On the topic of Orton, does anyone else feel that as a heel he seems far less credible than he did as a babyface? I thought the turn was well-executed and such, but he just seems to have lost that badass vibe about him. It comes out from time to time (like when he ruthlessly beat Cena at TLC), but he still feels more like 2002 Chris Jericho than 2000 Triple H to me.

I think they are trying to blend his badass heel persona while bringing back more elements of his 2002-2005 arrogant/cocky heel gimmick. Orton's promos have been 1,000,000X better since his heel turn. I really enjoyed Orton from 02-06.

In the sense that I will end my life and the pains of this world will never be felt by me again.

Steel, does XL know that you're sexual tension cheating on him with Afterlife?

I'm a rage whore.

Yes. Oddly enough, this. It's actually why I preferred face Orton. He had this way about him where he could get the crowd pumped just watching him beat someone's ass and seem to have a blast doing it. He didn't even need to be involved in anything major.

Most of the time as a babyface, he wasn't. Still one of the more over dudes on the roster though. I agree that his promos have gotten a lot better since the turn. I'm hoping that he actually goes over Cena clean at the Rumble. Their match doesn't need to close the show and a loss against Orton could actually be used to give Cena direction heading into WrestleMania. No matter who his opponent is, Cena can feel he has something "to prove" at WrestleMania XXX, which gives him a thing. Orton could be the champion and the guy to beat, but he needs to actually give off a world-beater vibe.

Cena hits the Attitude Adjustment in their WWE World Title match at the Rumble, but Orton kicks out. Cena locks in the STF, but Orton gets to the ropes. Michael Cole asks what Cena needs to do to put Orton away. Cena goes for another AA, but Orton counters mid-air into an RKO out of nowhere. Orton gets the pin and retains the title. CM Punk then wins the 2014 Royal Rumble Match. As Punk celebrates to close out the PPV, Orton appears on stage with both his championship belts and just smirks at Punk. WrestleMania main event set.

I resolve to not watch a minute of televised wrestling, stop reading results online, and only get my wrestling news (and YouTube match recommendations) from TLP.

I'm actually not kidding.

Maybe you should film it too. It'll be like a "Super Size me" about wrestling podcasts.

That's a fun idea. I may need to give that some thought.

If I were a guest on tlp, I would want less than 5 minutes.
4:50 with FourFifty.

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/supersta...rton_badge.png - Happy New Years Afterlife and the rest of my TLP fans

Present to AL and Nowhere Man:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...VrnSrJZJZf7xnA

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/supersta...rton_badge.png- I take selfies at the beach, it talks to me, it comforts me, I'm Randy man(to the tone of my theme song, heh, I rule)

My resolution is to watch more New Japan stuff. Started getting back into it and am liking what I'm seeing.

Tables, Ladders, & Podcast #33 (January 7, 2014)
 

http://s22.postimg.org/a4r7yxkcx/TLP...ON_2_small.jpg
Covering NXT, Impact, Smackdown, & Old School Raw. Plus a dash of Main Event.

Starring: Narcissus, Jabba, Afterlife, & Poit.

<iframe id="audio_iframe" src="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/audio/postId/5015895/url/http%253A%252F%252Ftablesladderspodcast.podbean.com%252F2014%252F01%252F07%252Ftables-ladders-podcast-33-010714%252F?skin=6" frameborder="0" height="100" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe>

Links:

Our Podbean page

Listen on iTunes

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Support TLP by shopping at Amazon using this link

---------------------------------

Question Of The Week:

If you were booking Old School Raw, which legendary wrestler, team, or faction, would you bring back, and in what capacity?

No one person springs to mind, but I will say that I would NOT have any of the old school wrestlers get over on current talent, much like the New Age Outlaws and Sgt. Slaughter got their licks on the most recent Old School Raw.

The terrible image of Cena:

http://i.imgur.com/BrH5EEC.png

I would like to have seen a few legends that aren't always trotted out year after year.

Like who, Seth?

I enjoy listening to these, but sometimes I feel like I'm watching a different show. Either that, or I just have an odd way of seeing things sometimes.

Tito Santana. Los Matadores. El Torito. You can fill in the rest of the segment.

I would have booked a Brood Reunion and have them make their sweet entrance and they start cutting their "quiet rage goth" promo only for Edge to break character and go "Wait...this is totally dorky. Let's do some old school awesomeness!". The best part would be when Gangrel joins E&C in a "5 Second Pose - Vintage Goth Edition" and they exit to the classic E&C theme. Later, you could have them interact with The Wyatt Family and have Gangrel do a spit take with his red liquid or something and have him say "Those guys are freaking weird." Then, you can book Christian vs Daniel Bryan for SmackDown!

I love Gangrel.

I was really happy to have Scotty 2 Hotty on RAW. I'd have marked the fuck out for a "Mean" Gene Okerlund vs. Funaki battle of the backstage interviewers.

Haku, who comes out and challenges Brock Lesnar.

Who wins? We do.

Damn right, I'm a hero!

I'd love to see a Demolition/Powers of Pain segment. Not really sure how you get there, but maybe something like the Shield beating somebody down and having Ax and Smash run in for the save to set up a tag match but Demolition gets laid out by Warlord and Barbarian. I don't know, needs work.

Once, just once, I would like for them to not use Charles Wright as The Godfather. Can we please have a Papa Shango appearance?

Also, Right To Censor would be pretty sweet. Although quite what they'd be censoring in this era I'm not sure.

Maybe they could censor Rowan's ass crack?

You could easily do a segment with RTC interrupting CM Punk.

Yes. Ok. Let's do that then.

Tables, Ladders, & Podcast 2013 Yambag Awards
 

http://s22.postimg.org/a4r7yxkcx/TLP...ON_2_small.jpg
2013 YAMBAG AWARDS

http://s30.postimg.org/ux5d9fa41/yambag.jpg

The crew runs down the nominations for their yearly wrestling awards, and then reveal the winners.

Starring: Narcissus, Jabba, Afterlife, Nowhere Man, & Poit.

<iframe id="audio_iframe" src="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/audio/postId/5018310/url/http%253A%252F%252Ftablesladderspodcast.podbean.com%252F2014%252F01%252F09%252Ftables-ladders-podcast-2013-yambag-awards-010914%252F?skin=3" frameborder="0" height="100" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe>

Links:

Our Podbean page

Listen on iTunes

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Support TLP by shopping at Amazon using this link

---------------------------------

Thought For The Year:

Which wrestlers do you think we'll be talking about at the end of 2014, as having great years?

Wrestler - Razor Ramon/Scott Hall in a similar role to Ted DiBiase or Ron Simmons in the sense he says his "Hey Yo" catchphrase for a quick cheer.

Team - Bushwhackers and they either face 3MB for the comedic match or Real Americans after Zeb does some insults targeted towards the Old School non-American stars of the past.

Faction - The Corporation with Pat Paterson and Gerald Brisco acting as honorary stooges for the Authority that night.

Would love to see Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco as stooges again. Even if it's just for the occasional segment.

I've kind of been obsessed with the idea of a legend hosting a tournament lately. Even if it only took place on Superstars or Main Event as a trial. Originally it was Shawn Michaels hosting it in my mind, but then it became Arn Anderson. They'd invite the 8 competitors they wanted to see in it, and the winner would receive the official sponsorship of that legend.

We never presented the Yambag for Best Yambag.

Really do think Bray will be the biggest guy in the company in the next couple of years. Although, WWE really likes fucking things up because they hate making money and producing great television.

How did we forget about Vickie Guerrero for the bullying category?

I think Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Daniel Bryan will all have tremendous years, and CM Punk will of course be talked about. I think John Cena will continue to do his usual great work. I'm thinking Sami Zayn and Kalisto will make a stir when they get called up from developmental this year, as will Paige and Emma.

Dean Ambrose.

Probably won't be near the same level of attention the WWE is giving to both Big E and Reigns but think he stands a good chance of having a great year in general or as the start of his rise towards something even greater in the near future.

Oh I can sense the Randy Orton whining being at an all-time high here. I may need to get some popcorn before listening to this.

As for the question, I honestly believe WWE will realize the license to print money that they have in Johnny Curtis and with or without the Fandango gimmick he'll find himself with a major face push.

I don't think we said much about Randy at all. He's not very good though.

I had to bag groceries at work today. Some hippie brought her own produce bags. I was giggling a little when I saw yams in them... Yambags....

If they go old school they should do it properly, open the show with a 10 minute D.O.A vs Los Boricuas match!:drool:

Being serious though, would be cool to see some old school matches done in a fun way...like a Hardcore title match with fun weapons and lots of cameos from people like Hardcore Holly, Steve Blackman, Raven, Rhyno etc...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we complained about Gail Kim and Curtis Axel way more than Orton.

So you complained about two people who I also don't care about? One of whom is actually shit and deserving of it? Well that's not as enticing...

Sorry for not making something you can gleefully hate.

Brad Maddox should have gotten Rookie of the Year.

JBL is awesome. Fuck you.

... How was Fandango not one of the seemingly hundreds of nominees for Rookie of the Year? I'm not so sure I can take these awards seriously anymore.

What kind of man hates The Rock, dislikes JBL's commentary, and thinks the Bella Twins aren't that bad? A tortured soul, that's who.

Johnny Curtis isn't a rookie, but theres plenty of reasons not to take these awards seriously.

Who voted? Who nominated?

Yeah, I don't think a gimmick change makes someone a rookie.

Nominations & voting were done among ourselves.

I thought maybe that was it. But then I realized that like half of the nominees are just guys with new names and/or gimmicks.

Nice work everybody. Already looking forward to the 2nd Anniversary of the Awards next year.

Antonio Cesaro is fucking amazing, so shut the fuck up everyone.

Stephanie McMahon? Really?

Sami Zayn has done precisely nothing at all. You guys are NXT biased.

Ambrose is rookie of the year.

Good call on the tag team.

That was a lot of fun.

Thrilla, do you watch NXT?

I've recently started watching NXT. The last four episodes or so.

Sami Zayn is really good, but Ambrose is still rookie of the year in terms of both performance and relevance.

Zayn gets credit for being the only WWE babyface who acts like a babyface and not a colossal dick. He also accurately described Renee as a ray of sunshine.

How about a play-by-play of Raw? Or a PPV might be easier what with no commercials and all. Pretty sure listening to Nowhere Man, Afterlife and Jabba call the action instead of Cole, JBL and King would improve the show.

Should I be offended I'm not on that list?

Yup.

Your inflection makes you sound unsure of everything you say. There's an upswing at the end of all your sentences. It's a standard white thing, I guess. Every statement sounds like a question.

I already don't like the way I sound. Thanks for making me feel even worse about it ABT. :(

I'm sorry. Give me a hug.

*hug*

http://i.imgur.com/hlH229K.gif

Like Franz Kafka?

You also seem to like everything which isn't great for their cynic-tone.

Poit's out-of-place positivity is the only thing (apart from distance) that keeps me and Afterlife from murdering each other.

I don't like everyone calling Poit an optimistic valley girl.

I like when people like things. It makes more sense that they're podcasting about it.

I'm a Poit fan. I'm just saying.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vwczZLOmBhw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Not at all. I figured Jabba's accent would help break up the booth a little. I'm not always sure who's talking when you bloody yanks get going.

Also, you voted against me in the King of the Wrestling Forum gig.

#IStillRemember

Not sure if this is in time, but here's another answer.

I would love to see a "contract on a pole" match between two legends. Face legend vs Heel legend, so long as they can still work. Just make it a simple run for winner so they can put over a younger talent in the opening match of WrestleMania (or the following Raw).

Alas, we've already covered the question of the week.

It'd be easy heel heat for The Authority too. Fire them after they lose their first match and such. Then, you can bring them back down the line for a "mystery tag partner" angle to get their comeuppance for a nice little moment to have on a RAW that still ties into storylines without taking up too much time.

Tables, Ladders, & Podcast #34 (January 14, 2014)
 

http://s22.postimg.org/a4r7yxkcx/TLP...ON_2_small.jpg
Covering NXT, Impact, Smackdown, & Raw. Plus a light dusting of Main Event.

Starring: Jabba, Afterlife, Nowhere Man, & Poit.

<iframe src="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/audio/postId/5024827/url/http%253A%252F%252Ftablesladderspodcast.podbean.com%252F2014%252F01%252F14%252Ftables-ladders-podcast-34-011414%252F" width="100%" height="100" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Links:

Our Podbean page

Listen on iTunes

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Support TLP by shopping at Amazon using this link

---------------------------------

Question Of The Week:

Which faction in wrestling history would you like to spend two weeks with?