Alucard

I feel like they've done several in the past.... AOP/Sanity last year... maybe Sasha/Becky years back I think both were still heel. But I could also see Bianca turning face. I haven't watched NXT the last 5-6 months or so but she was always a highlight whenever she was on.

Basically just an elevated boston crab. HHH was using the Indian Deathlock in 02-03, I believe JR tried to call it the "H-Hold Indian Deathlock" at one point and it was in his moveset in the games at the time. He also busted it out against Rollins last year. On a side note, every Triple H/Maven match was awesome, really great 'top star vs underdog babyface' formula matchups.

He did, beat Heath Slater in the lead up to RAW 1000 then appeared on RAW 1000 in the Slater vs. the Legends segment. I wish more Sid in WWE followed.

Undertaker definitely always kept the Last Ride as a near fall, often in the spot of 'guy doing 10 punch in corner is shockingly caught in Last Ride position' which was also the finish vs. Mark Henry at Unforgiven 2007. As mentioned Rollins' pedigree, there was a few weeks in between where he was trying that weird forward DDT/facebuster type move. Kane's falling powerbomb finish in the early 2000s. Jericho's Breakdown finish in 01/02. Zack Ryder's Zack Attack finish before he just went with the signature Rough Ryder as his finish. Sheamus original High Cross crucifix bomb before settling on the Brogue Kick as his finish. I'd forgotten about Raven using the ankle lock. A lot of the times when guys that didn't normally do submissions suddenly started using one, it didn't stick, outside of Cena keeping the STF. I think of Lesnar's Brocklock, originally the bearhug he used on Hogan in 02 then the stretch muffler in 03/04 but even now the Kimura seems rare compared to his 2012/2013 matches. Jeff Hardy using "the spine line" in 2004 TNA to combat Jarrett's figure four. Triple H using a sleeper hold to win a couple matches in late 2002. I feel like there's a lot of recent examples that are slipping my mind.

I was thinking AJ was heading towards the Viper at Mania as that's still a relatively fresh match Triple H (if not injured) I thought was going for Batista if available.

I really liked Ronda/Natalya, went about 15 mins with a fun story of Ronda being hesitant to beat on her friend while Natalya would capitalize on any opportunity of Ronda not pulling the trigger.

The three womens matches were all pretty awesome. Main event was insane, Ronda and Nia seem to work well together, and Natalya/Ruby was great with a hot crowd.

This is amazing, we need the next 2 hours!

That initial August 2016 to April 2017 era of SDL felt like peak level stuff where everything was firing on all cylinders, new stars were being created, awesome matches/feuds were happening, it was on fire. Until as you said the shakeup bombed the roster. These days it feels like there's some pretty good stuff going on but there is still so much of the 'half the roster disappears for weeks/months at a time with no mention' going on, whereas the 16/17 era had most everyone being used well.

This week they seemed to go out of their way to do the opposite, with the exception of Roode getting squashed 3 on 1.

I love the Iiconics He did a great job coming off like 'the man' when he was WWE Champ then, great promo work in the build to SummerSlam. I much prefer him as a face than heel.

The second one for sure. And then they are pinned clean in 3 minutes on top of that. They've always felt lesser than what they were to me since the Maverick pairing started, this feels like it's going to stick with them for as long as the pairing lasts. They were going way over the top with toilet humor last night that it feels like it will be a regular thing going forward.

They couldn't figure it out either.

Agreed, that was the feud when Alexa became my favorite in the company but both women were killing it in their segments together back then.. a major highlight of one of the best periods of Smackdown.

Agreed x2. Great show, matches and scenes, total Lucha Underground and was a phenomenal finish to the season making it all worth it. Bring on season 5!

Co-signed, I always praise that match and thought about mentioning it in my initial post. To me that's the match/moment that kicked off my favorite period of TNA from BFG to BFG 2011-2012. Biggest pop in TNA history for Hulkamania running wild. Loved it and it was perfectly executed all the way around.

Agreed on all of those... each one of those names had some really great stuff in their TNA Runs. Was definitely an exciting time, as mentioned the 2-3 month build to Jarrett/Raven was fantastic.

Shane got big heel heat in the opening but went out of his way seemingly to shut that down and turn it back around to cheers, including making sure to emphasize he does NOT believe he is really the best in the world and it's for all of Smackdown. Felt like the complete opposite of wanting him to turn heel or get booed. I'm with the pro-Shane crowd, always enjoy his 2-3 matches a year... loved the Styles match, HIAC with Owens, and the Survivor Series 2016 was my favorite. Also he was definitely not the focal point of tonight's main event segment, being out there for 10 seconds at the very end.

2003 Juventud Guerrera vs. Teddy Hart (Sept 3 2003) is a fun one - If not already mentioned, Jeff Jarrett vs Raven (April 30 2003) was one of the best built up matches they ever had and the pinnacle of a "Double J Special" (babyface version) kind of clusterfuck of a match, but a spectacle for sure. 2004 - Kazarian vs. AJ Styles (June 9 2004) is one of my all time fav X Division matches (somewhat botched finish aside) - Kazarian/Michael Shane vs AJ Styles Ultimate X (July 28 2004) was maybe my favorite of the early ultimate X matches. I remember AJ hitting the Styles Clash off the cables being the most insane spot then. - Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Harris (March 17 2004) I recall liking a lot, I was all in on wanting Harris to win the title in the buildup around this time. - I wanna say one of the AMW/Naturals tags was good, maybe the cage match from July 21 2004. 2007 Jeff Jarrett vs Bobby Roode (Sacrifice 07) same show as the Harris/Storm Texas Death but I remember liking this a lot as the first very good Roode performance vs a great Jarrett babyface performance. 2009 - Have to throw a mention to the Kevin Nash vs. Mick Foley (Hard Justice 09) blood brawl that a few of us here recently praised. Forgot that in my initial post. - I recall really digging Hamada vs Nikki Roxx from New Year's Knockouts Eve Impact show. Similarly Hamada has a pair of 2-3 min matches with Sarita & Taylor Wilde in Nov/Dec 09 that are super short but really good.

There really is a great amount. Aries/Roode from Dest X 2012 may be my all time fav. Co-signed on Aries/Bully from Sacrifice, also loved Aries/Joe from Slammiversary 2012. I'll throw out some more off the top of my head... Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy (No Surrender 2010) Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell - Last Woman Standing (Slammiversary 2013) Bobby Lashley vs. Drew Galloway (Slammiversary 2016) Bobby Lashley vs. Eddie Edwards - Steel Cage Match (Impact, 7/21/16) Bobby Lashley vs. James Storm (Impact, 8/11/16) Moose vs. Mike Bennett (One Night Only: Live 2017) Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe (Destination X 2007) Most recently.. oVe vs Pentagon/Fenix/Swann (Impact 7/12/18) and of course.. The Final Deletion: Broken Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy (Impact, 7/5/16)

That actually crossed my mind too ha, have become accustomed to that epic entrance music part of him when he's without mask. Thought it was a nice sendoff for the character if that's the end for him.

I've just never seen the big deal about Braun. Felt like he did get pretty over a year ago, then Brock beat him and he was never the same since then. But I've never gotten this 'next big thing' vibe from him at all, especially this past year with all the corny goofball babyface stuff they had him doing.

Sad to hear on both accounts. Shane O is a great babyface authority figure, we do not need another heel one. I was hoping this was just ramping up the Survivor Series RAW vs SDL stuff like he did last year where Shane came off kind of heelish at times and that was it. Zero desire to ever see another brock/braun match.. it sucked last year, today, and next time... move on to someone else please.

The last portion of the show was total fun. Brock kicking Braun's ass in 3 minutes with like 4 F5s and literally nothing else. Shane McMahon becoming the best wrestler in the world today, pinning Dolph Ziggler in 2 1/2 minutes. And the DX/Brothers epic.. wild

I'll always support them getting serious about pushing Lashley. Nothing's really clicked thus far but maybe they'll put him over strong in the world Cup. I'll keep waiting for 2016 Impact Lashley to burst out. Lucha House Party was promoted as their "RAW Debut" making it sound like they were being called up from the developmental 205 live league. I was thinking Orton would end up winning it, they all stay and become Team SDL for Survivor Series with Captain ShaneO. Orton's been booked pretty strong since the heel turn while on the RAW side, I think Dean will screw Seth, they never get fully behind Lashley, Kurt as much as I would love it won't win it, and Dolph is Dolph. That is correct.