sek69

Seems like a win-win for all parties (except TNA). ROH gets national exposure, DA gets cheaper content and the bonus of not having to deal with the one woman clown show that is Dixie.

So I wonder if ROH and WWE have some kind of deal like ECW had. First there was Joe being pushed heavy on NXT with merch and everything while still being able to work ROH TV tapings, and now ROH announced Kevin Steen is part of their initial action figure line. It would make sense for WWE to want to partner with them as almost an unofficial developmental group since they've got so many talented guys from there,

So.....just had an older gentleman (and self described WWE fanatic) call in to say they just signed up for the Network to watch the show on Sunday but was perplexed no where in the process did it say where to watch on their cable box. I broke the news that they'd need some kind of streaming device, and he wasn't upset but disappointed, He didn't understand why they didn't mention that you needed some other device. Now I'm not relaying this to be all "lol dumb wwe fan", but it's not the first time I ran into this and it's a key thing being missed by WWE. They are so bent on hammering NAHN NAHNTY NAHN, MAGGLE and making fun of people who buy PPV, they forget to tell people what they actually need to own to watch the thing. They had the flight attendant Bellas commercial that did a good job of explaining that exact thing and they've never done anything similar since.

It was definitely something that was mentioned often, that the World Champion shouldn't be having competitive matches with jobbers. Well maybe competitive is too strong a word, but it did seem they'd get more offense in against him than they would most weeks.

Everyone here makes good points, but again as long as Vince/Dunn are in charge nothing will change. NXT could do an all women show where every match is 4 stars and above, and Vince will still think the women's division are all interchangeable catty bitches to have 2 minute matches with.

It was apparently the head of Discovery Communications not just the head of DA, which makes it even more amazing.

Seems like the most likely outcome would be Rock/Hunter with Ronda/Steph in the corners. That way WWE gets their mainstream buzz, and UFC doesn't have to worry about injury if they just do a spot where Steph gets ragdolled by the monster.

Watched the Raw in Germany where they crowned the first European champion, and I forgot just how good the Bulldog could be. The match was great of course, but it wasn't just due to Owen, Davey held up his end of the deal.

I never saw the "put him down, pick him up" stuff as annoying, I figure (in a kayfabe sense) the guy on offense knows one move isn't going to put the guy away so he picks them up to deliver more punishment. I'll grant it's not the most creative way to do it, but it makes sense in a "if this was real" way.

Speaking of NXT women, I'm kind of hoping since they showed Tessa Blanchard's Tough Enough video on TV and made sure to include mentioning her dad/stepdad they put her on the show as a ringer of sorts. 70s-80s NWA mark Hunter has to be salivating at the idea of having Flair-Blanchard: The Next Generation in his promotion.

The more women's matches we get in NXT like this one, the more depressing it becomes to realize once you get to the main roster it doesn't matter work wise if you're Sasha Banks or Eva Marie. Until they're allowed to be characters with different traits instead of interchangeable "divas" who are just catty bitches who hate each other, nothing will change.

Gail Kim, who isn't the type to be calling people out on Twitter, had an interesting post calling Vince out of touch when it comes to booking women. Of course she's right, but it's uncommon for someone not on bad terms with WWE to mention it.

I've been digging the angle with Rey Gonzalez rehabbing from surgery while his son valiantly tries to defend his honor. He's obviously super green, but it's a story that never fails to work.

Between Bob Ryder, Russo, Billy's Pal Sign Guy Dudley, and Bischoff it seems like there's no 90s era relic TNA won't let have a hand in running things. How did we not get GLF booking at any point?

Dave already replied over on the WO board saying he's saved all his communication with Dixie and basically telling Bob to bring it.

I'd imagine Vince would want to buy the library just to add another trophy on the wall of people who tried ti run against him.

At this point, Stardust is even worse. He's even more of a comic book villain with the Mr. Sinister entrance attire, and now that his brother's gone the whole thing is completely pointless.

Welp, Dave just announced in the new WON that Destination America is canceling TNA Wrestling in the third quarter (most likely September when they have the option to opt out). Commence the TNA lunatics going full North Korea and deny anything that is negative against Glorious Dear Leader.

I think that's largely due to there being a lot of current stuff he's more interested in. New Japan, obviously, but he even went out of his way to watch the CMLL Anniversary show last year which is usually out of his wheelhouse despite being an historic event.

Somehow it slipped past my radar (mainly because I was still looking at the 1996 section like a dumb ass), but a bunch of 1997 Raws are up now. Still no Nitros, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

Also, John Cena should really be commended for putting over a new guy like a champ. It's practically unheard of for top level guys to do that until they're way past their prime like Brock ragdolling Hogan back in 2003 or so.

Bryan seemed to learn his lesson on his "contrarian heel radio host" gimmick when Todd legit snapped on him over the chances CM Punk would ever come back to WWE. His argument was as things stand it was unlikely, but if Bret could find a way to return after Owen died, it's not impossible to think one day Punk would come back. Bryan did his usual pretend-to-be-dense schtick one time too many and it led to Bryan having to issue an on air apology. Ever since then it seemed like Todd would just no-sell anything Bryan would say to him. Going out of his way to thank Dave and mentioning something about knowing who you can count on when times were tough sure came off as a giant middle finger to Bryan, but I'm sure he was too busy playing with his cats to realize he got burned.

He mentioned he learned English from watching matches called by Jim Ross, it's amazing he doesn't have an Okie accent. Actually, he barely has any accent at all, but that might be because wrestling has trained me to believe all French-Canadians sound like Pat Patterson.

Cena's been in the biggest company in the world for 99% of his career, of course he's going to have way more matches (and more great matches) than Steen. Just the sheer numbers of WWE schedule vs ROH/whereever else Steen's worked scheduled will bear that out. That seems like a pretty unfair bar to stake your preference on. I don't think Steen's the end-all of pro wrestling, but the only knock I can really see on the guy is he doesn't have the physique WWE wants/demands from their top guys. His promos run circles around everyone in the company, and he has that elusive aura that makes people stop and take notice that is sorely missing from anyone in WWE that isn't Brock.