Coffey

Who wants to see this match anymore? There's no intrigue there. The Undertaker, at this point, can barely walk. His streak at Wrestlemania has already ended. John Cena losing nowadays does not mean anything. Even if it were WWE Title Vs. The Undertaker's career... it would be impossible to make me care about that match. I don't see the appeal. WWE does not have any money matches left unless they can get a guy like Steve Austin to wrestle another match. Even that in and of itself is sad.

It's a pretty big difference. If we're just going by ring work, a guy like Misawa is in my top 5 and Hogan ain't on my list at all. If we're incorporating other things, such as mic skills into that, it would be the exact opposite, with Hogan very high & Misawa not on my list. So yeah, pretty big difference. For what its worth, since I'm rating a lot of Japanese stars high, I have not been thinking about promo skills & certainly not drawing power. That could not matter less to me as a fan. Either way, Trish wouldn't be in my top 100 or anywhere close to it.

How different are these forums from the forums of old? When I ran forums, it was as simple as downloading the required modules/updates & then updating them to the server via an FTP. Same with Themes and what not. There was even a "store" where you acquired currencies via making topics, replies or whatever & then you could use that currency to buy forum things like 5x5 more on your avatar or something dumb like that. If you have been trying to get a hold of this person for a year with no luck, I assume you're never going to get a hold of them at all. Which probably means no updates for anything in the future? Maybe I'm misunderstanding but the Admins should have access to all the directories, right? A shoutbox does sound cool - I know premium users on WrestlingForum.com have access to one. IRC is way dated.

Also, listening to the post-RAW Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave Meltzer & Brian Alvarez, that was the most annoyed, disgruntled & frustrated I can ever remember hearing Dave Meltzer sound when talking about professional wrestling. He is just completely flabbergast by how clueless people seem to be in modern WWE. You could hear him trying to even think of a way to rationalize some of the things they do & not even being able to think of a stupid, tranquil reasoning as to why. It's counter-productive to do this... but they did it because... reasons. You don't even have to be a lifelong fan or a long term WWE watcher to see some of this stuff & just look at your screen confused & scratching your head. It's almost like their goal is to not be stars or draw money. It genuinely feels like that. Like they're purposely trying to sabotage their own roster & show.

It's frustrating as a fan because all I can ever think about is how would stars such as Steve Austin, The Rock... or anyone in the live TV era really, been able to get over having to memorize and recite these lines? Written by people that aren't even in the pro-wrestling business. People that are wanting to get TV show writing gigs. Scott Hall talked about it during his YouShoot. He went back to WWE for the Hall of Fame or his last nWo run or whatever it was & some writer handed him a printed out promo that he was supposed to say. Some TV guy, not a wrestling guy and the promo on the page even started with "Hey, yo." It's just so ridiculous. That's the biggest issue, I think. WWE doesn't think of themselves as a wrestling program, they think they're just a television program, like Seinfeld or Friends. They bring in writers with that mentality. It's insane.

These are people that get hit in the head for a living. We're not talking about the brightest people on the planet here. It's a business of carnies. Going off the script is not something that would even scratch the surface of shit they should be worrying about. It's not unrealistic. But what do I know, I've never let someone walk on me. That fucking fear is why the goddamn show sucks. No one is willing to take a risk. A bunch of people scared to "rock the boat" because of a senile, racist, misogynist, out-of-touch, Republican nutcase.

Because most people get to tell their bosses to fuck off when they're handed lousy material and told to make the best of it? If that's the world you live in, bless you sir. What are they going to do, fire Roman Reigns? It's not like they could make him look worse. They gonna job him out? He'd still be getting paid. He himself said he just cared about the money anyway. It's live TV, what are they going to do, cut to commercial? It's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. Heaven forbid someone go off the horribly written scripts.

Of all the people that replied & the discussion to be had, after eight pages of posts, why do you only care about that one? Just ignore it & talk about the subject at hand, please.

WWE should really just make Enzo a full-time non-wrestler. He's a great mouthpiece & has a very Lou Albano/Jimmy Hart feel to him. Big Cass... I just don't see anything there.

(02DEC2015) This week's show was a lot of fun. NXT feels refreshing. It reminds me of the old WCW Saturday Night program, before WCW had Nitro, when Saturday Night was a show that was presented as more like the flagship instead of a showcase of the undercard talent. I mentioned as much on Twitter. Really liked a lot of little things about this show. It's pretty incredible how on NXT something can be less than a minute long & still be impactful. On RAW, something will last 15-20 minutes & you're just counting down until it's over because you don't care. Nia Jax throwing Bayley through the door was great. She still seems pretty green but I like her so far. The ring work will get better, I assume. Right now it feels like she's trying to learn pacing on how to work like the big person in a match. Samoa Joe & Ciampa had a good match & that was the best Joe has looked in-ring, in my opinion, since he has showed up. Reminded me of the Ring of Honor Samoa Joe. Good to see some of the intensity return. His contract signing last week was also great. There are some acts down in NXT, such as The Vaudevillains or Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger that I don't have any faith in because there's no way I can see those gimmicks working on the main roster. Just like Bo Dallas' gimmick or Emma's old gimmick. It works on the small stage but not the big stage. Look at The Ascension. They are jokes on the main roster. Jury is still out on Elias Samson's Harry Heck gimmick, which is what I'm thinking it is. Jordan & Gable are great. I'm a little concerned that the Team Angle comparisons will hurt them. I also think that the "Ready, Willing & Gable" catchphrase is super lame. I think Jordan is one of the best prospects WWE has in all of NXT though. Including guys like Finn Bàlor, Baron Corbin & Apollo Crews. Speaking of Corbin, he's improved a lot in a short time. He has a few ladies in the crowd tonight losing their minds. Dana Brooke has also really improved, which I actually found myself kind of disappointed that she didn't have a match this week. As much as people seem to get offended so easily nowadays & how pro-wrestling fans manage to nit-pick everything (I'm also guilty of this) it's only a matter of time until someone gets upset by the Jack the Ripper NXT Takeover: London intro graphic, right? I'm really looking forward to that show. Asuka is a star. Apollo Crews & Finn Bàlor are stars. The future of NXT looks exceptionally bright but I'm weary of when any of them get called-up to the main roster. Corbin might be the best fit for the main roster, actually. James Storm comes off like a star. It's a shame he spent so many years in TNA. Something feels like it's missing during his matches though. I don't know if he just looks sluggish or what. As soon as the match starts & the cowboy hat comes off, some of his aura dwindles. He could work on the main roster right now though. He's no worse than the current Alberto Del Rio we have.

We should really have an NXT thread for just NXT talk. I never know if I should post in this weekly WWE threads or the WWE Network thread. I just want to talk about NXT, not mixed-in with RAW or other Network things.

No, not at all. At least not for me. I just think Sasha is a great professional wrestler. She is also only 23-years-old & has only been wrestling for like four or five years now. Honestly, at one time, I felt like the odd man out as I was the one that was usually criticizing her while she seemed to be getting universal praise from everyone else. The difference was not that I was saying that she was bad, I was arguing that she was not Top 5 IN THE WORLD. I stand by that. That gives you an idea of how good some people think that Sasha is though. It doesn't have anything to do with her sex or her attractiveness. She is just a good pro-wrestler. Even guys like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin praise her. Him & Mick Foley just did that today on his podcast, actually. I would wager to them it is not because she looks like a Las "Vegas stripper" either... Bayley, for me, is more about the character & the journey. If you follow NXT, of have followed NXT, you got to see her entire story play out & that was pretty cool. From being the happy babyface that everyone else took advantage of, to finally finding a killer instinct & that drive to succeed leading to her winning the NXT Women's Championship. The Bayley Vs. Sasha Banks match(es) was/were about (1) good wrestling & (2) good storytelling from (3) good characters. That's just basic professional wrestling & probably the reason most of us became fans in the first place.

If they talk about Tatanka, we better get a Ludvig Borga name drop, damn it!

So, I just re-watched it & it was fun - there was a lot of bomb throwing. It was basically Brock just demolishing Reigns but Reigns never giving up. Then Brock makes a mistake, Reigns goes to capitalize... and doesn't win. Brock still kicks out. 'Cause you can't kill the Beast, apparently. Then Reigns eats another F-5. It was nothing but finisher trading & kicking out of finishes then the Money in the Bank Cash-in, where Seth comes out, they do more finisher stuff & then the match ends. Literally the second move of the match was an F-5. Which I realize is what Brock has been doing lately, showing how he's dominating people & what he did to John Cena at the SummerSlam before.. but this match is not even a MOTYC for me, let alone greatest Wrestlemania match ever. That's way too much hyperbole for me. The ring apron Clothesline was BRUTAL though. I legit said out loud "oh fuck" when he cold-cocked him there. That was great. Again, it was fun. There was a story there. They didn't really get to finish their story. I felt like I was just starting to get wrapped up in the match then Seth came out. Maybe that was the point, so I would be pissed at Seth for not letting me see that match end. Maybe we'll get Brock/Roman again this year to a conclusion. But just that match alone, I feel like I wanted more and it didn't get there. We didn't really get a payoff to Roman smiling either.

That is some really high praise. You think that match is better than Rock/Austin at X-Seven for a main event, or better than Bret/Austin for a match? Better than Savage/Steamboat? I'm used to having a different opinion than many others on here but I have never felt a disconnect this badly before. I'm going to go re-watch it right now.

Catching up on NXT today. Then going to watch those old NWA shows. NXT reminds me why I'm a fan. I have so much fun watching this show.

Agreed. I also have Sasha / Becky over Brock / Reigns, which apparently I'm going to have to watch again as I don't even remember it being anything special.

It's crazy to me that it feels like they don't even give a fuck to even attempt new things either. Last night the show opened with The Authority coming out. I turned the show off right then & there. I came back later & saw the six-man tag with Goldust but then I started playing a video game & didn't care about seeing anymore of RAW. Nothing feels like it matters anymore. It's going to be the same authority figure stuff that it has been since 1998.

I didn't even think the wrestling was good. I didn't even think it was average. It was all, to me, completely forgettable. It's like the PPV could have never even happened & nothing would have changed. It felt like if you pick a random Smackdown, any show, from the past five years. Just pick a date. That's what Survivor Series felt like. Matches that weren't impressive. Outcomes that didn't matter. Nothing really happened. Nothing that someone would go out of their way to see. Nothing was offensive, nothing was downright awful. Nothing was good, memorable or even fun though. It was like a hole in space. Just there. I mean people are talking about the highlights of the show being Xavier Woods' hairstyle and an 8-bit video game commercial for TLC. That doesn't exactly say good things about the matches or the work...

The Prime Time Players & Goldust Vs. The Cosmic Wasteland (Stardust & The Ascension) was a lot of fun. So was the pre-match backstage skit with Stardust & Titus O'Neil.

I don't really see how it's any worse than the Mania deal that most people seemed to love. In fact it's better because they at least had a real finish to the main event. It did completely negate the whole tournament we just watched play out over multiple weeks on multiple shows. A tournament which Sheamus was in himself & eliminated from. The briefcase deal sucks.

No one in wrestling gets "real" heat anymore. If anyone is a good heel, the crowd just cheers them. The only heat that seems to work is if a wrestler sucks. Kayfabe is dead & everyone has Twitter accounts. Hard to hate someone when you know they're doing Make-A-Wish, etc. when away from the camera.

I'm a firm believer that there's no such thing as X-Pac Heat or Go Away Heat myself. If anyone getting up & leaving the show or not buying a ticket to the show because Eva Marie is on TV or getting a title shot? Of course not.

I read that Austin Aries was spotted at an NXT taping? That would be really cool news for me as I'm a pretty big Austin Aries fan.