fakeplastictrees

Ziggler is an extremely curious case. WWE apparently just renewed his contract and here he is...doing nothing. I just really don't see the purpose of keeping him around. Good for him for continuing to collect a paycheck despite losing ALL of his heat.

Would love to Abe Washington or Armando Estrada to come back and manage Ronda. Ronda is pretty cringeworthy promo at times. Heyman would be the worse choice as he is someone who needs to step away for a bit.

The one time I actually want Stephanie to run her straw feminist gimmick...she disappoints. JFC! Stephanie, you had one job tonight. Just enter The Rumble and make HISTORY~! Eliminate Sasha, Bayley, and Asuka only to setup Charlotte/Stephanie McMahon at WM for the Women's title.

@Grimmas, we will keep it simple. I will want your avatar on Twitter and PWO to be a photo of Stephanie McMahon. I think you might enjoy anything else I toss your way. Ha! As for me? I am pretty open--name it.

When the bell rings, Moon is solid and there's no questioning her skill and talent. However, the character work hasn't moved past cosplaying vampire novels. Everything Ember does from a character perspective is of the shallowness of a teenage deciding one day to go 'dark' because her crush doesn't even know she exists. It doesn't do anything for me and I would like to see more from her than blank stares and D Level scowls that would make Len Wiseman cringe.

Maybe no one else thinks she's going to be in it either I'll take the bet. Stephanie's ego won't allow her not to "make history"! Awesome.. name your terms? Stupid avatars, money, forced match reviews? What can I win? I will need some time to think about it. I will give myself a deadline ( 8PM EST) and then I will post the stips here. I don't want to shoot from the hip right now and give you something you will enjoy once you lose this bet!

NXT with another home run show. Its been said a million times before, but its amazing that the NXT and Raw are owned and operated by the same company. If history is anything to go by, The Royal Rumble will fall below the bar set by NXT the previous night. Just a very fun show.

Maybe no one else thinks she's going to be in it either I'll take the bet. Stephanie's ego won't allow her not to "make history"!

I work myself into a shoot every milestone thinking OKAY THIS IS THE YEAR WWE WILL CREATE/HAVE A MEMORABLE SHOW...and then I am let down.

I haven't seen this many dropped balls since I was sitting in a sauna with Lavar and LiAngelo. WWE really needs to redefine the "WWE Legend" trope. In its current form, its really boring and consist of the following: random 'Remember This!?' promos, beating up the current roster, and appearing in segments that go no where. Not sure how that excites anyone. But I guess this is standard WWE where the moment means more than what is actually happening. Then, Now, Forever...

I hope The Revival gets its heat back. JFC, the crowd couldn't care less. Its also unfortunate that Paige had to get shoot hurt before WWE sent out the mandate that a trio of wrestlers doesn't ALWAYS have to appear in the same formation regardless of how contrived it comes off.

EC3, Lashley, and Masters. I hope to see them all in the E. If not, I want the following Lashley matches: vs. WALTER vs. Keith Lee vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Timothy Thatcher

Wonder if she is working the internet? Not sure if WWE has a say in whether or not a wrestler can disclose an injury of this nature.

WWE's forced 'Big Match Drama' didn't help Reigns/Taker and it will not do Cena/Taker any favors at all. The "stay down!" stuff was cringeworthy and has become a WM staple. PWG Cena HBK D Level soap opera 'emotions' WWE speak Self-conscious epic formula Multiple kick-out of finishers Crippled Undertaker All of these elements together spell 'trouble'.

Doing a little Googling on this end, it appears there may be some truth to Sid's story. I thought it was carny bullshit, but it looks like I was wrong.

Rusev = money. That is all.

Perhaps I need to stop venturing off to the dark places of Wrestling Twitter, because in these places there are a lot of "Gable or Bust" type of people. Its strange but expected. For me personally, Jordan is an anthropomorphic shoehorn. The tag team title win is a good example of this. Its refreshing though to have have a planned monkey wrench thrown into everything to ensure aspects of the product stay somewhat fresh. Not enjoying the fact that Shield 2.0 is starting to venture into the direction of WWENWO. Perhaps that is too far and NWO Silver is a better comparison.

I feel some of the Jordan hate is, to a degree, similar to the hate Roman received for his Rumble/WM push. Most fans ( Everyone actually) wanted Daniel Bryan in the Rumble/WM spot, but instead got Roman. A tough pill for some to swallow. People worked themselves into a shoot with the Gable/Angle comparisons and wanted/hoped/needed Gable to be Angle's son or at least have some affiliation with Angle. When that didn't happen--the Roman-like backlash started. Jordan is going to have to overcome that hump. Reigns has yet to FULLY overcome his and the ghost of Daniel Bryan lingers. We shall see how Jordan does.

Condolences to you and your family. PWO is one of the best forums to me.I am glad that people on this board focus on content and not getting his/her gimmick over. DVDVR has turned into /r/SquaredCircle lite and some other places have become equally or even more unbearable. Thank you to Brad, Chad, Charles, Will, etc. for the time, effort, money, etc. put in to keep this place running. A double 'thank you' for keeping it fun and allowing a platform for some of the members podcast endeavors!

Apparently Sin Cara has me blocked. Why? I have no idea. I don't talk about him or even @ him. So random, but it made me laugh.

The Young Bucks are more latitudinal compared to the wrestlers mentioned.. As Sorrow noted, The Young Bucks are about live crowds and t-shirts, The Moment, GIFs, creating fallout discussions, and manufactured controversy. Danielson, etc. were/are about the moment as well, however, they look at it from an artistic standpoint of what is going to hold up today, tomorrow, and next year. This means not working with nor exploiting 'new' elements, etc., but getting back to basics in understanding what has worked for over a century and why it continues to work today. Its conscious to the understanding of old media and completely semi-conscious to new media.

Matt D explained it very well. Blah, Blah, Blah neo-postmodernism. The Young Bucks are the response to the response to postmodern wrestling.

WWE doesn't have a good track record when it comes to holiday themed matches. However, the New Day/Rusev build up and match were both fun. Best Christmas themed match since Mark Henry saved Christmas!

The aftermath:

Thoughts on WWE's announcement of the first ever Women's Royal Rumble? While the announcement itself has been well received by the wrestling community, the WAY it was done has been completely dumped on by most. The sad thing is some other promotions are taking queues from WWE on how to present 'revolutions', but only as it pertains to women. With men--its standard business and wrestling is wrestling. With the women, its time to break the fourth wall, perform a "Curtin Call", cry, hug, and take a photo REGARDLESS of what is happening with particular angles, match, feuds, etc. Last night, despite Absolution run rampant on the women's division, all the women were more than happy to immediately stop fighting, start smiling, and hug it out because "making history" is more important than settling rivalries, winning championships, and making money. The final moments of Raw was WWE's continued systemic patronizing and lack of self awareness disguised as the triumph over progressive metanarratives. What has been interesting is that the few comments from women that I have seen online, indicate that some women are perfectly fine mainly last due to the outcome. WWE has conditioned its fans, in other areas of its programing, that only the outcome matters and everything else can be counter-shifted in some way.