Migs

This was quite good, some quality indy wrestling. Could have been taken up a bit in the selling department (both the immediate response to moves and long-term damage), but everything hit clean, and the exchanges were very cool. This was at the level of a lot of WCW openers from around this time. It's interesting to see Ki in there at this point with more spot-based workers, because he got known for a somewhat different, more stiffness based style. Curious to see that evolve, or whether perhaps he had it in him already and was simply adapting to who he was in the ring with.

The VOD revolution combined with WWE going more international does feel a bit like the mid-80s, in the sense that the wrestling world is rearranging itself, and the bases of power are shifting. WWE is of course positioning itself well, but it also feels like things may shake out over the next couple of years such that there is stronger opposition (maybe New Japan, or maybe a few of the indies becoming more viable via a popular streaming service).

It's really only a couple of weeks he was there, though. He got drafted to ECW right before he was erased from history. Coliseum Videos are a good call, too - pretty sure a lot are digitized and it would be pretty easy chum for the fans of older stuff.

Not sure if Embry is working us on that phone call he received, but the story he told about the tax on the wrestlers was pretty interesting. His stuff on the Brody story was also some stuff I had not heard before (but I also haven't sought out the details).

Not exactly an answer to your question but someone asked Dave if we'd ever see Florida footage on the network and his reply was pretty much that they don't seem to think it's worth the time and money needed to make them network worthy. Which made me the saddest of pandas. Yeah, I doubt they're anywhere near going deep in terms of territory footage. I could see them going further on WCW Saturday Night. In terms of stuff they've already got digitized for sure, there's PTW (from the 24/7 days, up into at least 1989 I think), and they have edited versions of some years of Wrestling Challenge and Superstars from the online WWE Classics. But otherwise, it feels pretty open and I don't have a good hunch about what they'd determine is important enough.

LOVE the song choice.

It appears 2009 Smackdown is going up. Have we gotten any hints about what their next project will be when they finish up Smackdown?

Cena/Nikki v. Miz/Maryse would make for some good wrestling TV and good reality TV. Win-win.

I'm with you - this felt very indy, and didn't have the spark of Dragon and Spanky working against each other. It was fine, competent, but nothing particularly special.

I agree with that. The crowd would have shit all over Orton winning otherwise I think. I agree, although it's interesting that they were booking for Orton to get a pop when he's nominally a heel. Perhaps an indication that they're moving toward him v. Bray quickly.

I don't know. If they do Undertaker-Reigns, maybe they do Cena-Orton in a final showdown type deal?

Is that the Reigns heel turn?

BOOOOOOOOO

That was just the right amount of time for Goldberg.

That was a cool staredown.

Calling a Jericho win.

Was not expecting Corbin to be the one to eliminate Strowman.

Really enjoyed the process of explaining James Ellsworth to my wife.

The finish definitely played off the SS match: AJ put him away with the Styles Clash -> springboard elbow, but Cena was waiting for it and countered. Yes, for sure. A good touch.

And to be clear, I liked the Summerslam match. They have great chemistry. Just felt very similar. (The part I saw. Will watch the whole thing tomorrow.)

I got home midway through, but it seems like they kinda had the same match as Summerslam with a different finish?

I actually liked this quite a bit. Guido wrestled well as the underdog, and he got in a bit of his more shoot-based offense which worked to help his credibility. Guido really nicely worked himself into Awesome's typical match.

Dug Corino's promo. The arena setup here lends itself really nicely to the crowd brawl. Enjoyed this. Nothing too special, but these guys had worked together a million times and know how to have a good brawl. Finish was nicely put together.