DMJ

So...Bill Simmons/The Ringer and the WWE struck a deal recently to produce some content together and I know that, on his podcast, David Shoemaker has talked a bit about CM Punk and All Out, but it definitely strikes me as "odd" that there hasn't been any actual main page articles about AEW considering what a huge event All Out was. I put "odd" in quotes because its really not that odd that WWE would probably have, in some fashion or form, let it be known that they'd prefer The Ringer not cover the "non-competition," especially when the "non-competition" is doing things like putting on almost universally-praised, all-time great PPVs and, according to rumor, doing PPV numbers in the 200k range (which is basically what the lesser WWE shows were striving to get pre-Network). But as someone who likes reading long-form takes about wrestling from a more mainstream, "outside the bubble" view, it does kinda suck that The Ringer will seemingly no longer really be covering the biggest news stories in wrestling in fear that it will hurt Vince's feelings.

I always got the impression that, upon entering WWE, by those us at RSPW and other places, Jericho was seen as the "better Triple H" and I think that comparison remains fairly apt. I'm about as low on Triple H as people can get, but if I look back at my own match reviews of hundreds of hundreds of matches, I'd be lying if Triple H wasn't involved in a dozen 4+ star matches. Jericho, similarly, has a bunch of matches that I think, in context, when I watched them, I found to be really good to great throughout his career and against a fairly wide variety of opponents - from Regal to The Rock to Eddie to various multi-mans in the 2000s. I'd never consider him a super worker, but his resume stands up pretty well (and that's before we even include his higher end stuff against Mysterio and Michaels). As far as charisma/mic work, I think there's some short-changing going on because we're 20+ years removed from the context. At the time, Jericho's irreverent humor was unique and it got him over. It didn't necessarily age well, but context matters. And Jericho continued to carry himself like a star for a long time, which helped make his returns seem like much bigger deals than they really were. I'm far from a Jericho stan and think he himself has a very inflated ego, but saying that he "sucks" and "has always sucked" is going a bit too far the other way.

Not much to add to the conversation, but I go a full 5 stars on this. - Is the "botch" worked? If so, it is even a botch? I think the psychology is actually super sound in that moment. Shawn had pulled that same move on just about everyone and Mankind outsmarts him by not following him into the corner, which is why, in kayfabe, Shawn has that sourpuss face and gets pissed. Michaels thought Mankind was a reckless animal that would instinctively follow him into the corner the way his other opponents did but...nope. Instead, Mankind stays in his corner and Michaels now has to go back to brawling, which leads to a tremendous exchange with Michaels' punches and Mankind's near-Mandible Claw application being even more believable and hard fought. I love moments like this when wrestling doesn't look like overly choreographed ballet but also plays into the characters of both guys. Shawn was the babyface and the babyface usually doesn't get outsmarted. Mankind was an unhinged maniac but revealed that he was actually dangerously intelligent. - As someone else said, the twists and turns of this match are breathtaking. The pacing of this match is breakneck, but its not a sprint and all the major spots are sold well. There is escalation of violence, but also there's actual wrestling too. Even the knock of Mankind not selling the knee for the latter half can be explained away as Foley does actually "stab" himself in the knee to get the feeling back into it. Its "wrestling logic" that this would somehow make one's leg feel better and not worse, but its also Mankind, whose masochism was part of his gimmick, especially at that time. I also love that Shawn losing his cool and getting into it with Hebner, multiple times, pretty much always leads to a shift in momentum. This match isn't "your turn/my turn" because the shifts in control are organic and, again, based on the characters' weaknesses and remarkable toughness/resiliency. - For a match this brutal, with such hard-hitting spots, it actually works completely without any blood. - I think the finish works. Does this match deserve a clean finish? Definitely. But I don't think the finish really detracts too, too much. The crowd certainly doesn't shit on it either. The Undertaker's surprise appearance from the casket is a great moment, too, completely unexpected by the live crowd and, honestly, they produced it really well with the casket being open (without Undertaker inside) just minutes before. I also like that Mankind does actually apply the Mandible Claw towards the end too, further cementing that even if Shawn had it won, there's always the question mark of whether Mankind would've somehow applied his finisher even after eating that chair shot. The saddest thing about this is not that it didn't lead to a Vader/HBK rematch, but rather than it didn't lead to a Shawn/Mankind rematch...though maybe even they knew they couldn't top this.

I found an article that said Owens signed a 5-year extension in 2018, but he's definitely a guy I could see jumping to AEW if there's an opportunity to do so. Like Bryan, Punk, and Moxley, he strikes me as a guy who has saved a considerable amount of his money, enough that simply paying him more would be less enticing than what AEW would offer - specifically a lighter schedule (more time at home), artistic freedom, and arguably greater opportunities to market himself via merchandising, plus a contract that would still likely make him a top earner in AEW. With Owens, you almost have to think Sami Zayn would follow too. Without thinking too hard about it, those two jump out at me as the only real talent worth poaching as they would definitely fit in nicely, can still go at a high level, and are probably itching for more artistic freedom and leeway - especially Kevin Owens, who definitely still has some hardcore matches left in him and would probably sell quite a few shirts on ProWrestling Tees.

I should've clarified that I thought Balor could've won last night and then dropped the title back to Reigns at Extreme Rules. I agree that Roman/Brock is going to be for the belt. I'd disagree on Balor being established as being on the same level as Cena or Edge, though. I think most everyone knew Reigns would retain in both defenses, but there was slightly more of a question mark just because there was at least some talk about Cena possibly getting #17 and Edge getting a "Thank You" championship run (the latter being way less of a possibility in my eyes). Balor beating Reigns on TV for the title would've been a much bigger upset.

I didn't see it, but heard there was a hint that Balor will be bringing back The Demon character to challenge Roman next? I really hope they let Reigns end The Demon completely. I'll admit that there have been times I've been into the "alter ego" wrestler gimmick and I absolutely dug the Demon entrance that Balor used in NXT, but in the WWE, I think the whole concept needs a long, long rest. Its not special for Balor to transform into "The Demon" after we've had multiple iterations of Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss, where Nikki Cross did a character 180 and turned into a superhero, where we literally had Damien Priest and The Miz fighting zombies in the past year. Its just too much of this shit with too many wrestlers. Plus, with Roman Reigns playing an ultra cool boss character, its a real clash of character (and not in a good way). Imagine if Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, in peak nWo coolness, were feuding with peak-hokeyness Dungeon of Doom. One was meant to be ultra realistic, the other 100% cartoonish. So, if they do go this way, I hope Reigns no-sells the entire gimmick and cuts a promo about how its all just makeup and lighting and crawling around like a weirdo, laughs it all off, and outright calls Balor a geek who should stick to cosplaying Dungeons and Dragons with other nerds. And I actually thought Balor could've/should've won the title last night in similar fashion as Luger beating Hogan on the Nitro before Road Wild (maybe with some sort of botched Uso interference). No Demon gimmick, just Finn Balor getting a feel good win to establish that he is on the same level as Reigns other recent challengers - Edge, Cena, and now Brock - and could even do something they could not. Plus, it would've given them a story to distract from AEW's big show on Sunday.

Maybe there was a brief time in the early 00s when this would've been a contest, but Christian pretty much left all of his TLC compadres - Edge, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy - in the dust once he came back to the WWE in 2010. From that ECW run on, Christian was arguably in the top 5 of the WWE's sizable roster up until his retirement even if the company never got behind him. And that's not even really a knock against Matt Hardy who, from 05' through maybe 07', I think was one of the most consistently good in-ring workers in the WWE. I used to say/write that Matt Hardy wasn't a guy who was going to steal the show very often, but he would never stink out the joint - which is something you can't say about lots of bigger stars (Taker, HHH, Orton, etc.). His match against Orange Cassidy from Dynamite was a good recent example of that as its not exactly a pairing that anybody was dying to see but it ended up being a good fun TV match - something that became so rare on RAW, for example, that I almost forgot that something so simple could exist. But Christian is just the better, smoother worker, with the better resume in singles competition, and I don't think its very close if you look across their full careers. I guess one could argue that Matt Hardy's Broken Universe could prove he's more creative or a better wrestling mind (though I'm not 100% sure that's accurate either), but if that's the conversation then Raven and Jake Roberts would probably be in way more top 10s...

Very sad news. Definitely an underrated/overlooked talent. I just watched TNA Slammiversary VII a couple months back and was positive on her match, tagging with Raven against Abyss and Taylor Wilde. I know that, ultimately, the bumps and spots she was performing were incredibly dangerous and led to serious injuries (this article from 2011 covers a bunch of it), but it should still be commended how gutsy her performance is. It's not easy to "steal" a hardcore match from Raven and Abyss, but she did. Obviously, she also worked hard to make lemonade out of lemons with David Flair and Crowbar and, on many occasions, succeeded against basically impossible odds. Truth be told, 20 years later, Daffney's character and hijinks, even on a sinking ship, have aged comparatively well versus the one-dimensional, vapid "bimbo" characters that the WWE often highlighted. RIP Daffney

And there are some folks trying to spin it as a disappointment because they assumed CM Punk would somehow do better than RAW, the most established wrestling show in TV history, or SmackDown, which is on network TV. I haven't been able to find them (the website I checked say they won't post until tomorrow or Wednesday), but I'm curious to know how the show fared on the cable ratings compared to whatever else was on on Friday night on cable.

In an interview after The Force Awakens was released, director J.J Abrams explained the reasoning behind saving the reveal of Luke Skywalker till the end of the film. I forget the exact words but it was something about how, once the audience saw Luke, that would be all they wanted to see, that he would essentially overshadow any and every other character and story in the film. And Abrams was right. But its also a really great problem to have. That's what AEW has now with CM Punk. His return last night was so electric - and his segment on Wednesday will probably be equally electric - that it does kind of mean that the segments that follow are going to comparatively less hot. Again, this is a great problem to have, it's just up to AEW putting the right pieces in place to build off of. In 98', Vince figured out how to do it when he built the entire show around Steve Austin and then used his magnetism to get other acts even more over. In 2013, though, Vince was unwilling to do this with Daniel Bryan, never really committing to making him the centerpiece at a time when he was undoubtedly the most over act in the company by a wide margin (and, if I'm not mistaken, Cena was on a hiatus post SummerSlam and Lesnar was also off-screen for a lengthy stretch). AEW has a huge opportunity here. I'm expecting that last night's rating is going to be a big, big number and Wednesday could also do really well. There are more eyeballs on and there's more buzz around the company than ever before. Here's hoping they knock it out of the park and the rest of the roster gets lifted by the high tide CM Punk caused last night.

Its an interesting criticism because some of the other major feuds from that era - HHH/Batista, Jericho/Rey, Jericho/HBK, Taker/Edge, Orton/Christian, Orton/Bryan - definitely had that sort of match-to-match development. Of course, looking at those feuds, whether you're a fan of their work or not, there are some common factors in Jericho, Christian, and even Edge (allow me to step away from the tomatoes being thrown at me) all kinda being "deep thinkers" in the tradition of Mick Foley, envisioning their matches and rivalries as epics with chapters that build off each other. I'm not sure Cena has that same mindset, but even if he did, the booking of his storylines always felt a bit rushed. Like, the first match in the rivalry would be a singles match and then, by the second, it was some huge gimmick match and then, after that, some even bigger gimmick match. Sometimes they skipped right to the gimmick/stipulation match. For example, Punk/Cena at MITB isn't a gimmick match but it did have two stipulations (that Cena would be fired if he lost and Punk was wrestling the "last match on his contract") or Miz/Cena having their WrestleMania match with The Rock basically guaranteed to be involved (and he did, in fact, use his power as Mania Host to restart the match and make it No DQ/No CO). Its hard to build a series of matches when match #1 is No DQ, match #2 is a Last Man Standing, and #3 is a Hell in a Cell and your boss clearly wants big spectacle matches, not the slow boil of Steamboat/Flair.

I went with Rey, though I'm a bigger-than-many Bret fan and totally agree that Bret's best matches are better than Rey's best matches. To me, it might come down to Rey Mysterio being in so many conversations - and maybe even winning some if not all the conversations - of being the best babyface of all time, the best cruiserweight of all time, the best WWE TV worker of all time, the most influential worker of the 90s, etc. With Bret, you're talking about an absolute master of the craft but I'm not sure he really broke the mold to the same degree Rey did. He was still a 6-foot, 200+ pounds, and did headlocks and suplexes. He may not have been the size of Warrior or Hogan, but he was still what a wrestler was. He was the best at it, but he wasn't some 100% new thing. When Rey Mysterio showed up in WCW, he was a true revelation - way more than Ultimo Dragon or Psicosis or Dean Malenko or whoever else. Sure, people who knew about ECW or Mexican or Japanese wrestling had seen high-flyers, including Rey, before, but to people like me - who were 11-12 years old and only knew WWE and WCW - Rey Mysterio was unbelievable. I mean, I had read in PWI magazines about what international wrestling was, but no words had me prepared for seeing what Rey did on Nitro in 96'. And you can go back and watch those matches and they're still absurdly amazing 25 years later even when we now see so, so many guys who can do those same moves or even more complicated moves. And then, in WWE, while his booking was imperfect, I do think they did a much better job of utilizing him as an actual part of the "heavyweight" roster than WCW ever did. It took them awhile to get there, but eventually, he did have great matches with all sorts of wrestlers, many times pulling out career-best matches from oafs and monsters that would otherwise bore the crowd to tears. Bret had the same gift, but while Bret only had to wrestle Kane (Isaac Yankem) on PPV one time (and maybe a TV match? Maybe a couple house shows?), I feel like Mysterio probably had to turn that shit to gold a hundred times on TV, PPV, and house shows over the years. Call it the curse of longevity, but its another point to Rey. And not just with Kane either, but with basically every big man that needed the rub of pulverizing an undersized babyface. And yet Mysterio never lost his overness or appeal no matter how many people crushed him over the years. It doesn't matter in the context of this conversation, but could you imagine Bret being willing to do the number of jobs that Rey did over the years? And Bret doesn't even have a bad reputation for that. Its just that Rey was undoubtedly even more giving to far more wrestlers, most of whom shouldn't have even been lacing his boots. I also think this is an interesting choice because Bret has been so openly complimentary towards Rey, often mentioning him as a guy he wish he would've worked with right alongside Angle and Cena. I don't think Bret ranks that many people as better than himself, but I'd be curious if even the Hitman would have to admit that Rey is right there next to him.

I doubt that the age thing will play too big of a role for the women's division. But that doesn't mean there probably won't continue to be, as there has always been, a specific look that they tend to push more. I know Shotzi has her supporters here, but I don't see her getting a real push. I think Vince sees women like her - and Ember and Ruby Riott before her - as just this generation's Luna Vachons. I predict we will see an increase in fitness models/bodybuilders, etc. rather than them going out and signing trained wrestlers or international talent. More Alexa Blisses, less Becky Lynches. But, again, what the WWE should be thinking is that hard-and-fast rules are not the point. Its not size or age or even a particular body type, its how they're utilized and if they're given an opportunity to shine. Eddie Kingston wouldn't check off a single box for Vince, Bruce, Dunn, or even Triple H, but there was a time last year - even if it was maybe fleeting - that he was the most talked-about, must-see performer in any US company. Like, hand him a mic and he's going to talk you into thinking he's a threat against Roman Reigns, Kenny Omega, anyone.

It definitely strikes me that Vince/Prichard/Dunn's argument that "The problem is these guys are just too small" as particularly funny when, whether one believes they're good/bad/lazy/lost a step, there have been any number of people with decent enough size that the WWE has failed to use properly. They just released Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Obviously, one could argue that Bray's 8-year run (just as the Bray Wyatt character, not counting Husky Harris) was about as long a run as anyone should/could expect, but it still does kinda feel like a missed opportunity to create a star that could've lasted twice as long. Strowman had 6 years but, considering what he could've been, it doesn't seem like they maximized his potential. Nakamura might not be a giant, but when he first came to the company, he was red hot. Plus, at 6'2'', its not like he looked particularly small against guys like Orton, Cena (6'1''), etc. In hindsight, after the reaction he got in his first NXT match, they should've pulled him up to the main show immediately. Not going to defend what eventually came to light about him, but Velveteen Dream is another guy they let die on the vine. Had size. Had charisma. Had a unique gimmick. Could work well enough to be on TV and continue to progress on a touring brand at the time. Doctors need 7+ years in training, wrestlers don't. Big Cass is another one who obviously had some issues going on but, again, him and Enzo were the type of team that they could've run with for years and years...but decided to split up within 12-15 months of being called up. Karrion Cross got called up to job to Jeff Hardy this summer. Even if the storyline is that he's going to become a threat once he's reunited with Scarlet, the first impression is that he's not really a threat/top guy. Is Retribution still around? I don't watch the weekly shows. Aren't there big guys in that group like Dijakovic? They gave them stupid masks and stupid names. DOA. I'm of the mind that Keith Lee is getting released sooner than later. I'd be shocked if they do anything with him. Austin Theory is 6'1, shredded, and handsome but unless they've magically found a great gimmick/personality for him, he's a midcarder at best. Elias has size and even got his gimmick over a bit. Unfortunately, the gimmick is 1-dimensional and no longer remotely fresh. The Sons of Anarchy guys had/have size, but again, lame 1-dimensional biker gimmicks that we've seen before being played by guys that have no actual charisma, personality, or unique style. Otis, while short, has a unique look, legit credentials, charisma, and had a great storyline with Mandy Rose. They even gave him the MITB...before doing so little with him that they gave the briefcase to Miz instead because they couldn't figure out a way to use Otis even nominally for months and months. Oh, and they released his tag partner, who had size and some potential, without even really giving him a chance. The biggest success stories out of NXT, off the top of my head and just thinking of the men, were Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Finn Balor and, let's be honest, these three came into NXT already experienced, with sizable fan bases, and, whether their your cup of tea or not, styles and moves and personalities that made them stand out. At a certain point, you can't just blame the size of the bat when you're batting average over the past year is well below .200. Especially when you have access to bats of all shapes and sizes.

With Wyatt and Braun released, I'm not surprised anyone from NXT is seen as expendable, especially someone like Bronson Reed. They haven't used a wrestler with his size or look for over a decade now aside from maybe a couple months (for comedy usually). Otis, Tyrus (who was 6'9 too!), there was also that Bull Dempsey guy in NXT for awhile too. I'll be shocked if they really do anything with Keith Lee. I've never "got" Cole and find it absolutely incredible that Vince is supposedly working hard to re-sign him or that, if he doesn't re-sign with WWE, that AEW would be interested. He's just one of those guys where I really struggle to see any upside aside from being a "good hand" and maybe a slightly above-average promo. Seems like a good dude and all and I'm glad he's found success, but I just don't see him as anything close to a top guy. Hell, I don't even see him as an IC/US champion-level guy. Just way too small, no unique style or character in any way I can see, his success in NXT more based on him being an indie/Bullet Club guy wrestling in front of audience that already held him in high regard rather than him actually doing anything special.

I liked this enough but, on my scale, 4 *s means that you really should see it if you're a fan of the WWE/major wrestling shows. Obviously, if you can't stand this genre of cage match - which is weapons-heavy but still somewhat "safe" with only a little bit of incidental blood (Undertaker's arm gets nicked but its nothing major) - this is not going to convert you, but to the common WWE fan, sure, this is probably in the Top 10 of Cell Matches. Edge, as others have pointed out, is really at his best when the rules are thrown out the window and he can use all the "toys" that he desires - chairs, ladders, tables, cell walls, cameras. But I'd also add that, even though this is a put down and a knock on his actual wrestling talent, at the same time, what he does do well, he tends to do really well. Is Edge somehow the secret greatest WWE hardcore wrestler of all time??? I mean, if we agree that Foley is #1, a case could be made that Edge is #2 based on the various tag matches with the Hardys and the Dudleys, the WrestleMania match against the aforementioned Foley, the TLC match against Cena, and then this match too. I'll take Edge in this setting over Triple H, for sure (whose had plenty of similar big gimmick matches) and non-wrestler Shane McMahon. Again, it may seem like faint praise, but then again, being a spectacle-based performer was as viable a path to being a WWE main eventer as anything else from 05'-10', when Edge was in that role. I like this version of Taker too. As the OP mentioned, the build for this was really about Edge, so Taker comes in kinda like a true grim reaper, a symbol of Justice/Revenge, not so much the catalyst as the demon summoned out of the ether to make Edge atone for his sins. The fact that Taker and Edge have their own history over the previous months is still there, no doubt, but really this is about Edge getting his comeuppance from the baddest dude on the block. Its Taker as Vickie's avatar. I find that to be oddly cooler than Undertaker wrestling this match because "it's personal." Somehow, it's not. This is Taker stepping up as the one man who can stop Edge's megalomania. And the match is wrestled that way too, as Edge, from the very beginning, has an expression on his face like he's about to jump out of an airplane. He's not fearful so much as he's bracing himself for what it is in store. Its put up-or-shut up time and he's going to do whatever it takes to survive. So he grabs everything that's not glued down and throws his all into it. No headlocks. No "setting a pace." Its all-or-nothing time. Of course, Taker can sustain all the punishment in the world so Edge tries to layer on the violence. He doesn't even gloat all that much. He's pretty focused on the assault. But its never enough. The Deadman won't die. And, by the end, Edge ends up receiving all the punishment he thought would put him down. If it wasn't so heavy-handed, it would almost be poetic. Maybe "sisyphean" is the word I'm looking for? So, in summation, I'm going to go thumbs-up on this. If you don't like Edge, if you don't like Taker, this match is simply not for you. But if you like Edge in this context, if you like Taker in this context, if you're not totally cold on (relatively) bloodless Hell in a Cell matches, well, I don't see how this won't entertain you. Again, I'm somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Is it "must see"? Is it "should see"? Is it "inessential"? Its somewhere in between those qualifiers to me. I will say this, though - I think younger fans, fans that are unaware/ignorant in wrestling before 2002 or so (y'know, like those of us who aren't 35+ years old), would probably consider this an amazing match. This is absolutely a match you could show to a younger fan in 2021 and they would be blown away for sure. (Ditto for the Cena/Batista match that comes before it.)

^ And once again someone has taken my rambling and absolutely nailed what I was (failing) to say succinctly. And just because its my nature to overdo things, I'll just add, I'm not a Wyatt stan. I just think that he clearly has his fans and, on some nights, those fans were the loudest portion of the crowd. Whether it was everyone doing the firefly thing with their phones or, at SummerSlam a couple years back chanting "This Is Awesome" at his entrance, or singing "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" at WrestleMania whatever...Bray absolutely had his moments of feeling like a special character in a company with lots and lots of forgettable, interchangeable CAWs. Granted, one could just as easily point to some of the awful, awful segments and feuds and booking too, but its a credit to Wyatt that, even as it became increasingly clear that the gimmick could only last a couple weeks here and there before Vince would zap it of whatever made it work (leading to yet another fan backlash), there was Bray, coming back every couple of months and getting over again.

I don't think its that Bray's ideas don't translate - I think its that "horror movie villain" is a tough character to shoehorn into a show that also wants to be everything for everyone. I think that's why Bray connected with such a big part of the audience: horror movies are many people's favorite thing. Like heavy metal. Horror and heavy metal don't just have fans, they have rabid, loyal mega-cult followings. And Bray spoke to that audience. At times, I actually thought he did co-exist well in the WWE's world - but, then, there were other times he clearly didn't or was booked in a way that directly contradicted what a horror movie villain is. So, instead of a Taker/Wyatt feud being an epic clash like Freddie vs. Jason, for example, it was just basically a Taker squash. Ditto for the time Lesnar ran through all the members of the Family in one match. The Fiend no-selling wasn't good, but its worth remembering, he did actually show some vulnerability against Daniel Bryan and others. I could never know for sure, but I think the no-selling was a bad agent idea or an idea from Vince himself who didn't really understand what Bray Wyatt - in any of his incarnations - was actually supposed to be. The Fiend, to me, was not supposed to be superhuman Michael Myers - it was supposed to be a deranged lunatic cosplaying as Michael Myers, a fully human pyschopath who, when wearing a mask, slipped into a state where he believed he "felt no pain" and was as brutal as could be (if you're a horror buff, I'm kinda thinking like Vince Vaughn in the opening of Freaky). I'd be very curious to know whose idea having red lights on for whole matches was but, again, I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually not a Bray Wyatt idea, just a bad production element from someone who thought it would look cool (but didn't). Which is why I almost hope Bray goes somewhere unexpected like Impact. I think there's actually something that can be done with him as your resident monster, but you have to go in 100% with it - not with bad lighting and goofy hocus pocus, but with the crucial detail that, no, he's not just another wrestler, that he is legitimately dangerous, that, like any good horror movie villain, he's merciless but also maybe beguiling, that its not about titles or victories, he's got motives that are beyond evil. The dangerous cult leader. The psychopath in a mask. The creepy Mr. Rogers figure who is coming for your children. I think Bray, in his best moments, proved that they can work in a wrestling context and his loyal following speaks to that. But for every one or two great things they did with Bray (or Bray did for himself), the WWE seemed to do 10 things to make him a joke.

The rumor mill is churning with news that CM Punk is in negotiations for an in-ring return, specifically for AEW. I'm wondering if maybe this news leak is a negotiating tactic for WWE to produce a higher offer or what. I also read some hubbub that Punk reached out to the WWE for a return last year but they shot him down, which I find hard to believe. McMahon's booking MO for the past 10 years has been nostalgia-heavy and if you're looking at the biggest stars of yesteryear, Punk is right up there. Maybe Punk was asking for "Lesnar Money" and Vince didn't want to cough it up...but then again, with Punk, I'm guessing you'd get considerably more dates and what I assume would amount to be serious $$$ in terms of merchandise (unless, again, Punk wanted a larger share of that too). I know CM Punk is not everyone's favorite anything these days, but I'm hoping he does opt to go to AEW and do think that he'd be a good signing just because of the name value. He's someone like a Jeff Hardy or RVD where he undeniably made a connection with lots of fans and those fans are loyal to him. A big comeback match with the right opponent is going to draw a house and probably bump a buyrate at least a little bit. Keep in mind, his UFC debut did above projections (to the tune of something like 500k-600k buys?) so its not totally unreasonable to think he could help AEW score an additional 50k+ more buyers than usual, maybe even more?

Just watched this and had a few thoughts to add... * In response to what was known/unknown at the time. I was 15 and very much frequented LordsofPain and RSPW at the time and can attest to the fact that it was well known, among those that followed rumor sites in 1999, that Austin was taking time off after this show or soon after. There were also rumors that Austin didn't want to drop the title - which, in a weird way, makes sense because he never really dropped his IC Title when he was out in 97'. I think it'd be interesting to ask Austin now what was going on in his mind, but I suspect he thought he'd be back sooner than later and was in full worker mode and didn't want to lose his spot (which is ridiculous to think from the outside, but top guys do tend to get super suspicious and nervous even when its laughable to think Stone Cold Steve Austin feared losing his spot to someone like Triple H, like Hogan fearing a Paul Orndorff). Whether Austin didn't want to do the job to Triple H because he thought he "wasn't there yet" or because he thought it'd hurt his own credibility or because he felt like he could remain champion without having to actually work a match for 6 weeks, according to Bruce Prichard, it was ultimately Vince's call to not have Austin put Triple H over. * But enough about Austin...let's talk Triple H and Foley teaming up momentarily in the match for a moment. I know I'm nitpicking here because we see this spot in pretty much every triple threat, but it does strike me as another example of just how clusterfucky and kitchen-sinky this match is, the competitors themselves opting to just throw in every idea they might have instead of actually laying out a match with some semblance of internal logic. My gripe is that Austin is the Rattlesnake and Foley, at this point, was the purest white meat babyface in the company, a fan surrogate almost, a guy who was often fighting for acceptance more than championships (this dates back even to his heel days, when Mankind was presented as damaged, not necessarily evil). So, Mankind and Triple H, even briefly working together to beat down on Austin, gets a negative reaction but also maybe is partially why Mankind's victory doesn't feel like a victory. He's wrestling as a guy driven to win the World Championship, which is just inconsistent with his character's motivations (even in the feud with The Rock, which was more about Mankind trying to get revenge for being back-stabbed by Vince, who had become a bizarre father figure). And this bothers me partially because the solution is right there: have Triple H and Austin team up and beat up Foley and then have Austin do his usual double-bird when Triple H goes for a high-five! Its consistent with Austin's character, it makes Triple H look foolish, and it helps push the idea of Foley being the underdog. * What also doesn't help is that moment when Triple H clearly wins the match (via chairshots) and Ventura doesn't make the count or disqualify him. That sequence bothered me on rewatch. Triple Threat Title Matches can be no DQ or they can be fought under normal rules - but it has to be consistent for me. This was inconsistent because, near the start of the match, Chyna is banned from ringside for interfering (which would usually be a DQ). So, interference is illegal but chairs are legal but pinfalls after chairshots are not counted? In the words of Marge Simpson, "Whatever!" * Rewatching this whole show for my blog, its kinda funny to think about how, despite The Undertaker, Foley, Triple H, Austin, The Rock, Kane, and Big Show all being featured in the top 3 matches of the card, SummerSlam 99' is shockingly alarming as a signpost of the WWE's impending decline, and that, even at age 15, watching in real time, I felt it. The arrival of Angle, the Radicalz, and Jericho (along with Edge & Christian, The Hardyz, and The Dudleys making the tag scene great fun to watch) definitely made 2000 an improvement on 1999, but this show still reveals just how thin the top of the card was. I mean, at this time, the company was hoping Billy Gunn could be a top guy if that tells you anything. It also helps explain why 97' and 98' are remembered so much more fondly as even though the top of the roster was even thinner, Austin had viable opponents in Kane, Foley, Taker, The Rock, and McMahon himself. In 1999, having exhausted those feuds (and having buried Big Show on his first real night in the company), the WWE was basically left with only Triple H as a fresh feud for Austin and those two just never had the chemistry needed to carry a lengthy rivalry.

I thought the rumor was Lesnar/Lashley at SummerSlam? Doesn't Brock have a similar contract with a set number of matches per year? Or is that contract done? And I know there are folks who are sick of Brock too, but at 44, he's actually younger than Lashley and The Rock (also rumored for a brief return, but at least that could make for a good storyline and he's the fucking Rock), the same age as Cena, and a decade younger than the guy who is supposedly returning Monday. Plus, while Brock's matches have been hit-or-miss (to put it kindly) over the years, it wasn't all that long ago he had pretty good outings with Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, and AJ Styles. Its just the matches that came after that were mostly booked terribly - putting over Rollins twice, burying Kofi - or had terrible underlying conditions (it's hard to question Lesnar's lack of motivation at WrestleMania and desire to just go home in the onset of a global pandemic that shut most of the world down for 18 months). But that Royal Rumble performance? Where he was just tossing nerds? That was dope. Lesnar brings Big Fight Feel and still ostensibly could tear the house down when motivated and given an opponent who he has chemistry with. But Lashley's rumored challenger? Just no.

Just watched this today as AXS aired Bound for Glory 2016 on TV (with commercials, but still in its entirety, I think) and I DVR'd it. I liked the match, maybe even more than the poster above, but found its most glaring flaw to be something kinda out of the combatants control: the crowd. I'm not sure if the finish was a foregone conclusion as I'm not a regular Impact viewer and certainly wasn't following the company in 2016, but they don't really pop for any of the nearfalls - even the ones that, to me, felt like they could've legit finished the match (Lashley hitting a big spear after EC3 missed a splash in the corner, Lashley's sidewalk slam-into-a-choke thing, when EC3 hit the TK3). I'd also say that being unfamiliar with Lashley's output prior to his WWE return, he is more than solid here. He doesn't do anything particularly freakish, but what he does do - the spears, the power moves, the spinebuster on the ramp, the spear before he's even announced - is all great. Did I say his spears look good? The one he hits to end the match is particularly strong and feels like it could legit finish anyone off. Its funny to me that the poster above was wondering if EC3 could "carry" Lashley when, in my eyes, Lashley is kinda the one doing the heavy lifting and driving this bout (and doing a terrific job). I wouldn't consider this a "must watch" or "should watch," but its not far off from it and maybe, with a hotter crowd, would be.

In most the interviews/podcasts I've heard with her, I've never gotten the impression that Sasha was particularly well-spoken or well-educated. Someone once said that CM Punk struck them as a guy who probably didn't like school because he thought he was "smarter than the teachers" and I really love that description - maybe not of CM Punk, but of a specific type of person who really does hold that attitude. Sasha Banks is pretty open about going to middle school and high school online and caring more about wrestling than academics, which tells me all I need to know about her book smarts. Maybe in other states, online schools in the 00s were great, but in Ohio, at that time and up through today, these online charter schools are notorious for defrauding the state and taxpayers in typically poor areas by falsifying enrollment and student engagement. At least in Ohio, student performance in online schools has also been found to be lower than students receiving instruction in-person. At best, Banks has the education of maybe a 9th grader if she really did start online school at 12. Now, that's not to say I don't respect what she does, the years of hard work and dedication, the many obstacles she's overcome, and obviously all the knowledge gained through experiences that I will never experience..but she does strike me as the type who probably did need someone to explain to her why saying "all lives matter" is controversial.

Good on Nikki Cross for having an idea, pitching it, and seeing it through. But I do think there's a quality control issue here too. Unfortunately, the idea of a superhero wrestler has already been done in the WWE and wrestling fans have long memories, which is why when Hurricane Helms comes out every now and again, he still gets a reaction. Plus, as we saw with Hurricane Helms, the superhero wrestler gimmick has a low ceiling. If this gets Nikki on TV, that's fine. As a fan of hers, I'd like to see her stay in the picture. But also as a fan of hers, this is the least interesting thing that she's done in her time with the WWE/NXT. She was the bright spot of SaNity and it wasn't even close. Her segments with Regal showed that she could hang with "authority figures" in a way reminiscent of Foley at his goofiest (pairing her with Corbin, for example, during his atrocious run as an Authority might've at least been a cherry on a shit sundae). The tag team with Alexa Bliss was, to me, really good for what it was as they had natural chemistry and, in a fantasy world where the Women's Tag Titles mean something, could have continuously been grounded in that division. Hell, I'm not even sure they got everything out of the Nikki/Bliss split considering Nikki once had a gimmick of being crazy and then was somewhat de-programmed by Bliss. It would've been fun to see them work the opposite roles. This gimmick just seems so one-note when the thing I've liked most about Nikki Cross is that, for awhile there, she was continuously revealing layers to her character, personality, and in-ring style that made me take notice. I'd never rank her as a particularly great worker or anything but as a character? When it comes to having unique presence? I think she's easily in the top 8-10 of the entire roster. On some days, if I was playing fantasy GM and I had 5 picks from the whole women's division, I might take her over Rhea Ripley.

Just a note - if you're looking for this week's episode, its actually available for viewing under the name "Vice Versa: Chyna." The episode wasn't recorded on my DVR but I downloaded the Vice TV app on my Roku and it is listed there. You can read more about it here: https://www.yahoo.com/now/vice-tv-gm-why-chyna-160000125.html Any which way, I just turned it on. There's no Jericho narration and much more footage of Chyna telling her own story so it definitely is noticeably different than your typical DSOTR episode.