Coffey

Just to throw it out there in case anyone is following along with the thread & not watching the show, they did do a backstage segment where Bray Wyatt injured Randy Orton, which I assume if their "out" to get him out of the match.

I have been digging David Otunga on commentary. His remark about Mojo using the crowd to make all of his matches a home game made a lot of sense!

The preshow panel feels too forced for my liking. I like the idea in theory I am just not a terribly big fan of the execution. I'm trying to be more positive, not just toward WWE or this show but in general as I think I'm a terrible person. I have to get out of the mentality of automatically thinking about the negatives instead of focusing on the positives. I think it's awesome that we still have Jerry Lawler with us, for example. One of the greatest pro-wrestlers of all-time.

I'm with Codysseus. I'm pulling for Becky in the Women's Title match solely because I like her.

Shows like this, which have a weak looking card on paper, sometimes genuinely surprise me. So in that regard, I'm sort of excited for the show because I have expectations that, at the very least, will be met. And, in all probability, if we get any decent match or entertaining skit, will probably be exceeded. Also, I have no idea what is going to happen, so maybe I could be pleasantly surprised at an outcome or two. I don't have anything else going on tonight anyway. I can't sit through NFL football games anymore. I don't play fantasy football & the commercial breaks suck my will to live.

My biggest issue, from what I have read around various corners of the internet (including my own Facebook Timeline), is people keep saying "he lasted longer than I thought he would!" Really? Two minutes in the first round was that much drastically longer than you "thought" he was going to last? He got taken down, got rocked, gave up his back & got choked out in that time frame. You thought that was all going to happen in thirty seconds instead? It's just so silly. I feel like we're all marks today. We got worked by Dana.

How many more times is that guy gonna cry about the eye? Anyway, I agree with Sek in that Punk is in a no-win situation. Of course, I also truly believe that UFC is mostly a work anyway, so whatever. So is the NBA & NFL.

I feel like this would have been bigger news if everyone didn't already know that it was going to happen. Of course, this makes it official. What really interests me though, is that I read that Paige also quit. She also apparently hired a lawyer.

Indy wrestling passed me by a long time ago when fans started celebrating workers like the Young Bucks. There was some flak towards workers like Davey Richards for awhile that I remember but I hate the current Indy style & now a lot of it is working into WWE. Kevin Owens if the current champion!

Sort of where I am at. I thought it was a fun brawl but I'm not seeing this 5* or 4*+ that others are seeing. Honestly, I don't really have a desire to watch it again but I probably will because there's just so much hype around it & maybe I missed something as I was watching it with company over. They did both bleed buckets though. I will say, I was genuinely surprised that the video quality was as good as it was. I was definitely not expecting that.

Can TNA even pay him though?

He just doesn't work in WWE, for whatever reason. He seemed like a big fish in a small pond when he was in Lucha Underground though. He had the aura of a superstar there. I wish he would have never went back to WWE.

Really like Kota Ibushi's finish. I liked both of the matches this week. I hope TJ Perkins beats Rich Swann next week as I don't see a lot of potential in that dude - never have. Kendrick is still awesome. I don't like the Bully Choke though, it just looks like a headlock to me. This whole tournament has been a ton of fun & I'm really enjoying it. I assume the finals is going to be Zack Sabre, Jr. Vs. Kota Ibushi? I'm still not sold on Zack. To me, I had heard some buzz about him from the Indies, even here on PWO, but thus far he's yet to impress me. I actually thought that last week Drew Gulak looked better than him. So maybe I'll be wrong about him making it to the finals.

Slater was really enjoyable back when he was getting killed by a Legend each week leading up to the big RAW 1,000th episode show. Admittedly, part of it was nostalgia for seeing old wrestlers like Vader & Sid again, but WWE trusting Slater with those guys, I thought, was a pretty big signal that they at least had faith in him. Granted he was mostly bumping like a pinball & just taking their finish but still. He's entertaining in a lot of out-of-the-ring ways.

This would be a good topic of discussion on its own instead of being lost in a megathread.

The issue there is the same thing as the issue with Cena. All the people booing Roman now would cheer him as a heel. Just like they would if WWE turned Cena heel. The babyfaces get booed by half the crowd and those same fans cheer the heels. I don't know if we can have a heel anymore that is universally loathed. Not unless they suck on purpose & are willing to do things that you probably can't do in a corporate, publicly traded company without getting sued. It would take someone that doesn't have a social media account, that doesn't have merchandise, that wins even though they suck, without ever doing any sort of flashy moves.. and even after all that, they would just get told they had X-Pac heat. There's no winning in wrestling as a heel anymore.

When The Shield first showed up in WWE, my buddy John & I both thought that Roman was the best. Because he had the best look & was being protected the most. He looked like a beast in all the matches. Most of the people online were only talking about how great Tyler Black & Jon Moxley were. I tried to take the stance that what you did prior to WWE doesn't mean you'll still get to showcase that when you're actually on WWE TV. Seth Rollins is a good worker but he works like a babyface, even when he's heel. Dean Ambrose can be a good promo, but in WWE he's reciting scripted lines. Roman was manufactured from the beginning to be what WWE wanted & it's working out. He may never be a great promo but he still has physical charisma, looks like a million bucks & continues to improve in-ring, where he wasn't that bad to begin with. He's a helluva athlete (not to say Seth isn't too). I don't think it's just the Daniel Bryan thing, nor is it because people are rebelling against the WWE Machine pushing him. I think some of it has to do with him showing up at the same time as Seth & Dean, both of whom brought Indy credibility with them. Then you also had, I believe, C.M. Punk saying that the Shield initially was going to be Chris Hero instead of Roman Reigns & that WWE put the axe to that idea & Hero also has a lot of value from Independent fans. It's like a big storm cloud of bad timing & outstanding circumstances that add fuel to the fire for people to have a reason to dislike Roman, even when what they're seeing with their eyes on weekly television is telling them otherwise. Roman is great, will only get better & barring a terrible injury or something, is going to be around for a long time. I think Seth is good too but would work better as a babyface. I think Dean is fine but not a top guy & needs to be put into more gimmick matches so he can be the crazy character he's trying to portray. Roman I think can be heel or face, I could see him playing a corporate monster or an ass-kicking babyface. I just think there's more potential there.

The picture that they have for Stephanie McMahon is hilarious. It looks both old and photoshopped to high heaven.

I just want to see Rusev in the title picture. He's the most compelling wrestler for me. He's a good enough worker but I also find him genuinely entertaining.

I feel in the minority because I think Sheamus is better than Cesaro. I honestly don't think that the best-of-seven series is going to do either of them any favors though.

We're going to need an update on Jim Cornette, since he's probably on suicide watch right about now. I can only imagine what his @mentions on Twitter are going to look like.

We get a new champion on RAW tonight. I thought it was a tournament, not just a Fatal Four-Way match. Anyway, either Reigns, Rollins, Owens or random Cass is walking out with the belt tonight. I assume Cass is at less than 1% chance. I could see them trying Owens for awhile though. I want to see a double-turn with Roman & Seth.

Random thought: One of the long standing traditions of pro-wrestling is to always have the monster fat dude. He's always booked as a threat, has little guys pinball off of him, does the falling tower spot & gets a push before being toppled by the big hero. Yokozuna, Big Boss Man, One Man Gang, Earthquake, Kamala, etc. More recently, WWE has done it with The Big Show and Mark Henry... but both of those guys are at the end of their runs. I don't really see anyone on the roster to fill that role when they're gone either. WWE has a lot of great wrestlers & young, athletic guys but who is going to be the next King Kong Bundy mold of wrestler for the guys like Finn Balòr, Sami Zayn & Seth Rollins to work with? I don't feel like Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe or Bray Wyatt exactly fit the mold. Not with their styles. I've always been a fan of those sort of feuds, even if they didn't always produce the best matches, because it's such an age old story. I can see that they're gearing up for a Braun Strowman push on RAW but he's not really a monster fat dude, he's just a big monster.