Matt D

Just caught the end of the show. I hadn't been spoiled at all (on the match or post match) except for in that "something happens" so I was expecting it in the initial hug in the ring and then with Neville, and then I stopped expecting it and I thought it was weird they were giving it another minute or two but I had finally let my guard down. Good on them. I thought the match itself needed a bit more substance before they started in on the big moves, even if there was a clear sense of escalation and you sort of needed the room to breathe for the story at the end. But all that paled to the emotion, really.

Imagine them feuding with Miz and Mizdow though.

Also, if anyone's not seen this yet (I know Phil isn't big into NXT), this is the most must watch thing WWE may have produced all year:

I'm only half watching, if that, because I've got some crap to do tonight and won't get to see much more until tomorrow but um.. mmm... blood. I'm the least vampirey vampire on this website of bloodthirsty monsters, but yeah, nothing makes a debut of a tough guy monster warrior like blood.

That'd be the best Gi Joe figure ever. It's like if they had signed Bowie to a special figure in the mid 80s. "General Glamrock"

There's this strange element of Disney Princess to Vince. Grown up oppressed and tortured and knowing he was secretly special and then having his real dad come and take him and make him into a wrestling prince.

Ok. I just watched that. It was awesome. There's a part 2. I will get to it later. I'm not even sure where to begin. - Mr. Moto and his ARMY of motorcycles was the most over by far. I thought "hey cool! they have an Asian stereotype Mr. Moto" when I head the name too. Boy was I wrong. -I love the overlap. You could have the two french guys team, and Genghis Kong,the Mongol Warrior, and Attila. And Cesar (who looked like one of the guys in Rome who stand outside of the Coliseum and charge money for photos) and Nero (who looked like a Batman tv villain). And the two disco guys. And the crazy dude who did all the acrobatics in the corner with the guy who looked like he had a box of quaker chewys he was handing out to the crowd who got mobbed and barely made it to the ring. -That was the least convincing pirate ever. -Most of the babyfaces looked like the sort of specimens that could be your 3rd from the top in Kansas City in the 80s. -I also love how many guys have their own songs. This was great. It was like when you're a kid, maybe 9 or so, and you've had time to amass a bunch of action figures from different lines over your life, and you decide to make a wrestling league with all of them. As for putting the toddler down, we have a bedtime routine (pajamas, teeth brushed, story, sleep sack, saying goodnight to various things in the room), then she lays down in the crib and I lay down next to it on the floor with my tablet and headphones and I watch something on youtube while she goes down while I hold her hand through the bars (if she's had a nap, it could take forever; if not, 15 mins usually). It's actually one way I got into lucha since it gave me the exact amount of time to watch a trios most nights.

It's funny that Frank is trending on FB and not Punk.

I was going to watch that Hardy Boyz vs Young Bucks match from August that's on youtube tonight while putting the Toddler down, but I'm totally going to watch that montage instead.

From a selfish level I hope he doesn't end up a MMA commentator. Seeing him in a fight or two, especially a trainwreck, would be interesting to me, but I don't care about MMA nearly enough to see him as a commentator. I tend to like him as a personality so I'd rather him do something that I'd be interested in.

He'll be a no brainer to a bunch of them if the first fight draws. I can't imagine it not drawing, if only for the trainwreck appeal. The comics thing was kind of funny because 8 years or so ago, there would have been a huge backlash because it would have meant another seasoned writer was getting passed over by an outsider (usually a low level TV guy; for instance, a Kimmel writer just got pegged to do a three part story at Marvel). That's not nearly as big a deal anymore because A) they've pulled so many people that it's become a desensitizing thing and b ) because of the Marvel movies, you get more earnest participation from these writers instead of just guys who are slumming.

Let me put it this way: I see both sides on this, but it took TRMD explaining his for me to see it. The Hunter/Bryan match felt "right" to me to the point I never even though of it. I guess sort of like generations of people watching Steamboat/Savage.

Amazing what happens when you actually watch the footage.

The Bryan match was probably the only match in his career this century that was exactly the right length.

He could work like Brody. He'd actually probably have been really good at that.

I don't remember exactly how I felt about that PPV at the time. I think I was mostly glad that the guys I liked were just getting elevated in big matches all at once, win or lose.

re: royal rumble 90 I kind of love this idea. I know Helwig would have never gone with it, but they could have run short programs with Dusty or Piper or Kerry or Jake or Duggan.

It's not that kind of company.

It's a hell of an argumentative shield. He bought up the talent. They could have stopped him.

Oh. Also, shy Vince~

We talk about the death if the territories a lot and we never talk about the idea that yeah, most of the territories had more capital than Vince but didn't use it defensively. Is that bs or not? You get the impression he convinced himself it's not at least.

Honestly he went deeper than I expected. The strangest bits were Vince saying he didn't know the answer when it came to Cesaro and the silence from Austin after the Savage question. The Brock is Jake's python analogy was weird too. And the whole streak question. You get that Vince really loves the bug eyed fan though. I kind of liked his territory killing answer.

Did they announce Harper-Ziggler as a ladder match?

I actually would have liked the other more. I feel like Punk with the three Shield guys (even with Hero in there) would have felt too much like New Nexus or something. Punk was right on one level in that we've seen Show turn before and what not, but how many heel stables have we seen in the last ten years with 3-4 major guys being the entire stable? It feels different than La Familia (Edge, Chavo, Edgeheads, Bam, Vickie) or The Cabinet (JBL, Bashams, Jordan). Those feel a lot more like Punk + Shield to me. Punk/Show/Bryan/Rollins feels more Horseman-y to me. Or at least Evolution. Leader/Heater/Technician/Upstart.

I feel robbed we never got the Punk, Big Show, Bryan, Rollins stable. That would have been pretty great, actually.