cm funk

That, and it's the first match of a feud that's had years of buildup behind it. I know that a match being in the Cell, without the proper build, simply because it's a program that happens to be taking place at the time of the show has been a problem since they introduced the HIAC PPV. But this is even worse because it's a feud with proper backstory that would actually deserve being in a Cell as the final blowoff.........and it's the first match after Bayley turned.....surely to be the first of many

Seeing the "rules" for the draft (totally asinine btw) I was reminded of how bad last year's was with the cheesy war rooms and non-sensical picks. The only good thing about it was the FOX robot, but I think he might be furloughed this year The draft has never really been good, or made sense. And they inevitably screw both shows up.

It kinda comes off as complaining for the sake of complaining tbh I was always taught as a kid, "if ya don't have anything nice to say......" etc. I haven't watched any NXT tv in months, have been down on WWE as a whole, but I watched the show objectively and found a lot to like I don't know man, what's the point of posting about how shitty something is and how you barely watched it? why waste your time?

Balor coming back to be the ace of NXT is fresh to me and because he was gone so long every matchup is fresh. Him and O'Reilly for example.... Ciampa isn't even really being featured Dream shouldn't be on the main roster for a variety of reasons (still really green aside from the allegations) but it's not like he's being pushed. They just had Kushida destroy him Every old territory had their homesteaders....NXT has Gargano, Undisputed Era and Ciampa. I'm fine with that. They have good matches, help establish new talent and quite frankly would be wasted on the main roster as long as Vince/Bruce are booking. Top to bottom the NXT roster is loaded with "fresh" talent and many of them are being actively pushed right now, I don't think that's the problem Plus Undisputed Era looks to be splitting up, so much like Gargano going heel and doing a new act with Candace (which I really enjoy), they'll be going in a different direction with the four of them soon, which is good because I agree the stable has run it's course I can agree with Fashion Police though. They're a solid team but they feel out of place. The tag team situation on the main roster is dire, I think they need to be moved back

Solid show top to bottom with all the right people going over. - had high expectations for the main event. thought it pretty much delivered and O'Reilly was great selling his ribs/a liver shot, as well as targeting Balor's leg. very good match. Alvarez thought Balor legit injured his jaw on a knee and they rushed the finish. I'll have to watch it back and look for that - the ending did nothing for me. I haven't been watching NXT so I don't know how strong the UE breakup teases have been, but Alvarez thinks it's inevitable that Strong/Fish will turn on Cole/O'Reilly. I would welcome that. The group has had it's run, and working against each other would have excellent, fresh matches. He also thinks this will play out with Strong/Fish being behind the Holland attack and splitting off with him, to which I say great! As it was it fell flat with me after a great match, but I'll wait and see.... - Loved Kushida destroying Dream. Hope this Kushida push continues for a while. I've soured on Dream like everyone else, but tbf I don't know exactly what did or didn't happen with him, just that WWE has been very dodgy/cagey about it which given their track record makes it feel like they're covering something up. I do have to give props to his Doc Brown getup tho....I loved that.....and I thought he was pretty good in this match selling his arm (and being an idiot heel still doing his elbow drop on it and fucking himself up worse) - I was constantly being distracted by the disjointed commentary. Barrett was great, but if they're going to do it remotely it would be so much less jarring with just him and Joseph. With 3 people via skype or whatever it doesn't work, and nothing against Beth but she was the weakest link. Also, what the fuck was up with the random people sitting next to Joseph at ringside pretending to be commentators or something? I thought the woman was Sasha Banks at one point! - The ending to Escobar and Swerve sucked. Good in idea, awful in execution, made even worse by Joseph saying he hit the back of his head on the "exposed turnbuckle from earlier in the match". WTF was that?!?!! First, the turnbuckle wasn't exposed at any point in the match. It's like that's the story he had in his notes but the wrestlers didn't do it and he just said it anyway. Second, he didn't hit his head on anything, but if you were going to pretend he did it would have been the post. So this was a really shitty ending to a good match - I loved Io and Candace and really liked the ref bump off of Candace blocking the moonsault and the stuff with Johnny coming in. I think Johnny and Candace are great together as heels and they're fine losing and whining about it, it's a great role for them to get other people over. - It was weird the way they had Toni Storm cut her promo and then follow that with Ember's return, but I think it's going to play into the story. Clearly done for a reason. It looks like it'll be a 3 way program with them and Io, which breathes a ton of life into the division. If Storm is the heel which I think she will be, she'd be a great choice to beat Io for the title and go into a program with Ripley. I think Storm and Ripley can both be huge superstars and they should be the focus of the division going forward. Storm also has enough size and strength to be believable kicking a babyface Ripley's ass from time to time. - I thought the new look of the performance center was great and will be a huge upgrade for the weekly TV. AEW is just better overall in my opinion, but this can only help NXT

This takeover card looks really good to me on paper. I'm more excited for O'Reilly and Balor than any NXT match so far this year. Io/Candace, Gargano/Priest and Escobar/Swerve all have the potential to be really good as well. Dream is hit and miss but Kushida is great and I'm loving the fact they're finally doing something with him

WWE talent en mass need to tell Vince to pound sand on the Twitch stuff

You have to be 21 to drink here, but point taken I personally don't have any issues with it. I also seriously doubt any 19 yr old young women have a problem with someone their age being involved with a hot guy who's in his early 30's. Not that there are many of them watching WWE programming, but whether it's the real world or Hollywood that kind of age difference isn't wild. If it's Ric Flair and Aliyah flirting, yea, that's a major problem.... I do agree that it's probably not the best look for WWE right now, but I personally didn't make the connection to this storyline and the speaking out stuff. I get it, but personally my mind doesn't go there immediately. Then again, I'm not actively looking to be outraged, and I'm not even watching their TV other than clips on youtube

Based on the feedback I'll check out the ladder match and Roman/Jey later today. Those were the only two matches I really had interest in going in anyway, so yea.....sounds like another skippable/predictable WWE show where you can pick and choose what to watch later on and not really miss anything

Did anyone get WWE2K Battlegrounds yet? I still only have a PS3 so I couldn't get it even if I wanted to. Looks like it would be a fun multiplayer, or back in my day an arcade game.... I'm really only asking because I play Supercard on my phone/tablet and was hoping someone would share the QR codes that come with the game with me

Also, now that I think about it, Big E was beating the crap out of Corbin and Sheamus.....then they held their own against Reigns and Uso mostly yeah, WWE blows. That protects the 2 dudes out of the 5 that don't need to be at all. They're total geeks right now. I like Sheamus' look but every time I see Corbin in the KOTR gimmick I'm reminded we haven't had another tourny for it in forever, and he ain't no Owen F'n Hart with the gimmick. Shit, I enjoyed King Mabel and Sir Mo better than this crap, AND I ACTUALLY LIKE BARON CORBIN. FUCK!

oh the Big E shit was cool too.....but I was also expecting him to show up during the street fight.....but they never took it to the street

when I watched the rest I don't remember much other than being kinda bummed that the main event didn't play out the way I wanted to with Roman & Heyman following up on the promise to be in the ring.....and then the match starts backstage with Corbin and Sheamus beating the fuck out of Uso in the parking lot and them in the ring looking at it like, "yo what the fuck man?!" and kinda not showing urgency......letting him get beat up 2 on 1, then showing up like SUPERMAN REIGNS to save the day when I saw that setup for the match I was like YO YOU HAVE TO DO THIS THEY DIDN'T DO THAT AT FUCKING ALL

I haven't watched an actual episode of WWE TV outside of an NXT here or there in months. Decided to check out SD based on the good reviews it's been getting in recent weeks and interest in the stuff with Reigns/Heyman/Uso and to a lesser extent some of the other stuff going on. I'm halfway in and two things I wanted to note before I forget..... - Graves referred to Cesaro and Sheamus as being the tag champs right after Cesaro and Nakamura entered and the match with Metalik started. That really F'n annoyed me. I mean, I get it, but come on man.....this isn't JR getting Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit confused repeatedly - They cut to a commercial break when AJ was in control against Sami. They come back, Sami is in control, and predictably don't show us what happened during the break and how Sami took control. FUCK YOU WWE. I hear Alvarez rant about this all the time, but not really watching their TV anymore......yeah this sucked. And that's where I am in the show

Thanks Not sure what has changed, with Hall/Nash especially, other than the dearth of modern candidates

I know. It comes up every year this time. It's still ridiculous when you see someone like Reigns hit the ballot

I can see Ole getting in now that he's not part of The Andersons. Which people were on before, dropped off, and added again? Were the Steiners, Hall and Nash on before? Also, LOF'NL at Roman Reigns being on a HOF ballot in 2020. If dude doesn't go hollywood he's got another decade as a top guy

Didn't the souring on her have something to do with backstage relationship BS with people who aren't there anymore (well, other than Morrison)? Melina was pushed as a big deal 15 years ago, yea. But given WWE's audience is basically the same people who were around 15 years ago she'll get a good nostalgia pop at least. Oh, wait......nostalgia thunderdome I haven't seen her in the ring in a million years but I don't remember her being good 15 years ago. Much better as a manager and a character This feels like WWE signing someone to keep them away from AEW, which is dumb because I'm not sure why they'd sign her

I just watched the show (before reading any of this) and didn't notice any egregious no selling or lack of cooperation in the match. whatever. what are the sources on heat over the match? anyway...... Great show top to bottom. Maybe the best show beginning to end match quality wise? At least since the start of the pandemic. Everything was solid-good, nothing dragged, and the Parking Lot Fight was dope as fuck - I thought Jungle Boy was the star of the opener. Love all the pinning combinations and rollups he uses. He had a really nice victory roll, a crucifix, and I think a rolling cradle that were all plausible as near falls. It works perfectly for someone like him who is agile and athletic but also on the smaller side. When he gets the eventual singles push I can absolutely see him stealing pins on bigger/stronger opponents that way - Really liked Page and Kaz, with Omega on commentary furthering the story - Private Party are hit and miss but Jericho and Hager had a fun match with them - I often skip the womens matches on AEW (not that I don't like womens wrestling, I like it a lot when it's good) so Thunder Rosa and Ivalese are a breath of fresh air here. Really enjoyed this match. - Loved Jake & Archer making a deal with Taz and the setup for the 6 man - The Anniversary show is looking great on paper - What can I say about the Parking Lot Fight? some really creative and brutal looking shit here. I thought Chuck killed Santana when he threw him into the side mirror of the sedan. Poor Ortiz getting senton'd TWICE under the hood. Loved the ending with Sue. Thought Orange showing up was perfect. Turnabout is fair play dealing with thugs like Santana & Ortiz. No Inner Circle involvement, I feel like they're gradually splitting that group up Next weeks show looks like a lot of fun too. Orange Cassidy vs. Brodie Lee should be great, and if you've followed the Dark Order's attempts to recruit on BTE it plays into that

I think they're trying to make them like NEXUS (they attacked everyone and finally heels and faces set aside their differences to fight them).....difference is compared to the start of the NEXUS angle this SUCKS. And, even while that was a better angle with a much stronger presentation.......the main reason people remember that angle is the strong debut, the SummerSlam main event, and the gradual botching of it. This hasn't even gotten off to a hot start like that did, and while I like some of the talent involved it seems like an uphill battle already

I love Andrew Yang. Would be amazing if it took a guy like him who's actually a smart wrestling fan to finally put the screws to McMahon

I like Sabian as a character mostly. I think he's been really entertaining in the crowd during shows and in backstage stuff. He plays a great gum chewing, smirking, annoying twat. As far as in ring I haven't seen a lot (haven't watched much Dark) but I thought the team with Havoc had potential. If he's only good enough to be a tag wrestler and more of a character so be it

So am I the only one who really likes Kip Sabian?

Yeah, I don't pay attention to twitter much. Pretty much everyone comes off dumber based on their tweets

Yeah, that's about what I know about him too. I've been around the block on the various boards and in the early-mid 2000s? he was kinda troll level. Like I'd end up wandering into and reading stupid fights over bullshit and he'd be at the middle of it. I don't know the guy, but yeah. I have to guess, like most of us, he's matured a bit since those days