NotJayTabb

I'm pleased to say you haven't gone mad. I've seen enough Bellomo in enough different settings to know he's terrible, and this is the first time I've enjoyed one of his matches. I think a large part of that is Funk making him look really good, but I think Sal had to raise his game facing someone as good as Funk. I mean, this is a guy who looked wimpy in a match against Bobby Heenan, and here he's all fired up on offence, really focuses work on Terry's shoulder at first. Funk is obviously very generous in the match (maybe too generous? Should Sal Bellomo be powering out of your sleeper?), and for sure his selling and bumping make Sal look better than he is. There's a few bit of business Funk puts in there to add flavour to what could've been a drier match - the bump on the announce table and the argument with the ref. As you said, the fact I watched a near 15min Bellomo match and enjoyed it makes Funk a miracle worker

I love Funk destroying the ring attendant, what a great first impression for people who hadn't seen him before. I'm looking forward to watching the Bellomo match to see Funk work a miracle - I watched the first ECW Hardcore TV last week with 2 Bellomo matches and he was terrible.

I'm sure I'm going to end up thinking of loads of answers, but off the top of my head: Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman (Wrestlewar 92) Prefer this to Pillman's match with Liger at Superbrawl due to the storyline aspect. The fact that both knew each other so well due to tagging, and the idea that Zenk was stronger but Pillman was quicker, gave it a bit more depth. Kidman vs Mikey Whipwreck (Uncensored 99) Fun PPV opener, and I loved the dynamic of Whipwreck being this big bully cruiser who was wrecking Kidman with top rope back suplexes and wheelbarrowing him face first into the safety rails. I wish that dick bully Whipwreck beasting the cruiser division had been a thing, but he was back jobbing to Scotty Riggs by the next PPV I've also been watching old episodes of Main Event for my blog, and there's been a few gems crop up. The best of which are: Mark Henry vs Dean Ambrose (11/3/14) Henry looks like an utter badass as he stares down all 3 Shield members at the start. Heel Ambrose was so much better than what we get now, more vicious. He hits this great diving punch to the back of Henry's knee and does these great little touches he doesn't bother with nowadays. The Wyatt Family vs Sin Cara & Los Matadores (11/2/2014) This was shortly before the Wyatts/Shield match at Elimination Chamber, and really is a reminder of why everyone was so excited about the Wyatts. They're awesome beasts here, a total contrast to their high-flying opponents, and Bray in particular is so explosive with his offence. The face team are great at timing their comebacks, and look really great in their shine spots. Los Matadores were terrific on Main Event in this time period (there's a Rybaxel match from the same month that's also good), glad they're getting a small push at the moment.

SD Jones was probably initially baffled at how 8 years had passed since your WWF run, and he was still being given the role of designated dancing jobber in an ethnically-themed babyface stable. But then he was incredibly given a heavyweight title match on PPV in the year 1991, and accepted it with glee.

Had no real feelings about Punk going into MMA, until his refusal to shake Gall's hand stating "I'm not here to shake hands, I'm here to punch faces", at which point I though it'd be hilarious for him to get his arse handed to him

Agreed. Like we're just supposed to forget he was bragging about taking out Balor, the actual likable face, a week ago. I much prefer Seth as a heel Bad guys becoming good guys and vice versa where fans put aside what happened a week earlier has been part of pro wrestling forever. If that bugs you than you picked the wrong TV show. And I liked Dan Ackroyd in Trading Places as soon as I saw him getting fucked over by the Dukes. It doesn't so much bug me, I just think it's an interesting situation they're in where Rollins has for a long time been a heel who people wanted to cheer, but is initially feuding with another heel who the fans want to cheer for. The catalyst for it is that he got turned on by a heel authority figure who the fans want to cheer for, and the reason he's annoyed is that he wasn't the wrestler who got handed the title. I think they've been wise in not having HHH on TV this week and by already splitting Rollins from Stephanie, but the bottom line is that Rollins is a ratty, nasal, just-turned face whose two upcoming feuds look to be against guys who are just as likely to get cheered as him. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

At some point in this new face run, they're going to have to do something to make Rollins somewhat likable. At the moment, he's a ratty entitled brat, who used to be on top due to being favoured by the bosses, but doesn't cut it without those benefits. He's basically Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places before his redemption, only I don't trust the Raw writers to make him as sympathetic.

It's the same "stealing the show" nonsense that made Ziggler such a terrible character. Actually, that's one of the best things about Owens: his goal has always been to win titles and earn more money. It's an easily understandable character trait.

I'd not really considered how misleading the name of our ground is, but the Ricoh Arena is the stadium. Though I think by the time I'm trying to sell Mason Ryan-headlined Wrestlemanias to the public, I'd probably be able to run it at the conference hall next door.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this, realism be damned. It also wouldn't feel like a JvK project if he wasn't dragging a load of 50yr olds out of retirement to put on stinking matches. He did it with the Blond Bombers in 83, so I'm glad the tradition has been kept up with Watts and Wahoo. This has also inspired me to shell out for TEW for the first time since 2005. so when I'm reaping the glories of my "Mason Ryan wins the WWE title at Wrestlemania at the Ricoh Arena" push, I'll be sure to thank you

I don't think it's inaccurate to trim that to just AJ and Sheamus. Roman had one of the best matches of 2015 against the Big Show. He's had the only good Brock match since the return vs Cena. He had MoTN 3 PPV's in a row last year. I think he's at the stage where I can't think of anyone in the company he couldn't have a decent match with.

I'd argue Owens DOES have an aura around him. He's a guy that's managed to remain over, despite spending the past 12 months in the most 50/50 booking period of the WWE. For better or worse, Owens always gets a reaction coming out - it may be booing or it may be cheering, but he gets a reaction. Some of that may be due to his "indy darling" background, but he's over in a way than Sami Zayn isn't, or Cesaro and Crews never will be. Everyone has their own opinion, but I'd also argue he's one of the better promo guys in the company. He's naturally witty, his motivations are always clear and it's obvious that people in power feel the same way - very few wrestlers get put on guest commentary as much as Owens.

In fairness to Owens, by all accounts his backstage reputation is impeccable. He's one of those guys who's learning about production, asking questions about improvement and showing real interest in how things are run. I can imagine that kind of attitude really endearing him to Vince and HHH, reaching for the brass ring and all that bollocks. I actually thought the segment came across as a face turn for HHH, and by proxy Owens. Firstly because the crowd were clearly on his side all night, but also the way they let the "You deserve it" chants play out on TV. Also, they've put a video on the YouTube channel of Rollins lambasting Stephanie and Foley after the match, where he doesn't come off as a face. I can see them running with Owens as tweener-face, with Jericho turning on him eventually to cement the turn.

In all the excitement about Owens, people are overlooking how ice cold the Strowman squash was. Poor litle Americo, dressed up like a kid attending a fancy-dress party, looks absolutely terrified as Braun comesout, gets obliterated and then demasked as Strowman stands over him and laughs.

Well, Dar is under contract and appearing on videos on Raw to promote the division, whilst ZSJ is very much not signing a contract at this time, so a Dar win isn't unlikely. I still think ZSJ will win, but don't rule Dar out. I also think Dar has been unlucky in that he's fought two very poor guys so far in the tournament, and fighting someone as good as ZSJ will hopefully give him a chance to prove what he can do.

I think watching 1-on-1 combat sports after the event is different to watching other sports. You can notice clever little tactical moments on rewatch or spot the turning point when the momentum starts to shift in a way you can't really do with team sports. I know from personal experience that I've watched my DVD of Calzaghe vs Lacy numerous times, whilst my copy of the 1987 FA Cup final has been watched once in the background.

Given that Nikki Bella returned as a heel on Sunday, I wonder if they'll mention that she's the sister-in-law of the face GM

I'm looking forward to a big push for the Z-Man

It's interesting that the guys on the video - Noam, Swann, Kendrick and Perkins - are bypassing NXT TV almost entirely. I think Swann was a job guy on one episode (vs Balor?) and Kendrick is obviously TV experienced, but the other two will only have had the CWC to get used to the WWE way of filming.

I've been critical of Dean Ambrose before, but I give him all the credit possible for making the world title match somewhat watchable. Thought he heeled it up nicely, and was actually convincing as the champion who knows he's better than his challenger, but is sometimes caught offguard. Loved his condescending slaps to the face and his mock Sweet Chin Music warm up (followed by a poke to the eye). For his part, Ziggler did have one nice moment (the headbutt used to set up a superkick), but that aside...wretched. Really awkward looking roll-ups, the "hold me up until I slap your back" DDT, some utterly terrible elbows where he was clearly just punching the floor, his corner headbutts where he was just flinging wet hair at Ambrose....just abysmal.

Kendrick was highlighted on the "Cruiserweights coming soon to RAW" video, so there's a good chance he's sticking around.

Between putting it on Smackdown, putting the title match in the middle of the card at Summerslam and having a loser like Zigger as #1 contender, they've managed to make the world title seem pretty unimportant.

I got as far as the end of the women's title match last night (due to the time difference, I'd decided to stay up until the first match I didn't care about, and thankfully Apollo Crews turned up to get me to go to sleep), and it felt kind of odd. It was incredibly sloppy, yet also really exciting. The drop from the corner has already been discussed, but Sasha almost landing on her head during the splash mountain reversal was equally dicey (to the extent that Will Ospreay tweeted her advice on how to do it safely out of legitimate concern. At the same time, it felt like a really fun match to watch, really felt like they were both laying it on the line for the title. I also liked the pre-match panel dropping hints that Sasha might lose, wondering if she was a bit too cocky in the build up to the match. It also suggested as possible heel turn for Sasha, especially if Bayley goes to Raw. Sasha is much better as a heel than face, and Bayley should be over enough for a heel turn to stick. The only issue is that the face side of the Raw women is pretty lacking, with Charlotte, Jax, Summer, Lana and Dana all heels, with Alicia Fox pretty much a tweener. Actually feels like the balance and depth is greater with the Smackdown women

This may be more appropriate for the "against the grain" thread, but I'm still not totally on board yet with Nakamura. Just too much twatting about and pulling funny faces to the extent that I kinda wanted to see Joe kick his head off. Match felt underwhelming too, the build up had suggested this big war, especially with Joe raging about Nak the past few shows, but the first half of the match contained none of that hate and was more about working holds. It seemed to kill the crowd, who didn't really pick up until the end. Loved the women's title match. One or two flubs, like the power bomb spot, but I thought Bayley looked more convincing as a fighter than I'd seen before. The end was really good too, with Bayley knowing she had to escape the Asuka Lock, but this leaving her prone to getting blasted in the head. With Asuka not going full blown heel, and the face show of respect at the end, I can't work out her next challenger. Too soon for Ember Moon or Nikki Storm, Billie Kay not on her level...be interesting to see. The Ember Moon debut was fun, though I'm not sure what Moon's character is supposed to be. She had all the supernatural promos and a mysterious entrance, but she just came across as an excited face when the mask came off. Good showing, and it's nice that Kay got some shine before losing. Thought Kay looked as good as Moon, would like to see her do more on the TV shows

Just had a Google - looks like it was August 2014