The Thread Killer

When Styles hit the Styles Clash right on top of Owens's belly, I was kinda surprised Owens didn't barf all over the ring. Or that they both didn't bounce way high up into the air on the rebounce.

This has been the best Owens/Styles match that we've seen so far, but that is damning it with faint praise.

I guess that is what annoys the shit out of me about this guy. He admittedly works his whole career to get into WWE, he gets there, against all odds he becomes a big success, and his response is: "Okay, now this is where I take it easy." Yeah, it bugs me too. I thought he was great the first year or so on the main roster. But he's turned all those great little aspects of his character into lazy crutches. I wasn't always this way. I was in the crowd at Ring of Honor's Northern Navigation in Toronto in July 2008. I had only seen a couple of Steen & Generico matches prior to that, but after seeing his match with Nigel McGuinness for the ROH title that night, I walked out of that arena as a Kevin Steen fan. I loved his tag matches with Generico against The Briscoes, and I wanted to like him in WWE, I really did. But he has been slowly draining my will to live since Wrestlemania. I'm glad to know it's not just me and that fellow PWO members whose opinions I respect are seeing the same things I am.

I guess that is what annoys the shit out of me about this guy. He admittedly works his whole career to get into WWE, he gets there, against all odds he becomes a big success, and his response is: "Okay, now this is where I take it easy."

I'm a soft touch - Shane and his kids are always adorable. I'm guessing Owens is going to do something evil to Shane in front of his kids, setting up their rumored feud and HIAC match. Otherwise why would they show his kids? But I agree, it actually doesn't come off all that contrived to me.

Fixed that for you. His stuff with Jericho was pretty good. I liked his stuff with Ambrose from a few years ago too. It's possible he's getting worse, but if so I don't understand why. I don't remember his old matches being nothing but restholds and stooging.

Looks like it's official (and Meltzer was right). Kevin Owens is no longer "the new face of America." Guess they decided against the anti-American gimmick.

Fixed that for you.

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I don't care for either guy in singles matches, but I quite enjoy them as a team and I liked that match quite a bit.

OH SHIT. I forgot about this Kevin Owens match. Kill me now. I don't think I can take an Owens lie-down-rear-chinlock-fest. At least we've rarely seen these guys fight each other before, so there's the whole newness factor of this match.

Uh oh, Corey Graves just called the Championships "the straps." He's in more trouble than that Beach Ball. Good match, that.

Some folks calls it a sling blade, I calls it a kaiser blade. Mmmm Hmmm.

Book the Beach Ball against Cesaro in a return match tomorrow on Raw.

I reserve the right to complain about whatever I want when it comes to this shitty show. Besides, Cole is supposed to be the play-by-play guy. Constantly spouting stats and historical dates is practically all the guy does now. I expect that from a color commentator in baseball. In wrestling, I like the play-by-play guy to actually call the match. Tom Phillips can do it, and he has a hell of a lot less experience than Cole does. I don't see why Cole can't just call the damn match and leave the color to Graves (who is damn good at it) and Booker.

That's crazy talk.

They've been obsessed with those statistics for a couple of years now. Knowing how many times the Tag Titles have changed hands at Summerslam really enhances my enjoyment of this match.

Michael Cole's incessant statistic and date quoting is annoying as hell.

This Ambrose/Rollins video package is pretty good and compelling. And I don't even really like either guy all that much. Please, wrestling gods, save this show. By the way, when I said wrestling gods I didn't mean JBL.

Well that's it...Balor and Wyatt are 1-1 against each other. We absolutely have to have a third match to decide this rivalry. It will be like this generation's Flair/Steamboat trilogy.

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.