MoS

I wasn't sure what to think of it at first but Vickie made it worth it.

MJF is really really good at interviews.

Wow I was NOT expecting the result. Although Darby looked really strong in defeat.

Selling PPV and the Network is the only thing Meltzer has reported so far to my knowledge.

Wow was NOT expecting them to start with this.

Darby is going over Cody, right?

Dolph is interesting. I don't think his promos are good and his selling is what it is, but I can imagine him getting over as part of some heel tag team in NJPW.

Pretty much this. Also the anti-Roman thing is a good point - he could not swim on his own. His character not really changing is interesting because since the Shield broke up, I am not sure if he has had an actual character. The Kingslayer, the Beastslayer, Burn It Down, okay, but who is he? Why, for instance, is he the Monday Night Messiah? CM Punk's saviour gimmick really stemmed organically from him being straight-edge and having a perfect foil in Jeff Hardy. Why does Seth do anything he does beyond "someone scripted him to do so"?

I like Miz's promos but I despise his facial expressions.

Perhaps a better answer is someone who benefits from scripted promos and having a house style that ensures a baseline of quality. I cannot immediately think of a name though.

I was thinking this as well. All his ideas seem to be executable only with WWE's production and general aesthetic.

As The Indian Guy here, I'm really sad they cannot seem to find anyone other than Jinder as their Indian star.

I don't know what the consensus is about Rollins and his promos, but he is still unbearable to me.

As was Cain Velasquez. Now who will teach shoot holds to wrestlers when Vince is looking to screw his world champ

If he had been allowed to cut his usual promos I think he would have broken through. From anecdotal experience, lifetime WWF fans don't remember much of his WWF run but they remember With a tear in my eye.

Wonder if Corny will cut a promo on CAC

Flair would have been treated like he was purely a gimmick in 1988 WWF. Everyone was a gimmick there at that point: Dibiase was the million dollar man, Hennig was Mr Perfect. Flair would have been Nature Boy, a colourful gimmick, which would have been a huge injustice to him because Ric Flair, for better or for worse, was not a gimmick. It really was him. And I don't think he would have ever been allowed to get over that aspect on WWF TV. When he did jump, Hogan in one of the promos basically said that some people were thinking the match was a big deal but it actually was not. He would have been treated like another colourful villanous character for Hogan to overcome. On the plus side, I don't think Vince would have humiliated him the way he did Dusty, but that's because Flair, while not young anymore, was still at his peak. Not a big plus but at least there is that.

I think Vince gets that reaction when he comes on TV because he is a legend on-screen as well and people have respect for it. If anything, hasn't the narrative been that Vince no longer has it and HHH is going to save wrestling when he finally ascends to the top? NXT is no longer as hot as it used to be, but really, I think the person shielded most from criticism in the last few years has been HHH, which is hilarious when you think about it.

Cassidy was definitely over with his character, but I really think he became a star with the PAC match where he gave a babyface performance for the ages. I think he is becoming a ratings draw as well, which is the best sign of someone becoming a star to the general fanbase of the promotion.

Cassidy is as over as he is because of his selling. I do think one of the top stars of a promotion should have a much more hierarchical match with jobbers. People will always point to Flair, but a) Flair was great despite that, not because of it; and b) I would argue Flair doing that did hurt JCP eventually, since Hogan was so dominant in the other promotion and while Flair, like Rock, could always get his heat back because he was such a tremendous promo, it definitely made fans eventually feel that one champ was more legit than the other. X-Pac was never one of the top guys of the promotion, and one of the reasons was probably that fans would not buy him as a top guy because he would show ass in a squash match. In any case, this issue has been way overblown. I thought it was stupid but not a big deal. But every choice Omega makes seems to become a big deal among hardcore fans.

Vince looks OLD. I guess I forget just how old he is because for the longest time, he has seemed immortal.

From what I remember from reading the Observer, the first time WWF and Flair came really, formally close to talking about him jumping was some time shortly after Arn and Tully jumped. It was when the relationship between Flair and Dusty was probably at its nadir, and I guess Flair was just tired of it. But then Turner decided to buy the company and made it abundantly clear that it was contingent on Flair being there. I think this was around the same time Dusty wanted Flair to put over Rick Steiner in 4 minutes at Starrcade.

I would agree with that, with the caveat that heel Flair's offence was such that a jobber babyface beating him up seemed far more possible than a jobber often getting the better of babyface best wrestler in the world Omega. Matt Hardy expanding his gimmick to include Normal Matt (or as close to normal as Matt Hardy has ever been) and Crazy Matt is really a very good example of AEW listening to the audience and trying to adjust accordingly.

Unless that completely unknown random guy is going to become a George South-esque mini-celebrity jobber, I don't see how having him go toe to toe with your top guy, including kicking out of a V-trigger, helps anybody.

Loving this evolution tbh