When I started watching wrestling regularly, the larger-than-life characters included Earthquake, Big Boss Man, Ultimate Warrior, etc. Those who didn't necessarily have a full-on gimmick (such as Rick Rude) at least had a personality. A believable one. You could believe Rick Rude had women falling at his feet, you could believe Earthquake took pride in some wrestlers leaving the ring on a stretcher, you could believe that Big Boss Man wanted to bring law and order to the WWF!

And even when the matches weren't necessarily classic, the larger-than-life characters helped. Big Boss Man vs. Mountie at SummerSlam 1991 wasn't a classic, but they were wrestling over bragging rights pertaining to who was really the WWF's law and order enforcer (with the loser ending the night in jail). And it appealed to all ages. I suspect a lot of very young folk took delight in the exploits of Doink, Papa Shango, etc. Yes, I like the serious stuff too, such as Bret Hart putting on a wrestling exhibition against Mr Perfect, but I delighted in the gimmicks within the WWF; for the purist wrestling, I could watch JCP/WCW. 

No disrespect to a modern-day WWF wrestler like Kevin Owens, but there isn't that larger-than-life hook. Kevin Owens was born Kevin Steen. Either name isn't larger-than-life. And for me, fewer gimmicks make it a little less appealing. If I could put on either a Kevin Owens match or Big Boss Man & Rockers VS Mountie & Nasty Boys, I know which one I'd choose.

The mystique is gone (for many reasons). For a long time now, wrestlers have been relatively ordinary dudes with Myspace/Facebook/Twitter accounts, sharing details of their barbecues when having a day off. The wrestlers of the Federation Era had that larger-than-life mystique that is sadly lacking now.

Marty Scurll has apparently resigned with ROH, for WWE-level money, a spot on their booking committee and the right to work other promotions, including New Japan. How much you want to bet they will try to rebuild the company around him?

Sounds like he could still get his rematch with Nick Aldis, for the NWA title.

Didn't Randy Savage appear in ROH once? A few years before his death?

I haven't seen too much of ROH, but I would like to. I've read a lot of reports from its shows. Maybe I should buy an ROH DVD this year.

I think I'm remembering Savage's TNA tenure. He appeared there, right?

Since almost everyone returns to the WWF eventually, I always presumed Lex Luger and Macho Man would return. That they didn't surprised me (Luger is obviously still alive, but wouldn't be able to wrestle).

Some said that McMahon was eternally pissed off at Luger defecting to WCW during the "Monday Night Wars". But I never believed that. Vince allowed people to return even after they'd sued him, testified in court against him, etc. Look at the antagonism between Warrior and Vince - yet Warrior still returned for the Hall of Fame. Surely, in context, Luger defecting to WCW in 1995 (at a point when he was on the undercard anyway) wouldn't have been an unforgivable offence against Vince...right?

Vince would whore out his own mother, wife, son, or daughter if it would make him a buck. I sincerely doubt there is any bridge ever built that could have been 100% burned if Vince saw dollar signs at the other end of it.

I appreciate the insight, guys. It just irks me a tad whenever I hear someone (it has been a while since it happened) talk about the fact that Vince, who won the "war", still has bad blood over a defection.

My theory is that Luger ran out of steam. It happened on Vince's watch. It's quite depressing. I mean, you challenge for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam 1993; then, at SummerSlam 1994, you're wrestling an average bout against Tatanka for bragging rights over who joined the Million Dollar Corporation; and, then, at SummerSlam 1995, you don't even wrestle on the card, instead performing a run-in during the Diesel/King Mabel world title bout. To go from a world title contender to performing a run-in within two years is a hell of a loss of momentum.

And it had started after WrestleMania X, where Luger unsuccessfully challenged Yokozuna for the world title. Luger didn't even make the next PPV (King of the Ring). And a year later, at WrestleMania XI, he was in an opening match with Davey Boy Smith against Jacob and Eli Blu, a match I didn't care about.

So my personal theory is that Vince saw nothing in Luger after he'd bought WCW. Luger did regain some momentum when he "defected" to WCW - and won some gold. He main evented PPVs. But when Vince bought WCW in 2001, Luger was way past his prime. Now, Vince did sign past-their-prime stars, remember Scott Steiner's horrible match against Triple H at Royal Rumble 2003? But if I'd been Vince, nothing about Luger would have appealed to me post-2001.