C.S.

I think he has really shined in these comedic roles. He's also hilarious in Central Intelligence. Baywatch, not so much - but that was okay for what it was...

It's listed as Pain & Gain on IMDb and was released that way in the U.S. theatrically. Did it get released in other countries with a different name? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1980209/?ref_=nv_sr_1 Edit: From IMDb - Also Known As (AKA) France No pain no gain Either way, we'll have to disagree on how worthwhile it is. I do think there's a good movie in there somewhere, but the one we got is bloated and downright boring IMO. Dwayne is great in it though. You can read my full thoughts here, if you're interested: https://www.silverscreensurprises.com/2013/08/review-pain-gain.html As for Michael Bay, I was going to say I quite liked Con-Air - but that isn't one of his. Oops! His filmography does absolutely nothing for me.

The movie itself was horrible, but Dwayne Johnson was great in "Pain & Gain."

Crazy idea: Velveteen Dream is called up and paired with Heyman.

FECK YOU, JABRONI, I MAKE YOU HUMBLE!!! Oh wait, you were agreeing with me. Very good, bubba. I no break your leg for Mr. Verne Gagne.

My thoughts on SummerSlam. Real-life issues popped up, so I had to watch the show in bits and pieces. I'm sure that improved my enjoyment exponentially. Pre-show: The only match I was able to catch was Rusev/Lana vs. Almas/Vega because of aforementioned RL issues. Lukewarm match and a waste of all four. Rusev vs. Almas would be good though. Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler: I had no idea which one of them was the champion going into this show, and that's after a pretty decent Iron Man Match last month, which shows you how much I care about them right now. They wrestled the kind of match that's popular these days, and it was good for what they usually do, but this style has never really done much for me. Props for Dolph's tights though. - I skipped New Day vs. Bludgeon Bros. because I didn't care what happened and I'm ready for Kofi, Big E, and Xavier to branch out into singles while still remaining aligned. - I skipped Braun vs. KO because this felt like a mismatch and a waste of time. With that said, I was convinced KO was winning because he had a KO in the Bank shirt and they wouldn't make those if he wasn't winning the briefcase, right? I was wrong, and glad to be wrong. Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair: Excellent match. Everyone wanted Becky to win, but that was never going to happen because of the story they're telling here. The fans were absolutely brutal, chanting "you deserve it" at Charlotte as she was getting destroyed by Becky post-match. Ouch! AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe: Easily Joe's best WWE match ever (including NXT), and a nice storyline with AJ's family. I don't like Joe at all, but I'm up for more of this feud - and hopefully a triumphant babyface victory for family man AJ Styles before being attacked by Miz. Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz: My favorite match of the night, even if the result was heartbreaking (and I love Miz). The reason I liked it so much because they had a fantastic wrestling match without any bullshit garbage spots, flashy shit, kicking out of finishers, etc. that has taken over every other high-profile WWE match. - I skipped Finn Balor vs. Constable Corbin because who cares? Total time-filler and a waste. Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: It was okay. Like Rollins-Ziggler, I forgot who was champion going into the match and didn't care. Cool Jeff Hardy facepaint. Did Randy Orton just show up and leave? Ronda Rousey vs. Alexa Bliss: Like Orton before her, did Natalya just show up and leave? Anyway, fun match for what it was. I'm glad they kept it short and gave Rousey a dominant victory. I don't want Rousey's matches to be like this a year from now, but it was fine for her title victory. The hug-a-thon afterward between Rousey and the original Total Divas (Bellas and Nattie) was weird. I was like "they're friends?" about Ronda and the Bellas. Roman vs. Brock: I haven't gone through this Monster Among Men 22-page thread yet, but I'm guessing I'm the only one who loved Braun being used as a red herring. With only 11 minutes left in the show, I knew there was going to be some fuckery and it would be short and sweet. I didn't mind the match at all. Even though the fans were chanting "you both suck," it felt like they were doing that more out of support for Braun than to be genuine assholes. The right guy won...finally and three years too late. Braun will live to fight - and cash-in - another day. Overall: I liked SummerSlam more than NXT TakeOver Brooklyn IV. Hot take? Probably, but it's true. Again, I watched in bits and pieces and skipped the matches I wasn't interested in, so that no doubt had a positive effect on my perception of the show.

All of that is well and good, but there's so much wasted time and air on the rest of the pre-show that there's zero excuse to place ads in the middle of the match when they can be placed before and/or after.

WHY are there ads during a match for a show I'm already watching?!?!

Triple H seems pretty indecisive and borderline doubtful about Matt Riddle.

Not necessarily. He missed SummerSlam last year because he was hospitalized right before the event, so I think it was super-important to him to make this year's show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0817/644908/ric-flair-on-how-he-feels-about-brock-lesnar-vs-roman-reigns/ Does biggest mean longest now?

The bloom has been off the rose for a while now. The terrible Balor/Joe/Nakamura reigns, the underwhelming Galloway/Black reigns, the uselessness of the North American Title... Gargano/Ciampa was still good fun at this show and still the greatest feud of the year overall, but this was definitely the least of their matches. It was too long, too bloated, with too many unnecessary and meaningless garbage spots. It shined when the garbage spots were creative and/or led to knockout counts, and the callbacks to their previous matches were nice to see because that kind of continuity in wrestling is rare today and such a lost art in general. The finish didn't have the desired effect because of Ciampa's bizarre decision to get up, prance around, gloat, etc. Like I said in a previous post, he should have gotten up to beat the count and then collapsed back down. That would've sold the idea that Johnny Gargano was willing to hurt himself if it meant hurting Tomasso Ciampa more. Instead, Gargano just looks like a clumsy, dimwitted, impulsive imbecile.

Forgot about the time change, so I watched the show later in the evening. My thoughts: Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era: Match of the night? Even though the wrong team won, this was still great stuff. Roddy Strong may be the best "he's a good hand" ever, and both members of Mustache Mountain are fantastic. BTW, is it just me or was the camera work really bad at certain points in this match? Adam Cole vs. Ricochet: Keeping this mostly grounded was a strange choice and kind of limited Ricochet's aerial offense. As I'm sure others have already pointed out, Adam Cole constantly shouting "You're nothing special!" at Ricochet is really rich coming from him. I don't see what everyone else sees in the bland Bingo Hall Bay Bay. Calling him the next Shawn Michaels, as one of the commentators suggested, is absurd. Next Jackyl maybe. I'm glad Ricochet won, but the title isn't worth a damn, which kinda dampened the effect of his victory. EC3 vs. Velveteen Dream: EC3 has a million dollar body and a 10-cent ring style. Like all other TNA "darlings" not named AJ Styles, he has been a massive disappointment. Velveteen has nothing but potential, and he handled himself very well here. Is this his first victory on a TakeOver? If so, it's long overdue. Random side thought: I hope EC3 is brought up to the main roster with facepaint and pushed as a knockoff Ultimate Warrior/Sting midcard act. He'd actually be perfect in that role. Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane: Shayna Baszler is getting called up, right? No other way to explain her inexplicable loss to Kairi Sane. Then again, I didn't understand why Shayna lost to Kairi in the finals of the Mae Young Classic last year either. I have nothing against Kairi at all - she's a very competent wrestler - but her character (or lack thereof) does nothing to pique my interest whatsoever. There's no "it factor" with her, at least compared to Shayna. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano: Ricochet was complaining that he and Cole weren't going to get enough time compared to this match, and while I never want a Bingo Hall Bay Bay match to get more time than absolutely necessary, I kinda see Ricochet's point. This match really would have benefited from having ten minutes chopped off to make it tighter and more cohesive. As it stands, there were way too many garbage spots for the sake of it. Where this match shined was when those garbage spots were creative and led to actual knockout counts. One standout: office chairs, other debris, and even an official being piled onto Gargano - great stuff and very creative. I also liked the callbacks to their previous matches - something we rarely see anymore, so that was a nice touch. The finish would've benefited from Ciampa getting up just to break the count and then collapsing back into unconsciousness. The fact that he was standing around, smirking, and gloating kind of hurt the message of a crazed Gargano wanting to hurt himself if it meant hurting Ciampa. A mixed bag, and probably the least of their matches (including the CWC), but still great fun when it was firing on all cylinders.

Me too. I'll watch this later.

Shit, did I miss EC3 vs. Dream? I joined the show eight minutes in!!! Fuck this if so. I'll watch it later.

Ricochet vs. Bingo Hall Bay Bay joined in progress for me because my DumbTV decided to sign me out without signing me out, forcing me to reset my password. Gonna have to re-input it on Roku and phone later.

*Whew* That's a relief. Thanks.

Wait... He died?! What happened? (We're being trolled right now, aren't we? I really your post is poorly-worded sarcasm and JVK is still alive - regardless of whatever his views may or may not be.)

I wasn't expecting this one. I started watching wrestling after The Hart Foundation split up, but I caught their matches on tapes and was blown away by them. I may be the only one who thought The New Foundation with Anvil and Owen was incredible, and I was gutted when it morphed into the decidedly low energy High Energy with a past-his-prime Koko B. Ware. The Attitude Era Hart Foundation stable was amazing and a nice last big run for the Anvil. This one hurts.

Even the "best" guys in wrestling - like AJ Styles - aren't really good guys. Depressingly, there are so few genuinely good people in wrestling - but that's a whole other topic on its own.

But would that still apply if Vince went to prison? Wouldn't Jerry then become the de-facto boss? I think Shane and definitely Stephanie were still too young at that point.

This might have already been covered on the podcast - I'm still going through them - but what was Jerry Jarrett's five-year plan if he actually had to take over the WWF from Vince McMahon? (If five-year is too broad, pick a different number.) Some specific questions from that: - Would he have tried to make Jerry Lawler a national draw and WWF World Champion? Lawler obviously created magic in Memphis, so I'm wondering if Jerry Jarrett would've tried to recreate that on a grand scale. - How would Jerry's son Jeff have figured in? - Would Brian Christopher have been brought in with a more serious character and push? - What other Memphis mainstays would have been used?

This is why internet fans are looked at with such disdain and openly mocked and scorned... In Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa, you have the best feud of the year, with the best matches of the year - and people are still finding a reason to complain. It's especially galling in this case because there are extenuating circumstances - Black's injury - so they're rightfully going back to what they know works. IMO, it's a huge improvement. I have nothing against Black, and I'm sorry he's hurt, but I'm looking forward to Round 3 of Gargano-Ciampa far more than anything that would've involved Black.

Nothing will happen IMO because "wrestlers aren't important." As NintendoLogic pointed out, even Vince McMahon himself has gotten away scott free after being accused of much worse.

Punk-Cabana lawsuit: https://www.scribd.com/document/385790711/Doc-Aug-8-2018-at-5-17-PM#from_embed

Yeah, it's a really underwhelming lineup. Other than the presence of some big names, this pretty much feels like a glorified ROH house show. But they already made their money, I guess. They better hope this wildly exceeds expectations and knocks it out of the park, or All-In 2 won't draw nearly the same interest or numbers.