Greggulator

I was actually just in Detroit last week for the first part of a road trip. That place was nuts. The two-minute drive from the ballpark to the two Coney's (diner-type places) everyone goes nuts for was really frightening. It's such a shame. The city has a lot of grandeur and beauty hidden behind the bleakness.

Really good opening match. Regal's the best color commentator ever. He got over the strategy so well explaining why a guy is almost always on the floor in a three-way. Cesaro had a nasty power spot with both guys coming out of the corner. Sami did a great hurucanrana thing coming out of a pin attempt. Really well paced with guys in the right spot. The best stuff came when Leo Kruger (KROO GARRR!) was on the floor, naturally, but it worked for him since he came off like such a slimebag stealing the win like that. Sylvester Lafort just oozes IWCCW-era indie manager sleaze. This is one of the best types of wrestling sleaze. He's so enjoyably bad. "EET MEANS MORE MONEY IN MY WALLET HAHAHAHA!" Scott Dawson's a total snooze. I actually like Bo Dallas a lot. He'll be really good once he goes heel. He's a total tool as a face, though. He'd make a perfect Varsity Club-era Rick Steiner if he gets managed by someone like Vicki or Heyman. He's so punchable.I love NXT's terrible commercial promos for guys. The Ascension one was well done but they're so lame. "We both stand in black light. You wear the contacts you borrowed from the Limp Bizkit dude. I'll wear the coat I bought from GWAR's rummage sale."Bayley's gimmick of being sweet-tempered is really adorable. They should do a thing where Sami makes her a pop-punk heavy mixtape.Naitch came out first. Man, it feels so weird watching him right now. The dude has been through so much. But he does look exactly what I think a dude with warrants out for multiple back payments out would look like.Charlotte came out creepy. She did some tumble thing and then did a Melina-ish leg split under the rope before blowing a sultry kiss to strangers as her dad looked on proudly.However, she totally won me over in the match. She has "it" and has it in spades. I think she'll be a total star. She's really athletic and is using her gymnastics background as her strength. She broke out a few well-timed "WOOOO"s and did the flip over the turnbuckle spot. Her finisher was pretty good, too. It's a cartwheel-headlock driver looking thing. Even better, right after she hit it she looked to the crowd and did a "WOOO!" Very good debut. Tyler Breeze is such a great wrestling name. It's a near perfect wrestling name. This dude has a model gimmick and rudely dismissed the assistant type who was giving him a manicure. This looks like a great, fun gimmick. I like Adrian Neville a ton. Corey Graves bores me but I do like his gimmick of being a former mall-punk who started hanging out with crusties at a nearby squat. Regal also said he had a "rude boy" look since Regal is the best.Neville/Graves vs. The Wyatt Family was a great match. Harper and Rowan both used their size and guile (as Regal put over) to isolate Graves. There was a lot of good stuff in this, especially from Harper who is a total stud. He hit a really good dropkick on a cut-off. Rowan was good too. He knows his limitations and doesn't do anything beyond big man moves. He had an abdominal clutch on Graves once that he combined with an Iron Claw on the exposed kidney region -- a nice little touch. The comeback came after Harper missed a running boot to the corner where he took a Ziggler-esque bump to the floor that was completely nutty for such a big dude. Neville hit an awesome springboard moonsault (from the top rope) to the floor. Sheamus came down (The Wyatt's assaulted him earlier) when Bray was interfering and evened the odds. Neville got the win for new tag champs. (Of course, Sheamus has to raise their hands in victory -- would have been better for him to step aside and let the kids get their moment in the sun.) Another very good match. Great show.

That Slater/Gabriel match was REALLY good before The Wyatt Family appeared. I didn't see the other matches but that was like a hidden match of the week. Slater is so good.

Also, while the wings of Gabriel's jacket are awesome we're also overlooking that the actual jacket part is FRINGED! This is one of the greatest wrestling accessories in ages. A fringed white jacket which chintzy wings attached. Kudos, Justin Gabriel. You are now my favorite.

I didn't see the full version yet but the short-form of the Wyatt Family stuff is great. Rowan looks completely unhinged when he puts his fingers in Jinder's mouth and picks him up. Loved stacking them like a funeral pyre.I know Main Event is edited but they got a huge reaction when the video went black and they had the "We're Here" announcement.I love this act so much.

Mark Henry doing the Haka in face paint.

There was a match on Raw against Terry Funk that Henry had really early in Henry's run -- I think he was still in The Nation -- that was very good from my memory.Henry is one of the ultimate "What If?" guys in wrestling. There's no telling where he'd rank on the all-time list if he wasn't so injury prone.

I can't wait to see this for JUSTIN GABRIEL'S JACKET alone!

Emma's House, The Field Mice

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2013/07/alex_rodriguez_hires_ex-wwe_wrestler_for_security_detail_in_rehab_in_reading_pa_--_dont_get_too_clos.html#incart_m-rpt-1 Gene Snitsky is now A-Rod's bodyguard!

I think they need to keep The Wyatt Family just as is for a while. As soon as they lose a shred of momentum, then add in someone.One dream angle I have for them that will never happen: Bray tells Randy Orton that he has the cure for the voices in his head that talk to him.

The should intersperse clips of RVD hanging out with some teenage 7-11 employees next to the dumpster smoking some dirtweed he just bought off of them w/ his ECW highlights. His trailer with Sabu could linger in the background. I'd like Jericho to grow his hair out a bit longer but the full length he had. I went to a 311 concert recently (I love seeing the worst stuff ever) and a lot of the folks at the show had the "safe hippie accounting major" look down pat -- the hair that looks longer with a bandana on top of a skull but is completely workplace acceptable. He's like your cool boss who wears jeans all week and not just on Friday.

Dude wears a sheep mask to symbolize/threaten the sheep that we are. How much more committed can he be?Also, when do we get the first stories about some unhinged fan(s) actually believing Bray Wyatt to be an actual deity? Or, knowing wrestling history, when does Windham Rotunda actually believe he is Bray Wyatt?

Rowan has been at least passable in NXT against some pretty "eh" opponents at time. Harper's the workhorse of the team and is terrific. Rowan's good at hitting a few big man moves -- nothing complex -- and getting beat up since he's the more backwards of the two. I can't see why anyone was criticizing him last night -- perfectly find at beating up R-Truth and executing the trap Bray laid on him as a distraction.

I thought it was a really good Raw. Probably even a great one.I loved the two intertwined major arcs of the night -- Brad Maddox making his debut and Cena's big announcement. Maddox was great tonight -- a nervous kid keeping composed on the biggest night of his professional life. I hope they keep him like that for a while. He made stuff happened and got out of the way. Even the HHH/Steph nonsense was kept to a minimum. The reveal at the end was magnificent with how over Bryan is. Going to be a fun few weeks. Randy/Fandango was really good. Orton's interesting again as the guy with the briefcase. Fandango's in the right spot -- a goofball character who can hang with this big boys. His upset of Jericho at WM is going to go a long way in matches like this for a very long time.I thought this was Henry's best mic work ever, and that says a lot. He was humble without being weak. He had a great retort to the "You Tapped Out" chant. The Triple Powerbomb was nasty. Henry vs. The Shield will rule.Dolph/Del Rio was great again. I loved AJ's turn and Big E's sucker job. I was hoping for AJ to end up with Del Rio but I'll take this. They're going to have a Cena/Punk like series of matches when they're both legitimate main eventers.R-Truth's rapping character is probably my least favorite act in wrestling history. The Wyatt Family's destruction of him was great. Bray Wyatt's Howard Beale Leading A Cult shtick is brilliant. I've never been this excited for a new character. I want him to end The Streak. He's going to have a few world titles. He has that "it" factor and had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. They're going to have to figure out how to play him since he's going to be the most over guy in the company in a few months.The Usos/Real Americans was fine. Naomi starting to get the next Diva face push is fine. She looks athletic enough for the spot.Sandow trying to maintain his dignity by reminding everyone he still has the briefcase was awesome. Cody had great fire as the suit wearing house-on-fire. Good start to the feud. JBL did make a good point about how Sandow won fair and square. But, still, Sandow was a jerk about it. LOVED the Heyman/Punk segment. Heyman was masterful in his explanation and his look of worry helped get Punk's threats over. Punk was great showing fighting spirit against Brock. That F5 onto the table was nasty. Super excited because I think Punk's great working as an underdog.I thought I was going to hate Jericho/RVD. They had that blown corner spot and some bad placement. But I came around at the end and thought it was a good match. It was two old veterans who know every trick in the book going at it. They're nowhere near as athletic as they were but they still know what they're doing. It had the feel of a 2nd round US Open match circa 2004 between someone like Todd Martin and Andre Agassi -- neither guy was going to win the whole tournament, but their five-set match was still really great. I loved RVD's forward flip splash -- he busted that out to the floor against Bam Bam when he won the TV Title in ECW.A very enjoyable night of Raw.

BTW, where the hell is Michael Tarver wrestling these days? I thought he had a lot of potential before he flaked out.

I liked that ending a lot, actually. Henry's a bully who cheapshot Cena left-and-right headed into this. He pulled the best fake-out in years in his retirement to lure John in (using his family to do so, which they played up as disgusting). He intimidated him non-stop with his "two for flinching" deals. He got the better of Cena one last time when he sucker punched him before working him over. But like all bullies, as soon as the odds turned against him, he cowardly got out ASAP.

I have no idea what they've done or where they've wrestled but I love Amazing Red and Too Cold's inclusion.Just wondering why Punk is in the 70s? I know he was out for a while but he's had a lot of awesome. The Cena Raw match was one of the best Raw matches ever and a great end to an epic feud. I didn't see WM but a lot of people raved about the UT match. His stuff with Jericho was also very good.Who would have predicted Roman Reigns as one of the Top 10 WWE workers at his start? I love that dude. He's been great as The Shield's equalizer.No Usos?

1) I didn't see the Ryback/Jericho match but the end sounds hilarious and amazing -- the lunkhead crybaby who has been taken down a peg by actual wrestlers (as much as one can consider The Miz that) beating a veteran like Jericho via a cheap roll-up. Did he put his feet up on the ropes? Great troll work either way. 2) They've already teased Orton/Bryan animosity and Bryan got a huge win on Randy. We all thought that was the build to a Bryan win last night but events have shown otherwise. Bryan beating Cena for the belt and then getting punted in the face right after his huge win is great and makes Randy Orton interesting once again after an endless run of DOA feuds. If that was a long-term plan, than kudos because going that route will work.

I was Zubaz on here during the early days and for a while after that. Been reading it for a while. I was looking at other boards to post at but the literacy rate in wrestling communities isn't too sterling.

Axel's growing on me a lot. He's the perfect guy to have a manager. He's solid as an actual wrestler in the ring. He'll never have the "it" factor that the others in his class of wrestlers (FCW/NXT alum) have but he has enough to at least be a decent hand for a very long time. They might as well give him some credibility by working with the most talented guys on the roster and getting better by osmosis. There's a good place in wrestling for a guy like that. He won't headline a Wrestlemania ever but he'll be perfectly acceptable as a heel Kofi Kingston.

I caught the show from Ziggler/ADR on. Really good stuff. Wish I saw the opening match.I really loved Dolph/ADR. Great work from both guys. ADR does so many great little things -- sneers, hand taunts, stretching out a body part after its been worked on for a bit, etc. He's one of the best at facial expressions and subtle mannerisms ever. Dolph is really good at wrestling as a face, too. He gets how to work from underneath. AJ's terrific as usual as the super needy clingy GF. I liked the end of it a lot -- AJ was there "protecting" her man but he didn't need her help. I think AJ might be terrific as ADR's mistress. He could use a new part of the act and it's be funny to see a jealous, pining Ricardo.Cena/Mark was very good. Not a MOTYC but very good, solid big man work. They had a really good story there with the Cena/AA deal. The announcers always miss a lot of the good story work. Cena won because he has two effective finishers, one being a submission that a big man can't counter. It was a race to see who could hit their finisher a second time w/ Cena's experience as a champion getting him the shot. Great stuff.I really liked the final MITB. I was rooting for Bryan like everyone else. I think Orton's a terminal bore. But the match itself was really good. I like the Axel run-in and Heyman move on Punk. I actually thought that the Bray promo video before was a tip-off to him somehow stealing the match. MITB matches are always fun -- just a lot of crazy stuff non-stop. Kudos to Sheamus for taking that crazy ladder bump. RVD was good doing RVD things, too.

The misses and I are slowly making our way through Friday Night Lights. Just finished Season 3. It's high, high, high on my list as my favorite show of all-time. No show has ever rendered such emotion from me on a consistent basis -- I have probably cried at some point during every episode. The Wire certainly impacted my life quite a bit (especially Season 4) but I also like watching television to escape from the fact that we live in a world that is really crappy for a lot of people.I love that FNL isn't afraid to have happy endings. On top of it, all of their happy endings have been completely earned and feel genuine. Smash's smile when he gets the scholarship, Tyra's acceptance letter are all completely perfect. They're characters I root for and get to see have personal victories.The show also has so many great epic moments. Tyra's college essay while they have the cuts to other people's scenes is absolutely amazing television. So are all the great Coach talks. But the best scenes are in the little moments -- Grandma Saracen and Julie holding hands before Matt's last game, Coach twirling around some little kid at a pick-up game outside Smash's apartment, the Riggins boys rasslin' after the truck breaks down, etc.I really didn't mind the Season 2 silliness either that everyone hates. I mean, it's a dumb sub-plot obviously shoehorned in by some network exec the producers had to cave in on to stay on the air. But Tyra and Landry -- ESPECIALLY Landry -- acted the hell out of crappy material.

Yeah, which is the worst.I got selected for a capital murder case. The amount of people getting out of it was sickening. I actually was thanked by the judge for saying that I'm an objective person.

That part's dumb w/ Sheamus. But I pretty much ignore anything he's involved with.Another reason why I like this era: I don't feel like scum of the earth watching it. No men are hitting women or putting girls through tables. I like PG since I'm a grown-up, which is kind of weird.I have no idea how I would feel about ECW now if it was a current product.