WingedEagle

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.

Is this on World?

Late to the party here, but isn't this much ado about nothing until there's evidence indicating that Heyman & Bischoff aren't the latest "head writers" through whom everything runs to Vince for a yay/nay/rewrite? I'm not trying to be cynical but that scenario seems to be the understood reality for a number of years now so I'd like to understand what is in fact on a substantive rather than superficial level.

Or a mixed tag. Either way I've learned my lesson and am skipping the next Baron Corbin main event.

Outback Jack had better gear than Baron Corbin.

And this main event direction is why I'm out on Raw tomorrow as soon as Ricochet/AJ wraps up.

Those last 3 matches are what I was afraid of on this show. On the bright side, the pre-show and first ~90 minutes were really good, and it looks like they may wrap up early, which would earn major points on my card.

Bayley/Bliss and now Roman/Drew have really taken the wind out of this show.

Has McIntyre had a *single* great match since returning to the company? Edited to insert the highlighted word.

Who would've thought Joe/Ricochet would be the match that brings this show to a screeching halt?

Hopefully you have your share of drinks and women after raking some eyes behind the ref's back. So I'm now watching the show. For now. Why? While changing a full, stinky diaper I realized that I expected this show to be an all time dumpster fire. When that happens you're almost always pleasantly surprised. Its not like this is the Herb Abrams UWF or something without even the possibility of delivering. Thus far my ass backwards logic has been rewarded as I thought the 205 opener was a top 5 main roster match of the year, Becky/Lacey overdelivered and the just concluded New Day vs. KO/Sami was surprisingly clean and free of over-agenting. Just when I thought I was out!

Note to WWE HQ: when the guy who's bedridden can't be bothered to watch the PPV, you're in trouble. Thread Killer, here's hoping you're on the the road to a full recovery. Your work on Super Showdown (I haven't seen any of the Saudi shows although taking place during the work day didn't allow me the good fortunate to actively skip them, though I never went back to rewatch them) made it a fun read here. Perhaps I'll keep the PPV up and mute don the laptop and check in for Ricochet/Joe or something along those lines, although at this point I don't even know why I'd expect that match to be given time or capitalize on however minutes out of 240 they're allotted. It really can't be understated how much the Baron Corbin era has done to drive me away from TV. I've barely watched the last two weeks after being a nearly religious viewer for what seems like decades.

Can anyone give me reasons not to skip this show? I've got no plans tonight and yet this is still looking like the first Network PPV I'll proactively skip.

Agree that Naito is the logical pick based on how the blocks were constructed, but I'd think they want an IC Title match as either a semi underneath the IWGP Title or to headline night 2 at the Dome. It'd seem odd and unlike NJPW to tie up both belts in one match, especially given next year's WK plans.

What do people think about Ibushi & Okada being in the same block? Losing the IC Title to Naito at Dominion seemed to make Ibushi a favorite to win this, but I'm not quite sure how you build him vs. Okada for WK after going at it on the final night of block competition. Sure, you could have Ibushi go undefeated, lose to Okada that night and still win in the finals, but but I'd think you want to have something truly fresh for Wrestle Kingdom. The additions of Shingo and Ospreay are huge, while KENTA and Cobb add some legit intrigue as well. Very curious to see if KENTA has anything left.

Is this available online?

Are these easily accessible online? I haven't checked NJ World or other places that might have them, but curious how much digging is involved. Sounds like a fun little rabbit hole.

I actually thought 2018 was up there as one of the best years ever for pure in-ring.

Terrific!

I am all about the Brock Party. Why is he still there? Ricochet/Cesaro was a really good TV match and a lot better than last week. I'm enjoying the Lynch/Cross pairing. Hopefully we get that title match on a PPV.