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Official Match/DVD/Show Discussion Thread (And Stairs)

269K views 3K replies 131 participants last post by  Brad Boyd 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Section got all screwy, here's the latest edition of the thread.

and STAIRS
 
#351 ·
So this was a massive mistake by the looks of things. I don't watch anyway besides the PPVs and the odd matches but jesus I came out of this with literally no desire to watch either show after this. The show itself was abhorrent and the rosters now look laughable. Stephanie. Oh my sweet jesus Stephanie. She was somehow even worse than the night before. She's treating this like she's the massive demon child and everyone else is locked inside her little dollhouse but Kevin Dunn is actually a genius and scales her down to the size of all her subjects in the dollhouse. ABHORRENT I TELL THE. When she's imitating these cool acts like Sasha and New Day and I'm just like aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh. And her and Mick are best friends and I'm just dead.

Quickie thoughts. I didn't watch any of the matches btw because matches are unimportant at the best of times but especially so here. I actually watched Cesaro/Jericho though because Cesaro like always has good matches but this was actually bad and holy cow Chris Jericho might be the worst worker in the world now because he had a match with Cesaro that I thought was bad. I guess they had another show airing alongside SD and I'm like wtf I can only watch one show at a time.

The top 2 picks were duh and killed a little of the excitement but at least Rollins can brag forever about being the #1 draft pick.

These are pretty cool visuals off pwtorch.com. Some of the allignments are a bit okay then mate but still



I mean the depth is just laughable. I remember doing a mock draft a couple of years ago for a TDL debate and I'm confident I managed to come up with two rosters that had plenty of depth and choice of opponents and that was when they had even less talent to pick from.

They put Zayn and Owens on the same show because obviously. So if Zayn is kept away from Owens then he basically has Rollins, Rusev, Sheamus and Strowman to feud with. Assuming Jericho is going and even then they've run that down already. Incredible.

Picking Balor so high was good but I don't give a shit about Finn Balor.

The NXT call ups were as phony as I figured they'd be. None of the Champions drafted because if you're a Champion in NXT you're developmental for life which sucks for you. Try not to beat Joe I guess Shinsuke. I don't even know what to say about Daniel Bryan not drafting Shinsuke Nakamura. At least come up with a reason for it. I mean it was only 6 picks so you may as well have just debuted them over the coming weeks and kept them out of the draft. They called up a bunch of Women because they had to and still managed to leave Bayley down there. I think it's just incredible how Triple H has created a promotion as a vanity project for himself that does so much damage to the main roster where the money is made that he's created this vanity project for to help him inherit.

The splitting of the Tag and Womens divisions. Oh baby. Look at the tag teams that American Alpha have to work with. Talk about doomed from the very start. I can't even make a heel team for them to work with. Corbin & Kane? Miz and Del Rio? Yikes. Turn The Usos and you get one feud. Then what? THE ASCENSION? God they're paying the price now for burying so many acts. You can't just make acts like The Ascension and Zack Ryder credible again now because the damage is done and perceptions are set. I've also just noticed that Mojo Rawley got drafted. Words. Befail. Me.

They split AJ and The Club up. Because nats. Maybe they switch AJ for Balor but Raw needs faces. Mind you they need heels too. No idea who New Day work with. Club. Done. Dudleys. Done and buried. Enzo & Cass? Odd.

Charlotte/Sasha has to last like forever now. What else? Charlotte vs Paige again? Sasha with Nia and Dana? RIP being a Sasha Banks fan. The Womens split may rival drafting Mojo Rawley over Shinsuke Nakamura for dumbest thing done on this draft. Just why would you create two nothing rosters with a 6 month shelf life before literally everything of interest is done.

They have a Cruiserweight Division on Raw now apparently. I'm hoping they do weekly skits where Neville is like fuck yeah Cruiserweight Wrestling and then goes around the locker room trying to find another Cruiserweight to wrestler and they do comedy skits with him trying to get Braun Strowman to cut weight so he can challenge him for his belt. I know they're coming in from the CWC but yikes. Also duh they put Kallisto on SD because why would we want him anywhere near the Cruiserweight Division.

Carmella didn't even get on the same show as Enzo & Cass. Okaaaaaaaaay.

GIANT BRAUN STROWMAN PUSH INCOMING. BROCK VS BRAUN AT MANIA.

Bray/Cena and Bray/Ambrose have been done to death so Bray/Orton incoming. And then what? Look out Zack Ryder!!!

Cena has AJ to work with and then he honestly may as well just go away until Mania. Cena vs Miz/Corbin/ADR/Rowan? HAHAHAHA. At least they gave SD Orton and Ambrose to carry the house shows in Cena's absence.

Ok lets look at the roster and guys who they can build as up bigger stars than they are before. Cesaro? Not happening. Had infinite chances and did you see how low he got drafted on the show he lost to Chris Jericho? Crews? They've done nothing with him and didn't even draft him on the show. I have a hard time buying anyone not drafted on the show going far. That said Strowman didn't go on the show either. Big Show & Kane pushes incoming for sure. Oh god I forgot the Zayn/Owens burial by Kane. I could make a top 10 dumbest things WWE did this week and that might not even crack the top 5. Ziggler push I spose but who still even likes Dolph Ziggler? Sheamus? Titus? Darren Young? Oh lord.

Heath Slater didn't even get drafted. This has amazing skit potential.

The Ascension got drafted ahead of Apollo Crews.

They're gonna need to bring in A LOT of talent over the next few months otherwise they're gonna have literally nothing left for anyone after Mania bar another Draft.
 
#1,326 · (Edited)
Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid (WWF Survivor Series 1996)

A brief conversation in the cb regarding SID led me to dig out this match again and give it a watch. Apart from Sid winning the title, the other aspect that I'm sure others remember is how the smarky crowd cheered for Sid and showered HBK with quite a few boos. Shawn was having a stellar year in the ring, with plenty of quality matches. So I'll see how it all comes together.

So Sid comes out first and is already met with............cheers, looking mean as fuck and is fist bumping everyone in sight lol



“WHO'S THE MAN?” “WHO'S THE MAN?”



HBK is out next with Jose Lothario and you can already hear the loud 'Sid' chants from the crowd, although he is mobbed by a small section of fans who won't let go, and has to be rescued by security. Match is under way, and Sid hits Shawn in the gut and and big right hook, HBK keeps getting right back up and Sid keeps sending him right back down with big clubs to the head. Shawn attempts a comeback as he baseball slides under Sid and starts smacking him with some punches of his own and a high body press into a pin for the first near-fall of the match.

HBK in control as he puts Sid down on the mat into a headlock. Sid reverses it and tries to put HBK into a head scissors, but Shawn kips up and gives Sid a big slap to the face. Real smart. He gives him another one until Sid says 'fuck this' and kicks HBK in the gut, before taking him down back to the mat. Shawn reverses this, until Sid kips up and gives HBK a taste of his own medicine and slaps him. Then stands there with a 'yeah Shawn, what you gonna do' look and they start to trade back and forth blows to the head.

Sid picks up HBK and holds him high above his head for some time,



before Shawn bounces back and whips Sid into the ropes. Sid reverses this and tries to put HBK into the POWERBOMB.

Crowd pop big for this tease btw.

But Shawn gets out of it and bails to the outside. Crowd is giving him some stick at this point and he's not exactly liking it. Eventually Sid goes out ans starts chasing him back into the ring, He sends HBK into the turn-buckle, but Shawn comes right back out and takes Sid out via the knee. Shawn then does the smart thing ans gets to work on that knee.

Crowd not liking this and the boos are high. Their are loud chants of “SYCHO SID, SYCHO SID”

Shawn continues to target the leg of Sid. He seems to mouth something like “Fuck it” to the crowd as he puts on the Figure-Four. Sid is screaming from the effects of this hold. He reverses it into his own Figure-Four, until Shawn gets to the ropes. Shawn stays on the knee of Sid with big, jumping stomps off the ropes.

“BOOOOOOOOOOOO” says the crowd.
Shawn tries to reapply the Figure-Four, but Sid kicks him in the arse and sends him shoulder first into the turn-buckle. Sid gets up, but is still feeling the effects of the knee work. He gives Shawn two big kicks to the gut. This is certainly Sid's chance to take over and go to town. Another big kick to Shawn, before the camera gets too close for comfort and Sid has to swat him off



Foreshadowing, perhaps :hmm: He kicks HBK down again with a boot to the face. He continues literally kicking the shit out of Shawn. Sid tries a big running knee, but Shawn moves and Sid just ends up hitting the ropes. Shawn reverses being whipped into the ropes and kicks the bad knee of Sid again and sends him down to the mat.

“BOOOOOOOOOO” The crowd says again as Shawn picks up Sid's leg and smashes it hard on the mat. Sid ends up getting up and gives Shawn a massive clothesline, sending him over the top rope and onto the outside. He follows him out and drags him down the isle, before landing a big punch, picking him up, and planting him face first onto the guardrail.

Sid takes this opportunity to fist bump a fan



:lol

This is Sid's pace now and he's in control as he sends Shawn back into the ring. He pins Shawn but only gets a 2 count. He sends Shawn into the ropes and into a big back body drop, before running straight at him with a big boot to the face. He starts clubbing Shawn's back with big hammer fists and another big running boot to the face. This is where HBK always shines when he's up against a bigger guy, in his bumping and selling the ferocity of Sid's offense. Shawn takes ones of his big back flips over the turn-buckle and onto the apron. Sid tries to choke him out, but Shawn sends him throat first onto the top rope. This could be a comeback for the Heartbreak Kid.

Shawn tries a flying cross body onto Sid, but Sid catches him and the crowd go.........WILD, fuck Sid is oooooovvvvvvver. Sid plants Shawn with a big back-breaker and gets another near-fall with a 2 count. He sends Shawn into the corner and HBK takes one hell of a back bump TBH

Sid in full 'kill him' mode now. He sends Shawn into the opposite turn-buckle for another big back bump. He stands HBK up and starts landing some big blows to his head, but HBK won't go down. Shawn attempts a comeback as he flies some punches of his own onto Sid.

“BOOOOOOOOOOO” says the crowd once again.

They trade blows before HBK body slams Sid and tries to deliver a double ax handle, but Sid puts his leg up and smack Shawn plum in the face, thus getting this great visual:





:lol

He's took some shit on this match, lol. Sid puts Shawn into a 'Million Dollar Dream'. HBK is fading as he desperately tries to grab onto the ropes. HBK gets out of it and starts hammering away at Sid, but Sid stops him and tries to chokeslam him but gets a THUMB IN THE EYE from Shawn, who prepares the setup for 'Sweet Chin Music'. Sid blocks the attempt and ends up giving him the big chokeslam, for which of course the crowd lapped up. Sid is fucking feeling it now and gestures to the crowd, who respond, and signals for the Powerbomb. HBK quickly reverses it into a small package and into a very near-fall. This of course pisses Sid off and he stomps HBK right back down again. He sends Shawn into the ropes and delivers a big power slam for a 2 count. Shawn flies off the ropes and gives Sid a running forearm, knocking Sid back. HBK kips up, to the annoyance of the crowd, but Sid just puts him in his place with a BIG CLOTHESLINE



Crowd likes that as Sid gets another close 2 count. Sid then goes into the corner to prepare to run at Shawn, but is again distracted by a cameraman. He ends up taking the camera off him and nailing Jose with it. Now, Earl Hebner;

FOR FUCK SAKE, DO A BETTER JOB AT NOT SEEING THIS, AS YOU FUCKING DID



:lmao

Earl does a terrible job of not only giving Sid time to do it, but also pretending like he didn't clearly bloody see it. He even sees Sid drop the damn camera. Although Sid took his sweet time finally hitting Lothario.

HBK takes this opportunity to give Sid 'Sweet Chin Music'.

THIS IS IT, HE'S GOING TO RETAIN!!!

Instead of going for the pin as more boos start to ring out from the crowd, he goes to check on the state of Jose (Oh, now you gives a shit, Shawn), as Jose seems to be having a heart attack. Sid gives no fucks, gets back up, and sends HBK right back into the ring. He flings Shawn into the turn-buckle, who stops and tries a cross body, but Sid ducks and he flies straight into the ref (Oh, this bump may improve Earl's eyesight from now on).

Shawn goes back to check on the condition of Jose. Once again, Sid gives ZERO FUCKS as he follows him, grabs the camera again, and wallops Shawn in the back. Crowd are loving this lol.

NOBODY IS COMING TO THE AID OF JOSE AS HE'S HAVING A SUSPECTED HEART ATTACK, BTW :hutz

Sid rolls Shawn back into the ring, by this time Earl is getting back up again. Crowd cheer Sid on as he puts on the POWERBOMB for the 1..............................2.......................................................................3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crowd erupt as we have ourselves a NEW WWF CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, now the bell has rung, the stretcher comes out for poor Jose. Shawn is quickly back up too btw to go and check on him.



“I'M THE MAN”

Plenty more fist bumps for Sid after the match too and hugs from the crowd.

Well, this was another great match from 1996 and yet another one involving HBK No doubt he worked his ass off in a lot of matches that year and in this one too. He bumped all over the place for Sid, who wasn't too shabby himself TBH. This may well be his best overall performance. No real botches, did all the power shit, sold quite well when he had to, too. A really good/great match. The crowd were surreal too, you can't watch this match and not mention them. They were pretty much pro Sid from as soon as the bell rang, and showered HBK with boos pretty much every time he had the chance of some sustained offense. It certainly added another layer to the match.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed my gibberish.​
 
#1,329 ·
Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid (WWF Survivor Series 1996)

A brief conversation in the cb regarding SID led me to dig out this match again and give it a watch. Apart from Sid winning the title, the other aspect that I'm sure others remember is how the smarky crowd cheered for Sid and showered HBK with quite a few boos. Shawn was having a stellar year in the ring, with plenty of quality matches. So I'll see how it all comes together.

So Sid comes out first and is already met with............cheers, looking mean as fuck and is fist bumping everyone in sight lol



“WHO'S THE MAN?” “WHO'S THE MAN?”



HBK is out next with Jose Lothario and you can already hear the loud 'Sid' chants from the crowd, although he is mobbed by a small section of fans who won't let go, and has to be rescued by security. Match is under way, and Sid hits Shawn in the gut and and big right hook, HBK keeps getting right back up and Sid keeps sending him right back down with big clubs to the head. Shawn attempts a comeback as he baseball slides under Sid and starts smacking him with some punches of his own and a high body press into a pin for the first near-fall of the match.

HBK in control as he puts Sid down on the mat into a headlock. Sid reverses it and tries to put HBK into a head scissors, but Shawn kips up and gives Sid a big slap to the face. Real smart. He gives him another one until Sid says 'fuck this' and kicks HBK in the gut, before taking him down back to the mat. Shawn reverses this, until Sid kips up and gives HBK a taste of his own medicine and slaps him. The stands there with a 'yeah Shawn, what you gonna do' look and they start to trade back and forth blows to the head.

Sid picks up HBK and holds him high above his head for some time,



before Shawn bounces back and whips Sid into the ropes. Sid reverses this and tries to put HBK into the POWERBOMB.

Crowd pop big for this tease btw.

But Shawn gets out of it and bails to the outside. Crowd is giving him some stick at this point and he's not exactly liking it. Eventually Sid goes out ans starts chasing him back into the ring, He sends HBK into the turn-buckle, but Shawn comes right back out and takes Sid out via the knee. Shawn then does the smart thing ans gets to work on that knee.

Crowd not liking this and the boos are high. Their are loud chants of “SYCHO SID, SYCHO SID”

Shawn continues to target the leg of Sid. He seems to mouth something like “Fuck it” to the crowd as he puts on the Figure-Four. Sid is screaming from the effects of this hold. He reverses it into his own Figure-Four, until Shawn gets to the ropes. Shawn stays on the knee of Sid with big, jumping stomps off the ropes.

“BOOOOOOOOOOOO” says the crowd.
Shawn tries to reapply the Figure-Four, but Sid kicks him in the arse and sends him shoulder first into the turn-buckle. Sid gets up, but is still feeling the effects of the knee work. He gives Shawn two big kicks to the gut. This is certainly Sid's chance to take over and go to town. Another big kick to Shawn, before the camera gets too close for comfort and Sid has to swat him off



Foreshadowing, perhaps :hmm: He kicks HBK down again with a boot to the face. He continues literally kicking the shit out of Shawn. Sid tries a big running knee, but Shawn moves and Sid just ends up hitting the ropes. Shawn reverses being whipped into the ropes and kicks the bad knee of Sid again and sends him down to the mat.

“BOOOOOOOOOO” The crowd says again as Shawn picks up Sid's leg and smashes it hard on the mat. Sid ends up getting up and gives Shawn a massive clothesline, sending him over the top rope and onto the outside. He follows him out and drags him down the isle, before landing a big punch, picking him up, and planting him face first onto the guardrail.

Sid takes this opportunity to fist bump a fan



:lol

This is Sid's pace now and he's in control as he sends Shawn back into the ring. He pins Shawn but only gets a 2 count. He sends Shawn into the ropes and into a big back body drop, before running straight at him with a big boot to the face. He starts clubbing Shawn's back with big hammer fists and another big running boot to the face. This is where HBK always shines when he's up against a bigger guy, in his bumping and selling the ferocity of Sid's offense. Shawn takes ones of his big back flips over the turn-buckle and onto the apron. Sid tries to choke him out, but Shawn sends him throat first onto the top rope. This could be a comeback for the Heartbreak Kid.

Shawn tries a flying cross body onto Sid, but Sid catches him and the crowd go.........WILD, fuck Sid is oooooovvvvvvver. Sid plants Shawn with a big back-breaker and gets another near-fall with a 2 count. He sends Shawn into the corner and HBK takes one hell of a back bump TBH

Sid in full 'kill him' mode now. He sends Shawn into the opposite turn-buckle for another big back bump. He stands HBK up and starts landing some big blows to his head, but HBK won't go down. Shawn attempts a comeback as he flies some punches of his own onto Sid.

“BOOOOOOOOOOO” says the crowd once again.

They trade blows before HBK body slams Sid and tries to deliver a double ax handle, but Sid puts his leg up and smack Shawn plum in the face, thus getting this great visual:





:lol

He's took some shit on this match, lol. Sid puts Shawn into a 'Million Dollar Dream'. HBK is fading as he desperately tries to grab onto the ropes. HBK gets out of it and starts hammering away at Sid, but Sid stops him and tries to chokeslam him but gets a THUMB IN THE EYE from Shawn, who prepares the setup for 'Sweet Chin Music'. Sid blocks the attempt and ends up giving him the big chokeslam, for which of course the crowd lapped up. Sid is fucking feeling it now and gestures to the crowd, who respond, and signals for the Powerbomb. HBK quickly reverses it into a small package and into a very near-fall. This of course pisses Sid off and he stomps HBK right back down again. He sends Shawn into the ropes and delivers a big power slam for a 2 count. Shawn flies off the ropes and gives Sid a running forearm, knocking Sid back. HBK kips up, to the annoyance of the crowd, but Sid just puts him in his place with a BIG CLOTHESLINE



Crowd likes that as Sid gets another close 2 count. Sid then goes into the corner to prepare to run at Shawn, but is again distracted by a cameraman. He ends up taking the camera off him and nailing Jose with it. Now, Earl Hebner;

FOR FUCK SAKE, DO A BETTER JOB AT NOT SEEING THIS, AS YOU FUCKING DID



:lmao

Earl does a terrible job of not only giving Sid time to do it, but also pretending like he didn't clearly bloody see it. He even sees Sid drop the damn camera. Although Sid took his sweet time finally hitting Lothario.

HBK takes this opportunity to give Sid 'Sweet Chin Music'.

THIS IS IT, HE'S GOING TO RETAIN!!!

Instead of going for the pin as more boos start to ring out from the crowd, he goes to check on the state of Jose (Oh, now you gives a shit, Shawn), as Jose seems to be having a heart attack. Sid gives no fucks, gets back up, and sends HBK right back into the ring. He flings Shawn into the turn-buckle, who stops and tries a cross body, but Sid ducks and he flies straight into the ref (Oh, this bump may improve Earl's eyesight from now on).

Shawn goes back to check on the condition of Jose. Once again, Sid gives ZERO FUCKS as he follows him, grabs the camera again, and wallops Shawn in the back. Crowd are loving this lol.

NOBODY IS COMING TO THE AID OF JOSE AS HE'S HAVING A SUSPECTED HEART ATTACK, BTW :hutz

Sid rolls Shawn back into the ring, by this time Earl is getting back up again. Crowd cheer Sid on as he puts on the POWERBOMB for the 1..............................2.......................................................................3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crowd erupt as we have ourselves a NEW WWF CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, now the bell has rung, the stretcher comes out for poor Jose. Shawn is quickly back up too btw to go and check on him.



“I'M THE MAN”

Plenty more fist bumps for Sid after the match too and hugs from the crowd.

Well, this was another great match from 1996 and yet another one involving HBK No doubt he worked his ass off in a lot of matches that year and in this one too. He bumped all over the place for Sid, who wasn't too shabby himself TBH. This may well be his best overall performance. No real botches, did all the power shit, sold quite well when he had to, too. A really good/great match. The crowd were surreal too, you can't watch this match and not mention them. They were pretty much pro Sid from as soon as the bell rang, and showered HBK with boos pretty much every time he had the chance of some sustained offense. It certainly added another layer to the match.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed my gibberish.​
Awesome write-up, bro. I've never seen the match, but I'll definitely check it out now.
 
#1,396 ·
Show was easy to go through and none of the matches were bad but I'm kinda sat here thinking what I take away from the show and I'm kinda blanking because who wins matches means nothing and none of the directions the show setup are very interesting. Orton winning is just total whatever. It's not even a well Strowman won and it does nothing for me but it does something for the product I suppose. Who gains anything from Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble in 2017? I'm not even sure how it sets up a big match at Mania either. I still imagine him and Bray are working each other with Orton revealing his incredible plan to tear apart the Wyatt Family from inside that everyone saw coming from day 1. But if not then what? Orton/Cena would be the biggest FU ever, even bigger than Batista and Reigns the past few years. Orton/AJ is ok but it's two babyfaces pretending to be heels. They got Goldberg/Lesnar spot on again. Reigns/Taker I don't get at all unless Reigns is actually turning in which case it's brilliant. It's not a combination that interest me otherwise though.

Pre-show matches were nothing. Naomi is trash but she was very good off the hot tag. This was Mickie James' first match back and she did absolutely nothing. Natalya's "personality" work is really awkward. Anderson & Gallows really aren't good. Gallows came to New Japan as I was stopping watching it but Anderson was great with Bernard and great on his own and Gallows was doing some good stuff on Youtube post WWE run but they're just guys in WWE. Match was nothing. The stip meant absolutely nothing as per usual. Meant absolutely nothing in the Reigns/Owens match too. I suspect this is a title change just to keep the program going which we have and will continue to see a lot with two rosters because they can't afford to do one and done programs anymore. Sasha/Jax was barely a match but it wasn't good for what it was. Sasha's leg sell was fine but I so expected so much more from her in that position. Figured it was logical that Sasha's bad leg would be the out for the finish and her losing but instead she just lost clean as a sheet with no out like they gave Nakamura. When a babyface loses so clean it usually means they're turning.

Bayley/Charlotte was good for what it was but it wasn't much. Charlotte is out of this world good in terms of her work in between spots. No wasted motion so to speak. I love how organic her matches feel too. The dual spot on the outside with the apron and the stairs bumps are the perfect example of that. Her setups don't feel contrived. Bayley just so happens to be near the steps so I'll just punt her into them. Bayley was good but this was by no means a showcase for her. As in they didn't let it be rather than she didn't do herself justice. It was just a match. I liked the finish but it was real flat because it came out of nowhere and was a big anticlimax. I was glad a least that a spot like that on the apron was the actual finish, it just needed to be built to better. This felt like they were told save the big match for later but the finality of the finish said different.

Reigns/Owens was easy to watch. Somewhere between good and great. I've totally been defeated in being able to enjoy Reigns. Just total apathy when he comes out now. Actually probably something below that. It's just ugh I'm not gonna get what I want out of a match because he's bombing so hard. And part of it is his performances aren't as good anymore. I like the way he sells like Moops mentioned but I want him to sell more long term so I can get invested in his selling more. He's well and truly fallen into the five moves of doom trap too. I think I mentioned all this after the last show actually. Owens is trash. He's a terrible heel worker and his matches aren't even all that good to make up for it. Like AJ for instance is badly miscast but he does a good job trying to be a heel and works somewhat heelish. Owens is just a flop on every single count. It's a Title match so obviously there was a screwy finish. Brass knucks being just a highspot kinda irks me more than the usual kicking out of stuff.

HOLY FUCK at that Sami Zayn backstage segment. I almost always roll my eyes when people use segments like this to decide that someone is getting buried. Sasha lost clean so she's in the doghouse for instance. But jesus christ this felt like a total hit job on Zayn. Who in fairness should also look at that script and tear it up and protect his character better. I love Sami Zayn about as much as I can love a guy in this current climate but even I was turning against him in this. Ambrose's Number 8 line was kinda cute. He still sucks though.

Neville/Swann, again a good match but it didn't mean anything and I struggled to care. Neville's really strong atm working heel and Swann is good in the ways Moops mentioned too. Crowds still don't give a shit about the Cruiserweights even with 2 IWC guys having a good match. Nobody watches 205 Live either. They did this match on 205 a few weeks ago which I watched yesterday and Neville won with the same superplex spot they did here and it got no reaction. Granted Swann kicked out way too soon but that should have been a huge pop. Neville's submission is cool. I wonder if Gran Metalik can learn where the hard cam is in time for Mania.

Cena/AJ was borderline great. Here and Summerslam they're working a match I don't like but it's been a good enough version of a match I don't like that I've enjoyed it. The kickouts are what they are. Just accepting it isn't valid but I was content just accepting them here because I was enjoying everything else about the match. This was Cena's best performance in years. Lots of great subtle selling touches. AJ would be so much better working babyface but he's still good. This is the match you kick out of finishers in but they've established it as something they do in every single match of any significance that it doesn't cut it here anymore and so they have to go a step further. At least they built upwards to what the finish was rather than peaking earlier on. Cena's reaction to winning was great. Charles Robinson ftw.

Rumble match was easy to sit through and had good moments. It's always like that though. It's impossible for it to be hard to watch for the bulk of the hour and not have anything to pop for. But that's kinda the very least you take from a Rumble match and there wasn't a whole lot else. I enjoyed watching the match but looking back on it's hard to think of too many reasons why. Dillinger at 10 was cool more so because WWE actually got something right in paying the fans some lip service than because Tye is all that good. I'm really struggling to think of guys who are better for the match. Jericho was in forever but did nothing and they never really played up him cowaring on the outside. He actually looked like he'd hurt his leg on a spot with Corbin and was playing it up more so than planned but idk. Likewise Zayn. I mean there were very few actual spots. Corbin eliminating Strowman was cool but then he did nothing else. Brock's rampage was cool. Ellsworth's elimination was nuts. Henry cameo was cool. I was getting annoyed at the camera cutting away from everyone running down the massive isle but apparently a bunch of guys got on a cart which is pretty hilarious. Gallagher's cameo was cool. His elimination gave me a fit of giggles. Goldberg was great but I wished he'd cleaned house more. Harper turning on Bray was cool. Undertaker throwing short jabs at everyone was awesome. Reigns coming out at 30 was such a debbie downer. I was expecting Joe or Balor. I think most people expect something at 30. Finish wasn't hot at all. The more I think about the match the lower I go on it.
 
#1,403 ·


Reigns/Owens was easy to watch. Somewhere between good and great. I've totally been defeated in being able to enjoy Reigns. Just total apathy when he comes out now. Actually probably something below that. It's just ugh I'm not gonna get what I want out of a match because he's bombing so hard. And part of it is his performances aren't as good anymore. I like the way he sells like Moops mentioned but I want him to sell more long term so I can get invested in his selling more. He's well and truly fallen into the five moves of doom trap too. I think I mentioned all this after the last show actually. Owens is trash. He's a terrible heel worker and his matches aren't even all that good to make up for it. Like AJ for instance is badly miscast but he does a good job trying to be a heel and works somewhat heelish. Owens is just a flop on every single count. It's a Title match so obviously there was a screwy finish. Brass knucks being just a highspot kinda irks me more than the usual kicking out of stuff.

Rumble match was easy to sit through and had good moments. It's always like that though. It's impossible for it to be hard to watch for the bulk of the hour and not have anything to pop for. But that's kinda the very least you take from a Rumble match and there wasn't a whole lot else. I enjoyed watching the match but looking back on it's hard to think of too many reasons why. Dillinger at 10 was cool more so because WWE actually got something right in paying the fans some lip service than because Tye is all that good. I'm really struggling to think of guys who are better for the match. Jericho was in forever but did nothing and they never really played up him cowaring on the outside. He actually looked like he'd hurt his leg on a spot with Corbin and was playing it up more so than planned but idk. Likewise Zayn. I mean there were very few actual spots. Corbin eliminating Strowman was cool but then he did nothing else. Brock's rampage was cool. Ellsworth's elimination was nuts. Henry cameo was cool. I was getting annoyed at the camera cutting away from everyone running down the massive isle but apparently a bunch of guys got on a cart which is pretty hilarious. Gallagher's cameo was cool. His elimination gave me a fit of giggles. Goldberg was great but I wished he'd cleaned house more. Harper turning on Bray was cool. Undertaker throwing short jabs at everyone was awesome. Reigns coming out at 30 was such a debbie downer. I was expecting Joe or Balor. I think most people expect something at 30. Finish wasn't hot at all. The more I think about the match the lower I go on it.
I think you summed up my thoughts on Reigns and Owens as workers these days. Reigns, along with Owens, since this program started has gotten into the finisher spamming, no-selling stuff and it's taking away from what he is as a performer. He made so many strides and became a legitimately good worker, and is especially GREAT working as a bully/heelish on his opponents like he did against Balor, Rollins and Styles earlier in the year. His program with Owens has featured virtually no selling, spamming the superman punch and spear attempts with a fuckload of clotheslines and punches in between. Kevin Owens... this guy has just been awful as champion in regards of his in-ring work. For someone like Owens to have his best matches in the past 6 months be two walking brawls with Rollins and Reigns is such a disappointment. The chunk of Owens in-ring work has really fucking sucked for a while now but a lot of people on another board I post on cling to his reputation and act like it's been amazing work. He's been extremely underwhelming.

I'm separating the Rumble into three sections:

- First half featuring Strowman dominance, which was GREAT.
- Middle portion featuring the ring filling up and NOTHING happening.
- Final portion from Harper's entrance, which started well and had good story advancement with The Wyatts, but was then ruined by the part-timers making the full-time roster look like a bunch of geeks and was capped off with the disappointment of Roman Reigns being #30 .

I just... ugh. I'll raise my rating up from a ** to a **1/2 because the first half until Strowman's elimination was really good. It's such a shame that guys like Ambrose, Rusev, Harper, Miz and Corbin were eliminated like a bunch of nobodies, especially considering the story Harper is a part of and how they've built Ambrose, Miz and Corbin recently, especially Corbin eliminating Strowman earlier in the match.
 
#1,672 ·
That's honestly more disturbing than any of the actual videos shown during the match.

I tell you guys, we're living in history: this is one of those legendary bad matches like a Hogan/Warrior II or the Chamber Of Horrors. I maintain it's not a complete DUD due to the very fun opening minute or so, but holy shit, what this was beyond that is truly WrestleCrap Hall Of Shame material.
 
#728 ·
I could stop watching the CWC right now, because I honestly don't think anything is gonna top Ibushi/Kendrick.

Kendrick's desperation to remain relevant in a tournament full of stronger, faster, younger guys, while being a great touch that was present in his other matches, was palpable in this.

So much great CHARACTER WORK by Brian in this. For every few hits he landed on Ibushi, Ibushi only needed one to counter and it'd have twice the effect. Every kick looked like it murdered Kendrick (and there weren't even that many thrown, just every single one was enough to nearly knock him out), the guy was selling everything like death, by the first few minutes he already looked exhausted, almost pitiful trying to hang in there with the tournament favourite. Then he finds an opening and busts out a nasty-looking neckbreaker onto the turnbuckle and just starts wrenching his neck with cravates, locking in the Bully Choke and even busting out the Sliced Bread #2 way too early for it to be a legit nearfall, but showing perfectly how eager he is to hurt this motherfucker's neck and try to end it as soon as possible, or at least just wear him down enough for it to be easier to go anything close to toe-to-toe with him.

BEAUTIFUL German off the second rope, Brian's so worn out by this point that he just says "fuck it all" and hits Ibushi with a GODDAMN BURNING HAMMER. He's that fucking desperate. And after that Kota still gets the upper hand, goes for the Phoenix Splash, fucking misses and Brian locks in the Bully Choke and everyone's just pulling for him to get the tap. Unfortunately for him, Ibushi still manages to counter into a pin, Brian kicks out, they get up and once again Kendrick's put down by a huge fuckin' kick to the head, and finally gets finished with the Last Ride. You can feel the disappointment in Danielson's voice, guy even starts crying during the post-match. Bryan's commentary has felt forced at times during this tournament, but this was pretty much as real as it gets.

Absolutely amazing. ****1/4, maybe even ****1/2, I really fuckin' loved this.
 
#1,018 ·
Womens Survivor Series match wasn’t up to much. It got plenty of time but also never actually enough time to do anything with any of the pairings. They basically just rushed through to the final fall and even then that was short on time. Everything was basically just there. They’ve really cooled Sasha right off. These matches need clean falls against the bigger names but Sasha’s fall should have been protected a lot more than just getting rolled up by Natalya of all people. Give Alexa the minor rub there. Nia continuing the story that I’m the only the one reading off her dominating but continuing to fall into traps which quickly lead to going down (which is usually getting caught in a submission and tapping) made me smile. I’m assuming she works Sasha for a while now which lends itself perfectly to continuation of that (not-a-)story. Becky/Bayley at the end didn’t get the time to be what they clearly wanted it to be. The right women survived.

Miz/Zayn was very good. Miz delivered again. This was a decent match considerably bumped up by the leg work. Take note Shinsuke. I’d be totally fine with Zayn just selling a lingering leg injury for the next year he’s so great at it. Kinda like how Cesaro was selling the arm every match earlier in the year after coming back from surgery. They worked the Figure Four spot really well between them. That finish isn’t great but if you’re doing it then it was done well. Works with the Miz/Maryse dynamic, Zayn didn’t look completely stupid by thinking Miz had tapped out of his sight in that position and it gives the Miz/Bryan feud easy material to work off with Bryan and SD benefiting from Miz’s cheating. I enjoyed this infinitely more than I would have if this was Ziggler/Zayn.

Tag Teams Survivor Series match was good. It was frankly terrible until Hype Bros went out. Not sure what FaBreeze have turned into but it’s terrible and not in a heel stooge terrible way. I’ve done a good job avoiding Mojo all together but his minute spell on offence was as bad as whatever Fandango was doing at the start of the match. New Day going so early was good. They don’t need to survive here and you may as well eliminate them in a way that gets a nice pop. Primo and Epico getting an extended shine period in this of all matches was really weird. Cesaro/Sheamus and The Usos had a really great mini match for the final fall that was everything you want from a short tag sprint. Usos got put over really strong here which is nice but they’ve spent the last few months being jobbed out on PPVs to comedy teams in Fandango/Breeze and Slater/Rhyno.

SD’s direction with the Tag division is pretty clear. Give Slater/Rhyno the short babyface reign to kill time before you run Usos/Alpha into Mania because that’s literally your only pairing of any value. Usos looking strong here I assume means they get the belts a couple of months later than they should have done and you then restart pushing Alpha to the top again and have their big Title win at Mania. Which on paper is actually really good but the execution hasn’t been. They’ve pissed all over what momentum Alpha had coming out of NXT and done nothing to get them over to the new audience. Waiting is good but you need to be pushing them while you wait and keeping them strong in preparation for that Mania moment. Instead they’ve just done nothing at all. This was the perfect opportunity to put a ton of shine on them without winning the belts too soon. Everything that The Usos did here should have been what Alpha got to do. And they should have gone over too. That was where the biggest rub was. Instead they got some very minor shine and went out early leaving The Usos to play the babyfaces fighting against the odds.

Which brand reigns supreme means fuck all to anyone outside WWE’s bubble but you’d think they’d at least have it 1-1 going into the rubber right? Instead I spose we got classic 50-50 booking yet again even in an odd numbered series where Raw wins the series but SD wins the big one. In other words, nobody won besides the individual acts who survived.

I really hope the 10 shtick over count outs doesn’t catch on elsewhere.

Kendrick/Kallisto was decent but jesus the crowds are just all time levels of silent for these Kendrick matches. Everything he does on paper is really good but it doesn’t work at getting a dead crowd up and it isn’t anywhere near as effective as a heel on top compared to busting out all these spots as the scrappy desperate underdog. Because all these wiley veteran spots are perfect scrappy hope spots. At the risk of sounding like a broken record I’m just dumbfounded that they took Kendrick from the CWC who was the best babyface act in forever and made him a heel that can’t get any sort of reaction at all. In an era of nonstop highspots running rampant through nearly every match, the Cruiserweights being the ones to work the most dumbed down safest style is quite incredible. The only time the crowd came alive was for the Spanish Fly spot which is what a division like this should be. You have a bunch of new athletic guys that you need to get over all at once, well the easiest way is to send them out there and do a bunch of nutty spots. Bully Choke spot was worked really well. Finish is what it is. Shoutout to Corbin working through an injury that took him off the show to appear on the show. I spose you get more coming out of this match with that finish (Kallisto/Corbin has an edge to it now and you have easy material between Bryan and Corbin) than you do Kendrick just beating Kallisto. The Cruiserweights are still yet to have a match that universally breaks the *** barrier.

The final 5-on-5 was a weird case of a WWE match being extremely well booked but actually let down by the action. Everything in between the falls was just there but they booked the falls really well. Strowman looked really good in this. Well aside from the AJ spot which gave the Cesaro botched dive a good run for scariest spot of the year. Which in this type of match is very achievable but it’s also kinda like where is the end game with him? You build him up to feed to one of your top babyfaces but the top babyface overcoming the monster heel in a subpar match isn’t really a successful formula anymore. And after that WWE have barely ever given any of them monster heels much of anything after their initial run. His best hope is that he can do comedy and that gives him longevity in between the periods where Vince decides to do the monster push again. His elimination was pretty much perfect. You get in your Shane highspot (which is always a good spot) and the extra touch of having get up and about to make it back in before for 10 was great. The Ellsworth addition was great too. Short of being the sole survivor and beating the entire team himself they couldn’t have put Strowman over any better than this. Ellsworth feels like an in joke that I’m not a part of but this was a good minimalistic use of him.

Owens and Jericho eliminations worked for adding towards their teased breakup. Sure Owens should be put over better but they’re not booking him as that type of Champion so why start here. What I liked about a lot of the booking on this show is that every finish advanced something. Sure in isolation Owens’ elimination could be seen as daft if you have this false image of Owens being Brock-lite but they’re building towards a program that’s comedy first, heat second so that finish worked.

The AJ/Ambrose stuff worked to get them both out while being protected and also sets both of them up for something with Taker. Ambrose was set up for that harder than AJ was but I’m not sure where they fit that in for Taker. Cena’s almost 100% challenging for the Title at Mania, it’s just a question of if the champ is AJ or Taker. I’m leaning Taker given that he’s back early. They can do Cena/AJ on any show and have already gone to it, Cena/Taker is more of a Mania spectacle. Putting the Title on it kills some of the suspense of who wins but if it was Cena/AJ I don’t think that wouldn’t be an issue there either. So my guess is Taker/AJ at Rumble and Cena earns a Title shot at the Feb PPV with Balor getting the Rumble win and essentially getting every rub he can be given by time Mania is over by which point he’ll likely still be in single figures for matches on the main roster. But he won’t be overpushed….

Shane/Reigns spot was great. I get why people hate the concept of Shane in these matches but tbh he’s got a bunch of in ring experience at this point now and doesn’t really get much offence in besides his big daredevil spots. Those punches looked awful but if you have Shane in there isn’t it better for him to be throwing these awful punches that look like a non-wrestler trying to play wrestler? And also at people arguing against Shane’s involvement, he was the most over babyface in that match. Actually, he was basically the only actual star in that match. Sure you have guys like AJ, Ambrose and Owens who are popular but they’re not OVER. Jericho more so but it’s more his comedy shtick than Jericho the wrestler. People enjoy them and find them entertaining but none of them are needle movers that have fans wanting to see them win or lose. So there’s a real argument to be made for Shane being the most over guy in the match and the biggest actual star in the match. Which considering that they pretty much put all of their top full time guys in this match is worrying. Not at all striking or revealing though.

Shield reunion spot I popped for which I don’t do very often. Teasing it with just Reigns and Rollins and then getting Ambrose in the mix was neat and they let it breathe long enough for you to anticipate it and then when Reigns and Rollins freed Ambrose it came off really well. I was worried when it came down to Rollins/Reigns that they’d put them 2 over strong and the crowd would just totally reject it. Wyatt’s going over was a surprise. It’s good that they put a different act over strong for a change but Bray’s been so damaged by year after year of the reverse that it’s a case of too little too late. JBL completely blowing the call at the end followed a super awkward 5 seconds of silence ruled. You had one job John. To his credit though I did enjoy his call when Ambrose was screwing AJ out of the match. But he’s doing the big sell to put over Smackdown vs Raw rather than AJ vs Ambrose so you know. They did this terrible Smackdown vs Raw thing that nobody cared about in order to get literally nobody over. Not even Stephanie or Shane because neither of them were presented as winners.

Goldberg/Brock was a spectacle. I don’t watch live and my file had about 10 minutes left to run as Brock came out so I knew this was going to be really short but based on that I figured Brock was just squashing Goldberg, definitely not vice-versa. Putting my logic hat on with my business pants this didn’t make much sense. Building Brock up like they did for this would be awesome if Goldberg was someone who they could build off of week after week for years to come but he’s not. That said though, there’s not an obvious alternative to put in Goldberg’s position instead of him. Definitely nobody on the current roster because we saw in the previous match that none of them are stars. Maybe Joe but eh I don’t think so. And they don’t see him as being a top guy because he’s clearly been brought in to booster the vanity project before anything else. Shinsuke is the only semi realistic alternative and I suppose is a better alternative than Goldberg but he can still beat Brock later down the line in a longer match where he gets a different type of rub from beating Brock.

I mean sure, that’s what they SHOULD have done but what we did get was great and I’m not turning my nose up at WWE delivering a great moment and building a big marquee match up to have a definitive winner. The good guy even won! It’s easy to look at the value they flushed with beating Brock here but they should also gain some much needed value for the brand. It’s created buzz, Goldberg’s a bigger asset going into Mania season than anyone’s been since probably Brock returned for all of a month before the Hunter feud killed that off, and they also gained some much needed faith with viewers that if they hype up a massive main event match they’re gonna deliver something big and buzz worthy on the execution of it. And that’s not something that they usually do. How often do they have a match like this and has some daft overbooked finish where there’s no decisive winner and nobody really gets over. If Goldberg is working up to Mania now as it seems then that should make the decision sting less and make more sense. Ignore the part about it should have been someone else for a second. It seems inevitable that Lesnar attacks Goldberg at the Rumble and they rematch at Mania. The rematch is bigger than the Survivor Series match now because of this. Theoretically they now have a major marquee match for Mania that will have a great build going into the event. If Brock wins then you can’t rematch or if you do it doesn’t mean more than the original did.

I think everyone really overstates the value in Brock too. He’s not a massive needle mover. He shows up on Raw and ratings don’t change. Using him for a single show doesn’t have a big revenue boost with the Network model now taking over and as far as I’m aware they’re not selling out bigger venues with him on shows than they would be otherwise. He definitely WAS a major star when he first returned but frankly that died in less than a year and any drawing ability he had to an audience that weren’t watching WWE anyway was killed with the Hunter feud where he went back to playing pro wrestler again and trading loses. Everyone always plays up the rub of beating Brock and yes beating Brock means more than beating anyone else but without that crossover audience tuning in you’re not really elevating anyone to new heights if you’re not growing your audience. And granted that’s just a fraction of a much bigger problem but I just want to put it out there that beating Brock will make someone an instant megastar is becoming more and more myth than reality the further we go on.

And once the decision is made to put Goldberg over this was exactly the right way to do it. Winning in a back and forth traditionally structured match doesn’t create half the buzz that this did. Fact, this got people talking and you can be outside the WWE bubble and know exactly what went down. Also this was being sold on the spectacle a lot more so than delivering on match quality. Ok you might have some fans who feel robbed that they didn’t get more of a match but they’ll be far outnumbered by the fans who came out of this show buzzing and the people who didn’t watch the show but are now intrigued into tuning into to see what’s next for Goldberg. And you’ll get the back and forth “epic” at Mania! Moments are more important than match quality. Rousey ending fights in seconds rather than having “a proper match” boosted business much more than her going the distance would have and assuming you save this for once in a blue moon it’s no different.

I can get why people would shit on the show. Whatever closes a show often decides overall perceptions of a show and I can totally get why people would be pissed at how Lesnar/Goldberg ended. Personally I thought it was a great spectacle and the buzz I felt coming out of it far outweighed the undeniable booking issues. While nothing on the show was great, all the matches were at least decent and this was a very well booked show that nicely advanced pretty much everything that it needed to.
 
#1,026 ·
I've also been on a Goldberg binge since Survivor Series. I mean, how could you not? :mark: Two of my favourite matches of his:



Goldberg vs DDP - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Halloween Havoc 98


Page's rough exaggerated bumping for simple offence makes Goldberg look a million dollars. You see this type of bumping a lot in modern WWE where it looks silly because more often than not neither guy is a powerhouse (example: Ziggler against 5'10 skinny geeks in kick pads), but it absolutely works here with Page being built so slight and Bill as the proverbial brick outhouse, displaying the type of explosiveness that might occur in said restroom after consuming an undercooked lamb bhuna. Page doesn't look like a geek for it and it feels like a real believable struggle rather than a performance.

A stiff shoulder barge forces Page to bump out of the ring in said manner. He takes his time to gather his belongings, in this case being his bollocks, pacing around the ring before even contemplating locking up again, perfectly conveying how this is da man's ring and that this is the biggest test Page has or will ever likely face. A cheeky telegraphed diamond cutter will not cut it. This is the big leagues now.

Page is outmatched for power so he tries to out wrestle Goldberg with a chain wrestling reversal via a drop toe hold. Again it's to no avail, as Goldberg is just too strong. You can't out muscle him or out wrestle him, so you had better hope for a lucky break and they really promote that concept in this match.

First of all Page capitalises on Goldberg being impatient with his best pisshead falling out of a nightclub impressions, nailing him with a guillotine on the top rope, before rushing through a desperate sequence of quick fire moves for a two count.

Goldberg soon gets back on top and starts to take control with some incredibly slick power moves, before Page receives lucky break number two when dodging a spear in the corner that leads to Goldberg colliding with the ring post. Credit to Schiavone and an at that point sadly washed up Bobby Heenan for actually putting over the importance of that moment for Page.

Great work building up to the major diamond cutter hope spot, with Goldberg hurting his shoulder with an actually successful spear, before failing to achieve a jackhammer (I doubt Page ever had this issue with Kim) despite two attempts. The reversal into the diamond cutter is a thing of beauty and more than worthy of the pop it garners.

Page holds off from covering to expertly build crowd anticipation over the streak potentially ending. Goldberg kicking out on two seemed premature, limiting a potentially insane pop to just a great one. However, I doubt Kevin Sullivan would have wanted his pet project looking that beatable at that stage anyway. Goldberg quickly takes the match home with a successful jackhammer, while the crowd is at its hottest. The match ends as it peaks, which is the way it should be.

This was a great example of how to put over a very limited worker and make him look a million bucks in a main event match, while sticking to a very basic structure and not relying on a cavalcade of complicated or contrived spots. Page told his own great story of being the weaker underdog everyman with an equal heart, trying to find a lucky break to cause a massive upset, while Goldberg showed some vulnerability by selling shoulder damage, before overcoming the weakness and looking heroic for it. One man wins but both men get much more over, which should be no surprise when selfless ring general Page is involved. That's how you work a great babyface match.




Goldberg vs Sid - U.S Heavyweight Championship

Halloween Havoc 99


I'm fairly sure I've read people say this is a bad match before for reasons I don't understand. Fuck those people, this is terrific!

What I love about this is that it feels like a legitimate big time fight, with the only thing that's even remotely close to it in modern times (as in not really that much but you get my point) being Brock vs Cena ER. The match was built as a big deal between an unstoppable force vs an immovable object, enhanced by hatred that was fuelled by Goldberg not being allowed to physically interact with Sid in the build up angle, where the latter pulled off the usual dastardly heel antics in that type of situation. Thankfully they gave us the war that this needed to be.

Besides the outsiders run in on Goldberg before the bell sounds, there are no distractions and we're given an honest slugfest. If anything this minor distraction gave Sid a good excuse to get on top first and gain a little heat, without looking the stronger man, which would have been counterproductive as Sid's streak was a device to re-heat Goldberg as the potential face of the company.

Thankfully there's no bullshit feeling out stage to negate the war time feel. The scrapping at ring side is better than a lot of the half hearted phoned in attitude era "you take a turn, I take a turn" shite that was being provided during that time. Goldberg dominates and this never comes across as anything less than a massive struggle for Sid, who puts this over the top by providing a fantastic looking juice job from a pre-existing wound after Berg rams his face into the steel steps.

Goldberg actually works the crowd and asks them how they feel about the sight of Sid looking like a discarded sanitary towel. I guess Goldberg didn't really do a lot of complicated spots (particularly in this match which is a blessing) so had the time to consider involving the audience instead of worrying about what sequence to perform next. Funny that he's the biggest current star in WWE after a 12 year hiatus, rather than some Abercrombie and Fitch Catherine wheel looking emotionless dork, despite this being a supposed workrate era...

On the subject of taking a dig at modern wrestling, member when wrestling crowds used to react to what was happening in a match instead of entertaining themselves with dumb irrelevant chants? Ooohhhh I member! If you want a comparative reminder of why a lot of modern wrestling audiences suck then watch this match for the Sid camel clutch into a Goldberg electric chair spot. The fans root for the babyface, loudly chanting "Goldberg", before going banana when he breaks out. For a fucking camel clutch spot. That's not praising that crowd, it's just how it's supposed to be. If this match took place in front of an Nxt crowd we would have heard "wipe your face" chants for Sid or some other smug self satisfied sniffing their own farts nonsense.

Goldberg carries on dominating by doing to Sid what I would like to do to some of those aforementioned fans, throwing stiff shots at the gushing wound and even grinding his knuckles into it. The blood coats his hand and PISSES him off! so much, that Sid finds a way back in as Bill wonders off to the kitchen to find some carex. Much like a Goldberg match, it doesn't last long before Sid is forced into the corner for a blood donation. "That's what you want?!" You read my mind sir :quite At this point Sid's head looks like left over spaghetti bolognese that has been thrown in the bin. He makes one more comeback via a flurry of strikes before the ref calls for a stoppage, due to an amount of blood that has only since been seen inside of Vedran Corluka's collection of hats.

A perfectly booked finish to suit the occasion, which put Goldberg over as the man, protected Sid, allowed him the opportunity to later on give someone else (who must not be named) a strong rub and leaves something on the table for a re-match. The crowd also absolutely lapped this up as if the sight of Sid's spag bol had them work up an appetite. It can't be understated how impressive that feat was after the crowd killing nonsense between Sting and Hogan. This IS pro graps, even though there were fuck all wrestling moves involved. FIGHT!!!





P.S. I wouldn't mind reading a review for Goldberg vs Steiner Fall Brawl 2000 (HINT HINT). I Cba to write any more and yeah fuck writing about Vince Russo, especially after he gave me brain damage after I re-watched late 99 WCW a few months ago.

:woytf :wtf2 :walphtf
 
#1,308 · (Edited)
Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW 9/23/81)

Well this'll be fun. If you wished to show someone what Andre could do in a setting like this, then show them this match. It's him and a big, hard bastard in Mr. Stan Hansen, going balls to the wall to kick the living shit out of one another........and it's fucking GLORIOUS.

Hansen is the babyface here so it's pitted like the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. So here we go.

Andre barley gets in the ring when Hansen just goes straight after him lol, but Andre gives him a swift kick to the gut. He follows this up with a couple of strikes and a headbutt, before Stan takes charge with some big elbows. Crowd is hot for this and for Hansen, already. He whips Andre into the corner, but Andre gives him a big bot to the face, which topples Hansen right over. He's selling it like “What the fuck was that, where am i”

Andre then puts him in a bear hug, whilst Stan tries to break free with some clubbing blows to his back, but Andre has got those arms wrapped around tight and won't let go. Hansen then gives him a walloping right arm and it knocks them both onto the mat, together. Stan delivers a couple of more punches before Andre puts him in a armbar and takes it to the mat. Crowd is loud and chanting for Hansen, as Andre tells them to “Shut up”. He gets up off Hansen and stomps on his hand, before trash talking the crowd some more. This allows Stan to get back up and gives Andre one hell of a big chop

Andre gives him a headbutt, before going back to work on the arm. He whips Hansen into the corner and runs at him, shoulder first, but misses and topples onto the apron. This gives Stand the opportunity to start stomping the shit out of Andre. He tries to then lift Andre for a bodyslam, for which both the crowd and the commentators are going wild for, but Andre blocks it and goes back to Hansen's arm.

Andre continues to twist the arm in a sort of Kimura type lock. Hansen starts to try and break out of it by clubbing Andre's legs with some big right hands. There is a slight break, but Andre goes right back to the arm. Stan is in agony as Andre is literally twisting his arm and his wrist, but he gets a hold of Andre's hair, who screams like a wild beast

Andre gets up and once again, targets the arm, but Stan keeps punching the stomach of Andre with big fists to try and finally break free. Andre delivers a great Suplex-Slam onto Stan, and then goes for a big Headbutt, but Hansen moves out of the way, so Andre suddenly has to put the brakes on.



Andre gives him a big right hook to the back, before applying a chinlock, with a really aggressive expression on his face I have to say. Hansen tries to grab a piece of Andre;'s hair again to break the hold, but Andre swats him away and gives him a big club to the midriff, before using his big legs to apply a big squat on Hansen's back. He whips Stan against the ropes, but Hansen kicks him in the face and delivers a BIG ASS BODY SLAM HEARD AROUND THE WORLD



Crowd and commentators alike are fucking loving this. Stan then gets to work on Andre's back with some kicks and big forearms. He then puts on the Camel-Clutch to try and inflict more pain to the back area. Andre gets out of it, but Hansen just gives him a stiff arm to the back of the head and starts stomping the back of his head with some big knee strikes. They both eventually roll onto the outside and just start beating the shit out of each other. Just big fucking clubs, they both takes turns in ramming each other's heads into the post and apron respectively. Then the bell suddenly rings, can't be a count out yet, so I think the ref has had enough of them wailing on each other?

Hansen gets in the ring and is like “What the fuck happened”, and signals, asking the cord if they want more of this. Yes we fucking do, please. Andre gets back in the ring and starts politely asking the ref for an explanation



DRAMA

Both of these two big bastards just want to continue and fight. Stan is like “Let's fucking get this thing on again”, and is more than ready to carry on trying to beat the shit out of Andre. Andre is grabbing the ref and an official and seems to tell the ref to 'Get this other fucker to get this match started again'. Eventually it is announced that the match would be restarted, for which the crowd go fucking NUTS for. Andre waives the officials to gets out the ring, and Hansen takes this opening to go right after him with big forearms and a bloody HIP TOSS!!! Which rather hilariously knocks the ref down for a moment



Hansen just keeps giving Andre big strikes and knees and one of these sends Andre into the ropes, which he ends up getting caught in. Stan is overjoyed by this and knows he's got him right where he wants him. He just starts to punch the shit out of him, before Andre breaks free and reveres it, putting Hansen in the ropes and giving him one hell of a big chop to the chest. It was that fucking big, it even knocked Andre off his feet. Andre gives a great bad guy “HA, HA HA HA”, before giving Hansen a headbutt. Andre then seems to remove the turn-buckle and tries to ram Stan's head into, but he reverses it and it's Andre's head that connects.

This knocks Andre half way across the ring. Stan then goes for a drop elbow, but Andre moves and quite ingeniously, puts him straight into an armbar. I'm sure Hansen is probably saying at this point “Not that fucking arm again”. He then grabs Stan's arms from behind and starts stretching him and giving him a big headbutt. He eventually picks him into a bodyslam and throws Hansen across the ring. He goes for a big splash, but misses, and Hansen tries for a flying elbow, but also ends up missing.

FUCK THIS HAS BEEN A BATTLE

Andre whips Hansen into the ropes, but Hansen ducks and delivers a LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Which sends Andre flying out of the ring. Andre gets back in the ring and the ref tries to then separate them both and tell Andre to back off

:hutz

What the hell are you doing, you got a fucking death wish, Son? Andre is obviously having none of this shit, and swats the ref away before giving him a big clothesline. As the ref lies dead on the floor, they both just continue to beat the crap out one another. A bunch of trainers end up helping the ref out, but Stan and Andre couldn't give a fuck, they just want to kill each other by now. The bell then rings, again, is this the end?? The trainers then try and again keep this two BIG HARD BASTARDS
apart, yeah wise move, lads.

One of them ends up with a big clump by Hansen



:lol

The bell ringer is going mad ringing that bell lol, but these two just won't stop, and the trainers continue to try and keep them apart. Leave them alone you insane people. Hansen then just goes 'Fuck this shit' and throws a chair in the ring, before the both finally leave the ring amid utter chaos.

Well, where does one start even trying to sum this up? Two big bastards beating the living daylights out of each other. Andre is great with his bumping here too and has some great expressions and mannerisms throughout the match. Just a wonderful spectacle that everyone who hasn't seen it, should watch it.​
 
#1,980 · (Edited)
The Apathy Era was in full effect last night.

I set my phone alarm and managed to catch the last three matches live, but it was wall to wall shit. Crap matches, nonsensical booking, lame stories all around.

Says a lot that I got more satisfying pay offs by weeding my garden, taking garden waste to the tip yard, cleaning my shed and patio during the week than I have with WWE in a looonnnggg time.

Doing my back in operating a karcher for 4 hours straight >>>>>> WWE.

Not watching anymore until I hear from someone reliable ( @seabs @Obfuscation) that the product is tolerable again. Guess I'll be spending a lot more time in the garden for the forseeable future then...
 
#2,372 · (Edited)
Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry (WWE Smackdown 11/29/11, Cage Match)

:done

What a cage match. Henry comes into this with an 'injured' ankle but still manages to use his awesome power to full effect. Bryan is of course great at his selling and at making his comebacks. Some great use if the cage here too and if the timing of the escape attempts. Henry wallops Bryan with some heaaaaaavy clothelines in this and I love the slam off the ropes finish.

Henry is also p.great at selling the ankle too and he's just wonderful as the wounded big bear who can still throw you around and just not give a fuck doing it. Great crowd heat throughout too.
 
#72 ·
Well, I guess I gotta double post here cause this thread, really this entire forum, is dead lately. I haven't been that active lately either, that's what happens when the two most popular wrestlers, who curry the most support and favor with the fans, were turned heel to accommodate a wrestler who has been almost universally rejected as a main event baby face yet WWE continues to force the narrative. Maybe others have stopped watching and/or posting for other reasons, but I can say with all honesty and sincerity that Rollins returning, only to have WWE waste all the good will and support by keeping him heel, and then turning AJ heel after he started getting the strongest baby face reactions on the main roster was the final straw for me. I already was only intermittently following the product, I stopped DVR'ing Raw around February, and was only watching PPV's cause I have the Network. Now I'm not even doing that, I've only seen 2 main roster matches since the Raw after WM 32, Styles/Reigns PB and Owens/Zayn PB, which I watched only because Austin raved and pimped them to the moon on his podcast. I didn't watch any of ER and don't plan on it.

All of this is to say, WWE has caused me to forget at times why I even bother to watch their crummy shows.

Fortunately, I found somewhat of a cure:

I watched Shinsuke Nakamura wrestle Austin Aries. Actually it wasn't even the match, which was definitely GREAT, probably in the **** area for me personally. No, it was just watching Nakamura's entrance. That's all it took. The music, speaking of which, raise your hand if you are like me and being forced to eat some serious crow because WWE some how actually managed to give Nakamura a theme that is comparable in quality to his NJPW theme? Outside of Kevin Steen's "Unsettling Differences" theme, which is my absolute favorite entrance song (though obviously not my favorite entrance, nothing will ever top Undertaker for that honor), Nakamura's NJPW theme was my favorite match of song and wrestler in the entire industry. The song itself was bad ass, the song serving as the entrance for Nakamura was about as perfect as it gets. So, the fact that WWE managed to come up with a theme that actually rivals THAT masterpiece, well, I'm amazed. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

ANYWAY, back to Nakamura. Just watching him make his entrance, coupled with that awesome song and the AWESOME crowd response to his entrance, immediately cleansed my tainted wrestling pallet and had me juiced up to watch some pro graps. This might sound like hyperbole, but it's not: Nakamura has as much natural and innate charisma as any wrestler I've ever seen. He's equaled Rock, Dusty, Hogan, Savage, Austin, Eddie, he's up there with all of them in the "I literally cannot take my eyes off of this guy when he's on my television screen, and everything he does is pleasing to me and seems like the most awesome thing ever." That's the level he's at for me, any new little quirk or mannerism he decides to do immediately becomes awesome.

I honestly believe if Nakamura debuted on the main roster after Summerslam 2016, by the time the Royal Rumble came he'd be far and away the most popular and genuinely OVER wresrler on the roster, that it would take less than 1 month from the day he debuted for him to totally capture every fan's imagination and become one of if not THE main reasons they buy tickets or watch the show, small boys and girls, teenage boys and girls, adults, nobody is immune to the unique charms of the King.

So, I meant for this post to be a review of the Aries/Nakamura match but obviously that's gone out the window. So here is a TL;DR: If you're feeling as down on the product as it seems just about everyone is, and if it's perceptibly diminishing your passion for watching all wrestling, jusy go watch Nakamura vs Aries, or if you haven't seen it his other NXT Takeover match against Zayn, which will in all likelihood be the MOTY for 2016.

I refuse to watch WWE programming while Reigns is the top baby face, while AJ Styles and to a lesser extent Doc/Gallows remain heels, and not only a heels but a flat out jobber heels whose only purpose is to enhance Reigns "aura" and carry him to watchable matches, and while Rollins stays a heel in order to give Roman yet ANOTHER superior opponent to carry him and bounce around from him and keep him from tripping over his own feet. I just cannot stomach it. WWE has always had horrible booking overall with brief periods of competence, but theyve done in 2016 is truly unprecedented: killing off two white hot baby faces who could EASILY be their top good guys for the next 3-4 years, guys that have everything Vince likes INCLUDING a good look, by turning them heel and jobbing them out to a baby face world champion who hasn't gotten anything better than a 60/40, negative/positive crowd reaction in his entire time as a singles baby face. This is about as bad as it gets, because the damage they did to Seth and AJ cannot be undone. They will never become as popular and successful as they could have been had WWE given a single shit about them besides what they can do for Roman. They will still become even more successful than they already are, but they won't reach where they could have. Don't believe me? Imagine if Steve Austin, after he injured his neck against Owen Hart, if he was taken off TV, and then returns at the Royal Rumble 98' as a heel screwing over Undertaker, costing him the title, and then aligned himself with Mr. McMahon as his manager. If WWE had done that, then say tried to reverse course after SS 98' and tried to turn Austin back baby face, he would still have been a huge star but he'd have never reached the levels he did and that's just the truth.
 
#82 ·
Takeover: The End:

Good show, turned out much better than I had ended up anticipating. Very well rounded, which is why I seemed to be so into. Basically most matches were really snug and I almost get a kick out of that when seeing everyone laid into each other on an intended "big night".

The Sombra vs Dillinger match did its job. I feared using Tye here was going to backfire on the guy obviously going to win his debut. Crowd seemed to smooth out by the end, after the offense of Sombra, or Cien, won em over. This was better of a showcase than say what Tye vs Crews was in Brooklyn.

Loved the tag, would say I preferred it over the first. All four were total fire. They just don't let up, and bless their hearts for making their matches so compelling on the big stage. The title change ruled, b/c who expected it? I walked into this really annoyed b/c The Revival lost to the indie geeks (Gargano/Ciampa, seriously, that's all their persona is rn) on the NXT a week before this which was outrageous. But all that aside, and general "cynicism" of expectations, the nearfalls were heaven & easy to believe on both sides. The Revival is by far my favorite duo in the whole of WWE rn, so seeing these dudes continue to get a rub is something that can put a smile on my face. Wasn't ready for them to lose the straps in Dallas, even if Alpha has already established themselves as a hell of a unit. This is what some like to look for, so yeah, MOTN here.

Nakamura vs Aries was really, really good. Aries should be a full heel following this, but the baby steps towards it were well in place given the nature of this match. I thought his deliberate ways, and flat out DOMINATING Nakamura did a ton for him, even w/the loss. He needed more than *just* to look like "hey I'm Austin Aries, I got plenty of cool moves that can earn a pop too". He's better off being a jerk to the fans, b/c he can be great at that, and messing w/their expectations slightly, while still putting on a hell of an effort. Plus, this shows how strong of a babyface fighting from underneath Nakamura is. Against Zayn that wasn't something showcased (and w/good reason) and all the short TV matches were him working on top. This turned out nicely. I'm gonna enjoy returning to it. Finish is SICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. Popped for a death valley driver on the apron spot b/c I knew Aries does it & it feels like a long time since he brought it out. (and he used it on Punk in 2005, so c'mon, right?) That's marky, but what can I say. Good transition spot to try and go for broke in missing the dive, which allows Naka to only squeak by.

Enjoyed Nia Jax vs Asuka. Not a great match, per say, b/c I don't think they were quite given that chance to exceed there, but Nia Jax is good. There's no doubt about it. She's a monster, she works like a monster, she's totally convincing as a monster. Didn't mind Asuka in it, but you could tell this was more contained via Nia's domination through her which spawned the first time ever desperation by Asuka to just lay in as many gnarly kicks to the face/skull as she could to drop the bruiser. Nia outworked Bayley BIG TIME in their rematch a few weeks ago (worth a look; would be even better had Bayley sold during it) and now she put in another memorable outing on another Takeover. I can cope w/her losses being what they are. The Bayley one was perfection, and this felt logical. You kick someone in the head enough, they well go down. There just could have been a touch more behind it overall. Between these three, there's proven worth. It's the rest of the roster I feel needs to beef up to contain some air of consistency.

I can go out on a limb and say I was cool w/the main event. The start kind of worried me b/c it looked like they were going to lock up or do fancy bs in a HEATED GRUDGE MATCH, before Joe fooled Balor and started to lay it in on him. Like the majority of the show, this was p. damn aggressive. Joe was quality. Not Dallas godly, or even on par to where their best match was in London. Still Joe is all I had to truly care about this from start to finish. Balor was.... ok. If that's being nicer than I want to be. Some of his strikes were great, but he doesn't do much else to feel invested in. At a time here or there during this I started to go blank watching b/c there's nothing going on. This is the main event and the first time on the show I'm losing a twinge of interest b/c of this guy. Sure kicking the living FUCK out of Joe in the face was memorable, but what else are you giving me through your role? At least this worked out to where I was fine w/it by the end. Compared to what feels like numerous other matches involving him where they come, they go, either I hate it or had nothing to remember. Glad the finish was the super Muscle Buster and not the contrived Coup de Grace from the top of the cage. I anticipated a Balor championship win, so once he got annihilated that's when I was feeling p. darn good about the eventual 3 count. Right guy went over. Feud is finally done w/a decent enough capper, even if the cage environment wasn't the most utilized structure. Memorable ending, to say the least. I'll chalk that up as a positive. And this HAS to mean Balor is done out of the championship picture. Please, lets hope so. Joe vs Nakamura is the go to en route to Brooklyn. There's no reason it isn't.

PS: BOBBY ROODE

PPS: PRECIOUS PAUL ELLERING. Didn't see that coming.
 
#345 ·
I watched Raw like I do every so often when there's a few things on there that pique my attention and as always it just reminded me why I don't suffer through it. You can add all the talent you want but no talent in the world is saving how horrible and turn-offy the presentation of the show is. In pretty much every segment you have either Steph or Cole/JBL/Saxton and they're just massive turn offs and they ARE the show. There's no I can't be doing with them so I'll skip that part of go make a drink and come back after they're done. If Steph is a turn off then you skip the entire show. And if I was half thinking about watching again next week as an actual viewer and not a "someone said check this match out so here I am 3 months later" then Steph and Shane and the commentary drove me right away. It's probably why no matter who they have on the show ratings are where they are because stars won't drive ratings when the problems are at the very core. I'm actually really interested in what the numbers are for both shows this week because Raw should theoretically do a big number. GMs announced, Bryan and Foley returned, go-home show for Battleground, Raw before the Draft. Oh and Rollins vs Ambrose in a Title match. But I bet at best they have a decent spike that soon returns to the new norm. And if SD doesn't at least do Raw average numbers tonight then it may as well be called a lost cause already because this should really be the highest rated show of the year.

The fuck was up with Shane? Poor guy looked ready to melt. Him and Steph were super annoying. Actually that's not strong enough. A backstage skit with Bryan and Kane with no audio is annoying. They were just abhorrent. Abhorrent is my new favourtie word btw and I just found out that I've spelled it wrong twice in a row here. Just so unlikeable. Steph just would not shut up and is basically begging for a slappin but of course nobody can so you just turn the TV off and go watch someone else somewhere else that doesn't wind you up like that because fuck, our lives are tough enough as is without coming home and winding the day down with 3 hours of Stephanie McMahon acting like that. And it's not a who wants to see bad guys thing. Seth Rollins is a heel and I want to see him get his (well I don't because I don't care but say I is 9 year old Billy from Tampa) but I enjoy watching him be an annoying bad guy. I don't know how anyone can enjoy watching Steph. I've never watched anyone and felt such go away heat before. Shane was horrible too. Just so stupid and unlikeable and front of attention-y. Foley with Steph is beyond daft. I'd say character killer but thankfully Foley is untouchable and anything they do will just be forgotten. But yeah, moronic pairing. First off why would Steph pick Foley when he represents everything she represents the opposite of. And vice versa. I mean they had some weird explanation from Foley and it was just nonsense. And then poor Mick gets completely overshadowed and trumped by Bryan and it's like why on earth did you take this role Mick? Also he came off like a massive dumbass during that main event just shadowing Stephanie while yet again she made herself centre stage and Mick ended up as a deadbeat character who is just Stephanie's shadow and soon to be bitch. Also where is Mean Gene to ask her why she didn't pick Hunter as her GM. Or where the fuck Hunter even is. Part of me thinks this is just a short term angle to replace Foley with a heel GM but then part of me says look at their track record they do dumb things because Vince just tells the writers don't worry about it the audience won't care.

The idea that Raw vs SD is this big rivalry now is daft too. Like Bryan was on about SD beating Raw in the ratings and as fans I spose we want Bryan to succeed because he's Bryan but that's also telling viewers to watch SD and not Raw so Shane and Bryan can stick it to Steph who we all hate. They're literally telling their viewers to stop watching one of their shows so the heel gets hers. The mind boggles. Oh and the idea of Steph and Shane having a GM is also nonsense because they're going to constantly overshadow and undermine them and make Bryan and Foley look like their subordinate bitches.

Zayn/Owens tag was ok but holy shit they've managed to just totally kill Zayn/Owens dry. That's impressive. I was thinking about the Battleground card last night about what I'm interested in on it and I legit forgot all about their match. It's also apparently a normal rules match because okay then. Oh and the new wwe website is absolutely abhorrent. It's like a puzzle finding a show and then finding the matches for the card.

I didn't watch Young/ADR but howling at them paying Del Rio so much to be an enhancement talent for guys like Darren Young.

The whole 12 man tag portion of the show I liked. See not all bad. Enzo has absolutely abhorrent dialogue but manages to make it work which is about as big of a put over as I can think of. Their act is awesome, yada yada yada. I loved Cena of all people playing the straight man during all this and asking them if they can get serious. Howling I was. New Day come out and I'm sitting in the living room on the couch and gyrating along with Big E and I don't feel at all like a mong. Their act is so awesome and the only thing stopping me from saying they should stay together for life is that I really want a good Big E singles run at some point. But that can wait a long long time. Cole said I wonder if New Day will be the same after what happened last week as they came out and did the shtick they do every week, therefore acting exactly the same as they were before. Good observation Cole. I'm being too positive here, time for another rant. The commentary team are so out of touch and uncool. The recently divorced Dad who's hitting on girls half his age trying to drink cocktails and shot at the bar that was the cool hangout 20 years ago isn't even close to the level they're at. Cole said something at some point along the lines "I bet that'll be all over Social Media" and it's like just ugh. Does anyone watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver? Coooooool *thumbs up*. Exactly that. And again like Steph they ARE the show and there's no getting away from them and no amount of in ring talent are making up for it. Match was good. You just know how they look at Cass and you just know that Roman Reigns: Reloaded is on the cards in 2017/18. Which is a shame because Cass is over in this role and getting better and better and wait that was Roman Reigns in The Shield wasn't it. For all the supposed next level production WWE has Kevin Dunn is really bad at his job. Small sample but also large enough. Cena got a cut off spot and was crawling towards a hot tag and they go to a break. Like what in the hell? They did the same in the main event. The action finally picks up pace and Rollins does the big frog splash for a big near fall and they just go to a break. And then the abhorrent camera effects during the AJ turn on Cena. Holy cow, that legit made me feel queasy.

So wwe.com as I'm scrolling through the results, next to the Baron Corbin write up they have a video of The Lucha Dragons splitting up. As in literally alongside "but when The Lone Wolf attempted to further punish The International Sensation, Kalisto came Sin Cara’s rescue." And no I didn't cause that typo myself, that's legit the quality control and proofreading that exists on wwe.com.

So on Battleground they hype Charlotte/Dana vs Sasha/X and follow that up with Charlotte/Dana vs Sasha/Becky? Um, okay. So Sasha got herself a partner here but now she needs to get another one? I spose Becky already has a match on the PPV but why do something that makes you look dumb and thoughtless to the fans. Because I bet stuff like this happening every hour of every show has driven many fans away because people don't want to watch TV and think they're smarter than the writers of what they're watching. Unless it's "so bad it's good" viewing but Raw is not that. I tried to start watching the match because Sasha but it was bad so I started forwarding and then it ended just as soon as I started doing that anyway. This time next week including the Natalya run in, this will have featured the entire Womens roster for one show. Very potentially. Her partner has to be Bayley right? So that will come across as her playing second fiddle for the next few months no doubt then. Or babyface Nia Jax :mark:

Nothing at all on the tag match. Lana dresses like a skank rather than a business woman now I spose.

I saw the main event starting and checked how long was left and my planner said 45 minutes and I died a little inside. Very nearly just skipped through to the finish and I so wish that I had done. Dull and not a good match. Ambrose is abhorrently bad right now. Just everything about him. Never been huge on him but I just don't see how people can look at his matches right now and think that's someone who is good at his job. Farcical is an apt adjective. If you thought this was getting a clean decisive finish then lol you're a moron and I'm pretty sure I type that after like every PPV. Why the hell do people get invested in these matches when there's such a low chance of a satisfying ending? I mean the actual finish if you go in this direction was decent but non-finish is the norm so it's just groan groan groan. This became all about Steph and Shane again because duh they're more important than you're top heel and the surrogate top babyface champion. Like I said earlier Foley looked like a total bitch as Steph's shadow.

I never knew this but they actually carried this angle over onto the Network and I only realised when there was some file on XWT called Ambrose/Rollins controversy continues and I was like huh? BECAUSE NOBODY TOLD YOU AS RAW WENT OFF TO TUNE INTO THE NETWORK TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Words fail me. Anyway they gave the belt back to Ambrose and called it a Draw and I spose this is how they get 2 Champions and Rollins is the Raw Champ and has to be the #1 pick after tonight. I spose Ambrose has to be the #2 pick for Shane too. Lel. I mean it's better than Bischoff just giving Hunter the Title but it's not far off. Doesn't this also make the Battleground main event seem very redundant now too?

:cal2
 
#386 ·
Look away now but Seabs thought a modern day WWE PPV was good with a match he'd call great.

Usos/Fabreeze was short but kinda fun. Usos are 100% turning heel now because an odd clean loss always means a turn is coming. WWE have a big problem if they're trying to rebuild acts like Fandango and Ryder after all these years of telling us they're massive geeks because them guys going over just does damage to the act they beat rather than good for them.

BAYLEY pop was great. I'm being deadly serious when I say that I can't watch Bayley's entrance without getting emotional. JBL saying his SOURCES were saying this was a one time favour deal during the actual match killed it for a second but I guess it is what it is. There's no logic to it. Match was good although mostly just because Sasha and Bayley are both great. I thought they missed out big time not having the opening portion of this being the babyfaces running wild and the heels just stoogeing their asses off for them. Think Clash 17. NOT RICKY STEAMBOAT! But WWE always do this and they always go straight to a heat segment without giving babyfaces time to run wild and get over beforehand but jesus this match was just crying out for it. Monthly commentary rant but god they just kill everything that's somewhat cool. JBL and Cole and even generic Saxton talking about Bayley and Sasha is just massively ugh and kills them cold until you focus on something else. They're shouting out things like HUG LIFE trying to sound hip and they just need to go because they're so integral to the product and so out of touch. And it's not even because they're old. JR and Lance Russell were old but they never had this problem. Also Cole said in the next match "flying a swot" or something like that and I died and then he came back after and said it right and it somehow became even funnier.

Speaking of, I absolutely lost my shit at Xavier's "what" after Big E's Bone Crusher line. Pretty much took me the whole of The Wyatts' entrance to stop laughing. Match was decent. New Day are staying together and are the Champs but The Wyatts are splitting so guess who went over. I guess the idea is Bray is the biggest star there so he goes over but you could have Big E pin Rowan and it does nothing to Bray. Big E's belly to belly on Rowan looked amazing. He really should just save the spear through the ropes for like max 3 times a year but that said I have to admit this streak he has of doing it and landing on his head without getting hurt is starting to get very impressive. Tone back on it though please. Woods shtick during the match was good. Pretty sure Bray and Woods had a match on Smackdown where he was fine though so yeah.

Rusev/Ryder felt like a nothing extended squash match. I was kinda distracted for the start of it but it didn't feel as though I missed anything. Weird how they very much teases Rusev/Mojo after but now they're on opposite brands so idk.

Zayn/Owens I thought was great. Most I've liked a WWE match since I'm thinking Reigns/Lesnar. AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO KICK OUT OF FINISHERS FOR IT TO BE GREAT AND EXCITING!!! The botch looked potentially scary but they reacted to it so well. To Cole's credit even he did bringing up Sami's shoulder surgery. Thought this was the best Zayn has looked on the main roster. Probably Owens too but I thought Zayn was the standout of the two. It was kinda weird how given the feud they were having a normal match but it worked. Up until the botch I wasn't really into and was ready to label it as massively underwhelming but then it kept on getting better and better right up to the very end which is really rare these days when they usually peak before the finish and take the shine off a match at the end. Finish itself was great. Whole match was great. Sami's kinda lowkey having a fantastic year with the 2/3 Joe match, the Nakamura match, the 4 way and now this. Or maybe just lowkey to me.

I thought Natalya/Becky was really good. I was kinda distracted for the start of but then I started really paying attention because Natalya was playing an actual heel with an actual workover segment. Becky's selling was about as good as there's been in WWE this year. Doing the running charge into the corner but hobbling. ily. I'm excited for them having another match now.

Young/Miz was kinda terrible. Just a total mess. Match itself was super flat. Nothing in the work and the crowd just did not care. Backlund shenanigans were good because of Bob but the way they did the finish was indicative of the match, just a flat mess. These two are also on separate shows now. Odd. I guess Miz needed to retain the Title because SD needs the belt but they didn't want Young to lose so soon but really a distraction roll up loss would do no damage to him.

The Club 6 man was really flat to begin with but got better as it went on. Probably a tad on the letdown side of things though. Enzo's promo was quite something. Like with the other 6 man I don't get why Cena needed to pin AJ when they have Gallows and Anderson there who have been nothing but fall guys their entire run. Frankly, it doesn't really matter because they're still where they were before and AJ won't really be hurt by it but it was odd because it was so avoidable.

I am not watching a Jericho/Orton talking segment.

Shield 3 way wasn't very good imo. Didn't have high hopes for it either. Better idea on paper than in reality. Whole match felt like a bunch of cold nothingness until it got hotter for the last 5 or so minutes due to the sense of any of these 3 could win. Ambrose has pinned Reigns and Rollins clean this week and Reigns has lost clean to Rollins and Ambrose in his last 2 matches. Despite that though I still don't see Ambrose a real top guy because of everything that has preceded this. That and he fucking sucks right now.
 
#435 ·
BUTTLOAD OF RASSLIN THOUGHTS (aka three different paragraphs):

NXT 7/20/16

American Alpha vs Authors of Pain was legit awesome. Jordan's dive :mark: The bumps these two are willing to take, even on weekly TV, incredible. Makes all their matches exciting to see. AoP are scary bruisers, fan of how they got a lot of double team moves in their arsenal. Was worried this was going to be booked lame w/the pre match beatdown, but letting Alpha regroup before the bell, then get their own revenge was MUCH better, considering it didn't tarnish the win for AoP. They're monsters, no matter how great Alpha are, they should have eaten the loss here to sell AoP was a credible threat. All was accomplished.

Bayley vs Nia Jax III was awesome, too. Nia busting out the JACKHAMMER. I love this woman. Easily the most back and forth match they've had yet. Both performances tending to equal each other out. (opposed to Bayley's AMAZING comeback in the first match, or Nia outworking a mediocre Bayley in the second to make that one must see)

Joe vs Rhyno was fine, if largely b/c it was a squash for Joe. Thought he left it looking real good. Would say "wow this does Rhyno nothing" but luckily I caught this after I know he's now on the main roster again, so getting owned by the NXT Champion totally works as his farewell. Torn on the Joe vs Nakamura match, as far as booking goes. No way do I want Joe to lose the championship already. But I'm not against that Nakamura moment if he does win, too. I can easily wait till another Takeover for that, and would prefer Joe to dominate some more. What better way for Nakamura to suffer his first defeat than by the guy who's kicking everyone's ass, ya know? I can't wait for that match. Safe to say this year's main event won't be overshadowed like last year's as far as on paper goes. Nakamura's rise is THE thing people are wanting to see w/NXT today.


NXT 7/27/16

This week's episode was a fun exposure show for a lot of cats.

I still want either Buddy Murphy or Wesley Blake to actually get a chance to be more than enhancement for a change, but I can't complain about their usage on here. Nakamura vs Blake was the usual entertaining TV Naka match. Ibushi vs Murphy was interesting if out of something I thought I'd never see. I don't object to it being p. obvious that Ibushi is going to win the CWC, although I do kind of chuckle at WWE not even making it a quiet issues by already showcasing Ibushi (and signing him to a contract) on something other than the weekly tournament show. THAT KICK upside Murphy's head, yeeeeeeeesh. Murphy got talked up post match, thought that was cool. Corey Graves still sucks b/c when the match started Tom lobbed him a softball to put over the heel "not sweating Ibushi" and then he goes and insults Murphy for it. When he's supposed to be the heel commentator. UGH.

Billie Kay vs Santana was nothing, but at least they're moving quick on filling up spots for the new women's division. Billie's big boot to win the match was GREAT.

No Way Jose's promo I liked a lot. Good delivery, believable aggression. Thanks to the past two weeks, this went from random thingy to make Aries heel, into a decently developed grudge among the two. I'm down w/NXT showing some wiggle room in using homegrown guys in some solid spots along w/the studs from elsewhere. Jose vs Aries is easily going to make Takeover: Brooklyn, so good for him.

TMDK had another nice showing. The guys they were working vs, oh man. They picked em up from the local indie dollar store, b/c wow. I don't advocate showing someone down your throat, especially in no time unless they're a different sensation, but yeah, I'm absolutely on board w/TMDK being in Gargano/Ciampa's spot over the latter jobber twits. I can't believe that's probably going to be the tag team championship match for Brooklyn. Double UGH. Revival hasn't beaten them yet, so dear god let that be the one bit of hope I have to cling to in letting them retain.

CWC Week Three:

ZSJ vs Dux was good. Figured it would have been on paper, didn't fall short of what it could be. Danielson calling matches w/guys that are of a similar "type" that he is just shows how much fun he's having out there. Too bad he doesn't do commentary w/Mauro on Smackdown (minus JBL) instead of being an on air personality. But I guess that wouldn't get us HUGE pops any time his music hits week after week, so that matters too. I was bummed Dux got paired vs ZSJ in the first round, b/c we all know Zack is going FAR. I've enjoyed Dux for some years now, he's good & one of the names I'd like to see get a chance out of this Cruiserweight division thingy. Dunno if he will or won't out of this, but winning a match and getting a second would have really helped his cause. I understand why they gave ZSJ a good opponent to showcase, though. Just a bummer another guy I like already had to be out.

Gulak vs Sihra didn't click at all. You can tell the timing between the two was off. Sihra did that ankle thingy w/the body scissors and Danielson loses his shit. That was the highlight. Gulak won, he's up against ZSJ in the next round. Filler towards what we anticipated. Idk why Gulak puts a mask on as Soldier Ant and I'm MUCH more of a fan of his than when he doesn't have it on. I mean, I like him yeah, but some nights he works for me and others I'm sitting on my hands. I guess the answer here is stories & characters, which have been the thick of it for The Colony over the years. When he's Gulak there's nothing but the idea of "only" wrestling. Not much else.

Holy shit this Anthony Bennett guy is even worse than Hoho Lun. Fuck. That was embarrassing. Imagine doing all of those vignettes, and feeling excited at the chance only to shit the bed THIS badly. Like not even being able to stand up for the moment post match where the ref raising the opponents hand. He had to see that sitting down hurt in the corner. Eeeesh. Dead @ his HORRENDOUS leaping pansy clotheslines. Nese felt like he was wrestling himself the entire match. Then the geek gets knocked out or gassed before the finish and it only made things much more awkward. I like Nese a lot. But I hope if anything moves forwards w/WWE, they'll make him tone his shit down and zero in on him being someone they can do something w/. Worst match of the CWC by an obvious mile.

Kendrick vs Mendoza was awesome. Probably my favorite match from the tournament yet. That's how you make a name for yourself when nobody knows it. Match legit started out w/Kendrick having all the cheers, then by the end, crowd was wanting Mendoza to take the upset. I knew Mendoza prior to this working under the name Jinzo, but I don't recall him ever looking this good. So damn, this caught me by surprise. Kendrick working ROUGH and mean was great, too. Just like damn, these two guys were dying for a win here. Really upped the stakes. Especially since most of these I'm having an easy watch w/, but it's all p. cavalier in the first round. Knowing who will win most matches, audience feeling the same. This one flipped it on its head. The crowd getting hyped for the Coast to Coast was a hell of a sight. Mendoza looked great, Kendrick being a jerk was a nice surprise, all around heck of a good time. I see no reason why Mendoza isn't put in the Cruiserweight division after this. Seriously.
 
#632 ·
Wow, Cena/Styles II was piss fucking poor. A Styles Clash 7 minutes into the match, kickout, followed up with an AA and a kickout. From there we get nothing but random ass moves/finishers and kickouts loaded with a major lack of selling between them repeatedly trading submissions. Unfortunately, a near DUD and what disappoints me even more is that the casual fan will drool all over the match and it's gonna go down as a fantastic moment & win for AJ... but the match was dirt. :shrug
 
#661 ·
I'm not seeing how people can say AJ/Cena was awesome. AJ is awesome, and Cena CAN have great matches but the last couple of years his big matches have been awful. All I saw last night was two guys no-selling, exchanging big moves and spamming finishers for 15 mins and then AJ winning. No thought was seemingly given to structure an actual match.

That's all we seem to get from WWE in big matches these days. Just reversals and false finishes. No actual story. I'm glad AJ won, he's a made man now in this company. But the match fucking sucked balls.
 
#692 · (Edited)
Summerslam was...weird. I felt uncomfortable watching Sasha clearly in considerable pain fighting her way through that match but I applaud Charlotte for focusing her attack on the back. I thought her work was actually rather excellent in that regard. There were a few botches in this one that hurt the flow, and of course Sasha's injury too. The finish was a surprise and didn't sit well with me in the moment but it all makes sense now.

Cena/Styles was...exactly what I expected it to be. I had a ton of fun watching this because it's hard not to get caught up when people are going nuts all around you. But I'm calling it as it is; this was an advanced finisher fest. Obviously leagues above Cena/Rock and they had some really cool spots in this one. I LOVED the Cena face moment and thought that was some awesome storytelling. I just wish that a little more of that had been present from the beginning of the match instead of showing up right at the death. Place lost its shit for Styles going over. This was lots of fun but nowhere near a classic imo. I think Cena has settled into a formula with his matches these days. They're all kind of the same affair lately with him busting out a few different moves in each one to keep them somewhat fresh.

Ambrose/Ziggler fucking sucked. I knew it would suck and I wasn't the least bit surprised that it did. Place was dead. I went to get food. Whatever.

Balor/Rollins could have been something really good but fuck the crowd for being butthurt over a stupid belt. I can't remember even being so mad at thousands of people. I was really looking forward to this one and Barclays ruined it for me. Well done Brooklyn. It sucks even more to know Balor was legit hurt and still continued on while being shat on by a bunch of entitled idiots. I hope to see a rematch between these two down the line.

Brock/Orton was...different. I'm a big Brock fan but I'm tiring on the suplex city stuff just like a lot of others. In saying that though, when he started throwing bombs and we all realized Orton was busted open - I'll be damned if that wasn't an equally uncomfortable but thrilling viewing experience. I can't believe so many people thought this was real, even Jericho lol. I just pray to holy God that we don't get Shane McMahon vs. Lesnar. I really struggled to buy Shane as a threat to Taker but I just can't do it with Brock. I can't. Brock has gone through Taker, Cena, Reigns, Rollins, Punk, HHH, Show, all of them. Fuck WWE if they think for one second I'm going to buy Shane McMahon as being able to land a single shot without dying. I really hope that match doesn't happen.

Raw was a lot of fun. Sami/Rollins was great. I was really close to the ring for Raw and could see Sami's face. He looked like he was in real fucking pain and I bought it. Incredible selling from him and great match. I really enjoyed Reigns/Jericho too. I think that has to be Jericho's best match all damn year. Maybe I'm biased because I was there live but the place was buzzing for this and there was a real sense of unpredictability over who would win. Really fun match and I have to say, Reigns is a beast to see from that close. He's so explosive in the ring. For the first time I actually got to appreciate what he has to offer in there. Solid stuff from those two.

Overall it was a fun weekend with NXT taking pride of place once again. It's just a completely different mind set, show atmosphere and attitude from the fans of the regular WWE shows. I'm just glad I don't feel 100% ripped off like I did at the end of Mania 32 weekend. I got my money's worth and that's the most important thing in the end I guess.
 
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