Jmare007

I feel the Ambrose heel turn has been predicted and teased for 4 years now, and every time he stays face. It's gotta happen at some point I guess.

Bryan trains both of them though.

Best thing Gedo has booked in years. And I'm not even that interested in White vs Okada as a match, but it was the right call and opens up a lot of stuff.

Will Kenny go in his first year in?

I hope that's the direction. It gives Okada a real angle and something to do without the belt being involved, besides, CHAOS is almost a decade old and it's time to reshuffle things a bit. And White gets another huge match.

I love how Okami can go from feisty underdogs to bully "veterans" depending on who they are facing. This was similar to last year's RWTL match against Naoya Nomura & Aoyagi, with Daichi and specially Kamitani doing a really good job in control, dominating and beating the fuck out of their smaller opponents. Abe does little cunty things like very few these days, and his flash kicks and reversals are perfect for hope spots and buildups to a hot tag, so of course it works on this match. Nomura, as always, stands out as a no fucks given, gonna kick and slap you to oblivion bad ass that still doesn't quite have enough to dominate. Strike exchanges were dope as hell, specially the kicks between Daichi and Takuya. Shin-Kiba crowd is right there with them too. Strong BJ delivers once again, @superkix I think you are might like this.

The crowd chanting "holy shit" at Brock kicking the door off the hinges but not doing it for Seth and Dolph bump from the cage was sad and funny at the same time.

LMAO Brock is over with the crowd again

All of that fuckery just so they could do the same spot Rollins and Ambrose did years ago? Hey, Brock is here.

Braun and Roman have been dead for how long now?

What the fuck is going on?

Oh man, I've missed the monster truck madness matches these two have.

Mad Ronda is the new Hulking up.

This whole match building up to a Brie Bella hot tag is something else.

Miz and Maryse are fucking gold

He tapped! Nice angle going forward...maybe?

That tag was ridiculous and so much fun to watch. Why the hell can't AJ be the main match from his brand?

They uploaded a video on youtube of the cage I named the Punjabi match because it was also hard to watch what was going on in the ring with the hard camera shot, one would guess they wouldn't try to do that again.

The new HIAC is red, it seems it won't be easy to see what is going on in the ring. Seems they didn't learn much from the Punjabi Prison match.

It would've been a interesting scenario for sure. The Kane feud for Extreme Rules 2014 did hurt Bryan a bit in terms of crowd support, if he doesn't get injured who knows how long that program goes. I do believe Lesnar squashing him at Summerslam would've been the 18 seconds loss to Sheamus at Mania 28, Part II though.

I don't think he can retake that role for the fans, at least not by booking/kayfabe. WWE would have to do something in real life against Bryan that pisses the fandom off to the point they once again believe he's "their champion".

Meiko should have a KO-D Title defense at Evolution

I think that would've been the more interesting/fun scenario to watch, but I don't think Bryan's level of support after his return would've sustained either. I don't believe hardcore fans see him as "their wrestler" anymore, he's a legend/icon now, so there's no "us (with Bryan) vs WWE" feeling. I also don't think they see the company holding him down either - at least not nearly to the level of outrage of 2012 to 2014 - and those were the kind of things that made him teflon to WWE booking. As you said in another thread, he can still be "Shawn Michaels, the icon" level over if pushed right. But for him to transcend that again, he's gonna need a bunch of stuff to happen, and just like 5 years ago, luck is a big part of that. I do think he's gonna get more momentum eventually though, he's still the most popular male on his brand.

Here's a video of him at last weekend's Starrcast (got to 14:55 if the time video doesn't load there). To be honest, I have no clue why Dave taking any PED (if he did/does) would matter to anyone. If Bischoff said that on Twitter as an insult, that's a pretty lame attempt at one imo.

Not in that sense. They have been losing fans with their current system/booking. Last two years even RAW has suffered from really poor attendance. Ratings haven't gone up in looong ass time - in a significant and consistent way - and they will be more important than ever for the company. But I don't think the number of fans they lose (and will continue to lose) is significant enough to hurt them. For the last 15 years WWE has built a business model whose purpose is to not rely on 1 or 2 people and to make the quality of their product hurt them as little as possible no matter how bad it can get. And this year I think they finally "won" that battle. I think the majority of us thought that their inability to book a proper "Ace" after Cena, plus all the other problems their booking has, plus heavily relying (and spending) on part timers could bite them in the ass at least in some way. But nope, 2018 comes around and they land two monster TV deals - even if FOX "demotes" Smackdown to FS1, it's gonna be their most watched show (besides a big live game here or there) - and a big international deal with Saudi Arabia that has them pretty much set for the next 5-6 years at least, unless a catastrophe of epic proportions happens. And I don't think even the XFL can fuck them over again. In that sense, yes, "it doesn't matter" anymore. I actually joked in another board after the USA and FOX deals we were entering the "I doesn't matter, they got their money" Era. It's worthwhile because it can lead to interesting discussions, but I don't think arguing about WWE's future based on their product is relevant. Not until we see a crack in the business. Which hasn't happened in forever and it doesn't look likely it will happen anytime soon. As you stated, it's more about aesthetic value and quality. The "it doesn't matter" talking point is pointless,I agree, but it will happen anyway because it's still kinda true. If you are asking for a courtesy because it's annoying or something then that's just not how the internet works I mean, you get people using the same "well, they are making money" argument from New Japan fans all the time when people rightfully critique their booking. Gotta roll with the punches I guess.