C.S.

Woulda helped if they weren't dressed so similarly to Tozawa's ninjas though. I legit thought it was them. (BTW, is anyone else getting constant SSL handshake error message screens on this board?)

I guess this was the new faction?! Whom else thought those were Tozawa's ninjas???

Was Drake Maverick in one of them getting beat down, or just some dude who kinda, sorta looked like him?

Should've hired a completely different camera crew instead of using Dunn and co.

Yabba Dabba Doo Kato is the worst name is ever.

The acoustics for this suck. What is Babatunde's name now?

The Raw Underground shit does indeed seem goofy and dumb on the surface. Here's a halfhearted defense: If the third hour becomes this completely different presentation and it's not an actual shoot-fight, I'll give it a chance. We've all been saying for years that Raw is too fucking long. A completely different third hour can't hurt at this point.

Dominick Mysterio: If anything thinks I'm struggling to memorize badly written lines now, they're really going to think that when I challenge Seth Rollins to a match at SummerSlam.

Raw Underground Oh lordy...

What the hell is this stupid shit with Nia Jax and the bastard baby of Sami Zayn, Mike Kanellis, and Heath Slater?

Someone needs to be honest with poor Ric and say enough is enough.

So, to add to this, what's the point of trotting him out there just to smirk and nod? If you're going to use Ric Flair, let the man do what he does best and speak!!! Edit: After hearing him mumble incoherently during this backstage segment, maybe I spoke too soon.

Ric looks like a corpse.

Liv and Ruby are shockingly good actors. I wish this board had dark mode.

A lot of people really believed that bullshit about being in a "post-racial" society though. The movie "Get Out" was made in part to criticize that belief. This is, of course, not a defense of Human Tornado and shouldn't be taken as such - he sounds like a fucking schmuck, and so are all the people who went along with it at his urging.

J.R. was right. Taz is an indie rassler who never learned how to be big time. It's even worse now because Taz only knows how to put over Taz, which doesn't work in a managerial role. Is he entertaining on the mic? Sure. Who has that helped? Taz. No one buzzes about Brian Cage. It's always, "Man, Taz was awesome this week! Fuck that grumpy ol' J.R. for understanding the biz, BRO!" AEW bringing in Ariane Andrews/Cameron as Nyla's partner is tone deaf - assuming it's more than just a "fun" once-off. Nyla needs to be paired with someone who has experience and seasoning - not a person who was horrible in the ring, awful on the mic, irritating on Total Divas, not over at all with anyone, and most known for Kamala-like pins and citing Melina vs. Alicia Fox as her favorite match (the rare example of WWE comedy that was actually funny). How did this happen anyway? Are Cameron and Brandi good friends from their WWE days or something? Only way to explain such an inexplicable hiring decision.

I don't believe this for a second... I expect Miro to show up in AEW, especially after Cody named him and Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) as the two people he wanted to sign), and Cardona showed up this week. Plus, Miro has already been banned from Twitch.

Great line!

Came in here to post this. The Balor, Joe, and Nakamura reigns were all epic slogs. Nakamura has had one good match his entire time in NXT/WWE, and that was his debut against Sami Zayn. Things picked up a bit with the original Gargano-Ciampa feud, but good Lord, they ran that shit right into the ground, shoveled it in, dug it back up, and went for several more unnecessary rounds. Lackluster champions like Drew (sorry) and Roode didn't help matters any during this period either.

I'll focus on this part of what you said, Bubba: WWE is high on New Day as a whole, yes, but I've never gotten the sense that they're high on each member individually. Kofi, yes, of course they're high on him - and even then, only to a point (6-second squash to Lesnar, anyone?). Big E, I'm not so sure. Xavier, even less sure. Even at the height of New Day, Kofi was consistently the only one on the big trucks and other promotional material and the only one with a consistent (albeit midcard) push. In contrast: Big E came as a bodyguard and third wheel for - guess who - Ziggler. So, to say that WWE is automatically higher on Big E than Ziggler is a stretch. After that inevitably ran its course, WWE spun its wheels with Big E until New Day, where he's been consistently pushed as a midcard/tag team act, with not even a hint of a main event spot. Xavier was squashed and kaboshed on the Network's first live NXT show and did little of note when he was finally called up to the main roster, before breaking out with New Day and achieving a similar push to Big E. At best, I could see E maybe getting a three-month Mark Henry run on top down the road. I am not nearly as optimistic about Xavier's chances, even though he's solid in the ring, good on the mic, charismatic as can be, and smart as hell. In a just world, all three would be former World Champions by the time they're inducted into the HOF, but I'm not sure that will ever happen.

Would you want him to lose ten straight though? Double-edged sword, Bubba.

Nick Aldis went to town on "full of shit," "asleep," "half-baked," "hasn't been paying attention" Bruce Prichard! https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/nick-aldis-calls-out-bruce-prichard-not-paying-attention-over-lacking-it-factor-comments

Fair enough. Did Enzo end up being innocent, or was the case just dropped?

This is why Enzo would have been an absolute fucking legend in another era. He was all about himself, got over as himself, and was more over then than 99% of the current roster is now. I laughed when the idiotic ROH fans bitched up a storm about that Enzo-Cass surprise appearance. It's still the most that slowly dying company has been talked about in two years. People will quote and @ me to tell me how wrong I am, but I'm not. How ya doin'?!

Sexual Chocolate was still entertaining though. Baron Corbin - bless his heart - is not. You could at least see Henry's potential and versatility with the Sexual Chocolate gimmick. I'm not sure what we're supposed to see with Corbin's bland character. And I don't even hate the guy - I think there's untapped something there, but it may never get out in the broken WWE system.