Coffey

Keith Lee beats Randy Orton clean. Roman Reigns comes back & wins the world title, as a heel, while aligned with Paul Heyman. AND they're getting rid of Mauro?\ THE FEDERATION IS BACK!

MVP is great in this role. That was a fun little match. No complaints.

Hey, that's valid. I wasn't really looking at it like that, though. I was looking at it as they could crown Roman on top & get away from Fiend/Braun. Get to see Dominik team with his dad which is pretty cool. Big E Vs. Sheamus I'm excited for. See where they go with Keith Lee as getting positioned against Orton seems like a big deal. Plus I see WWE giving people of color a lot of opportunities lately which I'm here for.

On paper, this looks pretty solid. I don't really follow the weekly TV anymore but I do hope they get the title on Roman. Big E Vs Sheamus should be good but I feel I am higher on Sheamus than a lot of others.

I am OK with WWE trying out Roman Reigns as a heel but fuck me... it really seems like WWE has a habit, especially lately, of taking can't-miss babyfaces & making them heel just because they can. They did it with Bayley. They did it with Dakota Kai. They did it with Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae. Some of them, maybe even surprisingly (especially in Bayley's case) have done really well as heel. I think more though it's just WWE doesn't know how to do babyfaces anymore. Unless they have a one-man, never-lose army, like they booked Hulk Hogan in the 80's, they don't know what else to do. So, in that regard, OF COURSE The Fiend is going to be a babyface. It feels like in WWE if you want someone to get cheered, you make them heel & if you want them to get booed, you make them face. Fucking Bizarro World. They were even trying to turn Becky Lynch heel! They turned Daniel Bryan heel & slapped him in The Wyatt Family. They're just clueless. Current WWE would fuck up Ricky Steamboat & Ricky Morton.

An all-timer. R.I.P.

Who in the actual fuck is clamoring for a goddamn 60-minute NXT 4-way Ironman match? Jesus Christ. That would be like my own personal hell. Yeah, that's going to be a "no" from me, dawg.

Karrion Kross reminded me a lot of Edge in that promo. I thought they pulled the trigger on Kross too quickly but it's NXT, so ultimately, it didn't really matter. But now that he's relinquished the title due to injury, it will be interesting to see what direction they go.

Credit where credit is due: that match was good shit. The board has been shitting itself all damn day today though, so this is probably my last attempt to get a comment in this thread though.

I popped for Rollins' gear. That's good heat lmfao

Gotta give WWE credit, they certainly hire some beautiful, non-wrestling women. They always come off like they're too good for WWE, too. Like they should be doing bigger & better things. So when the likes of Renee or Charly pop-up elsewhere, it's never really a surprise. Even Jojo when she first showed up before all that Bray Wyatt stuff in NXT, I remember seeing her & thinking "goddamn, why is she in WWE?" Didn't like that Crews was preshow. Didn't like that Bayley/Asuka ended in a roll-in. Not thrilled that Dominik is getting a PPV match. But after McAfee surprised everyone yesterday, I'll give it a chance. https://streamable.com/bqyy1k

Every single wrestler that is in AEW that was previously in Lucha Underground, was better in Lucha Underground than they are in AEW. Fenix definitely falls into that category for me. So does Pentagon, Jr. to a ridiculous degree. Jack Evans, Angelico, arguably even Brian Cage whom AEW has probably done the best with... and even that hasn't been great. I don't know what exactly is missing from AEW but it just feels... off to me. I can't buy into it. I don't know why. LU was WAY over the top, to the point of being ridiculous, but I loved it. I never missed it. I don't know if it's the pandemic, or the people in charge or what, but AEW to me doesn't feel like it matters if you watch the show or not. There's nothing drawing me in as a viewer that makes it must-see TV.

If this finals of the Women's tournament is any indication, it's a good thing the rest of the tournament was on YouTube & not TV.

I 100% believe Jim Cornette thinks he's "working" & "in character" when making stupid fucking comments like that. He genuinely thinks he's going to get attention/heat over the dumbass comments & that it will lead to more hits/clicks. It's what he wants.

I'll be tuning into the start of Smackdown as the Thunderdome gimmick at least grabbed my attention & I'm curious. That being said, how did WWE get the rights to use Thunderdome? There's no way that's not trademarked. And George Miller isn't exact the kind of dude that shies away from litigation.

I've read a lot of comparisons between MJF & heels of yesteryear. I have to say though, the guy he reminds me the most of, is Rick "The Model" Martel. During his cocky, confident phase where he was doing Arrogance perfume. Martel was a lot better in the ring of course, but Martel during that era, was already in his mid-30's. Already had the AWA run. Already did the early WWF tag team stuff. And his debut was in the early 70's. So that was almost twenty years into his wrestling career. Twenty years ago, MJF was four years old. lol It'll be interesting to watch MJF grow as a performer & see where he's at in a decade, for sure.

I don't understand why New Japan is doing this? It feels like something bottom-of-the-barrel WWE would do for a lame b-level PPV... like Extreme Rules: THE HORROR SHOW. Why is New Japan doing this?

It's not like I'm completely writing him off, either. Dude is only 24-years-old. He's still WAY ahead of the curve for his age. And will only get better.

Yeah, the crowd is a lot bigger deal for NFL games than NBA games. Like, I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. There's no Lambeau Leap without any fans.

NBA does pro-wrestling better than WWE. Basketballs don't hold grudges.

She could probably pull off the Imperator Furiosa look. Shit, honestly, I'm sure Sonya could too. That might actually be pretty damn cool. They're both beautiful women, so I'm sure they'll be fine. If they go through with the stipulation though, that's some hardcore dedication. I remember being completely stunned when Molly Holly went through with it. Crazy. As far as real, live sports go: the NBA bubble has been awesome. I'm genuinely super excited for the playoffs to start & I've been watching like two games a day. It's been great for me as an NBA fan. The Phoenix Suns not making the playoff play-in game was unfortunately, but they were a ton of fun going 8-0 in the bubble. I'm stoked for the Pacers/Heat series in the East.

I'm right there with you in that boat, man. To me, it just comes off as really corny when he's trying to pretend he's a 1980's heel in 2020. Nothing he does makes me think he's genuinely an asshole. It reminds me of an SNL character during a skit trying his best not to corpse while the studio audience is laughing & hoping for him to break. If that makes sense. Or to reinvigorate an old NWA Powerrr talking point... a COSplay wrestler. I'm sure part of that is on me as a fan. There is definitely a disconnect there though. I actually prefer, and I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, Richard Holiday from MLW. MJF's old Dynasty stable running mate. I buy Holiday more as a smug, conceited prick than I buy MJF as a genuine asshole. I also think that how a heel operates in the modern era has just fundamentally & drastically changed. The characters have to change the same way society changes. Some things in pro-wrestling are timeless & stand the test of time. Others do not. I don't think cheap heat works anymore. A wrestler coming out & insulting the local sports team, in example, is just fucking lame & makes them look like a geek. If everyone knows it's a work & is "in on it" - suspension of disbelief is a lot harder. So how do you get heat as a bad guy when everyone knows you're not really a bad guy? You have to make them think you really are a bad guy. And I just don't think anyone is willing to do that in the social media, gotta-move-merch era. Promotions themselves aren't willing to push the envelop or rock the boat either. So instead of coming off like a serious thing that people can get sucked into, like a movie, it comes off like parents watching their kids in a school play. But how do you push the envelop or rock the boat without being tasteless & getting "cancelled." That is the question. Nyla Rose is a better heel in AEW than MJF.

Is Abyss still able to work? I don't know if he retired due to injury or what his deal is. I know he's a backstage guy for WWE now but I would mark out if he hit a Black Hole Slam on someone on WWE TV.

I miss the pops & I think not having a live crowd actively hurts good moments like surprising returns or like the Otis/Mandy thing at Wrestlemania. But at the same time... we don't have people saying "What!?" over promos. We don't have "This is awesome!" chants. We don't have any of the ridiculous, over-the-top chants that started becoming way too prominent with ECW crowds. And I think those are all positives. We don't have smarky fans booing the babyfaces & cheering the heels.

Vince McMahon is trying to make the brand the sole draw because whenever the star is the draw, the draw leaves. I think he's paranoid. People look at WWE as a stepping stone to bigger things instead of the end goal. Hogan left. Austin left. The Rock left. Sable left. Cena left. Ronda left. Brock left. Becky left. Roman left. The circumstances of each are obviously different. And many came back & some like Cena were there forever, wanted to be there & were life long fans. But in Vince's crazy, deranged, "sneezing is a weakness" mindset, they all abandoned him. Much like when he tried to make a new Razor & Diesel after Nash & Hall left, he thinks it's his brand & his characters & his vision that is the draw, not the talent behind it. The only people I've really seen him give credit to is The Undertaker: A guy that came to WWF from WCW. That had a chance to leave & didn't. That has been there for thirty years that he can still call & talk into waddling to the ring with his broken body. And Triple H, whom married his daughter & has basically taken over half the company. Again, that came to WWF from WCW & stayed through everything, even after the MSG shit when everyone left & they buried him.