MoS

Give me the PENTA fist-bumping Schiavone gif NOW

Catching up on Rampage. Hobbs-Orange was disappointing. The finish was crap, and I got tired of Jericho bickering with Taz on commentary. Remove him from there now please.

It's his chops that do the most visual damage. Some wrestlers like Bret Hart despise chops, some love them. Dunno how Corny feels about them.

Danielson hasn't been unleashed in terms of a wider moveset, unless by that you just mean hitting hard. Yes, there is more to wrestling than moves and action, which is precisely why Bryan looks far more comfortable and at home, while Punk feels tentative and unsure of himself. It's about how you move, your intensity, how you carry yourself, how snug and convincing your offence looks, how well you bump and sell, etc. Danielson has been better than Punk at all those things. There seems to be a false binary between "smart work" and "performative work that plays to what the crowd wants." The idea that Danielson hasn't wrestled smart matches or that his matches are just fan service are a disservice to the stories he has been trying to tell with his matches in the ring. There's more to smart storytelling than pointing your fingers at your head. Bryan's match with Omega was nothing like his match with Suzuki, which was nothing like his match with Nick Jackson. All matches had different stories. You are pointing to good logical work in Punk's matches, but there was similar logical work in Danielson's matches too. You are making it sound as if he is out here wrestling Davey Richards-Eddie Edwards matches. If you want to defend his WWE run and the matches these, sure, do so, (I love so many of those matches too, and a couple of them I have above Danielson-Omega) but just saying "Punk isn't being appreciated more than Danielson because these fans appreciate the wrong things in matches and don't get why Punk is being so great" can only take you so far. There have been plenty of articles written about the storytelling in Danielson's matches, how it feels different from Daniel Bryan matches, how his selling and storytelling have been top-notch. There was an excellent review of the Suzuki match by Jimmy Redman in the Rampage thread, for example. You might disagree, but you are acting as if these Danielson matches have been praised for action and workrate alone, which is just not true.

Meltzer writes about how Cornette in his local regional promos would constantly make inside jokes and other things designed to pop the crowd. It isn't surprising that some of the more acclaimed and beloved people in wrestling smarkdom are the ones who realized early on the power of the written word, even in a medium as despised as dirtsheets. Ironic, given Meltzer's own stance on re-evaluating past performances.

Yeah, I mean it isn't a presumption based on an image in my idealized brain that Danielson feels more dangerous and badass here than he did in WWE, or that Punk has had better runs than he has had here. It is simple reality. Point to individual matches and little things Danielson did all day long, it doesn't change his overall booking pattern. I am honestly not sure what this means. Nor the point about EVIL. Yeah, freedom when misused by bad workers is bad. What does that have to do with Danielson? Danielson doesn't need base quality control. He can actually make good use of the lack of restrictions, unlike EVIL. The reason people say Punk is trying to get his reps back in his matches, is because he is clearly trying to get his reps back in. There have been numerous times when he has blown up and needed to grab a hold, or when his opponent has been working around him, etc etc. He isn't doing a back to basics approach, he is getting his basics in order. It isn't about moves either; as mentioned, Bryan hasn't come close to utilizing his full moveset in WWE. I honestly don't see how you can watch Punk move and feel he is anywhere near his best. For Bryan, he has had two matches right out of the gate which have been considered MOTYcs. Is it a surprise that his run has been more lauded? You can think the matches are overrated, but that's an argument about the merits of WWE house style vis a vis the modern AEW/NJPW style; that's a larger point beyond Punk and Danielson.

His case status as a HOF manager is certainly better than his promoter one. Booker one I can still understand although it can be debated, but ECW lost money every year of its existence, and a lot of it was due to Heyman's financial mismanagement and his inability to strike the right deals at the right time, which are part of being a HOF promoter.

You got to respect how no matter how many times he loses favour, he always finds a way to get right in the middle of whatever is the biggest thing going on in WWE.

Did you watch that particular match? He has had a few matches where he wasn't just a plucky underdog. That said, I do think he is definitely presenting himself in a way he never was allowed in WWE. I think he has a few matches in WWE I prefer over the Omega match, but he was never the American Dragon in WWE. Not really. He never felt so dangerous as he does here. I have enjoyed Punk's run so far, but I have seen better versions of Punk before, while this is the first time we are properly seeing Dragon on a major stage in a big-time setting. His run has been very special so far.

Hopefully this means Ibushi can properly recover from his pneumonia as well. I can't imagine that had no role in his injury.

Apparently, TNT has changed Dynamite's airing schedule due to their recent NHL deal in such a way where Western and Mountain time zone viewers will no longer be able to watch it at 8 PM, which will have a significant impact on ratings. As of now, it is only for one week, but it seems to be planned until the move to TBS. Given this modification as well as the numerous pre-emptions throughout the year, the TBS move increasingly seems like the best possible move for them. TNT might be more prestigious due to NBA, but TBS will have a stronger lead-in. Sports will always be more prestigious than wrestling, and constantly getting shafted due to hockey and basketball must not be fun for TK.

What was the agenda for the show? Austin and Jeff's heat?

One way to heat up Smackdown and give Roman a fresh lease of main event life would be a double turn at Saudi. Fans are ready to cheer him without backlash now. I think that's what they are planning on doing too, if Heyman's comments are any indication.

It was the least rated FS1 show in the demo (and probably also overall viewership, although I haven't checked) in Smackdown history, all having big games on Fox, including one that went against a big college football game. None of those SD shows were as loaded as this one.

Forgot about Roman-Wyatt (not complaining though), that is also another good example. I should check out Rollins-Dominick.

That's a really bad example to use. "She's just as cool as she was before, she is just being booked as a heel now, against faces" is also the point I am making. It's why I find it so unappealing. That is the problem, it's why I have no interest in seeing her in a role where she is supposed to get booed. I don't enjoy booing her. Thus this argument that she behaves the same with everyone doesn't hold water with me when she is being clearly positioned as a heel against Bianca. Also, her demeanour absolutely changed after she became a face. She was no longer saying she hates the fans for not believing in her. She was no longer walking out of her matches midway like a coward, the way she did against Charlotte in their last woman standing match. If anything, they went too far the other direction for a while immediately after, giving into the usual trope of making her an underdog babyface against the evil McMahons. She was booked like the company ace in 2019.

Do we have an example of Rollins carrying an inferior worker to a good to great match? I think Moxley did that with Brian Cage and managed to drag something decent out of Jake Hager in an empty arena match. Roman I think has had very good matches with Baron Corbin and Edge. Are there similar Rollins matches in the same category? I am not being facetious; it's a genuine question.

Neither guy is making my list I don't think, but I had to go with Shawn because his worst traits are not nearly as annoying as Omega's to me, and while Shawn's Rockers run has rightly been mentioned, I don't think Omega has put everything together in terms of character work and in-ring work which incorporates character work and personality into matches, into an incredible package with a great consistent run, the way Shawn had during his heel 1997-98 run. From his role as the guest ref for Bret-Taker at Summerslam to the time he dropped the belt to Austin at WM 14 in 1998, his run was absolutely stunning. I don't think any heel in WWF has got the heat he was getting then, even with Vince at his peak, I don't think the crowd hatred was that visceral. The only thing that works against him is Omega's lackeys, the Good Brothers, while completely useless and always stinking up the screen, haven't been as harmful to wrestling as Shawn's minion ultimately turned out to be.

So were Austin and Rock always. Doesn't mean you should turn them heel. Dressing obnoxiously doesn't turn you heel when everyone loves you; it probably increases the love. Rock wearing sunglasses indoors was obnoxious too after all. Also the Edge thing was before she officially turned face.

Yeah I think while him losing to Okada for the first time worked great for NJPW long-term, it wasn't as good for his personal drawing power. Difference was that New Japan's future at that time was tied to Okada (and Omega) and not Naito, while in this case, Page is the future.

I don't think there's any way AEW comes close to WWE's 50+ numbers in years at least. It's a generation that either became fans as kids/teenagers when Hogan was the champ, or in their 20s/30s when the Attitude Era happened. WWE is the only wrestling they have basically ever known. It's an entirely different ballpark. To them, AEW is genuinely a pissant t-shirt company.

People also keep pointing to Naito and that is such a different case altogether, and that is without going into the different format of American wrestling, with weekly primetime TV.

Beat it in the head to head battle in the target demo too. When a promotion is hot, it's hot.

The Rampage half-hour which went head to head with 30 minutes of Smackdown actually beat that Smackdown half-hour in the key demo, which absolutely stunned me, given that Rampage had Matt Sydal and the fucking Bunny as one side of the quarters

I am seeing some talk on Twitter about how Hangman losing at this PPV and winning down the line is better for the story. I thought he shouldn't take a pinfall loss to Omega when he finally meets him one on one in any case, but to have him lose after the promo he cut last Dynamite would be completely crazy to me. He is more than ready now to be the ace.