Stiva

"He looks like his mom dropped him off at the wrong building for karate school and he decided to stay AND FIGHT GROWN MEN!" - Excalibur on Mike Bailey

I'm watching it, fuck it. It's hilarious seeing Hogan side-stepping any mention of Saudi Arabia but it has the typical WWE way of not actually making any sense. It sounded like Hogan got on a plane to the WWE Universe

Man, if Becky/Ronda was always the plan, Becky should have laid Ronda the fuck out during that embarrassing PR, patronising curtain call business. Everyone should understandably be proud for putting on a fantastic show first time out and god knows they've all worked ridiculously hard to get to this point but every time they talk about "revolution" when all the women have to stand around, out of character, it ends up weakening the whole thing for me. These women have proven, beyond a doubt, that they're able to anchor hot feuds and deliver awesome matches, they need to stop undercutting it because they think they deserve applause for treating women like human beings for the first time in their history. Anyway, Becky/Charlotte was great and Becky is a total star at the moment, Ronda is going to accelerate so far ahead of everyone in about 18 months that you need to hope somebody comes along to match her, the "Attitude Era/Divas Era" stuff was handled really well, similarly to the Rumble, MYC Final and NXT Title matches delivered and got all 4 workers over just about as well as you could want and, most importantly, it was in front of a crowd that popped and reacted like I want a crowd to. I don't know if all the annoying fans were on that Jericho Cruise but if so, I hope he does one every month.

I’m amazed that didn’t contain “putting smiles on the faces of fans all over the world”

Yeah, I agree that the Ambrose turn got over twice as huge due to the overriding circumstances. There's definitely a debate to be had about whether or not it was in bad taste but fuck, that's how to turn a guy heel. Have him attack a guy who was in tears over his friend's cancer returning earlier in the show AND after he's just won a title. Professional and personal attack. And I think this is the first time I've bought Ambrose as a "lunatic" That turn really did feel like the way an unhinged dude would react, the kind of guy you have to walk on eggshells around, because of an imagined slight.

Awful news. Every time I've seen an interview with him, he comes across as super humble, down-to-earth and likeable, not to mention him being a young man with a family. Everything crossed that he can beat it

This seems like a work based around that. As well as something to get eyes on the product now that the ratings are dwindling.

Despite this, Meltzer says the show is still on as scheduled.

Part of me hopes that WWE continues to be grossly tone deaf with things like this because I would REALLY like to see the press release that gets released in WWE-speak after the show goes ahead. FWIW, I think they will cancel or quickly move the show elsewhere. I think there's enough time to go before the show that, as the news continues to circulate, they'll realise how bad a decision it will be to run it. Having said that, I think they'll be back in Saudi Arabia next year after it all dies down.

I don't think Impact has been on form as it was in the summer but there's still enough on that card to make me interested. The six man matches, more Su Yung antics and Aries' running ability to put together great main event title matches is enough. Not to mention I'm a mark for open challenges.

Doesn't/Didn't Shawn train the top class? I.e. The guys getting primed for an NXT run

So far, King Salman's run as head booker is leaving me cold.

Can the crowd's complete lack of interest in this please end the Attitude Era Nostalgia snooze fests?

Yikes, this crowd could not care less about this. They're just waiting for whatever angle is going to set up the tag in Saudi Arabia.

God bless those WWE plants for trying to start a "This is Awesome" chant when HHH and Taker are cutting a glacial pace

I'm glad they cut Miz/Bryan short so we can watch some old dudes walk to the ring for 15 minutes

That was...oddly booked. Plus side, we're getting Bryan/Styles. Downside, it's at Saudi Blood Money Mania

Alexander/Murphy continues to be a great match-up, even if this is a bit spot-spot-spot with the goal seemingly "Hey, watch 205 Live to see all this cool shit every week". But Murphy winning felt like a huge deal in his home town and he deserves it after the run he's had on the main roster.

Can they please put The Marine 6 on the Network? That looks truly terrible.

Ronda continues to be a natural, that was a great hot tag. It's a shame that she's eventually going to be lumbered in a match where she has to sell for Charlotte.

Man, they dropped the knee stuff immediately here. Joe isn't even selling it anymore. Thanks for making me look stupid by instantly using it for the finish

Holy shit, the SIXTH MOVE OF DOOM.

Cena with longer hair is real funny to me. He looks like a wrestling dad

Baby Cactus puts on a pretty damn good wrestling match. You can see that he's still a little green but this feels like someone beginning to find his feet and you even get a glimpse of the future with some nutty bumping and a nasty looking dropkick from the apron. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't clean but it looked all the better for it. Time limit draw is the obvious conclusion but it's another slice of fun tv wrestling from WCW.

In ring, this should be another strong outing since everything other than the main should be good and the main will probably have enough smoke and mirrors that it's at least entertaining. I just hope it isn't a 5 hour slog