Stiva

I think a lot of 2002 depends on how welll you think the Smackdown Six matches have aged. I haven't rewatched them on the Network yet but I've seen a lot of talk on here about those, and specifically, Angle's matches and there's differing opinion. The more I think about it, I think 2009 might be the answer for this. It was right in the middle of the awful guest host era on Raw but Smackdown and ECW had excellent rosters and when it came to PPVs, Raw had the great Cena/Orton series, the Jerishow matches and that shockingly good DX vs Legacy HITC. Each PPV usually had a long Christian match in a time period where he was great. Punk's series with Jeff Hardy made for some good PPV main events and the undercards were usually filled with Rey Mysterio matches. I think 2010 might be better than that in-ring (though the booking was at a low ebb) but yeah, 2009 is a really strong shout.

I think some of it is that there's an obvious disconnect between the guys booking the main shows and the guys booking NXT. Emma's gimmick in NXT had a natural progression into what she is now but they just threw her onto Raw as a ditzy girl who dances funny and has bubbles in her entrance and assumed that would do. Saddling her with Santino in shitty comedy doesn't help but it seems like they aren't even taking the time to bridge the gap between NXT and the main shows with regards to treating their gimmicks right. You just have to look at how lazy the Paige debut was to see that the care that goes into NXT just isn't there on the main shows, possibly due to Vince's crazy reactionary tendencies, the rewrites or just plain incompetence. Xavier Woods was promoted and just put with the free black guy they had on the roster. Maybe some of it is a factor of them not letting guys talk unless they're in the main angles but I think if these characters and gimmicks can get over in NXT, they could on the main shows if they gave them time to get their gimmicks over and took the time to put any effort at all into their programs. Maybe they don't have the faith in them to cut decent promos but that's not possible with the awful writing they have anyway. Langston is a naturally witty, smooth guy and I don't think he's ever said a word on the main roster and it's no wonder that any initial interest fans have in them soon diminishes. I worry for Bo Dallas because if they don't let him speak with his silly motivational stuff, that's literally the entire gimmick harpooned.

I don't think pro wrestling is something that appeals to solely uneducated people. I mean, you've just got to look at places like this for really insightful, intelligent discussion and you realise pretty quickly that this is something you can approach from a ton of different ways, incorporating a ton of cultural influences along the way. I think the point about awful comedy is important because, for better or worse, pro wrestling in North America and, to an extent, Europe/UK is WWE and, as much as their in-ring product can be brilliant, their general booking, presentation and writing is fairly embarrassing. Too many comedy characters and, indeed, too many serious characters played for laughs to fill up a 4 minute segment on Raw. I think wrestling will always have the reputation it has but, for those who enjoy it on the level that we here do, there'll always be places to discuss it in depth. I look at it like any other fringe interest; it may not be a conversation starter among friends but if you look hard enough, you'll find a community that you can sink your teeth into. Obviously, WWE being a multi-million dollar "Entertainment" company means it's in the public eye more than others but we all know that there's a whole other world, or worlds, of wrestling out there to love.

I think, if Bryan is up to it, they do an angle where Kane chokeslams him off the stage (or something similar) on Raw and they run with Shield vs. Evolution as your Payback main event with Wyatt/Cena LMS as your semi main. A good, long Usos title defense would be perfect too.

All Jeff has to do is hire a bunch of guys with a bunch of stats over B+ and we've got ourselves a fine promotion.

http://globalforcewrestling.com/seminar/ Jarrett and D'Amore running their first con already!

Making my way through Global Wars now and I enjoyed the 3-way tag match a lot even though I thought it was a 2-man show with The Briscoes. Mark coming in on a hot tag with his crazy strikes and reckless dives was absolutely great. It's a damn shame that their potential WWE run got kiboshed because Briscoes vs. The Usos would be awesome.

The Jeff Hardy matches in late 2008 are definite candidates for this list. The pair have a really good chemistry, they're in front of really hot crowds and they do great jobs in keeping Hardy strong in defeat.

We're going back a little bit to that list of things "coming soon in 2014" but I really want to see Saturday Morning Slam, just to see which guys could work the style they had in place for it (though I know for some matches, they just cut away when there was any strikes to the head etc) but, it was interesting that they're starting The Monday Night War show and putting up Nitro episodes. How do you think they do it? Chronological with eps covered in the shows they're putting out or just shows with the memorable Nitro moments like they have for Attitude era Raws atm? I'd love them to dump all of 96 there but that might be wishful thinking.

Was just coming to post this. A real slugfest of a match with Ambrose being absolutely spectacular. I love how he incorporates Nigel's lariat and thought the transition to Sheamus' 10 count spot was one of the most natural I've seen for a while. It was almost like Sheamus saw him on the ropes and thought "fuck it, I'm going to hit this dude in the chest a lot". Really loved the finish too, the Brogue Kick to the outside spot was great and I really loved Ambrose's crawl back in for the ten count. Just another crazily good match to add to WWE's list this year. This makes it sound like I'm discrediting Sheamus' role in the match but I'm not; he was, and has all year, been super great. I would love to see an extended Sheamus/Mark Henry series for the US Title.

Definitely and I'd say that the past 18/24 months have been Kane's best stuff ever. He's no stranger to goofiness so jumped into the Hell No skits with no hesitation and he and Bryan made it work, their matches were fun right up until the break-up. The Wyatt stuff was hokey but I actually really enjoyed Corporate Kane being a dick to Brad Maddox and stooging about for HHH. I have no doubt they'll be able to have a good gimmick match. Also, I think the fact he dropped Bryan with three tombstone piledrivers is proof that even WWE know that they need to work hard to rebuild Kane's monster image, even just for this PPV. I'd expect him to do something crazy next week too before Bryan returns to conquer him.

I don't have a problem with Bryan vs. a monster as his first title defense, I just wish it would have been a rehabilitated heel Mark Henry. Unless they play up Kane and Bryan's history, it's not interesting in the slightest. And it wasn't even a year ago that they stopped teaming.

Oh man, a babyface getting taken out with a piledriver to the floor! Also, it's amazing how quickly Kane grows that hair back.

I think it makes a good visual for Bryan as he's chanting "Yes" too.

Are they giving him a Texas Ranger gimmick? The brother of Braden.

From the looks of Smackdown, Vordell Walker got a try out in the dark match (to which the spoiler recapper called him Cordell Walker) and from what I've seen of him on the indies, recommended in Dylan's posts on here, he'd be a really smart pick-up. Unless there's a dude called Cordell Walker who has completely passed me by.

I guess they're out of print, so to speak. Or Vince is about to snap them up for his Bryan and Punk DVDs

I've also wondered why they don't use the Triple Powerbomb as a finish. I think it's because their 6 mans usually end up with guys sprayed out all over the ring so getting those three guys in the ring at once doesn't really happen.

Rusev looks a potential Cena summer opponent to me.

i think he's a made guy now. Say, if he loses the belt to Lesnar (though I think it'll be Batista who transitions to Lesnar), there's going to be people pissed that he's dropped the belt full stop and people pissed that he lost the belt to the guy who broke the streak so that's going to guarantee a crowd willing him to win the belt back no matter what.

I'd bet Cena, Sheamus and Show are three guys who really know their wrestling. There's an interview where Orton acknowledges that everyone in the back knew who Bryan was and knew he could go. Maybe Miz didn't but I guess pairing him up with Bryan was inspired if so.

Ziggler is a guy who desperately needs some direction and Swagger desperately needs a new partner since he's pretty shitty by himself. I'd like to see him continue trying to hit the ankle lock out of lots of crazy positions though.

Wyatts vs. Shield III was another great match. I thought Ambrose was the stand-out guy with a performance full of awesome little touches. The way he sells the Wyatt's strikes, the way he fights out of their submissions and how he went into full FIP mode and looked a total natural at it. It looks like he's damaged his ribs badly but I loved how he turned it into this crazy, rambling rant when he was needed on promos. Roman Reigns is going to be such a star, it isn't even funny. It's almost like WWE are cheating having him.

I think my only major hope for this is that we get some long Chris Masters main events out of it.

When you look at that show tonight; no Ryback, no Miz, no Del Rio, no Rhodes Brothers and you wouldn't say they were missed in the slightest. I'd prefer to see more of the latter pair, especially with the tag belts possibly transitioning to Batista and Orton. Those matches would be great fun.