DMJ

Fuck Joey Styles. Glad he got fired. Hope this ends his career. No reason to feel sorry for the guy at all - he revealed himself almost 10 years ago as a guy who thinks America was better when everyone looked like him, believed in his God, and thought life began when something drips out of a dick. Sadly, things could look up for him - making jokes about sexual assault, anti-Obama tweets, xenophobic rhetoric, and anti-choice views...Trump may put him in his cabinet.

I wouldn't be surprised if they sget Reigns involved in some sort of "special guest" match - maybe team him with The Rock, maybe team him with Rousey (if they can get her), maybe they even have Goldberg wrestle again - something "big" but I don't see them doing Reigns/Lesnar over Lesnar/Shane, I don't think a Shield 3-way is on the horizon, and I don't even buy Reigns turning heel to face Rollins. I guess they could run Reigns/Owens if Owens manages to hold onto the title for awhile, but that certainly doesn't scream "main event" on a card that will include bigger names.

I don't see how Kalisto doesn't win and reset the division. Plus, the division will benefit from being presented more like it was on the Network, with Mauro and Bryan involved and more familiar talents, like a Kalisto, holding the title while lesser known talents like Perkins and Cedric fighting to upset him. I'm a Kendrick fan, but he wasn't the guy to build the division around any more than Perkins was. Also, the argument that RAW "needed" the cruisers to fill their 3-hour runtime makes sense in a world where the WWE wasn't putting on 3-hour shows, of varying levels of quality, for a number of years prior to the invention of the division. The cruiser division, as it was introduced, wasn't adding anything but filler to the show - and you can do the same by just adding other forms of filler (more Curtis Axel, more Bo Dallas, more squash matches). Moving them to SD will help the Blue Brand more than it will hurt the RAW brand.

So, I just watched this for the first time and expected an absolute shitshow, a match that just falls apart instantly between two guys who dislike eachother so much, they can't even stay professional for long enough to have a match. Now, this is a below average match for sure - Triple H's unnecessary blading comes off as trying too hard, the layout of having the babyface dominate most of the match is questionable, Steiner's thong being as visible as Lita's is a tough image to deal with, and the finish is obviously angered the crowd - but, for years, I'd heard that this was one of the worst title matches ever and I just wasn't offended by it as much as I should've been. Poppa Pump botches an under hook powerbomb at one point but his suplexes (and he throws like a dozen of em) are all well-executed. The striking isn't much to write home about it from either guy, but it's not like they're egregious. Ric Flair's constant involvement is a plus to me and the post-match makes a rematch a desirable and common sense next step to the feud. As the second act of their feud, it's a serviceable 15 minutes. Is the hate on this match based more on the hate of the two workers involved or did I just blink and miss what gave this match such a bad reputation? I'm gonna give it 2 stars on my blog and I know title matches should be better than that...but let's be honest, many aren't and few have a reputation as bad as this one.

If they're smart, they will darken arena more and maybe allow fans to come down and fill empty seats because having your new show full of guys that many are unfamiliar with wrestling in front of a crowd clearing out of the arena is not gonna be a good look.

I have main event at 4 but a definite top 10 WWE match of the year. Rest of the card was garbage mostly. Rollins/Owens was one where if you hate current WWE style, it was everything one could hate but if you like this type of stuff, it could be seen as good. I'm in the middle of those camps but wouldn't put it past 3.5 stars. Gallows and Anderson have more in common with Men on a Mission than New Day in that I can't think of a MoaM match I would want to rewatch and I can't think of a Gallows and Anderson match I want to watch either. Rusev/Reigns was a solid streetfight that would've worked on any other card in any other position, but the cell was a wholly unnecessary backdrop, the card already featured 2 cell matches too many, and as an opener, methodical brawling isn't quite as good as a kickoff as gimmicky ladder match or cruiser action or fast paced tag match.

Ooof. Bad idea. That crowd is gonna be deader than SummerSlam's.

Just watched this for the first time.Pretty awful stuff. Someone posted, I think in the GWE forum, that Hall is a guy that's been in some good (even great) matches but never a match where you say, "That was great because of Scott Hall." This is a bad match that is only semi-decent because of Hall, though. He's over and his prat falls and selling are fun. I might have mentioned it on here or just in my blog but Dusty in the nWo was such a shit idea. Not just because he was WCWs biggest cheerleader. Not just because the nWo already had valet/manager types in Bischoff, Liz, and Vincent. But because Dusty Rhodes in 1998 was not cool. Hall and Nash were hip - they wore their bandanas like Tupac and winked at the camera and called Zybysko a dinosaur and it was that attitude that may them appeal to 14 year olds. Dusty was not cool to any 14 year old in 1998. They let Dad hang out at the high school beer bash with Hogan and it was funny because Dad/Hogan went over the top with his new gimmick, but the fat, lisping Grandpa wearing Wranglers made no sense. What did they kayfabe gain from having him around? Bischoff was the nerd they let in because he had power. Vincent they let hang around because he was the bagman. Ted DiBiase was the money. Nick Patrick could help them cheat. What could Dusty do for them except help them beat Zybysko? Just so stupid to me.

Not worth being on the list, but as long as we're veering off into other guys that had really good matches with Rey, I'd put Cody Rhodes up there. Its the only match from WM27 I think I'd ever want to rewatch, though, I'll admit to not watching anything from that show since it happened.

Damn. I'm sure all the Shawn haters would be against this and I'm not even the world's biggest HBK fan, but I'd definitely loved to see that match-up. I doubt it happens, though, just cuz if Michaels wasn't coming back to fight Daniel Bryan, I'm not sure what would entice him to come back and fight AJ.

Mick's right. Based on fan response, the fans sometimes decide a woman flashing her chest in Section 137B is the main event - which is as it should be?

https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley/photos/a.150133228350157.28288.126269440736536/1440544925975641/?type=3 (includes picture) They'll "main event" like Lesnar/Ambrose "main evented" Wrestlemania, I reckon.

Is Paige still on Total Divas? I think she is. I'm also thinking that there's probably contractual stuff with E! that prevents her from filming another show. I only mention this because, if I was Bravo or really any other reality-centric channel, I'd be all over this shit. A reality TV show about this couple, her family, his ex-wife, their relationship with the WWE...I mean, honestly, there is not a single aspect of this story that isn't ridiculous drama.

SDL being on a hamster wheel with AJ/Ambrose and Ziggler/Miz heading into third rounds seems a bit tedious to me. Ziggler really needed to lose on Sunday (and come back at Rumble) and, playing Monday morning QB, considering the big main event at Survivor Series, you really could've run AJ/Kane with Bryan using his "pull" to make his old partner the number one contender (Ofcourse, this would go against the idea that Kane kayfabe ended Bryan's title reign in 2014, but since when does storyline continuity ever come into play with Kane?). Miz fending off midcard challengers or heading up a mixed Survivors team with Maryse and Usos against Swagger, Lynch, and Hyoe Bros would've been okay with me and could've led to some easy booking (Miz vs. Ryder, Maryse vs. Lynch, etc. aren't MOTYs but they would be fine as fun TV filler)

Same world class care they gave Punk? This whole situation is a dumpster fire. What I don't get is what the WWE has to gain by keeping/lose by releasing Paige. She's been off TV so long that her absence means nothing to the casual viewers. Last I checked, TNA, ROH, and LU were not even competition. I know she was popular once, but I'm willing to bet that between Bayley, Becky, Sasha, and even Charlotte, the Divas Revolution talent has made her irrelevant in terms of revenue anyway. Just release her and call it a friggin day. The WWE just looks petty doing this shit.

I'm not opposed to running Ziggler/Miz last, but it does seem a bit silly to open the show with the World Title match. Considering the ratings that the debate will draw and, according to Lance Storm's twitter (in another forum someone mentioned it, but i didn't check myself), Cena needing to make it somewhere on Monday morning, and the recent buzz around the Network changing into a tiered system, I actually think this is a fantastic opportunity for the WWE to really see if, promised what is likely to be the Match of the Night as your opener, more subscribers are actually gonna tune in live rather than watch later. I know I will be for the first time since Mania. (Of course, after the opener, I'll proceed to not watch the rest of the show and finish it Monday or Tuesday afternoon) I'd also add that this set-up will give Wyatt/Orton a better shot of getting a big reaction. Whenever Cena's been put in the middle of a show (like SummerSlam or the 2015 TLC&S), he's basically killed the crowd because nobody can really follow his act. Putting him on early might help because, even though I'm still guessing he'll get the biggest reaction of the show, the crowd will have more than enough time to get back into the show via Wyatt/Orton (I'm guessing that'll go on around 10:10) and Ziggler/Miz (which should go on around 10:30, right as the debate wraps up).

Anyone else hear the podcast with the blogger obsessed with Attitude Era? One of my least favorite eps, and I usually love Austin's show. I'm definitely jealous that this fan got to shoot the shit with Austin for 35 minutes, but it would sting less if he'd had any comments or questions that were actually thought provoking. His opinions weren't offensive or anything, just not interesting.

I'd agree. With Sheamus, you can look as recently as last year and say he was getting pushed above how over he was. With Miz, you have maybe the most consistent heat magnet in the company but the dude hasn't even sniffed a main event push since 2011. It's absurd that he wasn't at least put up against Ambrose during Ambrose's meh title reign this summer. Miz would have been a great opponent and would've made Ambrose seem more popular than he is, an area that was woefully exposed by how little anyone cared about Dean's SummerSlam match and how much AJ was cheered in their match last month.

I'm guessing/hoping that this will lead to Ziggler taken off TV till the Rumble. There's simply no reason for him to be around until then. Him being gone for good doesn't sound realistic, but 2 and a half months? Doable. I also plan on eventually writing a whole peice about how Ziggler has terrible luck when it comes to heel/face timing. For example, right now, AJ could really use another over babyface to feud with and there was a time when Ziggler could've been that guy...but he's not nearly as over as he once was and, based on his actions over the past year, he seemed to be inching towards a heel turn more than another hot babyface run. Of course, both RAW and SD are kind of chock full of heels right now so turning him won't help him a bit right now.

Just posted my review over on my blog. As others said - not a terrible show (in fact, I don't think there was an outright bad match on the card), but just not one I'd consider worth sitting through, especially if you're someone who likes their wrestling with clear winners and losers and clear heroes and villains.

I'm a bit of a Fox mark, but I also had this at slightly over 2-stars. With Fox, I just feel like, heel or face, she carries herself in the ring as if winning and losing matters and while she knows she's not the most "gifted" athlete, she's scrappy and capable. Her Scissors Kick is rarely pretty and her forearms don't always connect with the right part of a person's head - but that almost makes me love her more because, in a real life, not every jab connects with the jaw and not every kick to the gut hits the exact right spot of the midsection (for example, Fox's Scissors Kick doesn't always hit the intended back-of-the-neck target, but she hits the move with enough force that you know, wherever it lands, it doesn't feel good). Nia Jax, meanwhile, is as good in her role as one could ask, especially considering that according to Wiki, she's only been wrestling for 2-3 years. Good "monster" selling, more than sufficient offense, and seems to know the fundamentals well enough to hang with more experienced grapplers like Fox and Bayley.

I wouldn't be surprised if ADR edges him out on PPV main events (Rey's biggest main event run was probably his 06 reign during the brand split when Cena routinely headlined the co-brand shows like Mania 22), but there's also Reys feuds with Eddie in 05, Jericho in 09(?), his debut bout against Angle, his tag run with Edge, even his rivalries with Cody Rhodes and Kane that were treated as way, way, way bigger deals than anything ADR ever did with anyone not named Cena. So, yeah, if the argument is ADR is a bigger star than Rey because he got to wrestle John Cena more, then, well, yeah, Rey doesn't hold a candle to the greatness of Del Rio. And, honestly, Rey might not even be as kayfabe important as John Laurenaitis under that lens.

Sorry to be late on this, but I can't believe someone would argue that, even in "kayfabe" terms, Alberto Del Rio was a bigger star/better wrestler than Rey Mysterio based solely on World Title reigns. That means he's also four times the legend as Piper too? Than Andre the Giant? You have to look at length of main event runs AND, most tellingly, the "push" they received in terms of marketing and positioning. Yes, Mysterio's win/loss wasn't always great...but that was because he was so immensely over that the bookers viewed beating him as a way to elevate a talent. The fans viewed talents that beat him as being a big deal too. You could win or lose to Del Rio and it meant nothing either way. Plus - neither guy is on the best terms with the company, but there's only one that the WWE could make money on with a HoF induction, yet another DVD set, and a Legends Contract. There's only one that, even if he's on dicey terms with the company, warrants a continued presence on future video games and whatnot. Only one of them made the company any real money in merchandise sales. These may not be purely "kayfabe" metrics, but they are sports-entertainment metrics (and sports-entertainment is much more of what the WWE is than a "kayfabe" sport). In the kayfabe history of the WWE, one could be essentially written out and one never could and it has nothing to do with World Title reigns when determining who is who.

Hit up my own database for a few that I thought were particularly good, but not quite great... - Chris Benoit vs. Meng (Slamboree 97') - Bayley vs. Nia Jax (NXT Takeover: London) - Brock Lesnar vs. Test (King of the Ring 2002)* - Cobra vs. Sgt. Pittman (Fall Brawl 95')** - Austin vs. Steamboat (Clash of the Champions XXVIII) - Vader vs. Bossman (both 94' PPV matches)*** * I haven't watched enough Test nor do I want to watch enough Test to judge if this is the best match he's ever been a part of, but I'm going to go ahead and say its the best Test match I've ever seen. ** This is one of those matches that is so bad that it is tremendously entertaining. I mean, it is just batshit crazy to the point that one has to wonder who came up with the sequences involved. A desert island Wrestlecrap match. *** Great chemistry. Matches I strongly recommend to my friends because, though PWOers might be very familiar with Bossman and Vader, moderate-level fans don't necessarily know them aside from their respective "peak" years or top-shelf, most highly publicized matches.

Just finished the show. AJ Styles is the best worker in the company right now and I'm not sure there is anyone even close to second, especially if you consider "freshness." I mean, Cena can still be great and Cesaro is a beast and Rusev is awesome and I like Zayn and Joe and Owens and MIz, but they all have holes in their game or in their booking or what have you. Styles is just the man, straight up. If I were the WWE,I'd spend the next 6 months figuring out who Styles is going to drop the belt to. It might be Cena. It might be someone else. Till WrestleMania, though, Styles should remain champ and beat a cavelcade of challengers - Ambrose in a rematch, Orton, Kane, maybe a multi-man defense involving Wyatt and some of the aforementioned, and let his run last. Then, come April 2017, you can run Styles/Cena or Styles/Nakamura?