NintendoLogic

Seth Rollins appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast yesterday. I haven't listened to it so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the quotes I saw, but it sounds like he really dialed it up, dawg.

The Trump administration's vetting of Linda McMahon got leaked today. The contents will be old hat to seasoned connoisseurs of WWE sleaze, but it's still an entertaining read. https://graphics.axios.com/docs/white-house-vetting-docs/Linda McMahon Backgrounder.pdf In other news, Rusev continues to spit hot fire on Twitter. Styles/Ricochet has some potential, but everything else advertised for Raw sounds like a crashing bore. Business as usual, in other words. I'll probably be checking out Kazunari Murakami matches. Anybody got any recommendations?

I don't know if that's a viable roadmap with the way he torched the company after they gave him as classy a sendoff as they've given anyone. If anything, he ensured that anyone who wants to leave will be buried six feet under on the way out.

It looks like Rusev has gone rogue. Or maybe this is some worked shoot nonsense. Either way, we're even further into 2000 WCW territory.

Lionheart (the British wrestler who got his neck broken taking a Styles Clash, not Chris Jericho) died the other day. All the signs point to suicide, which makes it especially awful.

If I can play devil's advocate, it could be that Dana considers the Ultimate Warrior to be like Captain America or Duffman, an immortal icon who exists independently of the actor who plays him. Also, I don't know if Hellwig can be considered the greatest bigot in WWE history when Dick Murdoch worked for the company and was literally a member of the Klan.

Considering what happened to Scarlett the last time she worked AAA, I don't think she'll be returning any time soon.

Pretty hard to beat going from Okato to the Rainmaker.

Imagine how much of a fuckup you have to be to get bounced from a promotion where Low Ki, Jim Cornette, LA Park, and Teddy Hart all work with no issues. Good riddance to that goof.

Bix intimated on Twitter that Maria's contract was a payoff for playing dumb when the Massaro sexual assault story came out.

Dave refused to give Naito/Ibushi at Dominion a star rating. I guess he finally reached his breaking point.

So far, they've blown even the most optimistic projections out of the water. I don't think anybody realized there were so many people out there who loved wrestling but hated WWE and were desperate for an alternative.

Baba was a heel in Florida. He was one of the guys who came in to try to collect Gary Hart's bounty on Dusty Rhodes.

The new Observer says that Gable/Gallagher wasn't supposed to end by countout. Gallagher was supposed to roll back in at the last minute, but he was too slow and the referee called it as a shoot. Even so, it was much better than whatever the planned finish was supposed to be. It's the kind of non-finish that leaves you wanting more rather than feeling ripped off.

Also, here's battle royal winner Mansoor reenacting the Happy Merchant meme. Maybe he and Lars Sullivan can form a shitlord tag team.

They were upset that they didn't get the usual Okada post-match promo.

Given the announced card for Stomping Grounds, I'm kind of surprised they've sold as many tickets as they have. None of the matches look even slightly compelling. Who in their right minds would want to see rematches of Rollins/Corbin, Becky/Lacey, and Kofi/Dolph? Between the Raptors having a chance to close out the Warriors and the overall malaise surrounding the product, tonight's Raw stands an excellent chance of setting an all-time ratings low. The good news for WWE is that the game doesn't start until 9 PM EST, so they have a chance to retain some viewers by running a hot angle in the first hour. Maybe Lesnar will actually cash in. The wwe.com preview is all but saying that he won't be on the show tonight, so he definitely will be according to wrestling reverse psychology.

A roided-up immobile KENTA stiffing the shit out of people and never leaving his feet actually sounds pretty awesome.

Check out the logo for the next PPV: Here's a hot take: WWE kind of sucks right now.

KENTA~!

That shows the importance of having HHH as the good cop. I think European promotions would have been much more guarded about getting entangled with WWE if Vince had been leading the charge.

One thing I find incredibly striking when watching 2000s puro is how much of a non-factor Jun Akiyama is in most of the all-star dream match tags. I wouldn't go so far as to call him luggage, but he doesn't come across as a superstar at all. It's like his role in the matches is to eat up minutes and then fade into the background when the real stars go at it. There's a moment in the 4/24/05 Kobashi/Shiozaki vs. Tenryu/Akiyama tag that perfectly encapsulates what I'm talking about. Akiyama is working over Shiozaki in the ring when Shiozaki goes after Tenryu on the apron. Akiyama just stands there and watches while the two of them go at it. Akiyama was world-class both as a young up-and-comer and as a grumpy old veteran, but you would expect a true great to feel like more of a top guy in his prime.

Or maybe they were the only ones with wrestling gear that covered their whole bodies readily available.

Even worse than the leg work that didn't mean a thing (except when it did) was the interminable crowd brawling in the beginning. Juice's stage dive off the entrance was downright embarrassing. Not to mention all the Sabu cosplay and the sub-Angle/Benoit submission trading. If they had shown some restraint and trimmed the fat, they could have delivered a blowaway great 10 to 15-minute match. But they just couldn't help themselves from throwing everything they could think of against the wall to make it an "epic." I do agree that Moxley looked better than he has in ages, possibly ever. The way he worked the cut after splitting Juice's eyebrow open hardway was indeed reminiscent of Terry Funk, and the spike Dirty Deeds he won the match with looked vicious. I also got a kick out of him mockingly bowing to the referee and the audience.

I suspect that the fans turning on her for no real reason left a bitter taste in her mouth.