sek69

Jesus Christ that splat that Nikki Cross made on the floor...

Velveteen Dream my new favorite NXT guy just for busting out the Rick Rude gimmick for his tights.

Also I just realized we're going to see what I thought was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid: non War Games matches in the double rings.

For all the "Horsewomen" groups going around, I'd love to see Peyton and Billie actually act like Horsewomen. Billie as the Arn of the group making sure the title stays where it is would be great.

Hero winning would seem counterproductive, since the point of the match appears to be getting Lars over by putting him with a guy who can make him look like a millon bucks in his first big match. The women's match is interesting though. Peyton winning and having everyone chase seems to make the most sense in booking terms, but Ember has to win the big one at some point or she'll end up getting Lex Luger'd. There's probably a big temptation on their part to put it on Sane to build off the tournament, so it will be something to watch to see which way they end up going.

The match was always two words back in the day..... The 80s movie with Matthew Broderick however was spelled WarGames though.

I'm sure he'd be into being the heel manager type for Owens and Zayn about 1000x more than he was being slotted as Random Wyatt Family Member.

It seems to make almost too much sense for Daniel to go heel with Sami and KO since they all have issues with Shane.

As great as Okada's run as champ has been in terms of quality matches, it hasn't been the most drama filled run for sure. I guess they kind of painted themselves in the corner, either Okada only has matches with guys at the very tippy top and becomes a Brock like character who's never around or he wrestles more frequently and has more matches with guys who don't have a real chance of winning. If nothing else it makes the other guy look good having a top quality match with the champ, even in a losing effort. One thing the booking tends to be good at for them is the whole "make guys look good while losing" deal, which didn't used to be difficult but is a lost art these days.

I mean, the Venn diagram of English language NJPW World subscribers and WON subscribers is almost a complete overlap, so it doesnt seem completely out of place to me. It always seems like a lot of folks think Japanese wrestling somehow is lessened if it doesnt remind them of the tapes they saw that first piqued their interest.

I can see how Callis's schtick can turn some people off, but Kevin Kelly has been fine on the shows I've watched. JR only was on the one Long Beach show because it was just a direct feed from AXS so you won't have to worry about him.

Nope ETA: they should really go all in on the theme and make it available only on closed circuit TV.

Let's not forget that Ashley's had her own issues that have hopefully subsided since she's been in WWE.

Oh for sure it's not as simple as WWE Network, but too many people are acting like signing up for NJPW World is harder than climbing Mt. Everest. Heaven forbid someone have to click an extra button or two.

In my headcanon, Vince woke up one day like Ice Cube at the end of It Was a Good Day all "what the fuck am I thinking" after looking at the card.

I'm guessing they'll be teasing Sami/Owens costing SD, only to have it be JJ doing the shocking (to no one) turn to cost Raw. Angle being fired as GM and coming back as old school psycho Kurt breaking ankles to get revenge fits with how they've built things so far.

To be fair, all these changes are making the SS card better on paper at least. Also it's a testament to the abuse he put himself through that Ric Flair looks a million times better not that far removed from a near death experience than he did the years leading up to it. He's like one of those episodes of Intervention where they show the person in rehab after and it looks like a different person.

Depending on how in depth a meet and greet we're talking about, maybe I can see justifying that kind of cost. If it's like an assembly line of handshakes and a selfie, it's probably not worth it. If you get to spend a few minutes with each guy and maybe get some merch signed or whatnot I can see it being worthwhile especially the first time in the market. It still seems that they overpriced themselves though, especially after what MoS had to say about spending power.

Also (and it sucks to think of it this way) it hit me how much of a bullet WWE dodged with Reid. Clearly Hunter was trying to bend over backwards to get him signed to developmental, can you imagine if the son of Ric Flair died on their watch?

(I originally posted this in the NXT thread by mistake) Also the first game show season of NXT is being uploaded now, I would imagine this is more of scratching a completionist itch than anything else, but if you were dying to relive WWE's massive hardon about showing those smarky internet fans who's boss and burying Daniel Bryan nonstop, there you go.

New Japan is basically WCW in 1996 in terms of stumbling on something hot and running with it, while not being stupid like WCW was in letting it run roughshod over everyone else on the roster. The booking kind of reminds me of Vince Sr booking the WWWF, not always the most exciting but it's working for their audience and usually everything makes sense in the end.

As weird as it feels to defend Jinder, I get the feeling he's going to get the blame despite this seeming like WWE misread the room big time.

Also the first game show season of NXT is being uploaded now, I would imagine this is more of scratching a completionist itch than anything else, but if you were dying to relive WWE's massive hardon about showing those smarky internet fans who's boss and burying Daniel Bryan nonstop, there you go.

He looks like a normal human being? That was my takeaway, he came off as a regular guy understandibly still bitter at his dad spending his whole life drinking and whoring instead of being a dad. A lot of the children of addicts have the same look on their faces that David had, the "he's an asshole but he's my dad, whattya going to do" expression. What really struck me is how Reid was a copy of Ric in every way both good and bad. Their relationship was a very Cat's in the Cradle cautionary tale, and I think that's part of what eats Ric up about it. Like if Reid had died in a car accident or something random, it wouldn't have been any less sad but at least there would be an aspect where it was just a freak occurance. Dying the way he did just jams it home how Ric was more of a party pal than a father.

If anyone believed JJ was actually his son (I know, but go with me here) it ended when he just stood there like a doofus while Hunter killed him dead.