Exposer

Also, I tried to watch a Legends roundtable with Flair. I lasted maybe half of it, then turned it off. He is awful and terribly inconsiderate. The asskissing is just as bad. I did watch another roundtable, worst characters, that I enjoyed. I think I watched that on 24/7 years ago but it was still a fun hour.

Yeah, the Bret-Owen WM rewind was very good from what I caught of it last night. And I'm with Matt on out of order shows chronologically. That keeps me from checking out World Class and ECW.

I almost voted for Sheamus-Christian out of spite of the one count in Cesaro-Zayn. I picked the latter in the end, but there were several moments that I didn't like at all in that match.

I was shocked at how good this was. We got an FIP secton from Juvi, payback spots with the trip-up, dramatic near falls that were built to, and a spectacular finish. Plus, not a single spot was blown. They were definitely out to impress. I just wish they had performed like this on a consistent basis.

Watched Superbrawl 97 today. Not good. There were some matches that had good parts, but there wasn't a single match that I'd call good. Eddie-Jericho and Rey-Iakeau were the best matches. Both of those were no better than decent. The pop for Luger in the tag title match was great and I loved Nash powerbombing Giant. That was probably the highlight of the show. The main event was bad. The post-match was worse. Final Four beats this PPV soundly.

Watched IYH Final Four today. Very good PPV. I had fun watching it. The matches were much better than the Rumble's and the storylines continue to get more interesting. Mero-Snow was a nice little opener. Both guys have enough interesting offense to bring out to keep things up. The NOD six-man was fun. Scorpio hit a couple of great dives and was in-peril. That left me happy. HHH-Rock was well put together. It wasn't great, but it was a solid mid-card match. Chyna choked out Terri post-match. It's hilarlous to me that she debuted in my city, Chattanooga. Owen/Bulldog-Can-Ams was fun. Furnas and Lafon pulled out some awesome offense and Owen bumped tremendously for it. The main event was awesome. The order and execution of a few of the eliminations were poor. Austin shouldn't have been eliminated first. Vader was outstanding. His brawling, bumping, big spots, and elimination were incredible. I was extremely proud to see the UTC arena exploding and literally shaking violently at his elimination. Great moment. The final Taker-Bret showdown was hampered by Austin's interference. The execution of the finish was terrible. It actually brought the crowd down. That's a shame because with a better organization of eliminations, this match would have been a classic. I liked the closing moments of the show with Sid confronting Bret. It made me want to watch Raw the next night. Overall, this was a damn good show. WWF was picking up some real steam by this point.

Watched Souled Out 1997 today. It was a risky thing to do and it showed. Every match had brawling and some unpredictability. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. No match was better than solid. Honestly, the only match I'd call solid was the ladder match between Syxx and Eddie. The Miss NWO contest was silly and took up too much of the show. One trend I did enjoy was WCW getting some measure of retaliation in each match whether it be WCW talent arriving to watch the show in the first match, Jimmy Hart getting his licks in on Bubba, or Randy Anderson intervening in the tag title match. Other than that, this was a pretty bland show. I liked some things that were tried in the matches, but the execution was off. In comparison to Rumble 97, the Rumble was much better. The writing is much clearer and the production is obviously better. This time around the work was better as well. I'll jump into February soon.

I finished Royal Rumble 1997 today. I'm going to watch every PPV from 97 including WCW and ECW. I'll do a compare/contrast kind of thing for each month. Overall, this PPV was okay. The presentation and production was outstanding. The Shawn-Sid match felt huge. From a match quality standpoint, this show wasn't great. HHH-Goldust was good. I liked that they mixed in some brawling. Dustin worked hard here and even took his missed cross body bump. HHH sold his leg well but can't control a match at all. The finish was typical manager distractions leading to the heel victory. Ahmed-Faarooq was bad but not terrible. I liked Faarooq attacking Ahmed's kidney, but Ron Simmons wasn't any good in WWF at this point. I loved Ahmed giving the Nation member the PRP through the French announce table. The Rougeaus's were appalled. Taker-Vader was a decent big man match. They threw some bombs and Taker brought out some agility. Paul Bearer got involved and cost Taker the match. The AAA six-man was awkward. It didn't fit into what was going on at all. I understand what WWF was trying to do, but it wasn't executed very well. However, Perro Aguayo is still fun to watch even in 1997. The Rumble match was the average one this time around. The best moments were Ahmed assaulting Faarooq with the 2X4 and Austin-Bret. Bret's post-match fit was great. More importantly, Mil Mascaras likely could have stayed in the match. He never actually went over the top. He stepped through the ropes, and then went up top to hit the dive on Pierroth. He should have showed up the next night on Raw and protested. It should have been the Final Five with Mascaras as the fifth guy. Shawn-Sid was a good match and the best of the night. I loved the callback spots from Survivor Series and the feud such as the powerbomb on the floor and the use of the camera. There were a couple of really good false finishes that really worked as well. And Sid worked competently here and didn't look bad at all. The post-match celebration was long. I'm convinced Shawn "Losing his smile" had been planned for awhile (Please intervene if this is actually true). Austin eliminating Taker, Vader, and Bret doesn't seem like a coincidence today. It seemed to set-up the Final Four main event. Finally, I liked this PPV mostly because the production was awesome. The match quality was average, but I expect WWF to improve in that department come Spring time.

I normally would defend Rowan, because I don't think he's as bad as some think. But yeah, that is a fucking buzzkill.

I forgot about those Evolution beatdowns. Awful.

Watched the 12/22/91 MSG on the Network last night. There was nothing too compelling about it. Hogan-Flair was the best match but was only fun. I had a blast watching it, but it's not a match I'd call "good." The rest of the card was totally average. Tito-Kato, Kerry-Berserker, Virgil-Skinner, Duggan-Barb, Bret-Mountie, Bossman-I.R.S., and Rockers-Nasties. Tito-Kato was a perfectly fine opener. Kerry-Berserker was a fun two minutes of stiff clubbering with a shitty finish, and Rockers-Nasties was a basic Rockers tag with the added build of dissension between Shawn and Marty. The rest of the stuff was passable but not any good. Hogan, Flair, Duggan, Bret, and Bossman got the loudest reactions. Overall, it was an interesting but fun viewing. Hogan-Flair really garnered great heat during that period.

Cesaro-Zayn - Very good match that was hurt by some terrible spots. I didn't like Zayn doing power spots on a bad leg all that much but he kept that to a minimum. I liked that he banged his leg to get the blood flowing before his running kick to the corner. I didn't like Zayn kicking out of a big move and immediately getting a near fall off of a roll up. Finally, I hated the one count. That shit was absolutely terrible. The KO tease was great but Sami's comeback should have been more unexpected. Like, Cesaro should have gone for another stomp to the head but Sami kicks him in the face instead while on the ground. I don't know. The punching exchanges after a KO tease were annoying. I loved everything else. The leg work was awesome. It surprised me at first because I expected these guys to go fast like their previous matches. I loved the build to the giant swing and Neutralizer. Zayn's desperate attempt to escape the swing mid-swing was awesome. My favorite spots of the match were Cesaro countering the flying tornado DDT around the ring post with his uppercut, and then the finish where he crushes Zayn with the roaring uppercut. There was too much bad stuff here but it was still very good. Paige-Emma - Really solid match. I liked the aggression and Emma pulling out some sick work over Paige's back. That submission sequence was cool. The sit out powerbomb was a great spot followed by the great kick out after the Paige Turner. The finish was awesome. That hold was wacky. These two impress me. They are pretty talented. Neville-Dallas - Dallas was pretty good when he was beating the shit out of Neville. I thought he pussed out on some of the "big" ladder spots. Neville's apron bump was nasty. The Red Arrow or whatever on the ladder was insane. The finish was awkward but the closing moments of the show were cool. Fun match. The rest of the stuff was either fun, middling, or bad. HHH and HBK were both comical and not in a good way. HHH starting out the show was hilarious and sad. I thought it was cool Cena was there. Too Cool was a fun nostalgia deal although the Ascension sucked. The squash match was alright and Rusev beat guys up which was fun. Steph's "I never lost it" line was really funny. Really fun show overall.

Is is the real version? There was a version a while back from either a DVD or 24/7 that had Jerry Lawler doing voiceover for some reason I didn't notice who was doing voice over. It may have been Lawler.

I just saw Buddy Rose's Blow Away Diet commercial on the live stream. It was as good as the first time I saw it.

I have no clue what how to buy this thing. I'm trying through WWE.com right now and it's terribly confusing. Apparently, we have the free trial, but the videos aren't working. I can't actually figure out how to buy it though. EDIT: Problem fixed. Just had to figure out where to buy it. Working fine.

I think WWE has been great for five years now. 2009 was a really unique year. We had RAW, SD, ECW, and Superstars. SD, ECW, and Superstars were having very good to great matches every week. Not to mention there were often more than one match that was at that level from each show. Raw was drowning in the "Special Guest" era in the second half of the year but I recall the first half being strong in-ring. 2010 was much of the same story. 2011 Raw improved but Superstars was slowly diminished. NXT was just started to bring out good matches. SD was still at a really high level. 2012 was probably the weakest year because SD suffered in the second half from the death of the brand split and it lost it's identity for awhile. Raw got great once the three hour format started getting a groove. Superstars was dead but NXT was improving by the weak. Last year, all three "major" shows Raw, SD, and NXT were excellent. Not to mention Main Event being great TV and Superstars still providing a few very strong matches. With the network launch, this year could be even better. I would probably rank the last five years like this: 2009, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2012. They're all very close though and each have a variety of great in-ring work.

My thoughts on the show: Rhodes Brothers vs. Ryback & Curtis Axl - Fun match. All four guys looked good. The Rhodes Brothers double dive was the highlight. I'm glad they won too. They needed it. Big E. vs. Jack Swagger (IC Title) - Solid match. I like how they traded big man offense. Swagger doing his best Kurt Angle impression with the top rope throw and ankle lock was a bit cringe worthy but neither of those things were bad. It just reminded me of Angle. Fun match though. New Age Outlaws vs. Usos (Tag Title) - Decent match. The Usos looked good. I liked the Uso in-peril (JImmy maybe?). He took some big bumps for the Outlaws shitty offense. Uso matches always have fun finishing runs. I loved the near fall off of the superkick because that's how Gunn lost on Smackdown. The finish was annoying because the Outlaws won. The Shield vs. The Wyatts - This is my current match of the year. A completely awesome war. The traditional tag setting was fine because they were beating the fuck out of each other. Harper was incredible in this. I thought he was insanely great as the enforcer of the Wyatts. He had some awesome exchanges with all three Shield guys. Rollins was a lunatic. His land off the top rope German and offensive flurry was totally awesome. I loved Ambrose as the pitbull throwing violent strikes and making tremendous saves. That save he made for Rollins by the announce table was a great, great spot. Rollins table bump was really nasty. Reigns was excellent in this. This is the best he's ever looked. He uses a lot of the same moves but they all look great and his charisma is through the roof. Of course, the finish was superb and the Shield having the tables turned on them and Reigns desperately trying to survive was the best ending that this group could possibly have. Awesome, awesome match. AJ vs. Cameron (Diva's Title) - The pom pom stuff was amusing. We'll probably get AJ-Tamina at some point soon. The match was bad. Batista vs. Alberto Del Rio - The "Bootista" chant was great. Dave wasn't awful in this. He looked better here than he did in the Rumble. Del Rio did some decent work on the shoulder. The boos for the Batista Bomb were hilarious. The crowd now hates Batista. EC Chamber (WWE Title) - This is a tough match to rate. I thought it was great but some of the cutesy spots were too ridiculous. Cesaro was the best guy in the match and it's not even close. He had so many impressive power spots and nasty exchanges I can't remember all of them. The powerbomb to Christian into the pod might be the standout. Sheamus and Christian were both great in this and probably the number two and three guys overall. I loved Christian's aggression early on and him taking stupid bumps. The frog splash was great. Sheamus brogue kicking the pod to get Orton was the spot of the match. His exchanges with Cesaro were incredible. Bryan was great at times and annoying as hell at other points. His no selling became evident towards the end. Cena was good and I loved how he countered the gutwrench into his frankensteiner. Cesaro submitting was fucking terrible. That guy shouldn't be giving up. It really bothered me. The last two eliminations were really predictable. Bray-Cena could be good at Mania. Bryan kicking out of the first RKO was a great near fall. His small package near fall was good too but after that it the fun went away. Great match but with some serious booking flaws. Shield-Wyatts crushed it.

Raw was great tonight. Smackdown could be good again too. Sheamus vs. Christian is likely to be at least good.

When I'm at my buddy's place while waiting for everyone to get up and do something I'll pull out my phone and watch pimped current stuff. At home I'll watch at anytime of the day. Usually, I watch in the evening or very late at night. I watch Raw live every week. My Dad and brother Dustin watch it with me. I tape Main Event and Smackdown most weeks.

Everyone knows. I've been pretentious about it in the past though. I think that has come from some friends giving me shit for it over the years and me just reacting by bragging about "rating wrestling" or something. That was mostly in high school. In middle school I had tons of friends who watched wrestling and we talked about it regularly. Interestingly, they all stopped around the Benoit murder-suicide. I have been open about it as long as I can remember. When my brother Dustin and I were kids we created a neighborhood "wrestling federation" out of our friend's garage. So, it wasn't frowned upon at the time. I have always been an eccentric person but in a positive way. I had a lot of friends in middle and high school. I didn't have "best" friends. I was one of those kids who hung out with everyone. They knew I was a fan and sometimes gave me shit about it but mostly just said "That's just Devon being Devon. We expect that out of him." When I got to college everyone still found out eventually. I've gotten some weird looks and laughs for it but I don't care. I was helping a friend move into a dorm this past fall and I was wearing my WM 27 shirt and some girl was mocking me for it in some ridiculous voice and I was just like "yep, I was there," and she kept trying to be funny about it but I just ignored her. The key to be an open wrestling fan is to have other interests. I have loads of interest. My wrestling fandom is very personal even if I discuss it sometimes with friends. I love TV, music, movies, sports, reading, hiking, and food. That gives me a lot of options to socialize with people. It's not that hard.

I liked the Bryan-Orton match a whole lot and I thought Orton did a fair job at selling but there were chunks where he abandoned it completely and it annoyed me to no end.

I don't understand the promo at all. He just got soundly beat by Cesaro. The yelling was awful too.

At worst Brock does the take down and lays in shoot forearms, punches, elbows, etc. If it happens I think they could work a match around Taker going for Hell's Gate and Brock for the Kimura as a little mini-storyline within the match. Some might argue that's silly considering Taker isn't Brock when it comes to that kind of thing but Brock also sold for HHH's offense so I think I'd let it slide. Still, it'd be an interesting way to work the match.

Now that is a bit excessive. The match itself was fine. A lot better than the Royal Rumble where Cena eliminated Ryback or when Alberto Del Rio won. To be clear, I was referencing the last ten minutes. I enjoyed the Rumble a lot until then. The WWE doesn't care what that reaction was tonight but if was Vince or HHH I'd be embarrassed.

Royal Rumble Match - Well, that was embarrassing.