Parties

Out of curiosity: is this a common thing for events in London? Where the ticket price is advertised as too high, and then the price is slashed in the days leading up to the event? If this is common, what's the thinking behind it? Why wouldn't you price tickets at a happy medium and try to sell out ASAP?

Assuming this is the match in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8hj7U2A_Qo Good performance from a guy who no doubt had many good performances. It's a scrappy babyface showing, but the arm work gets old and it doesn't seem better or worse than comparable TV matches of the era. Peak was probably the table spot. Patterson looks better than Dibiase here, but sure, Dibiase showed fire. Dibiase's “lack of intensity” comes in the lesser Mid-South stuff, and the formulaic nature of his WWF work, esp. after '88. In his Million Dollar Man stuff, he's either Ron Burgundy flopping around or sucking wind while running his routine. I compared him to Orton because their facial reactions never work for me, and come off as inexpressive even during big moments. That said, he is a good promo. Overrated, but good. It's all solidly executed, but I never get engrossed in his WWF matches. I don't like the Million Dollar Man character, which hurts his stuff. The Virgil and Dustin stuff hadn't aged well when I watched it on the Network. Money Inc. has aged even worse. And I say that as someone who's found recent looks at that era of WWF to be better than I'd remembered. Even a really good match like April '88 vs. Savage at MSG, custom-made for me, isn't as compelling as it should be, despite some great bumps from Dibiase. To be fair, in WWE he was consistently put in bad spots and asked to improve upon garbage. Zeus, Virgil, early Taker, and post-parasail Brutus weren't going to be good no matter what he did. Dibiase's very good. I'm not his biggest fan, and when you're not a huge fan, you can find things to nitpick. (For me, creepy "born again" ideas of what wrestling should be drop him about six hundred and sixty six notches.) But he's very good. Rude has a limited period of greatness: three, three and a half years tops. Career vs. career, I guess it's Dibiase, given the breadth of his run and strength of Watts' booking and the Hansen team in AJ. Peak vs. peak, Rude's '92 is best and I like him so much more as a performer, gimmick, promo and top heel that this was an easy pick for me. And the original point (that Rude would have been a better world champ in '90-'92) remains.

Dylan’s prediction of several good matches with no direction was accurate. I actually think it’s pretty important for them to get a hot summer program going, as the last several years of WWE have been judged in large part by whether or not they put together a game-changer (Summer of Punk, Nexus, rise of Bryan) to bridge the gap between WM and SS. If booking, I’d think of each year as roughly three “seasons”: TLC to Mania (Dec to end of March) in which you’re getting Rumble contenders hot and setting the stage for WM. Mania to Summerslam (April to mid-August), in which you’re getting a little wild post-Mania, trying guys out, seeing what sticks unexpectedly, but anchoring it around one or two clear-cut pushes or surprising angles. Night of Champions to Survivor Series (Sept-end of Nov). Should feel like a culmination in which you’re blowing off the year’s feuds. TLC is such a bad concept for a show that SS has become the default year-end climax, which sort of happened last year, as you had a main event that seemed like the end of the Authority, the start of Cena as “old dog losing his touch”, and the rise of Ziggler as replacement Bryan. Most importantly: the babyfaces won, albeit too briefly. Four months apiece is a solid length of time to begin and end feuds in the Network era. Mania-to-Summerslam being the largest span, and the one where you’re fitting in a MITB winner (that would ideally be paid off in the fall/winter shows before Rumble), it seems worthwhile to get something cooking now. And aside from a major heel turn (Reigns, Ambrose), I’m not sure what it would be, which the whole point of doing something unpredictable. I’d love to see the Authority go away for real until Mania, so maybe it’s as simple as Rollins biting the hand that feeds him, injuring Hunter, and becoming a marked man running from death until he’s forced to fight Lesnar and/or Reigns at SS.

The original “Greater talent: Rude or Dibiase” question came from asking who could have been NWA world champ in 1990-91. My reference to Rude as the better talent (or Dibiase as the lesser) was about that period of history. It’s meant to say: who would you bet the farm on at that moment? By ’90, Dibiase feels like his best days have passed. Rude had more upside at that moment, as he was entering top form as a performer right around then, the Dangerous Alliance run being his peak. I’m not a huge Dibiase fan, but his peak came in Mid-South and Japan. I don’t know if he was really given the chance to have great taped matches in WWF. There’s the Odessa match from Bret’s DVD set, but that didn’t floor me. I’m sure he had good singles matches there, and my recent dives into late 80s/early 90s WWE have been better than expected. The SNME with Hogan-Dibiase was just live on the Network stream, and that is a really good show from start to finish that will make you think that even guys who we don’t view as great workers were better trained and more proficient than the midcarders of today. My favorite Dibiase stuff is him working Magnum twice on the same day (Tulsa and OKC, both matches on the Mid-South set) and his work with heel Murdoch, especially their match from New Year’s Eve ’85. The Tulsa match with Magnum is particularly great and something I actually like more than his big Duggan multi-stip blowoff cage match. I can get behind the idea that Dibiase is kind of undervalued by us now. Or we take for granted how good he was, or we’re a few years removed from that Mid-South set. And perhaps we even overvalue someone like Rude for novelty and his best run coming during a renaissance for WCW while surrounded by great workers. But I tend to rank workers by their peaks more than consistency. And I do think that there was an intensity which Dibiase often lacked which tends to color our memories of workers. If you come off as a badass or ultra-charismatic (as Rude did at his best), that tends to be more fondly remembered than a very talented guy who was always good, but doesn’t necessarily have the “fire” that we associate with all-time favorites. Which is probably unfair to Dibiase, as he has some badass moments: his promo after Williams got laid out by the Russians, his work in the famous double turn with Flair, his team with Matt Borne. Maybe there’s something kind of Randy Orton about him? Where his methodical speech and style in-ring seemed to quell heat at times?

As pathetic as it all is (brutal to see Rovert diving in to announce himself as the voice of reason), I was amused by the fifteen-year old Carl Bernstein tweeting about a shoot interview of Davey Richards saying that TNA would get a new TV deal months before Dave wrote about Destination America. Now who's the journalist, Mr. Meltzer?

I like Xavier's approach to stooge manager. And Big E running the ropes to hit a big splash. Kofi as confident heel is fun. Cesaro’s house-on-fire spots were really cool, but my favorite was when he broke up an interference attempt by throwing Big E onto the announcer’s table, like something out of an 80s All Japan tag. Will process what I think of black heels benefiting from a ref not being able to tell them apart and get back to you on this. Agree that there’s something about these teams which work well together. Cesaro-Kofi from Main Event was considered a miracle of sorts, but here are the two of them again.

Guy infamous for injuring opponents + guy infamous for thinking he should be more over than he is = blood. Great finish. Maybe the lax attitude is just looking the other way on guys willing to get hardway blood? Gives mgmt. a convenient out. It works as a violent crazed feud with or without a title, but both guys should be in that Chamber match. Refreshing to see a feud on WWE based on what looks like hate and a manic lucha approach to stips.

They have both EC and Battleground in the next four weeks - Rollins/Kane can be blown off at the first and set up a new title program for Battleground at that point. I'm more interested in who they think will be ready for the MITB briefcase eight weeks from now. You should be able to build anyone in eight weeks, but as of now I'll say Rusev with Ambrose as the backup plan?

There had to have been Dust Brothers matches that got better reactions than that. Hottest singles Stardust match maybe. Axel's gum-chewing take on Hogan is entertaining, but man, they need to cut bait on the Ascension. Bad use of all involved. Torito vs. Hornswaggle is a fine wine that only improves with age.

I wouldn't even say the best humor in them is the actual blowing of spots. Those moments and the clips of wrestlers audibly calling spots are repetitive and tedious by now. The reason to watch them - I think #275 just dropped recently - is for amusing stories from shoot interviews and the inventive editing of other audio and video into it. I don't even get all of the nerd references (because I'm too cool, you see), but a lot of it seems like an impressive amount of work and creativity. At its best it has a TV Carnage vibe that celebrates wrestling's wackiness, rather than just harping on guys for messing up dumb spots.

By ’90, most of the best workers no longer fit the NWA touring champ model. It could have been Dibiase, but he wasn’t the most talented option. Rude could have been really good, and there could have been money in guys like Bret, Pillman, Steamboat, Dustin, and Scorpio chasing him for it. Austin fit the description, but he wasn’t an elite worker as Stunning Steve (his WCW work strikes me as a guy with TomK's "great technician" gimmick rather than actually being one), and the Stone Cold character doesn’t scream “NWA touring champ”. My favorite Americans of the time - all of whom were booked strong worldwide between 90-93 - were Rude, Hansen, Gordy, Williams, Windham, Vader, Dustin, and Lawler. And I could see throwing Bret on there too. Of that bunch, I’d go with Rude beating Steamboat or Flair in ’90. He holds it for 2-3 years until a conquering babyface emerges, with Bret or Dustin as the most likely options. If Turner is the kingpin rather than Vince, then tie goes to the WCW guy, but who's to say Bret wouldn't have been a WCW guy by then? Windham makes sense if he could get his act together, but all things being equal, I’d say he doesn’t and remains a missed opportunity. If the territories don’t collapse, does Dusty do all the things that made him a pariah, and do those sins of the father carry down to Dustin? Or does history remember Dusty more fondly, giving Dustin a good Funk/Windham “heritage” case to make for being world champ? As JVK's saying here, it's as much about whoever could satisfy the politics of the business at the time. But if it came down to that, you'd have to contend with Flair being champion for most of the prior 10 years, and a lot of it might come down to his choice for passing the torch. In which case Dustin, Windham, or even Piper seem more likely than Bret. Hansen’s my favorite worker of all of them at this time, but he probably isn’t right for the role, even if booked as a surly veteran heel a la his AWA title win. Could he or Williams have bridged the gap and been a champion who worked both All Japan and New Japan? Even if the territories remain, MMA is still inevitable, and some of those guys would be in the mix by the mid-90s. You wouldn’t see Severn holding the NWA title as he did for four years, but guys like Ken Shamrock or Don Frye could still be working a mixed schedule that could be alluring to old school midwest mafioso looking for authenticity/credibility in a shooter type. They wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of their champion being knocked out on a UFC card, but they could have had pull in deciding who their champ fought.

Hogan as a Steve Williams in Japan rather than what he did in America is interesting/bizarre to think about. In 1990-1991, the NWA world title contenders from WWE look like Piper, Dibiase, Dusty, Bret, Savage, Rude, Hennig, maybe Davey Boy, and Kerry if he doesn’t get in his accident. From WCW it’s Flair, Luger, Windham, Vader. Then there’s guys like Pillman or Eaton who might have been groomed for it if pushed. Overseas there's Gordy, Williams, Hansen. Indies had Lawler and Funk. In 1993, it’s a different alignment. In WWE the only people at NWA world title level are Bret and Lawler, and they were the main event feud that year. Hennig if his injuries don't happen. Their #3 might be Matt Borne, and he was involved in the feud too. WCW, with a smaller roster, in ’93 had Flair, Pillman, Eaton, Regal, Arn, Windham, Vader, Dustin, Austin, Foley, Steamboat, Scorpio, Rude, and Benoit.

Community is a former NBC show that NBC cancelled, which was then picked up by Yahoo, largely to air episodes that had already been written. The show always had bad ratings, despite critical acclaim. Lucha Libre USA’s been canceled for years and serves no threat to anyone. WWE TV is a valued NBCUniversal entity. Hulu is a Viacom, Disney, and Comcast conglomerate. Hulu has done many original series, but none of them have been at all popular. I’m not saying no one else will ever have a wrestling show on Hulu, but I do think that currently, WWE would be made aware of any such conversation and would be strongly opposed to it. WWE - and more importantly, USA - would be made livid by any attempt to bring Global Force to Hulu. Destination America has unsuccessfully been trying to get TNA on Netflix since they signed the deal in December, and other programming on prior to that. Wrestling doesn’t have to be trashy, but that’s its reputation. I believe it was Victator who had the epic line, “Wrestling trying to downplay its sleaziness is like a cow denying its milk.” Wrestling got on MTV, NBC, and Turner during two absolute heights of its popularity. The Monday Night War happened (apocryphally) because Bischoff had one wingnut meeting in which Turner himself offered to give him whatever he wanted to be the highest-rated wrestling on TV, during the worst years WWE ever had. It’s a harder sell in 2015. The capital, competition, and public interest isn’t there. I totally agree that it’s worth a shot - it just seems unlikely, and I don’t think Jeff Jarrett is the guy to pull it off. And to be clear: there is no way Netflix produces wrestling as an original series. That is so far off from their branding and what they want to be. They want legitimacy in the press more than they want viewership, which is the same reason most networks and advertisers abhor wrestling. They’re trying to win Emmys. Global Force has a better chance (still zero percent) of being picked up by HBO than they do as a Netflix original. That said: these situations are all quickly malleable. Rock ’n Wrestling happened because Cyndi Lauper liked Lou Albano. If Nicki Minaj takes a huge liking to Lance Hoyt, brings him with her everywhere she goes, puts him in a huge music video, and then begins herself appearing in hot angles on GFW programming, then they're made in the shade. Not sure what Jarrett’s take is, but judging from GFW’s current web presence, I’m guessing he’s a little behind the times. I absolutely agree that in the current media world, there’s more upside in being a Youtube phenom than a middling cable TV personality. The book signings and other events promoting the top online stars look like Beatlemania in the crowds they gather. I’m just not seeing anyone in GFW who could be that phenom. Maybe PJ Black or Moose as real stretches? 3-5 years ago it might have been Chael, but the bloom is off the rose, and they wouldn’t even be getting him right now if he wasn’t damaged goods. Again, the hype around today’s top online stars tends to be that of a supermodel who likes to dress like Star Wars characters. That’s an easier sell than Sonjay Dutt vs. Jigsaw. Which is why I think a more openly fun, comedic group like Lucha Vavoom would stand a better chance of crossing over right now. I agree that shooting a bunch of backstage segments and promotional video has become an unnecessary burden in wrestling, fueled by producers who resent that they work in wrestling and want to shoot anything but matches. That said, as the most hardcore of hardcore fans, I think we all sometimes have a tough time understanding how unpopular wrestling is right now. If Jarrett went full ECW and produced an R-rated show with top international talent, scantily clad women and innovative gimmicks, it could work. I don't think YouTube or Netflix would come calling, but it could be popular. Or it could be XPW/MLW and sink into quicksand. Your point is taken that drawing a live gate is an important goal. It's also harder than ever in a crowded landscape of companies using the same talent (and better talent to which Jarrett won't have access). Regarding “paying to be on TV”: the people who nowadays pay to be on cable are wealthy buffoons who think they deserve their own reality shows. Most of which never see the light of day. Those chumps have more to spend on vanity projects than Jarrett will have to spend on his, to say nothing of how much cheaper it is to shoot a moron complaining in their kitchen than it is to produce a season of wrestling. NYC is currently plastered with Youtube/Simon & Schuster’s posters of Grace Helbig, Shane Dawson, Michelle Phan, and ASAPScience. TNA was lousy in their approach, but at least they could put Hulk Hogan on a poster. Who could Jarrett get right now that matters one iota to NY/LA media? The only other option is to build stars from scratch, which takes incredible luck, cultural cache, and skillful work. Wrestling Society X and Lucha Libre USA had rosters as good as GFW’s, and they flopped. Lucha Underground has superior star power, and they’re not setting the world ablaze. If Lucha Underground was web-only right now, would they be doing better? Impossible to say, but it seems unlikely. I agree with your sentiment. Online is the future, or at least some cross-pollination of web and TV. You can do it online if you’re brilliantly innovative, broadly approachable, and well-marketed. I just don’t think Jarrett’s that guy, or that anyone currently in wrestling seems eager to try what you’re proposing. YouTube has recently built enormous production studios that could easily house wrestling and market it to the fullest... but why would they right now? Roddy Piper was talking on Cabana's podcast about how he's gonna do a talk show with them, void of wrestling, and even that sounded vague and delusional. If anyone gets there, I suspect it'll be a more media-savvy group like Lucha Vavoom or even PWG, on the strength of their ties to Hollywood comedians, rather than a fairly conventional “TNA Part Deux” show.

Aside from Lucha Libre USA and some bad documentaries, the only wrestling on Hulu is WWE, and I imagine there are contracts in place to keep it that way. I suppose Netflix is possible, as there’s a lot of trashy episodic TV from small-time networks on there. By Netflix standards it’s all barely watched, but it’s there. Getting there seems doable only if their TV company has the ability to close the deal, which means hooking up with a hot network that isn't owned by Comcast, FOX, or Disney. Destination America has been “in talks” with Netflix for six months, and nothing’s happened. Even if DA got programming on there, it wouldn’t necessarily be TNA (and they have a better case to make for being there than GFW would). ROH in its present form would stand no chance of getting on Netflix, and I don't see GFW being miles ahead of them. The highest paid YouTubers are European video game reviewers and ASMR ladies who open toy boxes while meowing. If those are your kingpins, then Lucha VaVoom, Kaiju and Chikara stand a better chance than Jarrett does. The top attractions have millions of subscribers, and billions of views. In USD, after YouTube takes their sizable 45% cut, the ten biggest acts on Youtube make between $500K and $8 million/year. I’m not saying a wrestling company of TNA rejects can’t make money. But when your best case, virtually impossible scenario earns a couple million dollars a year (and rest assured, GFW would make far less than that), I can understand why Jarrett thinks a mediocre syndication or cable deal has more upside. Maybe that’s short-sighted, but it seems unrealistic to think that a Youtube-only wrestling show of solid hands and also-rans would triumph. The only current free agents in wrestling capable of moving the needle are CM Punk and maybe Shane McMahon. If you’re trying to be an online sensation, who are you putting on your Times Square billboard? TNA at the peak of their financial recklessness in 2010 spent millions to get Hogan, Flair, Hardy, Bischoff, Nash, Hall, and a dozen others. It achieved less than nothing. The real goal should be: built your own sensations from scratch, and keep costs low enough that you can afford to grow for five years and learn from mistakes. Make friends in nerd media. Get enough breathing room to make pivots as needed, and become a viable international brand by giving guys from Japan, the UK and Mexico an American platform. Most of which boils down to timing, luck, and putting microphones in front of the right people.

Depends on what we mean by a territorial system and how far the “time warp” scenario goes. Territories remained territories in part because few people had the cable/satellite means to see TV from other groups beyond their local. Today, all art is both global, with a degree of regional flavor (Dirty South sounds different than A$AP gang, etc.) Let’s say that the internet and digital TV remain what they currently are, but no one really went national. Even without an invader like Vince, a lot of these promoters would have shot themselves in the foot eventually. But new ones then could have cropped up in their place. One of the more interesting parts of this hypothetical for me is that even if wrestling remains territorial, it's still prone to the ups and downs of regional economies. A Detroit territory wouldn't have lasted. Anything in Tennessee/Kentucky/Ohio/Mississippi would have suffered greatly. But something based out of Texas, be it World Class or someone else, would be doing phenomenal business right now, if based in the country's fastest growing cities: Houston, Austin, Dallas, etc. In a lot of cases, you’d have to assume that guys would stay where they came from, or wherever they got their first big push. Buddy Rose, Steamboat, Hennig, etc - we can pretty well guess that they would have kept doing what was working for them in their respective zones. Cornette probably tours to the extent possible, before settling into a booking job at whatever Crockett and/or Watts produce. To me it’s more interesting to wonder where the stars of the late 90s/2000s who started after the territories closed would end up. And how UFC would factor into it all. Does someone like Illinois’ own Clay Guida find himself in a Greg Gagne-owned AWA? Or Frank Mir, if the company still ends up in Vegas? They would have certainly had the best chance of getting guys like Lesnar, Benjamin, Hass, etc. Savage is the exception to the rule: I think he works anywhere and everywhere as a wild man special attraction who never holds the world title, but who is in high demand from all promoters. Foley is a similar deal, albeit as less of a star. He’s less the Brody of his time, and more the Crusher Blackwell. Rampage Jackson, Sapp, and Don Frye all could have been major touring heels who could come in, do a main event feud, and then ride into the sunset. Even in an internet age, I don’t think guys like Sapolsky, Feinstein, Quack, and Bauer would have had a place in the business. Maybe as Jim Ross office types, but they wouldn’t be running their own promotions. I don’t think Hogan would have stayed in the AWA. Just feels like more of a Florida guy. He becomes a musclebound Dusty Rhodes: powerful figure who can book himself as top star. He never becomes NWA world champion. Bret, Davey and Owen remain in Stampede. Bret enters the Stu role of owner/booker, cultivating his preferred mix of great technicians and Sweet Daddy Sikis. Present-day Stampede looks a lot like 2008 ROH, built around guys like Pillman, Benoit, Tyson Kidd, Cesaro, Harry Smith, Danielson, Nigel, Angle, Thatcher and Finlay, with guys like Heath Slater, Elijah Burke, Drew Galloway, and Wade Barrett as the colorful foils. I could even see them finding guys like Rashad Evans and Montana native Keith Jardine. Memphis feels like the place you would have seen lots of the WWF guys of the late 80s and 90s. Not a big stretch given that a lot of them came through there anyway. You’d have seen big guys like Sid, Taker, Yoko, Rikishi as the monster-of-the-month against Lawler. Memphis’s own Rampage Jackson would have been perfect there. Jeff Jarrett is in the mix. Hopefully by ’98, Lawler would pass the torch of top star to young upstart Flex Cavana. Maybe Regal gets a Dundee/Adrian Street style run there? Company’s booked by a mix of Lawler, Dundee, and Dutch. You’d also see some guys who never got national runs as sporadic stars there: Colt Cabana, PG-13, Flash Flanagan, Steve Bradley, Chris Hamrick, Ian Rotten, Jimmy Jacobs, various ECW guys. Detroit becomes the hardcore center, not Philly, which remains a Crockett-NWA haven. Sheik’s promotion builds around Sabu, Van Dam, Malenko, Japanese/Mexican recruits, and later CM Punk. That said, with the nature of the city’s economic downturn, I don’t think it would remained a big territory, and may well have closed due to the city falling into its depression. Even if still trained by Bassman, Cena remains a WWF guy due to his Boston connections. Maybe he even maintains some of his rap persona to remain more of a Bruno “man of the people”. I think Samoa Joe would have been brought into a Vince Sr-minded WWF as well. For some reason I also picture Konnan getting over as a draw in New York, as sort of a modern Pedro Morales. Joe Lauzon as your modern Backlund babyface who's both crazy-eyed and mild-mannered. Heyman probably would have remained there, and the void of Bobby Heenan and Ventura is filled by some combo of Heyman, Raven, NYC radio stars, or someone entirely different. Portland could have been the Chael Sonnen show, with Josh Barnett, Nate Marquart, and Davey Richards in the hunt. A talented territory that ran Portland/Seattle/Salt Lake City/Boise/Silicon Valley would be doing big business in thriving communities right now. One big unknown for me would be how present-day California would fit into all this. A Lucha Underground style company based out of LA, coupled with a Bay Area group of would-be MMA guys? A New Japan LA Dojo using NJ’s current gaijin, Uriah Faber types, and various ROH/PWG/Evolve guys? Something owned by the Shamrocks? A pro wrestling group built around AKA guys like Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, Fitch, Arlovski, Penn, Lashley and Rumble Johnson?

There was also that Rolling Stone profile that I think came out as late as 2002 in which a pissed-off Austin was driving recklessly while drinking a beer with the reporter in his car, coming off like a full-on alcoholic rather than some fun loving rascal who enjoys a nightly Steveweiser. In a subsequent RS interview last year, he said that nowadays he drinks two IPAs and one glass of wine every night, which he deemed "Moderation."

Swagger-Harper from Superstars is a reminder that Swagger still works for the company. Without Dutch, the babyface Tea Party thing is that much stranger, but We the People is still over. Swagger also has that undercard physique where WWE jobbers stop working out. Weird match in that Swagger's offense is all about throwing guys around, which didn't look right on someone who's both bigger and more agile. Harper's lariats and dropkicks are fantastic. Not a must-see, but a reminder that I'd rather see Swagger in midcard losses on RAW than most of the guys they have in that role now.

If you had to use those six people, wouldn't you reverse the roles of those two trios? Even if Hogan's immobile, dude knows how to put a match together, and could actually be excellent at teaching rookies how to develop shtick and gimmicks. Paige and Bryan are ideal trainers. Lita is an adequate facsimile of Gwen or Christina on The Voice, Booker's better at talking than wrestling (and I wouldn't even say he's good at talking), and Billy Gunn can still collect his bimonthly DX 401K check as a judge. These assignments feel like learning how to write jokes from Prince, and how to play guitar from Dave Chappelle.

One other bright spot this week:

Obviously. We can also wait and see if it actually has any effect on anything. It's all about the competition. I think with how fragmented the audiences are in general now, there's not much room for growth, anyhow. I usually only look at ratings for shows like this when the hardcores talk about how great it was. It's clearly ridiculous, but at least from what Meltzer's said in the past, you know how this is gonna go. Sycophants telling Steph and HHH that the show tanked without them, and that they simply must return as RAW's focal point. For next week I'd also expect Vince to hot shot a bunch of matches and angles that have no business being on TV. That said, great show. We were one Mark Henry beatdown and a Daniel Bryan recovery away from this being The RAW That The Internet Booked.

I never care about the ratings, but this is one week where I'm interested to see the number. Vince's idea of a good RAW is predicated on the quarters. While Steph and Hunter booking themselves as simultaneous top faces/top heels seems inevitable, doing a good number during NHL-NBA playoffs might speak well for a show focused on Ambrose, Zayn, New Day, Cesaro-Kidd, Sheamus, and Barrett.

I picked Hardy, but Jericho's neither fish nor fowl. His feud with Rey in '09 was very good. I just saw him have a house show match with Orton in MSG that was far better than you'd expect. Dude is enough of a veteran to mentally know what to do, while his body fails him every time. His layout of a match can be smart. Problem is partially that WWE doesn't want their guys playing to the crowd in taped matches, and partially that Jericho was never as good an athlete as he was gimmicked, and has had at least one glaring, clumsy botch in all of his matches for years. Hardy has several good-to-great runs. Jericho was the better talker, but I'm not sure I ever liked him as much as I liked Matt Hardy V1, or the Hardy who was the de facto Smackdown TV champ.

Slater's new haircut and beard made him look like Zayn, moments before Zayn showed up.

The CJ/Lana thing feels like the best example yet of Vince not giving a damn about NXT and willfully fucking up a year or two of character development so that he can have one more Torrie Wilson sit on his lap. I'd expect her Florida State self to be huge as a babyface for a few months, but would need to become a good worker with above-average Diva storylines to sustain it. The women's pool is just too muddled right now to accomodate another attempt at Trish 2015. To say nothing of how bad the explanation will be for "Here's why I, an American, posed as a Putin sympathizer for a year". Like, 10x worse than Kofi dropping his Jamaican gimmick by explaining that he was just a big fan of Jamaica.

It was a match in which Striker early on referred to Regal as the "Ringleader of the Tormentors". That was the line (and match) that for me moved his announcing from "enthusiastic goofball" to "nerd imbecile trying to get himself over".