Coffey

Right there with you. Reading the Dave Meltzer thread has me on tilt right now.

This genuinely has me upset & angry, by the way. Really disappointed with Dave Meltzer here. Unbelievable. Just completely, totally, head-shakingly unbelievable.

Nope, definitely not. On topic, honestly, Dave just comes off as very ignorant. The n-word being defined by him as being used by wrestlers is the epitome of that. Either he's totally out of touch or completely in denial. One of the two.

Can anyone provide a list of Finlay matches to seek out on the WWE Network? I want to re-watch some of his stuff but there's not a lot being pimped in this thread, at least not specifically named.

That brings to mind though, the old adage "if everyone is a main eventer then no one is". This brings to mind a great old Paul Heyman quote too, when talking about Terry Funk in ECW. He only wanted one Legend on the roster so that he would stand out more. He made a comparison to if there's one-hundred blonde women in a room and one redhead, you naturally gravitate toward the redhead with your eyes. Or it was something close to that. I'm of the belief though, that you can have a roster of people, top to bottom, that people care about. You just have to keep them special & have them all special for different reasons. Also, a big thing that WWE really fails at nowadays, you gotta keep them away from each other so that it's special when they do come together. Dudleys just came back cause they want a tag title shot. They already beat New Day on TV. We've already seen Kofi and Xavier take a 3D and Xavier go through a table. Why do we care to see it on PPV now? Big Braun just debuted. He already had a match with Ambrose on free TV. They don't build anything up. In the NFL (sticking to my previous example) there's a lot of stars. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning (just naming a few QBs for example). But when Brady and Manning go head-to-head in a Colts/Patriots game? It's a big deal. They could do that in WWE too. They did it with Hogan/André. They did it with Hogan/Warrior. I think the biggest problem they face nowadays is how short-sighted they are. They have so much content they have to fill that they just burn through everything way too fast. By the time we're at the payoff, people have already lost interest because it's been ran into the ground.

In the future, instead of signing a contract with a TV station, could the future of pro-wrestling be exclusively like WWE Network, where you can only follow the product if you pay for the service? I've seen a "movement" attempting to get Lucha Underground on Netflix as well. My first thought was "I could marathon it that way, so that'd be cool." Then I realized... everyone could do that. WWE Network right now, when I get bored, I can put on an old PPV from 1989 or something & have something to do for a few hours. That's incredible to me. A younger me used to watch "scramblevision" for shows my family was too poor to afford, so I could at least listen to the show to keep up with what was happening. Now I can see every show that they've had, many in HD, for $10 a month? It's still crazy for me to think about. I don't think wrestling has hit the pinnacle that it can achieve. Look how big the NFL is nowadays. I still think wrestling can go higher, I just think it needs to change & feel different. Not a lot of people wanna just sit down and watch a show that long anymore, when all of it doesn't appeal to them. In the NFL, those games are long but people still watch them because either they have a relationship with one of the teams, or because the teams involved are in the division of the team they care about or because there's something on the line for the game. Every play feels like it matters. At any time someone could get a breakway run, or make a long pass, or there can be a turnover or something. In WWE, you put on the show... but more than half of it you probably don't care about & feel like you can skip it. It doesn't have the "anything can happen at any moment and it all matters" feel like an NFL game. If WWE could get that atmosphere, they could be bigger. And people would pay for it. That's why I thought they had something special in Brock Lesnar. Whenever his music hits, you know something is going down. Imagine a roster of people like that...

September is the Breast Cancer Awareness month, right? So next week on RAW we get the return of the pink ropes & the Susan G. Komen logo on the top of the ramp while wrestlers get told they can't wear pink because it's Cena's gimmick?

I can't help but feel like the Divas stuff is all a bunch of backstage politics so powers-that-be can point & say "see? women's wrestling doesn't work." This Divas Revolution is bombing & feels like it's being sabotaged. Last night, with the "Beat the Clock" being a transparent reasoning for purposely having three minute Divas matches again. Remember, when the hashtag on Twitter #GiveDivasAChance was trending worldwide, it was after people were mad about short Divas matches. I was literally left scratching my head when Paige failed to beat Charlotte's time...so the match just ended. I was like "wait, what? They don't finish the match?" I just wanted to watch Sasha wrestle one-on-one... Then, on the same show, Lana comes out & shows her literal ass to get a huge pop. And you can't tell me that was not done on purpose. With her leaving her skirt up after getting out the ropes, standing on her bare feet like she's still in high heels and a cameraman being there waiting to get the shot. Even if they did cut away right after. As a heterosexual male it's not like I'm opposed to seeing beautiful women in scantily clad clothing on television but doesn't it seem sort of counter productive to the movement that they're allegedly trying to perpetuate? It all just seems like lip service at this point. New Day is damn entertaining. If you're entertaining in WWE, you either get neutered or the crowd turns you babyface. Which is usually the same thing. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. I'm going to wait until after Night of Champions to rant about the U.S. Title stuff. I'll just say if Cena wins it back... this has all been completely pointless. I also don't want to see Sting (or The Undertaker for that matter) wrestle in 2015 but here we are. Building Pay-Per-Views around them. I admit I find it hilarious that Sting, one of the most recognizable names from WCW, gets brought in as basically a Triple H hype man. Cash them checks, Sting. I will say this as a positive about RAW. I had completely written off the new big lug in The Wyatt Family. Braun Strowman, I think is his name? That was an effective segment though. Felt very old school. He's a big, goofy looking guy, but he was booked to look strong & left the babyfaces laying on the ground. That was good. He will probably never be a great worker but WWE isn't asking him to be. So kudos there.

Nothing says "Revolution" like matches all going around two minutes!

Zahra got fired over all the comments she made on the Twittah Machine.

Who is on your WWF/WWE Mount Rushmore? Some people on Reddit were talking about The Undertaker & if he should be there, so I started thinking about it. Hogan & Austin are no brainers. But I'm not sure who 3&4 would be. Bruno, Rock, André, Cena, 'Taker? There's quite a few options. Backlund, maybe?

I like Tenta but I think I have him below both Bossman & Mark Henry... and I don't think either of those two make my list. I'm not sure. I really wanna find a spot for Bossman. The Earthquake run was fun to me. I'll never forget the heat Earthquake had with my mom. I don't think she ever hated a pro-wrestler more than him. Watching her cringe & shriek when he'd put his big sweaty ass on someone was hilarious. One of my fondest wrestling memories growing up. EDIT : Sorry, been going through all of the Nominees in the Nominees list to make sure I didn't have anyone that wasn't nominated yet. Didn't realize that was a link to a thread elsewhere!

I would prefer to just have a conversation about the Divas division than to veer off into fantasy booking territory. Since I don't think for one second that I would be able to come up with anything substantial, let alone that played out over weeks of television & had any long-distance drawing power or effect. I think WWE needs to build the entire division around Sasha. Not Paige. Not Nikki. Certainly not Charlotte. Sasha needs to be the "chosen one." And she should be running through women like Brie, Naomi, Alicia that are obviously leagues below her in terms of talent & readiness. The fact that Nikki is still the champion & that this "revolution" all is because Stephanie McMahon wanted change but is still all about the Bellas says it all. That's not any sort of revolution, no matter how many times you beat us over the head & hit us with buzzwords. Paige & the Bellas blowing up on social media just shows the mentality that they have. They don't get it. They never will. Respect isn't something you're given just for showing up, it's something that is earned. If you go out there & shit it up, don't blame the fans for turning on you. How about not working a five to eight minute boring ass beatdown segment from the Bellas on Charlotte, in a match right after we're told wins & losses don't matter, featuring a bunch of headlock rest holds & commercial breaks. There was no way that match was going to succeed. We don't need teams. We don't need stables. We need characters with depth & motivations. Why is Sasha the Boss? Don't tell us, show us. What is Charlotte's character other than daughter of Ric Flair? She doesn't even DO anything but yell "Woo!" What about Paige, or The Bellas? None of them have any fucking character. They're just "catty woman #1" and "catty woman #2." Wrestling in throwaway segments that don't mean shit. People cared about Bayley Vs. Sasha because they knew who the characters were. They watched them grow in NXT. They knew their motivations. That's why there was emotion & people cared. The match being great was the cherry on top. On RAW, why do we care about any of these women, or these multi-person matches? Why do we care who wins or loses? Why are any of them even there?

The Divas Revolution & all the short-comings of it deserves its own thread. TON of discussion to be had. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q-q3kzXkdk

I'm sorry, guys. This is all my fault. It all makes so much sense now...

I feel really bad for the women after that match. Totally lost the crowd. That match... was not good.

I just think in this day & age when you make a debut on WWE TV, you gotta show that you don't suck. Showing up, doing some crappy choke holds, sloppy looking pick ups & an almost botched looking Powerbomb Dominator thing, especially in front of a Brooklyn crowd, isn't going to do you any favors, ya know? He needed to show something. A big boot or something. Just a big impact maker. Instead he just looked like a big kid with down syndrome. Like Blaster from Thunderdome when his mask gets knocked off.

I didn't think that was a great debut at all. He looked like an untrained jobber. I was getting Giant Gonzales vibes. "Let's put this bucket of shit on TV because he's tall." P.U. Open the door. That debut stinks.

Everything that I have seen from Uhaa Nation in the past, he always did the Standing Moonsault followed by a Standing Shooting Star Press. Like, that was the spot. Those two moves back-to-back. I wonder why they didn't want him to do the Standing SSP on his debut?

I really, really hope that their big Texas Wrestlemania match is not Brock/Taker for the third time. :-/

There is something that I wanted to note: going into The Undertaker Vs. Brock Lesnar, despite all he has done in the past, I thought The Undertaker was completely done. I didn't think he had anything left in the tank. I mean, I was wanting a reason to crap all over the match (which the ending unfortunately did give me). However, after the beginning, when 'Taker fought off the initial attack by Brock & it led to 'Taker standing in the ring & Brock on the outside...they had sucked me in. I was a believer in that moment & was thinking "holy shit..." even after thinking that 'Taker could barely walk to the ring. That is pro-wrestling.

What was the point of John Cena ever winning the U.S. Title to begin with then? He's a 15-time world champion. If you're giving him a midcard belt, isn't the whole idea to make the belt or an opponent look better by beating a top guy that has it? Just seems silly. Silly like a Jon Stewart title match run-in or main event Montreal fuckery in 2015.

I hope there's another #CancelWWENetwork trend that WWE tries to no sell.

Between the Jon Stewart run-in finish in the World Title match & the bullshit finish in the Taker/Brock match, I'm not sure if WWE has ever had a show with worse outcomes to the most important matches on a Pay-Per-View before. Holy... That was bad. Like, can't even possibly try to defend it bad.

...wait... what?