Coffey

Jordynne Grace is actually one of my least favorite going right now - although it's entirely based off of the things that she says, not the things that she does. Maybe unfairly, but I lump her in with the Joey Ryan's & Orange Cassidy's of the world. They have their niche audiences but I think they do more damage to pro-wrestling overall. Grace is actually a perfectly serviceable worker & I like the idea behind the books she wrote, calling out the creepers from social media. But I pretty much disagree with almost everything she says about wrestling. It's the entire new generation of social media workers. Of course, she's also only fucking twenty-three years old, so, welp. That's without even bringing up the debate/debacle that came from wrestlers using their real names on Twitter. Which was an entirely different headache altogether. Maybe I am in the old guard mentality. I've been watching wrestling longer than a lot of the current wrestlers have been alive. Admittedly, I'm tired of Jim Cornette as well, as I think all of his bullshit rants just come off as being ridiculously over-the-top & melodramatic just for attention seeking purposes. I do however buy into the theory that less is more, wrestling was healthier when they treated it like it was legit, and there was less fourth wall breaking & insider winking. Just because the fans know it's a work doesn't mean you have to keep telling them so. So when it's presented as more sports oriented, it usually comes with the territory that that also includes having less comedy & being booked more based around realism & outcomes. Which, in turn, leads to wins, losses & titles meaning more. Which to me should be the entire point. Wrestling being all inclusive? Great. Wrestling being all about Likes on Twitter, animated .gifs of spots, shock value stupidity & "This is awesome!" chants? Not so great. As much as he is loved, I actually think Kenny Omega is a big culprit of a lot of the things I loathe in wrestling right now too. Despite how much Meltzer puts him over. He's the definition of overindulgence & I hate when people try to bring the sort of comedy into wrestling that he seems to favor. I feel like the fans are too close to the show. The fans need to be pushed back to the crowd, back to being fans of the show & fans of the wrestlers. Everyone now is an insider, with intimate product knowledge, talking about the business workings of the companies & their booking decisions but no one feels like they're ever just watching the shows as they unfold anymore. Like, in example, a babyface turns heel. That used to be met with people gasping & being shocked & being angry. Now it's met with people saying "Why did they turn him heel? He'll make less money on merch. Didn't he just have a baby?" It's not the same. I know you can't forget what you saw once the curtain was pulled back on The Wizard of Oz but that doesn't mean you have to leave the curtain open afterward either. We don't consume content in the same way anymore. Now when a show is over, we're not talking about the stories or angles that they're doing, we're talking about if the show was any good based on match quality & discussing star ratings of matches. It's not an insult to the fans' intelligence when you treat the show as a show & have all of the wrestlers in character for the show. Is it asking too much for them to maintain kayfabe outside of the shows in this day & age as well? Perhaps, but I bet heels would get more heat & faces would draw more money if they did. It's the whole suspension of disbelief can of worms. Of course, this all makes me a hypocrite as I am personally guilty of everything I am condemning in this post as well. So it goes.

They should push Keith Lee. Just physical presence alone he feels like a bigger star than guys like Gargano or Cole. Dude is a truck.

I wonder how many people will check out AEW solely due to them being more all inclusive? I imagine the Saudi Arabia deal at least bothers some people as it pertains to WWE. And that's not mentioning a lot of the other things over the years that haven't looked exactly stellar for them as a business.

I'm pretty sure WWE could make an awesome card that I would pay money to see just from people that they don't use on TV. I've not seen Rusev in forever & he's one of my favorites in the entire company. Jack Gallagher, another guy I'm a big fan of, is stuck in 205 Live basically on jobber duty. They've had Harper for years & never done anything with him & right now, he's literally doing nothing. But guys like Dolph & Corbin are literally on every show. At least it feels like it. I mean, at least I understand why they keep using Seth. I don't get it, but I understand.

The last time I remember marking out for Seth Rollins was when he showed up in NXT out of nowhere from the crowd to call out Triple H.

What are the odds when Smackdown starts on FOX that the titles are on Brock, Roman & Charlotte? Cause I feel like they're not going to stick with Seth, Kofi & Bayley. Maybe Becky keeps one of the women's titles though. I honestly can't differentiate which title is supposed to be for which show anymore either.

My god, it's on!

It doesn't even feel like it was all that long ago that Daniel Bryan was lambasted for his weak promo skills & character work. My how the times have changed.

Adam Cole & Brit Baker

I guess Amazing Red didn't stay retired for very long.

Heyman (I guess?) bringing back King of the Ring, not too long after the great, legendary Harley Race passed away, does not make me sad!

Jinder. Even injured. Hindered Jinder.

What if Bray Wyatt was driving the car because The Fiend made/told him to do it? Then you can have Roman beat Bray but The Fiend doesn't show up. To really separate Wyatt from the Fiend alter ego. Of course, that doesn't answer the questions with Rowan & Daniel Bryan. I don't know. I just assume they're going to get everyone on Smackdown for FOX.

What's scary to me is, despite the FOX debut on the horizon, WWE hasn't really cared about Survivor Series in a long while. So we're dangerously close to the time of the year where WWE goes into a lull. Basically now that SummerSlam is over, they just kill time until Royal Rumble. So, yeah, the FOX debut is coming & they're doing the Smackdown Anniversary, but the weekly TV is going to be a complete bore for the next few months. At least that is where I would put my money if I were a betting man. Although maybe they'll give more of a shit this fall since AEW will be on cable. There is another WWE Blood Money show though! :-| I guess to be perfectly honest, even the Rumble to Wrestlemania build the last couple of years has felt lackluster but historically, that seems to be when WWE cares more.

Big E was the name I thought of too that I was going to suggest. It would also be something new & different. He would just have to get away from some of the comedy stuff. Also Roman Reigns is better than Seth Rollins in every way.

I will say this: Trish's Figure 8 looked better than Charlotte's.

Admittedly, the Dolph/Goldberg stuff super entertained me. That shit was funny.

Jobber Nattie.

Peyton would be a great valet for Shawn Spears.

Jesus, this women's tag match is awful.

Yo, if this leads to Buddy Murphy Vs. Daniel Bryan, SIGN ME UP!

No one has really cared about Natalya Neidhart in a decade, so why is this match tonight happening? It seems so random. There's three women's matches tonight & they just feel all over the place & slapped together without any rhyme or reason. Ember Moon is getting a title shot. Nattie is getting a title shot. Trish it out of retirement. Talk about throwing shit against the wall. They're really missing Ronda, huh?

Universal Championship Match Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins This will be interesting to see how they book it & what story they go for. Hoping that Brock retains because Seth is painfully boring. I still enjoy Brock. At least he still has a superstar aura about him, something that Seth has never had. Raw Women’s Championship Match Becky Lynch (c) vs. Natalya Don't care. Expect it to be sloppy. Hopefully the Toronto crowd will at least give Nattie a nice pop. WWE Championship Match Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton I've already seen this match like five or six times. Don't expect to see anything new. Tired of the Kofi title reign but another Orton reign isn't the answer. Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair Trish was never great, despite what some internet revisionist history would like people to believe (same with Lita). Charlotte is pretty good though. I hope this is just Trish coming back to give some rub to Charlotte so they can start pushing/using Charlotte again. I predict Trish will be moving in slow motion. SmackDown Women’s Championship Match Bayley (c) vs. Ember Moon Will suck. Ember Moon is not good. Bayley is not charismatic. Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon — If Owens loses, he will quit WWE Will suck. Shane sucks. Maybe they'll do some crazy stupid bump or something but after Gargano/Cole last night... I'm not sure it would matter. Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler Hope Goldberg kills him in 20 seconds. Dolph sucks. At least Goldberg still has a presence & intensity to him. Dolph brings less than nothing to the table. Not sure why this match is even happening but whatever. United States Championship Match AJ Styles (c) vs. Ricochet This could be pretty good if they reign in the flips. Finn Bálor vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt I heard Finn is taking some time off? And the new Bray character needs to be built up, so I assume Bray wins. Finn isn't going to be The Demon, right? Because they need to protect that. WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match Drew Gulak (c) vs. Oney Lorcan Good chance this is the best match on the card. Drew Gulak is really good. Like a five hour card with very few matches that I feel anyone will even care about. It's crazy to me that the biggest stars on the show are Brock Lesnar & Goldberg. No Roman Reigns. No Daniel Bryan. WWE really needs to focus on making some new stars & stop worrying about people potentially leaving or making The Brand the star. That shit doesn't work.

...Dave Meltzer gave Gargano/Cole from New York in April 5.5 stars & gave their match in June 5.25...

I hope the Mia Yim experiment is over.