FMKK

It's becoming increasingly difficult to see the utility of Meltzer in 2017 except for his historical knowledge. He doesn't seem to break much news, acts like a massive douche online and stans one particular brand of wrestling in the most obnoxious way.

Don't use old stars but also, don't make new ones.

If you believe that's the whole story. If it is he's really stupid.

Nice that you can take time out of your busy schedule of not caring about anything to mock the argument instead of engaging

I don't care about his opinion per se (though I do think his workrate worship has been damaging to this generation of wrestling) it's more about the ignorance of his own biases and the arrogance of dismissing contrary opinions as being because the other person just doesn't know as much as him and is therefore too stupid to understand the objective correctness of his personal taste.

My problem is that Meltzer is held up as the expert for wrestling and yet he seems to have no ability or desire to construct an argument to save his life. Anyone who doesn't agree with his opinions on wrestling is an idiot or hasn't watched enough or doesn't know about the business. It's like, he has the reputation he has so he's unquestionable and it's beneath him to engage honestly with any opinions contrary to his.

I find Dave's wrestling takes, his twitter persona and his gatekeeping to be totally cringe worthy as a package these days.

If Bryan Danielson's politics weren't obvious enough, he was interacting with Naomi Klein on Twitter this week about her new book. He also got a shout out on Chapo Trap House after they interviewed her and they asked him to go on the show. That would be incredible and I hope it's something he's allowed to do. Bryan, go on Chapo!

I feel like they hotshot that by a week or two when they could have had Owens garnering heat bragging to Bryan about being untouchable etc. But I guess they needed something big to explain Vince being on TV and they want to get the match on the cards well in advance of the PPV

I didn't really get that from Daves comments, which I've listened to. It seemed to me that it was more that annoyed about the unrealism of a one-shot headbutt busting Vince open when it doesn't happen in other instances, which I thought was quite ridiculous. Of course, I should clarify that he was mostly critical of doing a shoot headbutt in the first place.

That was a hell of a performance from Vince. The crazy old bastard still has it.

As with anything, it's the follow-up that means as much as the moment itself. If they do a bullshit finish, have Braun dominate the inevitable Survivor Series tag match, put on a good showing at the Rumble then work Cena in a big match at Mania then he'll be fine. It's clear they see him as a top guy more so that they ever did with Rusev, Owens or any of the others who've had stop-start pushes and ended up being parked in the midcard. That's my impression anyway. He's been the best protected new guy in years so it would be odd if that suddenly came to a halt with the Lesnar match.

He's feuded with the brand's top star for months, got out over huge in the Summerslam main event and is working Lesnar for the title at the next PPV. The trigger has already been pulled.

Andre/Hogan was actually GOOD. That's the worst part. The match made sense. Hogan tries to slam Andre and hurts his back. So Andre works the back before Hogan finally slams him to win. Real simple stuff. ...which mostly looked like crap too because Andre really couldn't do much that looked any good. Not to mention Hogan "finally slamming Andre" after he couldn't do it the first time and had his back worked the entire time doesn't make one lick of sense if you really think about it. People are all up in arms with "selling" and "storytelling" that "make sense", but when you simply think two secs about stuff like this, it actually make no sense whatsoever. It "works", but it doesn't look good and it's kinda stupid, really, like any "hulking up" sequence is. Hogan persevering through the pain to finally pick up the giant in the crunch moment of a big championship match is a lot less egregious to me than kicking out of finishers at one or taking second rope head drops and not selling it two minutes later.

It's strange to think that this has been a zombie company for as long as it was considered a 'viable' one by this point.

I'll concede that he's had good matches (though very few if any great ones) but his character has been meta bullshit about his push for about 4 years and it's unbearable. He has terrible instincts as a worker as well, but is athletic enough to be carried by the right guy. He would be a solid midcard hand if he didn't seem so played out

To me he was good in a "ten minute entertaining but disposable TV match" sort of way and was probably pushed to about exactly the level his ability warranted if not further.

Is Dolph Ziggler the first wrestler to ever get over entirely on internet heresay? I mean, there have always been rumours of guys getting held back or not having the office behind them but usually that sort of thing is paired with a guy being a great worker or an entertaining promo that the fans want to see elevated. With Ziggler, he's a historically terrible promo and has never been that good a worker but he was popular for a few years with a certain segment of the audience because he was "being held back".

Two good TV matches so far this week. It's been a really easy watch. Was tonight the most overtly heelish Roman has been? I thought his promo was better than Cena's this time out.

Guy looked like he could barely move last time out. There's much more value in promoting Reigns as they guy who retired him than in more actual Taker matches.

I don't know why people are down on having a rematch from the best Mania match in a decade especially when this one will have a proper finish

Cena laughing off all of Roman's big lines was also pretty shitty as well. I thought both performed well tbh, though Cena is obviously a more accomplished promo. I just don't see what Cena laughing the guy off is supposed to achieve unless Reigns really beats the shit out of him.

What's the injury? Is there a chance it's a work and they're taking him off TV so it'll be a surprise when he shows up during the Cena gas Reigns match?

I wasn't entirely serious when I said it was a work but it is remarkable that basically every party involved came out of this about as well as they possibly could have all things considered.

Maybe a can of worms they don't want to open when the Young Bucks do Too Sweet and Suck It gestures