PhilTLL

Or if you really think it should have ended the match, cover them again, as though you are participating in a wrestling match and not an acting class.

Perfectly good way to spend 15 minutes, especially the car horn as distraction spot. I wish they would have found a limited commercial sponsor for, say, the Styles/Bryan match.

Oh, right on. Well then hand a few out to the talent!

Oh for goodness sakes. There are already hockey boards everywhere! We all know something is out of the ordinary. And it's not like the trainee audience is making really convincing faces anyway. Every sports league is making branded masks and giving the profits to covid charities, it's a PR slam dunk. But no, not Vince...

I know everyone uses star ratings in different ways, but I just have to ask, are you saying there were two 5-star WWE matches in one weekend? How many do you go that high on in say, a year?

This was excellent and worth seeking out if you are a lapsed fan, but four commercial breaks was production malpractice. I'm pretty sure the extra-long TV matches they used to do in the 2000s didn't have four commercial breaks.

That main event was a solid way to spend 20 minutes. Heel Bayley is already fun before the added ego boost of a 2nd belt, and she really hams it up after the win ("They're so heavy! So much gold!"). Nikki was much better (i.e. more competent) in the ring than last time I saw her. It did suffer from the "counting time/ballroom dancing" problem so inherent to modern WWE, especially tag team matches, but the build was still there and the end felt exciting.

Okay how do I insert the "stop it, get some help" gif here?

I don't actually know if they did or not.

Their contention is that AEW and a lot of other modern wrestling is too silly, goofy, self-effacing, farcical, etc, not that wrestling "isn't meant to be fun." With AEW specifically, Brian hates that they originally promised to be more serious, but have become goofier than WWE.

"You're not gonna have the Nature Boy on your side this time, and that means you can't call me on the phone, you can't ride in the limo! That means you're gonna go head up and have to wrestle a man who wrestled the world 11 times. And you know what else that means? It means we're no longer friends, and I'm ashamed to call you family." Spine-tingling, as good a Flair promo as ever.

Of course that's gross in any objective sense, but in 2002 WWE, women were used foremost as objects for men to ogle.

Yeah, the whole thing was way too difficult and took about four times as long as it should have. Nia oh so carefully let go of the rope like a preschooler on a jungle gym. They tiptoed her over like they were trying to move a sleeping preschooler from the carseat to the bed. And then, worst of all, Natalya very clearly yelled "drop!"

That was atrocious, worse than anything on the last two pay-per-views that I watched, and by far the worst possible matchup for Asuka. If you're not good at those convoluted powerbomb and suplex combos and other three-person spots, JUST DON'T DO THEM. That's not like a meat-and-potatoes part of anybody's arsenal.

Greg Valentine theory of working: if I sell your weak shit, it makes us both look bad.