WingedEagle

This match was really great until this restart business. Just loved it. Working it start and slow early with AJ on point in the small man game while Reigns was great with his staggered selling and chasing. Then we need to use the world title match to put over the family. Fuck.

No Lillian Garcia tonight?

Really, really pumped for the main event. More than any match they've put on in quite some time. Still surprised AJ is headlining a PPV. Hope they hit it out of the park.

Praying it spares a 15 minute McMahon family promo tomorrow, but we know its going at least 8-10 announcing a lineup for Raw.

There's no chance this avoids a repeat performance tomorrow right?

Pretty funny that they managed to craft a promo for Shane that let him read many lines off of the big screen.

Steph does look unusually skinny tonight. Very gaunt.

Yes. No idea how we got here. But we did.

Well, that sucked. But I can't hate it as it seemed like it meant something to Natalya & Bret. I don't know what, but good on him for feeling and looking strong after recent health issues. Hope everyone involved had a good time.

Jericho-Ambrose felt like an ironman match without a time limit. My god.

Also a really great finish that in spite of putting the Miz over set up a bunch of matches down the line and hopefully builds towards Cesaro's reign rather than being deflating like a simple loss would've been. Great booking and use of everyone involved.

That was the best Miz match I've ever seen. Maybe Cesaro really is that good.

Huh, I didn't see his neck hit the ropes on the replay but that doesn't sound good at all. It looked like the side of his head touched the ropes and then slammed against the mat. Hope he's okay.

Was that a legit injury? My gut watching and with the way they followed up said it was just way to cut things short, but from everything I'm seeing on Twitter its legit.

Distinct minority, but I enjoyed their dancing a whole lot more than New Day's schtick. Perhaps I was the right age for Rikishi & co. though.

Glad to see this return.

Never would I guess that Ryback would thrive working with little guys. Great pre-show match.

Ranallo sounds like he should be who paid for promotional consideration. Not like Lord Al Hayes used to do it, because that was some classy business, but more along the lines of the 2AM spots on basic cable. Ryback gets a whole lot of snowflakes for his belt.

Aries really belongs in the conversation as one of Danielson's best opponents. They killed it at closing out Survival of the Fittest '04 and I'll eventually get around to posting thoughts on their 2/3 Falls marathon match that summer, but needless to say I thought it was great and a likely high-level MOTY without the concussion. They do a great job letting this match develop, opening with a series of holds and counters reminiscent of an old-style world title match, but a bit quicker. Not that its a detriment here as there's not much to sell in these battles for control, but worth noting for pace junkies. Things escalate from there with Danielson channeling Tenryu as he throws short kicks and is talking trash, working like a legit heel. He even breaks out an Earthquake Splash! Danielson is criminally underrated for how he could incorporate comedy spots into a match without letting it take over from what the actual purposes. Awesome spot I hadn't seen before with Aries connecting on a kneebreaker and immediately backdropping Dragon to the floor, then paying him back with his own Tenryu tribute throwing the short kicks. He goes to work on Danielson's arm which becomes a factor when he can't keep the Cattle Mutilation locked in due to the damage. Simple, effective and logically playing off of what preceded it in the match. Aries gets greedy and tries for Cattle Mutilation but that's countered and Danielson now works over his arm with great armbreakers followed by a butterfly suplex and strikes that eventually set up the Flying Headbutt for a big near fall. Airplane Spin is countered and the action spills to the floor for a bit before they return where Danielson uses an atomic drop as a big move and perfect set-up to put Aries in position for his backdrop superplex. Really impressive how rather than just throwing out a bunch of random spots, they'd be chained together in a fashion that makes sense and looks like part of a coherent strategy to follow through on each other. The big moves are coming now and we get one of the longest Airplane Spins I remember seeing from Danielson during this time, which ends up leading to the finish. The finish? Clean as a sheet and strongly putting over the reigning world champion. My only issue with it, and the match in general, is that the transition from the spin to the finish came off a bit awkwardly. Still, this was a really good match and strong follow-up to their matches from the year before. ****1/4

Normally that type of booking would drive me mad, but Corbin is an act I have zero use for.

More talk about current wrestling would be great. Hopefully more threads would encourage people to check things out. I think WWE being an extra click away in its own folder keeps some traffic away from those parts outside of big shows, because if its not seen its just something people won't think about, but I could be completely wrong. I stay on top of WWE, NJPW and Lucha Underground but always seeking out recs for other current matches and wrestlers to check out. Don't have to catch it all but will never turn down being pointed in the right direction.

Yes! More!!

I suppose its possible my thoughts on wrestling impacted in this fashion, but if so, its so under the surface that I am unaware of it. Its not something that enters my mind whatsoever. But I do believe we all have certain prejudices, beliefs, opinions or whatever you may like to call them that color how we view things even if this is unintended. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing. While not necessarily political, I definitely believe there's a cultural obstacle for wrestling fans at a certain level. Otherwise everyone would be eager to jump into Japanese wrestling, lucha, shoot style and anything else outside of what they grew up on. Not sure how prominent it may be here as by the time you reach PWO you're probably watching more than the wrestling you were first exposed to (whatever that is), but among common fans that makes up the masses Sure. Same thing will hold true for music, movies, any aspect of culture.

US Title: Kalisto vs. Ryback Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Cesaro Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho Tag Team #1 Contenders Tournament Final: Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillains WWE Women's Title: Charlotte vs. Natalya WWE WHC: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles Feels like an interesting lineup with the possibility for good matches up and down the card if people deliver and the right matches are given enough time. That's a question mark given there's also a presumably lengthy McMahon family promo & angle taking place. Hopefully its kept reasonably short and not slotted in at a point where it kills what follows. Very much looking forward to the main event which has the potential to be a MOTYC if everything cliques. Predictions? Thoughts? People looking forward to it, or is everyone opting for Toronto/Indy Game 7?