At least they got Toni Storm's mom to show up :D

Technically DDP's debut with WWE came this century (not counting that time he drove Rhythm and Blues to the ring at Mania).

why did they get ddp all he did for wwe was job to takers ex wife

Which was weird because his own wife was much hotter.

New 2K cover

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CnuFzO1uvoC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CnuFzO1uvoC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; 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Nice they put Cena on it.

They either didn’t think it through or didn’t care when they decided to name it RAW XXX. Every single future generation will think it’s hardcore porn and not a wrestling anniversary show.

Oh they know exactly what they’re doing.

I get the appeal of Omos better than most. I realized that even I missed something.

There is a reel of some woman dancing in a ring only to turn and see him. The comments from the ladies were quite horny. Basically, a different take on the sideshow appeal I understood.

Same old legends as always. Yawn.

I'd kill to see some "legends" make an appearance that we've not seen since they were in WWE. Gimme some random cameos by Ken Shamrock, Val Venis, Savio Vega, Rene Dupree, Al Snow, The Hurricane... I know none of these are "legends" anywhere near the same level as the usual suspects, but I'm just bored of the same people all the time. Hell, I'd mark the fuck out for a Buff Bagwell appearance at this point. I know only about 2% of todays fans probably know who he is, but fuck it, it'd be something completely different and "out there".

Gonna add Billy Kidman, Lance Storm and Snitsky to that list too.

Give me Rugged Ronnie Garvin

And Jigelo Jimmy Del Ray right?!

Might be a problem with Del Ray showing up with him being dead and all

Viscera

Big Vis Viscera ONLY

Ronnie Garvin is a controversial figure in our circles.

Rubbish Ronnie Garbage

I’m holding out hope for this myself. They can advertise the usual suspects that everyone expects to see and then sprinkle in some genuine surprises.

I’m hoping they use the massive tron to do a “Raw through the years” type deal.

Have the big RAW letters and your New Generation guys coming through. DiBiase and IRS I can see there - there’s a bit for them to do with the DiBiase scandal, right? Have Charles Wright be Papa Shango for this part. Maybe even Walkman as 1-2-3 Kid. You could do the Becky/Bayley Cage Match in the old style cage here too. Make Alundra Blayze the guest ring announcer or ref to tie her in.

Then move through the years with the Raw is War theme/industrial theme. This is your Attitude Era with DX, Austin if he’s there, Charles Wright becomes The Godfather for this part (also would like to see him do a Kama Ultimate Fighting Machine thing too). Shamrock would be a nice surprise here.

Then move into the 2002 logo/set. Bischoff appears her to GM for a couple of segments. 2005 had a new set, and 2008. Not sure how many tweaks between then and where we are now but you get the point.

You could, if you wanted to have the title belts used at the time so if Austin Theory makes an appearance during the 2005 part of the show you have him using the US championship from that era. Usos can do the same when they do their title defence.

Nah. I can’t see it happening myself.

One thing I loved about the nostalgia shows around 2010 or so is they invited so many random people and it was just fun to imagine some producer could just be looking around at people backstage and be like "ok, uhh, Tatanka, just enter the scene there and dance"

Didn't they do a reunion show a year or two ago and basically all of the legends were called irrelevant fossils on the brink of death.

Legends should always be putting over the current guys at events like this BUT at a certain point I could see why guys wouldn't wanna show up to these things to be used as punchlines.

I'll always be biased toward it since I was there but it was fun being at the 15th anniversary of Raw, they had a battle royal which had loads of randoms like Steve Blackman, Gangrel, Flash Funk, and others.

More of that.

They should have naked Mideon show up and do segments where he tries to get people to subscribe to his onlyfans and security keeps running him off.

Have him start off as Phineas with Mark Canterbury, then they can do security for a segment as Southern Justice, then do something with Taker and the Ministry of Darkness, then Naked Mideon.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There was a huge money offer to Stone Cold Steve Austin for a major match with Roman Reigns, made very quietly recently, Fightful Select has learned<a href="https://t.co/jy8u4a8usI">https://t.co/jy8u4a8usI</a> has all the details. <a href="https://t.co/ahDEc9WdER">pic.twitter.com/ahDEc9WdER</a></p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1617631082408718338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

God I hope not.

This is amazing if you haven't seen it before

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Waylon Mercy puts a sleeper on Doink as Worcester fans chant “KILL THE CLOWN!” WWF can no longer ignore its audience’s changing tastes. In 1998 Steve Austin wins the WWF title 40 miles west in Boston &amp; Mick Foley wins it just a mile down the road at the Centrum. (8.14.95) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAWXXX?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAWXXX</a> <a href="https://t.co/uvvTi7axW4">pic.twitter.com/uvvTi7axW4</a></p>&mdash; Vintage Puroresu プロレス (@vintagepuro) <a href="https://twitter.com/vintagepuro/status/1617697871868067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Would seem to validate the rumors that The Rock turned them down, ultimately leaving them scrambling for a marquee backup plan.

The whole thing seems weird though. The rumors were that The Rock said no because he didn't feel he could get into ring shape. But that would also seem to imply they've tried to book Rock on like 2 months notice.

Surely someone like The Rock would need to be booked like a year in advance so he can actually make sure his schedule's cleared.

Isn't that the one where IRS won then got paid off?

Yep! Was a fun time.

Of course, now I'm looking at the ages the participants were in that match and it's kinda jarring.

Sgt. Slaughter - 59
Bob Backlund - 58
Skinner - 56
The Goon - 53
Doink/Matt Borne - 50
IRS - 49
Gillberg - 48
Repo Man - 48
Al Snow - 44
Steve Blackman - 44
Bart Gunn - 42
Flash Funk - 42
Gangrel - 38
Pete Gas - 37
Scotty 2 Hotty - 34

Hilarious to imagine a lot of these guys being old guys given that today's WWE and AEW rosters both have a good amount of guys in their 40s.

Much as I love Gimmick Battle Royal stuff, there's just not enough change or roster turnover for stuff like that to even work anymore.

Look at WrestleMania 17's battle royal - Duke Droese was 32. Earthquake was 37. Nowadays there are lots of "up and comers" who are the same age those guys were in that match. In 2001 those guys felt like relics from an ancient time.

Nikolai Volkoff had been out of WWF for 6 years before being in the Gimmick Battle Royal. 6 years ago by today's standards you had...Roman Reigns vs. a part timer in the main event of WrestleMania, and Lesnar/Rollins/Styles/Wyatt on the undercard.

Can't be nostalgic about things anymore when nothing changes. 6-7 years used to be a lifetime in wrestling, it is now a blink of an eye and not just because we're getting older.

If The Rovk was going to do something, they’d know about it long in advance. It’d be scheduled. Dave Meltzer is lying because he doesn’t know.

There are convenient elements to The Rock working with WWE. Publicity for the XFL. A wrestling schedule might make him more available than a film one would. It could help regenerate his brand. It could also be argued by people on his team that there are negative sides to all that.

It also doesn’t have to be WrestleMania. If he finds time to do one match or whatever (but he may not want to get into ring shape for one match), then there might be another date that suits him better, or he might just choose to set something up this year for Mania 40 the next.

Fans and dirt sheets have just run wild with things because Roman and Rock are related and Roman’s doing a family gimmick. I’ve questioned whether or not Roman vs. Rock actually makes sense with the family being behind him. Roman vs. Austin might be the better first match. Or Roman vs. Cody at this point.

I just had an idea:

I bet the ppv after WM, whatever they call Backlash now, is KO/Sami/Cody vs Usos/Roman in a winner takes all match

I still don't think it's going to be Sami as "Sami."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This should have happened: <a href="https://t.co/EHQnx6TCYW">pic.twitter.com/EHQnx6TCYW</a></p>&mdash; Albret Hitman (@elmierdiario) <a href="https://twitter.com/elmierdiario/status/1617959894711406593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

To be fair, Savage had a reputation for doing dumb shit at Rumbles. The year before he launched himself over the top rope to get at Roberts, well before he was supposed to get eliminated it. They did a bullshit reason to keep him in.

I don’t think Sami makes it into the match. I figured they’d do something where he comes out and gets an ovation but then the Usos come out and and give his spot to Solo or take it for themselves. I’m more convinced of it now after Sami replaced Jimmy on Raw. This keeps the heat within the Bloodline but away from directly putting Roman in front of Sami.

This post is sponsored by ED-209
 

No. For fuck's sake, NO. I had a bad enough time last year with my head in my hand going through the results when Vito sent them to me. Let me know if you plan on doing that again this year so that I can be properly medicated.

My favorite memory of the 1993 Rumble was Monsoon referring to a 44 year old Carlos Colon as a fiery youngster.

Fun fact: 2023 Rumble entrants Bobby Lashley and Rey Mysterio are both older than Colon was in that match, and Sheamus turns 45 on the day of the Rumble.