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I remember the weekly lowest records ever being attributed to Seth's terrible reign and mega push. That was discussed in a lot of places. I did, at least. It was obvious he was a flop as a top guy from day one, though. It took him from the week after he turned until cashing in at WM to get reactions. Crowds did not give a SHIT about him for the first 8 months of his solo run. Not even mixed reactions like Roman or anything. Just silence. The whole time people were complaining about Roman's push, it was clearly Seth getting the mega push despite crowds not wanting it, but because he had his indie cred and is a "great" worker, most boards conveniently overlooked that he was accelerating the ratings decline, having dead crowds, and generally making the shows miserable having about 50% of screen time on Raw/SD. HHH decided Seth was his guy and stuck with it even when it was dreadfully clear it wasn't working at all. So then they do the face turn and fans still really don't care much about him in either direction. For a guy who has been pushed as hard as he has for the past few years to still be getting the reactions he gets today is a pretty big reg flag. Say what you want about Roman/Dean's in ring work, crowds aren't ever "meh" for them. Crowds pop for Seth's entrance and then are pretty bored during his matches, and there have been multiple times since he came back where the crowd was cheering the other guy in the ring, including Roman.

When is the last time a Raw main event hasn't lost viewers, though? Hour 3 in general is a success when it loses less than the normal average. Put Goldberg in the main event in the 3rd hour of Raw and it won't have as many viewers as hours 1 and 2.

The real issue with WWE's BHM stuff is they have such a terrible track record with black talents that every year it feels like the most blatant PR stuff they ever do, and they have explicit PR segments on the reg. It was only 2 years ago their gimmick for a stable of 3 black men had vignettes with all black church choirs and them dancing like James Brown. After the very initial start was ANGRY BLACK MEN and Xavier going to by Dr. X as a mix of MLK and Malcolm. Go back a few years prior and their 2 most heavily pushed black men were BIG SCARY BLACK MAN and abnormally stupid rapper who sees invisible children and came to the ring dressed as a Confederate soldier. We're not talking the 80s or 70s. We're talking 2010s. Call me crazy for not believing they really care about honoring the legacy of black performers in their industry or others.

David Otunga looks like he hates life when he does the BHM stuff.

Lol at the idea of Enzo beating someone up

Didn't like the outside going from the grating to completely padded, meaning guys over did bumps on it, making them feel like a video game instead of this dangerous and violent thing. Still, it was very well paced and everyone looked great in it. I missed the first hour of the show, but it seemed like the crowd was unusually hot.

There is three women's matches at the ppv. Whats wrong with pronos for women's matches? I like the angle you're coming at me with that I think the women shouldn't get promo time as opposed to thinking 2 LONG promo segments with 4 out of the 6 involved (Becky, Nattie, Nikki, Naomi) not being able to cut promos to save their lives, and one of the women that can actually talk delivering maybe the most robotic and poorly written promo I've ever heard from her (Mickie) were terrible. In exactly the same way that I pointed out the opening promo that involved 5 men was blatant filler that went on forever with terrible scripting and deliveries that did absolutely nothing but eat up time. ALL of the speaking on that episode was bad. Commentary was atrocious as well. JBL's random screaming and constantly tripping over his words, Mauro's random screaming awful references, Tom Phillips' random shoehorned segments, Otunga delivering his lines with the authenticity of WWE 2K13.

What a fascinating little match. In under a year, both would be called up to the main roster, but despite being on the same show, they never had a match on the main roster. This is especially weird considering how many times Cena/Orton/Batista had matches against each other. Although, weirdly, it appears they did have a match on a Raw house show in Feb. 2003. No idea why Brock was on a Raw house show then, but whatever. It's a nice match where Batista mostly dominates Brock, who is treated as something as an overmatched and underdog face during the match. Great timing and cut offs from Batista. Considering this is a 6 minute developmental TV match between two guys with a year of experience, it's shockingly good. Compare this to the Cena/Orton match that was released in the first Hidden Gems collection. Both Brock and Batista seem clearly ahead of where Cena/Orton were 6 months later, and both seem like they'd definitely be bigger stars than Cena or Orton. What's extra strange is Batista looked better and more ready for prime time in this match than he did for his first 2-3 years on the main roster, and he actually came off better than Brock. That is all made better by the lack of Jim Cornette, who was absolutely DREADFUL as both the color man and play by play analyst in the Cena/Orton match who literally screamed every single move and hold for that entire match without letting anything breath for a second or letting the audience understand the match on their own. It's a really interesting look at WWE's future.

I really feel like Seth being off the show is a net benefit, but that also likely means another year of half assed build for a feud no one has cared about for 2 years already. Seth's injury gives a Punk leaving WM 30 type of chance of changing everything for the better. Seth ain't shit, and I don't feel like he and HHH are going to mesh at all to begin with.

WWE hasn't cared about for about a decade or more at this point. They have 2 Jacks and 2 Johns on the same show. 3 Mikes (plus a Mickie). 2 Tylers. I assume the reason he was brought back as KO instead of Chris Hero is for the most obvious reason: They already own the name and have logos/video ready to go.

God damn, the promos on Smackdown were TERRIBLE. All of them. The most contrived shit, poor writing, poor delivery even from people like Miz and AJ. And SO LONG. Feels like over half the show was promo segments for just the women's matches.

Oh wow, turned on the Hulu version of Raw this week because I have the trial and loooooool at that opening vid. High level HHH berrying going on in that package. Also, that whole opening segment worked out excellently from everyone. Joe looked and sounded like a huge deal and king bad ass (although the tie clip was a bit much, imo), Roman out there saying it was HIS YARD as part of the Taker build up. Joe had such a great career turn around starting from Brooklyn 2015 on, I'm hopeful he keeps that up on Raw and gets the AJ Styles treatment while he can still go at a high level. Hulu version is certainly edited for audio as well, right? Not quite the Smackdown/Impact sound machine days, but the crowd noise doesn't match the crowd's physical reactions at all. The fuck was up with Cole saying it was the ALL NEW Elimination Chamber and then explaining the rules that were...exactly the same as every EC match?

HBK, Bret, and Nash were also replaceable pieces, and they were all replaced by people who were more popular and did better business. Everyone is replaceable in wrestling, especially WWE.

Because people like Marufuji, the Young Bucks, KO, and Chris Hero are extremely blatant at the thigh slapping and it just draws more attention to how fake it all is. When someone does it well, it's great. Most people now don't even try to be subtle with it, and you'll have the same sound for every strike even if they clearly miss.

They haven't proven Cornette wrong. Omega and Owens might be headliners, but they are headliners in a declining wrestling period. Omega/Okada drew one of the smaller Domes ever at only 26,000. Yeah well, Bret, Nash, and HBK were headliners in a declining and dead wrestling period. Does that mean they weren't important or successful? Do you think they feel it doesn't count since the business wasn't as hot as it was a few years prior and a few years after? Kenny Omega just main evented a Tokyo Dome show for the title in front of 26,000 people in a match that the most famous wrestling critic and reviewer gave 6 stars to. Kevin Owens was just in a title match at the Royal Rumble in front of 50,000 people. Why do they give such a shit about what ONE asshole who, at his absolute peak, never was performing in front of crowds those sizes has to say about them? I'm sure Kevin's pay check from merch alone per year is more than Cornette was making in his prime in JCP. I'll bet you when it's all said and done, more people will know Nash, Hart and HBK than they will Kevin Owens. There's been a lot of matches over the years that were great and Dave gave no time or care to. There's people like Ayumi Kurihara who never even had one match reviewed. That was one of Dave's most bizarre ratings ever and makes me questions his ratings all together. They shouldn't care about what Cornette has to say much like he doesn't care what they have to say. I would hope Owen's worldwide merch makes more than Cornette's US only pay did. Who knows what they make, but it's not that hard to make above $40,000 a year on a developmental deal. Tyler Bate is making $20k/year. Then I don't even know what you're trying to argue here. Bret, HBK, and Nash were headlining WWF in its worst period ever. Yet if they're more remembered than KO, then what does it matter if KO is a headliner in a declining period? To say either are not successful when they're headliners in the top two companies in their profession because said companies aren't as popular as they were at other times is asinine.

They haven't proven Cornette wrong. Omega and Owens might be headliners, but they are headliners in a declining wrestling period. Omega/Okada drew one of the smaller Domes ever at only 26,000. Yeah well, Bret, Nash, and HBK were headliners in a declining and dead wrestling period. Does that mean they weren't important or successful? Do you think they feel it doesn't count since the business wasn't as hot as it was a few years prior and a few years after? Kenny Omega just main evented a Tokyo Dome show for the title in front of 26,000 people in a match that the most famous wrestling critic and reviewer gave 6 stars to. Kevin Owens was just in a title match at the Royal Rumble in front of 50,000 people. Why do they give such a shit about what ONE asshole who, at his absolute peak, never was performing in front of crowds those sizes has to say about them? I'm sure Kevin's pay check from merch alone per year is more than Cornette was making in his prime in JCP.

I don't think there is any kind of sizable group of online fans that care at all about SMW, nor are the people watching and enjoying Kevin and Kenny going to have their minds changed by a dude who hasn't been relevant for closing in on 30 years being upset about shit when he's entire gimmick is that he's upset about everything all the time. "Everyone" asking Cornette about anything is in reality a very niche group of an already niche group. And in the end, Cornette has absolutely ZERO influence on anything going on in wrestling today. He can rant and rave and put out 700 shoot videos a year. No company in the wrestling industry is going to cater who they book and how based on the rantings of Jim Cornette in 2017. Gedo is not going to stop booking Kenny because of Jim's stories. Vince is not going to fire KO because of Jim's stories. He holds absolutely no influence in the business today. It's the equivalent of thinking Ole Anderson's pissed off, bitter ramblings meant anything to anyone other than him. Kenny, Kevin, and the Bucks need to move on. They proved Jim wrong long, long ago.

Who gives a shit about what he acts like? Kenny Omega is headlining dome shows. KO is the WWE champ for 6 months. Jim Cornette is ranting on Youtube and podcasts. What Jim Cornette says doesn't matter to anyone but himself and dudes with ultra thin skin who can't get past it even when they're extremely successful and proved him wrong.

Jim Cornette holds absolutely no sway in pro wrestling in 2017. It's bizarre guys like Omega/KO/Young Bucks can't get over the shit he said about them years ago.

I did lol hard when he went after Mark Henry. Like...could there be two dudes more polar opposites in that match? And sold him headbutting Mark in the chest as knocking himself loopy.

Two amateur MMA fights. With people his own size. Not dudes that have 100-200 pounds and 6-12 inches on him.

I would think Thunder is probably up pretty soon, although why anyone would ever want to rewatch Thunder (I'll have to for site purposes to make new gifs ) is beyond me.

I was kind of bored and half paid attention, then got lit and nothing was drawing me back in. A big fat meh. All the singles matches felt too long, Rumble felt like it had nothing going on for the first 40 minutes, but I did lol heartily at Goldberg embarrassing Brock again and Roman being 30. Not interested in seeing Taker on screen ever again. Dude should have hung it up at any of the past 5 WMs. He looked awful in the ring. Reminding me of late stage Andre. I'd have to watch the show again to have any real opinion on it besides a lot of other things were more interesting while I was watching. But I'm not sure I actually want to rewatch it.

Just realize you wrote all that for a guy who came out at 30, didn't win (who also lost earlier on the show), and was in the match for 5 minutes to set up a match 3 months from now that won't be the main event or a title match. It was obvious putting him out at 30 was intentionally done to get heel heat, as was his elimination of Taker. It's not like his 5 minutes in the match was one of those "Vince has a hard on for Roman, Roman Roman Roman like Roman everyone Roman Roman Roman" things. That's about as close to hysterical Wredditor as you can get, to be honest.

Having a 6 month personal angle and turning it into a feud over the title at WM last minute is baffling to me. At this point, the titles in WWE are so meaningless that trying to put it into a feud to make the title seem more important again actively detracts from the feuds.