C.S.

Low-Ki is someone I would never, ever hire - no matter how good he is in the ring - because someone who flames out so spectacularly everywhere he goes isn't worth the effort of bringing in.

What happened exactly with Richie Steamboat exactly? What a shame. If this is true, you think dumbass DeMott would've known better than to bully a wrestler's kid. Ryback is the dumbest oaf and meathead on the planet. He blocked me on Twitter for...I don't know what? I never tweeted anything bad to or about the guy. That's not why he's a meathead and oaf - I'm just adding new evidence to support what we all already know. Mark Carrano seems like kind of a smirking dick on Total Divas, but that doesn't really mean anything. When Janes Geddes was still in the picture, he seemed like her harmless errand boy on the show, so I think those roles change on depending on what's needed.

John Layfield · @JCLayfield 1st Sep 2017 from TwitLonger Tweet After much consideration, I will be stepping back my weekly role as Smackdown Announcer to dedicate more continuous time on the work I have done since 2010 with at risk kids and communities. My new schedule will allow me to continue to be a part of the WWE family and also continue my work that I feel is the most important thing in my life. I will continue my 20+ year relationship with WWE and will appear on such marquee shows as Tribute to the Troops, WrestleMania, amongst others. With the help of Beyond Sport, I founded Beyond Rugby Bermuda in 2010--which has been recognized as one of the world's best charities for work with at risk, gang focused, youth intervention. Beyond Rugby Bermuda won the 2014 NACRA Fair Play Award out of 7,000 programs and 17 countries for its work with at risk kids. I was named as a Beyond Sport Global Ambassador--an organization backed by all major sports leagues in the U.S. I'm proud to say that in addition to being Smackdown's longest reigning WWE Champion, I inspired WWE's Tribute to the Troops over 10 years ago. WWE has been my partner in all my philanthropic works and this new deal with WWE ensures that will continue. WWE has made my dreams come true and helped me become a global name. And now, WWE is helping me use that name to make a difference. https://twitter.com/JCLayfield/status/903757644481126400

Who was this? I get the feeling that NXT is very backward and bush league when it comes to certain expected standards of quality backstage. For example, I heard Tyson Kidd's injury was handled very poorly. I can't remember where I heard that though - maybe a bitter Bret rant? But still.

I was excited when I saw... Only to be immediately deflated when it turned out to be...

Bennett was DOA from the moment he arrived on PPV. Worst debut ever. At least Gobbledygooker was memorable.

The problem with the Roman promo is that "Cena buries people," "golden shovel," etc. is straight out of IWC 2010. Do most people still believe that about Cena? IMO, no. It's outdated, like most everything the WWE eventually embraces.

I'm still going through the first round. I've watched two of the four episodes so far. ***SPOILERS BELOW*** for the first two episodes. I was shocked that Marti Belle lost, because she was featured on Bracketology, and isn't the unwritten rule that those wrestlers tend to go far? I guess this explains why. Also, I'm sure everyone else has already figured it out, but I was wondering why she used Rachel Evers instead of Ellering. Well, as it turns out, she was trained by Lance Storm (Evers), so it's a nice nod to that. Yeah, I was even more shocked that she lost. Biggest upset so far? Abby Laith wasn't bad or anything, but how do you not see the potential in Jazzy? Was really hoping for an eventual Jazzy Gabert-Shayna Baszler match.

Update on the J.R. book/Scott E. Williams controversy mentioned a page or two ago: https://www.facebook.com/JimRossBBQ/photos/a.1576929229237487.1073741828.1576841069246303/1897355670528173/?type=3

The Mae Young Classic Bracketology was fantastic - really got me pumped up for the tourney. Don't sleep on it! BTW, the one former Marine really reminds me of Liberty Belle from Netflix's GLOW.

He'll save that for the face turn.

Two very important questions for you, MoS: 1. How do you and the other 1.3 billion people in Jinder Mahal's home country of India really feel about the Modern Day Maharaja as your WWE Champion? 2. When Jinder Mahal speaks to those 1.3 billion people in his native language of Punjabi, what is he actually saying?

A great post, Thread. I agree with you that Itami has been an absolute disaster in NXT. Whatever he had that was special as KENTA is now gone, assuming it was ever there in the first place (I've never seen a KENTA match, admittedly). I was into his mini-feud with Kassius Ohno though (really wish they had dropped that stupid name into a ditch when Hero came back). I think Ohno vs. Itami should've been at TakeOver instead. BTW, I never knew Itami was on the juice, but the "steroidal bitch tits" he was sporting at TakeOver make a whole lot more sense now.

Fair enough if you "hate, hate, hate" Mauro, but... How do you know this? Were you there? No. With that said, I agree people were quick to jump to conclusions about JBL - but what you posted in the quote above is also jumping to a massive conclusion.

What's sad is that I don't remember anything from Great Balls of Fire, much less what Roman did, which tells you how bloated and over-saturated these PPVs/"Network Specials" have become.

What is the story here?

Learned the wrong lessons from Jericho's comedy gimmick?

These PPVs would be a lot less bloated without the commercials and endless recap clips (save that shit for the DVDs/Blu-rays, guys!)

There are commercials on this PPV, so kudos to whoever predicted that was coming.

I think we agree more than disagree. If they were going to give Tozawa the title, and they did, they should've run with it. Otherwise, Neville should've kept the title and uninterrupted reign. What we got instead was some half-baked compromise that benefits nobody. This is my guess, even though it makes no sense to me after Miz dismantled Jordan so cleanly and completely. :\

Then why change the title in the first place, Thread?

Why bother with a six-day Lex Luger reign? WHY?

Considering how long and laborious some of these shows are to get through, that may not be such a bad thing after all.

Jordan has been a massive flop thus far.