Matt D

I hope someone asks him about the Usos at some point, because they are guilty of the "If you're not going to follow the norms of tag team wrestling, just make it a tornado tag match in the first place" statement as much as anyone. Their matches tend to be a full half finishing stretches, great action but at a big cost. I'm curious if he was too close to see that or not.

Rumor is that they're going to cut back on the classic drops bigtime and focus even more on the modern product (be it WWE main or indy affiliates, etc.). NWA should capitalize on the small unrest this announcement has caused and launch a youtube show with the classic footage with Tim Storm and Aaron Stevens hosting or something. It'd cost them next to nothing.

Looks like nothing this week. Happy Thanksgiving anyway, guys.

Likewise, does anyone do the slide out of the ring punch to person hanging out in ropes that Goldust/Bossman did?

They should just do big builds to her punching the crap out of people. That'd probably work.

Or they can do nothing and just use this thing as a way to boost NXT ratings.

They've got all the pieces here to end this with a Horsewomen vs Horsewomen staredown.

I am baffled by Bayley's Cleopatra headdress thing. On the other hand, I haven't been paying attention but the Submission Magician thing is hokey but kind of great.

All things equal, running with Rey on top with all sorts of crossover appeal (lapsed fans, Hispanics, hot topic kids who find the mask cool, people who just are drawn in by his selling and the underdog story, etc) seems like one of the only moves that they have left. They really don't have many. It seems like he's at a different phase now though, even with the repaired knees.

The low blows as Lesnar's only weakness is a ridiculous trope.

I'm higher on this opening than usual because Lesnar's killing him without the suplexes. It gives a place for the match to escalate to later. EDIT: And it got there quickly after one hope spot. But at least it didn't start there.

I'm here now. No way does Joker Rey win the title. That'd just be a ridiculous image; I don't care how much money that movie made.

Bartlett is not good, but the Vince impression he does for the entirety of the 3/15/93 Raw is pretty hilarious knowing all we know now.

Pretty much all I watch is lost footage now so,... 1983 Jake Roberts: This is the Jake we were always promised and so rarely got. The way he uses his body to stretch out and make use of the whole ring, the complex spots and finishes, the heat. 1983 Buzz Sawyer: Just an amazing connection with the crowd as he turns face, without changing too much and pandering. He let them come to him and not the other way around and so long as he did that, it was magic. Honorable mention to 83 Brett Sawyer who was just great working from underneath. . 1988 Ron Garvin: We had ~30 seconds of him and it was gold. He was such a great pissy heel and it's a shame we didn't get a lengthy run out of this; to see him up against Sting a few months later would have been something special. 1992 Mountie: Same thing. There's a few more dark matches that could be something special like the weird one from late, late 91 with both he and Bret having four guys at ringside for some reason. Totally committed to the act even when he's going to lose in 30 seconds. Either Rey Sr. or Super Boy from the Festival De Lucha: I've seen only a little Rey, Sr. as a rudo and he's both got the look and the attitude to really make it work. Just a scummy jerk with mean offense. I bet there's more out there for me. Super Boy looked like a Brazo turned up to 11 so that's pretty much always going to work. It's a shame that didn't carry forward.

Rob Bartlett > Mauro > Art Donovan