favorite guy on the roster (Yes, he has good matches but...) and I love his dumb dumb logic. "I HAVE TO DO THESE TEN APRON CHEST CLUBS BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" But, of course that came to hurt him since he's a dummie and there's multiple dudes at ringside. As great as Bray is, I think Luke Harper's going to be a huge star when they eventually do the inevitable "Luke gains humanity and breaks Bray's grasp" angle. He's awesome. Nasty spinning lariat and he took the Brogue like two-and-a-half-men. Bray's facial expressions during the match and afterwards -- that guy's the best. Catching flies.

I hope they do a Life Aquatic spoof w/ Sandow.

I did love the "Randy Orton can't snap or he loses the belt" clause they had in one of their PPV matches when Christian spat in his face and caused Randy to do just that and get stripped of the belt.

Ryback coming in as his current character (except looking a little stronger than he did against The Miz) and getting pushed into a feud with Cena would have gotten him over the way they intended from the start.

I'm pretty sure they want Cena to get close to Punk's record, since they keep mentioning that. Punk trying to beat Cena right before he breaks it writes itself already. There's also enough lag-time between their past few feuds that it won't seem stale at all. Plus, those guys can put up a ****+ match in their sleep at this point.The Punk/Cena Record Match in Chicago... that's all to dream about.

WWE has been on an absolute tear with matches this year. Punk/Cena near the top of the year, the myriad of all the Shield matches, Dolph/Del Rio (which was amazing for such a short match), Jericho/RVD (I know but...) etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few others.The character work has been awesome, too. Most of the stars from the last era -- Cena, Orton, Jericho and Sheamus -- have been snoozes. But starting with Punk's debut and working your way down the card from there, the personalities and in-ring work from those guys have been terrific. I mean, they couldn't even fit in The Wyatt Family last night since they had a bunch of other stuff to get too.It's six pages and there's only been a little chatter on Sandow doing commentary last night. He was caps-lock EXCELLENT. He's such a hilarious pretentious snob. "I taught him that, too, Michael!" Cody has nice offense for a babyface, too, even though he almost died because Fandango barely caught him on the moonsault. I'm really looking forward to that match.

I think Cesaro's in-ring skills are absurdly great. I think Cesaro as a character is a bit flat. It's probably not his fault but something's not clicking with the crowd.

Well, the first reason is it gives both Cena and Ryback a mini-program for at least one week. They both need something to do match wise and it's a good gimmick match to build Raw promos around for the next during the Law & Order: SVU "Elliot and Benson Disregard Chain Of Command And Cragen Doesn't Care" marathon.Also, big picture, it also sets up a full-fledged Bryan vs. Ryback feud after the Cena stuff is over. I'm really fine with that, too. They've had two really good matches so far. They have awesome chemistry and Ryback as a douche bully is my favorite Ryback.

I took that to mean that fighting Kane is more an emotional battle. It's one thing to fight three dudes you have no beef with other than they're in your way. It's another one entirely to fight your friend, even in a partnership as tense as theirs was.