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Triple H, October 2011:

“When I grew up, I hated Hogan. I thought he was terrible and didn’t like to watch him. I was like Punk in a way. I liked the Steamboats and Flairs and the ones that could go. Would I be right in saying that Hogan was the wrong guy to go with, and they should’ve changed directions and gone with Steamboat because he was the better wrestler? Ludicrous.” - Triple H. October, 2011.

Every Wrestlemania Main Event Ranked

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Qualitative estimation after 30 years of Counterfactual WM Main Events.


1. Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle (20)
-Heel champion Angle, unbeaten for five years, loses the strap at 20.

2. Eddy Guerrero d. Chris Benoit (21)
-A year later in an all babyface matchup, Eddy takes Benoit's belt (with Dean as the referee) in a 60 minute Iron Man match at 21.

3. Owen Hart d. Bret Hart (10)
-Bret was WWF Champ two straight years, turned heel while holding the belt, lost to his brother at 10.

4. Kurt Angle d. Chris Benoit (17)
Three years before our top rated main event it was Benoit as heel losing his title to white meat Angle at 17

5. Bret Hart d. Shawn Michaels (11)
-A year after our #3 match, Bret regains the title, here against Michaels, at 11.

6. Dynamite Kid d. Ricky Steamboat (2)
28 years ago, heel Dynamite ended Steamboat's title reign that began even before the first Wrestlemania, at 2.

7. Claudio Castagnoli d. Bryan Danielson (30)
This year's match, the all ROH main event, comes in next; Claudio taking Danielson's belt at 30.

8. Brock Lesnar d. Bryan Danielson (29)
     The year before it was Danielson losing his belt when Punk threw in the towel during a wild brawl against Lesnar at 29.
  
      9. Steve Austin d. Bret Hart (13)
      Speaking of brawls, with Pillman and Owen on the outside, Austin took Bret's title at 13.        
     10. Chris Benoit d. Cactus Jack (16)
      Speaking of brawls, Benoit came into the WWF (with the three guys you remember) and took Foley's title at 16.

     11. Rey Mysterio d. Chris Benoit (22)
            In Chris Benoit's last ever match, he lost his title to fellow babyface Mysterio at 22.

12. Shawn Michaels d. Bret Hart (12)
A year after the #5 match came an Iron Man rematch, this time it was Michaels going over at 12.

13. Bryan Danielson d. Chris Jericho (28) 
A year before losing his belt to Lesnar, Danielson kept it against a heel Jericho at 28.

14. Chris Jericho d. Shawn Michaels (25)
Three years previous, babyface Jericho kept his belt against a heel Shawn Michaels at 25.

15. Curt Hennig d. Randy Savage (7)
Perfect kept his title in what turned out to be the blowoff to his long feud against Savage at 7

16. Curt Hennig d. Randy Savage (6)
The year before, Perfect also retained his title in a win over Macho at 6.

17. Randy Savage d. Bret Hart (5)
A year before, it was Savage who was keeping his belt in an all babyface match against Bret at 5.

18. Bret Hart d. Ric Flair (8)
It took three more years, but Bret would win his first WWF title over Flair at 8.

19. Kurt Angle d. Brock Lesnar (19)
A decade before winning this first WWF Title, Lesnar lost a chance against his mentor, Angle, at 19.

20. Ricky Steamboat d. Dynamite Kid (3) 
A concession's made to Dynamite's physical condition (that maybe should have played a greater role in the booking from this point forward) to knock down Steamboat regaining the belt from him at 3.

21. Ricky Steamboat d. Barry Windham (1)
It's a match that feels like the NWA at the first Mania; Steamboat keeping his belt at 1.

22. Owen Hart d. Shawn Michaels (14)
Michaels back hurts this match a little bit; Owen keeping his belt at 14.

23. CM Punk d. Shelton Benjamin/ Johnny Nitro (24)
The TLC match to unify the WWF/ECW/NWA title belts, won by Punk at 24.

24. Matt Hardy d. Edge (23)
Highest match on the list that wasn't for the title, Matt beat Edge in only the third ever Hell in a Cell (as of WM 30 there hasn't been another; it's a really protected gimmick) at 23.

25. Edge/Matt v. Punk/Christian (26)
The Punk/Edge feud would culminate a year later in what was billed as the main event of 27, but its the Punk/Matt feud which, for all intents and purposes, ends here when Edge turns on his partner postmatch. 26.

26. Bret Hart d. Razor Ramon (9)
In 30 years, Bret's main evented Mania 8 times, here, he keeps his belt over Razor at 9.

27. Kurt Angle d. Curt Hennig (18)
Hennig was WWF Champ when he beat Savage in Toronto at VI, after years away, he returned to next Toronto Mania, losing a title shot against Angle at 18.

28. Cactus Jack d. Owen Hart (15)
The match quality here gives way to the booking decision to make this a pure science match; it's unlikely this hits four stars as Jack beats Owen in his final match at 15

29. Dynamite Kid d. Ricky Steamboat (4)
Dynamite didn't have much left when he sent Steamboat out of the WWF in a Loser Leaves Town at 4.

30. Nick Nemeth d. CM Punk (27)
      The billed main event, Punk/Edge, would be higher on the list, but following Punk taking the WWF Title, he immediately lost a shorter than ideal match to Nemeth, cashing in the briefcase, at 27



TNA 2014 Bound for Glory

Saturday, April 11, 2015


Slammiversay is here.    TNA's last PPV is Bound for Glory from Tokyo.  
TNA World Title: Low Ki d. James Storm
X Title: Samoa Joe d. Minoru Tanaka
Tags: Dudleys d. Sanada/Muta
Kaz Hayashi d. Kazma
Tajiri d. MVP
Dreamer d. Abyss
TJ Perkins d. EC3
Jiro Kuroshio/Yusuke Kodama d. Andy Wu and El Hijo del Pantera

We end our look at TNA with Bound for Glory; the dominant storyline in 2014 has been faction warfare; following the two opening matches, we have Dreamer, from Future Endeavors beat one of the TNA originals, Abyss, in a garbage match.  Probably, that wraps up Dreamer in the Counterfactual.  Kaz and his protegee Kazma join Team Muta in this build - but Kazma swerves Kaz and joins Future Endeavors; he pays for that here.  Tajiri doesn't join FE, despite pressure to so do - and he beats MVP.  

The Dudleys, reunited, regain the tag belts for FE, The Horsemen are in the two singles title matches, Joe keeps the X belt in the best match of the night, going over Minoru Tanaka - and then a TNA original, the first ever TNA Champion, Low Ki - ends TNA's final PPV by beating Storm from the Horsemen and recapturing the belt.

As TNA is no longer a quarterly live PPV promotion; their real world lineage takes over upon the return of Impact to TV in 2015; on that first show, they switch all of the belts to their real world holders, and going foward, real world TNA (like ROH or PWG or really, the rest of the world that isn't WWE) now exists.  

I'll be back in May with some extra stuff, then June is the Battle Royal to determine the number one contender for Summer Slam 2014, we'll finish the build in July - and August will be that event.  


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