The Thread Killer

If this report is true, I feel it sets an interesting precedent for WWE Superstars. "Want to be considered for the #1 Contender's spot? What you need to do is lose a big championship match when you do get your chance - or try to straight up murder your opponent on PPV. Either one will get you in the running." Also, Rollins vs. Wyatt II, the match nobody asked for, and nobody wanted. Yay.

If you ever needed proof of the negative long term effects of chairshots to the head... Mick Foley posted this on his Facebook page today: I wonder what Jim Cornette, Billy Corgan, the executives at Spike TV and Destination America, and the countless creditors that Dixie Carter lied to and ripped off would have to say nice about Dixie. This woman was responsible for employing Vince Russo - twice - and lying about it. She deserves nothing nice to be said about her contributions to the wrestling business. WTF is wrong with Foley?

Looks like my initial theory about the divisive opinions of this show was correct. First three votes cast were one for each option.

I hope this investigation doesn't mean that Alberto won't be able to keep his appointment to beat up Triple H, New Day and The Usos. Actually, if he really could beat up New Day, that would be okay with me.

Whoa, you didn't think the Tag Titles match resembled a MOTYC?

Online opinion on last night's big show seems really divided. Some people are saying it was the best show of the year so far, while others are saying it totally failed to deliver on the hype and excellent build up to Joe vs. Lesnar. Some people think the Main Event delivered, others think Joe got buried or the match was too short. Some people say the Ambulance Match was great, others disagree. What did you think of the show, overall?

There were rumors that Owens is injured, but then he worked the show the day following the MSG show, and by all reports he seemed to be fine. Now they've pulled the match from Battleground (for the time being at least) so we'll have to see what happens. I suppose it's too much to hope for that they'll put Styles in a rivalry with somebody else.

Having watched all of both nights, I think it should be mentioned that one of the main issues with the commentary is that both JR and Barnett seem to be doing play-by-play. It's annoying as hell, because Barnett calls the action as it happens, move for move, but then tries to shoehorn his comments in as well. You'd think he and JR would have worked that shit out by now, considering how long they've been working together. I always thought it was pretty much commentary 101, that one guy calls the action and the other guy throws in comments with insight and analysis. If it's supposed to be JR calling the action then he needs to give Barnett a slap upside the head, because he was annoying the shit out of me on those shows.

That was really weird. Sasha came across as very petty. Is there an issue between those two? I read somewhere that it's more an issue between Alexa Bliss and the entire female locker room. Apparently, she's not well liked.

I liked this show. From what I am seeing online, I don't think I liked it as much as other people did, but I thought it was solid. Neville vs. Tozawa Neville is single-handedly carrying this entire division on his back right now, and heaven help us if he gets injured. I think he's outstanding. I don't mind Tozawa but I wasn't expecting much out of this match, and that's what I got - not much. These two don't seem to have the chemistry that Neville had with Aries or Gallagher. By the way, LOL at the announcer (who the hell was that play-by-play guy anyhow?) listing all the contenders that Neville has beat and totally failing to mention Aries. There were some half decent exchanges and sequences in this match but it never really totally gelled, to me. I also don't get the whole deal with Titus Worldwide. Vince doesn't like managers, but all of the sudden we get a babyface manager, of all things? It's weird seeing a manager who is so big and muscular that he towers over his client, and the opponent. He didn't add anything to this match. I thought the ending was kind of weak, the whole crotching a guy on the top rope and then finishing him with a kick...not sure if that kick was supposed to be to the groin or the gut, but the finish was really anti-climactic to me. Maybe it was supposed to come across different? Unfortunately, based on the backstage segment they showed, Tozawa will be getting a rematch, which on one side makes sense, since Neville has cleaned out this division. Personally, I'd like to see Roderick Strong called up to be the next challenger. He weighs 200 pounds and now that his storyline with Roode has come to an end in NXT, it's probably the best he can expect from here on out. Rollins vs. Wyatt So this happened. I actually kind of like Bray Wyatt (in theory, if not always in execution) but this whole angle has been as boring as mud. I laughed when the announcers were trying to sell the stupid "I am a God/No you're not" reasons behind this rivalry during the commentary - and even they couldn't explain it. Graves: "Bray Wyatt has really taken exception to the comments made about him recently by Seth Rollins." Cole: "Why?" Graves: "I don't know. You'd have to ask him." Speaking of which, the commentary on this show was pretty damn awful. Cole was at his hyperbolic shouty worst, and Booker T was also doing his share of inane comments, shouting and talking over other people. So bad. Phillips and Graves are so much better than Cole and Graves or Phillips and JBL. At this point, I'd almost take Mauro Ranallo back. The match was what it was. Like everybody else seems to feel, I thought this was like an average TV match, which is about the best you could expect out of these guys. At least Rollins kept his usual nonsense to a minimum. I was surprised Wyatt went over, because he rarely does, but in the end, who really cares? We were never given a reason to. Big Cass vs. Enzo This went pretty much how everybody expected it would, which is a shame because once again, Enzo proved with his pre-match promo that he has a hell of a lot to offer on the microphone. Apparently, we can tell Cass is a heel now, because he has generic threatening sounding music, and he spends a great deal of time holding his taped fist high above his head. Even the announcers are wondering what this means for Enzo now, since I don't think this is going to be a feud. Cesaro/Sheamus vs. The Hardyz Hot damn, I had high hopes for this match and did it ever deliver. Not too much to say that hasn't been said already. On paper I wouldn't have thought that I'd have enjoyed this rivalry anywhere near as much as I have, but first their match at Payback was great, and now this was even better. Poor Matt got busted open like mad on that flying headbutt, huh? I get the feeling this one will be placing high on the MOTY lists. Miz vs. Ambrose Ugh, this rivalry is so played out. I was getting tired of them on Smackdown, and this stupid feud keeps going and going. I really hope it's finally over now. I am slowly coming around on The Miz. He certainly does a great job with promos, I still think his ring work is mediocre at best (some of those kicks of his tonight were ridiculously soft looking) but he has done a great job of making the I/C title seem important again. I don't much care for Axel and Dallas as flunkies, but Axel seems to be embracing the role wholeheartedly, at least. My main issue with this match and feud is Ambrose. His act is boring as shit to me. If the fans get on Roman Reigns then they should be booing this guy out of the building. At least Reigns looks like he's trying out there. Ambrose is just a one trick pony. He acts sort of PG era crazy, and he does a rebound clothesline. Whoopee. Please tell me Miz is moving on to a better rivalry now. Balor maybe? Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks As a character I think Bliss is excellent. As a wrestler, I think she's wholly unremarkable, and I don't think Sasha is the one to carry her to great matches - for that I'm guessing you'd need Mickie James or Charlotte, maybe. This wasn't the worst match I've ever seen, but it didn't really engage me until the stuff after the countout. I do worry Sasha Banks is going to cripple herself sooner rather than later with some of the stunts she pulls. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns So here is where I express the opinion that will likely be pretty unpopular. I didn't really like this match, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I hate matches where pinfalls are not the way to win the match. That was why I hated the Extreme Rules PPV. I hate when guys spend half the match trying to escape a cage or climb a pole or slap on a submission or in this case - throw a guy in an ambulance. To be fair, this match was more about the two of them beating the crap out of each other before the ambulance even came into play, so full marks for that. But I wish it had been done Texas Death Match style where you had to pin the guy, but then lock him in the ambulance for the win. But...that is just my own personal gripe and I don't expect anybody to agree with me. If you just wanted to see a couple of big guys beat the piss out of each other, this the match for you. The second issue I had was this match was Roman Reigns. I don't hate Roman Reigns. I'm not one of those fans who is mad at him because he stole Daniel Bryan's spot, or some stupid shit like that. Even if I cared about that (which I don't) it was years ago and long past time to get over it. And I don't think he's a bad wrestler, either. At one point, I was unconvinced that he was good, but his matches against AJ Styles sold me. (Then again, you have to suck pretty hard to have bad matches with AJ Styles, but still.) The issue is, I just don't care about him. I can look at this match from a dispassionate standpoint and say that it was well laid out as a brawl and had good spots etc., but I don't give a crap about Roman Reigns for the same reason I don't give a crap about John Cena. I hate the whole tweener angle, and I fucking hate his hollow, lifeless, scripted promos. He does nothing to engage me as a viewer. He's the epitome of what is wrong with WWE creative right now, as far as I'm concerned. Once again...maybe that's just me. I don't expect anybody to agree with me. The final thing I hated about this match was the angle at the end. I never liked stupid shit like this. I hated it when the nWo did it to the Rock, and all the other countless examples over the years where they bring vehicles and collisions and dumb shit like that into storylines. This is wrestling not fucking Monster Jam. But even still, if they had stopped it with just the collision backstage, and told us to tune in tomorrow on Raw to find out about Strowman's condition, I could have lived with that. They way they oversold it, especially with the announcers and their super serious voices really annoyed the fuck out of me. It's right before the Main Event, and they dragged this nonsense out for way too long. Finally, I will gladly eat my words if this leads to a double turn, but I'm not convinced it will. It SHOULD, but Vince has such a hard-on for Reigns being a babyface (or whatever he's supposed to be now) that I can see them trying to use this to sell Reigns as a badass, or something. Besides, they do such a shitty job at differentiating between babyfaces and heels now, I doubt they'll book it right anyways. If Roman Reigns comes out tomorrow on Raw and tells all the fans to kiss his sweet ass, I'll be the first to say they played the angle right, but I bet we're in for more of the insipid "I'm not a good guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm the guy" moronic nonsense, which is the reason I don't like Reigns to start with. I'm stunned that this company apparently has a crew of almost 20 writers and they still can't get a guy over as a babyface properly. I'd like to think this will make him a solid heel, but I'm betting it won't. And I'm not sure how Strowman would work as face anyhow, not to mention that even if there was a way, WWE would fuck it up. Brock vs. Joe They got the booking for this whole angle and match right, I'll say that for them. I would have dearly loved to see Joe go over, but I don't think we're ever going to see that day. Bottom line is, this actually felt like a real, legit, championship fight. It was presented that way, and that's how it came across. It was a tad short for my liking, but that's my only complaint. Joe looked good, and I don't think he lost a ton of face by losing the match. Lesnar did sell nicely for him, right up to the closing shots of him heading up the ramp rubbing his neck with a concerned look, while Joe gave him the death stare. I have no issue with this match, and I hope it serves to elevate Joe into the Main Event scene firmly.

Sasha certainly gave the impression she legit doesn't like Alexa Bliss, but on these types of shows you never know what's a work and what has shooty elements.

Serious Michael Cole is serious.

I just caught that Strong/Roode match, and yes...that was outstanding. NXT has such an old school feel, it's awesome. That angle and match never would have worked on the main roster for a variety of reasons, but it was great in NXT. Eduardo is right, the past few weeks of NXT have been gold for TV matches.

That's what I've been on about regarding Owens for ages now. Name the last decent match he was in that was attributable to his performance. I've not seen the match with Styles yet, but I'm willing to bet it involved an extended sequence where Owens had Styles in a headlock or rear chinlock, during which Owens needed to lie down on the mat to catch his breath. Sadly, I'm guessing the only reason they did this title switch is so they can put it back on Owens at the next Smackdown PPV. (I know they're supposed to fight on that show, I just can't remember the name and can't be bothered to look it up.)

He claims that during the period he managed The Truth Commission they wanted him to have an army style buzzcut, and during the very brief period that he managed the Acolytes, they asked him to get a Mohawk. Not sure what the third time was.

He was a guest on Austin's podcast this past week, and he talks about that. While with the WWF he was apparently asked three times to move to Connecticut and work for the office writing TV, but he didn't want to so he turned it down. He mentioned that "you know what happens when you say no to them." He mentioned that he already had heat for refusing to cut his hair, too.

Don Callis is a fascinating guy. He's actually incredibly intelligent - like, he's a member of Mensa. I honestly believe he got released from the WWF during the attitude era because his intelligence intimidated people. I'm not the only person who thinks that, I know Mick Foley has said the same thing. After ECW went under he had a good run in TNA as their authority figure, but he quit TNA to get his MBA and was out of the business entirely and was working as an International Management and Business Professor at the University of Manitoba. (He still lives in Winnipeg.) He ended up going on Jericho's podcast and was so entertaining telling the story of his career in wrestling that he ended up getting a bunch of calls to be on other podcasts, and landed the New Japan commentary gig out of that. If you ever have time, you should listen to his interview on Talk is Jericho, it's really interesting. And as I have said elsewhere numerous times, his weekly podcast with Lance Storm is hilarious and pretty insightful as well.

Here's what I don't get. Why did New Japan World use the JR/Barnett commentary team at all for their broadcast? Aren't the AXS show and New Japan World two totally separate deals? Since Kelly and Callis were there anyhow, I don't see why they couldn't have called the shows for the streaming service and let JR and Barnett call the shows for AXS. I listen to Killing the Town with Lance Storm and Don "Cyrus" Callis religiously, and leading up to those shows, it sure sounded like Callis thought he was calling the shows for New Japan World.

So let me get this straight... Issue #1 Observer contributor, reporter and author Scott Williams apparently either co-wrote or ghost wrote JR's autobiography. I guess his wife got wind of a rumor that since Mr. Williams passed away last August, Jim Ross was planning on removing his name (and credit) from the cover of the book. A leaked version of the cover seems to bear that rumor out. The allegation is the widow Williams tried to contact Jim Ross about this, but JR never got back to her despite her repeated attempts. Jim Ross claims this isn't true and that Scott Williams name will be on the cover of the book. People defending JR are pointing out that the book hasn't come out yet, so there is no proof it was ever going to happen, based solely on graphics online. Also, JR has been a little busy lately doing his one man show, his weekly podcast, going to England to work for WWE, working for AXS, and oh yeah...his wife died not that long ago and he himself has openly admitted that he is basically working himself 24/7 to keep from thinking about it. Issue #2 Despite the fact that Kevin Kelly and Don Callis work for New Japan World and were at the G1 in the USA shows, for some reason New Japan World decided to air the shows using the AXS commentary team of JR and Josh Barnett. Not only are JR and Barnett not nearly as familiar with the product as Kelly and Callis, they probably aren't as good a team. A lot of people claim that JR and Barnett did a shitty job on commentary - including some of the talent - and some people are alleging JR was drunk on the air. It is a fact that JR got same names wrong and neither he nor Barnett knew any of the ongoing storylines in NJPW. Dave Meltzer came to JR's defense saying that New Japan doesn't do pre-production meetings for their English announce teams, so JR and Barnett were flying blind. People are criticizing that defense, because JR tweeted pictures of his notes before the show, which included the tournament brackets and pictures of the wrestlers with their names labelled. Of course, having some pictures and tournament brackets doesn't mean you're going to know all the different angles going in, certainly not as well as the New Japan World Team would. Conclusion... The two issues obviously don't have anything to do with each other, not one little bit. Some people really don't like Jim Ross, and they especially don't seem to like the fact that Dave Meltzer likes Jim Ross. A lot of these people will criticize JR when the opportunity presents itself, which it has here. I suppose if you want to criticize Jim Ross, you can easily say: - It looked like Jim Ross was going to deny Scott Williams credit for his autobiography, based on the reported rumors, leaked cover and fact that he didn't answer emails about it. and - Jim Ross did a lousy job calling the New Japan show and he might have been drunk. However, you can also easily say that... - You can't prove Ross was going to deny Scott Williams credit, because the book itself isn't out yet and Jim Ross has an excuse for being too busy to answer his emails and - JR might have had some pictures and brackets, but he certainly didn't have the experience and familiarity with the product that Kelly and Callis do. He could never be expected to do as good a job as they would. The fault for that partially lies with the people who made the decision to put him out there, not Kelly and Callis. Also, Josh Barnett was hardly doing a great job either. I saw both nights. I thought the commentary was weak and JR and Barnett sounded unfamiliar with the product, but he didn't sound drunk to me. I went into that show hoping to hear Kelly and Callis. (Whoever thought I'd want to hear Kevin Kelly over Jim Ross?!) I'm surprised that since JR is back with WWE that he was even able to call that show to begin with. Bix may have some legit points, and he may not. But he certainly does come across like he has an agenda and is on the attack, based on his Twitter feed.

This is plain weird. Aside from Neville, Austin Aries was arguably the most visible and successful wrestler in the Cruiserweight Division. To my mind, with their rivalry he and Neville pretty much rescued the entire division and kept it from descending into total irrelevancy. What I don't get is that he was off for a long period of time due to his eye injury, during which he debuts as a color commentator, and does pretty well. Then he comes back to challenge Neville, and is over to the point where people are actually chanting his name. Then after losing the submission match, they do that deal where the camera shows him sitting there smiling and laughing. Then he announces that he's burnt out, and needs time off - which is weird since he really hadn't been back on the road all that long. Then he gives an interview where he says he's only taking a bit of time off to promote his vegan book, but he'll be back, and that he never intended to take a lot of time off and that he was misquoted. Then he takes time off. Then he gets released. WTF? I have heard the podcasts and seen the interviews where it is claimed he is reportedly moody, temperamental and difficult to deal with. The thing is, as is mentioned earlier, where the hell else is he going to go? He apparently burned his bridges in ROH and TNA, although there are new people in charge in both places. I'm sure he'd fit right in to the Juniors Division in New Japan, if they would want him. This whole thing just seems weird, I hope the real story of what is going on comes out in time. I don't think it's a wellness thing, though. Unless you can flunk a test due to eating too many bananas.

Apparently it involves Kurt Angle spending all his time either talking on, or staring at his phone and in the process not being even one little bit funny or entertaining. Because, that's not what he was famous for during the Attitude Era, so why would anybody want to see that? I don't know if it's true, but this is reportedly leading to the return of Triple H and a match with him. So we've got that to look forward to.

Cena had been talking for about 30 seconds and I was ready for him to go make another movie or get married again, or something. Anything. Ugh. That guy's act is so stale he can be gone for months and still be boring as shit when he gets back. I'm not saying he can't bring it in the ring, but hot damn is that guy boring on the microphone. A "USA is great" promo followed by a "Bulge Area" joke? Really? I know it's July 4th...but come on. The guy was gone for months and the best thing they can come up with for him upon his return is USA vs. the foreigner who thinks Americans are fat and lazy?

Did anybody see the new Ride Along last night? It was actually really funny. Sheamus is actually pretty humorous, and his relationship with Cesaro is fun to watch, the way they bicker back and forth.

Weren't you pretty much in tears the entire time you were reviewing the Russo era of WCW? And I imagine now that you're viewing his run in TNA, your cheeks are pretty tear-stained as well.

That is what drives me nuts about WWE. They either book a card which looks like total shite, or they book a card that has the potential to be awesome (like this one) but then pull some stupid booking crap and ruin it (see: Money in the Bank.) That's the one advantage to the Network model...for $11 a month I can afford to watch, regardless. I sure wouldn't have ordered half the crap they've done over the past year if it was on conventional PPV. And if I had paid money for MITB, you can bet your ass I'd never make that mistake again. I have the Network, so of course I'll watch the show...besides, I want to see Joe/Lesnar despite having no faith it is going to go well. But it's so frustrating to be a fan of this organization because all the pieces are there, they just don't put them together on a consistent basis. It's not like TNA where it's safe to assume it's going to suck, and then it does suck. WWE teases you by doing stuff that looks awesome and has potential, and then about 3/4 of the time they pull the rug out from under you. Also worrisome is the fact that the arena is apparently nowhere close to being sold out.