Just Dave

What an episode. Made Jeff Cobb feel like a big deal. Super psyched to be there for his debut next week...

The sick sense of humor in me thinks it'd be funny if EC3 died in AEW by beating Jon Moxley and the crowd shitting on it. I think he'd be a nice "get" for them. And there's some weird shit all happening at once with WWE that makes me think there might be more talent available soon. They just can't sign WWE guys just to sign them...

Fozzy has an extensive tour this spring/summer I believe, so I'd think Mox is gonna win the title. I also think it's the smart thing to do. Maybe the Inner Circle screws him at Revolution and then Mox wins it at DoN. It'd be a mistake to pass over Mox for Allin. And I like Allin. I think he money might be in a Mox/Allin "who's crazier" battle with Allin finally taking him down at the next Full Gear.

"Passed when he should've run" will be his legacy forever. He can hold a dick. Not for being a terrible play caller when it matters, but for his refusal to own his part of the Falcon's collapse in that game...

As a Falcons fan, my pettiness level is off the charts right now. Kyle Shanahan's tears give me life. And Nick Bosa crying over not getting to meet his hero in the White House is just gravy...

Them thinking Seth could be one of the biggest stars is one of their problems. Especially when they had Dean Ambrose under contract. The selection process for "top guy" is completely flawed. They've got Big E doing comedy for the fifth year in a row when he might be the most charismatic guy in the company. The New Day is great, but every one of those guys could be doing more. Someone mentioned Ziggler. That guy should be a HUGE star, instead of going through the motions whenever a top heel needs a lackey. Zack Ryder was never gonna be Hulk Hogan, but there's no reason he couldn't be prime Tito Santana. Rusev Day is another GREAT example. Sure, they got Daniel Bryan right, but only after their shows were hijacked by fans for six months. There's no reason to expect different. They're gonna put the Smackdown belt on Roman, and it's gonna get a better reaction than any other time he's won the title, and Vince is gonna interpret that as "goddamn, pal, I told you." And they're gonna start sending him out there doing his "Samoan Cena" act he was doing that the fans weren't buying. The problem now is that they can't reform the Shield to take the heat off of Roman. That whole angle was as egregious an act of "fuck our customers and what they think" as I've ever seen. Strowman is getting huge reactions, but instead of taking advantage of the hottest babyface they'd had in a couple years, they go out of their way to cool off Ambrose and Rollins, and kill off Strowman, derail McIntyre, and, well, Ziggler didn't have anything going, so he was fine, but you're ostensibly killing off four top guys so the fans feel conflicted about booing Reigns. It's fucking brutal. And I think the over-reliance on Lesnar may finally be what deals a serious, undeniable blow to their profits. Just about everyone I know that watched before the Lesnar return has stopped, due to it being "the same shit." My one complaint about the tv show "The Office" is that it feels like sometimes the writers punish you for caring about the characters. "Oh, you want Andy to have a redeemable character arc? Fuck you, here's a boat." Nobody makes you feel like an idiot for investing in characters emotionally than WWE.

I will check them out. Thx.

I watched the main event again, and I don't think it can be overstated how wide a margin adam cole is the worst performer in this match. He's surrounded by seven/six carnivores, who are all laying their shit in on a big stage, and he tags in, mounts Barthel, and throws a half dozen of the worst punches I've ever see, not a single one of which gets within four inches of it's alleged target. The rest of the match is more of the same, with cole doing his "homeless man's hbk" schtick while everyone else is bringing the fucking lumber. It also occurred to me that adam cole looks like a slightly less intimidating luke wilson. His head's WAYYY too big for his body, so much so that he looks like an Easter Island statue, and for some reason a small but vocal percentage of fans have just decided this dude is the next top guy. At least he didn't have to cut a promo before the match, because he can't do that either. I don't like any of the other UE guys, but they at least raised their game for this match. I know Cole is supposedly being mentored by Shawn Michaels, but that's about the last thing he needs. If I were him, I'd tell HBK never to speak to me again and beg Fit Finlay to take me under his wing. Having said that, every time I watch this I become even more enamored with the Imperium guys. I did a deep dive of nxt UK at work the last two days, just watching old matches of theirs. Fabian Aichner is extremely my shit, and I love how unlikeable Barthel is. He's like the evil ski instructor in every alpine comedy ever. And I'd seen Alexander Wolfe before, but I'll also say that "the Dresden Hatchet Man" is a top-notch hook. Damn.

I don't know that I remember a crowd rejecting a heel turn that vocally. That stuff with Becky was WILD last summer. They screwed it up and killed her off, because that's what they do, but it was nuts when it was happening.

I'm probably not done, but you can certainly feel free to stop...

I forgot about that Reid thing. That was fucked up. I think this is the first time I've come out as anti-Charlotte. I despise Sasha, mostly for her borderline delusional sense of entitlement, and I've been vocal about that, but before today I don't think I've said a ton about Charlotte one way or the other...

They turned Charlotte heel because no one feels sympathy for her. At this point, you're taking her side either because you're a) trolling or b) anti-Becky. Trying to turn Becky heel was maybe the most tone-deaf piece of creative not involving a Shield member of the last 5 years.

No, but being justifiably upset because "Shoehorn Charlotte" got another opportunity handed to her while everyone else on the roster gets shoved aside so we can all be reminded what a lousy promo and monotonous worker Charlotte is is relatable. GTFOH with that...

I can't think of a better example of the office's tone deaf nature toward face/heel alignment. Everyone wants to cheer the woman who looks like the girl that made their lives hell in high school, right? Especially when she's facing the most relatable character in the company at the time. This front office...

This wouldn't surprise me at all. Charlotte's not going to Smackdown without Andrade. The company went to too much trouble to get them back on the same show after separating them initially in the last brand split. And the folks that think titles are switching before Mania; you're kidding yourselves. That throws all the pre-event promotion into chaos. If it were me, I'd book babyface Alexa against Bayley for the SD title at Mania base the story around how Sasha and Bayely spread rumors about Alexa, took liberties in the ring with her, and managed to paint Alexa as the bad guy. The crowd wants to love her even more than they do, and she got a lot of play in the Rumble, so clearly the office still likes her. Imagine being Otis yesterday; "Hey pal, we need your Rumble spot for Shelton, but Mandy's gonna land front-to-front on you during the women's Rumble. It's such good shit!" "Yes. Yes it is."

I don't understand the whining about Cesaro and Morrison getting shit on. And it isn't just you. That's where they are in the company. I especially have no pity for Morrison. Guy could've been a top star literally anywhere else in the world. Several former writers have talked about Vince's disdain for Morrison. Why would you go back?

Same song, different verse....

Absolutely stan her. Wonderful human being.

Murphy got pulled too. I'm assuming for the OC and Benjamin. And has any "big man" been more bitchmade in the Rumble than Big E? C'mon.

There's always a silver lining if one searches hard enough...

Also, I think there were parts of that Rumble where Brock was legitimately having fun, and that was cool to see.

I hate everything WWE related, and I loved this Rumble. There were a couple guys I thought should've gotten more play, and they didn't have to do my mans Kofi like that, but all in all it was pretty good. I guess all the rumors a while back of Vince wanting to "make" one more guy are true, and he's pivoting to McIntyre. Damn that was cool.

Also, it weirds me out how much WALTER looks like Farva from Super Troopers....

On the one hand, there was some quality work done. Rhea Ripley is a STAR, and this was my first real look at WALTER. Damn. OTOH, every time a member of Undisputed Era stand toe to toe with actual full grown men and don't get immediately squashed, my suspension of disbelief dies a little more. Adam Cole gets exposed badly as an undersized, in-over-his-head poor excuse for a "top guy" every time he interacts with anyone bigger than Johnny Gargano, and tonight was no exception. Maybe it's just my taste, but I find this "nXt is REAL wrestling" bullshit to be pretentious, self-aggrandizing faux epic exercises in futility, propped up by Triple H, a man so desperate to be loved by a segment of the fanbase that previously reviled him that he built an entire brand around "werkrate." It's "I only liked their first album" level of pompous douchery, but with dudes pretending to fight. Thank you. Fuck you. Bye.