sek69

It did, and as soon as Melo came out in the all black I knew Trick was gonna get got. Amazing how they waited until Melo got the callup before they finally got around to pulling the trigger on the turn. NXT used to be so much better at timing the blowoffs to when folks were about to graduate, now it almost seems like OVW where they don't even pay attention to what the developmental group is doing which is weird considering who's running it.

I've seen suggestion Cody winning the Rumble was insurance in case the Rock decided to "that doesn't work for me brother" doing Mania this year. Makes sense on paper, you either have the biggest match you could possibly have or you have one you've been building up since last Mania. Of course you end up having the hottest guy in your company look like he's bitching out but its business I suppose. It also seems that WWE may be pivoting this into an angle due to the response from what the ol interwebs are saying.

Watching the MLW show tonight, and seeing Jacob Fatu's last match (his contract was up yesterday) makes me wonder if/when he ends up in WWE. Booker T publicly stated he's lobbying to get him hired, and it would make sense bring in other family members for the Rock/Roman build.

I would say the booking is already vastly smarter just because it doesn't change every week at the whims of a possibly senile old man.

God damn, Roman fucking murdered Seth in that promo. Did to Seth what Seth did to RIddle.

Also holy shit Naomi/Tiff/Bron/Jade making it clear they're going to be on the main roster more or less back to back hit home how much of an embarrassment of riches WWE has going on right now.

The crowd going OOOOOOOH when Bayley dropped some Japanese on Iyo (thus revealing she was on to their bullshit) was excellent pro wrestling. Bayley has always been good in ring but she really flipped a switch during the Damage Control run and is just Getting It now. Calling it now, that match is gonna bang so hard since it will be two good workers paying off a well done long term storyline.

He's absolutely in ass-saving mode for sure, but I could see him spinning that Diva Search era stuff as doing what Vince wanted him to. Like brother @Embrodak said both can be true that he was also being used by Vince as part of his kinks but also he (apparently) was completely okay with it. It might make him a victim in the technical sense but nowhere near the level of any of the women Vince has preyed on let alone the one in the lawsuit here. Also I was reading how the lawyer stated they are getting swamped by all the other people reaching out with similar Vince stories, so it looks like the dam is about to burst.

For me at least, there's a difference between say Stone Cold not wanting to do a job for the Coach and "taking his ball and going home", and someone like Black (allegedly) refusing to do jobs because reasons. There's refusing to job because it makes no sense to do one and refusing to job because you just want to be difficult (hi Shawn!).

Also Buddy probably wants to get back to WWE to make sure Rhea and Dom don't work themselves into a shoot, brother.

I would say possibly because Sullivan was so committed to the bit people thought he was responsible for all the Benoit stuff 20 something years later. Most people in that role are clearly doing a gimmick, but with him part of you thought "this guy might be legit", at least you did in the 80s.

They gotta be strapping up Swerve at Revolution.

Even allowing that being an undersized ass-kicker is part of Hook's legacy, him vs Brian Cage is just silly from a visual standpoint.

The Young Bucks as thinly veiled Vince avatars is somehow so far just straddling the line considering the last week. Leaning in to the "out of touch douchebag promoter" aspect sure helps.

I was being glib, but apparently we are having a CMLL invasion after all, lol

Lucha guys in the front row! CMLL invasion!

I fully expect Okada Bucks to be falling from the ceiling in AEW soon enough.

He got fired for Wellness issues, iirc he got busted with coke.

Yeah Graves is going to be the play by play man, which will probably be a good way to keep his tendency to want to be Bobby Heenan under control. Speaking of Graves, I wonder if he's pushing for his bro Sam Adonis to get signed since he doesn't have a contract with AAA.

NXT was a pretty fun show, and that Chase U angle in a vacuum was a harmless if not dated skit, but it's very telling it made TV without anyone how tone deaf it comes off as.

So..............they are really going with "Chase U is saved by the sales of a cheesecake calendar" after the last few days? I mean I'll give them the benefit that this was probably planned before everything broke, but jesus christ did no one think "maybe we should change that"?

Agreed. I'd wager anyone who's worked for WWE for longer than five minutes in the last 40 years has heard fucked up stories/rumors/tales about Vince, but I as far as knowing all the sordid details I would think only his inner circle would know the full story.

The Bellas are in an especially tough spot not only because of the Laurinatis stuff, but I doubt there's been a woman who's ever got a significant push in WWE that didn't get creeped on by Vince at some point. Also the lawsuit mentions Vince showing the photos to random tech people so it really strains credibility that none of the wrestlers knew anything was amiss since he seems to constantly act like a teenager who just got to third base for the first time.

Anyone else wondering what happened with Kevin Patrick? I didn't think he was doing that bad a job to not only get removed from SD but fired completely.

Part of me thinks Tony warming up with CMLL in the last few months is just so they are cool with Bryan getting his Blue Panther match, which I'm completely okay with.