Cageside Seats Weekly RECs: Week ending Feb. 8

We're back with yet another dose of amazing work injected by you, the Cageside commenters. Many of you have impressed us all by producing some amazing work and golden comments yet again. So it's that time of the week to recognize the excellent FanPosts, FanShots, and comments that were the "Best in the World" (of Cageside) this past week.

As always, thanks to Cagesider Ecstasy with Extra Cheese for cleverly naming our Weekly Cageside Commenters Awards "The RECs", which perfectly sums up what this feature tries to do. After all, without all of you, Cageside Seats would not be the greatest pro wrestling website on the Internet.

So, without further ado, we present to you...

The cSs REC Awards:

Recognizing Excellence in Contributing

• Cagesider DarkTalon told us, before becoming CSS Staff, all about Revitalizing the Secondary Title Scenes
• Cagesider DaVeganDemon made his case for why we should be Re-Thinking TNA
• Cagesider Sonnen's Political Adviser had to clue us in on the upcoming event in CHIKARA: 'While The Dawn is Breaking'
• Cagesider DarkTalon presented us with A Real Tag Team Revolution
• Cagesider DaVeganDemon played booker and gave us Mid-Week Fantasy Booker: The Shield and the Elimination Chamber
• Honorable Mention goes to: Cagesider rancho king, who wondered if AJ Lee would ever respond to his tweets about his FanFic: Cagesider FanFic: The Geek Goddess and I, chapters 1 through 4

From the "WWE SmackDown results and reactions from last night (Feb. 1): I'll let you go...BAM!" thread:

I find it funny people are excited about Jack fucking Swagger. He stinks. by TMadeBurner on Feb 2, 2013 11:23 AM EST 4 recs

From the "WWE Raw Results and Live Blog for Feb. 4: Brock is back!" thread:

I'm so confused. Back in my day, we had one thread, and we we’re happy just to have that. Also you had to walk ten miles in snow just to post a comment. by Ecstasy with Extra Cheese on Feb 4, 2013 8:22 PM EST 3 recs

From the "Daily Open Thread for Monday, February Fourth: You are the love of my life" thread:

So, while waiting for our ride home on Saturday we decided to hit up the green screen dude. And today the pics went up, so it’s sharing time. First up, and starting the ball rolling on our “let’s get pictures with the belt in fun and interesting situations” deal (tip of the hat to you, Mr Rojas), here I am on the cover of the very prestigious Pro Rasslin magazine, hoisting our championship for all to see.

Then my brother started causing some shit, so I went ahead and put him in his place.

I’m not sure how this attracted enough attention to make the cover of the game of the event, but hey, wasACH going around slapping sloppy cobra clutches onto dudes? I think not. And then I managed to blow off Green Ant and Saturyne because my youngest brother wouldn’t have a picture taken and I was getting self-conscious for having been in two in a row. Still, fun times. by ReverendKain on Feb 4, 2013 11:02 AM EST 11 recs.

and also from the same thread...

Maybe he was originally Sonnens Political Adviser E and then lost a match to determine who would be allowed to have the letter E in their name. by ReverendKain on Feb 4, 2013 12:38 PM EST 4 recs

From the "Bruno Sammartino will be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame" thread:

This [photo] was my intro to wrestling as a child. I was born in 1986, so I did not see his career, but one of my favorite past-times as a child was talking wrestling with my great grandparents. I may not have enjoyed the trips to see them per se, but my great grandfather was a HUGESammartino fan, and the action figure above was my first. I would listen to stories about all the old-time guys, but no stories brought out the child-like happiness in my great grandfather like those he told about Bruno. He was as much a part of my childhood as Hulk Hogan, yet I never saw him wrestle, outside of older videos. I still have that action figure. Worn out faded, almost falling apart. But it still evokes memories, that’s for sure. by Sean Geddes on Feb 4, 2013 6:13 PM EST 5 recs

From the "WWE Raw results and open thread: Brock Lesnar is back!" thread:

Kofi wtf happened? by Kanenite on Feb 4, 2013 9:27 PM EST 4 recs

and also from the same thread...

If this crowd pops for Cena I am personally recreating Sherman's march to the sea by dandeman on Feb 4, 2013 9:33 PM EST 3 recs

and...

the chairs sell better than cena. by mrsocko on Feb 4, 2013 10:08 PM EST 4 recs

and...

[On who goes over CM Punk vs. Brock Lensar]

John Cena by Kanenite on Feb 4, 2013 10:14 PM EST 3 recs

From the "Elimination Chamber 2013: The Shield vs John Cena, Sheamus, and Ryback official for Feb. 17" thread:

Rabble rabble rabble. Shield good. Faces bad. Rabble rabble rabble! by DarkTalon on Feb 5, 2013 4:02 PM EST 4 recs

From the "Daily Open Thread for Wednesday, Feb. 6: The Nameless" thread:

[The winning caption to this photo]

"Human Centipede: You're Doing it Wrong" by Sonnens Political Adviser on Feb 6, 2013 11:48 AM EST 5 recs

and also on the same photo...

The Divas dont even want to watch thier own matches by rancho king on Feb 6, 2013 1:00 PM EST 4 recs

From the "Chris Jericho defends Triple H against Bret Hart's claims that he never had a great match" thread:

Chris Jericho is right. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to read what he’s said. by TMadeBurner on Feb 6, 2013 3:29 PM EST 15 recs

From the "Bruno Sammartino: How much did his WWE Hall Of Fame induction cost Vince McMahon?" thread:

Triple H – What you think of that Bruno? We both know you never seen that much money before in your whole damn life. Come on old man. Time to let go of this petty grudge you’re holding. Deep down inside you know David sucked and wouldn’t of made it as far as he made it if it wasn’t for his last name. So end this and take your well deserved place in the HOF.

Bruno – You and your slimey Father in law just don’t get it do you? It ain’t even about David. I know no David. I disowned that chump years ago. It’s about that damn product you guys try and pass off as wrestling. That ain’t wrestling. Bunch of porn and cartoon characters is all it is. All the females look like a bunch of whores. And there is no way some of them guys got that big naturally. No way. I don’t want to be associated with that. You need to understand boy. I’m my own man. I have my own morals and principals. And I’ll be damn if I’m gonna change them. I don’t care how much offering.

Triple H – I’ll add another zero

Bruno – Like I was saying I been very impressed with the recent changes in the company. The new Wellness policy is amazing. That’s the change I wanted to see. If Vince can change, I can change. I’ll be more than honor to accept induction into the Hall of Fame

Triple H – I bet you are. I knew your old ass could be bought

Bruno – Shut the fuck up and just send that little AJ Lee over here by Eugene Banks on Feb 7, 2013 3:33 AM EST 7 recs

and also from the same thread...

Who the hell cares. Of course there had to be huge money involved, you know why? Bruno WAS WWF history until Hogan. They haven’t begun to monetize that history because all or most of it is centered around Sammartino. Was Bruno right that the attitude era was vulgarity and not principle based? YES. Not too difficult for HHH or Vince to admit that when they admit every year and every time they are asked if the product will be updated with edgier content. That admission is par for the PG course.

As far as Sammartino eating crow, I mean listen if a million plus royalties off DVD sales and a legends action figure is eating crow then that is some tasty crow. Keep in mind that Sammartino didn’t earn a ton of money while away from wwe. Just like wwe couldn’t monetize their history, Sammartino couldn’t fully monetize himself either. His history is locked away in their video library. So a million plus for 20 years of heat is a bargain.

Finally, whatever concern we may have about the wellness policy has nothing to do with its actual effectiveness. Since it has been instituted it has been working. Now it isn’t an open test but guess what neither is the nfl, MLB, nba, NHL. When those sports release test failures then lets talk wwe, which has guys using for cosmetic purposes. Let’s put this to rest once and for all. Wwe or any sport will ever issue a press release telling the public who was tested and how and when they failed the test. For example, Melky Cabrera was suspended for a failure prior to the start of last season. He was having an MVP caliber year while MLB knew he failed his test. Guys railed on wwe for having a guy work a ppv a week after he failed a test. Can there be balance? Can wellness be applauded AND scrutinized? The damn thing isn’t perfect but it’s working. There is always the “congress made them do it in the first place” stuff. Sorry but congress made MLB, nfl, and the nba do it too. I don’t hear major sports news outlets killing them for it.

Not everything in wwe is company speak. There are people in that company that cared before the wellness policy, before their efforts could be spun as corporate edicts to save face. Turning the signing of Sammartino into business decision where Bruno is gonna be coached on wwe speech and sold is soul for the dollar is absurd. Bruno endorses Dr Maroon who he knows personally because Maroon worked on him and you better believe Bruno will say something about anything he sees wrong. 20 years without all that wwe money should tell u something about the character of Sammartino. by Major on Feb 7, 2013 9:04 AM EST 5 recs

From the "Daily Open Thread for Thursday, Feb. 7: Creep" thread:

[Damien Sandow] obviously say it much more eloquently.

Cody, if I may beg your indulgence for a moment, I must confess something intimate to you. It has come to my attention that since our separation as a tag team unit, my life has become less meaningful and the search for an apprentice is not the same without your positive influence around me.

Please consider reforming our bond as a cohesive unit so that we may continue to educate the masses and leave them blown away by our magnificent constructs of facial hair. I hope this finds you and your excellent mustache in good health.

Excelsior,

Commodore Damien Sandow III

by Blueblob4life on Feb 7, 2013 6:13 PM EST 7 recs

From the "WWE adds Jeff Hardy to Alumni section despite every indication he's staying with TNA" thread:

Maybe they will see what kind of fan feedback & reaction this gets to see of its worth taking another stab at getting him under contract…? I guess I can see them using Hardy to build the IC belt back up and then once that projects done let him jump back into the bigger slots. But this will probably never happen, he wants to sing and be some alternate masked character and be in his own little universe. by RECE ROCK on Feb 7, 2013 12:53 PM EST 3 recs

and also from the same thread...

This makes me think a little more about TNA leaving the Impact Zone. The positives Hardy talked about are luxuries afforded to him and the other TNA wrestlers due primarily to their lack of touring as extensively as WWE. If that were to change, and he would end up on the road more than in the past with TNA, why not just go all-in and get the larger payday? by Sean Geddes on Feb 7, 2013 1:06 PM EST 5 recs

From the "Revitalizing the Secondary Title Scenes" thread:

WWE Championship, IC Championship, Tag Team Championship. That’s it. Old school. Long title reigns that mean something. I shat myself when I left pro wrestling for while to come back hearing about a 12X Champion, 15X IC champion, 342433X Tag Champion, who was the same person. It’s crazy. You get your push, hold that belt until you lose your steam then pass it on to the next big thing. Basically all the belts lost their meaning when they became a glorified game of musical chairs. by LowBudgetJeff on Feb 8, 2013 12:27 AM EST 3 recs

From the "GIF: Cageside Seats on Monday Night Raw" thread:

FEED HIM MORE... premium reporting and quality discussion based on a variety of critical points of views! by Steve Sypa on Feb 8, 2013 11:50 AM EST 6 recs

From the "Daily Open Thread for Friday, Feb. 08: I guess she's an Xbox & I'm more Atari" thread:

I wish Peter North would leave me alone too. by Kanenite on Feb 8, 2013 11:17 AM EST 8 recs

and also from the same thread...

Maybe HHH called him a skinny fatass? by Kanenite on Feb 8, 2013 12:03 PM EST 3 recs

and...

I know better than to get cocks in the mail. Last time, it wasn’t what I expected at all! by vfn on Feb 8, 2013 12:03 PM EST 3 recs

and...

READ ME MOAR! by DFreshMMA on Feb 8, 2013 2:02 PM EST 5 recs

From the "Mick Foley on Bruno Sammartino and the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Class" thread:

Foley is Good.

I’d like to make the case that for the general public, Foley probably is still headlining this thing. You know, like those people tuning in to see the Rock, or children? While it’s a big deal for the industry at large and fans like us who know who Bruno Sammartino is, Mick Foley is, as you pointed out, one of the biggest draws during a period of success for the WWE which may never be seen again. With so much “Attitude Era” nostalgia, and the likelihood that Mick is all done competing in the ring, they would be foolish to base this all around Bruno. Foley is gracious in this of course, but he’s being modest. He’s the real attraction here. WWE had to tell everyone how big a deal it was they got Bruno. You knew immediately when they said Foley.

This idea that Bruno “legitimizes the hall” is ridiculous. It’s one company calling the shots. There is no voting committee, there are no plaques or bronze busts. NOTHING would legitimize this whole thing, because it’s just Vince McMahon’s way of proving he’s the top dog of ALL the fake underwear fighting. He gets to pick the legends. He gets to rewrite history. He gets to ignore Macho Man and throw a bone to Verne Gagne. It’s Vince’s Hall of Didn’t Fucking Piss Me Off For the Most Part Because The Checks Keep Cashing.

That all being said, this is about selling tickets. Bruno will “headline” but you can bet they’ll make sure to advertise like crazy that Foley’s going in too. This is not even considering the fact you have the second longest hold out in Backlund going in, and arguably their greatest female performer of all time in Stratus. WWE is a company dependent on their TV audience, and Bruno significantly predates the Hulkamania era, which is when most people think wrestling probably started. Even Backlund had a run in my lifetime.

Bruno’s name will be at the top, but Foley (and I hope you’re listening, Schiavone) will be the one putting the butts in the seats. by AndeeMarshall on Feb 8, 2013 1:50 PM EST 3 recs

From the "Re-thinking TNA" thread:

#TNALogic

Step 1: Get someone who made a name for themself somewhere else and bring them in.

Step 2: ????

Step 3: Profit!

And yeah, Dixie is a mark for old guys. It’s hard to tell how close she was to actually hiring Paul Heyman in 2010, but one of the supposed dealbreakers was the he wanted to gut the roster of all the older guys (save 1 or 2 for name value and wrestle sparing,) but Dixie didn’t want to get rid of guys who helped build TNA. Even if that story isn’t completely true, i think she’s done more than enough to show that she likes overpaying these old guys to half heartedly limp around the ring and “wrestle.” by DarkTalon on Feb 8, 2013 12:50 PM EST 3 recs