C.S.

Well, that's what I meant by mass murderer. He carelessly infected Devon "Hannibal" Nicholson with Hep C - and God knows who else...

It just dawned on me: Keith Lee is Abdullah the Butcher if Abby could wrestle and wasn't a mass murderer. Yeah, this was awesome. Finn has lacked an edge since joining NXT/WWE a few years ago. Going the Becky Lynch route and turning back babyface down the road with a newfound aggressive streak is probably exactly what he needs.

It can be a major event, but if only 1-2 people here are watching it, it won't be much of a thread - outside of people ridiculing this whole thing without actually watching it.

Why is there a thread for a show I assume almost nobody here has any desire to watch?

Actually, Hager asked for his release. It's just that it happened so long ago that no one remembers, and because it's Hager, no one cares. Fink and Gary Michael Cappetta are the best of my generation, but Roberts has his own distinctive style and carved out a good reputation for himself. He's a great hire. I'm not sure who @tallmike would want instead. Believe it or not, most wrestling ring announcers are really bad. Roberts is excellent.

He's an awesome announcer. Not seeing what the issue is here... Read his book. The WWE culture is toxic and unbearable. I don't fault the guy for getting another full-time gig in the biz after he was so unceremoniously screwed out of the first one. They even rewrote history and erased his involvement with Conor the Crusher. He was the main driving force behind that, not Aunty Stephy, Uncle Paul, or even Daniel Bryan.

Wow, I posted my rant above totally unaware of what Meltzer thought. I, too, am surprised he's against it. He's right though. It's a bad idea, and it's going to crash and burn.

Roids did nothing to make PAC a compelling act though. He's still a troll-faced channel-changer for me - always has been, dating back to his days in NXT as Adrian Neville. Even the AEW "honeymoon shine" that's somehow breathed fresh air into Jake Hager, of all people, hasn't worked on PAC. Forcing a guy into a winning streak and major matches doesn't make him major league. He never will be. Of all the ex-WWE guys now in AEW, PAC is firmly on the bottom. Shawn Spears was a better pick-up, because he has actually demonstrated an ability to get over with the crowd and stay over. PAC is never going to be a top guy. Maybe Spears and Hager won't be either, but at least the fans give a fuck about them and chant for them. No one has or will ever chant for PAC. Even the name is stupid. But yeah, "That Indian Guy" did look like a million rupees and had the best entrance in all of wrestling at one time. The saddest part of his de-push, for me, was losing that entrance.

Hot take: NJPW of America is going to fail spectacularly. Just as WWE has no clue about the Japanese market, NJPW has no clue about the American market. Any success they've had is because it's been a novelty so far or they hitched their wagons to hot gaijin acts like Omega and the Bucks, which are obviously no longer available to them. NJPW stubborn loyalty to the dying ROH is admirable, but that ship has sailed and flamed out. AEW seemingly wants to work with NJPW and has all of the gaijins that attracted American fans in the first place, but NJPW won't budge. I get that it may be a cultural issue, but still. I know it may not seem connected, but the fact that NJPW World is only on Fire Stick (and probably random Android devices) after so many years just reeks of incompetence. If you don't give people an easy way to access your product, they're not going to bother. "But a Fire Stick is only $25" is the type of response only a RASSLIN' fan so deep in the bubble would make. I don't care if it's free - it's not my device of choice, I don't want an extra device I use for only one service cluttering things up, and I think said device sucks. NJPW needs to roll out to other devices like Roku, PS3/4, etc. ASAP. Needed to do that two years ago, but they appear to be clueless about the American market.

Not that anyone gives a fuck, but I've dropped Raw and Smackdown from my weekly rotation. It's not fun anymore. AEW, NWA, and NXT will be my go-to shows for wrestling for the foreseeable future. TBH, I think NXT is cold and stale AF, but it has the best commentary.

To be fair, I don't think that same push would've gone to just any random Indian guy. Jinder was hitting the IcoPro pretty hard, which Vince had to like and take notice of.

Does that article indicate anything about NJPW World being available on devices other than FireTV? Because that has long been a necessary step.

"If that same match had been in the Tokyo Dome, it would've been six stars!" "They did the same with Brock and Goldberg, and no one complained!"

Correction, @Coffey: Kofi was never put into a position to be a main event guy. He was always deserving and the fans always wanted it. Don't hold bad booking and lack of opportunities for "people like him" (hey, not my words - it was in the WM build) against him. Comparing him to "That Indian Guy" makes no sense. Totally different careers and situations. P.S. Coffey hating Kofi makes me sad because their names are so similar. In my mind, Coffey is the wicked, jealous, younger cousin of Kofi, seething in long-simmering resentment over his more famous namesake's successes. (Every firstborn boy in their village in Guyana is given some version of the name Kofi/Coffey.) Seriously, where the hell is @Jimmy Redman to defend Kofi when we need her?

And you people consider my sincere posts about Mauro to be "trolling." This guy wrote the book.

People may have been tired of Kofi's reign - fine - but going back to the big white meathead fuck that everyone is definitely tired of wasn't creative or fresh in any anyway. Having Kofi beat Brock would've been a genuine surprise, but that can't happen in WWE. I'm not even arguing about Kofi's loss. If he had to lose, fine, whatever. But have it happen in a real fucking match - preferably against a different opponent - but if it had to be stale, lazy, albatross Brock, fine, whatever, but at least give us a fucking match.

My overall thoughts: - The formatting of the show was very strange. I get the sense that the Aldis promo was originally slated to go first and the women's match was originally going to be the main event (the time limit was even announced as "TV time remaining"), until someone - Jim Cornette? - probably pointed out that people have spent 20 years tuning out of wrestling shows that begin with talk segments. But while all of the hype for the Aldis segment was effective (Aldis's parking lot interview expressing regret for what he said, etc), the promo ended up being a complete letdown in the end IMO. There was nothing controversial or interesting about it whatsoever. - Is it just me or were there lip sync issues with the promos this week? It drove me crazy. - Also, is it just me or does the crowd noise drown out the commentators at times? - I'm also happy to see Damien Sandow Aron Rex Idol Stevens, but I'm not sure about his Hollywood gimmick yet. Either it will be amazing or the worst shit ever - there's no middle ground. - I liked Rick Starks in the ring and was surprised to see Trevor Murdoch take the L, but I think you are all going a little too gaga for Starks' promo, which felt like a performer cosplaying (there's that word again) what he thinks a wrestling promo is supposed to be instead of a genuine human being eliciting a genuine emotional reaction. I wasn't convinced at all. But he's still young, and he clearly has a knack for the gift of gab, so I think he'll do well in the long run. - The goofy-as-fuck promo styles of Colt Cabana and Mr. Anderson...Anderson did not work for me at all in this context. Cornette was wrong when he said "funny don't equal money." The Rock disproves that almost singlehandedly. But Rock as a comic would sell out Madison Square Garden - Colt would be playing in half-empty dive clubs to a bunch of drunks. (Hmm, on second thought, that analogy describes both of their wrestling careers perfectly!) BTW, in the Colt/Anderson match, who else loved that one jobber with the weird hair and colorful patches all over his gear? I would've had that guy get the upset instead of Rick Starks. - The women were the shits. How is WWE so far ahead of everyone else in NA in this dept.? Even AEW is lagging behind. - The tag match main event was what it was - obviously a way to set up feuds - so that's fine. The champs and the leather daddy team both feel really "indie" though. But Eddie Kingston has a unique charisma that I can't quite put my finger on. All in all, I liked last week's show much more, but I am still digging this in general. The NWA has quietly assembled a very interesting roster. Exactly how I feel. This week's show was much more of a mixed bag, but because it's so short, bad matches/segments are over quickly enough. That helps so much. I came in here to post this exact same thing about Mr. Anderson...Anderson. I thought he did a good job, openly acknowledging that he has "taken Colt Cabana to task" in the past, but Colt can "turn it on" when he wants to.

It takes zero creativity or quite frankly balls to go back to the same formula with the same meathead. Having Kofi win the match would've been something fresh and genuinely surprising - two things WWE hasn't been in forever. But if Kofi had to lose, fine, but make it a fun ten-minute sprint. What we got was bullshit and blatant bait-and-switch false advertising - days after WWE also false-advertised Rey vs. Seth. Wow, poor Renee having to listen to that shit about her man from Shovelbearer Cena.

Definitely, because that's where Brock's laziness and selfishness was exposed in a major way. I don't remember this at all. What happened here? It was a steaming pile of shit, but what did you really expect? Ambrose was relegated to the WrestleMania pre-show only a few months after being WWE Champion. Anyone in his position would've been pissed.

Brock does more harm than good and has since his comeback. The people on this board who defended the atrocious Kofi squash need to have their heads examined.

Coffey doesn't like Kofi.

He has to be in on the joke, right? Right? On a more serious note...

I turned off the show right after the fuck finish and New Day promo (which apparently hints at Kofi not being as happy-go-lucky as he's been acting, but I didn't notice anything).

@Matt D, COME ON DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWN to the SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN!

Serviceable at best match with a nice closing stretch - ruined by an absolutely shitty finish to set up a feud not a single person want to see.