WingedEagle

There isn't enough to talent to split the show in half without burning through the roster depth and matchups, and it shouldn't be a goal. No clue at all where the reference to tag teams comes from. The goal should be to produce stars who can fill the show with quality matches and segments that compel an audience to buy tickets, watch the programming and subscribe to the Network, not to find a satisfactory ratio of men to women, singles to tags, cruiserweights to heavyweights or midgets to animals. I believe that is best accomplished by choosing to highlight and push a couple key acts above the rest of the roster and would be hampered by any attempt to throw a women's division out there as though it is completely the same as what's been on television for decades. Which gets to another part of the idea that boggles my mind. Wrestling has a number of inherent advantages over sports because it is predetermined and can thus choose who's dominant and stands out, as well as hopefully make sure that those individuals are the ones with elite charisma and personalities that draw an audience. But a large part of it is very similar to sports -- its a physically demanding endeavor that demands a certain degree of athleticism. I don't think its controversial to suggest that to the average viewer male wrestlers are more physically impressive than the women. On average they're bigger, stronger and faster. Not in all cases, but it doesn't seem a stretch to presume that the average viewer thinks Braun Strowman or Sheamus look more physically impressive and dominating than Charlotte or Nia Jax or Sasha Banks. You put the women out there in the same company, on the same show, and under the same banner with the exact same presentation as the men and they're working with a handicap. Ronda Rousey isn't one of the 2 biggest UFC draws of the last few years just because she's blonde, but because she dominated people in impressive fashion time in and time out and how she carried herself in doing so. UFC has for the most part gone out of their way to feature women up and down the card, and they've got a lot more women to use. How many of them matter, and if they do, why do the matter? The answer is not because they're slotted on a random PPV or fight night. Its not WWE or UFC's job to provide equal employment opportunities to women on camera. Their goal should be putting together shows that people can't miss, and I don't see any reason to believe that simply throwing women out there the same way they do men makes that more likely. If anything, I think they have more of an opportunity to make a woman or 3 into legit stars primarily because the women's roster is so much smaller and limits their ability to bounce from push to push to push, and move the title from champ to champ to champ. One can debate whether or not that is forced upon them or not because of the size of the division, but its still an opportunity that's there and an advantage that isn't present on the men's side. Filling up the roster with girls and treating them exactly the same eliminates that. Maybe I'm crazy. I don't care if there is 1 woman or 12 on Raw tonight. I want good matches and promos that entertain me and build big shows I can look forward to. No bonus points on my end whether they pull that off with men or women. I just don't think its happening by booking the women like the men, especially given the glaring lack of depth.

This felt like a distinct possibility at points throughout the match, but it needed blood and/or a more satisfying finish to cement it. RE: Matt D's comments about Sasha selling the back. I agree that there were instances Sasha could've shown a greater commitment to selling the damage. But from legitimately turning on the waterworks to the point that it looked like she was truly disappointed at having the match called early following the table powerbomb, to the agony she showed at every bump along the way (such as the backbreaker) on the chair and then hammering it home when her back gave out on the attempted Liger Bomb, I thought the back selling absolutely made the match. Along with Charlotte's heel performance and mannerisms, of course. On the table powerbomb itself, I thought the spot looked and sounded brutal the moment it occurred. The impact along with how Sasha slid off thereafter looked devastating. It also absolutely makes a difference it was a woman with her frame taking that bump, much as it would have different mileage if it were Mysterio going through the table as opposed to Big Show. Just changes the dynamic entirely. Need to rewatch the entire thing again this week, but as of now I'm pretty firmly in camp with Parv that this is about as high a ****1/2 as you can go. A more impactful very possibly kicks this up a notch, but still one I"m looking forward to going back to.

I have got to watch that again. It felt on the level of the best matches I've seen this year but between the long delay, all the crying and the sick spots it may have been a lot of shock value it needs a rewatch. Incredibly gritty, violent and and incredible spectacle. Very much unlike most of what WWE produces. ****1/2 at worst, but fully reserving rights to go higher.

You're not wrong. In over her head as a babyface when called up but she's been the standout heel performer since turning. Perhaps since Punk as a heel with Heyman or the Shield before they were getting babyface pops? She's a real highlight of TV. I'm going to play the Miz card. Not in my book. Go away heat until earlier this year, and never came across as someone who should be headlining anything.

You're not wrong. In over her head as a babyface when called up but she's been the standout heel performer since turning. Perhaps since Punk as a heel with Heyman or the Shield before they were getting babyface pops? She's a real highlight of TV. Notice that there's no dueling chants. Just cheers for Sasha. Great to see. Yup. No pandering from her. Just a proper heel through and through.

Doing the '98 tribute act is solid after the build. If they somehow give us blood this will be incredible.

You're not wrong. In over her head as a babyface when called up but she's been the standout heel performer since turning. Perhaps since Punk as a heel with Heyman or the Shield before they were getting babyface pops? She's a real highlight of TV.

Alright, loving this already. Way to make it original.

It absolutely does. Charlotte has been the best heel on Raw for months. It just should've been hyped as the main event for a while to capitalize on being in that position if they were going to go that route.

Awesome entrance for Charlotte.

Our own Marty Sleeze reporting live says this is false Meltzer's not recapping the PPV for the site, according to the byline.

Perkins has a great entrance package and cool sneakers. He's otherwise possibly the most boring wrestler on the roster. Nothing about him remotely likeable or unlikeable. He's just there. The purple ropes and special mat also feel like the kids table at a big family gathering.

This is why I thought the title match should headline even if it was cold heading into the show. Only reason I can justify it is Owens's title reign is dead in the water so might as well try to put the women over as headliners.

Cell #2 thus far isn't much better than #1. Big bump from Rollins thus now but its been pretty pedestrian with the only difference from a normal match being how its filmed at times.

That match had its moments but it felt really cold until the kendo stick and chain got involved, and even the finish seemed mistimed. Its odd as Reigns's selling was great as always and his offense always looks solid, but this was probably the worst match they've had thus far. Just way too long.

This is a show and lineup where my interest is about as low as can be for a PPV, yet I fully expect a number of matches to be good. That usually leads to a pleasantly suprising night, but if they run really long that could easily not happen. Just a cold show but one with a lot of potential.

The problem is that is not there goal. Are you saying with all the women the WWE has one of their shows couldn't be half women? 4 matches on the show, there isn't 8-12 women talented enough to carry that? Charlotte, Becky, Bayley, Sasha, Alexa, Nikki, Asuka, Billie Kay, Ember Moon, and Nia Jax. done. Plus they have way more talent. If you are joe indie Veda Scott is as good a talent as any undercard male. Plus you do this, you get more future talent. The talent is out there though and it could be done. Instead the women are treated like a special attraction. If you want to undo the brand split and get into fantasy booking, we can take this a lot of places. I'm just not big on what-ifs. As the rosters are currently constructed I don't think there's any good way to feature a 50/50 gender split on the show and believe it would be to the detriment of all involved. If the women are treated, booked and eventually viewed as a truly special attraction I think that'd be great. They might get over and be a real draw. Shouldn't that be the goal for them and all talent? What you're proposing is to create as a level a playing field as possible, which is quite ironically the biggest complaint people have had about booking in recent years. Not sure why it'd be a good idea with the women when its been perhaps the biggest flaw on the men's side.

There are not nearly enough women to feature them in that fashion, and probably not enough talent to carry programs outside of matches. A couple of the women can handle themselves on the mic, and a couple really excel in that position, while others have no business cutting more than a 30-60 second scripted promo. You do that regularly and you'll burn through every single matchup even quicker than they do with the men, when are literally dozens more on each roster. Doing that would expose them and the division ridiculously quickly and burn it out well before there's enough talent to restock it. What's so horrible about building 1-2 programs at a time with a goal of hopefully developing a couple of them as legit stars who from time to time can anchor a show? Force feeding it because WOMEN~!~! is a surefire way to make sure nothing gets over. The same would hold true for cruiserweights, tags and much of the roster -- as has been the case for quite some time.

I saw you tweet this - asking why companies don't book them 50/50 essentially and it's an interesting thought. Do you mean the WWE, or everyone left outside of WWE at the moment? ROH taped their second Women of Honor TV special tonight (my bet - not earth shattering - is that this airs one of the weeks after Final Battle, or maybe that weekend). This will be the second all WoH TV shown on national syndication this year. I feel like this is worth noting because this is ground breaking in a way. The WWE has never done something like this. You go back to G.L.O.W., right? CZW does all women's shows sometimes too. FMW did some. Smash does it once a year. It's fine, but those are specials. However, why not do it all the time. 50/50? You have 8 matches, 4 men and 4 women. The talent is there. Just because there are currently enough women to put together a few matches on every show does not automatically make it a good idea for either business or the product.

But, Loss, please post the top 500 of the yearbooks and just call it that if you feel more comfortable with it. Selfishly I want to see it as someone who has all of the yearbooks and also respects your opinions on match rankings. Or if you don't want to post it just PM it to me What he said. We're happy to help find ways to caveat and asterisk the list, but it would be great to see that perspective from someone who's already been through all of the Yearbooks. Doesn't even have to be Best of the 1990s. It could simply be Best of the Yearbooks -- 1990s Edition.

Disc 3 Rankings: Terry Funk vs. Barry Windham (9/19/86) Stan Hansen vs. Carlos Colon (10/12/86) Invader I vs. Al Perez (Street Fight) (10/26/86) Carlos Colon vs. Stan Hansen (Texas Bullrope) (1/6/87) Carlos Colon vs. Stan Hansen (11/9/86) Terry Funk vs. Rick Martel (9/20/86) Carlos Colon vs. Abdullah the Butcher (9/20/86) Invader I vs. Ron Starr (Street Fight) (8/17/86) The Invaders & Mil Mascaras vs. Ron Starr, Dory & Terry Funk (12/18/86) Carlos Colon vs. Terry Funk (9/21/86) Carlos Colon & Huracan Castillo Jr. vs. Stan Hansen & Chicky Starr (12/21/86) Invader I vs. Ron Starr (9/19/86) Carlos Colon vs. TNT (11/15/86 TV) Super Medico vs. White Knight (9/19/86) Invader I vs. Jason the Terrible (1/17/87) Carlos Colon Vs TNT (11/27/86) Yeah, this was a fantastic disc. The top 4 here are my #1-4 on the entire set thus far. Looking forward to seeing what's coming up.

Solid but very unspectacular match. The goal seemed to be putting Jason over as a monster, but between the multiple ref bumps and Jason being pretty limited overall means its just Invader trying put him over, and he's no Flair. Finish seemed involve a loaded mask? **

They did a lot of great things throughout this match that are worth mentioning. First off, the crowd is electric with many on their feet early on before the match itself even heats up. Both are bleeding fairly early here which, as always, adds to the violence and intensity. There's one point where Hansen is choking Colon with the bell so stiffly that it actually looks like Colon taps Hansen as though to tell him to lighten up. Pretty incredible if that's the case. Hansen & Colon probably make better use of the cowbell than any strap match I can recall. They consistently go to it as a weapon, which makes all the sens in the world because if you've got a large and jagged piece of metal to gouge an opponent why wouldn't you try to use it at every opportunity? While a strap match is often a very restrictive gimmick, they do a great job working around it here by spilling to the floor, using it to choke each other as well as on its own as a legit weapon. Pretty creative stuff that doesn't limit them much at all and really serves to offer a different dimension to the feud. Some really nice teases down the stretch with both looking to touch all 4 corners. The finish itself actually came off a bit flat for me as after all the cutoffs before corner #4, the delay before Colon finally got there here felt just as substantial as every prior opportunity, but it still gave us a great pop as Colon regains the title and then again another nice little post-match brawl to make clear this feud isn't over just yet. I've got this a hair behind the first singles match as that was just a blistering, insane brawl where it felt like they were operating at a wholly different level than this match. I can totally see why some might prefer this match because of just how well they worked the gimmick, but it didn't take me to the same level as the the first pairing. The first time I watched this feud I had the cage match 1, the first match 2, this 3 and the penultimate singles match 4. Curious if that holds after watching disc 4. ****

This is a 4 way brawl most of the way, with with Colon/Hansen and Castillo/Chicky paired off pretty rigidly throughout, regardless of positioning. Quick, hot sprint with the blood, low blows and brawling you'd expect, all driven by Hansen's energey and pace. Colon comeback eventually leads to the bullrope coming into play and Hansen hanging & choking him to set up the next match in the feud. ***1/4

Yeah. He's not exaggerating. This match was crazy, especially because you had no idea it was coming. 5 star match #2 I was stunned by how good this was. This set has a bunch of stuff like that. There are a few matches that just left me laughing hysterically at how shockingly good they were. Stunned. Not something I can go 5 on, but for shock value its definitely there. Fantastic, different brawl.