Loss

People inside wrestling have often seemed bewildered by the idea that someone can love wrestling and follow it closely and be interested in its history and want to understand psychology and booking and promoting, yet have zero interest in being employed in the wrestling business in any capacity.

Lenny and Lodi in this rave gimmick as high energy babyfaces is a bust, because teams doing that stuff are a dime a dozen, so everything they do looks second-rate, even when it's technically good -- stuff like them stealing Hardy Boyz offense or doing dance moves, which I guess is supposed to make them a less obnoxious version of 2 Cool or 3 Count. I don't think Lenny Lane was a bad worker at all, but he was just not very seasoned at all, so he struggled with what to do between moves. There were many times you could see him standing there waiting on his opponent to get in position instead of finding a way to make the transition look more natural. And sadly, his short career is the story of one bad break after another, with the WWF not being interested in him because they felt he looked too much like Jericho and Standards & Practices pulling the plug on a gimmick he and Lodi had that was unique enough that it could have clicked. This is an okay match, but it all rings hollow because it just feels like they are copying what other people are doing. The Villanos are serviceable for sure, but they are no El Dandy and Silver King, and neither Lenny nor Lodi is in La Parka's galaxy.

The Joey Styles clone on commentary is annoying, but the match is good. Big moment in the career of Danielson, as he unmasks and turns heel in frustration, ending the partnership with Spanky and setting up the departing feud with both guys. Again, you can still see the improvement in these guys from week to week, but Danielson really did improve immeasurably. The aggressive kick to the face to cement his turn was the first time he has resembled the Danielson I know. I can feel the decade ahead shaping up.

This was a really well put together match -- good studio brawl that spills into the back and keeps up the intensity before landing back in the ring. Wolfie is great at bumping for Ali's big power moves and making him look like a killer. I even liked the ref bumps in this context because Power Pro doesn't do them in every single match (are you listening, OVW?), so they carry weight and actually make the match seem like a bigger deal in this case. Wolfie wins the title, but Ali is ripped off and has reason to come back strong. I enjoyed this quite a bit. ***

I wish this could have been longer because it's obvious these four have a great tag in them. I do think this is the best TV match Lawler has had so far, and there are moments where he shows that he is still very much the master of psychology, getting the "Jerry!" chant while selling and using a bag of tricks from the 1970s that still gets the job done. Pain and Morton are willing and capable heels. This was billed as the last Lawler-Dundee tag, so I think it should have had a clean finish and been given more time, but this is still a lot of fun.

Always thought it was interesting how they pushed this, but John Cena headlined in markets like New York and Chicago while Punk and Bryan headlined smaller markets in medium-sized towns. It seems like if the "Real America" stuff they were always implying with who bought what was fed to them and who didn't was actually valid, that they'd put John Cena in the smaller markets. Of course, Cena was a major success in big markets, so the truth is a little more complicated.

In that sense, I suppose anyone who uses "IWC" cannot possibly be a diehard wrestling fan. Yuck.

Ok, kayfabe, work, shoot, babyface, take your pick.

Terminology.

If someone knows what a heel is, can that person be a casual fan?

It's pretty vile, but yeah, he wants attention. What if most fans are gay? Ok, then what? What has he proven in saying this?

It's relative for sure. It's a definition that probably always changes. A casual fan now may be more invested than a hardcore fan 15 years ago. I don't think that definition is locked in so much as I think it describes the current situation.

The only issue here is that I truly believe all JBL hazing is at the behest of Vince. If Vince wanted someone left alone, he would be left alone. If JBL gets fired, it's an empty gesture, and another person will just step up to fill the role.

Using the term "casual fan" to describe those people is pretty wild. Even leaving out the tape trading part that is, at a bare minimum, like 90% of the WWE audience. Yes. Casual fans will always make up the vast majority of the fanbase. And I agree with that description.

Since ESPN and Rolling Stone cover WWE, I'm sure they'll be on this story soon. :) :)

Oh, definitely not excusing them. They are awful. Just saying that there's enough blame to go around. The entire structure of WWE is set up to have proxies able to take falls if a McMahon does something that backfires. As long as people put all focus on the proxies, there is no reason to change because they can just fire someone and say they've fixed the problem.

JBL is problematic for sure, but I think sometimes we put so much heat on guys like JBL and DeMott that it allows the real culprits running the company and giving the orders -- people like HHH and Vince himself -- to do the crime and not have to receive as much of the criticism as they should. The system is specifically set up so that we do that, and then we follow right along. So yeah, the guys who pull the triggers are evil, but the mob bosses are the root of the problem. We should be tying all of this back to Vince Vince Vince.

Regal is just great here, and brought out the best in Reckless Youth as well, in a way that I sort of get his appeal for the first time. Regal excels not only in the detail work and stiffness and mat mastery that we all love him for, but also for the old school heeling and ability to properly pace a match to get everything over. I love that a heel won clean in Memphis just because that never happens. The post-match angle did make RY look like a chump, but it also was great for getting Regal over as a jerk. To me, it's the type of angle you do more with total prelim types than guys who are even at the opening match level, though. Regal looks more on his form than he has since probably 1997, and I'm looking forward to him getting a fresh crew of young guys to mold. ***

Terrific match with Kobashi working Smith's style and showing a side of his ringwork I hadn't really seen before, going hold for hold with Johnny Smith in a matched that was entirely British style with really fantastic matwork. Kobashi seems right at home, even though this isn't really something he does. I loved the way this built to a hot final stretch of big nearfalls, just because they got there so slowly and organically instead of doing a match that's laid out like a generally accepted great match. ****

If Styles goes to Raw as a babyface and Sami Zayn doesn't go to Smackdown, wow does he ever have no role at all. A bigger star filling the great worker babyface role higher on the card shuts him out. Raw is heel heavy just like Smackdown is babyface heavy, so I'm sure some leveling out will happen all around.

The rumor at one time (I don't remember the source of this) was Styles and Reigns switching places. Styles turning babyface if going to Raw would make sense if it was to set him up for matches with Lesnar, Strowman, Owens, and Joe. I also - again - like Reigns and the Usos being aligned on Smackdown, and I could see WWE really thinking they can do Orton-Reigns for the SD title at Summerslam and make it a big deal. ... ... ... ... They're not going to have Reigns win the SD title at Summerslam and then do a unification match at Wrestlemania with Brock, are they? There's nothing wrong with that idea, but it never dawned on me that it would make sense if they switched those two.

With John McCain calling any Republican who supports the nuclear option to prevent the filibuster of SCOTUS nominees a "stupid idiot", anyone who can make funny pictures of John McCain as Chris Jericho gets laughs and praise.

I hope I'm not the only one who sees massive potential in Reigns and the revived Usos being on the same show.

I've watched him enough in New Japan to know what he's about. The music was a lot of what made the moment. Combine that with the crowd reaction and Nakamura's theatrics and there you go.

Nakamura's debut was the first time in years that I have legitimately had goosebumps watching wrestling. That was iconic. I'm still sort of knocked on my ass from it an hour later.