MoS

Just needs a "survive and prevail" line and "WWE Universe" and it will be perfect

I cannot believe I am saying this, but to be fair to Seth, he did a decent job given what he had to work with. His expressions are still terrible and he cannot cut a decent interview to save his life - although a lot of that has to do with WWE scripting every single word of promos to ensure all the catchphrases and their favourite terms are mentioned in the promo - but this booking was always going to kill both him and the match. It was genuinely terrible booking, and I am honestly shocked WWE did this once again for Hell in a Cell, a gimmick which promises the absence of such fuck finishes. From what I have read, they did not even have an impromptu dark match between Rollins and Fiend to send the live crowd home happy, and that is not just incompetent booking, it's genuinely contemptuous, spiteful booking.

A finish by ref's intervention in a gimmick whose selling point is that it does not end until one wrestler pins or submits the other? This is legit bullshit.

So the Fiend is strong enough to kick out of 500 curb stomps, but not strong enough to remove all the stuff on his face even when Seth is taking about 5 minutes to set shit up?

Rollins is terrible, but the WWE is doing him no favours by having the most over wrestlers in the company be in the first two matches. I dread the kind of smoke and mirrors that will probably be present in the main event.

The crowd has popped the most in this match not for any of the elaborate, contrived spots involving 10 objects and taking 20 seconds to set up, but for Becky and Sasha punching the crap out of each other repeatedly. It's not as if I am saying something that's not been said a million times in these parts either. WWE makes pro wrestling more complicated than it really is.

He is absolutely better than Rollins. Rollins is terrible as a main eventer. He is probably the best wrestler they have on the roster. However, he is also in the era where the WWE brand is basically the only draw. Not only does that restrict the growth of the wrestlers, but it is doubly draining when the WWE brass and management are always pushed as the bad guys, and heat almost always goes on the promotion and not individuals.

One time when he seemed finally over the hump was after Vince killed himself to get him over, and he was booked like a badass and fans started cheering for him, and his title win was welcomed. Then Hunter came back and won the Royal Rumble to become champ, and of course Reigns had to chase the almighty God-King, where the focus was on Hunter so he could have his WM main event epic, and even though Reigns won, we were back to square one. It's amazing how a promotion built on the back of badass babyfaces has forgotten how to book badass babyfaces.

I get your point about net neutral not being bad. However, when Reigns had initially started getting a main event push, mixed reactions to him were countered with the example of John Cena, and the fact that he sold merchandise. I am sure the merchandise argument still stands today - although given how pushed he is and how long he has been a main event wrestler, he should be selling a lot of merchandise - but Cena was a proper draw who would get a lot of fans to tune into his segments and buy tickets for his matches. Reigns, for whatever reason, has not come close to it. It's certainly an indictment of WWE's general creative direction and booking over the last 5 years or so.

Listening to Meltzer on the Observer radio, the Roman match remained flat as far as ratings are concerned, and the Rollins match lost viewers. Some of it was inevitable, since the show opened with Rock and that was always going to be the highest rated segment no matter what, but it is telling that the two biggest stars/faces of the company are pretty much non-factors when it comes to drawing viewers. Seth, from what I have read, actually drives viewers away from his segments and matches consistently.

I agree that the Jay and Silent Bob segment was weird and could have been better done.They should have given a better intro of both Evans/Angelico and Private Party.

Also, Brandi is excellent in the sense that her actions lead to direct heat in the match and on the wrestlers. That was something neither Stephanie nor Shane could ever do, even in 2000-2001 when they would take a lot of bumps as opposed to the last few years when Steph has been treated as the God-Empress of WWE. Vince drawing attention to himself in matches and segments was fine because Vince is arguably the greatest heel in WWE history; Shane and Steph doing that was not. From everything I have seen of Brandi, from her valet act in (or just outside) the ring to her promos, she is excellent at getting the matches and wrestlers over. Hell, Cody gets God-like reactions on AEW shows, and I would argue Brandi has been massively instrumental in getting him over to that level. Even in this particular case, Sammy putting Brandi in harm's way got the crowd massively riled up, and even more invested in the match and Sammy getting his comeuppance. I fail to see how Brandi's actions/booking had a negative impact, honestly.

They HAVE to pull the trigger on Cody. He's by a massive distance the most over guy in AEW right now.

I have purchased the Fite TV subscription and cannot wait. There are a lot of teething issues with AEW and I hope they get addressed, but on balance, the sterile pro wrestling landscape definitely needed - and needs - AEW, and I am happy to contribute to it in whatever way I can. I just hope I can find a way to switch off the live chat next to it cuz I have never come across a live chat which does not make me want to hit people in anger.

One of the languages was Punjabi. It actually sounds cooler in the native tongue

Her response to that was pretty brutal and although it was personal, Seth deserved it for talking about having underwhelming matches - pro wrestlers talking about how great their matches are in kayfabe instead of winning and losing is one of modern wrestling's tropes I hate, and I do not know if it is fair, but I blame Shawn Michaels for it. Seth should avoid trash-talking people; it never seems to work out for him. Sasha-Lynch will certainly be a better match than Rollins-Fiend, although that is not really Seth's fault. I firmly believe that Fiend should not be wrestling for the world title yet, and Seth has been booked pretty weakly leading to the match.

Thanks for clarifying. This might be grading on a curve, but I loved the segment and I hope segments and feuds like this continue on WWE screentime.

I haven't watched Smackdown. But I hope this was aired live and was not one of those "exclusive on the internet" segments. They have done a really good job of building this feud, and I hope they do not overcomplicate it or get too cute with it the way they did with Lynch-Charlotte-Rousey during the build-up to Wrestlemania. Just let these two talk trash and beat the hell out of each other. That's the best kind of pro wrestling.

I came to this (fairly obvious?) epiphany during one of the initial sequences of Cody v. Spears at All Out. Spears is, well, as Cody put it, a good hand, and not really someone that would light the crowds on fire. Yet, during some initial face shine sequence early on in their match, Cody posed on the turnbuckles (I think) and the crowd just went completely apeshit for him. It really was incredible to watch. On another note, Brandi also deserves a lot of credit for the success of Cody. She is a genuinely great promo clearly. I was talking to one of my best friends, who is also a huge wrestling fan, about this, and he said that while he loves Brandi, he would hope that she would stop cutting face promos in one segment while being a heel and cutting heel promos in another segment/angle (in the women's title scene, for instance). He said it is a lot like Triple H at his worst, and I agree with my buddy. I hope Brandi's character is streamlined - not sure it is the right word to use, but feels more fitting - so there are no mixed signals sent to casual followers of the product.

I agree that the anti-HHH part probably does play a big role, but one of the things that has always struck me while watching the AEW shows is just how much the AEW audience treats Cody as "their guy", if that makes sense. He does have the rep of being underutilised in WWE. He is just perfect ace material for AEW right now.

I do agree with C.S on one thing though - out of all the founding fathers of AEW, Omega has looked the least like a genuine superstar, despite all his excellent matches. You can blame the booking for it, but Cody had a pretty mediocre NWA champion reign, and yet, in front of the AEW audience, he genuinely comes across as the biggest wrestling star in the world. Sure, you can blame that on the booking, but it's not as if WWE's booking does the developmental stars any great favours either.

I really don't believe we're ahead of the curve as far as hating Mauro is concerned, cuz he is legit unbearable. I refuse to see how you can listen to him every week and not start hating him and his stupid pop-culture references. Imagine him doing commentary during the time Razor Ramon was debuting. He would have referenced every shitty knock-off and tribute to Scarface there has ever been made.

Lynch v. Banks was excellent, the best match of the night. Becky turned in a fantastic babyface performance; her fiance should take notes.

Your "arguments" have been countered plenty. I was just pointing out facts. No need to get emotional.

We got people who would start whining and bitching as soon as their bullshit was called out, without an iota of self-awareness?