sek69

So listening to the Observer show from last night, WWE didn't want people wearing masks in the "crowd" because they didn't like how it would look on TV

I wonder how pro wrestling not being mainstream has helped wrestling fans not be as bad as those other fandoms. It seems to be a common denominator that once stereotypical "nerd" things become popular with the normies, all the folks who were down when it wasn't cool become insufferable.

I really hope the end of the doc has Taker happy with the Boneyard match and finally at peace to call it a career. Ending it with him wanting to do another match despite *finally* getting the "Mainia Moment" he's been desperately seeking for would be real-life-imitating-The Wrestler moment.

Not to mention a lot of (most?) female wrestlers have to deal with creepy stalkers on a regular basis, it really makes me want to punch anyone crying about being bullied because someone said their match sucked.

To be fair, Impact''s issues had a lot to do with Dixie getting publicly outed badmouthing Spike execs while lying to them about bringing back Russo. She made the company radioactive for any other TV station even after she "left" (she technically still owns like 5% of the company I believe) and none of them would touch Impact with a ten foot pole. Callis and company had to climb an Everest-sized mountain just to get back to ground level, I don't envy the position they were in.

The idea that he didn't realize AEW had a PPV the same weekend as Starrcast is preposterous, but they also conveniently left out that WWE let his deal run out so Vince expecting him to not look for a payday is also ridiculous. It's such a perfectly Vince thing to expect a guy to sit home and not make money when he didn't feel he was worth keeping under contract. Also, while clearly he's got the typical "one more, one more" wrestler disease it's been more a little disingenuous for them to leave out money being such a big factor. Dave mentioned he's had some real estate deals and other investments that didn't pan out, plus factoring in two divorces, he wasn't nearly in as good financial shape you'd expect someone at his level to be. It's why he started using social media and initially did the Starrcast deal, and why he kept coming back for the Saudi shows. It's why there was hard feelings with Vince over having his Starrcast gig cancelled, and it's probably the reason Vince ended up offering the lifetime deal (Taker seems to be one of the few people Vince feels bad about pissing off). It its funny how often WWE does the "wrestler would be broke without us offering them the honor of working for us" angles, they dance around it when it actually happens IRL.

I've never heard of edited matches on taped TV shows prior to this being edited more than removing botches and sometimes redoing the finish (which was usually because something was botched). Or like what they did with Nia/Kairi where they edited out the blood and the associated cleanup. This match had several takes and was more akin to an extended fight scene in a movie than an actual wrestling match. It's not that it "wasn't a wrestling match", at least that isn't what I'm saying here. I'm just saying it can't be judged as the same standards of the usual match that by and large has to be done in one uninterrupted take.

So, this positive covid test could be another Benoit-style "when did WWE know" deal. Raw was taped earlier in the day today, but if they had any idea beforehand (or even during tapings), having Dominic and the Street Profits mingling in the crowd seem like really bad ideas.

Having a match planned out move for move isn't the same as being able to do multiple retakes mid match. I would suspect nearly every WWE match in the last 10 years has been planned out move for move (and would be nearly certain every NXT match has been), and that's something entirely different than what Edge and Orton did. You can plan all you want, but if shit happens you have to either improvise or everything falls apart. We've seen plenty examples of both happening over the years. Being able to stop filming and reshoot/redo takes is a whole different animal, and at that point it's just like a movie having a wrestling match as part of the plot. As was mentioned before, it's Cinematic Wrestling trying to pretend to be normal wrestling.

I would take Ric managing Randy too, but not sure I want him around a potential rona outbreak zone.

Never turn your back on Natich!

Big pop for me from Orton teasing becoming the Legend Killer again.

The things Nia aren't good at are the ones that should be coachable/fixable by those in charge of training. The fact that they haven't been is as much a knock on them as her.

There are aspects of the business she grasps very well. It's just unfortunate the one she doesn't happens to be the most important one. Like I seriously believe if she was taught by someone other than the PC she might have been able to become a decent monster heel level talent.

Nia is actually really good at some aspects of wrestling. Her looking disgusted at Askua's antics was great. It's a shame she's not very good at the actual wrestling part of wrestling.

Never thought I'd see RIC FLAIR trying to be the voice of reason to someone attempting an ill-advised return to the ring.

Nattie and Lana going all Thelma and Louise and burning it down could be an interesting turn.

I decided to go to a SD taping when I was in Orlando a few years back and it ended up being the one where Orton won the big gold belt from Christian. It's probably still the best match I've seen live.

That's kind of more damning of Bruce than praising Cornette, especially since we saw him doing a quasi racist angle right out of the 80s last night with Tozawa. I don't doubt Jim is more in tune with modern wrestling, though. Bruce's only motivation since he first joined the WWF has been do to whatever he can to be Vince's personal hand puppet.

Watching part 4 of the Taker doc, and it's practically endearing how he and Vince interact. Vince pretending his idea for Taker on the RAW after Mania was a feud with Giant Gonzalez's son was an unexpected LOL moment. Also it's pretty astounding how snakebit how many of his recent matches have been seeing it back to back like this. First he got concussed, then Hunter got hurt at the first Saudi show, then Goldberg got concussed in the next. Not that any of those matches would have been five star classics, but for a guy knowing his in ring days were running out it must have been beyond frustrating to deal with.

The editing has been pretty seamless too, only thing that's really jumped out was Randy's eyebrow cut suddenly disappearing.

I will say had they done this kind of match first then did whatever that Mania match was as a follow up, that match probably would have been way better recieved.

I mean, it's not offensively terrible like the the Street Profits/Viking Raiders match was, but the production is just distracting enough to take away from what so far has been a very good match and didn't need any of this bullshit.

Yeah this whole thing is like some weird attempt to transfer heat and make the company the heel for how this is presented so people don't get mad at the wrestlers.

The piped in crowd noise making dozens of people sound like WM 3, Lil' Naitch dressed like the generic ref from an 80s WWF game, using the Fink's voice when they couldn't be bothered to put him on TV for DECADES because he committed the cardinal sin of not being young and/or female, this is WWE basically making fun of anyone who took what they were selling seriously. Sucks even more that it's so far been a really good match that I can't help feel the company is mocking you for liking it.