Marty

I chalk that up to UFC 111 (St. Pierre-Hardy, Carwin-Mir) being the night before. While this wouldn't be the case for everyone, it was probably the first time since Starrcade 1987/Survivor Series 1987 that the PPV market was split just due to personal expenses and such.

I find myself agreeing with Loss on the time differences and how they affect the "quality". Part of that may be the "dated" argument, but another may be the "hot/cold" argument. Look at Austin: whenever he came out during 98/99 in some sort of motorized vehicle, it was hot stuff. Anytime it was done in the latter years, it received a fair amount of criticism. Angle doing the milk truck felt very copycat and fake. Austin himself in a four-wheeler in 2004 felt dated.

"Ce-sar-o!" "New Day Sucks!" Philly, don't ever change. Oh, and fuck ad breaks during the preshow match.

Is it wrong (and weird) of me to think that Vince wants to kill off the WWE before anyone else has a chance (even his own daugher and son-in-law) have an opportunity to run it themselves? I mean, we know how ego-driven he is. Is he more ego-driven than success-driven? I mean, some of the business choices and booking decisions have been head-scratchers: The WWE Network (I'm still of the belief that they had enough of a decent PPV business to continue that path) and the handling of it (promotion, overseas distribution, programming, etc.). Breaking up the Shield when they were at their hottest. Keeping various guys who are getting over as organically as possible in that environment at a certain level (Bryan before Punk left, Ambrose after the Shield break-up, Cesaro after WrestleMania, etc.). And, of course, last night, which was the ultimate of the "wins and losses don't matter in WWE" criticism. None of this at all seems sane, let alone smart. I gather Vince (even at his old age) must be smarter than this, so what exactly are the motivations behind these choices? This promo from 13 years ago seems more true now, particularly starting at 1:11:

How do we know? Dude never gets to cut promos.

Pontiac Silverdome today: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2883205/Haunting-new-photos-Michigan-s-abandoned-Silverdome-reveal-one-country-s-famous-stadiums-just-shell-left-rot.html

I realize this is a small thing, but I'm wondering if theatres up here in Canada play much into those numbers. Business for PPVs in movie theatres up here is down so much that after SummerSlam, they didn't do the next few shows, until Survivor Series, which they did do. Otherwise, it has to be a case of people interested in the show, but have no access to the Network/limited internet/bandwidth, etc. as others mentioned. Canada would have to figure a bit into the domestic numbers, if but for a small percentage.

Eastlink mainly serves the Maritimes when it comes to TV (and likely most other services). I first heard of them through Canadian college football, but I can see why most wouldn't have. I'm surprised, in that I figured Shaw would be the next ones, given their partnership with Rogers for Shomi. Anyways, Eastlink is charging $11.99, just like Rogers, so I figure nothing would change for other carriers.

I could be wrong on this, but I figured since they started wearing facepaint that Jimmy always wears his face paint on the left side of his face (as in, our vantage point, so "our" left, his right) and Jey on the right side. I actually have an easier time telling them apart than, say, Los Matadores.

Yeah, brand split shows went from 2003 to 2007.

It's gone over the last two shows, though.

I don't think so. They have 45 minutes left for the main event. Even if you added another 5 minutes to Rusev-Swagger, you would still have a match that could run 30 minutes. It's fine now, as I typed that before Rusev-Swagger. Do they still aim for shows to end 10 minutes to the hour? Or is that different in the Network era?

Good sprint. They made the most out of the short amount of time they had. Got me with the initial pass out, and Rusev's kicks ruled.

This show, while not bad, is hilariously running short on time.

That was blah save for a few moments. Why is Kane still Corporate Kane when there's no Authority. If he's going to be competitive with Ryback at least bring back the monster.

Oh, it wasn't THAT bad. He stumbled a bit and that was it. In the history of bad promos that doesn't even register. Seriously. Yeah, I thought it was fine. He made his point: entering the Rumble, intending on making an even bigger impact.

Average at best Divas match but it's been too long since we've seen a heel cheat to win by blinding the babyface so I liked that. God, I'm sorry but AJ is scary skinny these days.

Good Reigns return. Guess we know why Show went over earlier. It was overbooked, but the most glaring part of that is how uncredible Rollins is. Feels worse than Jericho's Undisputed title run. This had fun enough spots for me to not fully hate it. You can tell it went long, though, they didn't bother with much of post match replays

I guess Mercury is able to work to a strong degree. I always thought he had some career ending injury.

If Anna Paquin shows up naked for some reason I'll be happy.

Don't see this as overly weird. It has been the longest built match on the card, and has the titular stipulation. I wonder if Rusev-Swagger will be even shorter than the Divas match. Really, there's no reason for Swagger to be a threat to Rusev.

It's not that odd. Dean-Bray was the first match announced for the card, at last month's PPV. Plus, for the most part (if memory serves, which it might not) they've kept those two away from the other other three TLC-stip matches, which have all interacted with each other heavily.

Ambrose-Wyatt is closing the show.

Don't get Show going over here. Ok match with some effective stairs spots.

Okayish tag match. Agree with Will that Mizdow has jumped the shark. Too bad he's overshadowing, as Usos are capable tag team.