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Does WCW RAW with Booker/Buff Bagwell as the main event come to anybody's mind?

So, would Ace have prevented Triple H having an affair with Stephanie Mcmahon when he was with Chyna? This whole thing sounds ridiculous.......... With that said I want it to be Triple H just for the drama I kind of liked the Kurt Angle rumour too. It will turn out to be Maven

The Solie rumours come from Jim Ross who stated it would be nice to have him inducted this year(just as Vince alluding to Hogan in the media). It's true all the men inducted so far are known basically for being heels. I guess it could be another sign that the biggest face of all will be inducted.

I thought I was the only who noticed this? I seen at another website that people are overlooking Iron Shiek's honourable nature that helped Hulkamania and the expansion. I guess he was alluding to the Vern Gagne rumours of offering the man big money to break Hogan's leg and take the WWF title to the AWA. Folklore or truth it sure makes a damn nice story(to tie into Hogan being inducted I bet). How can Vince not put him in the HOF for doing that?

Yes, that part of the sentence had me itching my head as well

WrestleMania goes Hollywood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yet, the wwe probably will have ZERO celebrities to play off this fact Now that's funny! I kind of have to agree that these commercials hasn't riled up any of my friends to watch Mania yet. They are different though and aren't bad(I really hated that stupid Rumble promo though).

I guess they finally did the match that was supposedly the main reason to get Edge from Smackdown Now that was worth hurting Smackdown wasn't it? We got JBL WWE Champion out of it. I also think they should do Orton-Taker at Mania for all the reasons to get Orton's summer heat back. His dad will be at Mania as well getting inducted. I don't think I have to state how they can craft a killer storyline for both men here.

I agree about Austin being more loved than Rock. That's obvious unless you count the female fanbase for The Rock. However, bringing up Austin is just more salt to the wound because he might have stayed too long as well(really that whole co-GM crap). The Rock might be getting the "go home" heat he was somewhat getting in 2002 if he was still full-time. I mean Triple H(I know the man is hated here) for all intents and purposes reached that "go home" heat in 2002-2003 along with Austin(somewhat). That's where Hulk Hogan had these guys beat. He would disappear and return at different times. Hogan was "go home" heat in late 1991-1993 before jumping to wcw for the Flair program.

This thread has been entertaining and some forget about the business side to all of this. Yes, Brock was foolish. Comparing Rock to Brock is hilarious. The Rock was not a fool when dealing with business. He did not just jump out of pro wrestling onto the big screen without testing waters(Mummy Returns). He also did not burn bridges. The Rock put over Brock for crying out loud as "THE NEXT BIG THING" and WWE Champion before going to make Scorpion King. The Rock also was smart to use the wwe hype machine for his other career. The Rock also finished unfinished business with guys like Austin for his wrestling character before jumping full throttle into hollywood. The Rock has put himself in a position where his wrestling career is so bullet proof he can return and make money if his movie career suddenly bombs. The Rock understood business wise what he had to do in the wrestling side of things before going to the movie side of things full-time. Yeah, it can be argued Rock pulled of his movie career well, but he did not just jump into the Atlantic Ocean either without a life jacket. Now, look at this from a business perspective. Yes, Brock did the right thing by going to the wwe for financial reasons especially given his wrestling background(which btw, he probably knew he had a better chance at succeeding more than the NFL to begin with). He signs a big time multi-year contract(that he reneges). Don't forget that wrestling is a work and that the wwe created this monster character in the public that he used to make a name for himself to go to the NFL. We all know how the path to his push happened. We also know Vince knows when he has created a monster(Hulk Hogan) and also was going through hassle with another monster at the time(Goldberg). Brock realizing that Vince and company was starting to create his image of "greatest of all-time" had no problem with the business up until Royal Rumble '03 where he was booked to look afraid of freaking Bob Holly. Let's also not forget about stuff like Brock being so "dedicated" to wrestling that he would "kill anyone on the net" for leaking rumours. Somwhere in all of this Brock must have found out that he was going to lose the title to Eddie Guerrero in February of last year. As some have stated here, Eddie was told he was going to be a long term champion(Meltzer). Now in all of this he has a feud with the guy fans were mocking him about upon his initial push in Goldberg. Who knows if Goldberg demanded to win the WM match as well. If rumours are true about UT/Lesnar post Mania can it not be a fair assumption that Lesnar just packed his bags and went home because he was not being pushed as the "greatest of all-time" anymore? He suddenly becomes all emotional and wants to try out for the NFL around this time to fulfill a dream(his damn storyline from WM 19)? Give me a break It was such a dream that he has given up on it within months even though everyone from The Rock to Steve Austin said it would be tough to make it? Where's the "athletic and competitive spirit" now? This thing reeks of a whim imo. I could be completely wrong, but also signing something as ridiculous as this no-compete clause within those two weeks of quitting(which he did and again with the NFL) people are suppose to feel sorry for this guy? This is one time, where I actually kind of see where Vince is coming from with the no-compete clause. Whose to say that Lesnar just didn't find some half ass way to get out of his wwe contract to get signed with another company for less work and more pay like his challenger Goldberg at WM XX? Lesnar has been foolish plain and simple. Remember when Angle supposedly wanted to go for the Olympics and he talked to Vince about it? Vince was willing to work with it. Lesnar unlike guys like Rock did not give Vince any leeway. You think the company might not have thought Lesnar might be trying to get out of his contract because he was complaining before hand? Let's get real here.

***Only person who sees the outcry from people who will say Vince is trying to profit off dead wrestlers with a DVD****** BTW, some tagged stuff here in Toronto doesn't have the wwf initials censored such as the History of WM I-IX. I mean it has such factual anectodes like UW defending the wwf title against Randy Savage at WM 7.

Guys, if the wwe has replaced Orton with Batista weren't some here stating that Flair would turn on HHH at Mania to cost him the title? *Okay this is a house show in Australia, never mind

I thought this was going to be about the wwe setting up ready made post Mania title feuds for Batista on smackdown. If the rumours of switching champs have any merit I can see they are putting the seeds to grow for this. They might have just replaced Orton with Batista. I was also thinking the wwe might be testing rather loosely if fans want to see Batista crush JBL for the WWE Title.

Hmmmm....Orndorff, Jimmy Hart, Nikolai Volkoff, Bob Orton, and Iron Sheik. If Hulk Hogan, Mr T. or Roddy Piper is not linked to this I'll be surprised. They might be going for the Mania 1 cast here to commemorate with 21. Dynamite Kid doesn't deserve to be in the WWF HOF? When even Vince Russo claims the man was apart of the most revolutionary tag team in wwf history in terms of style(WWF RAW mag in 1995/96 at a time when the wwf did not respect most of the past) you know you have done something great. Please watch some British Bulldogs' matches and see guys from HBK to Benoit stealing all kinds of stuff from these guys(nip up, flying headbutt, jump off partner's shoulders etc). Yeah, the Bulldogs don't deserve a spot, while the wwe went around proclaiming NAO as the greatest at one point Valentine also does blow away Val Venis His feud with Santana for the I-C title alone beats out the crap like choppy choppy my pee pee any day.

I'm glad some here alluded to Rock's movies. The Rock is big time and I kind of don't get Vince's mindset here, but Vince has been down this road before. Everyone who has left Vince and wrestling has eventually stunk up the joint. Maybe he's counting on that track record where Rock comes back in a couple of years. Rock did use a lot of the wwe network to push his movies. Either way, can't blame the guy for picking the movie industry. I mean he sees where his predecessors have ended up(early grave or crippled). *Little rant over*** Both men will do business again(I say when business picks up). Maybe Vince actually sees The Rock as a detriment to moving forward. When guys like Orton and so on get bigger(this is hypothetically speaking of course) the bigger the money matches down the line. Rock/JBL is kind of a jabronie match for Mania in all honesty. Rock/Sting is Mania worthy. Didn't Rock want to face Savage last year?

It won't be healthy for the wwe to rejoin right now. We know the writers are lazy and will blow through all of the future blockbuster matches within a year or two. Look how they have rushed Cena and Orton. On the other hand I also do not buy the idea that the split allowed guys like Benoit and Guerrero to get to the top. Guerrero especially was getting very strong heat before they shoestrung the wwe title on the guy out of nowhere. The problem is creative and a thin roster on both brands. I also agree that the format has to change. Now this is not saying that they haven't done some minor changes even in the storytelling because they have with stuff like the Rumble winner getting the chance to choose which champion he wants to face in the main event of Mania. The big problem is that if they want the mainstream back they need to look like a new show with new life. Can an average Joe off the street really tell what the difference between raw and smackdown today compared to 5 years ago with the exception that they are two different rosters(even then some may say it's all the same)? The business was in the same situation in 1993-1994, but little changes started to happen with things like Nitro and by 1996-1997 Bischoff and company had a format that was completely crushing Vince's. Vince had to change his format. The format is tired again. They got a few things they can really turn things up with like the raw and smackdown interaction at the Rumble. They need to have both shows trying to outdo each other or something. There doesn't seem to be anything at stake unlike the 90's. I like the idea of incorporating the house shows into things. That is something new and different, yet they won't do it because of laziness. It will take a lot more work. They did do it in the 80's somewhat as storylines like Orton/Muraco's break-up were taped at house shows and showed in local markets and then it built up the blow-off on superstars or challenge. It's laziness now and the easy way out of trying to do things with hollywood writing. Look how they half-assed the rumble qualification matches on the house show circuit(not to mention the confusion). Another problem it encountered was the thin rosters. I don't know, but smackdown being cancelled might be the kick in the ass Vince needs. Maybe UPN heard the rumours that Vince turned smackdown into the grooming brand for raw. Hell, I read once that Vince does favour raw and would weaken smackdown in spite of it. If you were a tv company president and the talk was that Vince was short-changing you on a major timeslot what would you do? Take into account that the commercial slots get lower buys due to the nature of the business in tv land. Vince should get his weekend shows cancelled as well for laziness as well with all the damn repeats(adding to the over-esxposure of the same matches week in and week out that the split was supposedly created to prevent). The company's greed in the ppv market has also made the shows less anticipated for tv and the ppv schedule. I like the idea of seasons and I think what the wwe can do is create some kind of format where raw and smackdown are competing with each other and can interact with each other without throwing away all the potential matches on a yearly basis. Maybe the rotation of the champions and the general managers trying to keep them is a start. There needs to be some kind of bouncing back and forth without ruining the illusion of two leagues. It's obvious the wwe can't run each brand with its own identity without sucking dry the other brand. They might as well do what they do best on both brands, but have the brands compete with a central figure(such as Vince) that they answer to. Anyways, maybe all these rumours about the future of raw and smackdown will get Vince into kick-ass mode again. I mean he is about due for something great again isn't he? It's been what.....4-5 years?

I agree with the point that when they had a monster roster during the 80's, the company had some competition which is why long term it didn't create the possibility of a dried up talent pool. However, going with that thinking means that the net is a bit unfair to the wwe when comparing raw's ratings and quality to the attitude era. RAW was once the only "A" show without having Smackdown to produce on another prime time night. I still think one of the biggest problems is over-exposure during the years and how well they exploit the talents. Okay, if Vince Mcmahon really is of the mindset that smackdown is the grooming brand for raw then promote as such to create some kind of new blood vs. established blood angle between the brands. That's what the nWo vs. wcw/wwf angle was about initially somewhat. I guess he doesn't want the masses to realize a heirarchy going on in the wwe which was the excuse many used about why Vince never used the wcw name. That it was inherently secondary to wwf to fans and would flop.

I'll give you Mr. Perfect, Rotundo, Rogeaus, Ricky Steamboat, Dibase and Matt Borne(stars of that nature). The Nasty Boys and Earthquake were more flavour of the month and did not help that much imo. The reason I think they should be more strict is that the HOF will then turn into a gimmick(next thing we know Triple H gets put in there during his bid to break Flair's record in 2008 or something) or become a whore like the wwf title or I-C title in 1999 where everyone got it. The HOF won't be special anymore and a big reason why I think Bruno doesn't accept the offer is the reason that anyone seems to be thrown in there. It's kind of disrespectful. I think we have to look at how this whole thing forumlated and what the purpose it can serve for REAL. In 1993, Vince put Andre the Giant as the first entrant. It was done so to make Andre immortalized in wwe folklore. He had to DIE before a thing even existed. Then the wwf made the HOF in 1994-95 when they started the "new generation" campaign because they probably thought the glory days of the 80's boom was over and they needed to make it seem like a new generation was here. They inducted guys like Pedro Morales and Fabolous Moolah because they tried to show that they were stars before the Hogan/Savage era(whom they were mocking at the time). Johnny Rodz I can see why they put in there because he helped develop a lot of talent by being a glorified jobber. His work was important. They brought back the HOF last year to coincide with the anniversary of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden and put people like Muraco and Billy Graham in there along with 80's icons Ventura/Heenan. Since Vince owns everything now he probably thinks his HOF is THE HOF for wrestling and put Harley Race in it. I just can't see the reasoning in throwing everybody in the thing. You might as well put tag teams like Power and Glory and Warlord in it. I can understand gimmick wrestlers like Kamala because the character stood out and made 80's wrestling what it once. It represents a timeframe, but that doesn't mean it needs to have every nook and cranny. Not a bad list so far. I think Nikolai's stuff with Iron Sheik as a tag team is being considered as well. They will justify it with that because Iron Sheik's title reign kayfabe wise was nothing but a squash.

Now the rumour mill is that Vince doesn't feel he needs Rock or at least that's what he's trying to imply to Rock. I really don't see the harm in having Rock/Sting at WrestleMania besides obvious rust on the part of both men. It would help bring back some lost fans and if they are planning for Batista and Cena to be crowned what better way than an increased audience? It's better than having a friggin celebrity match like LT vs. Bam Bam that makes the whole industry look bad. The Rock can be used as an attraction at least. Hogan and Rock stole the show at Mania 18 because Jericho and HHH was a forgone bore of a match that HHH help bury on national television on TSN. Not to mention Jericho looked like a tool in the HHH/Stephanie title match. They are building Batista/HHH much better and I don't think Cena/JBL is that obvious because there has never been two title switches at Mania before. Besides who in the crowd wouldn't want to see JBL finally lose the belt?

Maybe Vince should just hand the "promotion" over to Shane Mcmahon to run as was rumoured with the wcw purchase. Of course, we all know if this was anywhere a possibility Stephanie would run the damn thing and we'll get stuff like UT having an affair.

WM 17 and XX did have much more marketing and promotion behind it, but for some reason(maybe memories) I still think WM 3 had a lot more mainstream press. I remember seeing Hogan slamming Andre on Entertainment Tonight(It took 5 years for anything Mania related appeared on the show and it was Ric Flair proclaiming Elizabeth was "mine before she was yours"), George Michael Sports Machine, all the newspapers in Toronto had the results in the sports pages(Hogan slam was the front page of Toronto Sun), and TSN SportsDesk. 17 and XX did not have anything close to this in terms of mainstream response. It's said that the wwe even gave permission to outlets to air the highlights of Mania XX and stations did not pick it up. Hell, even WM 4 had something similar to mainstream press that 17 and XX did not. I don't know it just seems Mania felt much bigger back then or it could just be that I was a little kid(although my fanaticism had me tape all of this stuff which is why I clearly remember). The big drop for Mania in terms of mainstream press came around WM V, but even that had tidbits here and there on mainstream news. Imagine if Vince and company put the same amount of money into those early Mania shows that they did with 17 and XX(which they clearly couldn't being a private company). Seeing the Expos sign made me think about the other rumoured place of Montreal. It seems that Vince is up to something with Bret Hart imo. Why Calgary and Montreal? I don't know which crowd would be better because both at their best are pretty awesome.

Damn, I didn't even think about Hogan being in negotiations with Vince about THAT! Hogan and Austin in the same film?

Bringing up the past would probably force them to prolong the feud which I think they just wanted a one off match for. Plus, I bet more than half the hollywood writers don't even know about Slaughter's past in regards to 1991. Hassan beating up on ol' Sheiky would be funny as hell as I'm sure a lot of casual fans can see Hassan is a modern day Iron Sheik.

I think that is why Vince is trying to get Hulk Hogan in there. I think I remember Jim Ross saying that to be inducted the wrestler should be retired at least 5 years which Hogan isn't. The problem is that the HOF needs credibility and Hogan can give it. In all honesty, Bruno Sammartino should be in the damn thing whether he wants it or not(might put him posthumously if he continues to negate the offer). Bruno's acceptance is kind of important being the pioneer champion of the company, but I'm sure JBL holding his belt isn't making him any happier. The Hall of Fame really needs these guys in it for it to be anything serious in the long run................. Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino(should be in before Hogan and the rest actually), Bret "Hitman" Hart(whom Vince might be wooing for next year and will show it's about truly respecting history and not just politics), Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, British Bulldogs, Ric Flair, and LOD/Road Warriors. Without these guys in it the whole thing is a joke and politics. People like Earthquake have no business being in the HOF with all due respect. The "celebrity wing" isn't a bad idea, but how could Pete Rose get in before Mr. T who helped bring mainstream press to Vince's second biggest windfall in his career WrestleMania?(Hulkamania was his first)

I suppose Hogan being inducted is most likely. He deserves it obviously. It should be a former heavyweight champ(Hogan), former IC champ (Steamboat), former tag team champ, and former US champion and former women's champ I guess to round it all out. There is no way Hogan and Bruno are going to both be in a ceremony. It's like saying Savage will be inducted the same night.

I was thinking the same thing. Vince might be thinking this is the best way to apologize to Bret. Either induct him in Montreal or Calgary.