Slasher

Like the Mania crowd wouldn't have *exploded* for Joe. Yeah, a ten year old kid so we can have a stupid gag was that much better. Come on now... I can accept the idea that it was a dumb storyline to begin with, they probably set up too much of an expectation considering how pro wrestling always work, the tag team division AND Braun deserved better than what they came up with BUT- according to the story they DID tell, they needed someone who would pose no threat whatsoever to the match. It is Braun essentially deciding to win the tag titles by himself for fun, that is why he entered the battle royal. Angle made him get a tag partner which is something Braun doesn't want to do. So instead of looking for partners, Braun knows he is winning the match regardless of who his partner is. He does what he does, destroy shit, get cheered for it. So why he decides it will be a kid, I don't know- but it has to be a kid or a grandma or something like that to continue telling that story. Bringing Joe in for that angle would change the story too much as either he has to change his character and just stand on the apron and watch on or Braun has to change his motivations-is he no longer in it to win the tag titles by himself for fun or does he no longer believe in himself to fulfill his objective or what? Then again after 6+ hours maybe no one would have cared.

I always thought the story was that Hart was a wrestler hanging on to the idea of pro wrestling being a technical sport, having already beaten Austin at Survivor Series in a fluke-ish manner, had the submission match stipulated for the match thinking that Austin wasn't going to be able to beat him there. Austin just wanted a piece of Bret. So the match was worked that way. The goal was always for Bret to make Austin submit. Austin probably thought he would just kick Bret's ass then slap on a hold and get a submission. Either way, a submission was the goal. It was willpower of Austin to refuse to submit. He wouldn't tap out or show any signs of submitting. He passed out instead. It was the ref who ended the match because what else could an untrained dude do? Watch the guy be wrenched into deeper oblivion? They intended for a submission match but Austin refused to allow it to reach its natural conclusion because he is a tough bastard, in storyline. Am I wrong?

In the past if a guy wont pick a partner then one is chosen for him. A WWE jobber could have had a big push for this match. But he did pick a partner. He chose to circumvent the rules by choosing a partner without having to conform to the expectations of those who are enforcing the rules in the first place. He is following the rules all the while flipping a bird at them in the process. That's the point of the story.

Would a screwjob have been better? No, but a pinfall would have. The time to do the countout or DQ is on TV with someone like Alexa or Carmela. My point was that they still had more fuel left in that tank before they emptied it. Looking back now it just seems odd to have Asuka lose her streak and then two days later Charlotte drops the title. For me I feel they had more mileage on a undefeated Womens WWE Champion. But being Wrestlemania im not sure how they would preserve the streak if Asuka doesnt win but stays undefeated without a DQ or Countout. I'd agree, but if you think about the bigger picture, you know they want to push Charlotte towards a Wrestlemania main event against Ronda Rousey. I'd hope they intend to make Ronda a female badass who doesn't lose very often, if at all, as her natural character should be invincible. Now if we go a year of Rousey running over the Raw roster, you need a convincing opponent for her match at Mania 35, how do you do that with the women? You make Charlotte nearly invincible too. She lost her belt after getting beat down by debuting workers. It isn't like she dropped the belt clean as whistle in a match that she expected to happen. They will most likely have Charlotte run through them and eventually the rest of the SD roster to get her ready for the Rousey match. Now maybe Triple H and Stephanie would have had Asuka be more protected if it was entirely up to them, but obviously its not. It's Vince's call. Vince still books like he thinks the girls he would rather fuck over girls he doesn't find attractive is the right way to book women, because clearly the only reason men watch women is we are hoping a tit pops out or something. That is what happens when you have a 70 year old juvenile teenager on top of the whole operation.

I completely understand the hometown aspect. Differing viewpoints don't bother me in the least. It's refreshing that I can dislike Asuka, Joe, Kassius Ohno, etc. without being accused of trolling like I probably would be on any other board. It's why PWO is great. P.S. Was your "Renee" an ex-girlfriend or something? Is it possible your dislike of Asuka is coloring your view on her overness?

In WWE years Braun is younger, but not by much.

Maybe if the WWE found a sitter they could bring back Monty Brown to be their Guy.

Thanks guys. I enjoy reading people's posts here and I enjoy being part of this community. But no one likes to be where they aren't wanted. So I am glad that doesn't seem to be the case here. I'll restore my avatar that I thought I still used.

Hey guys, sorry to post this in this folder, not sure where else to post, but I wanted to know if I am wasting my time on this board? It would seem that the majority of the posters here ignore my posts. So I was wondering why. Do people here think I am a troll or something? Many times I see the exact same points made by other people that people respond to, following my posts. No hard feelings here if I am on a block list or something. I just need confirmation so I can determine if I should stop wasting my energy posting here or not. Have away at it the very few left that can read this post. Thanks guys for reading.

They clearly want to create a moment where they capture a foreign crowd cheer on Reigns as he win and use that as footage for years to prove how right they were to make Reigns this kind of star that they made him. They don't care what happens when they come back home on US soil. Boo him all they want. They got that footage already. That's my new theory for all this.

Which is weird because they are well equipped to handle whatever problems may come with pulling the trigger on him. They have a lot of options in every direction if it doesn't work out. Now that they have Rousey and she proved she can do pro wrestling, they have someone to help back up a Reigns run with a strong run of her own. But they treat Reigns almost like the NFL team who picks a QB way too early because they had to, then realizes they made the wrong pick but they are too embarrassed to admit it (kinda like NY Jets with Christian Hackenberg). So he's there as a specter over the rest of the roster. A reminder of the mistakes they made. And continue to make.

Finding love in pro wrestling? Preposterous!

Hey, I'm an Ember supporter too, so lets make that two of us at least! I'm there. Ember is one of the better women worker they have. She run circles about most of the girls in the main roster. And she got a cool funky look. The whole "I don't know what her chacater is" is nonsense steeming from the overstated "character work" bullshit. What is Naomi's character ? She's glowing ? People are overthinking pro-wrestling at times. She's a terrific worker with a funky look. If that's not enough for you to care, you're watching the wrong show. I like Ember too. She has a look that stands out even in a division where everyone has weird colored hair or garish makeup. She is more than solid in the ring. She probably could work with any sort of opponent and adapt. The only thing for me is I think she'll ultimately settle in a Becky Lynch type role on Raw, the babyface character that should be pushed more but is instead a gatekeeper for girls moving on up towards the Sasha/Charlotte/Alexa/Ronda/Asuka tier.

There is no way Reigns can be a top babyface right now. The WWE needs a hell of a plan to do something because what they did last night, it will be difficult to recover from. Maybe it is really time for that heel turn for Reigns.

Although I understood the story for both matches, I did have a teensy bit of a thought that it is sad the WWE couldn't bother to let at least one of the Japanese imports to win a title last night. I guess they are content in having them be Royal Rumble winners (Asuka got to be the first ever winner of the females' match at least). Still slightly disappointing to see.

I don't know what to think about the ending but I have to say I hope they have a real plan for afterwards with Roman, Brock and the title. If this match was done solely to fake the fans out and the betting lines or to swerve us, then that was a terrible decision. Roman Reigns's credibility took a big hit tonight and all that effort put in building him up, gone up in smoke. Hope they got something good up their sleeves to salvage this.

Why? He's not doing that gimmick anymore. WWE creative (read: Vince) didn't like the Demon look and would prefer to market Balor's naturally good looks instead. Can't do that if you're painting your body all the time. You can make the case that The Demon would be saved for the really, really special matches. Curtain jerking 'Mania, IC Title or not, is not one of those times! To me that is like if for a Bray Wyatt match in 2013 they had him come out at Wrestlemania in a special entrance where he was dressed up like Husky Harris. I think the Wyatt feud was meant to write the Demon out of Balor's character going forward. Now he's the smiley guy who pops his collar as girls swoon. That is far as it gets from being the Demon. Balor deserved a better entrance but Demon isn't the answer.

Why? He's not doing that gimmick anymore. WWE creative (read: Vince) didn't like the Demon look and would prefer to market Balor's naturally good looks instead. Can't do that if you're painting your body all the time.

You really think the feud is over after one single match? Shit, how do you continue that? If they are able to continue it and get one more great match, that's it isn't it? If it really is the end of the feud, it's gotta be the #1 greatest one match feud of all time, right? But nah, I can't imagine they don't continue on with Ciampa being a sore loser and extending the feud or that it gets picked up again when both guys are on 205 Live or another main roster brand.

You really think the feud is over after one single match?

At least they (Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne) were a makeshift team that formed for the Dusty Classic, so you can argue that Strong was just being a professional...up til when he turned, revealing his real motives. It doesn't matter though because if you created a prototype for what is a typical ROH type stable member, you get Roderick Strong. So he fits the Undisputed ERA perfectly IMO.

Gargano and Ciampa, yeah I can see that. Undisputed Era? Although those guys are skinny compared to even their peers in NXT let alone the beefier guys on the main roster, it seems apparent that Triple H sees a lot in Adam Cole. He'd want to put him somewhere that he can keep a close eye on his development as a WWE star. And where Cole goes, the others will follow, at least initially. That's my guess.

I was convinced Gargano was on his way to 205 Live and this was gonna be the excuse to push him in that direction. I thought they would think Gargano getting his revenge would play out later on the bigger stages of the main roster but damn if that match wasn't perfect and Gargano winning was a tremendous surprise for this cynic.

The guy is trying to be a media personality and was/is doing some pro wrestling training. It's not like he's Art Donovan. I didn't realize he was involved with pro wrestling before. That's cool. I just didn't expect to see him on NXT, that's all. I am all for WWE finding talents in weird places. I am still holding out hope that DeAngelo Williams tries out WWE.

Pat McAfee is a retired NFL punter, he has no business doing this---but I agree with Johnny. He is awesome.