C.S.

WWE EVOLVE premiered on Tubi tonight. https://tubitv.com/series/300015112/wwe-evolve Fun short sprint of a show. Thankfully, WWE didn't act like the old EVOLVE never existed. The women's opener was way too long, and all of these women are RAW, but Kali Armstrong is the clear star among them. Keanu Carver vs. Trill London was FUN, and both played their parts to perfection. The main event six-man "ID showcase" - Jack Cartwheel, Sean Legacy and Cappuccino Jones vs. Jackson Drake, Brad Baylor, and Ricky Smokes - had solid wrestling and good character work from everyone involved. I love Cappuccino's persona, Cartwheel seems to have a unique in-ring style, and the Swipe Right heels are detestable a-holes with hair we can all be jealous of. I believe one of the commentators compared Swipe Right to Zack Morris and AC Slater from Saved by the Bell, lol. Luca Crusifino from the D'Angelo Family came across as really smooth and polished in his role. He said Tony D'Angelo runs NXT and he runs EVOLVE. Enjoyable way to incorporate a familiar face into the new show. I assume he'll eventually clash with Ava, who HBK left in charge to run the show going forward. The commentary from Pete Rosenberg and Tony Khan Robert Stone was surprisingly okay.

I'll be honest: I posted that inconsequential Zak Knight "news" with a bit of a wink, hoping to get a detailed response like yours, @El-P. You didn't disappoint. In all seriousness though, I'm hoping Tony has learned his lesson about signing anybody and everybody. It seems that he has. Extending Saraya's deal is a bit baffling to me, but I'm guessing he thinks she'll be useful enough to trot out once a year for Wembley. Fair enough, if so, I guess. Scorpio Sky is someone I often wonder about too. I thought he was eventually going to grow into the spot Swerve has now as "The First Black AEW World Champion." But it never happened. While I like him and see his potential, I'm not really sure he'd fare any better in WWE.

Zak Knight has been released.

This was the original image I used in the OP before changing it. Holy fuck! It was right there all along.

THIS is how you present Jade!!!

Men’s Elimination Chamber: John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Logan Paul vs. Damian Priest vs. Seth Rollins Women’s Elimination Chamber: Liv Morgan vs. Bianca Belair vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Roxanne Perez Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus vs. Nia Jax and Candice LeRae Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens Will Cody Rhodes SELL HIS SOUL to The Rock?

Ryan Nemeth is a chronic complainer, a professional victim, and a complete nobody who would be nowhere without Nic's name, reputation, and hard work. The verbiage in his lawsuit is genuine comedy. I did like his short film though.

That explains why it suddenly looks dumb as fuck to me.

After seeing him in the Mr. McMahon documentary, that's kind of heartbreaking. He's still a little boy who craves his daddy's approval and affection.

What is the story here?

Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and Hideo Itami were introduced on camera as Kevin Steen, Fergal Devitt, and KENTA before going through the NXT Name Generator, so Starks not even having his name announced ahead of time will pose much less of a problem if WWE opts to change it.

I said this in the other thread too: If Ethan Page got to keep his name, I don't see why Ricky Starks wouldn't, but you never know.

Whether they "want" to or not should be irrelevant. Tony just saying "oh, okay" to that when he's their boss makes no sense to me. He should be able to sue their asses or at least suspend them without pay if he wants to avoid a lawsuit. Black is the most overrated guy there is. Like Andrade, it will be another lateral move at best. I like Miro, but if he's his own worst enemy, that won't help him in WWE either. Ricky Starks just showed up in NXT - sans name - so we'll see if he gets to keep his. If Ethan Page did, I don't see why Ricky Starks wouldn't, but you never know.

It's bizarre to me that Tony Khan just keeps people at home for a year or more instead of at least using them to get others over. AEW isn't big enough anymore and doesn't have enough viewers at this point to "de-value" anyone by taking them off TV, so TK may as well get some benefit out of wrestlers he's already paying anyway. But, hey, it's his money.

The Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) on ESPN in the '90s went through several eras in only a few short years, and one of them definitely veered toward the cartoonish and absurd: Examples: - A Bungee Match - A Moon Rock Match - Announcer David Webb thinking he was Elvis

Sounds like Heaven to me!

I don't know where the truth lies with Pat Patterson, but I can believe Billy Graham made up a bunch of shit because he was a two-bit carny while also believing Pat may have behaved inappropriately at times considering the WWE culture. I don't believe for a second, though, that a gay man would go after children. That homophobic bullshit really needs to die. P.S. Superstar Billy Graham blocked me on Facebook years ago. I still have no idea why.

Sonya hurts. She and Athena could have bangers in ROH though. Whether TK thinks so, or whether there's any interest from Sonya in that direction, is another story. Blair Davenport was Bea Priestley in AEW. Put her together with Jack Perry! I liked AoP, Paul Ellering, and Cedric Alexander, but they weren't exactly being used. Cedric is in a relationship with Big Swole, so does that mean AEW is out of the question? (Edit: @The Thread Killer wondered the same thing above.) Kross has grown on me a bit, so I think he stays - for now. This was known years ago though.

I had the same reaction. All he's done for the past year in WWE is take up space. Major star in Mexico, but started off ice cold in NXT, only warmed up thanks to great matches and the combined efforts of Zelina Vega and Johnny Gargano, never really found his footing on the main roster, became less relevant in AEW, and is now once again just another wrestler in WWE. I predict the same trajectory for Aleister/Malakai Black, to be honest.

I'll give you Fella - that was a surprise for sure - but I don't remember Nakamura winning being any kind of real shocker.

I'm not a Yeet Fan, but I love that we finally got an unpredictable finish for maybe the first time in Rumble history outside of the Russo "it's a swerve, bro" years.

Did Penta's feet touch the floor?

As great as that would've been, you know people would bitch that it wasn't Vaquer, Giulia, Jordynne Grace, etc. etc.

I would've preferred a Nia win, and I'm not exactly a fan of hers either.