I think most people consider it a great match, although it was not on the level of HBK and Taker, but few can get to that level.

There are very few people I would want to see with Taker right now. Punk or Jericho would be great. Other than that I do not see anyone that would put on as good of a match as HHH.

I don't really see this match as a way to get a guy a major rub since they are going to be losing to him. If they want to get some of the younger guys a rub then they need to do it other ways.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

He hasn't been on tv in a while so I need something. If I bottle up my frustration I just eventually get fed up and stop watching for a while. If I spend my time venting on the board, it lowers my blood pressure and I get to entertain myself.

Seriously the only guys over 40 with a pony tail that come to mind are Gregg Allman and HBK. (Honestly I was thinking about how Taker re-invented his character a few times and how cool that was and then looked at the pony tail and chuckled. Actually I still occasionally get teased for rocking an awesome pony tail for my sister's wedding pictures. Practically ruined the entire wedding the way they tell it).

Perfectly acceptable for HBK as long as he keeps up his Larry the Cable guy fashion sense.

Now if I start a thread whining about Trips' pony tail, someone please arrange an intervention.

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Even losing, a guy gets an automatic bump in terms of how he's viewed by the crowd by putting on a great performance.

A third HHH-Undertaker match doesn't interest me at all.

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Fair enough, but I think you not being interested has more to do with your HHH hate than it does legitimately wanting someone else to get a push.

I also think it has a lot to do with the big picture of where they are going with this thing. If this is going to be Taker's last match and/or HHH's last match it makes sense to do this at Mania again. Do you really want to see Taker's last Mania match be against Wade Barrett or Sheamus?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think you have me confused with chas.

I don't hate HHH. Never have.

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Ok so you don't hate him the way chas does, but you are not a fan of his.

Everytime his music hits people pop. And the reaction of the crowd last night with Taker looking to the Mania sign says they want to see this match again.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Brodus Clay gets a huge pop. Set him up in the main event.

I never said most people wouldn't want to see another HHH-Undertaker match, nor do I care what most people want.

I said I don't find it interesting.

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Broadus Clay.

Well at least you understand that what you want and what is good for business are two different things.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I agree Hunter still gets one of, if not the biggest pop when he comes out. However, that's a problem. They have to start getting guys under forty over. I'm a HHH fan, and thought they had a tremendous match last year. Much like Taker v HBK II, I have no interest in another one. It's difficult to top the original. Streak v Career again? We've seen that. HHH retired? That will maybe last until the next Wrestlemania.

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Yep.

It's tough being me.

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Punk. Bryan. Ziggler.

I agree they need more of them. But they are getting younger guys over.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm saying HHH over. Punk pretty much has it, but they're doing everything they can to tone that reaction down. Bryan and Ziggler don't have anything close to that.

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Terry's Peeps = WWE Creative Team

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This is my signature...

I thought it was a 3.5 out of 5
Some nice stuff put why do they keep putting Kingston in big matches? He is never going over.
I saw where the entire HHH Funchhouser thing was going with the kiss my ass club.That was a real good bit.
The Punk Bryan match was good and the Jericho run in might just be setting up the thing to go the way Keeping Score is hoping it might.
The Super Cena shit needs to go.Having him destroy Kane and having him run away like that just ruins the believability of the Monster gimmick.
Even though I don't like HHH much his thing last night was cool.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Someone named Drop In or Loblaw need to superimpose Trips' face over the World's Most Interesting Man and caption it with "I don't always show up on RAW, but when I do its in the Main Event spot" or something like that.

What a completely ridiculous way to end the show and have a 10 min overrun. I was pretty disappointed in RAW overall but the Punk/Bryan match was awesome. Felt like they were actually showcasing wrestling again for 15 min. And who did Ziggler piss off to get treated like this??? Frustrating to watch the seemingly easy booking choices get thrown out to either swerve or unnecessarily protect already top guys. Orton didn't need to win that match - he wouldn't have been hurt one bit by losing either by DQ or </gasp!> clean.

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Russo's Peeps

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Waiting for the first act of debauchery KS.

Ipecac can be found at your local pharmacy.

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That's the exact problem. It's just those 3. Everybody else in the big matches is the same old rehashed stuff. You've got 2 shows to book, and you have 3 young guys who are significantly over. That's gonna equal crap. Cause no matter what booking things, nobody gives a rats ass if Curt Hawkins beats a random Uso.

Then you get to a major event like Mania, and they've got nobody to fill the matches. So they have to go back to Taker, and HHH, and (much as I'm a long time guy) Jericho. Those guys still get the biggest pops and are the only way to salvage a good PPV. How many weeks til HBK shows up too? I like Bryan as a wrestler, but Bryan vs Shaemus.. not interested.

They're never going to get things back on track pushing the same guys they have for 10 years and bringing back a few big names come Mania time to rescue the show.

In one sentence you are saying how they need to push new guys and in the next you say you could care less about Bryan ad Sheamus? You cannot have it both ways.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Another thing. Wrestling has always been a mix of older guys and younger guys and you have to find ways to use both. If they remove HHH and Taker then there is not as big of an audience to push the young guys to. It has to be utilizing both groups.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

thank you. asked and answered. Two good examples of acceptable pony tails. Even Dice lost his eventually.



As close as I could find and it's not funny. ADR is awesome.

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No they need to build young new guys that people give a shit about. Build it to to have a reason other than "he lifts with HHH" for Shaemus to win the Rumble. Jericho winning it made sense because then you set up him and Punk. Bryan and Shaemus just just a "he won the Rumble" forced thing, which probably won't even be picked til after EC. So no real program to build on it at all.

Build a damn roster so you can have a Mania that will sell without having to drag back Taker and HHH and HBK and Jericho. One that can succeed without Super Cena leading the card for the 100th time.

Cody is one that they're actually doing something with. Clay is being shoved down our throats and his dancing is more interesting than his squash matches. What do you do with him after the newness wears off? Alberto got a massive push, but nothing built to it. From day one it was the "winning the title is my destiny" stuff. Shaemus is HHH's buddy. Miz is another example of somebody they've done the right things with.

Excellent point though that the bench would be a lot deeper if Evan and Killings and Kofi would quit getting busted for weed.

Sheamus -
Brought in strong, wins a battle royal to set up a title tables match vs Cena which he wins. Loses title at Elimination Chamber as part of Mania setup. Loses vs Trips at Mania 26. Wins 2nd World Title at Fatal 4-way and defends title thru Summerfest. 2011 comes along: Doesn't even get a match at Wrestlemania (it was a dark lumberjack match vs Bryan). Completely wasted since and had a massive losing streak to Morrison, a guy they let go. Last I saw him on Smackdown he was feuding with Jinder Mahal before winning the Rumble. I'm also pretty sure he was eliminated from a battle royal by a midget a few weeks ago.

Wade -
Brought in strong right away after NXT with the Cena feud. Gets the rub from working with the Champ and you can see him continually improving. Feud basically ends after he loses a match where if he loses Cena gets fired. Cena shows up the very next night and costs him another title match. Wade never wins the title and goes on to some terrible Corre thing that pretty much sucked. Total shit with him since as he continues to cut awesome promos.

The All-American American and former World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger -
Brought in strong with a long undefeated streak which leads to ECW title. He worked a lot with Finley and Christian, presumably learning a ton from their 2 best vets. Eventually drafted to Raw and feuded with Kofi and MVP. They have him win MITB at Mania in 2010 and wins the title within a month. Only 2 title defenses and is later reduced to running around with an eagle mascot for the rest of the year. Doesn't even get a match at Mania in 2011. He cornered Cole vs Lawler and has done nothing for almost a year now.

It's not even a coincidence anymore, it seems like a formula they stick to.

If they can't figure it out with any of these 3 guys I'm not sure who they think the future of the company is. These 3 guys are all heavyweight guys as opposed to the smaller tier guys we know Vince hates because they're too small (Punk, Ziggler, Bryan, Miz). I have to think there (and i hate the term) has to be a glass ceiling for these guys. So there's 7 guys they can't figure out how to get over to a REAL main event level. Punk and Bryan are champs but they're not main event superstars. There no reason Sheamus and Swagger shouldn't be huge by now. They know this, I wonder what their plan is going forward? Continue to have Cole try as hard as he can to make viewers hate the wrestlers and the product? More skits with Zack changing his tire? A mystery GM angle that goes for months with no payoff? Months of mystery vignettes with no payoff? Kane's magic powers? With Linda running for Senate again this year, I can't imagine much focus on the wrestling end for 2012.

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By putting CM Punk in the match at the next PPV Main event, I almost think Jericho will win the title and set up the rematch of Jericho-Punk at Mania.

They should have set it up better and had Sheamus announce his decision for which belt to go after, then set up the Raw side. Then take Punk out, put another guy in and the winner gets the shot.

On Triple H-Taker, I want to see where they go from here, since now it looks like Triple H wants to back out, now they could do a thing where Triple H says he knows he can't beat Taker, just not good enough. Then maybe HBK comes back, talks him into it and agrees to the match.

The only problem, I would say Triple H does win and could leave a poor taste in people's mouth on how the Streak ended.