Bovada has Braun Strowman as the favorite to win the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. +150

I'm struggling to think of a worse person they could have win it.

As much as I think Big Show should win it again, if I was a betting man, I would bet on Mark Henry. He is from Texas, he is retiring soon, and giving him the win here is something that Vince would do. Add that to the fact that he was featured in the battle royal brawl on RAW last night, I think he gets the nod here

Said precisely the same thing in the RENTALMANIA thread:

I'm not sure having Henry win is the best option, but it's definitely not a bad option. Having Braun win is terrible for a multitude of reasons.

Cesaro, Big Show, Mark Henry

The Andre the Giant Memorial Award is a fitting title.

Henry wins, retires, and then is inducted into the HOF next year where he will personally open his own Hall of Pain wing.

Henry's Hall of Pain run is right near the top of the list of awesome runs that I never would have guessed were coming in a million years. I don't know who was writing smackdown at the time, but their approach of "lets just take this big giant strong guy and let him beat the **** out of people and see how far it goes" is a prime example of how sometimes keeping it simple is best.

Wrestlefest holds a special place in my heart. My local 7-11 had a cabinet and I would play it everyday after school, I was obsessed with it. One day I walked in and they had replaced it with NBA Jam, I was devastated. I love NBA Jam but it was everywhere at the time and easy to find, I never got to play Wrestlefest on a real cabinet again after that. When I found out about MAME it was the first game I tried.

This would be great if he got all the way to podium and then slammed the guy inducting him.... "I've got a lot left in the tank!"

On the WWE youtube channel they have a series called "What's Wrong With This Video" where they edit in sound effects/clips from other matches etc and the viewer is supposed to try and spot the differences.

They did this. lol WWE

The second video sparked a thought: they need corporate sponsors for their props. I'm thinking the Little Giant ladder system would be perfect for a MITB match. "Small enough to carry with one hand, sturdy enough for the Big Show!"

The Big Show?!

Henry's run is my 2nd favorite thing after Summer of Punk in the last 5 years--possibly the best reinvention of a character since, what, Hogan's original heel turn? And you're so right about the beauty of its simplicity: It's like, "here's a guy we bill as the World's Strongest Man. Let's book him like it." And the results were outstanding. Even though DB cashing on Henry was awesome (and a huge boost to him), this moment effectively ended his Hall of Pain push which made it somewhat bittersweet for me.

DB cashed on Big Show, didn't he?

He did; Show beat Henry clean (which I kind of hated) then DB cashed. I worded that poorly in meaning that the night DB cashed was the same night the Hall of Pain run effectively ended.

Henry beating Orton clean on consecutive PPVs was GOAT.

The head writer of Smackdown then I think was either Ed Koskey or Michael Hayes, both still with the company but who knows how much input they have. Really it is hard to know how much input they had then, because if Vince feels like controlling something, he controls it completely, using whatever ideas from whatever source he feels like.

The story they told with the Orton/Henry match was great. Building the entire match around the concept that he can't win unless he hits the rko, hitting the rko, and it not being good enough was a nice touch and is the type of storytelling matches usually don't have today.

I remember even Michael Cole was great on the call (paraphrasing): "Randy Orton just realized that he can't beat Mark Henry." Was such a great way to put over MH.

Absolutely. Really liked that one.

Cole's had some good calls when he treats things like they matter/takes it seriously. Was watching WM 23 last night and his call of the MVP/Benoit match was quite good at putting over MVP and explaining what was going on in the match (the story was MVP outwrestling Benoit, Benoit being unable to apply crossface, and then beoit finding a new way to win).

2 things about that video.

1st - I miss Shelton. If he had any mic skills he could have been the #1 guy in the company.

2nd - How the hell did Lashley not get KTFO'd from the ladder/power bomb spot? The back of his head slams the mat.

I'm struggling to think of a better option than Braun Strowman. Personally, I'd love to see Heath Slater or Kane win. I guess you'd rather have Konnor or Viktor win?

The Battle Royal is pretty pointless in the long term--the winner doesn't actually get anything. It's just a way to get all the wrestlers involved in the show (to get a PPV bonus). So I'm fine with them throwing darts to find out who wins.

nice bringing up the Hall of Pain run. I'm going to go on the network and follow that.

I'm looking for a few of the more recent storylines to relive since I missed all this. The obvious ones:

1. How Bryan goes from Yes! to team Hell No (I find it funny as ****)
2. Bryan build to WM 30 .... I have seen WM 30 but I don't know a lot in terms of everything he got ****ed over by leading up to it
3. Hall of Pain

What else? I guess maybe Edge vs Matt Hardy angle from the mid 2000's and the live sex show thing? Batista face turn on HHH?

First up though I want to go through the CM Punk run. So far I know about that pipebomb rant and I watch MITB 2011 vs Cena.

Thing is since it's already happened I'd rather not get worked. So what's the deal here - I take it that Punk was without a contract when he did his epic promo 3 weeks before MITB .... but did he already have a contract locked up before the PPV and the whole part of him leaving with the belt and being a free agent showing up in random places was a work or did WWE just run with it and let him leave with no contract since it was such a huge angle that got mainstream attention?

It seems like that'd be terrible business for them since he has them bent over and could drive up his asking price $$$ wise but it's also the most creatively interesting.

Also you know what would be awesome - if the Network could kinda replicate Spotify and let users make their own playlists.

Like I want to relive an angle and watch all of the clips from Raw in between the PPV matches but it's a huge pain in the ass that it's not curated .... is there someone on the internet that has done this?

ie. They've time stamped all of the segments for Raw / PPV chronoligically for say the DB run to WM 30? .... I don't want to have to manually load up a show and fast forward the whole thing until DB is on or whatever.

sycophants chris jericho was the best

Yeah, 2008-2009 Chris Jericho was amazing.