C.S.

The Authority is back because Cena wanted to save...Edge?! *Groan* Christian's retirement pisses me off. Edge got a big speech, HOF induction, the whole nine. What does Christian get? Jack shit. I'd love to see Christian crack Edge in the neck, hit the Unprettier, and go off on Edge with a scathing heel promo. Won't ever happen, and there'd be no point to it, but it's no less pointless than fucking Edge being the cause of a major angle like The Authority's return. *Groan* again.

How do you figure? I think Bo Dallas and Adam Rose are miles ahead of The Ascension as characters and in the ring. With that said, I agree with you. May as well push them and be consistent about it for a change.

Maybe, but again, who "looks forward" to a major surgery?

Can't see it being retirement, as others on the 'net are speculating, because who "looks forward" to an early forced retirement? My guess is he's entering the Rumble, but if so, how fucking dumb to blow their load by announcing that now. Imagine what an awesome surprise that would be. The entire arena would become unglued. Guess we'll find out in a few hours...

Count me in as another one who thought the Liz heel turn was an awesome shocker. Didn't see that coming at all, which was rare for the mid-'90s - one of the most predictable eras ever.

And you think the crowd wouldn't turn on him in a heartbeat if they thought he was being a diva who refused to lose, was leaving right after Mania, etc.? I'm not understanding your logic. Maybe I'm missing something?

I can't agree with this. Was he Flair? No. But his "defining moment" promo after beating Hogan for the WCW World Title was fantastic, and he was always at least "solid" otherwise (sort of like Bret Hart was 80% of the time, with the other 20% being quite good). Lex's promos during the "you sold out" Tatanka feud, for example, were always convincing. Was he ever all that fiery or passionate? No. But he delivered the message he needed to deliver, and he did it realistically. I won't call Lex a "great" promo, but I do think he's an underrated one.

I agree with your general point, but I think they'd be better served finding someone new and fresh who fits that bill. Kofi has stale midcard stink all over him. I was hoping The New Day would be a heel gimmick that would give him a character and rejuvenate his career, but alas, that's not what ended up happening.

I didn't take it literally to the point that they'll put him in a mouse costume (although I wouldn't put anything past the WWE), just that it's going to be some goofy, kid-friendly, lame, uncool, opening card purgatory gimmick. I think we'd all love it if they booked him like Dynamite Kid, but I'm not sure how you got Dynamite Kid out of Mighty Mouse.

Does the Dome show come with NJPW World? Whether it does or not, what are the other ways to see it? I want to keep my options open.

Because you sort of missed the point of what I said. I never suggested plain, vanilla Harry Smith. I suggested some kind of British Bulldogs type of gimmick for them (but not specifically "The New British Bulldogs," as that never works - but rather something in the same spirit) . Something with color and flash, pomp and circumstance. But I'm not hung up on Harry Smith specifically. That was just an example. Primarily, I meant that someone "new and fresh" should be Neville's partner in this scenario - not a stale WWE midcarder like Kofi who has been overexposed for years.

It was an FF issue for me and fakeplastictrees. Not sure about flyonthewall2983.

Which is why I said this earlier:

The same thing happened to me. I cleared all WWE.com cookies, closed and reopened the browser, and logged back in. That fixed the problem.

No, because Kofi is over-exposed and isn't over at all. A tag team with two "newer" people - maybe Neville and Harry Smith, like I suggested above - would be a better bet. A tag team is a good idea, but Neville + any stale WWE midcarder wouldn't work. It needs to be fresh.

Meltzer may call himself a reporter, but he could call himself the Easter Bunny and it wouldn't change the fact that he's also a critic - just like Ebert. Meltzer's five-star reviews are one of the most famous things about him. Ebert was the screenwriter for a movie. He may not have acted in it, but I'd argue that screenwriting is every bit as important a contribution (even if Hollywood and the public don't see it that way, because Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sell more tabloids). However, I'm not sure if "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" pre-dates Ebert's association with the Chicago Sun-Times. It very well might. But either way, I don't think it ever compromised his credibility as a critic. With that said, I can see the merits of your A.O. Scott comparison too.

More color is fine, but the gimmick we're hearing about is Red Rooster levels of bad - and I don't see Neville possessing the necessary charisma to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. Terry Taylor couldn't, and even he had more personality than Neville. If I had to give Neville a gimmick, I'd go with a modern-day spin on the British Bulldogs (minus Matilda). Hell, why not bring Harry Smith back and make them a team? Not "The New British Bulldogs" since "the new anything" always falls flat on its ass, but something in that spirit.

And this thought process is exactly why wrestling fucking sucks now. A competent promoter or writer would try to get the most out of every talent. Are all of them going to be main eventers? No, of course not. But handicapping and cutting someone off at the knees from the get-go isn't the solution either. Try to use everyone in the best way possible and let the chips fall where they're naturally going to. That makes for a much more compelling product. For all of the criticisms of the Attitude era, every character mattered. Hell, every character had a character. That's not the case today, and it makes the show a slog to get through. Does that mean D-Lo Brown was as important as Stone Cold Steve Austin? Obviously not, but at least D-Lo got to be the best version of himself. That hasn't been the case in the WWE for a long time now. Some crappy "Mighty Mouse" type of gimmick for Neville would not allow him to be at his personal best, whatever that ends up being.

Also, Ebert wrote "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and worked with (and presumably had a friendship with) its director, Russ Meyer. Did it compromise his career as a critic? Not one bit IMO. In any case, Ebert never pretended to be "unbiased." He always said he had an opinion - about movies, politics, religion, etc. - and brought that to all of his reviews. Meltzer really isn't any different. Besides, if you want to go down this rabbit hole, you can argue with Meltzer has already been influenced by his admiration of and/or friendship with Ric Flair and others. Ditto for Keller and X-Pac, etc. They may be reporters, but they're also editorialists, and everything they write reflects their own personal opinions. That's the nature of the beast. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem comes in when people start to take their word as gospel - e.g. Meltzer rated this match five stars, so it must be!

I've been heavily critical of Adrian Neville - I am slightly warming up to him, but I'm still not a fan - and even I can't agree with what sounds like a horrible, lower-card, cartoon, comedy gimmick. What is the point of ruining him before he even gets started? Look at what happened with Terry Taylor and the Red Rooster. Yeah, people like Michael Hayes have said *puff puff, snort snort* that Rooster would've worked if Taylor had only embraced it. Maybe so. But it still wouldn't have gone past the midcard even in a best-case scenario. One can argue that Neville won't go past the midcard even as himself, but he deserves a legitimate opportunity to try.

How many of us even watched that? I didn't, had zero clue about his past with reality television except what was brought up on screen. Wrestlers have overcome worse perceptions than that to look a threat. Agreed. I never watched it. I assume this was more of an issue with locker room bullies like Bradshaw and Benoit than most of the audience.

When Miz was pushed as a main eventer, he should've been booked like Edge IMO - an opportunist who makes use of weapons in the most brutal and barbaric manner possible...chairs, the Money in the Bank briefcase, etc. That would make up for any perceived "softness" in the ring. The early characterization that was all wrong for Jericho - hitting Chyna with a hammer, etc. - might have worked for Miz.

That's a fair point. But did HBK look like a threat either? Not even remotely. But because HBK is an IWC darling (not around these parts, I realize), people will overlook that about him but criticize Miz for the same. Obviously, HBK is bigger than Miz and better in the ring, but he does not come across as a threat at all IMO.

I blame the WWE's horrendous writing for this. Same sort of thought process that relegated WWE Undisputed Champion Jericho to 4th place in his own feud behind Trips, Steph, and their pet poodle. Just awful garbage all around. When Miz cashed in Money in the Bank and won the title, it was a HUGE moment. CM Punk was butthurt that it wasn't him vs. Cena that year, but quite frankly, it shouldn't have been. Miz was far more over and entertaining at that point, and felt like a much bigger star. The CM Punk documentary, which was one of the best otherwise, made him look like a whiny asshole in that regard. Punk moaned about not getting the match, bashed Miz, etc. Miz, meanwhile, praised Punk on the same documentary. Like I said, Miz is a great spokesperson for the company and always shines in those segments. Even Daniel Bryan comes across as a smark douchebag when he's a talking head, but Miz is great. Overrated character and wrestler. His message is indeed off, but the biggest problem is that he doesn't feel like a real person in any way. Being a "cartoon" (for lack of a better word) was fine for something like Undertaker, but it doesn't work at all with Bray.

Miz will get another run eventually, mark my words. Might be a late career twilight JBL run, but he'll get it. Like him or not, he's a fantastic spokesperson for the company.