The Thread Killer

I have no real use for Seth Rollins as a singles wrestler and I felt the same way (except even stronger) about Dean Ambrose, but I really liked their work as a Tag Team. Hell, I thought their match for the Tag Team Championships at Hell in a Cell last year was excellent, and they were fighting Drew McIntyre and Dolph Freaking Ziggler of all people. So really, I had no time for 3 out of the 4 guys in that match as singles, but they had a hell of a Tag Title Match.

I know they both went on record back when they were both with WWE saying that it was their dream to fight at Wrestlemania. This is probably much bigger for them so I'm really happy that they're finally getting to do the match they always wanted to do. Just too bad Dusty won't be here for it, I can't even imagine how proud he would have been of his sons.

I guess the fact that Oney Lorcan has shown up on 205 Live means that his NXT tag team with Danny Burch is finished? If so, that's too bad. I thought they were great, and I'm not convinced 205 Live will "get" Lorcan's style? Not to mention I am concerned about what will happen to Burch without Lorcan. Maybe they will send him to NXT UK? Reportedly that is where Alexander Wolfe is headed. I know Burch and Lorcan made an appearance there in February.

Lord knows in his book Bret pretty much brags about sleeping with practically every woman within a 50 mile radius of every WWF event while he worked there, so I was surprised he denied it as well.

One thing I find kind of humorous is that back at the time it happened, the narrative put forward in some circles was that nobody knew about the planned screwjob ahead of time except for Vince and Earl Hebner. A lot of people didn't believe that, but I know a fair number of fans did. Not even Vince's inner circle knew. Bruce didn't know. JR didn't know. Russo claimed at the time that he didn't know, and swore on that fact when Mick Foley confronted him about it. Even Shawn didn't know, (so by extension neither did Triple H.) Then Shawn admits on Confidential that okay...he knew, and then so does Gerry Brisco...and the pendulum starts to swing the other way. Now the more time that goes by, all sorts of people claim that not only did they know - but it was their idea. Vince planned it. No, Russo planned it. No, Brisco planned it. It was Triple H's idea ("if he doesn't want to do business we make him do business!") No, it was Cornette's idea. The Montreal Screwjob has gone from being the best guarded conspiracy in the history of Pro Wrestling to something that everybody up to and including the popcorn guy knew about ahead of time. I admit to being biased against the guy, but to me Vince Russo just came across in this episode as desperate to be relevant to any conversation about anything at this point. I think he'd cop to being the second gunman on the grassy knoll if the thought it might help him get exposure or back in WWE.

I know this sounds dumb and it never would have happened, but I would've loved to see Balor, Gable and EY end up on 205 Live. And then they could move Tony Nese to Main Event.

I would certainly not begrudge him that. In WWE he won't have to kill himself every time out like he would in AEW, New Japan or the Indies. Not to mention, if anybody earned the right to coast on their reputation into retirement, it's AJ.

Oh man, I hope they have plans for Gable. Otherwise he was probably better off in that team with Roode. Which also begs the question, why have them just turn heel two weeks ago, if they're splitting them up anyway?

I hate to say this, and I hope it isn't true...but based on not just the Daniel Bryan series but the entire past year, I'm starting to worry that AJ Styles might have passed his "best before" date.

Why didn't they call them "The Iconic Experience?" The name is right there! Oh and change their names to "Kay" and "Pey" because otherwise it's too confusing.

It's something I read in an interview somewhere, so it could be bullshit. However, it has the ring of truth to it, since he sat out his entire contract without working anywhere else. Not a lot of guys would do that, 99% would ask for their release and keep working begrudgingly if they didn't get it. He just walked, which I kind of respect.

I don't know how much longer he's going to get sympathy cheers for beating Cancer, sadly. I fear that it won't be long before he's back to getting his usual reactions.

Vince gets punched in Montreal a lot.

That's not why he did it. He apparently got along fine with Enzo (and was one of the few people who did.) He asked to be called up to Raw or Smackdown, and they apparently told him he was 205 for life, so that's why he walked.

If Elias hits Vince over the head with his guitar, I'll mark out like a mofo.

I read somewhere (I forget where, but I remember it was an interview with a friend of his) that Neville is financially independent and doesn't "need" to work for WWE, so when they made it clear that "creative had nothing for him" he just walked and was fine with waiting out his contract. Most guys can't afford that or have the mindset that if they don't make it to WWE, they don't make it. Thankfully, it appears more and more guys are now rejecting that mentality, which can only be good for the business in the long run, IMO.

If you die and go to hell, you wake up watching a match being called by Mauro Ranallo with Byron Saxton on color, as Nickelback plays in the background.

So what's the deal, are The Bar broken up now?

To be fair, I think Murphy actually wants this job. Neville apparently just didn't care, and Aries is well...Aries. I don't know how anybody expected him to last based on his history.

Agreed. I don't like Corbin at all, but his work and especially his promo delivery is miles ahead of the IIconics. Corbin is capable of talking, and one day might even be able to be carried to a watchable match. Those two? I think not.

I was just wondering about that. Nothing says that the brand split and shakeup means absolutely nothing more than having the announcers make a huge deal about Lars being exclusive to Raw last night - only to have him show up on Smackdown tonight. I think they're doing this shakeup based on a drunk monkey throwing darts at pictures of the roster. And then the monkey writes the show.

THANK YOU. This X 1000. I am so sick of seeing people praise them, as if the fact that they can't wrestle well and their promos suck are somehow part of their gimmick. Being bad at your job isn't a gimmick, it just means you're bad at your job. It really says something about the state of Pro Wrestling and WWE in particular when fans confuse heels being annoyingly bad as some sort of perverse "heat."

The dude on the far left. I don't care what anybody else says, I liked Sanity. I thought they were a perfectly acceptable stable, who got totally buried when they got called up. I don't get the logic behind calling up talent from NXT when you have nothing for them to do. They never even got a chance on Smackdown, they were buried from the get go. I always thought they'd be great as new lackeys for Bray Wyatt, or as a stable to feud with a reformed Wyatt Family...but nope. Nothing, nada, zip, zero. If you don't have anything for them, why not release them? Why call them up and then ignore them? It makes no sense. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind the majority of their NXT call ups.

So Sami Zayn's new gimmick is copying Daniel Bryan's gimmick, basically?

Yeah, you could tell that Atlas was really trying to use this episode as a chance to make himself out to be a hero. I found the part where he complained that he needed to talk about the murder right away, because he was bursting at the seams to tell his story to be a bit much. I'd buy that if he hadn't talked about the murder in a bunch of shoot interviews, it's not like this was the first time he ever told his side of the story. You have to wonder if the story doesn't get a little more detailed with each telling.