sek69

I thought both did a good job, Striker actually carried the load the first match since a four way tag team spotfest was way out of JR's comfort zone. Hearing JR call a hard fought one on one match was like hearing Vin Scully announce baseball or Keith Jackson call college football....It just sounded right for lack of a better descriptor. It almost was weird hearing the announcers put over the match and the guys involved instead of trying to one up each other with corny dad jokes, I did love the not-so-subtle jab JR threw out during the IC title match putting over the importance of the title before quipping "why would anyone even want a title if they all weren't held at the same level" or something to that effect.

I don't know about the audience at large, but I know nothing takes me out of the moment and screams "This is a TV show" more than a guy going for a pin and then helicoptering around the opponent when he realizes he's not facing the hard camera.

So I follow one of the Young Bucks on Facebook and he was posting photos of the Tokyo Dome crowd from last night. One of his followers replied how "wwe could never sell out a place that huge".

Maybe, just maybe, WWE should be spending more time on capitalizing on someone who strikes a chord with a large portion of the audience and use that to make money rather than coming up with ways to troll his fanbase.

There's a lot that could be improved in WWE, some requiring more effort than others, but the fact that they apparently still don't see Bryan as a top level guy after everything that happened in the last year is just depressingly frustrating. The fans couldn't have possibly made it clearer that they didn't want was was being pushed down their throats but the company is still going to be all "nah, we think this big guy with pretty hair who can't cut our style of promo or work long matches is a much better option".

Oh man, in recapping the return of Bryan in the latest WON it's mentioned that the plan is still for Reigns to win the Rumble and "according to one person close to the situation, the obvious question this brings up has not been considered". This is going to blow up in their faces again, isn't it?

I love how the look on Okada's face is saying "why am I in this bullshit promo image?"

I did like how the announcers (for once) didn't beat it over everyone's head what was going on. There was no BAH GAWD MAGGLE HE WANTS CENA TO BRING BACK THA ATHAURATAH~! from JBL, just Cole gradually and quietly realizing that was Seth's end goal. No sledgehammer of plot needed, just putting the pieces together for the people at home.

The moment they announced Cena was the only one who could bring the Authority back, we knew this was going to happen. I wasn't thinking only after a month, but after the opening video (and the million mentions of Edge's neck) my angle alert spider sense started ringing that we were being set up for something. I mean, they painted themselves in a corner since there's not many ways you can have your top babyface bring back the top heel faction if you can't/won't turn him heel.

They clearly didn't know how to book a show without having an evil authority figure to call the shots, and I guess having Cena do it to keep Edge from getting crippled was probably the less lame way to do it. It does kind of come off like a big ol' reset button though.

They were barely bigger than the guys they faced in NXT, and being Neo Road Warriors looks even sillier in WWE. That said, I do hope they get a big push since they were dominant champs in NXT and they are good enough to not deserve the Bo Dallas/Adam Rose treatment.

My feeling about the crowd turning on Reigns isn't so much about anything he does or doesn't do, it's more of the crowd not responding to the guy the company deems "The Man". Instead of letting things happen organically, Vince/WWE insists they know what the fans want, and it ends up coming off as a forced/corporate thing.

How can the "same thing" possibly happen? The circumstances aren't anything remotely close to what they were last years. Daniel Bryan had had his title stolen by Orton and the Authority, and all semblance of logical wrestling storytelling dictated that he would go to Wrestlemania, get his revenge and take back what was rightfully his. So when he didn't come out at number 30 in the Rumble, the crowd died because the guy they loved was being screwed out of what he was owed, and they as an audience were being screwed out of what they were owed. And then here's this guy Batista who left the company several years ago, as a huge asshole heel mind you, being brought back and put in this spot that he didn't deserve and didn't even make any sense within the storyline they were invested in. So of course they took it out on him. None of that context applies to Roman Reigns this year. Even if the crowd doesn't fully get behind him the way the company wants, it won't be anything on the level of what happened to Batista. He's not stealing any beloved underdog's spot, he's not disrupting any major storyline for no apparent reason, Roman Reigns winning the Rumble this year actually makes perfect sense and is consistent with how he's been booked. 2014: Batista is the guy the company wants to win despite the crowd being adamant they want someone else, fans reject this idea loudly. 2015: Roman is the guy the company wants to win despite not being over at that level, admittedly there's no Daniel Bryan counterpart for the fans to rally around but as mentioned the show's in Philly and they don't need a reason to be belligerent. I'm just going on a limb here and suggesting there's a good chance the corporate approved choice might go over like a lead balloon in this environment.

Rewatched Rumble 2014 on the network, and as bad as the crowd shit on the show (and it was worse in person) if Roman would have eliminated Batista it would have got a huge pop. Everyone knew Big Dave was going to win, and no one wanted to see it happen. The same thing happening to Roman in 2015 would be something to behold.

One could argue Ebert's reviews could make or break a movie the way Dave's can for a wrestling show. There's a lot of people who consider Ebert's opinion of movies even more gospel than the most ardent Dave fan. Again, as stated before, this is all much ado about nothing.

I guess I'm coming from the place where I don't understand why can't someone be a good wrestler who does stuff no one else is doing to stand out from the pack? Why does everyone have to have a gimmick, let alone one that could possibly negatively impact their career. Let the guy be himself, maybe it works or maybe it doesn't, but give him a chance.

I get that Neville probably is not going to be main event level in WWE for many reasons, but when did everyone suddenly become in favor of giving guys gimmicks that kneecap them right from the start? As cool as we'd all make a Mighty Mouse inspired character, you know WWE Creative would come up with the usual lame as fuck idea that emphasized all his weaknesses. I could see them giving him a mask with ear holes cut out so his actual ears would be the mouse ears.

I just like how earlier in the issue there's a story on how morale is low after Vince buried the whole roster while everyone gets stop and start pushes, and then you find out they want to take one of the top stars in developmental and literally make him a cartoon character.

I decided to order the English PPV version, it's an easier process than to try to juggle electronics to cast to my TV and part of me wants to see if JR can make it through a four hour PPV without beating the shit out of Matt Striker.

They are mid way through March 1996 on Raws, not sure why they skipped the Raw Bowl but my memory seems to recall that sucked so I'm not too upset.

I can't think of any reason ethically to support the status quo. Just wondering though - how would it affect WWE? It would cost WWE a lot of money in terms of having to pay into state unemployment tax and having to offer them benefits like a real employee.

Even if you give Canek the benefit of the doubt and say he might not have known about his rep, I wonder how anyone could look at Haku and think "now there's a guy I can probably bully around in the ring".

Dixie recently made statements along the lines of she'd consider bringing Russo back, which would be table-flippingly infuriating if it was still possible to give two shits about what they do.

Don't get me wrong I'm happy they're doing it, but it's surprising such a looks-first company like WWE is putting Luke Harper in such a prime position.

Makes sense, didn't the character of "The Miz" start on that show?