The Thread Killer

I just marked out when Corey Graves referenced Gorilla Monsoon and the famous lower occipital protuberance.

That's exactly what happened to me, except in my case I took my dogs out into the yard to pee. We were only out there for a couple of minutes, and when I came back inside I couldn't figure out what the hell happened, since Orton had been making his entrance when I went outside. I had to rewind my PVR to see the "match."

Well, Balor's entrance seems to have awoken the crowd, at least.

Hey, a Bray Wyatt match. That will bring an end to the string of disappointing matches on this show, right?

After the way they've treated him, how could he not feel that way? He's really damn good, and they've not done squat with him. Although, who knows. Maybe he doesn't want to walk away from the money. Not everybody is a Ryback, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger. There is no shame in his staying if that is the best way to make a living. I guess it all depends which is more important to him, money or professional success.

Watching Alexa Bliss always makes me feel dirty too, but likely for an entirely different reason.

Opinions please... Is it just me, or was the Banks/Bliss match at Great Balls of Fire better than this one? This one doesn't seem as good to me, although that might just seem that way to me because there really hasn't been a good match yet on this show yet, and we're 90 minutes in.

What the hell was that? We didn't even get a patented Randy Orton rear chinlock spot! I feel ripped off. But on second thought, I can see why they made the call to cut that match short. There just isn't enough time on this show.

Damn, trying to watch this match with Enzo dancing and shouting from above the ring is annoying. Not that it would be all that great anyhow, but still.

You guys are right. This crowd is dying and they were HOT during the New Day/Usos match. Something cooled them off.

To me, Corbin's whole schtick seems to consist of: Execute a basic maneuver, effectively but slowly and unspectacularly. Wander around the ring, mug to the crowd and shout at them a bit. Repeat. Like I said, plodding. And I have no proof that Cena ever did hold anybody down, but it has been speculated that he did. Edge and Jericho flat out said on a podcast that he campaigned to squash the Nexus. But whatever, maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But if he is going to do that to somebody, it may as well be Corbin, as far as I'm concerned. For a scary moment there, I was worried that Cena was going to put Corbin over before he left for Hollywood to make Transformers movies. I just honestly don't think that Corbin deserves that kind of rub. I don't think he's good enough. Maybe he will be someday. But not today.

That match was not so good. To me, the word best used to describe Baron Corbin is: plodding. As in "slow-moving, unexciting...lacking in imagination or intelligence." There have been those who have said that Cena has held down younger up and coming talent like Wade Barret or Alex Riley. This is the one case where if it's true, I am totally fine with it.

YES YES YES!!! Outstanding match, which obviously had no place on the damn pre-show. This whole Usos/New Day feud has been GOLD, I tell you. Gold, Jerry. Gold! As much as I rag on WWE, to me there is no doubt that their Tag Team match style is SO much better than the stupid New Japan/ROH Tag Match style. Good, solid action without all the stupid multi-team spotfests. That was outstanding, I got totally caught up in that match.

Man, either I was late to the party when it comes to appreciating the Usos, or they have really improved. Since their heel turn they are rapidly becoming my favorite team. Also, I don't like New Day, but I am a big fan of Big E's cloak. And Xavier Woods is excellent at selling, in my opinion.

You're right. I'm not even saying Tozawa doesn't deserve the recognition and a title reign, but to me the deal with Titus as his manager was overshadowing him. The announcers spent more time talking about Titus Worldwide than they did about Tozawa. I just don't know if now was the right time to end Neville's reign, and I don't know if the division could sustain a prolonged Tozawa reign...right now. I can see it eventually, absolutely. I suppose it would have opened up some new challengers and title matches, but to me Neville is the division right now. You are absolutely right, I don't see how the way this was handled helped anybody, to be honest. Yeah, I figured we were heading for Miz vs. Jordan too...but that win in the six man looked pretty decisive. Weird.

The only person it looks bad on is Jordan. Hardys are permanently over and Miz just needs one good segment on Raw to get himself back. Do you think this is part of a larger angle where Jordan gets a shot at Miz, or is he on to a new contender?

I don't disagree with you there, sir. The whole angle seemed poorly thought out, in my opinion. I was against them ending Neville's reign since (to me) the way he held that title made it seem like something. Now the continuity of the length of his uninterrupted reign is gone. I was against them moving it for essentially no reason. The last thing that division needs is for their title to become like the US title.

I respectfully disagree. I love Neville with that title. He carries the entire division on his back, I don't think Tozawa can do that. Especially with this deal with Titus as his manager, to me that just comes across as odd. They do need to get some new blood up from NXT to challenge Neville, though. Also, how do the Hardys and Miz feel knowing they went on before the Cruiserweights? Not a sign your career is on the proper trajectory.

I found out what happened. About a month ago, Bell updated their service so that all of the content available through the Fibe TV package can now be accessed online on your laptop, tablet, phone, whatever. So essentially, as a Fibe subscriber I can watch TV on any device now. Not only did the WWE Network fall under that umbrella, but so did all of the On Demand content covered by Fibe. Bell did send an email out telling me that all Fibe content can be accessed on any device, but they didn't mention that meant that WWE Network subscribers could now have full access to the entire network. I guess I could have inferred that, but I didn't and I still think it would have been nice if they would have specifically mentioned it. Especially since so many fans have complained about not having access to the complete network. Ah well, I only missed about a month, and all is well that ends well. I am thankful for this thread, though! Otherwise I might have never figured it out.

You can tell that the commentary on the pre-show isn't being heavily produced. It's noticeably different.

Yeah, that was sad. It looked like a poorly attended indie show. If you have a two hour pre-show, you probably shouldn't throw one of the pre-show matches out there in the first hour. Sad to see the Hardys and the Intercontinental Champion reduced to that. It's a four hour damn show, you'd have thought they could have found some room for them somewhere. HEY...with The Revival being on the shelf again, should we expect to see The Authors of Pain called up soon to take their place in a feud with the Hardys? (Who have been awoken, apparently.)

Oh by the way, last night's NXT show was awesome and I loved it. Every match was good. I'd write more, but I'm exhausted from hating Mauro Ranallo so much. I need to go lie down.

I hate that Mauro gives away every nearfall like the kick-out of the Eclipse by Asuka by shouting stuff like "we have a new champion" before or during the pinfall attempt. Though that is less his fault and more the general way how WWE announcing is done. Last night made me hate Mauro Ranallo more than I already hated him. I hate his stupid booming deep voice and I hate his stupid shouty announcing style. I hate him using a bunch of Hip Hop references on the show last night, like "if you don't know, now you know" or talking about Tupac. Hey Mauro, you're a pudgy middle aged white guy with a bad haircut, not an MTV VJ from the 90's. Stop trying to be cool. I hate him for trying to shoehorn stupid rhyming schemes into his commentary, seeing how many words in a row he can use that start with the same letter, pretending he's goddamn Howard Cosell. Stop trying to get yourself over and just call the fucking match. Like Robert says, I hate the way he gives away nearfalls by hysterically proclaiming the match is over when we all know it isn't. Stop trying imitate Vince McMahon when he did play-by-play. I hate him trying to beat everybody over the head with how much he knows about Pro Wrestling, by trying to cram in as many references to other organizations and other wrestlers from the past, with his stupid "SHADES OF..." calls. Stop trying to impress the voters for the Observer awards. I hate him so much now, I'm starting to feel sympathy for poor JBL, who was picked on and victimized by all the cruel and heartless Ranallo fans. All JBL ever tried to do was help Mauro be a better announcer, and for that he became a victim of cyber-bullying and a ruthless online smear campaign. Every one of you who participated in the unwarranted character assassination on JBL should be ashamed of yourselves. I hate Mauro Ranallo and I hate that he's the voice of NXT. Hate hate hate hate hate.

Really? When I go to login on the website it shows Bell as one of the providers you can sign in with. After you sign in with your WWE.COM login, it takes you to a page with the logos of a bunch of different TV providers, and it looks to me like Bell is one of the ones listed. When I click on Bell it takes me to a different page that asks you to login with you MyBell login and password. Maybe try that? *checks* ... WHAT THE SHIT?! When the @#$%&*?!? did THIS happen? When they added the On Demand feature to the Bell package last March, the standard U.S. version Network was still not available, because I checked then. I even emailed WWE and asked them when and if the standard network would ever be available to Canadians, and I never got a response. Hell, the wikipedia entry on the WWE Network in Canada even still says... I even checked again about 6 weeks ago, and saw that they were offering the Network online to some subscribers, but not Bell Canada and not Fibe. Sometime since the last time I checked, they obviously added Fibe to the list of providers who can now offer the Network...and NEVER BOTHERED TO TELL THE SUBSCRIBERS. I don't know if I should be angry that I can get the Network now and never even knew thanks to Bell and WWE not telling me - or happy that I can FINALLY get all the On Demand content everybody else can, PLUS I get the Network Stream as an independent TV channel! Mr. Duke, you are now my official favorite poster at PWO. Thanks for pointing that out. I know what I am going to be wasting my time doing over the next couple of weeks! I can't believe this.