DMJ

I'm a Roman fan, but I thought his match against Taker last year was below average for him and even below average for the Deadman when you compare it to, say, his 10 previous matches (that'd be basically what? the previous 3-4 years? And let's exclude that Hell in a Cell match against Shane too just so my argument doesn't completely fall apart). With Cena, I at least have confidence that Big Match John will be able to convincingly lift him off his feet, so we probably won't see the flubs that marred last year's main event. Reigns is cosmetically mighty, but he's probably not top 5 in brute strength and that botched Tombstone reversal was ugly and the moment I remember most from the actual match. Also, again, I'm a Reigns fan, but I think he's still improving in a lot of ways while Cena has mastered getting to and having the "Big Fight" Match and everything that entails - building up to the match with "Is that a shoot?" promos, playing up the face/heel reactions he gets, balancing vulnerability with Never Give Up heroics, etc. This match is not going to be for everybody, but...wait for the pun...I do have a morbid curiosity towards it.

Not that I personally care or really follow Dave's ratings closely, but I do think its worth noting that him giving the match 5 stars doesn't seem like that big of a deal after a year of him abandoning his own scale and awarding Omega multiple 5+/6-star matches. People talked about how changing his star system effected the 5-star matches of the past - how giving a match 6-stars in 2017 would retroactively devalue the 5-star matches of 1989, for example - but here is a pretty clear example of how the change to his star system has already impacted the ratings for future matches. Giving Jericho/Omega 5-stars does put it notches below that "rarefied air" of the "perfect match" the same way a 4 or 4.25 match used to be considered a great, great match, but maybe not all-time spectacular.

I wasn't sure how to shrink the pics but AJ Styles and Chip from "Fixer Upper."

I had a paragraph written about this match and then edited it down to just 2-3 sentences because I thought I was being crazy to write so much about a "throw-away" match. The crowd is pretty dead, which was the most notable thing for me. Still, I just love Alexa Bliss right now and Asuka, who hasn't received quite the criticism that her fellow countryman Shinsuke Nakamura has, has still been the butt of some criticism by many who "don't get the hype." With Nakamura, I think you can say that he hasn't quite shown what is so special - but with Asuka, her NXT run was tremendous and this match shows that she still has enough "it" to be a huge star on the main roster. Loved Alexa's coward act and her facial expressions, if they aren't registering with the live audience, work wonders on the TV screen. I read someone criticize her for being unwilling to take Asuka's strikes and while this is a somewhat valid criticism, doesn't the fact that she doesn't want to get hit in the face full force make more sense than just "taking" the hit? Anyway, Asuka's taunting was equally great in the early going - really fun and endearing. Part of the audience (I'm thinking mostly older male fan demographic) wants her to be the Terminator all the time, but not me - I like that she smiles and prances around a little and has the colorful garb and all that. In this instance, it made Alexa's fear of her even more of a juxtaposition in character and approach. That sort of juxtaposition is a truly untapped resource for good action (for another example, compare Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Black to super serious Seth Rollins vs. super serious Kevin Owens). A commercial break kept us from getting the full match but when we came back, they were in another gear and getting really physical and intense. I loved Alexa smacking the taste of Asuka's mouth only to realize *duh* that she had now just thrown hands with a legendary hand-thrower. From here to the finish the crowd was a tad more into things, but not quite at the level they'd be if this was Sasha Banks or Charlotte, who are obviously more established in 2017. Its important to remember, though, that Banks and Charlotte and Lynch weren't necessarily mega-over upon their debut and it took time (and a total reboot of the storyline by jettisoning the stable war storyline they were involved in) to help them be seen as more than a bathroom break. Alexa Bliss will get there too. So will Asuka. The work in this match is just too good to go ignored for long, IMO. I liked the finish too. This was Chapter 1 of what will hopefully be a somewhat long story and, in that sense, it worked. I do think that the commentators have done a real disservice to the "B-story," though, by not mentioning Nia's role in all of this. Has Bliss not been trying to get Nia to be her back-up for the past two weeks? I mentioned in last week and it deserves mention again here that you could really broaden this entire angle by being more clear about the fact that Nia, who is now a borderline face, has been letting down her BFF by not being in Alexa's corner. I know we often criticize the WWE for being hamfisted with things, but in this instance, they should really be doing a better job of driving home the idea that Nia has been MIA for two weeks when Alexa's been in trouble. If I gave this a star rating, I'd give it 3-stars, which is above-average on my scale (2.5 is average).

I have not seen a load of these matches, but I was curious after reading the last part's "surprise list" - would you have Curt Hennig as Bret's #6 best opponent? Personally, I don't really see Flair in the top #5, so he's who I would swap out. Even at #6 I might go with the Bulldog over Flair. I just don't necessarily see the Souled Out match as being as good as you described it and Bret had some real undeniably strong matches with Davey Boy and Perfect. I'm not sure who else would round out a top 10, but that's kind of the brilliance of Bret too (that I'm sure you found in your viewing) - as a tag guy and then as WWE Champion, he worked with a ton of different guys on TV and PPV.

Watching the show this morning... Kurt Angle mentioned that the women's Rumble will be fought under the same rules as the men's. I find it hard to believe they'll do 2 minutes for entrances as that would mean 2 hour-long "matches." Maybe 90 seconds? I just rewatched the 95' Rumble and the 60-second rule made things go way too fast to feel "big." I feel like it really tainted Michaels' victory as him sticking around for 40 minutes just didn't feel too impressive compared to what Flair did in 92' or even what DiBiase and Martel did in the years prior. (Obviously the lack of roster depth in 95' also tainted HBK's first win too) I enjoyed the Asuka/Alexa match more than the crowd seemed to. This match wouldn't of gotten "Fight Forever" chants in front of an NXT crowd or anything, but I do think the audience kind of slept on a well-worked match that started with some decent grappling, featured some good consistent character work, and served its purpose to build up to their eventual title match. EDIT: Glad to see others like Asuka/Bliss too. I was sure there'd be responses putting the match down as "tone deaf" and "heatless" because the crowd didn't react huge to everything they did.

Haven't finished it yet, but am nearing the end. I went ahead and left a 5-star review on Amazon. Thank you for writing a wrestling book that is intelligent and well-researched. I posted my review under my wife's name (it was her Amazon account I ordered it on) and I'm hoping it helps spread the word on how good this book is.

Definitely shocked by the tag title switch. I did not see the whole show, but gotta say it was another swing-and-a-miss in the Womens' Division angle I saw. For those that missed it, we'll start with Enzo and Nia under the mistletoe. Now, I've got issues with this just because I think its turning Enzo (and Nia) face cuz its a really cutesy story, but whatever, not a huge deal. Anyway, Alexa Bliss interrupts before they can kiss, pulling Nia away because she needs her help. Later, Alexa cut a promo about how she broke the glass ceiling and all the other women on the roster should be thanking her for being the catalyst for the Womens' Rumble (and they re-aired a clip from Steph's announcement which, even in truncated form, was as bad as everyone warned me it was). Not a great promo, but not terrible. Still, no real complaints. Asuka shows up, gets a good pop, and says she's entering the Rumble. Here's where things fall off the rails. Asuka stares down Alexa for what felt like a good long 60-90 seconds. During this long, awkward pause, it seemed like Nia was supposed to do a run-in (that could explain why Alexa pulled her away earlier, to enlist her as back-up "just in case"). Or Alexa could take a powder and retreat like a coward, which would've been fine. Or Bliss could've attempted to strike first and then Asuka would duck and knock her on her ass. Whatever. Instead, it was just an awkward staredown until Asuka booted her in the head. (There was a mild "Asuka" chant during this, but even that felt like it took 30-40 seconds for fans to pick up on) Now, someone could defend this and say, "No, you got it wrong. The idea was that Nia didn't make the save because she wants Alexa's title too. You just wait, DMJ, Alexa will confront Nia next week about not having her back and this will all make sense." And, yes, that would make sense and be fine build for the Rumble...if a producer had instructed Alexa to, instead of just quivering in fear of Asuka, maybe act like she expected Nia to be coming any second. A simple look over her shoulder, as if to say "Where's my back-up?" would've saved the entire segment. Or better yet, have Alexa not back down and actually continue to talk shit, over-confidently assured that Nia had her back only for, ruh-roh, Nia to not have her back. I think the angle bothered me so much because I was watching with non-fans, including my non-fan father-in-law, and he enjoyed the first part of the segment only to be like "That's it?" when it ended. Just lazy, anti-climactic writing.

Having watched the whole show, I think its the best match of the tournament - but that's faint praise considering that no other match in the tournament was given the time or designed to be very competitive (Mexico/UK is interesting because of the people involved, but its still a notch below good). After some good action with Saito and Muta shining particularly, I really hated the finish. "Overconfident heel turns back on action to gloat and ends up losing match" is classic wrestling, but, to me, it really works best when the heels have totally dominated and then maybe hit the faces with an international object to really cement that it is over. Here, the match doesn't really seem "sewn up" enough for Muta to play to the crowd and completely abandon the match. With a better finishing stretch, I would go ***, maybe even *** 1/2, but as it is, its just average on my scale.

Just posted my 3rd annual Top 10 Network Matches column. As I'm a WWE-centric fan and barely watch the TV, my list takes that format, but I still think everything I ranked was highly enjoyable viewing: http://kwangtheblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-favorite-network-matches-of-2017.html As I wrote the column, I not only checked out my own at-the-time reviews, but also the threads from here, which were really helpful in getting some additional critical insight. Happy reading and a merry Xmas to all.

On the talk of WWE Films, I think they're generally profitable and they did have somewhat of a hit on their hands with "The Call" in 2013. The budget was the usual $10 million or so (wiki says $13) and it ended up doing $68 in box office alone (I'm guessing DVD sales pushed it even higher). I'm not sure but at one point they also had a hand in one or two of The Rock's movies ("Walking Tall" and "The Rundown," I believe) and maybe they're doing the same with Cena now? As for the XFL, yeah, if they attempt to re-launch, it is going to fail faster than the original. Part of me thinks that Vince was able to put on a smile and laugh off the fact that it was a disaster in the ESPN documentary, but under the skin it bugged the hell out of him and he wants to prove history wrong. Sadly for him, I can't see NBC or any other Network wanting to go 50-50 with him for something that is actually worse than "unproven" - it was a proven flop.

Whoops. Double post. sorry.

I don't think I understand that twitter person's point. Benjamin is really not that comparable to Jinder in moveset or gimmick or size or anything. A more apt comparison, to me at least, would be Rusev and I think if you put Rusev in that same match and build it around AJ's damaged ribs and the threat of the Accolade and you have a Match of the Year candidate.

Oddly enough they re-ran an interview he did for a Cleveland radio show this morning that I caught on my ride to work. It was when he was with TNA, post divorce from Linda, and it wasn't too great. It was Hogan being humble and ultra-positive and "spiritual." At one point he said he'd be open to a relationship with Linda for the sake of their children if "she was able to find a good place spiritually" where that'd be possible. I kind of hate attitudes like that because its pretty "judgy" - like saying "I'm open to speaking to that person as long as they reach the level of joy and tranquility and peace that I have achieved." Better just to say to leave it as, "I'm open to it for our kids." Aside from that, as a human, I hope the Hulkster does find happiness and peace and all that good stuff but dredging up his past seems almost like a surefire way for that not to happen almost? Also, gotta plug the first 3rd of that Netflix doc about his suit against Gawker. Really interesting take on how things played out and makes Hogan sympathetic as a total pawn in moneyed interests attack against a free press.

I'm definitely not criticizing the WWE because they made the right call, but one has to wonder how this would've played out had it been John Cena or Seth Rollins or a member of New Day, etc. Swann was expendable before the arrest. I couldn't figure out the timeline of Austin's domestic dispute and his quitting/firing from WWE in June 2002 - Did he quit before the incident? After? - but I'd imagine that if the Debra incident had happened when Austin was still happy with the company, the WWE would've kept him under contract despite the negative publicity. 2002 was a different time than 2017 and Steve Austin was obviously a much bigger star than Swann, but then again, without WCW around, its not like Austin was going to go be the star of some rival promotion, so, who knows, maybe they would've cut him lose.

Clash of champions, roadblock? We had those last year and I don't think they have happened yet this year FastLane in March, I believe. Elimination Chamber in February? I didn't check, though, so I could be off on that one.

On nearly every wrestler podcast I've heard, from Austin to Edge & Christian to Jericho to whoever, a recurring talking point is that you can't get into "ring shape" without being in the ring. I think, with Brock, its not even so much being "gassed" as the fact that he wrestles what? 7-10 times a year when you include house shows? I also gotta say I love the Brock supporters coming out hard in this thread. I was kinda embarrassed how high I went with him in my (very WCW/WWE-centric) GWE list, so its nice to hear that others agree that Lesnar, at his best, is a helluva performer.

The idea of Wyatt going back to NXT sounds like a great idea that kills a couple birds with a few stones. First, Wyatt would benefit from time away from TV - but I can see why they'd want to keep him on the RAW house show circuit. So, keep him on house shows, let him appear at an NXT taping and I'm guessing it'll work out. Second, that last NXT: Takeover was a really solid show, but I do think there is still a bit of a dearth of star power. You throw Wyatt in there and have him feud with Aleister Black? That's money and, when Black defeats him, you've elevated Black more than giving him a win over anyone else, including Almas. Third, while you could just have Wyatt show up with no new family members, you do have the option of having him recruit family members at NXT or show up at NXT with new back-up. Its obviously not a recipe for longterm success (see the Bludgeon Brothers), but if the Wyatt character is ever going to work as it is now, you kind of need this cult leader to actually lead a cult.

Just reviewed the full show on my blog. I've reviewed every WCW PPV and Clash from, I think, 93' on and this was, by a wide margin, the lowest scored show I've ever seen (edging out Road Wild 98') for that distinction. I want to believe that there is no worse show, but part of me feels like as I continue on, things could somehow get worse. As for this main event, it is really bad, but I would like to note how hard Sting works - not only in this match, but even at the previous month's Great American Bash, where, before the dogs get involved, he is single-handedly making a Rick Steiner match watchable. It almost feels like maybe Sting in 99' is underrated just because if you look at the main event scene during that calendar year - Nash, Sid, Savage, Hogan, Flair, Piper, Bret, Hall, etc. - Sting is the only guy who seems to have any clue how or desire to put effort into what he's doing. Does anybody else even leave their feet in this match?

Yeah, Titus definitely had potential. Great and unique look, very good hot tag, loads of charisma, won Celebrity Dad of the Year in 2015. They've pushed guys with less talent further and, lo and behold, some of them eventually put the pieces together and became pretty good. Titus was definitely a lost opportunity for the company over something really stupid.

Some WCW matches/angles/crap that earned 0-0.5s on my blog (all available on the Network): - Kevin Sullivan beating up an Elvis Impersonator (Clash #32) - The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan (Cage Match) (SuperBrawl VI) - Sgt. Kreuger & Col. DeKlerk vs. Kalua and the Botswana Beast (Clash #13) - Big Sky vs. Charlie Norris (Fall Brawl 93') - The Equalizer vs. "Jungle" Jim Steele (SuperBrawl 4) - Kevin Sullivan vs. Mr. T (Starrcade 94') BUT if I had to name one of the under-appreciated WrestleCrap matches I've ever seen, look no further than Craig Pittman vs. Cobra from Fall Brawl 95'. It is TREMENDOUS and strongly recommended for a good laugh.

Really enjoying the book so far - just started it last night! The research you must have undertaken for this is really incredible.

It obviously doesn't mean too much because 2017 isn't 1999, but according to a PWInsider page I found, the highest ECW attendance was in 99' for the Anarchy Rulz PPV in Chicago (or nearby Villa Park). They packed in 6000. Did RoH do same, better, or less in October with Omega on the card? I hope the Bullet Club succeeds and I think its within the realm of possibility in Chicago on the right night with the right card and right promotion. To me, Punk and/or Bryan are kind of "must gets" though. Can they get 7000 in the greater Chicago area without them? I think its possible - but to get that extra 3000 people to travel, you better have a star attraction that I can't and won't see anywhere else in 2018 or 2019 or 2020 for that matter. The die-hards are going to be there no matter what, but to get 10k, you have to have some more mainstream names.

Needs more dog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtqbk9pgPXw

Wanted to add that earlier in the night, Buff Bagwell struggled considerably to beat Disco Inferno. Like, at times, Inferno was dominating him so badly that I thought it was leading to a "Bagwell was playing possum" finish that would've been ridiculous, but at least could've establish that Buff is smarter and tougher than we know. But no - he barely squeaks out a victory against an unfocused nWo jobber and then, because he's the biggest dolt on the planet, costs his horse the race for no apparent reason (I feel like wrestling logic would dictate that if you pull Double A away from providing leverage to Flair, Flair either releases the hold by being distracted or Piper now has the energy to reverse the move).