Stiva

Caught the two latest Evolve PPVs and had fun watching them. I loved the Trevor Lee vs. Chris Hero match from 43. Simple story of younger guy trying to prove himself against an established talent but Hero was really laying into him with the strikes and Lee had some great jelly legged selling. it was like watching a boxer get up from a dramatic knock-down. The main was Galloway/Busick and that was fucking great too. Featured some nice brawling through the crowd and Busick gets so much snap behind his running strikes that Galloway looks tough as fuck getting up from them. 44 had Galloway/Strong, which is becoming one of my favourite match-ups. This had Roderick go after him relentlessly and he looked so great busting out all kinds of hurty offense that Galloway just couldn't mount a consistent comeback. The two mains are definitely worth seeking out. As an aside, as an Englishmen (Newcastle), I feel thoroughly ashamed of not keeping up with UK wrestling. I catch a few local shows that my friend works on but I really need to subscribe to some Youtube channels.

I think "This TV show has got to be a troll" is probably pretty accurate for it's first 7/8 months. Like they were actively fighting against Heyman, just to be awkward.

If he was ever going to turn, he should have broken the streak by cheating. The time is probably gone now.

Imagine the disappointment if it's Jack Swagger

I've been out of the WWE loop but, on paper, the main, the two chambers and Owens/Cena should be, at minimum, good. If we're lucky, they'll all get plenty of time and be great.

FINALLY all caught up with the last year or so of ROH and, I hate to just repeat everyone else, but man, is this promotion on a roll. Just finished Global Wars Night 1 which I thought was a solid enough show though nothing really stayed with me, other than the crazy main event. I thought some of the pairings didn't lend themselves to good matches; Elgin/Tanahashi for one. Nakamura/ACH felt like it needed another few minutes to really kick up a gear but I thought Okada/Alexander was really nicely put together with Okada giving Alexander plenty of opportunities to look good. Starting up War of the Worlds now and can't wait to see the other NJPW stuff roll out with the new TV slot.

Yep, WWECW (I think I might have said it in this thread) gets good when Miz and Morrison are an official team and becomes great when Finlay, Matt Hardy and Mark Henry are drafted across. Anything pre-September 2007 is awful.

If Killings ever clarified on who used racial slurs at him, it would be a real interesting fallout

His ECW run had great matches with Mark Henry, Finlay and Jack Swagger for sure. I'd imagine there's even more when you consider he was working Smackdown at the same time.

Didn't they do an angle, I think it might have been for a live crowd only, post-Raw type deal, where the people he'd wronged came out and hit their finisher on him? That seems apt. Only with a cut to the paramedics putting him in a private jet and the jet flying off into the sun.

Road Runner is losing the smarks. There's constant "Same old shit!" chants during his matches

Yeah, I'll agree that it was a great match but man, does Cena ever need a new finisher. Nobody is buying the first Attitude Adjustment as a match-ending move anymore.

That's incredible.

I would love for this to signal the return of on-location segments. Ambrose taking Lana to the Grand Canyon and extolling the natural beauty of American soil.

I have never heard someone pronounce "Newcastle" worse than Michael Cole. There's no space between 'New' and 'Castle' ffs, everyone makes that mistake.

This is definitely true. ECW went from a show you watched, just to keep up with Punk to a must-watch once when Miz and Morrison got together and Finlay, Henry and Matt Hardy were moved there. From there, it was must watch TV and watching from the start will make you appreciate the improvement.

This probably means very little because Cena wasn't mentioned either but, at work, I heard the radio ads for WWEs next UK tour in November and Bryan wasn't mentioned. They led with Reigns, Orton, Rollins and, of all people, Ambrose as their names. Now, I know shit changes and different guys could be around the top in November but Bryan's name jumped out at me as one you'd advertise if there was no concerns going further.

Awesome, I've been waiting for this. Gangrel being there has warmed my heart. I saw him live at a tiny indie show here about a month ago and he worked a fun match with a fairly green guy.

I have no idea why you wouldn't throw Dustin in a team with someone. Though he may just want to wind down for good, who knows?

I think Crowe looked fine but it was a strange match to showcase him. Parker is a guy who was never treated seriously but got some good offense on Crowe and, yeah, Crowe didn't look as good as you'd like someone to look in a debut showcase. I'm guessing the match was booked and taped before Parker got released but Crowe probably needs a strong push on TV to come out of it looking strong.

Yeah, the Michaels promos from the screwjob onwards are awful, It's weird because, as he settled into a natural heel role through 97, he was great. But his run through November 97-Mania isn't great at all.

My friend was at the Newcastle show and had positive things to say about both of those matches you posted.

I am god damn furious that my vote for Deuce 'n' Domino only took them to, something crazy like, 15% of the vote. You people are letting their shitty tag work distract from a tremendous theme song.

I see the Raws post-Survivor Series 97 are up but they've left the whole of 97 blank. That's one of their best years, even if it's not pushed as heavily as 98. I hope they fill that gap soon. Hopefully along with 1997 Nitros.

The finish to the Rollins match