NintendoLogic

I think Bryan/Reigns is clearly the WWE MOTY at this point. The Rumble triple threat was a great video game match, but those do nothing for me. And Cena/Rusev wasn't much more than a paint-by-numbers Cena vs. Monster match except for the finish.

Daniel Bryan is a goddamn miracle worker.

Random question: was Ryback/Rusev ever blown off? Did they ever even have a match?

Haha, this is hilarious. It's like there's a competition to see which match can have the shittiest finish.

That transition to Paige's comeback was really ugly.

I'd say his last great match was vs. Regal at the 96 Bash. A lot of people also like the 99 DDP match.

It warms my heart to see how over the Sharpshooter still is in WWE.

I dig Cody's character work, for what it's worth.

Looks like we're getting the modern WWE special where the babyface wins clean in the first match to set up a gimmick rematch where the heel wins in screwjob fashion.

God, I hope not. To build Lesnar up the way they did and have it all end with a lame cash-in would be too stupid for words.

Speak for yourself. I don't love Ishii at all, for the very reasons you mentioned.

So I finally got around to watching the final two matches. I'll get around to watching the rest of the show eventually. I have no problem calling Nakamura/Ibushi a MOTYC, albeit a rather low-end one. I absolutely loved it up until the first run of sustained Ibushi offense, at which point they kind of lost me. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Nakamura's performance, though. If he's not the best wrestler in the world, I don't know who is. Their G1 match was better, though. Tanahashi/Okada kind of fell flat for me. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing particularly wrong with it. It was well-structured, had some cool shit, and never dragged (I was legit shocked at the 30 minute announcement). But it never hooked me in. I think it was the sense that I've seen it all before. I like both these guys, but they really need to stop wrestling each other for a while. They peaked at Invasion Attack, and they've been moving backward ever since. For the record, both their elbows are fine. I honestly have no idea why you guys have a problem with them.

The thing about NXT is that while it may be a great standalone promotion, I question its value as a developmental territory. The goal of a developmental system should be to train wrestlers and make them as well-rounded as possible, not get them over locally by hiding their weaknesses.

Wait...Goldust/Stardust is tonight?

Cornette's run in ROH obviously wasn't his finest hour, but the MMA talking point is ridiculously overblown. People were acting like Cornette was trying to turn ROH into UWFi when it was literally only Richards and O'Reilly doing the MMA stuff. It's as bad as the people complaining about Smoky Mountain of Honor because he booked a finish with an ether-soaked rag.

So I finally sat down and watched this. In fact, this is the first NXT show I've seen in its entirety. Time to see what all the fuss is about. Itami/Breeze: You'll never see me complain about a match where a worked-over body part is a factor throughout. Itami probably could have sold the leg more, but it's not like he completely blew it off. Not a home run by any means, but a solid base hit. Corbin/Dempsey: I thought this was a good hoss fight. After all the WWE hardcore matches with contrived spots and millions of weapons, I found the minimalism of this match quite refreshing. Lucha Dragons/Dubstep Cowboys: Yeah, this was pretty bad. You can't even call this a spotfest because the spots weren't even that good. It was just a bunch of stuff that happened until the finish. Balor/Neville: First of all, does anyone else think that Balor's entrance with the dreadlocks and Carnage body paint and him crawling around and lunging at the camera and shit is goofy as hell? Anyway, I'd describe this as a WWE workrate match. I'm not a fan of either guy's offense, so this fell flat for me. The nearfall where Balor countered the Red Arrow and did a small package was really good, though. Women's championship match: I'm opposed to multi-person singles matches on principle. Other than the finish, nothing in this match left enough of an impression for me to remember it five minutes later. Owens/Zayn: Owen's offense was a bit too chinlock-heavy for my tastes, but I thought this was an outstanding performance by Zayn. His bumping was absolutely insane, and his hope spots were really well-timed. I also really liked his punch-drunk comeback. The best part about the ending was the "Z-Pak" chant when Dr. Amann came out. Good show overall. Nothing knocked my socks off, but I never felt the urge to fast-forward through anything. Thumbs up.

Just to be clear, defamation per se doesn't shift the burden of proof on any of the other elements. It just means that Amann doesn't have to show that he was damaged by Punk's statements. He does have to show that Punk either knew his statements were false or, if he believed them to be true, didn't have reasonable grounds for that belief.

The WHC was the top title when it was the featured belt on Raw. It became secondary after Batista took it to Smackdown after John Cena brought the WWE title to Raw.

Figured this was worth a bump now that Joe and TNA have officially parted ways. I can't wait for him to start busting out MOTYCs in the indies and/or Japan while we all shake our heads over what could have been if he had spent the prime of his career in even a marginally competent company. Basically, AJ Styles redux.

If All Japan didn't have Mutoh, it wouldn't even exist today. Motoko Baba was going to pull the plug before he stepped in and bought the company.

Is Vince really so out of touch that he doesn't realize how this comes across to the average person?

I recall being met with disbelief when I suggested that the plan was to build Rusev up to feed to Cena. Also, Reigns no-selling the chairshot in that brawl was pretty bad.

They brought in Dusty just to do some pretaped backstage segments? That'll show him for going off script by cutting off Stephanie.

The closest thing I can think of is no-showing dates while AWA champion because Verne was stiffing him on pay.

Dynamite is a guy I find myself liking more the more I see of him. It's funny, he's largely thought of as this great technician, but if you watch his matches, he mainly just beat the crap out of his opponents. But there are few things I love more than a guy who can beat the crap out of others in an entertaining manner. In fact, I'll go so far as to call Dynamite one of the greatest offensive wrestlers of all time. He's pretty much a lock for my top 100, and I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up in my top 50.