TCO Dungeon of Doom

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[SmartAssAssassin]

Ima answer these tomorrow. Too late to form competant answers now.

Dave

[SmartAssAssassin]

1. One of the wealthiest known wrestling fans is Ted Turner. It's been a while, he's got an itch to get back into the wrasslin' business, and he's got money burning a hole in his pocket. For whatever reason, he's chosen you to found a company. You get to hire a staff of 25 15-30 wrestlers, none of whom may be under contract to WWE or TNA as of now. You also may not hire more than 5 away from Ring of Honor. What is your fed called, what is it's theme or position in the market, and who have you hired?

So Ole' Teddy calls me up and tells me im gonna be in charge of his new baby, the WWL, the World Wrestling Leauge. WWL because it's close to WWE and that will draw some interest, but were not about "Entertainment", were about wrestling, so he tells me to make it happen.

25 Guys. Im gonna have 3 divisions each with their own title.
First, my Main event, League Championship divison:

1.) Batista   2.) Goldberg   3.) Buff Bagwell   4.) DDP   5.) Perry Saturn   6.) Rikishi
I tell these guys, this is your league to run with. Your the cream of the crop right now, your gonna get the top billing, for those of you yearning for your old glory days, time to bring them back. For those who felt they never got a fair shot at glory, well here it is, come and get it.
Also, ive got a good mix. Ive got some sound wrestlers in ring (DDP, Saturn, Buff), big names who will put butts in seats (Batista and Goldberg), good mic work from DDP, and pure entertainment from Rikishi and Buff Bagwell.

Second, my Middle League Championship Division:

1.) Colt Cabana   2.) Rob Conway   3.) Mike Sanders   4.) Chuck Palumbo
5.) Sean O'Haire 6.) Kevin Thorne  7.) Mark Jindrak    8.) Shelton Benjamin
This is actually the bread and butter of the WWL. These are my guys who are less about promos and more about wrestling, but havethe skills to do both. Entertaining in the ring and entertaining on the mic. And i tell these guys, this is your chance. I want success, i know you didnt get a fair shot in the past, but your gonna get it now. Work hard, wow the crowd, and youre going to end up in the championship hunt.

Then i've got my X division, so to speak. Only it's the Turbo Division and Championship in the WWL. I've decided to sign:

1.) Paul London   2.) Brian Kendrick   3.) Super Crazy   4.) Jimmy Wang Yang
5.) Psycosis        6.) Tijiri                  7.) Chavo Guerrero 8.) La Parka
I tell these guys to wow the crowd. Steal the show. Im honest; they may not ever get to the championship picture, but they have the chance to get the love of the fans with all their sick in ring stuff.

3 more guys, so i hire Joey Stlyes for commentary, Ariel to accompany Kevin Thorne and be eye candy, and Maryse. She's going to manage London and Kendrick, and a messy love trianlge is going to develop with Kendrick betryaing London and Maryse choosing Kendrick. This is going to lead up to an emotionally charged match that see's London triumph after being betrayed by his friend and potential girlfriend. 

2. The wrestling business has a storied history of announcers who, for whatever reason, are considered to be terrible. Yes, Don West, we did see that. No, Tony Schiavone, this is actually a fairly mediocre night, and Mick Foley does put butts in seats. No, Mike Adamle, his last name is "Hardy," not "Harvey." However, sometimes all a bad commentator needs is a great partner, with whom he has chemistry. Michael Cole started to come into his own when paired with JBL, and now that he's with the King, he's the grating, irritating Voice of the WWE. Pick a terrible announcer, then find a partner for them who can help them on the way to respectability, if not greatness. Explain what it is about this partner that plays well with the Awful Announcer's style, and how the pairing will improve the terrible one.

Mike Adamele and Jesse Ventura.  Jesse berates Adamele constantly. He calls him out whenever he makes a mistake, gives him "lessons" on the air, and just spends his tim talking him down. Not in a brutal, break your spirit kind of way, but just factually. Adamele sucks and Jesse isnt afraid to tell him so. After a while, Adamele just shuts up quite a bit and finally tells Jesse, on air "Ya know, this aint so easy; id like to see how you do without me." So Adamele just clams up for the next couple weeks, leaving Jesse to call most of the evening on his own, and as it turns out, he's not real good by himself. So Jesse tells Adamele "Ok chump, looks like we need each other. You help me, i help you. So they do and it works out and its a happy love story, haha.

3. Beaver Cleavage. Why?

Because originally, Vince wanted to give him a buzz cut, a flannel shirt, ripped jeans and combat boots and name him Dick Van Dyke. But creative thought that was a little much.

Dae

[dilbert505]

I had not noticed that all 5 answers for all three questions were in. I'll try to review these after Raw, but may have to wait until tomorrow evening. I'll turn around the responses as soon as possible.

[dilbert505]

Q1: Full disclosure: Part of the reason I asked this question is to see if people suggested some wrestlers I hadn't seen much of, to give me ideas of people whose matches I should look up on YouTube. Everyone gets a 5 in that category. I wish I could give out a 5, a couple 4s, and a couple 3s, but I'm stuck using a 1-5 scale here, so here goes.

kbjone: 2 - Very solid, but up against a lot of equally solid ideas. I like the insistence on keeping it small and independent, though I'm not positive about being a part of the NWA. You're good with Brent Albright, by the way. I'm only counting people who appear on the TNA roster page, so even people who've just appeared on Destination X that aren't on that page, I wouldn't ding people for.

Antigoth: 5 - I can believe Ted saying something like that, but... Rasslin? Urgh. That could have cost you, but you get credit for the Women's Division (top quality talent there), and for bringing in someone who I'm surprised you're the only one to pick up on: MVP. Your roster brings quite a lot to like, even if I'm not a huge fan of trying to jumpstart the fed by doing the TNA thing of bringing in a high priced bald former WWE champion to try and goose the ratings up front. (Gee, I wonder what I could mean by that?)

Rein: 4 - Good idea on not trying to compete with WWE directly. You went for exactly the type of former WWE guy I was thinking would work, and you have a nice mix of styles here. I won't ding you for having one ROH guy too many on your roster (the Briscoes, WGTT, and Young Bucks are all listed on the ROH roster), but Ric Flair's contract status is up in the air. If TNA's roster page is any indication, they still consider him part of the company. Also, it's good to see you including someone from your fed. Cool idea.

Queensryche: 3 - Playing to the DM, I see. That referee thing is familiar, somehow... Anyway, same deal as with Rein. Not dinging you for having 6 ROH guys (Briscoes, Young Bucks, Generico, and Steen, in this case), but I do have to ding you for the fed's name, which Vince McMahon's lawyers are going to have a field day with. First, "All-World"? Sounds like something I heard on a wrestling program recently. Second, without the "All," you're left with "World Championship Wrestling," which kind of happens to be trademarked. By your top competition. Who bought the name from the guy bankrolling you. Good on you for the "definitive end," though.

SmartAssAssassin: 1 - I refer back to the not being a huge fan of bringing in high priced bald former champions, but if you're legit looking to compete with Vince off the top, which I'm not sure you should, that is the way to set it up. I can't support the addition of Buff Bagwell to your list at the moment, though, since it's not clear he'll be able to return to wrestling at this point. I do love your middle league and Turbo divisions, though.

Q2:

kbjone: 3 - A really strong entry here, and it probably would have been a 4 or 5 except for the part where I'm not sure Nash beating the crap out of Madden would actually improve his commentary (though it would certainly make the show more enjoyable.) I also quite like the use of Nash here, since even though he's not a regular commentator, he could (should) be, and would be enjoyable on his own, even if Madden doesn't improve.

Antigoth: 2 - I have to dock you here, because Josh Matthews actually is getting past the rookie mistakes now. He's better as a backstage interviewer, still, but he hasn't made my ears gush blood in a while now. Props for bringing up Cyrus, though, since he's a vastly underrated talent on the stick.

Rein: 1 - OK, not so much hate here, just a difference in tastes. The King has been on fire the past few months, and it was "Puppies" Lawler that really got on my damn nerves. Also, Storm knows wrestling, and I'm a big fan, but he has all the charisma of a ringpost. I'm not sure he's the guy you want on the mic.

Queensryche: 5 - I like this pairing. Schiavone is a great example of an announcer who let his bad habits get the better of him on a regular basis, and JBL's just irritable enough that he'd call him on it whenever it happened. You did a good job of pointing out that there's evidence for this pairing potentially fixing his flaws, and picked a great counterpoint partner for Schiavone vocally, since JBL's deep Texas twang contrasts nicely with Schiavone's higher register.

SmartAssAssassin: 4 - This is probably the best angle of the bunch, and Ventura has the chops to pull his side of it off. I love the idea of Adamle getting his own back by doing exactly what most people wished he'd have done when he was terrible, and as long as he's actually picking up pointers during the "correctional" period, he'd develop properly. My only concern is that Ventura's a damn good commentator, and might well be able to carry a show by himself anyway. If he does do that part well, it makes it harder to justify the "Looks like we need each other" bit.

Q3:

kbjone: 2 - Oh, I think this could very easily have been worse than being Meat.

Antigoth: 5 - This is probably the best pure explanation of the angle. Top marks.

Rein: 1 - While this is probably true, it's the cheap way out, and up against some very good answers.

Queensryche: 3 - Small note here: you raise a valid point, but you have it a bit backwards, from what I read (I was curious, and looked it up.) His biological father, Vincent J. McMahon, wasn't known to have abused him. It was one of his stepfathers.

SmartAssAssassin: 4 - This one I really liked. My only quibble is that, as Rein pointed out, "creative" was Vince Russo, whose dialect of English has no word for "a little much." Otherwise, Diagnosis: Funny.

Final Tally:

kbjone: 7
Antigoth: 12
Rein: 6
Queensryche: 11
SmartAssAssassin: 9

Your Winner, and NEW Dungeonmaster... ANTIGOTH!!

[Queensryche]

DAMN!

SO close to regaining the mantle.

Also: Huh, I'd always thought that Vincent J. McMahon was his adoptive father.

[Antigoth]

Alright, I'm assuming Dilbert505 is back in, but who else are my victims?

[Jokerfish]

i'll be another corpse on the heap.

[Homeless]

i'll give it another go.

[Antigoth]

still seeking 2 more bodies!

[dilbert505]

I'm not one to bump threads, under normal circumstances, but despite me possibly contributing to it by not being as available as I'd have liked last round, I don't want to see the Dungeon thread die off.

Confirmed participants:

Dilbert505 (previous Dungeonmaster)
Jokerfish
Homeless
YOU! *Hulking Up Finger Point*
ALSO YOU! *Hulk Point With Other Finger*

[SmartAssAssassin]

Can i go again? Please dad? Pleeeeeeeeeeease (looks at Dilbert)

[Daeva]

No, you can't be in two rounds consecutively.

Fine, fine, drag me out of retirement why don't you. I'm in.

[dilbert505]

Sorry, SmartAss. Daeva's right; QR put that in the rules early on. If you could, it'd be awesome, but you'll need to go for the next round. (Speaking of, you totally should sign up for the next round.)

One more to go!

[SmartAssAssassin]

Sorry, SmartAss. Daeva's right; QR put that in the rules early on. If you could, it'd be awesome, but you'll need to go for the next round. (Speaking of, you totally should sign up for the next round.)

One more to go!

Yeah i know. Thats why i said please. twice. lol

Dave

[Buddha Dudley]

I'll be your 5th

-D
From my lawn chair, in line, at the San Diego Comic Con

[Antigoth]

Currently in a meeting inserting face into palm.

Hopefully will have time to get questions done later today.

[Antigoth]

And the Questions...

1) Following up from Dilbert's last set of questions about starting a federation, and his disdain for Batista, how and why do you feel about him, and using him <Batista> in a federation knowing that he has a major Hollywood movie coming out soon? Does that play into it? Feel free to either acknowledge or ignore his just announced upcoming MMA debut.

2) *spoiler* If you haven't watched the end of the MITB match, where Cena wins as the briefcase broke, while beating Big Show - Was that how it was supposed to end? Was Cena booked to win? Was the case supposed to break like that?

3) AJ - arguably one of the strongest and most interesting characters in a while. Is it because she's "Crazy" or is it something else? Do you think they're treating her appropriately? Do you think this is a positive step? Why or why not?

And go.

Participants:
Dilbert505 (previous Dungeonmaster)
Jokerfish
Homeless
Daeva
Buddha Dudley

Booked for the following Round:
Antigoth (Previous DM)
SmartAssAssassin

[Jokerfish]

Alright lets get the party started.
Q1:Batista is a good power wrestler. At the same time he is one of the most overrated Champions of all time. Of his 6 major title reigns 4 of them were 3 months or shorter. His promos more than half the times were not very good plus. There are things like this:

"In 2005, Batista gave two controversial interviews to the British tabloid newspaper The Sun. In the first interview, Batista, then wrestling on the Raw brand of WWE, criticized SmackDown!, stating, "I've watched their tapings live and it seems like a lot of the guys couldn't care less. There's a lack of passion and pride. There are guys on both shows who are lazy, couldn't care less and show no dedication."[117] In the second interview, Batista acknowledged that his statements had attracted considerable backstage heat from members of the SmackDown! brand as well as Vince McMahon."   

and this:  http://youtu.be/oZcZQuDgd-k
He seems to Egotistical to be good for a locker room. so why bother.

Q2:The results happened in the "almost" way it was supposed to for a couple of reasons. I think Cena and Big Show were supposed to come down with the case at the same time. The Case was rigged to break as they were fighting for it and both men would be holding it creating a need for a clear winner. thus they have a match for it where Cena still wins it. Big show doesn't win things like this ever. Whether it's the Elimanation Chamber, MITB or Royal Rumble. He always seems to be there at the end and fails horribly. Cena Will probably not win his MITB contract match and be the first person to lose. He doesn't need to win to be over and it doesn't bury him in the immediate future like previous MITB winners if they were to lose.
 
Q3:I will say this first I love AJ. That being said the unpredictable schtick is good and bad for her in a couple of reasons.
The good side: She has had some of the best moments this summer season. Her promos are gold and the "craziness" is a good way to keep things off balance enough to keep us wondering what will happen next. She has drawn comparison to Miss Elisabeth for the Love triangle angle, but I would argue she is closer to a Face version of Sheri Martel as AJ is more manipulative seeming than Elisabeth ever was and is on the verge of being a really good if not great manager.
Now the bad: As I stated in the last paragraph AJ is close to being a Great Manager, Not a Great  Women's Wrestler. That is not to say that AJ can't wrestle. I think she can wrestle and wrestle better than most of the Divas. Her storyline isn't exactly fresh and Frankly why does everything take a backseat to Romance She could be manipulating the guys into participation in her matches. She could be at a level of around Lita and at worst Victoria. Then again I blame Vince and the WWE creative staff. If womens matches were longer than five minutes for regular matches and longer than 10 for championship matches we might actually think more of the Divas than that they are a waste of space.It's like this is Vince's way of saying Women belong in the kitchen. Then again If I remember correctly doesn't Steph run Creative? Is she bitter that she isn't considered a better Female Champion ?Anyway I Digress. I will say at least TNA KO matches and story line are at least mildly entertaining in comparison. So in closing AJ needs to be involved in both sides to really be able to move forward.   

[Daeva]

1) In my mind, Batista will always be linked with the epic "basketballs don't hold grudges" promo that he cut once it got leaked that Booker T compared him to one. Booker was not wrong. Batista is full of hot air, and that is why he destroyed his marriage, slept around the locker room, and generally made an ass of himself while working boring, stiff, uninspired matches. I was most certainly not sad to see him go. His movie is a good reason to bring him back for a stunt, to make a quick buck, before you send him right back on the bus, preferably by having him job to your #1 contender to put them over and make them look like a threat to the champion. He is not worth building a federation around, and he never will be.

2) No, the briefcase was most certainly NOT meant to break. The spot was most certainly that Cena would swing the briefcase into Show a few times, knock Show off of the ladder, and then take it. The handle broke because the case is a cheap plastic lunchbox and Cena pulled on the damn thing too hard to sell the shots on Show. Cena was most certainly booked to win, if he wasn't, then Show would have fallen ON the damn case and just taken it that way.

3) AJ is working because she is selling this angle with her entire heart and soul and really making you think that she might be crazy, or just really, really crafty. I can see a hundred different ways that this can end, and that uncertainty, that je ne se quois is what WWE has been missing for a long, long time. Bringing the excitement back into wrestling by having an angle that can seriously go a ton of ways instead of SPOILER ALERT - CENA ALWAYS WINS is a great thing for AJ, Daniel Bryan, and Punk, and Kane's involvement hasn't hurt him, certainly. I think that this will only make AJ a bigger star going forward, because it's making her stand out and giving her recognition among the fans instead of being "that nerdy gamer chick".

[Homeless]

1) Following up from Dilbert's last set of questions about starting a federation, and his disdain for Batista, how and why do you feel about him, and using him <Batista> in a federation knowing that he has a major Hollywood movie coming out soon? Does that play into it? Feel free to either acknowledge or ignore his just announced upcoming MMA debut.

 i don't really care about batista. he was only entertaining for his run as kanye. and his ring work was ALWAYS boring. sometimes he wasn't bad, but he was never good. in a new wcw i would use him a sort of new sting. he wouldn't be falling from the rafters, but he would seemingly  attack various wrestlers at random and interrupt matches to powerbomb people. but if the viewer paid attention, they'd realize he only attacks heels who are cheating excessively. and then we would build him up to be champ from there. i don't care for him, but he does draw and people love to watch him throw people around.

2) *spoiler* If you haven't watched the end of the MITB match, where Cena wins as the briefcase broke, while beating Big Show - Was that how it was supposed to end? Was Cena booked to win? Was the case supposed to break like that?

 

i think it broke too early. i think they wanted it to break on the final shot to big show's head.

3) AJ - arguably one of the strongest and most interesting characters in a while. Is it because she's "Crazy" or is it something else? Do you think they're treating her appropriately? Do you think this is a positive step? Why or why not?

a) she has great timing with her little looks and mannerisms. it makes the crazy thing work so well. and she's working with punk and bryan. they help sell it even more. AND let's not forget she's h-o-t, HAWT!
b) yes. it's not like she's nick dinsmore.
c/d) she's involved in one of the main storylines driving the wwe. of course it's positive. she's on tv every week, people are investing in her emotionally and the few times she does wrestle she goes over.  even after this angle is over and she drops back into the diva's division she will retain this favor/disdain(depending on how it ends) with the fans for awhile. thus giving her more time and opportunity to get over on her own without having to be involved with punk and bryan.

[Buddha Dudley]

1) Following up from Dilbert's last set of questions about starting a federation, and his disdain for Batista, how and why do you feel about him, and using him <Batista> in a federation knowing that he has a major Hollywood movie coming out soon? Does that play into it? Feel free to either acknowledge or ignore his just announced upcoming MMA debut.

I feel ambivalent about Batista as a wrestler personally. As quoted from a famous hall-of-fame caliber manager, "Batista is the type of wrestler who isn't taking arm-drags in the first match of the night. With his physique he's main event or nothing." But considering his upcoming RZA/Tarantino/Roth movie "The Man with the Iron Fists" WWE bookers would be smart to have him come out in "Iron Fist" movie garb for some cross-promo work on Raw's 1000TH.

I'm sure RZA/Tarantino/Roth would not be above doing promo work for it and maybe even have RZA come down and manage Batista for a one time Summerslam match where he has a no-contest match with another upcoming WWE movie man, The Miz. It can be built up as the former
Leading Man" of the company versus the upcoming "Leading Man" of the company. This way the Tarantino/Roth/RZA fanboys who maybe weren't big WWE fans will watch a little WWE to catch Tarantino/Roth/RZA on tv while WWE fans will become more hip not only to Batista's new movie, more importantly they'll also become more knowledgable about Miz's upcoming new movie, Marine Homefront. Win-win.

2) *spoiler* If you haven't watched the end of the MITB match, where Cena wins as the briefcase broke, while beating Big Show - Was that how it was supposed to end? Was Cena booked to win? Was the case supposed to break like that?

I'd like to think WWE Bookers have some sense and that Cena was not booked to win, but I've given up on any sanity WWE Bookers may have. Because while alluded to earlier that CENA always wins, he doesn't need Money In The Bank. MiTB jumpstarts careers and shows off to the WWE Universe who the WWE has earmarked as the next generation of top-tier main eventers. Any sane booker knows this and should know that there was no way Cena needs to win MitB because let's face it, he's already over and while the match was with all former champions, Jericho especially or even Big Show would have been better served with having won MitB for the first time top provide their legitimacy to the current WWE audience. Cena can always be inserted into any World Title Match, even the Raw 1000TH episode Title Match, and no one would think twice at this inclusion. I just don't understand the booking of Cena using his MitB at the Raw 1000TH episode so I can't even justify Cena winning MitB. Personally WWE would've been better served by Cena somehow costing Big Show the MiTB but not winning it himself.

3) AJ - arguably one of the strongest and most interesting characters in a while. Is it because she's "Crazy" or is it something else? Do you think they're treating her appropriately? Do you think this is a positive step? Why or why not?

You can call AJ anything you want. What I call her is interesting and a revelation.  She plays crazy on TV, but what is going unsaid is that she is an actual personality with a full-fledged Gimmick along with her ability to actually add to a storyline as opposed to just be arm candy. AJ is a Diva wrestling fans can actually talk about and not see her as just  legs, lips, T&A but rather see her ability to add to storylines through her mic work & charisma. In response to mentions that she isn't a great wrestler, she doesn't even have to be a great wrestler because Elizabeth, Sunny, Sherri Martel were not great wrestlers either. But they did in fact help get their wrestlers over, stay out of the way, and enhance storylines as opposed to detract from them. So obviously this is a good step in actually help getting back to the model of devious women in wrestling as opposed to shoving them in every Raw for a 3 min. squash match to the current champion.

[dilbert505]

1. Depends on the federation. Batista's a competent wrestler, a reasonable talker (when basketballs aren't involved), has the look of a mammoth threat, and does have at least some level of name recognition. However, he's on the wrong side of 40, moving into two different non-wrestling businesses (MMA and acting), and he's not going to be around long, either because his body can't take it or the money won't be right.

The only place that Batista can work now, logically, is the WWE. They can afford him, which other feds can't. They can provide him exposure. Others can't. The guy in charge of events now was his stablemate for a couple years, and was involved in making Batista a credible media presence, without which he'd have no career. He has to have some loyalty for that, I suspect, even if the other things don't persuade him.

If he's back to plug his movie, and you're not getting him for any length of time, then it's not a great idea to bring him in, because he's not going to help the company in any appreciable way. If he's willing to come back full-time to the WWE, and work his movie and MMA career around their needs, then it's a net benefit to the company to add a main-event caliber guy who can essentially be Brock Lesnar in those months when they can't afford to use up Lesnar dates, and they should go for it.

2. John Cena is many things. He's a skilled wrestler (yeah, yeah, I know the criticisms, but he's capable enough to participate in five-star matches, and poor wrestlers prevent those from happening, rather than get dragged through them.), a prodigious rapper, an unbelievably strong man, remarkably generous with his time, and the most loyal soldier the company's ever seen not married to a McMahon. One thing he is not, though, is a tremendous actor. I don't think he could ever feign the look of shock that crossed his face when the briefcase broke, so clearly something was up.

However, the company seemed to have things on tap. Cena's music hit in reasonably good order, the announcers played it up well, and the show ended at what seemed a perfectly normal time. All these things considered, I think we saw a slight hitch in what was a completely normal result. The briefcase was not supposed to break at that point, and it wasn't supposed to end like that, but I fully believe John Cena was booked to win that match. Just a little bit later than we got.

3. I don't even think it's arguable at this point. All apologies to the Miz, but AJ Lee is the most must-see performer in wrestling today. I've spent several weeks trying to figure out just what the hell her character's endgame could possibly be, came up with no fewer than 8 different potential answers, and I'm still not sure any of the 8 are correct. She's like the Joker, only it's not her past that's multiple choice: it's her motivation.

Now, as to the question of appropriateness and positivity, there's two ways to look at that. From a business standpoint, this is absolutely positive. She's drawing more interest than any female competitor in I don't even know how long (hell, even Miss Elizabeth was interesting primarily because the men involved in her angle were Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, and for all Punk and Bryan are great competitors, they're not the pop phenomena those two were.) However, they are still building an angle around the negative stereotype of the "crazy chick," which on some visceral level disturbs me. The thing here, though, is that disturbing is compelling, and I don't know whether it says more about the WWE that they're exploiting the idea of an unstable woman, or about society that we respond to that exploitation.

The end result here is a train about to wreck. I couldn't look away if I wanted to, even though I risk being revolted, in the end, by what I see.

--

Separate from the questions here: I presume you're joking with me, but to clarify in case anyone's confused: I rather like Batista. Just not a big fan of trying to sign a couple old guys for shock name value, in hopes that they'll do the work of building an audience for you. It just doesn't seem to me that it'd provide a sustainable fanbase, just relying on the name value of wrestlers the big gorilla wrote off.

[Antigoth]

Hi guys, my bad for taking so long to give the response to the answers. Props to everyone for coming up with some great answers, and actually making me think about the scoring in depth. (Last time you made it easy for me. This time, not so much.)

1) Dilbert - 5 This answer felt complete, and balanced.
Buddha Dudley - 4 The Quote & the perspective had you as a very close 2nd.
Jokerfish - 3 Very nice touch on the research.
Daeva - 2 In light of the other answers you fell to here.
Homeless - 1 Interesting idea.

2)
 Dilbert - 5 I read your answer and went "Damn!" Again a complete answer, and I appreciated the perspective.
Jokerfish 4 - Having the hindsight of the 20/20 vision to see how the Raw 1000th went off, you nailed exactly what happened, and that elevated your answer above Daeva's and Buddha's
Buddha Dudley - 3 - Great answer you were almost the runner up.
Daeva - 2 - The prognostication of Joker and Buddah knocked your solid answer down to here.
Homeless - 1 - lack of discussion relegated you last spot.

3) Wow... Just wow. You're all invested in this question, and the answers showed it. I've read where the other judges wished they could have scored it something other than 1-5, and in this case that really applies. At the heart of it, I did ask " Do you think they're treating her appropriately? Do you think this is a positive step? Why or why not?"

And that last piece I think Dilbert was the one who nailed it the best.

Dilbert - 5
Homeless - 4 - There was an exuberance in your answer, and a truth that just needed to be recognized.
Daeva - 3 "because she is selling this angle with her entire heart and soul" I liked that line.
Buddha Dudley - 2 Good answer but you missed the "Treating her appropriately" part.
Jokerfish - 1 Good answer... but you strayed away from what I was looking for.

Scoring - and your first perfect score: Dilbert!!!! (15)
Buddha Dudley - 9
Jokerfish - 8
Daeva - 7
Homeless - 6


So your new GM: Dilbert!

Players for the next round:
1) Me! (Returning from DM)
2) SmartAssAssassin
3) Maskedllama
4) Open
5) Open

[CreedP]

Oh yeah.  This thing.

I know I'm just an observer here, but I feel obligated to say this...  go back and read the first post in this thread again, please.  Now come back and look over the last couple pages.

Anyone else noticed that its gone from a wacky, crazy fun joking session to a long-winded essay contest drawn out over a week while everyone tries to write the perfect composition?

I think, at some point, this thing jumped the shark..   You guys might consider making it fun again, just sayin' 

CREED

[maskedllama]

I'm in!

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children" - Native American Song