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Two champions not only repeats the mistakes of the last split, it dilutes their efforts to make Roman the Top Guy (since of course he'll be one of the champions).

From Triple H's twitter. Then the Shake Them Ropes twitter posted that NXT doesn't have any house shows outside of Florida past June 17, all interesting. Probably just waiting for Vince to decide who gets called up/when before booking further out. Summerslam was pegged as the callup point for a lot of guys before all the brand split stuff came back, so it's a smart move for them to wait.

They aired a coming soon promo for the Artist Formerly Known as La Sambra, so that's something to look forward to.

What's important to people like us is very different to casual fans and WWE itself, The company really can't make it any more clear by what they do. WWE doesn't consider Smackdown an important show no matter how good the wrestling can be on it. Whenever there was an injury or Raw's ratings would dip, they would raid any stars from SD instant.

So much this. He's still trying to work like 1999 Jericho in 2016. I don't know why he seems to think adjusting his style is some kind of admission of defeat at the hands of Father Time. I was starting to think they were adding the extra time at the PPV to the cage match as a rib, since it exposed him so much.

This. It only got bad when Smackdown was clearly positioned as the B show and their world champion was portrayed as the lesser guy nearly 99% of the time. The biggest problem with a brand split is that Vince has an attention span of a toddler with ADHD and will quickly lose interest in things. If they have one world champion who faces guys on both shows, that eliminates one issue. All they have to do is maintain interest in SD long enough to keep it level with Raw, which is something they've historically had a problem doing.

I'm sure it would have been fun times for her to stick around after Cody's goodbye letter was the written word equivalent of flipping the double bird on your way out of the office.

Honestly, I think a lot of it comes from how they were able to take a gimmick that initially was death incarnate (does anyone remember their first few weeks before they went full-on silly?) and make it into something that sells merch. They clearly have smart business minds and you'd have to think the company respects that on some level that they had the hustle to make chicken shit into chicken salad. Still, I would expect them to move the tag titles off them soon as it seems that they are getting more comfortable using the NXT guys on the main roster. Enzo and Cass clearly have the advantage, as you can see Vince's big-man boner peeking from behind the curtain every time Cass is on TV. I can see them becoming the focus of the division since Enzo has undeniable charisma. If American Alpha can make it to the main roster without getting slotted into jobberdom for being smaller guys, you're going to have the serious tag team division people are waiting for.

It was the right call, and Rollins executed it perfectly (and it was smart to have Reigns come out to confront him but not speak). Yet still Rollins will be cheered and Roman will be booed at the PPV. Dave keeps saying "well they spent two years building the guy what to you expect to happen", to which it seems the logical answer is "knowing when to stop throwing good money after bad when something is obviously not working". Hell, Roman gives all signs of being a great heel so there's a pretty solid chance it would pay off great for them.

The last couple of pages were filled with people saying that fans booing Roman are dummies trying to look cool, and literally the only thing that has changed is he was programmed with one of the best in ring guys in the business. Yes, he's holding up his end of the deal much better than he had been, but he's being rejected so soundly as the top guy that teaming with him essentially turned the Usos heel. How many times is he going to get laid out to thunderous ovations before the message gets through?

So are we now saying he isn't being pushed down everyone's throats now because he's having good matches? That sounds just as dumb as the silly marks everyone's rushing to make fun of now.

You all keep talking like people don't know why they hate Roman. Between the constant announcer fawning and thing like using make-a-wish kids to try to shoehorn him into a John Cena mk 2, it's clear why there would be a backlash. It's the presentation not the person.

Match was good, but at this point Roman's push is reminding me of 1994 Hulk Hogan.

Pretty scathing critique of the head writers by Cody, saying one wants to be Brian Gewirtz and the other hits on developmental divas. Plus a great jab at Vince with the comment that he felt he had a whole bag of brass rings and nowhere to cash them in.

I read the gimmick as a dominant split personality. That's certainly how it was played during his feud with Goldust. I don't see where you're getting "wacky spaceman" from. And you think he'd be given more opportunities if he reverted to his old character? Otherwise, I don't see how his gimmick was hurting him. He goes around calling himself the Cosmic King and gives wacky speeches about the far reaches of the galaxy. Seemed like a "wacky spaceman" to me. Sure at first it was being played up as a dominant split personality, but once Goldust wasn't around he was portrayed as more of a low rent comic book villain than anything else. Would he have had more opportunities in a different character? Considering the realities of WWE once they slot you as a low card guy, probably not. But they clearly had nothing more for him in the Stardust gimmick so why not try something different? Worst case he's in the same phantom zone he was in as Stardust.

I know that, but at some point he had to realize that it was a go-nowhere gimmick. It seems like staying as Stardust probably led to him burning out since WWE obviously didn't have any further plans for the character. Why is it a "go-nowhere gimmick"? I don't really understand what that means. It doesn't seem like any more of a "go-nowhere gimmick" than zombie mortician. A zombie mortician created in 1991 in the midst of an era where nearly everyone had ridiculous gimmicks doesn't quite equate to a wacky spaceman in 2016. Also said zombie mortician was given programs that allowed him to get over to the point that he was allowed to be more than just a zombie mortician. Cody was never really given much to work with other than be Goldust's wacky brother or team up with prelim guys.

Stardust was HIS idea. And he specifically wanted to stay in it after Dusty died and they approached him about becoming plain ol' Cody again. I know that, but at some point he had to realize that it was a go-nowhere gimmick. It seems like staying as Stardust probably led to him burning out since WWE obviously didn't have any further plans for the character.

I don't know about main eventing, but he showed a tremendous speaking ability when not having to deal with WWE writing and deserved a better fate than a gimmick combining the worst of his brother and Santino Marella.

So I'm at the point of the big Lawler vs Idol/Rich feud, and I'm noticing that Austin Idol never appears on TV live. He's only popping up in pre taped interviews and highlights of matches from the Coliseum. I get the point of TV was to build to the arena, but it seemed odd he didn't even appear in studio to do an interview with Lance and Dave.

The AA looked a million times better in Cena's early days when it was more of a Death Valley Driver. I'm guessing it got toned down when WWE got rid of any moves remotely head-droppish.

Given that it was touch and go that Andre's back could make it to WM3, it's amazing he was still active (kinda) at this point. It must have burned Vince's ass that Andre's last appearance in the US was on a WCW show.

Rocky Johnson popping up in the Memphis run I'm currently watching reminded me of this topic. He's been pretty good in every territory I've seen him in, and it makes me wonder why he didn't have a longer run anywhere.

Not that it's surprising, but it was disheartening to see the women get the main event spot only for it to just be window dressing to get Steph over.

Wasn't the only reason the Heart Punch ever got over that someone died (for unrelated reasons) after a match where he took one?

Maria trying to start a Twitter feud with Dave was both funny and sad at the same time. It really is amazing how it seems TNA has managed to convince most of the roster that everything bad that happens is just Dave making up lies despite all evidence to the contrary.