Coffey

This back-to-back sequence of posts made me crack up. I love this forum. I'm not entirely sure what the goal of bringing in the Cruiserweights has been. The CWC was pretty good & we got some petty good matches from it. But the majority of the Cruisers, even the ones they try to push, are dreadful. The matches on RAW and PPV have been pretty bad and the 205 Live is just like, "why?" They don't even feel like Cruiserweights. They don't feel different from normal WWE wrestlers the way, in example, the Cruiserweights on Nitro did. They feel really toned down and often, very boring. Like, you have a six-minute Cruiserweight match to try to impress people that aren't familiar with you and you're slapping on multiple headlocks? Fuck outta here.

The weekly show is basically unwatchable at this point. It feels like nothing happens. You can skip an entire month, even avoiding reading the summary of the spoilers and you're caught up in like five minutes on the Takeover preshow. It's a bunch of squashes and jobbers and then like a 2-minute angle for each hour. NXT used to be my favorite WWE show & it was a big reason to have the WWE Network. Now it feels like it's lower than WCW Worldwide. There's still people on NXT that I care about, like Asuka, Nakamura & The Revival but for the most part, it's just skippable.

I'm not sure what the actual reality of the situation would be if it did play out but as a fan, I feel like I would rather WWE was owned/ran by Shane McMahon instead of Stephanie McMahon & Triple H. Anything that could potentially get Stephanie McMahon off of TV indefinitely has to be a positive. We don't know everything about the behind the scenes stuff but I'm fairly confident in my assessment that a pro-wrestling company should not be publicly traded & should not have a team of soap opera writers coming up with the storylines and promos. I also believe that Kevin Dunn and Michaels Hayes should have been gone a long time ago & RAW, starting at 9PM on a weeknight, should not be TV-PG. I just feel like they make a lot of odd decisions & show loyalty to weird people... but they're making a ton of money, so what do I know?

He just doesn't work smart. He needs to learn the age old adage that less is more. Every match he has, whether it's on TV or WWE Network, he's throwing out a ton of stuff like the Top Rope Snowplow spot or the fat man Senton, and there's a ton of kickouts & finisher trading. Basically, regardless of whomever his opponent is, they keep throwing bombs & kicking out of shit until the marks start chanting "this is awesome!" This is a problem in a lot of WWE main events, not just those with Kevin Owens, but Owens to me embodies the ROH style that I loathe. The same shit that Davey Richards used to get killed online for. I don't buy him as a main eventer anyway, even with the brand split, and this run he's having with the belt feels like someone wanted to push him and someone wanted to sabotage him. Very reminiscent of how I felt when Chris Benoit finally had the belt but wasn't the focal point of the show. Sloppy look, overrated worker, pretty good promo. That's not a top guy. I agree with KawadaSmile. Owens in 2016 is the drizzling shits.

but it's all based about jobber Ellsworth wrestling matches. Who cares to watch that? It's ridiculous.

My issue with AJ Styles is my same issue that I have with Kevin Owens: I say to myself "OK, you're a great wrestler, but then what?" This is the disconnect that I constantly have with WWE and it's a big reason why I'm a fan of guys like Rusev & Sheamus more. I need more than just bell-to-bell good matches. You need to make me want to care about the outcome of your match or invest in your character. AJ Styles is fantastic in-ring and I want to watch him because he's so athletically gifted but I don't care if he wins or loses. I don't care if he has a title or not. And when he has a microphone, I'm not invested in the words that come out of his mouth. He's just kinda there. Just like Dean Ambrose only better in the ring. The stories don't draw me in, which isn't even on the wrestlers themselves. But I have Styles in higher regard than others on the roster because he often makes me just say "wow" or "holy shit." How many people can do a Springboard 450 to the floor through a table? That's an INSANE spot. AJ Styles in NJPW worked for me. AJ Styles in WWE does not because the way the show is - it's not just about the in ring. Certainly some of it is overexposure. Maybe even most of it is that. WWE just feels tired & stagnant. They don't need to switch up the roster, they need to switch up the format. We need some chaos, some unexpectability (is that a word?) in the shows. Like, current WWE, I watch it like it's a basketball game or something. Part of the appeal of pro-wrestling for me was always how it has felt different than sports. Now it feels like we're just watching guys showing off their best stunts.

I'd say: AJ Styles Vs. Dean Ambrose - Springboard 450 was nuts. Match itself was good, not great. Hated the finish. ***3/4 Becky Lynch Vs. Alexa Bliss - Too sloppy. Disappointed. ** The Miz Vs. Dolph Ziggler - Felt like they were told to hold back to not upstage the main event. Especially in the beginning. Disliked the finish. ***1/2 Heath Slater & Rhyno Vs. Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton - Nothing match. Forgettable. *1/2 Nikki Bella Vs. Carmella - Sloppy. Picked up with some weapon stuff. Carmella is REAL bad. *1/2 Kalisto Vs. Baron Corbin - Exceeded expectations & I was high on this match going in. MOTN for me. ****

The entire point of using a table in pro-wrestling is to get the pop from when it breaks. (and I guess to sell the devastation of the impact going through it)

AJ Styles & Dolph Ziggler both on the same card, both with a ladder in their match. I'm curious which of the two will do the more insane spot. Also, neither Becky nor Alexa are very big. In the case of Alexa, she's SUPER tiny. We saw it happen with Sasha at Hell in a Cell... will they be able to break the table? So curious what spot they do to end the table match. Probably some sort of push off the top. Kind of wish they would move Rusev/Lana over to Smackdown.

So, on paper, this doesn't look bad. I am actually looking forward to the women's title match. Becky is my favorite female wrestler in all of WWE and Alexa has improved a lot, especially with her character work. Not sure what direction they're going to go with the tag titles but Slater/Rhyno can't keep them forever. Not sure Wyatt/Orton will be the team to upset them though. Kalisto/Corbin is going to be my sleeper pick but I'm higher on Corbin than most folks. Nikki/Carmella, I assume, is going to be the pits. Carmella just isn't very good in-ring yet. Still not sure why they called her up if they weren't keeping her with Enzo/Cass. The Miz/Dolph is going to be... interesting. You never know what someone is going to do with a ladder is involved & you never can tell if the ladder is going to cooperate or not. I guess that's part of the intrigue. I wouldn't say that I'm excited for the show but Smackdown PPVs tend to be fun no matter what. It has to be better than Survivor Series was. My goodness.

WWE TLC PPV Sunday, December 04, 2016. American Airlines Center Dallas, Texas, USA WWE Title: AJ Styles© Vs. Dean Ambrose - TLC Match Women's Title: Becky Lynch© Vs. Alexa Bliss - Tables Match Intercontinental Title: The Miz© with Maryse Vs. Dolph Ziggler - Ladder Match Tag Titles: Heath Slater & Rhyno© Vs. Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton Nikki Bella Vs. Carmella - No DQ Match Kalisto Vs. Baron Corbin - Chairs Match

Do you think that there will be people hired by WWE with the sole intention of leaving them as an on-air talent for NXT indefinitely? I thought the goal with Rhyno was going to be to use him in NXT to put some people over then transition him into a trainer role. Then he beat people on NXT, came to the main roster again and won the tag titles. Seems odd. Also seems odd when they don't call-up people like Joe or Nakamura but do call up people like Dana Brooke. So maybe they want to leave Nak/Joe down there because the roster is so thin? I thought they were doing that with Bayley too but then they called her up anyway, even without having much for her to do. Now it feels like Asuka doesn't have anyone to feud with in NXT. Why did they call-up Nia Jax already? It just sort of feels all over the place to me.

That's all he's ever done. But instead of being banned, he got put on a podcast.

I hate Owens. Don't buy him as a main eventer at all & never will. Didn't like him in ROH. Didn't like him in NXT. Don't like him on RAW. I hate his style & his look. Not loving that the direction for Rusev looks to be a feud with Big Cass. Sheamus/Cesaro bar fight was fun. Look forward to them being a real tag team with the problems behind them. At least it gives them both something to do. Plus, hopefully, we're getting the end of New Day soon. That ship sailed a long time ago. Main event was fine I just don't know why Hell in a Cell wasn't the blowoff. The Club are terrible. They shouldn't be anywhere near the titles. I honestly don't know why WWE brought them in from NJPW. Karl Anderson has always been mediocre and Gallows is a worse A-Train. I just don't get it. Maybe just to try to hurt New Japan? There's better talent out there. Paul Heyman promo was great. Goldberg & Lesnar both being in the Rumble adds some name value to the match & probably means they eliminate each other. Which is a better outcome to me than either of them winning it. So I'm fine with it. The December PPV could not happen at all and I don't think anyone would even notice. Cruiserweights are dead in the water. Hope 205 Live works out for them. They need more wrestlers in the division. I find it funny that the vocal minority at the live shows boo the wrestlers that I'm thoroughly entertained by, like Sheamus, Strowman, Reigns, Miz & Rusev and cheer guys like Owens, New Day, James Ellsworth & Sami Zayn. I must really be out of the loop.

I didn't even know that was Charlotte's finish. I thought her finish was the Figure-8?

My head hurts...

From the Dave Meltzer Megathread: I agree with this statement and don't want it to be a side point. I think we can get some discussion going about the point. Now that the old "Indie" style (that I hated) has made its way to WWE, we have a hybrid style of the WWE style mixed with the Indie style. Meaning that we get matches with two guys hitting each other with everything, none of it means anything and the crowd doesn't buy any of it. Meanwhile they're taking seemingly more wear and tear on their bodies to get a lot less of a reaction. The entire "This is awesome!" mentality sucks. I don't need to see a Top Rope Snow Plow for a 2-count to think that a match is good (Kevin Owens). Nor do I need to see John Cena going for Springboard Stunners. A.J. Styles frequently does a Springboard 450 and I don't think I've ever seen it be a finish. It's just ridiculous. Finishers never finish matches anymore. You always have a ton of false finishes as that seems to be WWE's way to make a match "epic." Dave Meltzer himself liked the Seth Rollins/Kevin Owens Hell in a Cell match. This current style makes most moves seem a lot worse in effectiveness. It makes near falls have very little drama. Even a finish you know isn't a finish if it's a WWE main event between two main event guys. Which is nothing new to WWE as they have been doing that for a long time but it's still prevalent today. Can the bomb-throwing/kick out of everything WWE main event style be bad for business?

I wish you would have seen the match & rated it before reading what others said about it. There's 0% chance that didn't affect how you viewed the match. Alas, that's an impossibility at this point. Shame. That is true. But on the other hand, the true classics are ones that come to you ready-hyped as five star and still hold up. One thing I will say though is that I had to pause the match and ended up picking up over an hour later, so that might have disrupted flow or stopped me getting more into it. Are my comments about Scott Dawson wrong? Is he typically seen as a completely polished performer a la Arn? No, not necessarily. I just like reading what you have to say about matches/events after you watch them, hearing your opinion on them. All of us, to a certain degree, can have our opinions influenced by what we see/hear/read so that's nothing out of the ordinary. I'm just curious, barring the outside circumstances, if the match would have been different in your eyes.

I wish you would have seen the match & rated it before reading what others said about it. There's 0% chance that didn't affect how you viewed the match. Alas, that's an impossibility at this point. Shame.

Honestly, I would just never tweet at all if I were employed by WWE. There's like zero good that can come from it.

Really hope that small "you screwed Bret!" chant toward the end of that Goldberg promo doesn't pick up any traction. This is the first guy we've had that's felt like a real babyface in awhile and it would suck to see dumbass fans taint it too.

Yeah, there's nothing special about Tye at all. He's very forgettable. Just doesn't have the charisma.

and yet people went nuts when Mike Tyson did that shit You mean quick knockouts? That's a bad comparison, because people inherently understand that a real sporting event doesn't have a controlled ending. And in fact, fans wanted to see Tyson destroy his opponents in short order. That was his brand. If you're suggesting that's what we generally look for from wrestling main events, that's nonsense. That's what we look for in Goldberg matches though. Not really from Goldberg main events on big shows though. What if the RAW Vs. Smackdown match went on after Goldberg Vs. Lesnar? I don't care that Lesnar/Goldberg went two minutes because the match before it was like six hours.

Wait, was Survivor Series 1994 the one with guest ring enforcer Chuck Norris? Cause that kicked ass. It also had the Bret Hart -vs- Bob Backlund WWF Title match with the AWESOME post-match promo from Backlund AND the Lawler & midgets Vs. Doink & midgets match which might be my favorite comedy match ever. NO WAY that show was worse than this one. Fuck, that might be my favorite Survivor Series.

You got to see it. Goldberg won.