NintendoLogic

This might be blasphemy, but I find myself increasingly not a fan of the Wargames concept. The fact that the match can't end before everyone is in the cage makes it difficult for me to get invested in anything that happens before The Match Beyond. Plus, even the better Wargames matches are driven more by the booking and gimmick than the individual talents of the wrestlers.

I would never impugn Loss' good name by accusing him of partaking of the wacky tobacky, but I do agree that his praise for the Chamber match was quite hyperbolic. It really takes me out of a match when it has that many blatantly choreographed set pieces. It was like a high-end Rumble match in that I found it highly entertaining but have no real desire to ever watch it again.

Well, at least they went the extra mile in piling on the odds against Bryan this time around. But I didn't like how Bryan attacked Kane first. It felt like gratuitous shades of gray bullshit. Kane is a corporate tool who wants to screw Bryan out of the title. Does he really need motivation beyond that?

I liked how in the beginning even though the Shield were the de facto faces, they were still doing heelish things like raking Harper's eyes against the ropes.

The Rollins-in-peril segment could've been trimmed or eliminated entirely, but that match definitely delivered.

So far, the most entertaining thing about this show has been the postmatch bad news updates. Shield/Wyatts is about to start, so shit better pick up soon.

I can't buy into this. If wrestlers are such superhuman athletes that targeted limb work doesn't faze them, why do it? You've just wasted your time (and more importantly, mine) doing something that doesn't lead to anything meaningful. It's like Chekhov's gun.

How the hell can Chikara afford to run a developmental promotion?

My guess is that we'll get the HHH special where he goes over at Wrestlemania and does the return job at Extreme Rules where it means nothing. That happened once back in 2010, to a then very green Sheamus. HHH shouldn't have been losing to green rookies on first half of the card Wrestlemania match anyway. It's happened with his last three non-Undertaker Wrestlemania opponents.

My guess is that we'll get the HHH special where he goes over at Wrestlemania and does the return job at Extreme Rules where it means nothing.

Perhaps not hardcore by PWO standards. But there is nothing casual about a fan who regularly goes to wrestling news sites. I considered myself among the most hardcore until I started posting here. Now I consider myself a padawan at best. Join the club.

Dude, relax. I'm not pissed off at all (which would have been clearer if you had heard me say the words rather than just reading the text). I just think it's funny how you put soccer in quotation marks like it's a made-up word or something. The truth is, it's short for "association football." It's a perfectly legitimate term. Hell, it was coined in England.

Oh, fuck off.

They just showed a Radio Shack commercial during the Super Bowl featuring various 80s icons like ALF, Dee Snider, and Chucky from Child's Play. Hulk Hogan was one of the characters included. Molly Ringwald was not.

Even if what HHH said didn't hurt Bryan, why risk it? What good could come from calling him a B+ player who isn't world champion material? Why not just say that he doesn't fit their vision of a corporate champion and leave it at that? For me, the first sign that the Bryan saga wasn't going to have the happy ending everyone wanted was the opening segment of the first post-Summerslam Raw when Stephanie kicked him out of the building and he left without incident. Can you imagine someone WWE was serious about pushing doing that?

Kept showing up drunk implies they allow you to show up drunk a few times, but once you show up drunk too many times, they fire you Well, this is Japan we're talking about.

I also totally bought it when Undertaker and Paul Bearer locked the Ultimate Warrior in the casket. Mind you, I was 9 at the time.

I thought the dumpster incident with the New Age Outlaws was real until Foley and Funk came back at the end of the show.

Ishii having a "top 3 apron spots" list is so PWO it needed to be posted. Gotta say mine would look different, and probably be topped by the big Nowada Taue finally hits on Kobashi in 6/9/95 that fully sets them on the path to victory. Taue hit the nodowa on Misawa in that match.

Dolph has clearly been studying at the John Cena school of speaking calmly to show how serious you are and then YELLING REALLY LOUD TO SHOW HOW INTENSE YOU ARE.

As I recall, Vince saw Morishima's tryout match and said he looked like a fat Japanese schoolgirl.

I also don't think it's a given that WWE won't say no to free money. Look at Rey Mysterio. Based on how they've treated him, it's almost as if they resent the fact that he got over and drew money despite having so many red flags (small, weak promo, WCW guy). As for heel promos, I think the best way to look at it is a two-step test: 1. Could it be perceived as true? 2. If true, would it be damaging to the babyface? If the answer to both questions is yes, the heel shouldn't be saying it.

I'll throw out something our old friend Victator said on DVDVR a while back: WWE doesn't want to create superstars. They want to create an army of midcarders who are financially dependent on them. As we're seeing with Punk, a financially secure wrestler has leverage, and they hate that. I think it's also why they're hesitant to do anything with Bryan. They're afraid of creating something they can't control.

Yes, I am aware of your gimmick OK, dude.

I don't think they're trolling. I think they are completely tone deaf and lack self awareness. They wouldn't intentionally sabotage Sheamus, Langston, Batista, and Mysterio. They thought that match layout would work. And they likely won't concede that it didn't. They'll likely blame a rebel crowd. The old "vocal minority". We'll see tomorrow night if it's a vocal minority. My guess is that it is and Batista gets a very good response on RAW. Bwa ha ha.