WingedEagle

I have a business trip in California that starts the day of Summerslam. After Extreme Rules, the battle royal announcement, and then the Big E false flags I thought I might actually have to stay spoiler free and catch the show from the hotel late that night. Then Big E was eliminated (I'm not doing backflips about him in general, but it would've been a fresh and really fun match) the thinking turned to "Okay, Brock and Roman once gave me one of the best matches in company history and are never boring together." Then Rollins won and now I've got no reason to stay spoiler free or go out of my way to catch the show that night. The 2/3 falls 6 man around commercial breaks and endless women's 4 way should've been a giveaway, but business remains as per usual. Will catch up on yesterday's G1 tonight and then start EVOLVE or DDT's Peter Pan if there's time.

Hopefully this means we're done with shows focused on Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin.

AJ/Ricochet was the most disappointing match of the night relative to expectations and talent. The finish was a great looking spot but between all of the Club interference and an odd layout that somehow lacked any defined structure or flow, this was very a much that was just there. I like these promos on the way out to the ring, particularly because they're new, but they're already overdoing it by relying on it for nearly every match.

Revival vs. Usos was not given the love it deserved from that crowd. They did so many little things that work in a tag setting while also incorporating some unique spots like Dawson's bump on the ropes off the superplex attempt. Hopefully more to come from these two. This was in the ***1/2 range. Black/Cesaro was awesome and perhaps the best main roster match since Bryan/Kofi at Mania. It felt like the modern version of an excellent WCW midcard match featuring workers who aren't really pushed or focused on at all. Just a terrific job working the match around strikes and select spots while capitalizing on their athleticism. Subtle but consistent selling that fit with both men's attacks and offense. **** Braun/Lashley? I preferred the TV match and angle. A worse version of Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift.

Its still wild to watch The Revival on the main roster and know this is the same team that was part of two of my all time favorite matches in "company" history.

I was actually enjoying the opening tag a lot more than expected, but it completely lost me when Elias came into the picture.

The baby's been entertained and we've fed, so it is now Extreme Rules time. How was the preshow? Do I need to catch either of those matches? AJ/Ricochet could range anywhere from good to MOTYC depending on what they're given, while Joe/Kofi, Cesaro/Black and Usos/Revival could all deliver as well. I'm also approaching Braun/Lashley with an open mind after that hot angle from a couple weeks ago to open Raw. On the other hand, TV this week was atrocious and the card has too many matches so odds are that nothing with potential gets enough time to deliver. if the mixed tag closes the show I may very well tune out at that point as I'm not feeling it whatsoever.

Waiting for Kane to show up as Roman's partner, because of course.

Thanks for the feedback. I cleared out some recent big NOAH matches rather than watch live. I'm sure it'll be appointment viewing once again pretty soon, but can't say I'm compelled to make it a priority as long as Baron Corbin & co. are featured. Really looking forward to AJ/Ricochet and Kofi/Joe this weekend. If the mixed tag is the main and thus lets me cut out early it could be a pretty decent show.

Starting the show in a few. Anything from the first half I need to see?

What would changing the announcers accomplish if Vince/Kevin Dunn or a similar proxy is in their ear? Perhaps there's an argument for simply hearing a different voice spout the same lingo, but in truth it likely won't accomplish much as long as they remain consistently overproduced.

These two are just insufferable. Amazing how they've cooled Becky off in such rapid fashion this year. How many weeks ago was the first hour of this show?

I actually liked the camera work during the Braun/Lashley angle. Looked quite atypical.

Is this a Hanson & Rowe heel turn minus...the turn?

This first half hour has been pretty great.