C.S.

I agree, and I hope so. I'm actually rooting for ZZ to turn it around. For all his faults, he seems like a decent, humble guy - and out of all the TE contestants this year, his personality and "character" is the most ready-made for TV. Josh (the TE winner) comes across as such an unlikable guy, even if they are pushing the whole "family man" persona on him. Man bun + James Franco lookalike = total douchebag.

All of that outside stuff would be cool though. But inside the ring, Crowe could've "hacked" distractions on the TitanTron, "hacked" the bell to ring when it wasn't supposed to (they fired the timekeeper, so it's automated now, right?), "hacked" the arena lights to turn off, etc. Outside the ring, "hacking" his opponent's flight itinerary so he misses the show, "hacking" his hotel reservation, etc. (all shown through entertaining skits). Online, "hacking" his opponent's social media accounts, WWE.com, the WWE Network, you name it. Tons of potential here, but the writers were too incompetent to run with it, and Crowe was too much of a goofball to make it work anyway. Right gimmick, wrong guy. He reminded me of the worst mugging excesses of early WWF heel Jericho, without any of the talent or charisma.

But why would ZZ, of all people, be the one that breaks through? It seems apparent to me that they're setting up Mojo Rawley, Dana Brooke, and to a lesser extent, Tyler Breeze and Jordan/Gable as the ones that will break through. (Obviously, we already know Tyler ends up on the main roster.)

Double post. Please delete.

He was terrible - at least from what I saw of him in NXT. He came across as a total goof and wasn't in the least bit believable. Can't blame the gimmick either, because the gimmick was actually good and contemporary, but he did jack shit with it. I'm sure I'm swimming against the grain with this opinion, but so be it. What he did in front of 500 people in ROH or wherever means nothing to me, because that never translated in NXT.

Is Roman Reigns the modern day Lex Express-era Lex Luger? :\

What was worse IYO? None of the matches were better than "okay" because they all seemed rushed for time. (Reigns vs. Ambrose, in particular, felt criminally short when it should've been an easy Match of the Year contender; Breeze vs. Ziggler also could've gone longer.) And the booking, as you said, sucked. All of the other PPVs at least had something good or interesting, even if the overall event wasn't a success.

Anyone catch the new Breaking Ground after the Survivor Series? Probably the best episode yet. It made me want to root for Mojo Rawley. His rapport with that one fan who got straight As on his report card was really touching. We also got to see a different side of both Dana Brooke and Zack Ryder through their interactions with Mojo. William Shatner narrating "Hype Bros" makes me smile. The stuff with Jason Jordan and Chad Gable was fantastic too. Gable: "Do you know what every great tag team has had in common?" Dramatic pause. "They were all best friends." Jordan's facial reactions were priceless. ZZ, not Josh, continues to be the "star" on this show out of the two Tough Enough contestants. Even though ZZ has cardio and maturity issues (in fairness, he is only 19), he recognizes what he has to work on, and he's nice and humble about it. He "quit" at the end of this week's show, but I hope he turns things around. Man Bun Josh does nothing for me. Unfortunately, I suspect ZZ was only hired to highlight the fact that some people "don't make it" (one of the taglines of this show).

Worst PPV of the year? I was pissed last night, but now I'm just laughing at how hard WWE trolled its "Universe." Sheamus was a dorky dweeb in a nothing match earlier on the show, and now he's the World Heavyweight Champion. His character is still ice cold either way. BTW, WTF was up with Reigns crying for several minutes at the end? Surprised no one mentioned that. I'd cry too in his position, but still. What's sad is that I went from rooting to Ambrose to rooting for Reigns as soon as Sheamus tried to cash in. I bet I wasn't alone. WWE coulda gotten their boy some genuine cheers if Sheamus's lame cash-in was thwarted by Reigns and his cheering Roman Empire.

Yeah, for all of the criticism Jericho gets now, he may have been the last great heel. He refused to have merchandise during his heel run, which is really old school and dedicated - and like you said, a bunch of copycats sprung out of Jericho's last big heel run. Hell, Miz's whole character, mannerisms, and cadence during that time were a cosplay of short-haired, suit-wearing heel Jericho.

He lost matches in the WWF, but he was still treated as a "name" of sorts. Big difference from a Damien Demento or Jim Brunzell type who was teaming with legitimate jobbers and was a jobber themselves. Roma got a far bigger push in WCW, which I'm sure was criticized at the time, but it didn't seem as out of place as it would if Kato and Tanaka had jumped to WCW and suddenly become a top team (which, in fairness, didn't happen).

This is the kind of revisionist thinking that sounds good today but would've had everyone scratching their heads back in 1995. Kato (Diamond) and Tanaka were jobbers by the end of their WWF runs. Not "name guys who lost to bigger names" but jobber-jobbers. Like Jim Brunzell, Blake Beverly, Damien Demento, and a few others, they were downgraded to true blue jabroni roles. They teamed with other jobbers (for example, I remember Demento and Brooklyn Brawler as partners in one match, and Brunzell and Glenn Ruth [before his push as a Headbanger] as partners in another match), never won, and didn't matter a lick. For WCW to bring these guys in and have them go over their established teams would've been a terrible idea, no matter how talented and/or underutilized they were in the WWF. That's probably the same reason Mike Enos (Blake Beverly) was also used as a pure job boy in WCW. (Of course, WCW being WCW, Enos somehow got a PPV match with Benoit at, I think, Souled Out. But make no mistake, he was still used as a jobber who didn't matter one iota to the product.)

Despite what I said about Ron Funches, this is a pretty good read (and probably an even better listen): http://www.pwpodcasts.com/2015/11/20/we-watch-wrestling-116-guest-comedian-ron-funches-nov-18-2015/

J.R. on foxsports.com: Ole Anderson felt The Undertaker "would never draw a dime." Actually, it's a great read on The Undertaker in general, especially his conduct and role behind-the-scenes.

Going to eat a lot of shit for this, but Greg Valentine. Awesome looking figure with the knee brace, but by this time, he was a slow, plodding, bland, uncharismatic bore who was way past his prime. As a kid, I never saw any appeal in him. Of course, I missed his "heyday" by a few years.

I definitely never saw him anywhere near that bulky when he was in the WWF. That doesn't mean he wasn't - just that I never personally witnessed it. It wasn't until WCW that I saw him look like a jacked up juice monster. What was the point? He wasn't pushed.

Since we're now including jobbers in this, what about Jim Powers? He seemingly roided up for WCW, years after doing that would've mattered or had any impact on his career, and yet he still remained a jobber.

He's on most of the ones I've seen. He may be a funny comedian (I have no idea), but as a talking head, he's about as effective as any random fan would be - not very.

I feel like I'm the only one who loved the J.R. heel turn speech. It led to the horrible fake Razor and Diesel angle, but the speech and turn itself was pure gold.

I watched the Best Vignettes episode of The WWE List. No surprises, other than Kharma (which was unexpected), but still a fun look back at all of the usual suspects - and some outtakes that were absolutely perfect. One thing I don't understand is why WWE uses d-list celebrities for this show. If most of us have never heard of them, they're not real celebrities. For example, who the fuck is Ron Funches? (Nothing against Ron - I'd also pick on the other quasi-celeb lady with the NY/NJ accent, but I can't remember her name.) The only real celeb they used was Melissa Joan Hart, and they should be on their hands and knees thankful she's a fan. This show would be so much better if they used more wrestlers and less/no celebs. The wrestlers they do use are an odd assortment of legends (Jake) and barely-on-TV-yet NXT wrestlers (Elias Samson), so they have the right idea there. There was one mildly surprising talking head appearance by an older wrestler you wouldn't necessarily have expected, but try as I might, I can't remember who it was now. Hopefully someone else watched the show and can jog my memory. If it comes to me, I'll edit the post. Edit: Virgil is probably who I was thinking of.

Really good. If anything, too short. But there will be a Part 2.

Yep. Had the same experience last night. What a joke!

I liked Sable better as a kid because I thought she was "hotter," but in retrospect, Sunny obviously runs away with this in every category - including looks. As an adult, I'll take her fresh-faced beauty (at the time) over Sable's overly "plastic" appearance.

Charlotte should never have come up as a babyface. She's the drizzling shits at it - at least right now. All of the stuff about her evolved DNA or superior genetics - or whatever her schtick was - is pure heel. With that said, Paige came across as totally obnoxious and unlikable on both Total Divas and Tough Enough, and she herself has said she prefers being a heel, so turning her into one wasn't the worst idea in the world.

The only role Bryan should come back for is to win the Royal Rumble as the surprise 30th entrant. Yes, I know it's "risky" because he might get injured again in the middle of his push, but fuck being cautious! The WWE has too many others down. They need a guaranteed crowd pleaser, and Bryan is it.