Coffey

New wrestling "boom" period coming, boys! I kid, I kid. Seriously though, this is a ton of money for WWE. And they sold a ton of tickets for the All-In Indie show. And New Japan is pretty strong too. Factor in shows like Lucha Underground and GLOW being on Netflix & wrestling is looking pretty in the near future. Pretty cool though.

I kinda wish they would have pulled the trigger with putting Alexa and Braun together on-air after the Mixed Match Challenge. And I wish they would build the women's division around babyface Becky.

I hope they stream it or something so I can still watch it.

Early 90's WCW & late 90's ECW are my two. WCW because it's nostalgic for my childhood. ECW because it's nostalgic for my teenager years. Everything after 2000, regardless of promotion, blends together. I graduated high school in 2000. The last 18 years... I can't differentiate one year from the next. I love the sports feel that early 90's WCW provides & Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura is my favorite 2-person commentator duo. ECW, I was a mark for table spots & how they could take someone that I didn't like, or didn't think was that good (Rhino, Mike Awesome, etc.) and make me care about their matches. The Monday Night Wars? Eh, don't really care. But pre-Hogan WCW? That's my shit. If I could just pick one promotion and one five-year span, it would be WCW 1989-1994.

Here I thought this thread was going to be a discussion about how much attractiveness plays into people being able to overlook flaws in a performer. To the degree that some even prop-up talent to the next echelon because their looks effect their judgement so much. Instead it's just five pages of people talking about who is attractive. I didn't see that coming.

Who is the better worker? Big Cass or Erik Rowan. Inquiring minds want to know.

Cena also beat The Rock with The Rock raising his hand at the top of the ramp. I think that was supposed to be the "passing of the torch" moment even if the fans didn't really buy it.

Alexa also apparently got legit injured during the match. Left shoulder according to Dave Meltzer (check that source, I got it from Reddit).

How different would things have been had it been a different racial slur, against a different group of people? If Hulk Hogan on his leaked video made an anti-semitic remark, would people have reacted the same way? It would still be awful but I do think people treat different slurs more harshly than others. And the defense of having buddies come out of the woodwork to say "well, I've known him forever & he was never racist" is always a terrible look too. Hall & Nash sticking up for him just made it look worse IMO. Hulk Hogan was a huge part of my life but there's no defending what happened here, regardless of how the information was obtained. Reap what you sow, right?

They need to build up a new top guy. Reigns ain't it. They need a new top babyface. They have still yet to replace John Cena. I don't know who that person is, or who is could be, but I know it's not Roman Reigns. He's damaged goods at this point as a top guy. They also should not have wasted the 20-year Undertaker Wrestlemania undefeated streak on Brock Lesnar. WWE just has been making sketchy decisions with a lot of shit the last few years. I don't really know what's going on. Who on the roster is a young guy that's not overexposed that WWE could try to start pushing up the ladder as a top babyface? Even if you include NXT, I'm not sure if they have anyone that I can see as a potential top babyface. Of course, I didn't see it with John Cena and I certainly didn't see it with Rocky Maivia or Stunning Steve Austin. But they gotta give up on Roman Reigns as the top guy. If Johnny Gargano was bigger, I would say him. If Adam Cole wasn't so sleezy & a natural heel, I would say him. Maybe they're going to try with Seth Rollins as a babyface on top instead of a heel this time?

Samoa Joe has always exuded cool.

Show tolerance & respect. Unless Saudi Arabia offers you a lot of money... then fuck it. Take the money.

Is JoJo pregnant?

If you cutout the Superplex spot & the second SCF kickout & that's a really good match. Still a good opener for a B-level PPV.

I'm really digging this match but I'll never like that Superplex spot. You don't just no-sell a Superplex. Even if it's not 1985 anymore, that's still a big move.

That was an AWESOME spot & set-up to the Figure-Four. That was good shit.

I'm genuinely surprised the crowd is this hot. Hope they keep it up! Making the show more enjoyable.

I struggle to think of a commentator that is worse that has the amount of experience as Coach. MA-MA MIA~!

Awful Ilconics segment on the kickoff show that Booker T summed up: "What the hell was that?"

I wouldn't even want to watch a match that long with some of my favorite workers of all-time, let alone the video game wrestlers of this generation. Good God, can you imagine how many knees Kenny can throw out in a longer-than-an-hour match!? How many Rainmaker or One-Wing Angel attempts there will be? And Meltzer will praise it like it's a new religion. At some point in a match, and that point varies depending on the participants involved and the story of the match, near-falls stop being believable and just turn into "OK, this is dumb now, just end the match." We saw it with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar when the match started and they both had their SPECIAL meter full & flashing. Putting 20-30 minutes of work that gets no-sold later before the finisher spam fest won't make it any better.

I'm actually OK with the women's division in NXT right now. I find myself enjoying it more because Ember Moon was called-up to the main roster though. I just was not a fan of hers. Shayna Baszler is killing it. Kairi Sane is a fun babyface. I like Dakota Kai, even if this current storyline is a little ham-fisted. Candace LaRae is pretty good. Nikki Cross is still around & she's entertaining. I will admit I'm not digging Lacey Evans at all though. I also think Peyton Royce should have stuck around longer but what can you do? Time will tell on Bianca, but I dig the Kabuki Quantum Fighter hair gimmick!

There was a Barry Windham Vs. Stunning Steve Austin best 2-out-of-3 falls match going on, for the television title, which was a pretty damn good match, & Tony could just not even give half of a shit. He feels burned out again already.

The issue was never about them not being paid though, right? Like, I don't think the women would be hurt from not being able to go, work & get paid. I would imagine they would be more hurt that WWE, in the middle of a women's revolution (at least they would lead you to believe), went in the first place. And then all that bullshit about "progressive change" went out the window with the apology the Saudi's issued on Twitter. WWE just has dirt on their face here & no amount of money was worth the damage they have done to the locker room & morale. Women getting paid or not, it's a really bad look. Especially to the movement that WWE has been steering a lot of their television around the last couple of years. It basically squandered all of that. WWE are whores. Their solution is to give some of their money acquired to others to keep them quiet/make them happy...but I don't see how that's going to work. That's the opposite of a solution. WWE sold their roster out. It's just going to leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

Is it an outdated mentality to believe that, at least partially, some fans may have their judgment clouded by attractiveness? Peyton is really pretty. Alexa is really pretty. In the past, someone like Trish or Sunny were really pretty. I firmly believe it's a lot easier to overlook some shortcomings of a performer if you're attracted to them & don't mind seeing them on your screen. In example, I'm really attracted to Becky Lynch and I think she's the best female on the WWE roster. If I were less attracted to her, would I still believe that? Not sure. But I know I sound like a neanderthal right now so I should probably shut up...

There's a lot of things that are different nowadays. Firstly, not to overlook it, is the damn internet. You can look up & watch wrestling 24/7 now. You can talk about wrestling 24/7. You can always find a show if you want. Secondly, as mentioned (and partially because of the internet I would argue, but also the TV) is straight-up overexposure. NO ONE feels like a star when you see them ALL the time. RAW is too long. Smackdown is unneeded. And there's no competition so there's not a spark to light a fire under anyone's ass. It's just a job. Also Vince McMahon is 72-years-old now. You can't work that hard for that long forever. He had to slowdown sometime. WWE is publicly traded. The PPV model is gone. It's all about shareholders & WWE Network Subscribers now, so the way they present the show has changed significantly. Heels have merch & break kayfabe on Twitter & show that they're cool people... and no one wants to boo them when they're on TV because they're cool. Then a guy like Roman comes out & he's supposed to be a 1980's Bob Backlund or Hulk Hogan babyface & that shit just doesn't work like that anymore. It's dull. It's predictable. It's repetitive. And the fans turn on it, so then WWE keeps pushing him like he's Hogan but has him lose the Wrestlemania blow-off matches. Is Hogan the same Hogan if he loses to Andre, Savage & Slaughter?