fakeplastictrees

Cena/Styles and Balor/Finn went on before the non-existent Rusev/Reigns match and the Lesnar/Orton stoppage. My problem with all of this (aside from everything already covered) is the match order. Cena/Styles works a Mania style main event match in the middle of the show and Rusev/Reigns are on the path to having a really good and heated brawl only for it to end with the heel coming off as a face and the face coming off as the biggest dick in the room. Lesnar/Orton was good, but would have worked better as the 2nd or 3rd match from the main event. If I was Vince and I had a vision that these matches HAD to end the way they did tonight and I booked it that way-- a re-arranging would have done magic. Main Event: Balor vs. Rollins Co-Main event: Orton vs. Lesnar Cena vs. Styles U.S. Title: Rusev vs. Reigns I think that layout would have saved the crowd, again, if the booking MUST stay.

Brock is basically that Sonic the Hedgehog OC That dates Amy & Rogue the Bat, killed sonic & Shadow, & has both the Chaos/Law Emeralds.

Top rope suplex, roll through by Seth, Finn back on offense and within 10 seconds wins the match-- again...is Davey Richards secretly working as an agent for WWE?

Agreed. Don't really understand the appeal. Far too reliant on the sing-along catchphrases and schtick. Same with the New Day. I don't think this is fair to New Day. New Day is like Lady Gaga, you strip away the gimmick and you still have 3 guys who can go in the ring and can talk. Enzo & Cass are like Jennifer Lopez. The show, costumes, persona, and everything else MAKES it all work. Take away all of that and just have them go out in the ring with black tights and no cute catch phrases, they will die a death. Enzo & Cass have been in some entertaining matches, but its usually because of who they are facing and not really because THEY are the ones doing the work. Re: Summerslam set The grey mat and barrier with the white ropes makes everything look brighter and that is a welcomed change. Love it.

The Dudleys were stale as shit in WWE during the Ruthless Aggression Era and that is why they were split up. Despite spending some time away from WWE, it was like they never left when they returned...and that is NOT a compliment. Much like with Del Rio, WWE just has this magic about itself to make big returns not mean anything or be special in less than a week. The camouflage, entrance pyro, music, etc. all doesn't help. A Bully Ray run is really needed at this point as I have no interest in the Dudleys' act. The Jericho "IT" stuff is gold. Love it!

Silly me, I thought the pre-show was going to start at 7PM EST and the PPV was going to finish at midnight. Holy shit, we are in for a long night.

The Revival is everything WWE wanted and needed from The Ascension. both in NXT and the main roster. A good/dominant/believable tag team that is OVER with the crowds and actually pushing some merch. I don't want them to move up to the main roster until they wipe the stink off of the tag title history of The Ascension being the longest reigning NXT tag champs. There is still tons of mileage on the Revial gimmick and there is EASILY a ladder match or Memphis Street Fight left in the program with Gargano/Ciampa. I also thought the vanilla indy guys are getting closer and closer to being WWE Superstars. I have always liked both, but never really GOT the hype (as mentioned earlier in this thread), and a performance like this on this big of a stage really helped a lot. Good for both of those guys and I hope to see more of them and their continued evolution. Both Ember and Roode need new finishers for different reasons. Ember's is great to see when executed properly, but the entire finish can fall apart if it is botched. Another problem is the setup can be pretty contrived and take people out of the match. Hopefully she develops a secondary finisher and only breaks that out in the 'big matches'. Roode, on the other hand, just needs a new finisher. Roode has a strong history of weak finishers this side of Jeff Jarrett, but holy smokes! A pumphandle slam? Roode doesn't have the size, physique, or power of a Cena or Mark Henry to make a simple move believable as a finisher. HHH needs to have an 'Apollo quest/point of order to change his finishing move' talk with Roode. Roode has EVERYTHING else down. Just work on a new finisher. Back to Ember, I always liked her in the ring and its good to see she has made the big stage, but what is going on with all the women in NXT looking like they just came out of a Party City costume sale? I like the effort, but it will be best if WWE doesn't go down the Becky Lynch path again with these new call-ups. Personality cannot be purchased at Hot Topic and I hope these women continue in the direction of putting it all together.

I wouldn't be upset with a Bully Ray WWE run. Bully Ray attempting to show Kota Ibushi 'who's the boss' will be fun! WWE really needs to learn how to do a go home show without blowing its load on everything. Rusev/Reigns before SummerSlam? Demon debut? I'm expecting Smackdown! to do the same thing now and passed off in some bizarre narrative as trying to out-do Raw by having Miz/Crews go one-on-one. It took some time for him to overcome the hill of terribleness, but Jericho is now one of my favorite acts in 2016--ain't that a bitch! Didn't see that coming.

Just some rough thoughts...I am going to go more in depth on this in a future podcast, but I think what this really comes down to is the old guys not moving into the new age gracefully. I am not talking about an old timey wrestler not love Generic Flippy Dude #32942994829 vs. Generic Flippy Dude # 939237286283. I am talking about the old timey wrestler not jiving with the general direction of the business and its interacts with the outside world. Whether its technology ( THE INTERNET FANS~! ), attitudes on the business from people within the business ( ITS NOT A JOB ITS A LIFE~! ), or some other random shitty thing ( LACK OF FANNIE PACKS~!), the old guys usually come off pretty bad. Factor in a lot of them just FLAT OUT NOT LEAVING when the time is right and that leads to the hostility and 'shut up old man' comments, etc. WCW began really struggling because people viewed the product as the old timers home while WWE had all the fresh 'young' talent in Austin, HHH, Foley, Rock, DX, Kane, etc. Fans also know a good con when they see one and know that guys like, in this case Vader, are just angling for that extra payday and it all comes off desperate and cheap and people know that there is some promoter out there who is going to bite and then that fan's ROH 2005 will turn into TNA 2010. more later..

100% agree. For the last 5 years or so, The Rock has been 'Goosebumps' Rock and that is the worst version. Its all comes off as too self important and too self aware. The Rock's swag, when he was an active wrestler, was that of a guy coming in to do business and the crowd going crazy. He felt like a big deal organically, but now its more of The Rock tells/showing everyone he THINKS he is a big deal in the most convoluted ways that created the stained and hurtful memories still carried to this day of 20 minutes HHH promos. I don't want to see Rock walk down a Mania isle again unless he is in a match, because his appearances have been more Ghostbusters 2016 vs. Ghostbuster 1984.

WWE can have its cake and eat it to. People are tired of Big Show and Jericho's acts. Why not have Reigns run through them? Reign retiring Big Show and sending Jericho out on a stretcher would make for good T.V., keep Roman away from the title, and allow WWE some time to figure out what to do with him while he potentially is put in a place where people won't turn on him.

I think guys like Benjamin, RVD, Rhyno, and Carlito aren't meant to be breakout stars or anything super special to the product at a top-level. The 50/50 booking is what has killed a lot of heat for guys and what is needed in WWE (especially Smackdown at this stage) are JTTS. Corbin, Crews, Kalisto, and Wyatt need dancing partners as Smackdown will need to be careful not to blow its load before other from NXT can come up (presumably Joe, Nakamura, etc.). The four names I mentioned earlier all have name value, are over with the fans, and can still go in the ring (mileage varies of course, especially with RVD). Corbin running through the likes of RVD, Benjamin, Rhyno, Carlito, and ADR (since he is supposedly on his way out anyway) on the way to a title shot at Survivor Series will make Corbin look good while ensuring Corbin isn't doing that SS run to the title mowing through Crews, Kalisto, and other guys who will actually need to be elevated to ensure Smackdown ratings and live events numbers don't drop due to the perception of Smackdown being consisting of nothing but Cena, Styles, Ambrose, some old guys, and a bunch of jobbers.

Good show. Everything came off good. I am surprised WWE blew off The Shield Triple Threat and Sasha vs. Charlotte prior to Summerslam as those would have been easily at the top of the SS card right beside Orton/Lesnar. Toss in the crowning of the new CW champion ( Kota? ), and maybe Styles/Cena inside a steel cage and it would have been a super stacked card. It will be interesting to see where they go now with Rollins/Finn at SS. Feels fresh and is a welcomed change as WWE could have easily shit the bed here and done Reigns/Rollins for the title. The commentators being away from the ring is a good thing. I always liked that look as it places all the emphasis on the action in the ring and not the guys at ringside who may or may not be trying to get themselves over. AND HOLY SHIT! Michael Cole was 100% bareable last night with Graves by his side. I think the secret to Cole is who is he working with PUPPIES~! and MAGGLE~! did not complement Cole at all. I think this might be a good team.

The internet's speculation created a much more exciting draft then what actually happened. I guess WWE is gonna WWE. I am not sure where the disconnect is between Creative writing characters with certain motives (Shane wants to create a hip show that is focused on wrestling and the young talent and wants to use Daniel Bryan's knowledge of wrestling and the wrestlers to pick the best roster) and Corporate making decrees regardless (Smackdown getting Kane, Miz, and Orton). Shane just came off like a complete dumbass. If he KNEW going in that he would be down several picks- why not draft New Day and American Alpha after the smoozefest of Rollins, Reigns, Ambrose, Lesnar, Cena, and Styles. I understand those guys being the top picks. But after that it should have been game on for Smackdown and instead....wow! The worse thing is that WWE could have easily said that certain NXT wrestlers cannot be drafted for whatever reason and then boom. That would explain why Joe, Nakamura, Asuka, Bayley, Aries, etc. were not picked up. DB, kayfabe, was suppose to be advising Shane and he didn't feel the need to mention Zayn, Cesaro, or Owens but made sure to bring up Kane, Orton, and Miz? Unreal. WWE could have really had its cake and eat it to. Every Monday could have been Stephanie's jack-off show where Reigns, Big Show, Kane, Jericho, Orton, Sheamus, ADR, and Miz are billed as the top attractions while JBL, King, and Cole do the commentary and Smackdown could have been Styles, Cena, Rollins, Zayn, Balor, American Alpha, New Day, and Cesaro billed as the top attractions while Mauro and Graves call the action. Lesnar should have just been the guy who had such a special contract that he is allowed to go wherever he feels whenever he feels. Same with Taker. I would have also like if Raw/SD had to choose at the start who gets what as far as divisions are concerned because the half ass stuff happening on Smackdown with the women is eye rolling. Women's title on Smackdown, CW title on Raw, IC on Raw, US on Smackdown, and have the tag and WHC float between brands. Of course Raw can have the 'eye candy' women who shouldn't wrestling at all like Maryse, Eva Marie, Alicia Fox, etc. It really wasn't that hard.

One thing I will give Russo credit for is the fact that he was always able to take quiet midgets and give them an actual template to work from. Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, and Petey Williams are just some of the guys who benefited from Russo's initial involvement. The same can be said with TAFKAPI, some of the ridiculousness of Lance Storm's WCW run, etc. A lot of these things had good starting elements, but they were never really built upon in a meaningful way.

Yeah, I think all this talk of 'they need people to fill both shows' is kinda over-doing it. Even if WWE just decided to bring 'up' Nakamura, Asuka, KENTA, American Alpha, Bayley, Finn, Joe, and two others - All shows will still have enough people and NXT would still have Dillinger, The Revival, Alexa Bliss, Aries, Young, and some other good acts as well.

Yeah Dean Ambrose's work sometimes (most of the time actually) doesn't do it for me. However, the guy has remained over despite the shit booking and the 'comedy' segments, etc. Remember, this is a guy who jobbed out to a monitor in one match and a ghost in another. And yet, the crowd has stayed with him this entire time.

As mentioned earlier, I would be really surprised if Jeff Hardy, Galloway, Morrison, or Mysterio popped up due to contractual obligations. When all remember how LU handled the Hernandez situation. There is no way in hell Mysterio is going back to WWE without a huge legal fight or WWE making some kind of "trade" deal (that also involves cash) for Mysterio and Morrison. In return Sin Cara, No Way Jose, Eva Marie, and The Colons make the rounds in LU season 4. Actually, when I type that out that doesn't really seem all THAT crazy. When Kofi Kingston debuted I knew Benjamin's days were numbered. Kofi was younger, doing cool spots, could actually promo, and was over. He had a catchphrase, mannerisms people could do, etc. I haven't watch Shelton Benjamin for the last 2 years or so, but I wouldn't be too excited if he came back. I've never been high on MVP or Kennedy and I would hate to see either of them back in WWE. Angle is such a risky guy to bring in. Let's forget about the neck and the physical health issues for a moment. The DUIs, the domestic abuse stuff, the stalking drama, and some of the other stuff that has gone on in his personal life would make WWE absolutely batshit to bring him back on a full time basis. Its one thing if they want Angle to come in and do a SS match, sign him to a legends deal, have him do a WM, and then go into the HOF in 2018 while making random autograph signings, being an on-air personality of some sort, and perhaps even giving the guy his own WWE Network Show. WWE would pay Angle all this money to essentially wrestle (no more) than 5 matches (though it should probably be 3 if anything) in a 2-3 year time span. Too many obstacles to bring back these 'older' guys. And Stevie Richards? Why? He was barely over when he left? I am sure no one missed him and I think outside of his family and close friends, no one is clamoring for a Richards return. I loved him as Dr. Stevie and I thought that was some of his best stuff in a long time, but a return in 2016? How does DDP feel about wrestling every Tuesday night? I agree with the above post about not seeing any "big returns" on the horizon. It will probably be guys who already have a working relationship with WWE, someone like Brian Kendrick. Based on his last NXT run, I wouldn't be upset if Rhino showed up for a few months and worked in the lower card and seeing how Tajiri is working the CWC, I can see that being a nice re-introduction into the main brand while he continues to works in Japan. Despite all of this wishful thinking and the fantasy booking, the most realisitic (and most un-welcomed) return will be RVD.

Totally agree. The right people are protected and this elevated everyone. There is a way to have people interact without giving EVERYTHING away. Your assessment is 100% correct and is exactly what I took away.

Still not sold on Nia. She is doing nothing for me. Until I see a great Nia match that doesn't include Bayley and or Asuka, I will continue to not be impressed. Put Nia in there with Ember (or is it Amber) and let's see what happens. Hell, put here in there with some of the lesser talent like Bliss, Carmella, etc. and let's see what's really going on. At the end of the day she is the heaviest and tallest of the women and yet I don't get that killer feel from her like I did with Awesome Kong. Kong, at times, would also do some pretty amazing stuff for a woman her size and Nia is still not showing any of that.

I have made it clear, over my time here, as to why I do not like the concept MITB nor the matches. However, the build to the matches is now becoming the worse offender. Just like with all WWE gimmick PPVs, when those PPVs are right-around-the-corner, wrestlers feel its time incorporate the gimmicks in their everyday lives. Guys like Kevin Owens who has no reason to constantly pull out ladders and wasn't before is all of a sudden, in a very un-natural and contrived way, doing exactly that. The reason? MITB is around the corner and the prop has to be showcased. Because if not then it will be easy for the people to forget that MITB is happening and that these guys are in MITB and everything will fall apart. Its all just too heavy-handed for me and hammy. I know expecting WWE to NOT be heavy-handed is like expecting Kesha to drop a "Thriller" like album or for Donald Trump to actually make America great again, but holy fuck! Six guys sitting on ladders cutting a promo might sound cool, but again it comes off really silly and contrived as what do ANY of them sitting on a ladder accomplishes. It would have been a better visual and made more sense (if WWE REALLY wanted to do this) is to have either Jericho or Owens cut a promo from a ladder on the stage while everyone else was in the ring looking at that person like he is the biggest dick in the world.

Hands down I will have to go with Jericho and Ambrose from Extreme Rules 2016. It was fantastic and everything pro wrestling should be... (wait for panel's reaction) Just kidding. That was complete shit. But a match I really remember enjoying and I actually watched earlier this year, and still enjoyed it, is the XXX vs. AMW match from Turning Point 2004. A legit MOTYC in 2004 that is still a fun watch and holds up pretty well. The match was the last one in the series, with the losing team having to disband and all four men fought with urgency, passion, and pulled off some incredible stuff without being too self-conscious or trying to look too cute. Of course the most famous moment from that match and something that has been on TNA sizzle packages is Elix Skipper's cage walk. To this day, it is one of the few pro wrestling Stunts within the last 15 years or so that actually had me holding my breath and in complete shock. Skipper actually hitting it had me and everyone in the Impact Zone marking out. Good times and a good match.

Re: Goldberg commericial I watched it again today and noticed the reflection of a "Suplex City" sign in the mirror of the cop car. Goldberg/Lesnar II in 20016/2017? Perhaps I am over thinking and its just an element of Goldberg's career mode. It looks like there are going to be multiple parts of this commercial so if my second theory is true then we should see some other stuff as well.

I would like to see something like this in a few weeks. The Club beats down Cena and the babyfaces try to make the save but get beatdown in the process as The Club has baseball bats. Cena, Ryder, Ziggler, and Sin Cara all taking an ass whopping would be good TV. WWE will just need to establish that Kalisto was 'mysteriously' taken out in the back earlier.

I only saw half of this title, the "Gymnastics in pro wrestling" part, and assumed it was about the BoSJ match as this has been a conversation I've had with various people all weekend. At the end of the day, any good story is about urgency and purpose. The Rebels MUST destroy The Death Star, Frodo MUST destroy the ring, Ponce De Leon MUST find The Foundation of Youth. Any story that resonances with people have characters that CARE about their mission and wants to see it accomplished. Some may compare this match to a fight scene in an Avengers movie or a Jackie Chan movie, but I feel that is unfair. A pro wrestling match isn't a scene-- it is the movie, it is a full episode of a TV, etc. I hate to sound like an old man here, but if I was 12 years old and I saw this match I would think it was the best thing ever. I enjoy a lot of Lucha because I realize 'being cute' and doing 'cute' things is part of the tradition and style. I take Lucha for what it is as the universe's rules have been established within Lucha for decades. Watching Lucha and being upset due to the lack of Strong-Style is like going to Taco Bell and being upset that can't order a Chicago Deep Dish style pizza. I get it. But what is Will and Ricochet's excuse? I know their style and I know what people expect, but both guys wanted to go out and do a ton of cool shit, not sell, and at times have no real urgency. I watched the match and at no-point-in-time did I think either of them really wanted to win. It was a show case for both. And that's fine if you are in an exhibition match with no real stakes and both of you guys are trying to make a name for yourselves. But when its the two hottest SJs in the world going at it, there should be something to prove especially since its in a tournament. Its like they took the cliff notes of what people would gif/talk about anyways and just said 'Fuck it! Let's JUST DO THAT!' and that is exactly what we got. The pro wrestling equivalent to a Michael Bay Transformers movie and just like a Michael Bay movie this match is praised for the cool story and the awesome gifs that have been produced and at the same time panned for producing these gifs and nothing more. All styles are welcome in pro wrestling. I want a variety. I don't mind guys flipping around and doing cool shit, but when it becomes a self-conscious highlight reel- that's when it becomes a problem. All of a sudden Frodo wants to wear dark shades and ride a motorcycle up Mount Doom, Luke Skywalker (despite the seriousness of his mission) wants to get a custom Valentino suit made and stares into the mirror working on his catchphrase for the final shot, and PDL decides to sell the film rights to his story without even fucking finishing the voyage over The Atlantic. The spirit of the match was good, but fucking Peanut Butter Christ! Put some STORY into it and make the cool looking shit you do MEAN SOMETHING by selling it.