Big Pete

Great review, SS. Drake was a real stand-out around the Winter of '16. He was involved in a really fun feud with EC3 where the loser couldn't speak for a certain amount of time. It was actually a refreshing stipulation and one that the company actually upheld. It's a pity that Matt Hardy became such a focal point because the likes of Lashley, EC3, McIntyre, Edwards, Trevor Lee, Decay, Allie etc. were a joy to watch. I don't have the attention span for PPVs anymore, so I still need to sit down and watch Morrison/Aries, but the one thing that stood out to me was the commentary. By no means was it the greatest commentary ever, but it was refreshing to hear two guys just sell the product and the wrestlers. I'm so tired of the WWE style where the guys are made to report the action, like they're participating on an ESPN magazine show.

I've missed a few weeks of Observer Radio, so this could be a recent development, but the impression I was under is that Bryan tones it down with Dave. Bryan is more professional with Dave around, possibly because he's a mentor and also because it's just good business. The fans don't want to hear Dave goofing around and getting into trouble, they just want his perspective on things and Alvarez is merely a sounding board. I actually appreciate that about Bryan. If he was the same Bryan who does Bryan & Vinny it would be a clown show and he'd be far more obnoxious than he already is (at least to some people). I do miss the Sin Limente shows with Dave & Mike. Three hours of Dave answering questions was as good as any shoot interview out there. The closest we got to that was the Q&A at Starrcast which was one of the highlights of the event.

The WWE has been pulling this kind of stuff for years. HHH based his entire main event gimmick on being 'held down' because he didn't get the opportunity to win King of the Ring. Like that would have helped him in '96. Don't get me wrong either, HHH was clearly one of the most promising guys on the roster and bumped better than most guys, but for him there was nothing wrong with taking the back-streets. From the day he tried out, Edge was slated to be a star. Cornette supposedly told everyone in ear-shot they had the next Ric Flair and they gave him a huge push right off the bat. It's a credit to WWF creative back then that everyone forgets how much it flopped because he quickly faded into the Brood who got over in small doses. Still, you could see the agenda manifest itself on TV. Edge started accumulating these tiny moments that made him stand out like the Brood segment on the pilot edition of SmackDown. Gangrel was supposed to be the mouthpiece but completely stumbled on his promo to absolute crickets. Then Edge busted out this nursery rhyme that got over and suddenly he became the face of the group. A little while later he nails Jeff Hardy with the best spear tackle of his career (King of the Ring '99) and suddenly he's got an Intercontinental Championship shot at Fully Loaded. Watching Edge's short singles run in '99 made me realise how little has changed over the years. Long hair, coming through the crowd, stoic demeanor, big spear finish - it was '99 Roman Reigns. I'm sure in 2004-05 there was a push from another long-blonde headed fellow to keep Edge down (or make him get a haircut like the other Canadians), but to be fair he had a point. Edge was a sub-par babyface and merely a solid heel. It wasn't until they brought Lita into the act and the Matt Hardy story leaked that the fans really took to Edge. Again, look at how Matt Hardy was treated after the angle was over and convince anyone that it wasn't done to benefit one guy. In complete fairness after that, Edge was one of the better elements on the show and while they went crazy trying to make him the new kayfabe Ric Flair (11 x WWE/World Champion) he usually played the role well. Also, he's by far one of the better returning legends and usually makes a point to put over the current talent, whether it's Christian, Seth Rollins or Becky Lynch.

Nia strikes me as the type who would ask for some shrimp on the barbie and the jig would be up.

Ha, somebody else just told me she was born here. It has nothing to do with her race. Some of Australia's most decorated sports stars are Polynesian and we're more than happy to celebrate their culture. I'd say it's because she didn't spend a lot of time here and doesn't consider her Australian background a huge part of her identity.

Definitely not a show for the purists. Super Show-Down was a glorified house show, but in order to draw 70K fans they needed the show to be a novelty. So the 1-2 punch of making it the first ever PPV from Australia and the last ever HHH-Taker match was about the best they could do. Not only was it the final chapter of that rivalry, it was the first time The Undertaker had been to the country since 2004, so having the opportunity to watch that one last epic Taker style match was a nice sentiment. Personally I was let-down because the one match I was looking forward to (Bryan-Miz) was a glorified segment opposed to a real match. In saying that, it was good to see Buddy Murphy become the first Australian wrestler to win a WWE Title and to see that happen at the most famous stadium in Australia was a sweet moment and easily the biggest in 205 Live history. Now I'm just holding out for Jimmy Redman's review.

The biggest hang-up I have with Roman Reigns is his move-set. The spear at this point has become so synonymous with over-pushed WWE talent (Lashley, Edge, Charlotte early on etc.) that it knocks Roman down a peg or two. Roman has two moves that are distinct to him. The first is the Superman Punch, a move that plays against his bad-ass persona and the other is the Drive By a move that requires too much of a set-up to be commonplace. Outside of that he'll reference his Polynesian background by hitting a Samoan Drop or he'll bust out a Sit-Out Powerbomb for a predictible near-fall. When Roman is in the ring with the right opponent, he can certainly hold up his end of the bargain. All the classic Shield tags, Bryan '15, Brock '15, Show '15, Styles '16, Strowman '17, Balor '18 etc. demonstrate this. However there's been big matches where he's just looked so lost and what should have been a defining moment just turned out to be a fart in the wind. The Wyatt Hell in a Cell, Cena '17, Brock '18, Joe '18 come straight to mind. He's similar to DDP in the sense that he really has to map his stuff out beforehand, instead of being able to adjust and bring the intensity up a notch. In terms of being a 'WWE character' he's the worst written top guy in history. The backlash was inevitable, even from the Shield's debut, Meltzer made it clear that the WWE saw him as 'the' guy despite being green. The Shield run went better than what anyone could have anticipated, but as soon as Reigns got injured and they started running Roman Reigns health-updates, you knew they messed up. The segments were very similar to the RNN updates Orton did before going heel. Very conceited promos that made Reigns come off as a smug douche than as the alpha male on the roster. As soon as they started trying to make him into Rock 3.0, it was over and there was just a perfect shit-storm leading into the Rumble.

Cometh the hour, since 2018 kicked off, this was the match Jay White was looking forward to and when the moment arrived the young Kiwi stepped up to the plate. There's still a lot of seasoning required in his game, but White's got a lot of the fundamentals down and what's important is that his rough, dickish and opportunistic ring persona is very believable. If they can find him a better finisher than the Sister Abigail, it will take his game to another level. Also enjoyed Okada's performance and how he was unable to really gather any sustained periods on offence. There were a few moments where he fired up and put Jay in his place, but he's just so burnt out after his reign he'd leave himself open for an easy counter. I'm enjoying the narrative of Okada being the burnt out star athlete and how other wrestlers are using the opportunity to knock him down a peg. It's great story-telling and you rarely see it done well. *** 1/2

It didn't help Elgin/EVIL that this came right after. Suzuki showed EVIL how to work a body part and the intensity both guys showed was truly world class. My only gripe was the finish where Tanahashi had to insist on hitting two High Fly Flows after already hitting a Swingblade and that gnarly Dragon Screw that Suzuki sold to perfection. Even if it had have been the one High Fly Flow it wouldn't have broken my suspension of disbelief. ***

They were on their way to having a really good match until EVIL went for the Banshee Muzzle after the Seated Senton in the corner. That should have been treated like a big nearfall, instead they rushed into it and blew the spot off. From there it was like both guys remembered who was supposed to win the match, un-did all their hard work and let Elgin got all his stuff in right at the death. I thought they were onto something with that arm-wrench into the guard-rail, but the match fizzled then and there. **

Wouldn't it have been fascinating to see Briscoe win the championship as a heel? Every time he's won the title, it's always been made readily apparent he was a stand-in for somebody else. With his new lease on life and the feud with the Bucks simmering, it would have been an interesting development. In saying, the championship situation highlights the lack of stars on the roster. ROH's reliance on New Japan & CMLL stars have prevented members of their own active roster to get over. So we're seeing ROH turn to a guy like Lethal who's largely been floating around the mid-card since his program with Silas Young.

I wish PWO had a like button, there's some great ideas in this thread. To answer the question, I don't think the fall happened until March of '99 where they had Flair turn heel and win the WCW Championship from Hogan. For a lot of fans, that was the last straw and to make matters worse, WCW suffered one of the worst injury tolls of the Monday Night War in the Spring of '99. The loss of Hogan, Goldberg, Bret, Luger, Scotty Steiner, Hall etc. hit WCW at the worst time as WWF were setting record ratings week in week out at one stage. In July of '98, the biggest problem was the guy who brought them to the dance - Hogan. The Bash at the Beach '98 was a smash-hit, but attempts to follow up with Jay Leno at Road Wild bombed and the subsequent series against the Warrior failed to draw the interest it should have. While it would have been easy to give Hogan the rest of the summer off, it wouldn't have made a lot of business sense coming off of the Bash. So I would have gone with the biggest match I possibly could have at Road Wild '98, Goldberg-Hogan for the championship. With both guys coming off wins at the Bash at the Beach, this would have been the best time to get that big PPV buy-rate between the two and cement Goldberg as 'da man'. In September of '98 you have the Warrior coming in and while I loathe the proposition of booking the Warrior in '98, he was a huge superstar. In reality, the narrative was 'Hogan vs. Warrior II', when I believe 'Warrior in WCW' would have been a better way to introduce the character. You could eventually go to Warrior-Hogan at Superbrawl '99, but I think the idea of having Warrior defeat Sting at Halloween Havoc, win World War 3 and challenge Goldberg at Starrcade '98 would have been intriguing. I'm sure you would have to work over-time to make that Starrcade '98 match work, but I'm rolling with the theory that anything would have been better than the tazer. So that leaves Hogan to work the nWo Wolfpac at WarGames and Kevin Nash at Halloween Havoc. Even though Hogan was set to take time off in November & December, I'd still have him go over in that match thanks to some outside interference by Hall. Hall would have to pick between his best friend and the faction that made him into a superstar, naturally he sides with the bad guys. Those are just some of the changes, taking the ideas WCW had but tweaking them to present a more intriguing product. The biggest question I have the hardest time answering is deciding who ends the streak. My original answer was Sting, but I'm not sure how well that would have gone down after the Wolfpac phase.

I understand where Meltzer is coming from. If you look at a guy like Billy Kidman, as soon as he hit the WWE and started putting on weight, he was no where near as impressive athletically and lost a lot of the appeal he garnered in WCW. With that said, Matt Jackson is 33 years old. There's only so many bumps you can take before your body starts breaking down and you can no longer move as well as you once did. It seems like the Bucks are well aware of this and have slowly been making changes to their act. They're starting to pick their spots a lot better and sell a lot more to control the pacing of the match. The extra bulk is just part in parcel and I'm actually looking forward to the next chapter of their careers. They couldn't be 'Young' forever, eventually they had to grow up. Keeping with the Kidman comparison, Matt is one year shy from the age Kidman called it quits.

In hindsight, Castle would have been the better choice than Kyle O'Reilly but who was to know he'd ship out around the same time he won the ROH Championship? The story of O'Reilly/Cole was one of those classic ROH rivalries that deserved the main event stage and O'Reilly versus The Bullet Club felt like the best move forward for business. It's a shame that things played out as they did because it knocked ROH off course for a long while. Even though Castle's run left something to be desired, I still think it was the right move for the company. Castle was one of the few home-grown talents who got over with the crowd and his meteoric rise gave the fans something to believe in. These days wrestling fans can be so cynical and like to call every angle or booking decision before it even happens, with Castle there was an air of unpredictability that made following him that more thrilling. So by the time Final Battle '17 rolls around, Castle felt ready and it was clear that this was the guy the fans wanted to see there, not the ROH office, which is who you want the champion to be. Looking at the state of the promotion, I'm not even sure if there was a better option. Most of the popular acts belong to the Bullet Club and it's way too early to mess around with a good thing. Taking the championship away from the stable made for a more intriguing dynamic since it put them in a vulnerable position. I couldn't imagine how difficult the shows would be to sit through if Cody was still on top working like Hunter circa 2002-05 against a bunch of NJPW guys. As for Best in the World '18, it was mostly a ho-hum show with the exception of the Briscoes/Bucks which had it's moments. My only critique of the match was a spot they kept repeating where they'd clash heads and jaw jack in a synchronised fashion. I wasn't sure if I was watching Pro Wrestling or West Side Story. Otherwise it was a well laid out Bucks match with the intensity you'd come to expect from The Briscoes.