C.S.

So, Bayley morphed into an awesome promo literally overnight.

That Seth-Braun backstage segment was brutally bad and felt so forced. It also makes Braun look like an idiot. A conspiracy involving Stone Cold? As The Miz would say: Really? Really?!

It's ugly as shit. Granted, his gear has never been amazing, but the blue and yellow pants don't look like that.

Why do Joe's tights always look so faded, like they've been through too many wash cycles, yet they never look clean.

The one jobber looks like he's still in high school. The other one looks like Elvis Presley and Disco Inferno had a baby.

I don't know if I'd call AJ a GREAT promo, but he is miles ahead of Sleepy Seth, that's for sure.

I'm not so sure about that. Andrade is still basically a non-entity. He has a few meaningless "big" wins, sure, but they're not actually doing anything with him.

Came here to post this.

New logo for FOX. Hate to link to these guys, but posting just the logo screws up the board because the pic is too big.

I'm surprised no one brought up the Enzo-Cass to NXT rumors (WWE has already denied it).

I'm no Rollins fan, but that's a sweet looking cover.

Yeah, I watched religiously every week. This never aired. In fact, I still haven't seen it...

Proof that the WWE name change has been a complete, utter, abject failure. 20 years on and people still can't "get the F out." https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/459053-the-key-to-beating-trump-elect-all-of-the-democratic-candidates

Not even close. I have never cared about a single Randy Orton match in my entire life. I have never cared about a single Randy Orton promo in my entire life. Randy may be "technically" more proficient, but that doesn't mean shit. Roddy Piper could work...brother! Repeat after me: Rasslin' means nothing. Rasslin' doesn't draw. Rasslin' doesn't generate interest. Characters do. Stories do. Emotions do. Piper had all of that in spades. Orton never has and never will.

Not if The Fiend wins the title, which he will IMO. This is arguably much worse for Braun, who will get another start-stop push either way.

Have to admit – that is pretty awesome. Only problem is – Randy Orton is no Roddy Piper.

Ricochet isn't amazing on the mic by any means, but he has a natural charisma. Cedric is rough all around in the personality dept., but as @tallmike so astutely observed, he has physical charisma (which is what I was thinking too but wouldn't have been able to put into words). I don't think Drew is unsalvageable, but he sounds like a fucking robot. Maybe scripted promos are to blame? I don't know. Or maybe he'd be even worse without them? Was he this bad on the mic in TNA?

Awesome little match. Was hoping it would be longer. Surprised by the clean finish. Was totally expecting Daniel Bryan to interfere.

Randy Orton is a perverted creep... Who's booking this shit?

In the Secret Santo thread, @Jetlag gave me Toshiaki Kawada vs. Tamon Honda (AJPW 1/21/96). I once again can’t sleep and this is long overdue, so here goes… The match starts off with some amateur type wrestling before morphing into a series of suplexes (very reminiscent of Taz, who obviously borrowed heavily from guys like this) to strong style kicks. Then some nice psychology with Honda trying to ground Kawada to prevent more of those devastating kicks and nice selling from Kawada. Everything looks snug and tight. No one was calling these guys fake, that’s for sure! Kawada turns the tables by grounding Honda in return. These two seem pretty even, matching each other move for move and strategy for strategy. Following more hard kicks by Kawada, Honda goes on a crazy flurry of flopping headbutts with an insane airplane spin along the way for good measure. After a few more minutes of back and forth action mixing strikes with submissions, Kawada gets the hard-earned tapout victory. Really fun little match. The only disappointment is that I didn’t get to see the “Kawada smile” made famous on this board by @KawadaSmile.

@Jetlag gave me Toshiaki Kawada vs. Tamon Honda (AJPW 1/21/96). I once again can’t sleep and this is long overdue, so here goes… The match starts off with some amateur type wrestling before morphing into a series of suplexes (very reminiscent of Taz, who obviously borrowed heavily from guys like this) to strong style kicks. Then some nice psychology with Honda trying to ground Kawada to prevent more of those devastating kicks and nice selling from Kawada. Everything looks snug and tight. No one was calling these guys fake, that’s for sure! Kawada turns the tables by grounding Honda in return. These two seem pretty even, matching each other move for move and strategy for strategy. Following more hard kicks by Kawada, Honda goes on a crazy flurry of flopping headbutts with an insane airplane spin along the way for good measure. After a few more minutes of back and forth action mixing strikes with submissions, Kawada gets the hard-earned tapout victory. Really fun little match. The only disappointment is that I didn’t get to see the “Kawada smile” made famous on this board by @KawadaSmile.

Gotta hand it to Ziggler and Roode - that backstage promo wasn't half-bad at all.

Good riddance. Hope they're kept off TV for five years. That won't happen though.

I zoned out. Did this happen?

What the crowd really loves is meaningless rasslin' matches that are overlong for no reason and mostly filled with geek non-characters they don't care about. Haha. If it happens, I called it. Same with King Joe.