Fantabulous

Don't you know? We still don't know how good Ryback is. After weeks of looking just about passable, we don't know how good Ryback is. After a world class carry job by a top-level work with tons of shortcuts resulting in a just about bearable match, we don't know how good Ryback is. We'll still be here next year with people insisting we just don't know how good Ryback is or can be.

Punk worked his tail off to carry the match and while Ryback didn't embarrass himself, there were several points where that came dangerously close to happening. The match was passable but that's being generous. I really hope this puts to rest the idea that Ryback is actually good or the totally absurd notion that Ryback is good and WWE are just keeping it under wraps. Punk made this match and while Ryback deserves credit for not outright stinking the place out, let's not fool ourselves into thinking anything other than Punk just about made a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Quotation marks don't stop reports from being true or not. I know you have what appears to be a real phobia about information but quotation marks don't actually do anything to protect you from it. And Undertaker's physical condition is in no way a work. The man is banged up and in rough shape. He has been for a while. The fact he has only worked once or twice a year over the past few years should be a big indication of that. Unless that is part of the big work to surprise us this year. You don't need to know what is coming around every corner, but you also don't need to stick your fingers in your ears and refuse to admit any report, hope the lack of quotation marks doesn't upset you, could possibly be true.

The poster is real. We're not getting Punk/Austin next year. The odds are pretty good we're never getting it, despite both parties being interested in the idea, because Austin is that banged up. Undertaker is not getting a joke match. He's either getting a major match or he likely won't be on the card at all. Whatever happens is up to him.

You could not miss my point more if you tried. Not only that, you've ascribed to me statements I never made or even hinted at. I never said Ryback should never have more than a squash match. I never said it wouldn't get old. I never said people want to see the same thing over and over ad nauseum. You haven't just missed my point; you've missed my point and wandered into a completely different argument that I never made. It's quite remarkable. I will simplify my argument, making it simple as possible, so that even you cannot miss the point being made; Messing with a winning formula might not be a good idea.

Could be that Ryback's improved, but then that might give the initial smark opinion credibility, whatever a smark is and labelling others like that is just childish, and that seems to be something some people here hate to do. Curious that the opinion of a 'smark' is downplayed and dismissed when it paints Ryback in a negative light but when it talks positively of Ryback, hey, it's magically meaningful and taken as almost gospel. Wonder why? Even if Ryback can go 15 minutes and look passable, and WWE will almost certainly insist on the match going like that, that isn't what got Ryback over. It's not what people want out of a Ryback match. They want Ryback to come in, kick the crap out of people, toss them around the ring and then hit his finisher. Anything else, well, it might get a good reaction and Ryback might even look like a passable worker, but it's not what brought Ryback to the dance. It's not what got him over. Will Ryback still be over when WWE have him working WWE main event style matches? We'll see, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If undeserving title fights sends you into that much of a tizzy, watch Bellator instead. Just don't complain when championship rematches that people want to see never get made.

The Cell in no way guarantees it won't be a cop out. If WWE want a cop out ending to avoid beating either man, they'll do one.

These reports, note the lack of magical quotation marks, are all over the internet. Have you considered looking things up for yourself?

He's been going long on house shows and most reports have the matches as not being very good. Besides, a character like that doesn't really suit long matches, which is where the WWE mentality may come back to haunt them. WWE like long main events in the 15-20 minute range and a guy like Ryback, who isn't the most polished of workers nor does he need to be, is more likely to sink than swim if they insist he goes that long.

Keep it classy? You mean like dismissing an opinion as trolling simply because I don't like it? That kind of classy?

Picking up on subtlety is not your strong point.

Remember kids, it's only bad when the 'bad guys' do it. I wonder what would happen in the real world if a person or power had that mindset.

Benavidez/Johnson was a good fight but there was nothing about either fighter that engaged the live fans or the casual fan. As good as the Flyweights are as fighters, and they are very skilled, there isn't anything about them that engages the audience or captures your attention. Talent isn't enough but Dana and company have tunnel vision and don't seem to realize that.

Cena's matches and storylines following the same formula of no-selling is one of the reasons I've stopped caring about anything he's involved in; he never makes anything seem like it matters, so what's the point?

It's comical in a way. What Linda 'did' for WWE has been the backbone of her campaigning; using it to paint her as someone who creates jobs, etc, But the minute someone brings up something WWE did that was of questionable taste, and some of the things they did had no taste whatsoever, they run like the wind to distance themselves from WWE. Or to put it another way, her actions are par for the course in politics.

The Bonnar fight is understandable not just because it is a replacement fight but also because Bonnar was one of the very few guys willing to face Silva at such short notice. As for Silva taking on Weidman, I like Weidman and it's a fight I'd love to see but it's fight that there is absolutely no justification for making it right now. Weidman's record doesn't warrant it and it's a fight that means virtually nothing at the box office.

Based on the fights that have drawn the most, I would say the opposite is true. Based on what's been said in this discussion, I would definitely say the opposite is true.

Henderson should have informed the UFC the moment he was injured, but the reason the PPV was cancelled was because Jones refused the Sonnen fight. If Jones accepts, the PPV is on; if he declines, it's off. The circumstances that led up to that decision, that blame does go to Henderson and the UFC, but whether the PPV took place or not all came down to what decision Jones made. He made the decision that ultimately cancelled the PPV, so the blame goes to him.

They have absolutely no blame to bear at all and it's absurd to claim they do. Their turning down the fight didn't cause Dana to cancel the PPV. Jones turning down the Sonnen fight did. And that's why he is getting the blame, because Jones caused the PPV to get cancelled. You can make all the arguments you want about how UFC has to shoulder some of the blame for making such a weak card in the first place, and those arguments would be correct, and you just as accurately point out that Jones had the right to not take the fight, but the fact remains that PPV was cancelled because Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen tonight.

A plan that would require both men to know in advance that anyone else offered the fight would turn it down and that Dana would eventually decide to go with Sonnen, a man everyone would be thinking is not ready for a fight at this time and who Dana doesn't think should get a title shot without a series of good wins at 205lbs. It makes for a nice theory but it's doesn't stand up. Henderson has also stated that Chael had no idea he was injured, and given that word of Henderson actually being injured didn't surface anywhere until almost right before it was announced, it's certain that few people outside of Henderson's close circle even knew about it.

I can see why this situation would confuse you. After all, Jones did have a full training camp and would be in absolute peak condition. How could anyone expect him to take on an undertrained, underprepared fighter, who lacks the dynamite punch that Henderson has, has very limited stand-up skills as it is, and who openly admits he would have stood no chance in those conditions. Who in their right mind would accept as gift wrapped a big money fight as you'll ever get? Fight substitutions happen regularly in the UFC; it's become almost a running joke this past year. But you don't find many fighters turning them down, especially when it really is as gift wrapped as this one was. Jones had the right to turn down the fight but that doesn't mean he was right. The fact that such a fight was turned down tells me one of two things; they're that scared of Sonnen or that they're scared of not having Jackson being able to come up with one of his famed gameplans. If it's the former, they're screwed because you know Dana will now give Sonnen the Jones fight as soon as he can. If it's the latter, then there are bigger problems to worry about and they're nothing to do with Jones, at least directly.

They didn't know; Henderson kept it secret until this past week. That's why I think Henderson should get more of the blame than he is, because he never alerted the UFC the moment he injured himself and didn't keep them apprised of the situation. There is plenty of blame to go around for this mess and trying to apportion all of it or even most of it one party is to miss the entire picture.

Getting REAL buy rates for both companies isn't a mystery and anyone can find the numbers out of they put in a little effort. For UFC, you have to know where to look, and have your eyes open when you do so, but they're findable. And WWE buy rates can be found out when they publish their financial reports.

Dana opened up the can of all cans of whoop-ass on Jones and Jackson.