C.S.

I'm assuming Lashley was shit because he absolutely was in his first WWE stint, absolutely is in his current WWE stint, and EVERY TNA darling (with the exception of AJ and Drew) has been the drizzling fucking shits since moving up to WWE. Roode (does nothing for me after his entrance and isn't the star of his own team IMO), Eric Young (to be fair, miscast in his current role), Lashley, EC3 (although I can accept that his gimmick was probably much better utilized in TNA), Aries (a geek), James Storm (in his lone and very sad NXT appearance where he looked like a fish out of water bush league nobody pretending to fit in but instead stuck out like a sore thumb), and probably others I'm forgetting. Joe has been hit or miss for me in WWE, but he was hit or miss for me in TNA too, so I'll leave him out of this. Yes, the booking has been absolute shit too, but AJ and Drew have risen above it just fine. Yes, AJ has been booked well compared to most, but he did nothing but lose for his first few months in the company, had a million face-heel turns, and still overcome all of that. Drew is being booked to lose constantly and look like an inconsequential henchman type, but I think he'll ultimately be fine too. Lashley isn't even as good or as interesting as his own manager.

Well, to be fair, Sasha is on social media and Dean isn't. (He has a Twitter account, probably forced on him by the company, that he never posts on.) So, we're seeing Sasha's meltdown but not seeing how Dean reacted. But yeah, if I had to guess, Dean was probably a lot more professional in general. It probably helps that Dean's wife is still with the company, and he's not about to sour that for her. Part of me does feel bad for Sasha because she was red hot coming out of NXT, easily the best female wrestler in the company at the time, but was always positioned as second fiddle to Charlotte, Alexa, etc. She probably didn't help herself either though and strikes me as the type who is her own worst enemy. Not to defend Cole, but it's possible everyone assumed McAfee was wearing more comfortable clothing until showtime - that's probably not unheard of - and got yelled at only when it became obvious that that's what he was actually wearing to the company's biggest event of the year. Still doesn't reflect well on Cole. I have to think that Pat McAfee isn't long for the company at this point, because he's in a position where he absolutely doesn't need to put up with any petty bullshit.

You're almost making me want to revisit Finn-Lashley...almost. It was ice cold for me, because: 1. Finn, and especially The Demon, do very little for me. 2. Lashley has been a colossal disappointment and flop. Another guy who supposedly did something in TNA but showed nothing upon returning to WWE (which has been every TNA guy so far, with AJ and Drew being the only exceptions). Lashley was terrible in WWE before and is terrible now. I'm sure I'm the only one who thinks Lio Rush is the real star of that act (because I doubt even anyone in WWE feels that way). 3. I was exhausted and beyond the point of giving a fuck. The women woke me up and I enjoyed that match, but I'm sure I would've enjoyed it 10x more if it wasn't past midnight.

If any of that story is true, Cole comes across super poorly. Yes, McAfee should've had the common sense to dress properly for WrestleMania. But I find it incredibly sad and pathetic that Cole has taken on the traits of his abuser, Vince McMahon, by lashing out the same way. Something about him has always screamed "beta male" to me, and this proves it. The best part of the story is Vince stepping in as the alpha and completely undermining his underling. As for Sasha, if this stuff is actually accurate, she's coming across as the female Austin Aries. I'd argue that she way more talent, upside, and drawing potential than the indy geek Aries though.

Please tell me that's a typo and you really meant 4 and a 1/2 (still way too high, but at least it's not bordering on the ridiculous).

99 cents for the full season on Amazon!!! https://smile.amazon.com/DARK-SIDE-RING-Season-1/dp/B07QKM2VZR/ But don't wait, because these deals never seem to last.

Road Dogg also stepped down as head writer, supposedly. https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/04/road-dogg-no-longer-wwe-smackdown-co-lead-writer-653024/

The thing is, it would've been perfectly acceptable in half the time. But Hunter had to Hunter and go for another overlong "epic." Never the right strategy against bigger opponents like Big Dave. Even though Rey-Joe being cut for time was reportedly not because of the injury, I'm not sure I buy that. I wonder if Hunter extended his match to make up for that deficit?

I've said this before, but it's worth repeating: It amazes me how great Seth seemed to look in that Shield six-man tag at Elimination Chamber or Fastlane, whichever PPV it was, but loses so much when he's by himself. The same could probably be said, in all honesty, for Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns as well. The Shield really was greater than the sum of its parts. Together, there's a magic than they haven't quite achieved separately.

Yeah, these were basically two lame duck shows because the Superstar Shake-Up is coming up, so I'm kind of surprised they were so well-liked here. They were fine, I guess, but they didn't blow me away like they seemed to blow many of you away. Raw After Mania used to be so much more of a "happening" than it was this year.

Since Kenny Omega was brought up randomly, any idea WTF all of this is?

Judging crowd reaction, cheers, boos, etc. by the fans at the post-Mania Smarklay's Center shows is kind of pointless though. You're not going to get an accurate read from that audience. They've done this shit year after year - the wave, the beach balls, etc. - and have unfortunately been conditioned to think it's part of the experience. WWE should put its foot down and boot all of those assholes out of the building. Otherwise, I agree with @SomethingSavage that "workrate" and "movez" don't, never have, and never will mean nearly as much as character and storyline. Never fucking ever!

I'd love a Kofi-Sami feud, with Sami eventually winning the World Title.

Return of Emma and someone else? Probably wishful thinking.

In one title defense, The Iiconics have been more interesting than Sasha and Bayley's entire reign.

I can get behind Braun vs. Joe. Feels like a genuinely fresh match-up.

Drew vs. Kofi after the Superstar Shake-up?

The issue seems to be with Alexa Bliss though, so how could it be something only Sasha saw? Now I feel like I'm missing part of the story. Was something else reported that I'm not aware of?

Okay, but don't you think it's safe to assume that Alexa is not gonna be all "YEAH!!!!!!" about some creepy wrestler flopping his junk at the women?

If all of that is true, Sasha's maturity issues are the main reason why she hasn't gone further in the company IMO. I would also push Alexa way ahead of Sasha - even though Sasha is obviously better in the ring - because Alexa "gets it" in every other aspect.

True, but the Bar hasn't meant anything since doing "the time-honored traditional, PAL," for Nicholas at WM34.

Or maybe tonight.

That was anticlimactic. Kofi and Seth vs. JobBar tomorrow?

So, who interferes? Drew?

Dana's problem is that she's clearly trying to memorize a really poorly-written speech, and you can see the process of her attempting to recall her lines as she's cutting her promo.