C.S.

I'll have to be honest: I've never really loved cage matches. I looked a few top 10/15/20 lists for some reminders. I was going to say Bret vs. Owen, but I don't remember it being that great - certainly not comparable to their WM match. Maybe it's just me? My favorite has to be BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs from ROH Supercard of Honor II, which I attended. It was incredible! (Although, I remember one of them being injured and out for nine months because of this match. It was seemingly pretty fucking reckless, but still spectacular to watch live.) I went into the show knowing nothing about them, and they made an incredible impression, to say the least. I've never seen it on tape though, only from the stands, so obviously I haven't revisited it. Honorable mentions: Triple H vs. Mick Foley from No Way Out 2000: I haven't watched it since then to know if it still holds up, but the drama of the Mick Foley retirement stipulation had me on the edge of my seat at the time. Of course, his retirement was undone a mere six weeks later, but at least he mostly stayed away after that. I was going to link to it on the WWE Network, but I can only find the finish, not the actual match. Here's the entire PPV, as that's better than nothing. http://network.wwe.com/video/v31303613/ Andre vs. Kamala from October 21, 1984: I wasn't expecting anything out of this, and it ended up being surprisingly a lot of fun. http://network.wwe.com/video/v31307213/milestone/31326509/

Brock will indeed be facing Mark Hunt.

Pisses me off too, Loss. Who did the terrible Ambrose match at WrestleMania help? Not Brock (the winner), not Ambrose, and certainly not the fans who had to sit through what was IMO the most disappointing big match of the year. It should have been a war, and Ambrose should have somehow squeaked by. He would've been a made man. But nope, didn't happen, and his value has diminished considerably since then. For all of the criticism Ambrose gets here (mostly justified), the WWE had something with him and the fans saw something in him. That has been mostly squandered now.

I hope this deal somehow allows UFC to force Punk to return to the WWE for a once-off appearance and/or match.

I attended ROH Supercard of Honor II in 2007 and I remember it being a five-hour show, but I was never once bored and really felt like I had gotten my money's worth ($25 for a walk-up ticket, IIRC). It's quite possibly the best live event I've ever attended, and it was a last-minute, spur of the moment decision because some friends just happened to be in town and were going. (They also attended Mania 23, which I didn't buy tickets for and had no interest in seeing.) With that said, the only matches I actually retained in my memory were BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs and the Dragon Gate main event. Other than that, I remember Jim Cornette being there (because we saw him outside) and Larry Sweeney. I recall nothing else about the show, and looking back at the results now, I'm shocked at all of the future big stars who were there.

No......it's not out of character in the least if you've seen her in NXT. Her bestie Emma is injured right after Dana hits the main roster.......of course she'll sleep with Ric and worm her way into that sitch And what about her NXT character was anything like that? What am I missing here?

I guess that explains why Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose was so short and boring. Brock needed to keep himself healthy for this. But poor Ambrose. He lost in one of the worst big matches of the year and it did nothing for either of them. Kinda wish Brock would just stay in UFC. His presence has been a series of diminishing returns in WWE. Whether that's his fault, or "creative's" fault, who knows. Ambrose should have been on fire after Mania. Instead, pffft. I also wish Brock vs. Punk in UFC was a possibility, but I guess weight classes prevent that?

WrestleMania 32.

Face Doink was never going to be as good, but I think it could've still been decent if Matt Bourne had continued playing the role. It was so fucking obvious to me, even as a kid, that someone else had taken over.

Took some time to think about this, and while it's a fair point, I really think you're giving way too much credit to both WWE (NXT) and Aries. - WWE, even the beloved NXT chapter of it, is never that subtle. They usually beat you over the head with stuff like this. - I think what it really comes down to is that Aries is not a very good performer (outside the ring, at least in a face role).

Double turn?

I didn't catch that, but holy shit, that's hilarious. Like I said, I think he's onto something with his weird, goofy-ass facials. What that "something" is, I don't know yet, but it's certainly memorable.

Not since the literal day he arrived, where he was booked as a plucky babyface underdog against the monster heel Baron Corbin. Maybe after that, I could see HHH and the others recognizing that Aries was not convincing in that role.

I will lose my shit if Aries somehow beats Nakamura. I haven't been keeping up on the weekly NXT shows, but have they turned the worst babyface of all time and the man with the most punchable face in all of professional wrestling, Austin Aries, heel yet? I assume so, based on the Nak feud, but maybe not, as Nak vs. Zayn was babyface vs. babyface. Then again, Zayn was on his way out in that scenario.

They've also posted it to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TgbxaQcheQ

Looks like that lame "Hatch" crap was for Bill Goldberg being a pre-order bonus in WWE 2K17. *Yawn*

Yeah, the "Match of the Year" or whatever type hype is way overblown, but I thought it was a fun match that made me want to see more of these guys - nothing more, nothing less.

Okay, I watched the full match... I was critical of the gif but kept an open-mind while watching the actual match. There are things I could nitpick, sure. (Some of the contact felt too "light," there was a bit of overselling at times, etc. I won't criticize Ospreay's weird-ass facials though. I think he's onto something there!) Overall though, it was a really cool match that made me interested in seeing more of Ospreay and Ricochet, so mission accomplished IMO!

How are people getting access to the full match? Is there an easy (legal) way to see it?

Fair enough, and I may have been a bit harsh, but you have to admit that small sequence is buried among the rest of whatever the hell is going on in that gif. I'd honestly need to see the entire match to give an accurate assessment. I was probably no better than Vader by sounding off about one tiny clip. Edit: I watched the match and developed a more favorable opinion after seeing the whole thing. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/34521-gymnastics-in-pro-wrestlingthe-ricochet-ospreayvader-drama/page-3&do=findComment&comment=5755314

I haven't seen the match, but that gif is some seriously horrendous dogshit. WTF are they even doing? All I see is a bunch of flipping with no intention of even landing a move or doing anything that would affect the other wrestler in any way. Sorry, but it's bullshit and not for me. The big joke with one of the bad guys in the most recent Adam Sandler movie on Netflix, The Do-Over, is a tall guy who does insane flips. But even he landed a few shots, contrary to whatever the fuck is happening in that embarrassing abortion of a clip we saw in the gif. Edit: With that said, amazing response from Ricochet (even if I don't entirely agree with his convenient version of the "evolution" of wrestling): https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/736876715633303552 Edit: I watched the match and developed a more favorable opinion after seeing the whole thing. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/34521-gymnastics-in-pro-wrestlingthe-ricochet-ospreayvader-drama/page-3&do=findComment&comment=5755314

Not only would I love for Jericho to win, my prediction is that he will win. All of this "Kevin Owens is the favorite" stuff reads like a false leak to me, as we've seen several times before for MITB.

I can't believe WWE hasn't given Cesaro his own action movie yet.

Don't get me wrong, guys - Flair deserves zero sympathy and absolutely should pay up - but Cary Silkin tweeting about it and planning a public confrontation is a total bush league move. It's, yes, pathetic. That's not how professional businessmen handle financial situations. But bush league carnies do.

Pathetic tweet from Cary Silkin: https://twitter.com/rohcary/status/735500312396615680 Is it right that Flair stiffed him? No, of course not. But what did Cary expect? He knowingly did business with an alcoholic who has chronic financial issues. This really makes ROH look super bush league, and it wouldn't surprise me if Cary loses his job over it. I almost think he should. What an idiot.