Seabs

My problem with Alexa is that she isnt good enough to carry a good singles match with anyone. And thats a big problem when the only womens singles matches that get time to be memorable are the matches involving the champ. Plus Ronda selling for Alexas offence is going to be a riot. She genuinely looked like she was struggling to life the briefcase to swing at Nia with any force last night. Same problem on SD with Carmella. Good character again but the matches suck and it means the quality of womens matches are held hostage by the two of them because the likes of Sasha and Becky and Ember and so on arent given the platform to provide the in ring quality.

Hell in a Cell is a month after Takeover Brooklyn so thats not happening.

People arguing for women in New Japan, what do they replace on the card? Because theres no way they can be an addition. Its a silly Americanised argument anyway. The annoying thing is the argument against it isnt easy to make because it a just is argument. All theyd be is a token gesture having matches presented as inferior to almost anything else on their show. The women have their own promotions. Maybe a STARDOM title defence on the Wrestle Kingdom card would be a nice novelty but its just something that is needed for Japanese Wrestling.

Remember not everyone easily finds these before they were stars matches like us lot have done in the past. To your average network viewer its a unique match to watch Batista before he was Batista. Theres more than one type of viewer and we dont represent the entire audience. Previously we were getting a drop of roughly 20 matches once a year, most of which were Leviathan/Kane type releases. Now were getting 52 releases a year. Even if we only get one hidden gem by our definition every six weeks were still getting more than we did beforehand.

Just looked it up, August 16th 92 episode of Main Event was the first airing. The Vader title win never aired anywhere so if its that then thats a new release and an awesome one too.

I dont think they ever aired it on Saturday Night but they 100% aired it on a Main Event shortly after it happened it either full or close to full with I think the entrances skipped over. I think they aired it on Power Hour too but Power Hour was almost exclusively repeats of Main Event/Worldwide matches by that point in 92.

Its a podcast invention and they all do podcasts. Whats he gonna do, refuse to attend because some other podcast guys say bad things about him? Plenty of journalist podcasters are there too not just him.

Now also being reported the plan is for it to move to 3 hours as well. Great.

I normally just roll my eyes at the sale talks but the longer this year goes on the more Im starting to think maybe theres at least something to it. Everything they do is so short term and corporate pleasing and maybe this Ronda hotshot has been dragged forward due to sale talks progressing. But then again theyre always like that so who knows.

Wrestling Nia Jax for the title. Already. Timing is so weird. TV felt like they were going for a slow build pairing her up with Mickie and then Natalya and then this comes out of nowhere. They were trying so hard before Mania to present her as not wanting to be handed anything and now here she is getting a title shot without ever wrestling a singles match. Plus Im not sure Nia is the person you want working with Ronda when its imperative she has a good match. Assuming she doesnt just run through her which she should but that kinda kills Nia dead. The timing is pretty dreadful honestly. Feels like they just skipped a good 6-9 months of content for Ronda.

I really dont think Bryan leaving in September would be a bad move for him. WWE havent made anyone a star since Cena and theyre just never going to get the most out of him. Hes a popular undersized babyface and their mentality with that act is always well we can beat them and theyll be fine and itll be great when they get that big win despite all them losses. And then they look at Mania 30 and that justified everything for them but Bryan got over in spite of their booking not because of it. Same for Punk. Same for AJ to a lesser extent. Just look at how bad theyve failed when they do to try to give guys the big protected push. Bryans already just another guy on the roster. He means about as much as Jeff Hardy does right now in terms of how theyre presenting him. The main reason for guys to stay in WWE is job security, pay and fame. I dont think any of those things matter to Bryan at this point. Hes had the big WWE run, I cant imagine hes thrilled working at the level hes been at wrestling under WWEs limitations. Hed be a bigger star leaving WWE for sure imo. Hed be the hottest act in wrestling and hed be working on his terms having the matches he wants to have. I think theres likely a good chance he built the whole outside of WWE thing up in his head when it looked the only possibility so big that its much more than a wouldnt that be cool thing for him now. He must also surely know that hes one bad bump away from being back in the hellhole he was before and if he signs a new contract its not going to be a short term because WWE know what will happen the moment his contract is up. The idea of a guy like Rollins or Owens or even Zayn leaving is silly. But Bryan, really not and thats what Daves point was, that hed be happier leaving and also be a bigger deal inside the wrestling bubble.

Are we creating ourselves a false narrative when it comes to Lashley. It feels like everyone has just decided that hed come in as a huge star with a monster push and be slotted into a big match with Brock. But nothing WWE have done has suggeated they view him at that level or prepping him for that sort of a rise. Im sure hell get there because everyone gets their turn at the top for a short run at some point bit I dont think theu brought him back to be one of the very top guys on either brand. So it almost feels unfair to be judging what theyre doing with him on a different curve to what theyre actually going for. Time will tell and maybe they are in which case its been really poor but atm I dont think so. Which brings me to the second part. He hasnt shown anything since he came back to suggest he should be anywhere near that level of a push. I didnt see any of his TNA run but so far hes looked just like the same Lashley from a decade ago. Super bland with some nice athleticism spots. Hes everything Braun is but ten times worse at it. Its one thing not being booked to look like a star but hes had plenty of ring time to show something and hes shown absolutely nothing to suggest hed do any better now with the level of push he got in 06/07 than he did then. Maybe he needs the heel turn and people are projecting his improved ability as a heel onto him as a babyface. But based on nothing other than what hes done in isolated matches theres nothing to suggest him vs Brock would be a match that would get over like the Joe and Braun matches did last year.

Dave said Brock isnt booked for the show. And nor should he be really. The MITB matches carry the show by itself.

How does that affect UFC?

Henry hasnt been officially announced but he did an interview saying hes in it. Theres also going to be a 15 minute intermission for prayer.

In fairness I assume the Rumble goes on last and lasts a good 90 minutes. A Rumble with all the stars its going to have in it is as good as anything to round out a 5-6 hour show. Top banter if they open with Reigns/Lesnar so they get the crowd at their hottest.

I was obviously not being serious.

If we get 2 hours of John Cena hijacking the undercard playing house show apron worker Cena from the front row opposite the hard cam then this will be the best Wrestlemania ever and will actually make me watch a match involving Orton, Jinder and Roode. Just imagine Cena marking out for Bryans return match and his look of shock and disgust when Shane turns on him. Ive talked up all these possibilities in my head way too much now that Im inevitably going to be dissapointed when it either doesnt happen or hes only there for a pre-show match or two. I have no idea how they go from Cena is off Mania to Taker turning up and making the match right there and then though. I mean they could do it however they like but as far as something that isnt completely hokey I dunno. Cena turning up in the crowd in full on Deadman attire and thats the breaking point would be absolutely magnificent. Im assuming they do the angle on the second hour of the pre-show thats on USA which is a pretty good idea actually. Would mark so hard if they do the angle and then Vince comes out and is all woah woah woah guys we already have a five hour card booked, theres no room for another match and snubs then both. And then they both take out Nia and Alexa and are all aha theres a spot open now and proceed to work an 8 minute sprint. Id be such a hoot booking this show btw.

He will and itll be the first match on the main show and the revolt will have died out by the time the main event starts five hours later.

Im still a tad baffled that they havent created playlists of individual matches themselves yet. If youre a new fan who isnt privy to places like this to find out what they need to look up then its a bit of a minefield. Even just something as simple as the 100 best matches on the network list they made a while back. Or something like John Cenas ten favourite matches ever. Also still dissapointed they havent utilised current and ex wrestlers talking about their matches even in alternative commentary or roundtable form. I cant imagine that being much of a financial investment and would likely be a really popular and resource light feature.

Weird because on Observer Radio he didnt seem convinced and said if youre not 100% then its probably not the full five. And then Bryan had some ugh line like oh well nothing to be upset about still a great match and I was about ready to slam the brakes and spew out the window. Havent seen the match yet but they also said there was a pretty big Ibushi botch that apparently knocked him loopy and sating that and then essentially calling it a perfect match feels very oxymoronic.

Such a weird way to announce it. Surely you do a hot angle on Smackdown and go off the air announcing his match for Mania, not announcing it via a press release where that initial reaction isnt recorded.

Out there opinion but name it the #1 Contenders Battle Royal and the winner gets a title shot on the Raw/SD after Mania.

Thats fine on TV and Lesnar destroying Kane on a house show is exactly what should happen but make it an extended squash and give the crowd time to do their suplex city chant and play their part in the show. That said maybe one of them is rehabbing a knock and if that someone is Lesnar then the damage from this is better than the damage from Lesnar not being 100% for Mania.

The Network is already a smart idea. It was a smart idea the moment they were able to stream Mania without the feed being butchered. I don't think anyone is debating that, only whether they put too much on it too soon for too little (or just if Mania should be on or not). And obviously from a WWE Financials pov not a customer one.