El-P

Jim Ross deserves no sympathy anyway, really, at this point. But the announcing is soooooooo terrible, Brock at Mania deserves better than the three brain-deads paroting Vince.

Hum, Global Force Wrestling finally caught the attention of Vince… Really, can we get Ross to call Brock Lesnar's match now ?

Yes, there was some thinking involved here, in the sense of "What the hell were they thinking ?". Killing themselves for a bunch a people in a small Japanese gym, for I guess not that much of money. Yeah, insane spots, but also insanely stupid in retrospect. Of course there was a sense of timing and pacing, but still. None of this was necessary. Onita was a lot less for a shitload more of money. Terry Funk doing his own version of Onita was kinda fun, although it really looks like your shitty indy fed trying to emulate the bigger one. I dunno. I think I would have really enjoyed this 15 years ago. Now, not so much, and I kinda feel like it was a complete waste of both Funk and Cactus, would could have a much better match doing not a third of what they did here in term of spots and brutality. So yeah, times change. IWA Japan was so seedy. The thought of bumping on that ring, much less bleeding and crawling all over it, just makes you shivers these days. Hum… hepatitis anyone ?

It's not better than Wrath's outfit, to be honest. Sting needs to come out to Glacier's old music and light show.

I've been contemplating doing WWECW for a while, but failed at this latest attempt. I tried TNA years ago, but it was just too much. I have to be very selective at this point. (not enough time to waste)

I actually almost went into an WWECW watch a few weeks ago, beginning with this show. The Angle vs Orton match was so everything I hate about mid-00's modern WWE style, with Orton being a fucking black hole of dullness and boredom already and Angle being all about stupid anklelock reversals and shitty suplexes, that I stopped my WWECW watch right there.

Wait, what ? The tag match isn't on the regular show either ? Ok now it's getting ridiculous, we get 7 matches in four hours ? Ugh… Matches are gonna go way too fucking long. That's my prediction.

The outfits themselves are pretty awesome in their pro-wrestlingness, the hilarious part is the complete disconnect between them and HHH's actual character and the way he works in the ring. Gotta love how the battle royal, which did nothing for Cesaro last year, has been thrown to the woodshed at the last moment this year after weeks of, hum, "build". Just get rid of it, nobody cares, battle royal suck most of the time and it helps no-one getting over anyway. The two matches I fear the most now considering the time they could get are Taker vs Bray (ZZZZzzzzzzz….), and HHH vs Sting (which could end up like that awful HHH vs Taker cage match TV-drama wankery). How cool it is to be the son-in-law ? I mean, seriously…

I'd have Savio ahead of Owen as the best TV worker to be honest. Owen always kinda looked like he was cruising at this time, although Owen cruising was a lot better than most trying hard. Good TV match, Mero looking good. I thought the ending was a bit goofy and not executed very well. That damn cast may finally be done. Mansoon made sure he mentionned that Nash & Hall would not be appearing. WWF don't want no lawsuit here. And how refreshing it is in retrospect to simply have a fair WWF president behind a desk after 17 years and counting of heel owner/GM/authority. 17 years... Bret's promo doesn't say much. WWF was really putting some emphasis on exotic footage, after the Kuwait Cup here we are in South Africa. The Truth Commission can't be too far behind.

What were they thinking with this pairing, to manage Fatu dressed up as a guy from Ali Baba and the forty thieves of all people ? I always liked the music though. They were throwing so much shit against the walls at this time.

Good TV match. Mero is reversing back to a more Johnny B. Badd look, with the robes and the tassles, which is what Vince wanted to begin with. Sable is showing more cleavage too. Hum... Austin was really getting into a groove, and the intrigue around him and Bret Hart, with Pillman thrown in, made one of the most interesting stuff in the WWF all year long. Things looked to move forward with all those new guys finally, and the eventual come back of Bret seemed like a big deal.

Interesting. And yeah, now Brock can totally keep the title too. And he totaly looks like the biggest star in the company monetary wise since he's getting THE money offer. Roman Reigns could be a mere casualty in the end.

Belts don't exist. These are *championships*.

Same vote. Heyman's promos and what ever happens with Brock depending on him signing or not got me interested in the main event (but not in Roman Reigns in the least), and Rusev vs Cena is still the only match I care about as a match. Can't wait for crowds reactions in key moments. The undercard actually looks even worst now, with two useless clusterfucks which already have ben killed (battle royal and multi-tag) and a stunt show (I don't care about stunt shows, I was bored 15 years ago by E&C vs Hardys vs Dudleys). Taker vs Bray is just a non-hapenning. Orton vs Seth has died multiple time on TV already. Sting vs HHH, well, the build has been lame but it could work with smokes and mirrors I guess (and good booking, so let's not hope for anything). The women's matches, well, I kinda like Nikki, that's all I can say.

It was so funny how Sting basically told us how stupid this whole WCW angle is and then Stephanie comes out and spends 2 or 3 minutes talking about WCW. Exactly. Those "promos" or should we say "talking segments" (Lance Storm made a good point the other day when he said pretty much no one is cutting "promos" anymore) are awfully written. And Stephys delivery is not good, that's sub turkish TV-drama acting. The fact that she didn't even show the least bit of fear is ridiculous. Not to mention her horrible timing when trying to slap Sting. The oddest thing about this whole program is that WWE looks like the heel promotion. "I love him ! He's so fake !". My girlfriend. Curtis Axel's current gimmick is like his father doing the West Texas Rednecks. Yeah, he should get the big reaction on RAW after Mania. (alhough in hindsight, this week's segment looks like something they should have done at Mania) Sorry Reigns, but Rusev vs Cena is the actual main event of Mania. They need to resign Brock, have him retain and turn face (which is effectively what will happen anyway) and build to Brock vs Rusev at SummerSlam. But bring back Lana, come on. My god, Bray Wyatt… his promos are now about ten times more boring than his father's matches as IRS. Taker not even taking part in the angle *at all*, that shows as much effort they put in this crap. Ok, so Scott Hall went in as Razor Ramon only, but Nash goes in as Nash. Makes sense. So, we get Burger Kings commercials now ? The Battle Royal, multi-team tag team match and ladder IC matches are clusterfucks and I have zero interest in them. Poor Bryan. Heyman has single handedly interested me in watching this main event. Great promos after great promos. Well, of course, the main issue is that I still have zero interest in Reigns as a challenger, and he's cold as fuck. Way worst than Diesel was in 95 (which is ironic considering Nash is gonna close the HOF this year). That face-off was incrediby weak and they actually managed to make Lesnar kinda look like an idiot here. Well, no deal yet I guess. Fuck, that build...

Absolutely awful and completely unreal. It looks like he was dead almost immediately after hitting the ropes. Awful.

I found Michaels formulaic here. Not nearly as good as his matches with the Kid and Jannetty were. You really wonder why… Owen was the better of the two here. Good TV match, but nothing special. The post-match really made the whole segment. They really should have put Vader over at SummerSlam, as Shawn would have worked better chasing the title back.

Funny, I totally remember this interview, and Bret being away and not sure about coming back made him look like a really big deal to me back then. I also totally remember that last line about a shovel, and not having a clue what he meant.

Lawler is borderline creepy talking about Sunny. Earlier in the show he was staring at her and looked like a total sexual predator. Yea, creepy. I always hated how Lawler acted toward hot women during the Attitude Era, and you can see the seeds here. What the fuck is Ahmed saying ? First big injury. Well, this may not work after all.

Dumb as fuck. Well, if she isn't at Mania, wait for the "We want Lana" chants again...

I actually liked that promo. Yes, Shawn Michaels says Shawn Michaels and World Wrestling Federation a lot, but Shawn Michaels is the World Wrestling Federation Champion after all. I like the outdoor setting, and Shawn was laid-back and actually likeable. To some degree.

I had the exact same thought, the fear of having her come back at Mania and betray Rusev and become an All-American girl parading with Cena. You know they could do that.

To me it demonstrate how even though Vince is supposedly micro-managing everything, the attention to details is at sub-zero level at this point, and the vaunted *great production* of the WWE is a joke. It's TNA/late WCW level of incompetence to have this guy show up on TV and realize only when you're live that he can't even do a Nikita Koloff russian accent. Then Vince loses his shit and have his announcers bury the guy while a serious angle is taken place. You really got the feeling Vince is due to the glue factory.

Oh man, hopefully she gets back at Mania. If not, what a waste, she's half the fun of the entire Rusev act. There goes my interest even further down. What terrible timing.

Which is kinda funny since Randy Orton's deal has always been using DDP's gimmick with the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere.