Matt D

Does being a compelling promo matter less in a tag setting, not necessary because of the ability to hide or lean on someone else but because the innate narrative structure inherent in tag matches that can be more easily tossed aside in singles matches?

I don't want to see Rollins wrestle anyone, but if I had to see Rollins wrestle someone on the roster, Roode is probably up there. He'd base and stooge for him and prevent him from doing too many stupid things. I'm not saying it'd be a great match but it'd probably be solid and not annoy me. I saw Rude have a pretty excellent house show style match with Cedric at an NXT show a few years back. Sometimes I wonder if he's just not a good TV wrestler or what.

Yeah, get back to that solo project. That thing was great.

Kelly is a scholar and a gentleman, though.

Is Amarillo the only major territory we basically have nothing of? I know the Funks sold it in the late 70s and I think the tapes were wiped.

Thanks for the heads up.

Ross loves to do stupid voices.

Remember too that this was more than two years after the Bret match.

Match is ok. Magee comes off like the world's biggest Brady Boone. There were athletic things he did (just backflips off the rope or whatever) which were like nothing anyone would see, especially with a guy that big, during that era, but a lot of the times they seemed completely detached from the match itself. Dibiase would shrug him off and he'd take three steps back and THEN back flip, that sort of thing. Some things looked great. Some (the superkick and the spin wheel kick) looked rough, but I doubt anyone cared in 1988. They'd just be amazed to see it. The match itself was weird and I wouldn't particularly say it was a miracle carry job or anything. Dibiase filled time well, bumped well, reacted, sold, with his own offense looking good, but there wasn't a single hope spot/cut off. It meant for a lazy sort of layout (and Dibiase's back elbow off the second ropes is really the worst transition spot). A lot of the stuff that stood out the most with Magee wasn't bumping or offense but the bells and whistles so it's not necessarily anything Dibiase was doing except for giving him space. All that said, Dibiase had a lot of heat and Magee got a really nice ovation after the match.

All I'll say to that is that it's pretty great to have that "opening a pack of trading cards" feeling every Wednesday as news of the weekly Hidden Gem waits to drop. It really helps a guy get through the middle of the work week.

Theoretically, the whole idea of the Bar is that they're the line that you have to cross to make it to legitimacy or whatever, so testing the new World champions kind of makes sense, but that's probably more thought than they put into it.

I don't regret going to sleep. Best part of the main was Ronda's trash talking. That crowd was exhausted.

I'll catch it in the morning first thing. Thanks for the company guys. As always, you're the best. It wouldn't be Mania without you.

I think I'm dropping after Becky's entrance. They're going to give this thing time. I have faith you guys can make it without me. We're through the worst of it now.

Oh shit, she's coming to fight Nikita. That's what the commie bastard gets for attacking David Crockett.

Screw this. I'm brushing my teeth. I am ready to sleep on a moment's notice.

Oh god, they're going to do a video package now, aren't they? We know. We know how we got here. It's literally the main event. We know.

They really fucking hate us, don't they?

She just said we saw huge surprises. I don't remember any huge surprises.

That was basically the exact match they should have worked for this moment. It's just that this moment shouldn't exist.

So everything Lashley does in this match looks like it's at 2x speed and 3x impact.

Look, I'm not a wrestler but taking a flip dive by bending over seems like the wrong way to do it.

It's like if you merge the Ultimate Warrior and Papa Shango and Tatanka and... This is basically Roddy vs Bad News Brown, right?

I would have rather seen the 3D swirling sky smoke than the last two matches.

Look, Joan Jett is 60. She's probably asleep by now. I'm worried about Ronda's entrance.