Thursday, August 13, 2015

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 133

Could AJ Lee return for a Mania 33 date with destiny?
Photo Credit: WWE.com
It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman, and wait for the call on Wednesday to ask your questions. Hash-tag your questions #TweetBag, and look for the bag to drop Thursday afternoon (most of the time). Without further ado, here are your questions and my answers!

That scenario hinges on a highly unlikely scenario right now that AJ Lee would ever come back to WWE. Times change, money talks, and bridges in wrestling rarely ever stay burned, but I doubt that Lee will be making a comeback anytime soon. In theory though, it's a solid plan, especially the endgame of Banks/Rousey at Mania 34. Rousey needs some time to be acclimated into WWE's world, and Banks needs time to get built up. It's a solid timeframe.

Of course I did. C'mere you *tussles hair*

The smart money is on Ambrose, so of course Reigns is going to do it. Or maybe they don't break up by turning on each other. I really have no idea where WWE is going with those two, which is odd because they're both guys who SHOULD ALWAYS have stories going for them.

Well, no. The drama remains as to who's going to win the thing, which right now appears to be another crash course between Kazuchika Okada and either Hiroshi Tanahashi and AJ Styles, unless some tiebreaker shenanigans occur on the last day in Block B. The last two cards are looking pretty interesting from here. Plus, Honma could win again against Yujiro Takahashi. It's a veritable cornucopia of surprise! Of course, having to slog through 19 cards to get to the finish has been nightmarish for those who've been watching throughout. Either way though, the drama is at the finish.

WWE could bring back Bill DeMott and allow him to have free reign. Okay, that scenario is too grotesque, even for me. I don't really watch Tough Enough, so I couldn't say how it could get worse or better. However, the track record for creating stars has been spotty at best. I really don't know how it could get worse, but hey.

My best guess is that Randy Orton missed his cue, and the ref was stalling for time. Either that, or he was playing by the book and waiting for Seth Rollins to recover. The precedent has been made that a clearly prone titleholder can't enter a cash-in match at least a few times in the past. Either way though, it came off baaaad.

You shouldn't have to watch anything that doesn't tickle you, and wrestling has so many alternatives that watching the main roster of WWE is stupid if you don't like it. Hell, WWE even has its own in-house alternative that Dunn has nothing to do with. NXT is engrossing enough to follow as its own thing, but then one has New Japan Pro Wrestling and Chikara and Ring of Honor and even back episodes of Lucha Underground. Wrestling is so diverse. Embrace the world for what it is and eliminate those that give you indigestion.

He could be the best celebrity appearance post-Attitude Era when it's all said and done. He seems to have commitment to the angle, and he's a huge wrestling fan, so I have higher hopes for this than I did for, say, Hugh Jackman. He'll have to contend with the Muppets though, because c'mon now, how can anyone discount the Muppets?

I'm relieved that for once, the credit manufacturing machine is working for a woman rather than a dude. It's refreshing, really, and Banks has earned her rep as arguably the most valuable performer in NXT, whether or not Sami Zayn got hurt or not. However, I'm highly dubious at giving her all the credit. If any entity in pro wrestling feels like it draws on name value, it's gotta be NXT. Who's to say that people aren't equally coming out for the big ladder match or Jushin Liger's WWE debut? Don't get me wrong, Banks is a huge part of it, and she and the other Horsewomen deserve to be in the discussion when it comes to NXT's strength as a brand name. But putting her as the A1 draw feels a bit disingenuous, even if it's the kind of disingenuous I can get behind.

Depends on what you mean by "successful." Like I said above, the Barclays sellout may have been caused partially by Liger's involvement, so it might already be successful. The match being "good" or not is wholly subjective. I think the braintrust down at the Performance Center is already getting the wheels in motion for guest stars to come in for future Takeover events, but the problem about being the biggest wrestling company in the world is the lack of peers for you to take guests from. Maybe that's where the partnership with WWN Live comes in? I don't know.

If you're restrained to people who've only held the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship, then I'd have to go with Superstar Billy Graham. William is a fine name, and Bill's a good short for it, but Billy? That's a name you outgrow when you get to high school. If you're talking anyone who's held any kind of WWE gold, then it's a tie between Bertha Faye and Dean Douglas. Man, the '90s were a weird time at Titan Towers.

First one's a no-brainer. Brock Lesnar comes in as Matanza. No other wrestler in the world right now can impose the kind of physical intimidation necessary to play off as a man who eats other dudes without pause. The second one would be Zack Sabre, Jr. coming in to play the arrogant gringo who thinks he can outclass all the rabble in the Temple under the guise of "technical wrestling," all the while secretly trying to curry favor with Catrina to unlock the secrets of the dead. I don't know where that endgame would be, but it's a fun string to bat around.

Well, then Jake Roberts is your 1996 King of the Ring winner! In all seriousness, I doubt anything changes on the WCW end, given how reluctant that company was at pushing its own talent over the WWE imports. However, in WWE, I see perhaps an acceleration in The Rock's pushing and development, leaning harder on guys like Mick Foley, Undertaker, Ken Shamrock, and even Mark Henry. Shawn Michaels probably would have gotten rushed back before his time, and Montreal may never have happened in the first place, which might have led to Owen Hart still being alive. But I'm not sure the industry would have boomed as hard, even with Rock's undeniable cache.

This one's easy. In an effort to make good between himself and the Patriots/Robert Kraft, Roger Goodell instructs referees to call Patriots games slanted to the point of mockery in order to keep them in games during Tom Brady's suspension. After a phantom penalty wipes out a game-winning touchdown pass from Ryan Tannehill to Jarvis Landry in week four, the Dolphins file a formal protest and investigation. While the paper trail leads all the way back to Goodell, the protest is seemingly dropped when an "independent" investigator concludes no wrongdoing by the League.

Then, in week six, when Brady returns, Jim Irsay heads to the commissioner's box and whacks Goodell with a steel chair. MONEY, BABY.

The most obvious answer is Spaceballs, mainly because Star Wars and Star Trek have way too much material for spoof for just one movie, and because the friggin' sequel was mentioned in the actual script. Other than that, a sequel to the 2008 Incredible Hulk is long overdue. Yeah, Edward Norton flaked out, but he was replaced by a superior Bruce Banner in Mark Ruffalo. He's a character who needs to be explored a bit further in movies without the other Avengers around. Plus, the rest of the cast from that movie seems to be in place as canon. William Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross is rumored to be in Captain America: Civil War. C'mon Marvel, do it!

On one hand, I can see an argument for that being the case. On the other hand, I've borne witness to several wrestling shows that made me feel like I was a kid again in the last few years, even some that I was spoiled on beforehand. I think it all depends on how you intake those shows. If the results are the only thing, then yeah, spoilers and leaks have ruined it for you. But if you're in it for the performance, no amount of foreknowledge could take your excitement level down for a really special thing.
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