Hagan

Fair enough, what was the last 'Mania you were excited about, if you don't mind me asking? I'm pretty excited about it. Partly because I'm going but also a lot because I think that the top four matches have the chance to be really special. I just think a lot of fans online get stuck in the "it was better back then" mindset, no matter when "back then" was. I'm completely aghast at Attitude Era-navel gazing, as a rule, and I think that in-ring WWE is better than it's been in a while. Like, 2007 stands-out as a strong in-ring year and I'd put the last year right up there. Honestly, I think this has been the best build in the last 4 years. Maybe there's nothing that's going to approach the "specialness" of Flair/Shawn or Shawn/UT but you have a lot of, essentially, newer stars (Bray, Daniel, The Shield) all in prominent spots. It's just hard for me not to think that Observer voters aren't immediately in "oh, Rock isn't there. Austin isn't there. Punk isn't there. Hunter is going to win the belt. The show will suck" mindset. To go back to Keith for a second. I noticed on his blog he stopped reviewing Raw because it bored the shit out of him, only so he could re-watch Attitude Era Raw and SDs, a lot of which in '98 and '99 are just overbooked messes. I mean, it was exciting shit and the memories stand out but I'd rather watch Seth Rollins or Luke Harper go 15 minutes every show as something new, than revisit 15 heel turns on a show. To be fair, I'm one of those people that don't read books twice, don't watch movies twice, and never watch a wrestling match twice anymore. I like new shit. It's why I'm holding off the Network, though when my buddy gets back from his oil rig hitch I think we're gonna slam some Dangerous Alliance WCW.

Hilarious that the Observer poll has voters saying their interest in 'Mania is less than in previous years. I mean, Cena/Miz HHH/UT II, Cena/Rock I HHH/UT III an Cena/Rock II and Lesnar/Hunter II had more pumped than the Daniel Bryan Show or babyface Shield members flying around or a hillbilly cult taking Cena to Carcosa. C'mon!?!?!? Internet wrestling fans are the fucking worst (DVDR posters excepted, of course).

That Hunter and Steph interview was great. Them doing the whitest Fandango-ing ever was glorious.

The JBL and Cole Show (w/ Renee Young) today was just tremendous. Zeb cutting up Renee's green card, Cesaro literally swinging himself to and from the courtroom, JBL accusing Wade of being hungover. I love how WWE.com basically is allowed to exist in its own weird universe. I imagine Vince accidentally walking into them filming and wondering why there's a bear walking around or Torito is a lawyer. Of course, I also imagine Vince being very confused when all those online-NXT dudes and gals were hanging out for that weird year and a half run.

Oh, someone mentioned Dusty the Fat Bitter Cat. I haven't thought about that shit in forever. Does FLEA stll write anywhere?

"I'm really nervous to meet Mark's brother."

Yeah, it's amazing how awful Nattie comes off on this. And I mean, she's not supposed to be the heel, right? Also, why the heel didn't this show exist years ago? I mean, I like the divas well enough (though AJ would be tremendous on this) but having like Trish or Victoria or Mickie or even Maryse and Maria on this would be great. Edit: actually Michelle McCool being on this show and showing her hanging around with her husband would elevate this to an all-time great show.

Wasn't Buff's contract one of the original bought out by WWE in the initial sale? I know Booker was.

yeah, that booking makes no sense

Oh, for those coming in from out of the South or have never been to NOLA before, I'll be happy to post some tips on places to go/more importantly, places to avoid. Not sure how crazy I'll be getting, but I'll definitely be in the Quarter Saturday night with my buddy from there. Note that if you're drinking, the tab is gonna get ridiculous pretty quick.

Yeah, the Mop-Ups and CRZ got me through many a boring class at the end of high-school, first year or so of college. I also am ashamed to admit that back then I thought this Scott Keith guy had some real great insight on matches and angles.

Great tournament. I've been busy celebratory yodeling all day. I would like to thank all my fellow Real Americans out there.

Well, very very late in the day I made the call to come up from Pensacola and hit NOLA for 'Mania. Up in the cheaps and, as every room in NOLA is booked, my lady friend and I will be staying across the mighty Mississippi in Harvey, but I'll be there, mofos. Maybe I'll see ya guys. I look nothing like the guy in my default photo.

Fuck if I know who should win... I mean, Bryan had one of the most captivating years in wrestling history, though his Tajiri Tribute Kick spot kind of annoys me. I also really hate him using a top rope 'rana as one of his babyface comeback spots. Also, it is funny that despite the complaints about his push, Bryan, who is a smaller dude, is consistently booked as an ass-kicker. One thing I will say is that some of Bryan's best moments were less about him making a moment and more a segment that was designed to get that response. The Wyatt cage moment was so awesome, but it was clearly designed to be. Does that make sense? Bryan's been on the Main Event Hero's Quest and, what we think was the planned booking aside, it's all kind of logically brought us from Point A to Point B. Cesaro powering up and taking Orton's head off with that uppercut and then hitting his finish elicited a much more visceral response from me because it just came out of nowhere. Him being a key cog in what was inherently a dead-end gimmick with a failed Jack Swagger and, while a great talker, a character that should have had a limited shelf life, and having arenas chanting "We The People" and basically turning them into an over (de-facto) babyface act is harder than anything Bryan did this year. Also, in the last few years, Bryan has wrestled Rollins 106 times, Roman 88 times, and Dean 78 times (Sheamus is 4th). This is from wrestlingdata btw, so no clue as to how accurate there are. Cesaro's most common career opponents have Ryder, Rhodes, Miz and Kingston at 3, 4 and 5. Not that Bryan isn't awesome, but Cesaro did more with less this year and Bryan was always positioned as top television babyface. In fact, I'm dead certain that if you analyzed who got more TV time in the last year that Bryan has to blow away Cena, especially since Cena rarely does SD and didn't work long matches every week. Bryan had the full force of the company behind him and became a top star. Cesaro had to uppercut dudes one at a time to do it. I think I'm going Cesaro. Now this is what I want you to do. I want you to stand up, put your hand over your hearts, and say in a very loud clear voice along with me: WE the PEOPLE!

Also, I'm loving the shit of them making former main event guys cut promos putting over a battle royale.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I thought that Uso salute on the dive was one of the coolest visuals in a long time. Also, Orton's heel work was a ton of fun in that match.

I may have voted Cena over Cesaro. I know the draw is the draw, but this is saying that Roman Reigns is the 3rd or 4th best wrestler in the world. THAT IS ABSURD.

Let's Go Cena!

Jumped on the Total Diva train. Holy cow. I've been missing out.

I would like to throw in how good Cena was in the various six-mans he did. Him just being the most fired-up babyface ever on the apron was always great. Cena went up and down the card going against big guys, small guys, comedy guys, brawlers, scientific etc. and delivered. The downside might be that Cena gets a bit into the Hogan-formular of sell, sell, sell, comeback, finish, but Reigns in his six-man tags really has less to do than the other guys. Usually Rollins works the bulk of the match and does the highspots, and Reigns comes in for the big bruiser spots. Also, The Shield did benefit from wrestling against the other best workers in the company every night. They perenially got Bryan, the Usos, the Rhodes, Rey etc. Cena had less to work with. I wonder that if the Orton Rumble match had gotten over like it did at house shows would people re-evaluate both guys?

Goldie is a better babyface than Harper is a heel. I'm basing it on that. Every Goldust match has such a great story and emotion to it. Harper, because of his character, plays a secondary role in matches and Bray kind of gets the great character moments.

Cena is the correct answer, though he had a rough comeback after his elbow injury. Actually, I wasn't overly impressed with Reign's Rumble performance either.

Rollins has had more of a chance to shine throughout the year but Cesaro's highs have been higher. I guess I'll go with Antonio here, but I really want to vote for Rollins. I think that Cesaro's NXT work put him over. Also, Rollins did work Bryan something like 76 times last year, so he had better dance partners. Shit, Cesaro had an epic on Main Event with Kofi.

I've never watched Total Divas. HOLY SHIT. Cena playing the role of OCD jerk boyfriend is fucking hysterical.

I take it that he makes detailed notes before he starts and reads off 'em. Considering his background, I'm not surprised. Austin and Cornette, because of the nature of what they did, are probably quicker at improvising.