C.S.

I feel the same way. After his tepid return on Raw, I'd be shocked if this was ever the plan. From jump street, he was not positioned that way.

Because Ted DiBiase may be the worst manager ever, at least at a major league level. Everyone who was paired with him turned into heat-sinks. He makes Mr. Fuji and Harvey Wippleman look incredible.

In news sure to thrill most of you, Sucka T will apparently replace Coach on commentary for next week's Raw in London. Coach, he's coming for you... I assume this is another one-week engagement because of Coach's prior golf commitments. Do golf games have commentary? Would Coach be perfectly suited to that sport? BTW, here are the Lashley vids mentioned elsewhere in this thread: I haven't watched them yet, but this doesn't sound like the worst way in the world to make people care about Lashley. He was DOA the minute he made his underwhelming return. Mike Kanellis had a better debut, and that sucked. Maybe Lashley is showcasing "the power of LOVE" with his older sisters?

It didn't help that Orton lost the title a month later to Triple H. That's really what killed it.

Am I horrible for wanting the silly bastard to figure out a way to change his IP? His posts were unreadable to me, so I usually skipped them. But if his bad grammar was a "work" anyway, I have no other objections to his presence. I mean, yeah, it's weird that he lives in a fantasy world and posts as gimmick characters (each, most impressively, with their own linguistic skills). But it's also weird that some guy dedicated hundreds of pages to a Triple H thread about why The Barbarian, Kwang, and Mantaur are better wrestlers. (Granted, an enormously entertaining thread.) We're all weird.

I liked this. I thought those vignettes were very memorable and effective. But Slaughter being pushed down to the bottom of the card made the whole thing a waste of time.

The difference, I think, is that Mauro is a legitimate professional commentator with decades of experience outside the wrestling bubble. The others are rasslin' guys, or in Cole's case, a former news correspondent who has no passion for what he's watching or at least can't convey it. Corey was great in NXT, but the micro-management on the main roster + much shittier commentary teams have taken their toll on him.

Mauro has his odd quirks and irritating habits, but he's still the best in the WWE currently by far. You generally won't get that opinion on a board that worships the rancid Booker T though.

Ahmed Johnson joining the Nation, only for them to turn on him within weeks. Two turns from the same guy in the span of a month or so. Just awful. Miz turning face years after that was a good idea. Alberto turning face. Eddie Guerrero's heel turn on Tajiri sucked and didn't stick. Buff Bagwell turning or remaining heel after coming back from a career-ending injury by aligning or re-aligning with Scot Steiner (I can't remember the details). Austin's heel turn. Other than some memorable Alliance burial segments, it sucked.

Agreed. Too many people, especially here, think "good rasslin'" is all you need to be a top draw, company ace, etc. If that were the case, ROH would have been the #1 promotion in the world 15 years ago. I'm in the same minority then. Wrestling is, was, and always will be character-driven. I actually like Seth more than you, but you're right, what's his character? A wrestler that isn't a character is pointless to me. "Movez" don't mean shit. Context does. Caring about the people in the ring, knowing who they are, what they're about - that's what matters in wrestling. Everyone raved about Miz vs. Seth last night, but I couldn't care less. Why? Because the match had no real purpose, I didn't want to see it, and I knew what the outcome would be. The guy I was rooting for and cared about - The Miz - wasn't ever going to win. About the only benefit I see is that these kinds of matches will give The Miz credibility with the movez/rasslin'/ROH bingo hall types, which will help when he's eventually (hopefully) elevated back up the card.

What's wrong with a suspended poster coming back in a mask? That's Rasslin' 101, baby!

What's the story here? I've never heard this before. Didn't Hayes approach Henry at the post-WrestleMania party and claim to be the "bigger n-word" between the two? I think that's what I remember hearing.

They will never do it, because Balor can't be gay everywhere. WWE is decades away from doing a legitimate - i.e. tasteful - gay angle. They're decades behind the curve, as usual. They just discovered "don't ask, don't tell."

Because the Jax interview rang absolutely false and sounded like pandering bullshit. If she has in fact been bullied, she did a terrible job of coming across as genuine. It reeked of bad actor syndrome. That's probably because the interview was scripted and she is a bad actor.

I'm not sure if you think people would react better or worse to an anti-Semitic slur. I think both are equally as serious and would garner pretty much the same reaction. You might not get the ridiculousness of Mark Henry claiming there's a secret "delegation" formed to combat racism, but perhaps Goldberg gets offended and never returns? Maybe other Jewish wrestlers - whoever they are - make a major issue of it. It would certainly be a big deal with the fans and definitely sponsors, advertisers, networks, etc.

I was too tired to fully pay attention to it, but what I caught was great stuff. It always is with The Miz.

Because Joe has been in WWE two years now with very little that I've personally found memorable. How long is he going to get to coast on his "greatest hits"? He had a good run in ROH 15 years ago but was hit-or-miss in TNA. It's a valid question, because I don't get the hype either. Does anyone get excited about a Haley Joel Osment movie because he was great in The Sixth Sense, A.I., and Secondhand Lions? If people were still hyping him up now, I'd question it. (And yes, he's been in movies since then - just nothing anyone has seen.)

It's not even the worst big WWE PPV of the last 2 weeks, let's be real here. LOL. A fair point. But at least GRR had spectacle working for it. Everyone's jaws were on the floor at the blatant propaganda on display. It was more "memorable" - maybe not in a good way, but it was.

It means a lot. I'm not saying otherwise. It means nothing to what I'm watching now. Joe hasn't had a classic match in WWE, period. The greatest hits are there to enjoy, but they don't make Backlash a better show. Who are you even talking to? Is there someone here insinuating any of those points you just brought up? My bad. I thought you were responding to my post about not giving shit what Joe and Low Ki did 15 years ago because it has no bearing on the Joe that showed up tonight. If not, my apologies for the confusion.

I don't watch TV, so I can only comment on this Joe-Reigns match, which sucked. You liked the Finn-Joe series more than I did, but we're both in agreement on Finn at least. I praised the Lesnar stuff, but that's it. It's something because Lesnar has been a shithouse for years now. Joe frustrates me. He shows bursts of something awesome, but that's all it ever is.

It means a lot. I'm not saying otherwise. It means nothing to what I'm watching now. Joe hasn't had a classic match in WWE, period. The greatest hits are there to enjoy, but they don't make Backlash a better show.

Have you seen a lot of his pre WWE matches? His RoH match with Low Ki is on YouTube. This is what's so frustrating about Joe's fans. No one gives a fuck what he did 15 years ago, especially against a never-was like Low Ki. (Low Ki is someone who has pissed away opportunity after opportunity to the point where you'd have to be psychotic to get excited about anything he does, because it never lasts. Joe, at least, has been popular and successful everywhere he's gone. I can respect that, even if he's not my cup of tea.) What has Joe done in WWE though? I'm struggling to name one classic match. Sorry, his "epic series of matches" with Finn and Nak in NXT bored the shit out of me - for which they get equal blame, believe me. Joe overachieved against a lazy Brock Lesnar, so there's that, I guess.

Now, this is the Joe I know and hate - slow, sloppy, and boring as shit.

I hate Joe, but this has been awesome. Credit where credit is due.

Until they don't... Until they don't.