sek69

People trying to claim Dave was somehow wrong because a settlement was reached are amazingly dim. Like, if he was so wrong then what were they settling about? Just because the angry mobs didn't get JBL's pelt as a trophy doesn't mean it was a false story.

Well of course this was going to end in a settlement with both sides not talking bad about the other. There was no other way WWE was going to allow this to end. I hope this doesn't turn into a wrestling version of "that bitch was just trying to get those sweet rape dollars" you see when a woman who was attacked settles with the attacker.

With Owen, he may have dicked around on house shows but I don't recall him giving lackluster performances on PPV events like Randy does.

It's just so weird that at times in his matches he comes across as a guy with zero motivation like he was someone who's had the passion beat out of him, when he's the complete opposite of that. Like I could get a Zack Ryder type saying fuck it and stop giving a shit, but when it's someone who was anointed at worst the 1B player and given every opportunity humanly possible it's mind boggling. Going back to watch the RNN era Randy compared to now seems like a completely different person. If a Warrior like rumor starts at some point claiming the original Orton died and the current boring/coasting version is a replacement I'd believe it.

He's not a geek like they were but there's a clear line where you know he'll beat the Heath Slater types and lose to the main event guys. I think the issue is that folks hear the term "comedy __" and assume that the implication is you're calling the person a shit wrestler. It's a guy who's out there for Sports Entertainment purposes.

At that point, yeah pretty much. Up until they started to make him the HHH to Owens' HBK I would have considered him in that role.

It's funny to bring up the nWo since you always knew they were going to win whatever match/feud they were put into unless it was B/C level guys like Vincent or Michael Wallstreet. At no point was there any doubt here that Miz was going to lose in the end. It's not just doing comedy, it's doing comedy in a role where it's clear you're not going to win in the end.

The whole dressing up like Cena and Nikki was done for comedy, wasn't it? It's not like Dave was implying the guy is Santino level, he's saying the company wasn't positioning him as a serious top level threat which was absolutely the case.

Honestly what's helped Miz the most was being on Smackdown when the brand split happened which made him a default upper card heel since the roster was kind of thin at the start. He took the ball and ran with it, but you can tell when the company sees something in a guy and I didn't get that impression at all.

I guess you can argue semantics, but Miz improving in all facets doesn't change that in the end he was just there to be window dressing for the Cena/Nikki proposal just like he was part of the scenery when he main evented WM. I enjoy watching the guy, but at no point did I get the sense the company was turning the corner on him and now seeing him as a legit top level guy.

It's not the most ridiculous thing in the world to think someone's who's been a fitness buff his whole life would still be in excellent shape at age 60. Now if you're going to talk about jacked up 80s Dave, then you might be on to something.

The biggest revelation in the new Observer is Dave finally answering the question of who was the "Glorious" theme originally written for, with the answer being Nakamura.

Also a mention of a non wrestling performer who was being bullied by JBL while dealing with the death of a family member, which seems like a pretty obvious description of Lilian Garcia. The karma stuff Mauro was tweeting about was in reference to him getting the call to replace the guy who had him booted from Pride back in the day, so I guess that's an L for Team JBL Apologists on that one.

I guess the real question is has anyone had a longer career as a pushed top level guy and given less effort than Randy Orton? The kneejerk response would be Nash, but he didn't have nearly the length of time on top.

Agree with this, especially the point about Ambrose being the new Orton in terms of giving less than 100% at all times. I get that it's probably not realistic to expect someone to give maximum effort 365 days a year on every show, but the performance he gave at Mania this year was so embarrassingly bad I was wondering if maybe he was hurt going in and was toughing it out. I'm sure he probably saw the plans for the projection stuff and figured "fuck all this", but how many times have we seen guys take ridiculous and/or stupid ideas and make it work through force of sheer will? I feel Orton is never going to be a guy anyone says that about.

I never got the sheer hatred Anderson gets. I mean, yeah he's not the best or anything but it seems like the level of disdain he gets is out of proportion to his actual talent.

The thing about it is that it's a hell of a message to send that if you're someone low on the card, all you have to do is get jacked to the point your veins look like a road map and you develop backne and gyno to get a big match on PPV.

I loved at the very end of the tag match, Ciampa ran to do the "keep the guy on the outside from breaking up the pin" spot only to back off the second the ref counted three. Subtle yet great way to put a guy over when someone nicknamed "Psycho Killer" wants no parts of you than what's absolutely necessary.

So per WWE history, next week Braun cuts a promo on Roman telling him his brother was weak? I say that jokingly yet at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened.

I've heard from video game historians that there's very much an attitude that what happens behind closed doors stays that way in Japanese business culture. With how secretive a business wrestling is anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if its even worse there. There have been some exposés written though, e.g. Sayama's and 80s NJPW head ref/sometime booker Mr. Takahashi's. Japan business culture has a very kayfabe-like culture where things don't get discussed with those outside the company, and even more so with foreigners. To use your video game example, Nintendo has everyone scratching their heads over discontinuing the NES Classic (which was basically a money printing machine for them), and they never really gave any answer to why they did it other than "because reasons". Now combine that with a business like wrestling that adds another million layers of secrecy and bullshit, and it's amazing we ever get any inside news from there.

Nia is fine when she's fighting off multiple attackers or when she blindsided Mickie last week and sent her into orbit. What sucks is when she has to do a one on one match where she has to do longer stretches of offense and it's even odds on whether she'll mess something up and nearly kill someone.

There are several examples on the Network of previously mandated censoring that they didn't bother undoing when the issues were resolved. I'd imagine they just feel it's too much of a pain in the ass to go back over everything.

Watts must have been really upset at the Lawler-Kaufman angle, devoting the opening segment of the first show after their match (which had nothing to do with his territory) to him cutting a promo on why non wrestlers don't belong in the ring.

Makes sense since I started watching regularly in 86. Speaking of WWF 80s jobbers, Terry Gibbs just showed up on these shows with an amazing permed fro.

Watching Mid South episodes, and it's so bizarre watching Iron Mike Sharpe presented as the guy who gets wins over jobbers. Like, I know he was a midcard guy in most places before he went to the WWF but as someone who's formative fandom years included large quantities of Iron Mike as the world's loudest jobber it's a trip.