C.S.

IF he asked for his release, I think he made a mistake. Let's look at his WWE history: - He flopped in NXT. After an ill-fated face run, he turned heel and fared only slightly better. - After an injury, he got called right up to the main roster a year before anyone thought he would. - He got to open WrestleMania. Yes, pre-show and all of that, but the fact that he was in that spot instead of still at Full Sail had to be considered a bonus IMO. - Lost three times to Neville, which is admittedly strange, but I was hoping that would be his way out of the CW division - or at least the catalyst for a heel turn since he's one of the worst babyfaces ever (although, to be fair, he was over with the main WWE audience as a face). So, if he wanted out for ego reasons, stupid and silly mistake. I get that you don't want to spend years languishing in the opening card like Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger did, but Aries could have at least stuck around a little while longer. His run was too brief for him to give WWE a real chance. All of that is, of course, assuming that HE wanted the release. That may not be the case though, especially considering WWE's "Vegans are geeks" culture. Who knows?

No one really gives a flying fuck about 205 Live or the Cruiserweight Division, but I thought his feud and matches with Neville got good reactions and a decent amount of airtime. The only problem, I suppose, from Airies' perspective was that he lost three in a row.

From WWE.com: WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar Austin Aries. WWE wishes Aries the best in all of his future endeavors. http://www.wwe.com/article/austin-aries-released This is a real shocker and I think it deserves its own thread. Wonder what the hell happened.

WWE.com: WWE 24 - Kurt Angle: Homecoming on WWE Network to feature Dixie Carter

WWE.com: WWE 24 - Kurt Angle: Homecoming on WWE Network to feature Dixie Carter

Forbes: Massive WWE Leak Exposes 3 Million Wrestling Fans' Addresses, Ethnicities And More

Paige was supposedly in the crowd for Slammiversary:

Oh maaaan, Natalya is an absolute trip on Total Divas - drunk-dialing Stephanie, purposely crashing her car so WWE wouldn't discover that she ate pot brownies given to her by Paige, and just generally being a neurotic "crazy cat lady" type. It's amazing!

WWE.com: Marble-mouthed catastrophe Lita to call Mae Young Classic with Jim Ross

Don't know if I'd call her my favorite part, but she was a lot better than I expected - and a lot better than most people are giving her credit for. Because she's not Mrs. Wrestling II, everyone wants to shit all over her. Give me an entertaining character who can do the basics well and I'll prefer that to an indy rasslin' ROH flippity floppity ...diver every time.

I'm halfway through the series, and while this isn't quite as good as some of Netflix's best series (Stranger Things, One Day at a Time, Grace and Frankie, etc.), it's still pretty damn good. Hope it doesn't get cancelled after 2-3 seasons.

If you mean Bully Ray, he's absolutely awful now and has been for a while. Cody doesn't particularly excite me either, but given the choice between him and the stale Bully Ray, I'd pick Cody every time.

Maria and Mike appeared on Smackdown during a commercial. Are they already DOA?

After watching the Enzo and Cass segment, I will admit it was incredibly effective. Cass showed new personality and fire, and Enzo straight up earned an Emmy with his tears (which - let's face it - were probably real, because he knows Test 2.0 has a rocket strapped to his back while his own future is a lot more uncertain). With that said, I still don't think it was a good idea. They're leaving a lot money on the table IMO. Enzo and Cass could have been a beloved tag team for years to come. Will they ever be The Revival? No. But they could have easily been the New Age Outlaws. Fret all you want, but the NAO had major success!

Cass turning on Enzo is such a terrible idea.

I hated most of the booking, yet this was a more enjoyable show to me than the last few PPVs. Despite bad finishes, it was a fun PPV that didn't feel like a 5-hour slog to get through.

If someone told me Maria came out with Heath Slater, I would've believed them.

What the hell are Maria and Mike Kanellis supposed to be?

Lana was much better than I was expecting, and that's not just the outfit talking.

One of the worst finishes in a year filled with bad ones. Just brutal.

Sam Roberts is an idiot if he said that. Way to bury Nakamura.

I can believe that Hogan would at least be aware of Dustin. He grew up in Florida and was a major Dusty fan. I wonder how long Vince had the Goldust idea in mind, and whether that was included in the Hogan vs. Dustin pitch.

From the recap on PWPodcasts.com: "Bruce mentions that Hogan did not want to work with Dustin Rhodes in the early ’90s. He says Hogan didn’t think he was in the greatest of shape at the time nor did he have high-profile status. Conrad calls BS on this and says Hogan was threatened by Dustin’s youth and family legacy." This immediately stuck me as strange. WHEN would this have happened? (Dustin's brief WWF stint? Dustin's WCW stunt? Goldust era?) WHY would it have happened? Assuming they're not referring to Dustin's stint as Goldust (was Hogan even still around then?), what purpose would such a match/feud serve when both were white meat babyfaces? I'm going only by the recap and not the actual podcast, so maybe specific dates are mentioned there? Conrad's suggestion that Hogan was threatened by Dustin seems like a real whopper to me. I know we're all huge fans of Dustin, but come on now! Does anyone remember hearing anything about this back in the day in the Observer, Torch, etc.?

Exactly. Adam Rose, sure. Bayley, no way. How do you screw up the best babyface you've had in years? By WWE being WWE, that's how. Thanks for the HHH quote. Now that you've posted it, I think I remember it from the Orton DVD. I realize what Rosenberg's role is, and he can say whatever he wants, but it felt strange to me - even though I do agree. If he really wanted to "speak for the fans," he would've said that Orton was in the WWE ecosystem from day one and has never had to get over outside those protected confines. That's also an accurate statement (even though I agreed with a lot of what Orton said during the "...dive" tweets).

I still feel the NXT higher-ups realized that James Storm was too Southern, too indy, too rasslin', for NXT and quietly decided not to use him but let him save face by making it look like his decision. I have no proof of this or anything - it's just a gut feeling on my part - but it wouldn't surprise me if I'm right because he was not a good fit at all during his one NXT appearance.