Exposer

The match was alright, but the worst part about that was the post-match curb stomp. Also, the Austin crowd seems pretty pedestrian tonight. Orton's probably had the biggest pop.

I'm curious about Ryback-Harper. Harper's had a good match with everyone this year. Ryback's also been really good this year at least in tags and that one Rusev match.

I meant specifically with Rollins. 20 minute talking segments have been the norm since I started watching. This triple threat match with each guys wrestling a match before is kind of silly. It's also weird that three baby faces are in the number one contender's match.

This has been the typical opening segment over the last several months. It's boring as hell.

I'm going to pay close attention to the crowd tonight based off of Matt's thread on the two different fan bases.

Will mentioned something about a weekly WWE thread and I'm taking charge and starting one. I think this is manageable and will keep from being a huge thread. This is for discussion of WWE weekly programming both on TV and the Network for the upcoming week. So Raw, SD, Main Event (if you catch it somehow), Superstars, and NXT can be talked about here. We could get into discussion about NXT being in this thread, but I'll leave that up to everyone else.

I'm just being a ball buster with the Des Moines thing. I agree that it's a possibility the crowd was hot for Sting and Orton because of what you said though. This is actually something I'm going to pay more attention to now that it has been brought up.

To be fair, the Des Moines crowd was great a few weeks ago. It was the Raw that ended with Sting and Orton cleaning house.

Yep, I've had friends parents' and professors from Memphis, Arkansas, and Mississippi who've mentioned several wrestlers.

I actually think this is great. None of the fake comments ever bothered me, but like a quote above "half naked men rolling around". People would try and use that as a slur that you were gay (for enjoying watching men "wrestle"). Always thought that was a low blow. It's pretty ridiculous and immature. There's absolutely no reason for people to make comments like that. I hate it. I'm annoyed when someone asks if it's fake, but that kind of petty questioning really exposes people as assholes.

On paper a lot of these possible match-ups for Extreme Rules could be good. Orton-Rollins, Cena-Rusev, Bryan/Ziggler/Sheamus/Barrett, Cesaro/Kidd-Lucha Dragons, Nikki-Naomi, and Ambrose-Harper all have potential. The stipulations will be interesting. It looks like Ambrose-Harper will be a table match if they go that route. My guess is Cena-Rusev will be I-Quit which is terrifying for Rusev. I could see Reigns-Show having a LMS match. Orton-Rollins will likely be a Cage. They could make the IC four way interesting with a Falls Count Anywhere stip.

Pertaining to the whole "Why is Rusev good?" question from anarchist I think two good examples are from the Cena feud. During one match (maybe Fast Lane), when the fans are chanting for Jerry Lawler, Rusev directs his attention at Lawler and yells at him. That's a really good example of going with the flow of the audience and reacting to what they're doing or saying. At WM, the moment where he demands to be announced first in the introductions is a great example of heel work too. He might've been told to do that, but his acting and mannerisms are what made it such a great moment. He is also terrific at long term selling in matches. I actually think he's the best in WWE at it. There have been many times in matches where he's cut off an opponents comeback and sold the impact of that comeback over time.

That would be awesome.

My reply to "You know it's fake, right?" is usually "And the TV show we just watched isn't?" I've also gotten "Is wrestling real?" which is a clear troll question in which I respond with equal trolling such as to my friend who goes to NYU "Does Spider Man jump from building to building on a web in Greenwich Village as you head to class?" The most condescending is "You like watching half-naked men roll around in a ring?" I usually don't have any reason to respond to something like that, but if they're UFC fans I'm ripping on them bad for that one.

This I agree with Charles. If this were the PPV era, that's $70 bucks of expectations gone in one night. Today, it's $9.99. Only a few bucks more than the southern indy shows I made my previous comparison on. I think money is a big factor here too. I still probably would have liked it if it were in the PPV era, but the ethics thing would have made more sense for people who disliked the ending.

I've been going to southern indie shows for fifteen years. Ethics is something that comes up a lot. There have been numerous cards I've been to where wrestlers have been advertised and they didn't show up for one reason or another. More importantly, cards where someone was advertised but it turned it out as a lie to get people to come to the show. Sometimes the bookers were able to mend those mistakes by still delivering a good show. Other times they weren't able to do that. I think it's subjective. Some of those shows were still good even though I was lied to. Some of them weren't. It depended on what I liked and what I didn't like about each show. This may not make any sense at all but it's the best explanation I can give for me being "yeah, I was lied to, but I still enjoyed the show."

You also have to blame the fan revolt against Reigns too some because I don't know if this was the plan all along. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. It'll be interesting to find out if the fan backlash had anything to do with the ending. I agree with Childs that the culmination of a story is what Mania should be most of the time, but there were so many other factors in this that it was going to be really hard for that to work. Ultimately, this match was set up to fail. Rollins cashing in was the best possible scenario when you include crowd response and company skepticism. It was sort of a lose-lose situation for those who don't like smart booking to end the show.

The brilliant part about the booking was that we were all worked. We got so into the match that a lot of us forgot about Rollins.

Brock-Reigns - Match was outstanding I thought. Ending was superb. Best possible scenario to end the night in my opinion. They timed it perfectly too.

Taker-Bray - I actually thought this would be worse. It was better than Brock-Taker except without the shocking finish. The Spider-sit-up spot was cool. Everything else whatever.

Cena-Rusev - Really good match. Fast Lane was better. Rusev was GREAT in this. It might have been his career performance. The finish was lame.

HHH vs. Sting - Yeah, this entire thing was funny as hell. Fuck the IC title comedy build. This was comedy gold! The finish was a particularly great rib.

IC Ladder match - Good spotfest car crash but I've seen better. The right guy won. Orton-Rollins - Good match and great finish. Orton was better than Rollins in this I thought.

Tag Title Match - It was a really fun spotfest. Good start to the show. Andre Battle Royal - Mizdow was great. Big Show wins. This might be a long night.

Bryan has been booked more like Benoit but his organic achievements with the audience are much more similar to Mick Foley.