NintendoLogic

Maybe Roman being gone made them too sad to watch anything WWE-related. But seriously, I don't know why anyone would expect women's wrestling to draw in female viewers. I can't think of any sport where the women are more popular than the men even among female fans. I guess stuff like gymnastics and figure skating. OK, lay it out for me then. If I'm somewhat new to WWE and aren't thoroughly familiar with the histories of Becky Lynch the character or Rebecca Quin the person, how is all this supposed to get me behind her and want me to see her succeed? Honestly, the only way it even begins to make sense is if it's leading to Charlotte being added to the match, but nobody seems to want to address that elephant in the room.

Do we know for a fact that the Pacific Northwest John Rambo is the same guy as the Mid-Atlantic John Rambo? After all, there's been a million wrestlers who have been called Rambo or some variant thereof. In addition to this guy/these guys, there's the luchador who lost his mask to Villano III, the guy who worked for Otto Wanz and joined the Truth Commission, and Ron Starr in Puerto Rico. Who else?

Interesting that Double or Nothing is on May 25. Vegas on Memorial Day weekend is an absolute madhouse. It makes me think that maybe some people in the company are looking to get their party on.

I'm going to go ahead and add Bugenhagen to the pile of gimmicks that get over huge in NXT and die horribly on the main roster.

Some of the boys in Portland suspected him of being a stooge for the athletic commission (Sandy Barr was in hot water with the commission for putting on shows without a promoter's license, which he tried to get around by billing them as public workouts). Art Barr shot on him during a match and destroyed his face.

The fact that your objection is rooted in semantic quibbling says it all. Guys, there's nothing wrong with admitting that you're willing to overlook typical crappy WWE booking because it's (hopefully) leading to a positive end result for a change. There's no need to bend over backwards to insist that Bad Storytelling Is Actually Good.

A statistic that blew my mind was recently brought to my attention. This is shaping up to be the first Wrestlemania without a single Kliq member on the card since 4.

Let's recall that Becky's current storyline arc began with her turning on Charlotte at Summerslam because she was upset about her constantly receiving title opportunities she didn't really earn (and even then, Charlotte did more to earn a title shot at Summerslam than Becky did to earn a slot in the Rumble). They feud for the title, which Becky wins. They then reconcile for no real reason other than it being the time of year when Smackdown wrestlers face Raw wrestlers in a series of matches that mean nothing and are never mentioned again. Becky loses the title to Asuka at TLC when Ronda interferes. In the rematch at the Rumble, she loses fair and square without even a hint of controversy. Later that night, she weasels her way into the Rumble match and wins. She decides to run from Asuka and use her title shot to go after Ronda instead. And the WWE powers that be, who sat back and allowed her to enter a Rumble she had no business being in, are now trying to screw her for some reason. If you didn't already know and like Becky and weren't inured to WWE's storytelling incoherence, would you find any of this even remotely compelling? It'd be beside the point if she were bringing in new fans the way Hogan and Austin were, but there's zero evidence that such is the case.

How's this for a historical what if? The latest retro Observer is the issue covering Keiji Mutoh and Satoshi Kojima's jump to All Japan. One of the guys they tried to recruit to go with them: Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Becky got the match with Ronda by conniving her way into the women's Rumble after tapping clean to the other women's champion earlier in the night. If Alexa Bliss had done that, it would be seen as a total heel move. But since it's Becky and we love her, it's supposed to be OK. I get that it's WWE and you have to turn your brain off for anything to make sense. But calling it perfect booking is a bit rich. On that note, have they explained why WWE brass is trying to screw Becky after letting her enter the Rumble when she did nothing to earn a spot? I'm reminded of Roman Reigns trying to paint unearned title shots as a conspiracy against him.

Jay Lethal now holds the record for combined days as ROH champion. Off the top of my head, I can't tell you a single title match or program during his time as champion.

Dave said on Twitter that if you liked this match, you'll love the last few years of PWG. That sounds about right.

As far as complacency among the talent goes, the example of Zack Ryder remains instructive. WWE went out of their way to kill him dead for the sin of getting over without permission. Dave has said that other wrestlers constantly point to him as a cautionary tale. As for Rusev, I can definitely see AEW as an option. It was Dusty who put Rusev and Lana together in the first place, so I figure he's tight with the Rhodes family.

I was thinking that initially, but the WWE.com preview says the match will have three teams from Raw and three from Smackdown, which would seem to rule out anyone from NXT.

I don't know about the long-term viability of the women's tag division, but they're getting off on the wrong foot because the Elimination Chamber match to determine the first champions looks absolutely dire. The four announced teams are Nia/Tamina, Morgan/Logan, Rose/Deville, and the IIconics. Sasha/Bayley will most likely be the third Raw team, but even if WWE builds a time machine and brings back the 1987 Jumping Bomb Angels to be the sixth team, this match looks to be doomed beyond any hope of redemption.

I found it interesting that Adam Cole, the heel, didn't throw a single punch against Tyler Bate while Bate was throwing them at will. I couldn't help but think of when JR was on Austin's podcast and said that if he were running a promotion, he'd fine any babyface that threw the first punch in a match. Also, Jordan Devlin needs better entrance music. His current theme is way too low energy (sad!).

Again, a hard chop to the chest isn't any worse than slicing your forehead with a razor, which Lawler and his opponents did countless times. And do you really think that Liger never worked stiff or dropped opponents on their heads? You're really reaching here. Just take the L and move on.

We don't have a problem with you talking about your connections when it's germane to the discussion. The issue is gratuitous namedropping that serves no purpose beyond putting yourself over. Like when you mentioned, apropos of absolutely nothing, that you shared mutual friends with Ronda.

New Japan elimination tags have always counted being tossed to the floor as an elimination. It actually enhances the drama because it gives a team's lower-ranked members an avenue for taking out the higher-ranked members on the other team when it wouldn't be credible for them to get a pin or submission. Maybe the most famous example is Umanosuke Ueda's kamizake elimination of Akira Maeda in the 1986 NJPW vs. UWF elimination tag.

Stop me if you've heard this one: Nia Jax has injured someone. She hurt R-Truth's ankle and face when she laid him out at the Rumble. This is seriously getting absurd. Mabel was fired for far less.

Something I've been thinking about recently is the lack of good guys in WWE. There are plenty of babyfaces, but that only means that they're in conflict with the heels. You hardly ever see them doing something heroic that doesn't align with their self-interest. When was the last time one of them objected to the actions of a heel they weren't already feuding with? The only recent example I can think of is Dakota Kai and Io Shirai during the 2/3 falls match between Kairi and Shayna.

Chops made more sense in an era when strikes weren't nearly as important. Punches are supposed to be illegal and elbows tend to look like shit unless you're really laying them in.

It's like blood. It can enhance the action and drama when used judiciously, but it becomes distasteful when taken to the point of overkill.

Yeah, I'm sure Sid worked light as a feather with all those jobbers he manhandled. Seriously, it's just a chop to the chest. There's nothing stupid or excessive about stiff shots to safe places. Also, they put Walter up against the skinniest pastiest jobber they could find so as to maximize the visual impact.