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Do you know who NEVER needed any stakes to getting one over on the boss/heel or who never needed to have nothing to lose? Steve Austin, the Rock, Undertaker, HHH, HBK, Hogan, etc. And having two faces standing tall on the same show doesn't diminish either one because there's plenty of history of more than one top face looking like a badass and standing tall. This is why this company can't create stars because they don't fucking understand basic fundamentals. No one wants to watch a show when there's no one worth watching. What incentive is there for me to tune in to watch if I'm a Kevin Owens fan? There is none! I may as well not even be a fan! The biggest things that have sold the best have been anti-establishment characters or badass characters who don't look like dumbasses, who don't act like little bitches, who don't do what the boss tells them to do, WHO DON'T BEG THE FUCKING BOSS TO NOT FINE THEM, who outsmart the top heel at nearly every turn, and who beat someone's ass each week. I don't want to hear these bullshit excuses for why the booking makes sense because it doesn't. This creative isn't good for business and if it was, more than barely 1.5 million people would watch each week. Instead WWE has conditioned an entire generation of fans to not give a fuck and if that generation doesn't care, then those fans aren't going to pass their fandom down to the next generation.

What gets me about the Gable short jokes is how they presented Andrade as being the bigger deal between the two. Andrade is one inch taller than Gable and not as strong. The KO situation is confusing. He's become a smaller version of Big Show where he can be menacing as a heel, but becomes weepy as a face. I think they screwed up by having him destroyed by Braun last year. It's one thing if KO had gotten the best on Braun at least once during their feud. But it was all Braun, throwing KO off every ladder and cage in the arena. Getting flipped over in a port-a-potty. Having rental cars destroyed. Being a putz for Shane is par for the course. But there are also several bright spots. Who could have predicted Cedric Alexander and Chad Gable winning main event matches at MSG? Or Erick Rowan getting anything resembling a push? Or Kofi Kingston still being WWE champ this far out after WM? For all the talk of WWE being status quo, they have worked new people into the mix, at least for now. This isn't to say WWE is perfect, far from it. But there's some good stuff being put on the table, IMO.

Settle down Chipernetico.

I don't understand why Sid doesn't offer a package to us marks where you can spend the day with him, you end up playing a game of softball with him, you get a fist bump, something happens to the rental car, you get a filmed acknowledgement confirming he has half the brain you do, maybe your very own Bodyglove arm guard. And once the money clears, he no shows anyway. I'd still pay.

Same. Weird how that one article radicalized me from “I’m All Elite, I guess...” to “I will take a bullet for Cody, death to WWE” like THAT.

I'm unfamiliar with this show. I do recall watching a show called dubya thee dubya thhataday night the muthaship eef you weeeel. Was it something like that show?

It's amazing how unappealing the current product is. Nothing else to say, really.

I can believe that Vince or the rest of creative would come up with such a totally horseshit angle for Owens that has made him look stupid or spineless at every turn. What I can't believe is that KO never said "this is stupid, I'm not doing it, write me something better" and when they go to their "well what should we do" you tell them "how about I just act like Stone Cold and fuck Shane up and not get outsmarted and not look like a little bitch." This fucking company.

In the best of all possible worlds Kobe wouldn't be able to leave the house for being called a rapist, but clearly we don't live in the best of all possible worlds.

I know it's wrinkled, this was straight out of the bag. Just showed up.

SK has a point. I don't think he's blaming the fans. One of biggest keys of being a strong babyface in WWE is to have self-agency. One of the recent examples of this is when Shane called for a SDL town hall. Nearly everyone, face and heel, was waiting for whatever Principal Shane O'Mac had to say. Roman Reigns walks in from the back, goes to a microphone, and tells Shane to kiss his ass. Then leaves to huge applause because he didn't kowtow to the Authority figure. It's simple, but only a precious few get to do it. When KO was being coronated Universal Champ by Triple H or headbutting Vince a while back, it felt like he was going to be in that rarified group. What happened? I have no clue. SK's overall position isn't much different than anyone else's. We're all thinking the same thing: when everyone is put on the same level, no one feels special. It's not a surprise Roman and WWE's Four Horsewomen are the only ones who feel unique. And even they can/have fallen victim to bad booking/writing. But they've been elevated to where they can weather most storms or at least be rebuilt with some tweaks if needed. So the big question is why aren't wrestlers given more agency in storyline? I know many believe we're in the Brand Era where wrestlers are de-emphasized. I agree with some of that viewpoint. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it feels like something else is part of that decision. What can be said for Roman and the 4HW is they fill several key demographics. It may be just a case of following the money.

Speaking of psychopaths: Yeah, he dragged a middle school girl on the internet for going to her dance recital. That's Mamba Mentality.

"The Pirates are showing signs of life for the first time this season..."

What you really want is WCW Worldwide 1993, International version. The commentary team is Solie and Regal. It's fantastic having Lord Steven call his own matches, making excuses for every reversal the jobber gets.

God, look at how much better and more real this backstage brawl comes off than anything WWE has done in the past 20 years.

I just rewatched Crisis on Earth X this week, and it still holds up as the best crossover for me. I still feel like if it had the budget of a blockbuster film, it'd blow away most comic book flicks.

Mandrews/Flash vs GYV was really great, just a good fun TV match.

Adding RoH to the watchlist.

Today is a solemn and important anniversary. Ten years ago Crying Jordan was born. Happy 1-0 to one of the greatest memes of all time.

It's to counter HBK on NXT telling the kids to oversell.

Lmao yeah. Also acting like this Olympic-level grapplefuck machine has been getting bullied his whole life for being 5'8 or whatever

Remember kids, whatever you do, don't sell.

My thoughts exactly. "Vazquez is hanging his left a little low. This could hurt him in the later rounds." Also, can we blame this one on Hurdle being an asshole because blaming things on Hurdle being an asshole is fun.

It was good to see heel Bayley get a win in a decisive manner. My thoughts about the RAW women's tag were initially positive, but then I remembered how much heel Bayley, the fucking Smackdown Women's Champ no less, unselfishly bumped like a pinball that night for everybody and even got pinned clean as a fucking sheet, so I have come to the conclusion that Unstoppable Becky Lynch is beginning to grate at my nerves and I will be pulling for The Legit Boss at the PPV. I also hope that heel Bayley keeps her strap. Yes, I know that's blasphemy.

I know, right? Edit: why not fire the whole coaching staff?

If you are a hardcore new japan fan then yes I can see your argument. But if you are more of a casual fan the weekly run down of the company then that AXS TV show has it a really good compliment. You still get to see the important stuff and it isn't a 3 to 4 hour grind. Granted if you watch the AXS TV you probably haven't seen one of the first 4 matches of a New Japan show Also even though NJPW World has improved, still going through the site for non-Japanese people isn't the best. I mean I remember when the billing was all Japanese and that was hell

Why not fire the defensive coordinator who called such an unbelievably soft coverage to set up the completion that let the New Orleans kicker beat them?

Hickman needs to write Sinister every month until the climate apocalypse kills us.

am I the only one who LOVED that gimmick? I used to pause the tape so I could try and read all the match possibilities.

Spin the wheel, make the deal.

Even by WWE babyface booking standards, I’m astonished at how poorly this has been going. I figured he has enough of an edge and they seem to like him enough that this was going to go well. Worst case scenario had to be him getting saddled with some lame Vince humour, right? Wrong. The bottom is always deeper than I imagine.

Yeah, well...

I know we're possibly facing a lockout next year.. But the League really needs to pace itself. We're gonna burn out on crazy by week 6.

Ah, I spent a month in Terre Haute one weekend when Bradley played Indiana State. Long reminiscences below.

WHo else loves when the local news does a quick mention of WWE coming to town and 1) The graphic they put up has a picture of CM PUnk, Ryback, and Alberto del Rio 2) The male news mannequin says something about Hulkomania and/or "body slamming." 3) The lady news mannequin makes an "ew" face 4) the 23 year old weather dork intern is trying to hide how excited he is so he doesn't get hazed more by being forced to wear a singlet to the Halloween party

Just like the real Sid eats?

There isn't one catch-all definition for a casual fan. They are clearly tiers of casual fans. I am not a hardcore fan at all and don't watch anything WWE related. However, I will pay for a PPV if I want to watch it and stuff like New Japan World. If you're a promoter, you're fucking up big time if you think there is just a subsection of people who just won't pay for anything. Yes, piracy will always exist but how many first time PPV buyers occurred at the height of Ronda Rousey's run in the UFC? What about Conor McGregor? I mean Dave Meltzer went to the trouble of even researching and finding out that Conor and Ronda had two completely different audiences that were buying those PPVs and they both were doing 850,000 to 1 million+ buys at 60 dollars. UFC is hot when it's hot, but the UFC is extremely niche and always has been. You can't tell me the UFC just has 2.5 to 3 million people who have been buying PPVs since 2005, and they just pop up randomly especially when their basement number for PPV buys went from 200-250k to about 90-100k in a span of two or three years.

To eventually convert them to paying customers? New paying customers have to come from somewhere.

Oh god. It's going to be Shane replacing him, isn't it?

Impact watched the final episode of GLOW and figured if it worked for Debbie Eagan...

Isn't the point of these single sentence explanations for you to make things clearer?

Ember Moon is a vampire that hails from Dallas, Texas.

Baron Corbin to me is the pro wrestling version of "owning the libs". I am sure that the good majority of people who support him do it because it drives people nuts.

I wish Charlotte wouldn’t moonsalt. Easily my least favourite thing she does.

We got a bit of wind and some dark skies here in the 804, but that was about it. The images coming in from the Bahamas are heartbreaking. I am brimming with HBCU pride on the announcement that my alma mater, HAMPTON UNIVERSITY~!, has hammered out a deal with the University of the Bahama-North to bring in their students and allow them to complete their upcoming semester free of charge. .... including room and board! The students will then have the option to finish their education at Hampton at regular tuition and fees once the semester is over. I am still smarting from those HU student loans that partially paid for my tuition, so I hope those folks have access to some grant loot or scholarship cash if they stay past Fall 2019.