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Xavier explaining the "psychology" of why guys are always laying around outside the ring in these multi-man ladder matches by way of WWE 2K16 was both brilliant and totally on-brand. You've gotta let your stamina build back up before you try to climb!

Even at 70, Vince McMahon is still one of the best TV performers in wrestling.

HHH was once dropped twenty feet to the ground while sitting in a car and left for dead. He was perfectly fine the next week. False. He had a band aid on his forehead.

God damn MGFanJay and his creepy fucking pictures. The fuck is wrong with you?

Over the weekend, all the Hawks and Philips Arena employees got forwarded a note from Vince McMahon thanking us for all we did during Survivor Series. It was such a crazy day behind the scenes, so it was pretty cool to have Vince acknowledge everyone's effort that day.

I will never get tired of that "Bubba gingerly lays down on the table" gif.

Oh Bubba...

Roman Reigns being the guy who finally gets rid of The Authority would go a long way to getting him where they want him to be. God forbid we lose our heel authority figure trope though, surely it's still got a lot of life left in it after the last 18 years.

The Lucha Dragons and The Usos are fucking assholes.

Gotta respect Vincent Kennedy McMahon for stepping up like, GODDAMMIT I'LL GET THIS MOTHERFUCKER OVER, IF I HAVE TO DO IT MYSELF.

I had Weidman in the 1st, Rockhold the 2nd. I thought Weidman was winning in the 3rd up until the kick. Rockhold had slowed down a lot at that point and Chris was starting to land a lot more. Rockhold did not like those body kicks. I thought Weidman was going to control the fight from that point. Seeing the way Rockhold was moving after the fight, that certainly wasn't going to help if that wheel kick doesn't happen.

I just made it through Phantom Menace and did not commit suicide. That was a Herculean task. I will try to sit through Attack of the Clones before MNF. Please notify my next of kin. Thanks.

The way the WWE is using the Dudleys right now is probably the best they've ever been used. They're over as faces, so feed them to heels, then... feed them to more heels. Perfect.

Of course, they're WWE faces.

Not to be morbid, but Vince's selling was so good, that combined with his age, he kinda looked legit dead.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time in this thread after this morning reading over the absolute shit show of terrible HOT TAEKS people spewed out over the TLC PPV thread, but this was a really fantastic RAW that will be remembered for all the right reasons. A really strong pair of nights for the company that have had so much more good than bad, hopefully they keep the momentum rolling. I totally get that it took them way longer to get here than it should have, but at least now they're here.

Let's be honest. Reigns got the Mankind treatment tonight and Vince showed how to put over a new champ and let a heel get his comeuppance. Everything Vince did was beautiful and it shows how much he was missed. Evil staredown when he arrives to arrogantly stopping a match to giving Reigns one last chance to pulling out the ref to taking the superman punch to letting Reign kick his lifeless body out of the ring. Pure gold from Vince and RAW missed him. Vince demonstrated to HHH and Steph how the arrogant heel gets their comeuppance at the end of the day. There is a lesson to be learned from Vince tonight.

Is there a way to not be in any faction at all? I generally hate all these assholes. I pretty much have one simple rule in games like these and it's don't get smart with me. If I see you out in the wasteland and you're cool and not bothering me, I won't bother you. I'll even be a nice guy and not act like a dick in dialogue options but generally speaking, if you mouth off at me for no reason, that's your end. Finally had enough of the BOS last night. Went and did a couple things for them and report back to the police station and this guy I had to report to out of nowhere says "I better not catch you snooping around where you're not supposed to." So I own the police station now. I was in full power armor and have Overseer's Guardian, Righteous Authority, and Deliverer. Short work of those assholes.

This should explain:

You guys must have been watching a different fight than me. I thought Weidman clearly won the first, lost the second, and was winning the third until he threw that wheel kick. It was close and competitive until the wheel kick, but that kick put him in the position to get his face turned into hamburger. I don't know if Rockhold would have been able to take him down and control him without that error. I think if anyone was gassing it was Weidman, who was taking some pretty deep breaths after Rockhold had him in that guillotine, even though it clearly wasn't choking him. I thought the fight was Weidman's to win until that kick, even though I wouldn't have been surprised if Rockhold would have taken over because of his superior conditioning. The fact that he could barely stand after the fight surprised the shit out of me, because he looked so strong during the fight. I'd like to see a rematch, because those two are really evenly matched, but who knows what is going to happen.

Yeah. Hardball has the complete statement from Manfred. I think what Phil and I are loving the most is Pete submitted a polygraph VOLUNTARILY and couldn't pass it. Oh Pete. You stupid-stupid-stupid man.

I live posted this show over on PWO but I'll try and condense those thoughts here. tl;dr, this was actually a show that went about as well as can realistically be expected, delivered some good action, and maybe even more importantly they have a really clear path from point A to point B for Roman now that not only makes sense but that the crowd can get with it and enjoy themselves. Three Way Ladder Match This was the craziest WWE spotfest of the year and I absolutely loved it. There was a great moment during New Day's entrance where they stopped on the way to the ring to do the wiggle, and there was a fan right behind them doing it to that completely cracked me up. Anyway, Kalisto and Uso doing that Solina Del Sol off a ladder is your spot of the year, nothing else can surely be close. There was lots of other crazy and chaotic stuff that happened. Nobody really fucked anything up in this match that I could see which is sort of amazing. Xavier was hilarious as a guest commentator. The finish was MAN THROWS A TROMBONE. Everyone pulls their weight in this, nobody died. This was fucking awesome. Million billion stars. Rusev vs. Ryback Probably the right choice to go on after the crazy excitement before it. Not an exceptional match but it was never really going to be. It was fine, but nothing special. Curious where they are going with this Lana Fakes Injuries angle. During the match Lawler on commentary (who seemed to be having a blast all night) worked in two or three shoot jokes where he warned Rusev about the dangers of marriage which was really funny. Del Rio vs .Swagger I couldn't possibly care less about this match, probably the thing I was least interested in. I don't get that whole ankle lock sequence. It looked like Del Rio was looking under the ring for a prop but it wasn't where he expected it to be so they just did something else instead. This was not very good and the crowd didn't care. I actually like a lot of Del Rio's mannerisms and his general heel-ish attitude he brings but his matches aren't doing anything for me right now. Some people seemed to dig this, it did nothing for me, but I also had no interest in it to begin with. ECW vs. The Wyatts I watched a lot of IWA-Japan back in the late 1990's in my VHS tape trading days, and this was perfectly fine as the IWA-Japan match between a bunch of random people trying not to die that kills time until Tarzan Goto wrestles in the main event. This was nothing you need to see but it didn't, like, offend me or anything. This was sloppy as fuck but I sort of enjoyed it anyway as filler. Strowman should be the guy that eats 10 dudes in the Royal Rumble then gets eliminated by the winner this year. Ambrose vs. Owens I was surprised how sprint-y this was, but the crowd seemed to get into it for the finish at least. Not as long as I expected, but a good end stretch. I like Ambrose but stop that rebound clothesline. Please. Ambrose having the IC belt actually gives them an out for "what to do with Sheamus" if you want to run Roman vs HHH and keep Sheamus away from Roman. SInce Roman is being given a you're fired angle, have Ambrose come out, "hey you screwed my friend well I have a belt too let's punch each other" etc. you have a tailor made match at the Rumble if you want one. This is what they should do. If they do not, they're doing it wrong. Paige vs. Charlotte This was the weirdest match of the night and the hardest to critique. I'm conflicted in that Charlotte seems fairly comfortable as a heel, but her Flair Cosplay stuff is fucking terrible. I realize fully this isn't going to happen but they have to let her branch out on her own more or this will get old really fast. But the problem is the match is over specifically BECAUSE of the Flair Cosplay angle, even though it's all wrong for Charlotte who is bigger than most of the other women and really a totally different kind of athlete than Ric was. So... it got over, but it did so in a way that was bad and won't work long term. Does it matter? I guess probably not? I mean, it worked, let's just move on. Head scratcher. Roman vs. Sheamus The work was good. TLC as a PPV format is flawed because you've had a night of dudes doing crazy shit with tables ladders and chairs all night already so the fist half of this is bound to be dead. That's nothing against either guy. Work was fine, lots of good stuff here. What's really important and what was all along was how do they work a finish that is actually interesting and they pulled it off in spades. Crowd absolutely went nuts for Roman finally snapping and saying NO MORE and just laying waste to everything like Godzilla. I rip Triple H a lot but he really puts this segment over the top, taking an ass beating. Then they worked a really cool sequence you don't see much where the doctors come out, they are hauling him off, then Roman comes back and just obliterates Triple H with what might be the best spear on a WWE program in forever. They finally turned Roman loose and the crowd 100% got with it. On top of that you now have a really clear path from point A to point B for Roman's character that makes sense and can be entertaining. I know I get into fantasy booking a fair amount which isn't everyone's cup of tea but IF THEY ARE SMART it's easy. Raw #1: Stephanie opens the show with the big promo. Roman you're fired, you'll never work here again, if you set foot in this building I'll have you arrested etc. HHH shouldn't even be in the show because he's "in the hospital". Main event can be anything involving Sheamus, it really doesn't matter. League of Nations vs the FBI. Anyway, Sheamus is in the ring setting up for the finish, Roman (with no music/fanfare) jumps the guardrail, spears Sheamus, spears Rusev, spears whoever. DQ. Stephanie comes out with like 20 cops who all hit the ring, Roman takes off into the crowd, Show goes off the air with Roman posing with fans. Raw #2: Stephanie cuts another similar promo, Triple H comes out, released from hospital and (since we know he has to look strong) says, you know what Steph, Roman's not fired. I want Roman at the Rumble, I'm gonna beat his ass, I'm using my authority to reinstate him at the Royal Rumble, if I win he's FIRRRRRED etc etc. Again, I'm not stupid, I know this company can still mess this up, but I really think last night's show went about as well as can be expected in terms of giving them a really clearly laid out path that if thiey follow both makes sense in wrestling logic and can be pretty entertaining as your lead to Wrestlemania. Anyway, overall this show exceeded expectations. I'm actually giving it a big thumbs up mainly for them working their way out of a jam.

No wrestler. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson aka Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane from GoT Seasons 4 & 5.

See my posts on the previous couple of pages for many reasons why.

My final wrestling show count for 2015: DPW 15 SICW 10 HRW 6 SLA 6 MMWA 6 WLW 5 CHIKARA 5 PWCS 5 WIA 3 PWE 3 WPW 2 OUTLAW 2 ROH 1 TOTAL 69

Alvarez on everything wrong with last night and he isn't wrong. https://youtu.be/52Pc4Ywlb-c I find him to be annoying and overly negative too, and perhaps this would carry more weight if he weren't always pissed about everything, but he nails this and echoes what a bunch of us were saying on here and Twitter last night.

How does a suicider last long enough to become legendary?

He wasn't over like Hogan '86 if he wasn't even as over as Dean Ambrose 1 /12 hour earlier.

That crowd was shitting on Roman when he came out. That crowd made you think Roman was 86 Hogan when he walked out at the end. That worked.

I had that concept down by 1975 when I was eight.

There's people who like Independence Day, and there's people who like Mars Attacks. And I like Mars Attacks.

NXT today in Blackpool looked like about the coolest venue ever.

Y'all can enjoy the nice day outside and try again tomorrow

How the fuck is the Rock more Samoan than black? He has one Samoan mother, and one black father. Does he have a third Samoan parent we don't know about, or did you study mathematics under Professor Steiner?

I expect he'll be blocking me real soon because I just tweeted all those gifs to him in reply to his tweet from back in August crying about Dana White calling wrestling fake.

Last night was not in the slightest enjoyable, so instead, I'm looking forward to how we can avoid the inevitable heading into Mania. With the strap on Sheamus, I feel we're in a corner here, but how would we feel about: ~FANTASYBOOKINGALERT! HHH is off-TV, injured. Steph, wants revenge and calls for Brock Lesnar to come to the ring. She wants Lesnar to deal with Reigns. Lesnar smiles it off, because he's a cold killing machine but Heyman, as advocate, agrees to Steph's demand, on one condition. His client gets a title shot at Rumble. Sure, Sheamus was one of them, but revenge is more important. She agrees to Heyman's demands. Lesnar faces Sheamus for the title at the Rumble and goes over. He's leaving the arena when Steph questions where he and Heyman are going. Roman Reigns is going to enter the Rumble and they had a deal. With the title in hand, they have the bargaining power now and tell her they've decide to end their deal, leaving Steph in the lurch. To the Rumble and Reigns is on a tear after entering at #1. Triple H is back on TV now but still selling the injury and with Lesnar on the outs, has to take matters into his own hands, defying medical advice, and enters the Rumble himself to eliminate Reigns. He either dumps Reigns out, acts all smug before we get the countdown to #30, or he's close to eliminating him and we get the countdown to #30 before, Daniel Bryan walks out, the building fucking expodes, Haitch shakes his head in disbelief, and we get Brock fucking Lesnar vs Daniel fucking Bryan for the Title at Mania. Praise be to God.

At the rumble, the last three remaining should be the New Day. They should then filibuster and agree that none of them will leave. The ring crew will have to carry them out on the ring mat and we will all presume they will be driven from town to town like that and if necessary set up on the ramp while a "secondary" ring is used for matches and stuff. This will go on until the Mania preshow when finally they will square off to determine who will be in the main event that night.

And I haven't done this awhile but since I do love me some me DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 16h16 hours ago I could have lived without the shucky ducky shit DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 16h16 hours ago Has Cole ever watched a Sasha Banks match before? DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 16h16 hours ago So this is the best preshow match ever, right? (Editor's Note: folks responded that there was an Usos/Shield match that was really good too) DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 16h16 hours ago Poor poor friendless Becky Lynch DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 16h16 hours ago I would be scared of Swagger beating me because that means I am probably main eventing Superstars tomorrow. DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago I am Bad New Barrett! And I don't have a match tonight! DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago That is one shitty ass burrito if it takes 5 minutes to warmup DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago Definitely saw the Hustle Loyalty and Booty sign DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago Just a reminder - I was all about Big E before any of you fuckers DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago God Big E is going to do something fucking insane, isn't he? DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago I love all the strength spots they are doing with E DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago So apparently the new thing is to shit on ladder matches for being spotfests. Fuck all of you god damn hipsters. (Editor's Note: This was in response to specifically Wade Keller bitching (though there were others)) DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago Y'all can bitch about Xavier's commentary but he at least can tell the difference between the Lucha Dragons DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago "THAT LADDER MATCH HAD TOO MANY BUMPS!!! IT NEEDED MORE CHINLOCKS!!!" - the Internet (Editor's Note: Yeah - I was irritated by the joyless fucks) DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago Have fun toping that rest of the card DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago I am now convinced that they are running this angle just so Lawler could get all his anti-marriage jokes in DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago Cole is more terrible than normal tonight DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 15h15 hours ago I always forget about Swagger's lisp until he cuts a promo and then I giggle. I am a terrible person. DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago Maybe that match will at least get Swagger into the Rumble for 45 seconds DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago "THIS TABLE MATCH HAD TOO MANY SPOTS!!! IT NEEDED MORE CHINLOCKS" - what the internet will eventual say (Editor's Note: Still bitter...) DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago Rowan is the Wyatts Bad News Barrett DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago Oh no - those tables are so so heavy. How will Strowman ever get out from underneath them? DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago If they are going to have Owens try and win every watch by countout they probably should actual have him win by countout once DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago Remember when this was going to be a ladder match? Good times... DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 14h14 hours ago So basically Charlotte just has to do the corner flip to complete Flair bingo DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 13h13 hours ago Basically if anything notable happens in this match, you won't see it because Kevin Dunn DVDVR ‏@D_V_D_V_R 13h13 hours ago Poor poor dumb friendless Becky (Editor's Note: I fell asleep right as the main event started)

I could see him ending up "graduating" from WWE the way Stacy Kiebler and the Rock did. He's too good for this crappy company.

He's going to miss all the culture at that one bowling museum we have.

My work firewall no longer thinks DVDVR is a malware host. YAY to the decreased productivity that will surely follow!