NintendoLogic

I had pretty much tuned Beth out by this point, so I missed this gem when it happened.

WWE knew going in that Nikki had serious neck issues, so there's no excuse for having no plan B beyond putting the women's tag belts on ice. The Bellas/IIconics matches almost certainly would have been unwatchable, but having the belts be the centerpiece of a prominent feud would have elevated them in prestige.

It's surely no coincidence that the company's creative and popular nadirs (1995 and 2019) were both marked by the lack of strong heel challengers. But at least the company had enough sense in 1995 to not run Diesel vs. Mabel for months on end.

Tama Tonga trying to rip up Shibata's shirt and being unable to do so made him look like a huge dork.

Let the record reflect that over a third of the people on this poster did not appear on the show in any way.

Seth's selling was fine. The only moves he performed that directly impacted his ribs were the frog splashes. Both times, he registered that he was in severe pain and had to take some time to collect himself before going back on offense. If a rib injury requires you to spend the match curled up in a fetal position, no wrestler in history has ever sold ribs correctly. As for Big E, he's like Bryan in that he can show personality and be entertaining because he's an upper-midcard comedy act. If he ever got a serious main event push, everything authentic about him would be scrubbed away.

It's not that the Takeover thread has an exceptionally high number of replies. It's that the thread for WWE's second-biggest PPV of the year has an exceptionally low number.

This thread actually has fewer replies than the Takeover thread did when that show went off the air. That's pretty astounding.

So that's it? Roman and Bryan didn't appear on the show at all?

Fuck it, that match ruled. Lesnar is God.

This is the second time Balor's been tasked to get a Bray Wyatt gimmick over. When is his contract up?

This crowd is unbelievably dead. I actually thought the sound went out on my feed for a second after that frog splash.

I'm watching on my laptop. The feed just conked out on me.

So the two most over wrestlers by far on this show are Goldberg and Ric Flair.

Working Ricochet's leg is a terrible idea. Either he no-sells the leg work so he can hit his spots or he sells the leg and kills the crowd because he isn't hitting his spots.

I was only half paying attention to this match, but I'd say the Charlotte match at the first Takeover was better.

You know what, after seeing what Cody Rhodes and Jon Moxley did after leaving WWE, I wouldn't be surprised if Peyton left and became the second coming of Akira Hokuto.

The show is TV-PG. Looks like there won't be any blood and guts after all.

So let's all agree that Seth can't tell a story in the ring or connect with audiences or emote convincingly. But where does that leave us? Who in WWE can do all those things? Or even most of them? Which brings me back to the point I was trying to make earlier in the thread. All the Rollins-bashing seems to be predicated on the notion that there's a superior alternative WWE can turn to. But there's no savior on the horizon. It's geeks all the way down.

The pre-show is two hours? Fuck off.

I think it's safe to say that the bloom is off the NXT rose. There was always a heavy emphasis on workrate after they transitioned from developmental territory to super indy, but these Gargano wankfests have stretched it well past the breaking point. And the never-ending Shayna title reign has left the women's division in shambles.

To be honest, I'm surprised Gargano didn't kick out of that.

Nigel going Tom Servo.

"Seemingly forgotten about that previous injury..."

The Network is down for me, so it looks like I won't be able to watch the third fall. I'm sure you all can imagine how heartbroken I am. EDIT: It's up again, so I can suffer with the rest of you.