Death From Above

Maybe my expectations for Owens/Ziggler were too low but I've really enjoyed this, even if it is "Dolph/Owens greatest hits". I seem to be in the minority here but I like Owens very much. His combo of trash talking, brawling, and highspots is something I really enjoy.

Good tag match for the ladies there. Nice FIP sequence, decent nearfalls. Match told a good story. Enjoyed it.

I like the idea behind Kalisto's "momentum-into turnbuckles" offense (for lack of a better term), but the execution always looks a bit off to me so far. I did like them pulling out the "chairshot DQ in a fall to gain advantage in another fall" thing. Didn't see a ton of what came in between.

I can't get the pre-show stream to stay stable, so I can't say much about this match so far.

Why is this on the pre-show? This deserves better.

Fully expect the main event to deliver, and there's no way Styles/Jericho is less than good even if I'm pretty over Jericho at this point. Surely Miz is involved somehow too. Honestly the next most exciting match to me is the women's tag, because Ziggler already bores me quite a bit, and I've come to the conclusion that Sasha Banks is my favourite act in the company.

The Rock's jokes are the shittiest juvenile shit that ever shat. He's really, really, really great at delivering them though. Maybe better than anyone ever.

Balor is tiny. I realize WWE is very different than it was years ago in how they perceive that but I simply can't imagine a Taker/Finn match at Wrestlemania. That's in no way a knock on Balor.

I would take the 6/9/95 Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue tag. I honestly don't know about the other two slots, but that one is #1 forever.

Words.

#WeWantNash

I'm interested if they go after some of the Lucha Underground people just because they can.

What a soft RAW.

Big Show/Strowman as a main event... so this has to end in some kind of Undertaker angle, right?

It's hilarious how bad the crowd wants Ambrose to turn on Reigns. Mark Henry looks like the latest to go on the injured list. Not sure what the hell happened there.

It's definitely very different than it once was. In some ways WWE seems to be becoming more like All Japan *just in the sense* that they'd cheer a guy like Kawada or Fuchi even though they were the villains Misawa or Kobashi or Kikuchi would play off of. Classic good vs. evil was basically an afterthought to 95% of their fans. A lot of people just want to "be entertained" by whatever their perception of good wrestling is and I don't think they really care how you get them there. That's not to say classic Good vs. Evil will ever be totally absent from WWE's thinking, merely that I do agree it's less important now than ever before. I mean, Brock vs. Triple H, this is basically heel vs. heel is it not? The fans don't really seem to care. They just want to see Brock squash people because Brock is cool. The only bad reaction from a wrestling crowd is indifference. If you produce anything else, be it cheers or boos, a promoter can use you.

I don't want to derail this thread, but I have no idea what a non-gimmicked pro wrestling match is. But, I'm a guy that at least once has tried to make the case that UWF-i and companies like it are among the most gimmicked forms of wrestling. Sorry, this is a really weird wrestling peeve of mine. I'm probably out on my own island.

This is doubly odd to me because of Titus' role of being one of their lead guys for away-from-WWE promos especially with kids. Despite him not having much of a push they seem to work pretty hard to keep him a meaningful company man. I have no real other feedback on this other than it being very strange.

Just try not to hijack the show with a very silly DANIEL BRYAN chant, which I halfway expect.

I think it's amazing we got this far with so little discussion of (Russo themed item) On A Pole.

Because sometimes you just need to watch Terry Funk say terrible things, and wrestle well.

It was absolutely stupid to burn it on free TV and I acknowledge that was bad business, but Goldberg over Hogan was still an amazing moment.

It's not that I don't think scaffold matches can be good. To be clear my issue with them is they are ludicrously dangerous and I think wrestling is lucky nothing horrible has ever happened in one. Thank you for actually taking the time to explain this. TNA gimmicks with no explanation go over my head.

I'm on board with scaffold matches. I think wresting is pretty lucky to have avoided a very serious incident in one.

That was special. Whatever else I've got from coming back to WWE since November, that made it worthwhile.