WingedEagle

Instead off crashing into him, how about stopping and punting him? Or a stomp to his back? I realize how silly this sounds but why open yourself to give someone a free shot like that?

Exactly. I loved Cena/Cesaro. I thought they did a great job building, incorporating and executing a number of big spots. After the finish they had me thinking Cesaro might actually win. That uncertainty was real because for a minute there I doubted the outcome that I thought was a lock going into the match. But at no point did I believe what was happening was "real."

Fair point. Not sure where I saw it recently that I got so hung up on it. How often does the guy running the ropes get tripped? I can't recall an instance but there must be examples. What about in singles matches -- what's the logic there?

So X lies down flat on his stomach to trip Y? Has this ever worked? Why not just stand in the middle of the ring with your eyes closed and offer a free shot?

Speaking of bad wrestling, what is up with the spot when a wrestler whips his opponent into the ropes and then lies down in the middle of the ring? In what world is the velocity associated with being whipped into and coming off of the ropes so incredible that it prevents someone from noticing their opponent is lying face down and defenseless? Just one of those things I can't even fathom an explanation for that drives me mad.

I don't remember the last time I was able to suspend disbelief such that any point I actually believed what I was watching was real. The closest may be in a match where the finish is in question and you pop for the underdog's near falls. But there is no way to pregame enough to get me thinking this stuff is real, no matter how much I love it.

Correct, that's the kind of issue that preliminary due diligence raises and addresses before the project gains any steam.

Great point and one I couldn't agree with more. The win wouldn't have meant less and Cesaro wouldn't look any worse for going down to it. Little tweaks from the norm like that would go a long way.

Man was that awesome. I was disappointed because it was ending with a delayed AA just like that. And then Cesaro flips out, gives him a boot and eats an awesome lariat. No complaints about a match with a false finish like that. Everyone wins.

Christian vs. Bryan Cena vs. Cesaro Orton vs. Sheamus Henry vs. Reigns I am pumped for this show no matter how the booking turns out.

MSG the clear winner for me, though I am beyond admittedly biased. Its my hometown arena, I've been to more shows there than anywhere else and its got the historical chops to back it up against anywhere. As far as what I've seen on tape, its tough to argue with Korakuen or Buddokan. Domestically, I'll cop out and give a shout out wherever the annual TV after Mania takes place because that's now arguably the marquee arena event of the year. Also need to give some old school love to Baltimore, which always seemed to deliver the goods for big NWA/WCW shows.

Wow. That is quite the ridiculous list. How many other buildings could even approach a comparable list of great or memorable matches? Budokan? MSG?

I don't hide the fact that I'm a wrestling fan from anyone. I don't seek to promote it or interject it into conversations, but much the same way that I'd bring up other hobbies and interested, it may come up. I absolutely do hide the extent to which its a passion from people I don't know too well. Its one thing for my friends & family to appreciate it or break balls about it, but there is no question I get some looks / raised eyebrows and who knows what kind of judging resulting from peoples' preconceived notions. Its one thing to tell folks I'm going to Mania with a couple friends because its local, like I did last year. Its another to explain that in addition to Mania, I've got the WON, PWO, TVs every week and then oh yeah, those hundreds of DVDs in sleeves that I value so much.

Because it might sell better than something ugly?

No way to quantify it, but the fact that Bryan's merch is so damn ugly has to impact how it sells. Austin had black & white with a catchphrase in simple font, or a logo that fit in with the Affliction-style stuff that would become popular. Same for Rock. Cena's have a catchy wink-nod fun style to them, like the Nintendo themed shirt. A hideous goatface plastered on blood red? Comic Sans YES/NO loud and out of control splashed across blood red? I'd feel like a turd wearing that around the house.

Maybe I'm not paying that close attention, but I haven't noticed Okada ever throw them so wildly out of range that the counters look ridiculous. They're usually well timed and chained together and like W2BTD noted, the move is over like death so whether its hit or not matters.

Safe to assume the full show will be available on demand thereafter? Definitely can't sell staying home on Saturday night to watch that.

Prentice really looks like Chris Christie. He's out to interrupt a Miss Texas's promo which sets up a Doink pie to her face. She attacks Prentice and he smacks her and attacks her on the ground before Lawler & Jarrett save. I'm all for an angle but the domestic violence here felt a little aggressive even for a tv show.

Lawler wins a quick squash. Then Christopher cuts a promo on him and Doink comes out, laying banana peels for Lawler to slip on allowing Doink & Christopher to attack him before Jarrett saves. Doink was great in the role here but otherwise this didn't do much for me.

Duggan did such a great job getting the crowd involved for this angle. They do the charging tackles spot and Duggan knocks Yoko down as the crowd goes bananas. Yoko follows up by throwing salt in his eyes & destroying him. Really effective angle with the flag, blood and as noted above, Vince on commentary put things over the top. Really couldn't ask for more to build up Yoko given the time constraints, roster and his place on the card at Mania.

Clips of Giant Gonzales debuting at Rumble to attack Undertaker. Gonzales & Whippeman with a quick, boring promo. He was huge.

Before the match even starts this feud has more heat than anything else in the world. Hashimoto lays out Tenryu with some stiff kicks early allowing the supporting players to do their thing. Tenryu & Hara hit a sweet front/back lariat combo on Muto. After Muto lays out Tenryu with a facebuster the New Japan team drops a million elbows on him while crowd goes wild in a fantastic spot as the ref holds back the WAR team. I don't rate this quite as highly as the November 6 man which to this point is probably my favorite match in this feud. But this match is very good and does so many little things to further the feud -- the pre-match tension with Tenryu & Hash establishing that as a marquee singles battle to look forward to, then Tenryu playing his outsider heel role perfectly by staring down Hash & Muto while chopping Nogami raw. Even the finishing stretch furthers the story with Muto breaking up a Tenryu pinfall, prompting a response where he spitefully power bombs Nogami and covers him with a boot. I doubt there are a ton of scenarios that find an entire building chanting for Akira Nogami, but this feud pulls that off. The finish felt a bit too sudden for my taste, but it was a clean and convincing win that along with the post-match brawl keeps things going. These matches don't measure up to the high-end All Japan stuff from this year. But the heat is off the charts and its far and away the best feud going. Just amazing to think what the big 2 over there were delivering side by side at this time. ****

Fink announces Andre's passing and they ring the bell 10 times while we're treated to a bunch of still photos from Andre's career. I could watch video packages like these for hours.

Between the evoluation of booking and widespread news & rumors online, I'm not sure we get such huge surprises anymore. There's only so much that is kept under wraps long enough that by the time it happens it feels like a genuine surprise. Rock returning on Raw in '11 fits that bill. Personally, I now look forward to and similarly mark out when a storyline is teased and drawn out over time and then actually pays off the way you want to see it happen. Offhand I'm thinking of things like Batista turning face heading into Mania 21, Bryan winning at Summerslam last year, or Punk taking the title at MITB. If you giveme a reason to care and create some doubt as to whether I'll get that payoff, and then deliver it? I will be one happy paying customer. Perhaps this is because of how rushed most angles and feuds are now, as well as no longer expecting an awesome, blowaway payoff that when it does happen it means that much more.

Wouldn't make sense that it was on the prior week's show as it was published in the one I received in the mail today which went up on the site presumably a few days ago.