El-P

Excellent promo from Liz, she was perfect here. Savage being a loss for words and looking vulnerable and distraught was pretty great, as Savage never acts this way. This build to Savage vs Hogan was terrific.

It took me forever to recognize Orndorff with that stache. I was like "Damn, this guy looks familair but…".

Funny, I totally thought about Val Venis too. Which is not a good thing. But anyway. Heyman's promo with lesnar was one for the ages. And he was terrific later on too. So much good stuff on RAW, despite the inherent stuff I don't like about the modern stuff. Will WWE keep my post-WM interest for longer that it did the last two years ? Well, with the influx of new faces on top and fresh talent and characters, maybe they will. The angle to close the show was great (well, I could have done with about anyone in the place of Kane though). I can safely say I haven't been that interested in following the product since, well, since I gave up 15 years ago.

I call it a failure because it was anti-climatic as hell. Of course people were shocked. But it was just a surprise result without much build to it. Every other year, although it was a given Taker wasn't losing, they always managed to get at least one pinfall attempt which got a huge reaction like people actually believed Taker would lose. I didn't get that felling here. People weren't buying the match, and that's why they were so shocked when it happened. I think had it happened in an efficient match, with an efficient build, the reaction to Taker losing would have been much more powerful. Seriously, the felling I got here was more "WTF happened ?" rather than "Holy shit !!". So yeah, it's historical, and the post-match was kinda funny. But that's it. Lesnar didn't get much reaction for pinning Taker.

Damn. That kind of stuff really kills the myth. Social medias be damned.

Well, no one believed he could lose and the match was a failure for that reason (among others). It will be memorable because of the result, but him losing that way after that match and that finish was just a big time fail. Of course people were shocked. But it fell flat and seemed anticlimatic. Anyway, no, after such a shock, there was no way in hell Bryan was not winning. Lightning just doesn't strike twice that way.

I believe his contract did run off at the end of the year in 96 as he came in for 2 years initially. I dunno, Savage joigning the nWo kinda make sense in a "If you can't beat them, joign them" and also in the sense he was often portrayed as Hogan's bitch anyway. But after all those brutal beatings, yeah, it was still a tough sell (much like Liz change of heart once she was really in the nWo for good). Anyway, another terrific, super heated angle. The execution was great, with the exeption of the Giant dropping Savage on the steel stairs then neck first on the top rope. Hogan ruled here, being a complete dirtbag and badmouthing Liz, who herself was very good in her role, and she sold the drama of the situation really well which probably helped get even more heat. nWo really look like a pack of wolves here, pun intended. Looking back at this period, DiBiase was absolutely fine as the boss of the faction. The cliffhanger at the end was quite terrific, the monster truck with sleazeball Syxx in it looked menacing as hell.

Those Public Enemy vs Harlem Heat matches were brutal.

Yea, the other guy helped at times, and Pritchard, although clearly still a Vince guy, is really interesting to hear. Very few people got as close to Vince for as long as he did.

Totally disagree. Once Taker lost, there was no way in hell Bryan wasn't winning. No way there were sending people home after watching both Taker and Bryan lose.

The logo screams early 90's too. Yeah. Sounds great.

Please, no tearjerker promo from Taker.

Like Billy Gunn ?

Really ? Damn, it didn't strike me the last few years if that was the case then.

Global, uh...

One small detail, I was very surprised to see French announcers back at ringside. This hasn't been the case since Raymond Rougeau left, and although WWE programming are all over the TV in France, the product isn't nearly as hot as it was a few years ago during the peak of Cena's reign of terror (when you could see kids with Cena merch regularly, even my nephews got into it at that point before forgetting about it). And as far as I know, since Pat Patterson is gone, there is no French connection backstage either. So I wonder why they are being brought back at ringside. Are they still strong in Quebec ? (well, you can point out that the next boss of the WWE is named Paul Levesque, of course… I wonder if he has any French ties at this point though).

Yeah, that's the first thing that came to my mind too.

Probably, he's a trooper. But they need to refresh his character. This Wyatt feud is not the way to go. He's the same old same old Cena.

I would have wished a grand surnatural post-match ceremony for Taker after his last match, instead we got a bad match in which he looked toasted and a very human-like walk up the ramp a-là Shawn Michaels. I would guess he's done, yeah. Very underwhelming way to go, but this looked like the one match too many, so in hindsight and kayfabe it kinda make sense that he lost. I have no idea why anyone would want a Taker vs Sting match anyway. It was a dream match in 1997. 17 years ago.

That's what I thought too. Now, despite the underwhelming card as a whole, there was indeed the feeling of a change of the guard with guys like Cesaro, the Shield, Bryan being put over huge, Taker losing, HHH losing and getting some more in the main event (kudos to Steph for bumping in high heels on the outside, dangerous for the ankles), NOA & Kane getting squashed. It seems like they won't ever dare to do anything different with Cena, and he's getting old, banged up and boring, and I'm not buying the Wyatts, but still, with the whole Network launch and the business model probably evolving big time, these are very interesting times indeed.

Yep. I cringed.

So. I enjoyed the first hour immensely. Awesome opener, the best ever probably, with Hogan, then Austin then The Rock in the ring at the same time. Hogan Silverdome blopper made it even better, and Hogan selling it along Steve & Rocky was funny as hell. The three biggest name ever. Then HHH vs Daniel Bryan. Damn, this must be one of Trip's best match ever. And Stephy did her best Woman impersonnation. Didn't get bloated, didn't do any dull brawling either. Great ridiculous entrance by HHH. Great post-match too. Damn, I was fired up. And then… well… Modern WWE reminded me that I can't get too excited. The Shield match was a squash, so it was decent bu still, kinda useless on a WM card to me, especially when there was so few matches on the card to begin with. Although Cesaro winning the way he did was excellent, the battle royal in itself was a waste of time. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena. The Wyatt's entrance was great. From there it was all downhill. Terrible "acting" match at the beginning. Cena getting enraged was embarrassing to watch, and Bray Wyatt is just way too manufactured to be believable. Then it turned into a vaunted overlong WWF semf-conscious epic with counters and kicking out of finishers galore. Yawn. Taker vs Lesnar. Great entrance by Taker, better than last year. But damn, the match was just nothing forever then kicked in into kicking ot of finisher's galore and. WTF ? Really ? Taker losing his streak to Lesnar who's been turned into just another guy the previous year, after a totally underwhelming build and a snoozefest of a match ? I was bored with the streak anyway but this is just a ridiculous decision. The reaction of the crowd was priceless though, but you can feel the total downer it was. Heyman's selling of the victory was one for the ages though. So, next year is the last match for Taker I guess. Looks like the tank is empty. I fast forwarded during the Divas match, let's be serious. Orton vs Batista vs Bryan. Thankfully it turned into somewhat of a fun Attitude Era like dog and pony show, because Orton vs Batista was a dead match. The match really picked up thanks to HHH and Stephy, coming through the crowd no less which was a nice touch. I can't believe I'm saying that, but apart from Bryan who was the obvious star, this card was saved by Paul & Stephy doing exactly what they needed to do. Cool post-match (who was the woman with the little girl ? they weren't acknowledge on commentary). So yeah. No RVD (couldn't care less), no Sting (which would have been a big moment if done right). A terrible end to the streak. Really, this show was all about Daniel Bryan supported by HHH and Stephanie.

Gonna watch it tomorrow morning...

Considering where Hall and Waltman were just a few years ago, the Kliq reunion was a damn pretty cool sight. DDP was pretty great, and he deserves shitloads of credits. Although I never cared for Lita, I thought she was pretty cool herself with all those stories. But damn, watching all those guys make me feel old. Taker's tribute to Paul Bearer was classic.

Oh man… What the fuck was Cole thinking ?