JCM

I remember when Punk got in really good shape right before he signed with WWE, and was having some great matches in ROH his last year there. From the Joe trilogy, to the great Jimmy Rave feud, to the Summer of Punk angle that was far superior to WWE's version. I think it took him until the heel turn in 2009(which was fantastic) to get back to the level he was before signing.

I think the same thing every time I see Nattie wrestle.

I thought Dar was easily better than Sabre in this match. Sabre is awful at anything that doesn't involve him being on offense. The way he dropped his selling, and his terrible facial expressions took me out of the match. There were several times where it looked like selling was the last thing he wanted to do. Nothing Dar did stood out to me as bad except for the few times he awkwardly played to the crowd early on. I thought Perkins/Swan was really good. That's the most I've liked either guy so far. I'm going to have a hard time buying Perkins doing much to Ibushi even with his knee bar being put over as a strong finish.

All that and SDL is still a better show than Raw lol.

Speaking of doing nothing Nick Miller is a total no charisma jobber. RVNeese was much better in a tag setting. I hope Ember gets a proper build before she faces Asuka, but the division is so thin I have no idea who she could beat to gain any credibility. This was Almas' best match so far, but he desperately needs a heel turn.

If they bring a bunch of CWC guys to the NXT roster I don't see many of these workout video stars making tv.

I really liked the booking of the tag tourney. It's pretty obvious Usos will take the place of the injured Alpha, and Slater and Rhyno will be huge babyfaces. I bet Vince would kill to get Reigns a pop like Rhyno got on the hot tag. Rhyno's expression in that screen cap is great.

The problem with turning Sasha heel is Charlotte is a terrible babyface that tanked at it on the MR. So the sides become very unbalanced. I do think that we'll eventually get the turn and a tremendous Sasha/Bayley program(if they can get Charlotte out of the main events long enough). Sasha's run of Takeover matches working as a heel was just so great they have to let her work heel again at some point.

I don't see why they can't run Bayley/Nia and Sasha/Charlotte at the same time. That's two strong women's programs and if Sasha wins the title Nia moves up, and if Charlotte retains Bayley moves up.

I liked the Sasha segment just fine. I don't get why people are saying this was a fake retirement angle. When was that ever hinted at? It was announced a few weeks ago Sasha didn't need surgery so how did it go from that to people thinking it was a retirement angle for someone who just got a good checkup two weeks ago? So much bullshit on this show from Cass being the most over guy in the main event last week to losing to jobbers, to Stroman winning by count out instead of getting the pin, to giving away Bayley/Charlotte with no build two weeks into Bayley's MR run, to rewriting the recent history of Sami winning the feud with KO in a great blowoff match. Just a bunch of dog shit based on what I've seen and heard. That doesn't even take into account the Old Day segment which I caught in progress and could tell after two seconds was all time bad. Steph and Mick are an instant channel change.

Kendrick and Harper would be a God tier tag team.

Can we stop acting like kicking out of a 5'9 157 lb Brian Kendrick burning hammer is the same as kicking out of Kenta f'n Kobashi's burning hammer. The biggest reason the CWC has been so good is because these are guys who for the most part haven't been brainwashed by WWE style coming in and doing their thing. Some of it works some of it doesn't, but it beats the shit out of seeing a card like Summerslam with 10 singles matches worked in the same style. Kendrick tried a desperation kill move that didn't work because he never uses the move and doesn't have the physical stature to hit it like it's originator. Pretty fucking simple explanation.

Yeah it's much more likely for Ibushi to get caught in a fancy pin combo than it is to job to a high impact move. They've pretty much established you can't beat him with bombs, and a submission isn't going to be that likely either.

Well for those that wanted NXT to be more like a developmental brand here you go. Dillinger does nothing for me. Total one note gimmick enhancement talent that's too over for the role he should be in, but not good enough to push up the card. Cutler is terrible. The guy with the shaved head and eyebrows was better. Crawford has some potential. I thought Jose looked pretty good I can see some improvement with him. Everything Dawkins does looks awkward to me. He just doesn't seem comfortable in the ring. Liv Morgan is one of the least convincing pro wrestlers I've seen. I just can't imagine her doing anything that could hurt someone. Aliyah looked pretty good until she got in the wrong position for Liv's slow turning blind kick of doom. Itami cut a damn fine promo, and you can tell he's been working at it. Best part was probably the Revival beatdown on Ciampa.

I thought Tozawa/Metalik was fantastic. I feel pretty confident in saying Brian Kendrick is my favorite worker in WWE after that match. He never breaks character, he never does anything that doesn't make sense, and builds incredible drama throughout the match. I thought the selling was really good up until Kota basically no sold the bully choke too hit the power bomb, but it wasn't enough to take away from a great match.

Yeah I think they have to do Uso's sort of cheat to beat AA then heel on Slater and Rhyno. It really wouldn't do Alpha any favors getting booed trying to prevent Heath from feeding his 15 kids. It's not going to do Hype Bros any favors either, and I thought they looked really good this past week. They need to put more effort into AA's character development before putting the belts on them. They were one of my favorite acts in NXT, but it hasn't clicked yet on the MR.

Yeah I've wanted them to sign Gulak for a while. He had a pretty high profile match at the latest NXT tv tapings so that's a good sign.

There's more to being a pro wrestler than ring work. Jericho has carried that act almost as much as Reigns carried the 4 way title match. The Miz and Heath Slater have been two of the best acts going lately and it has little to do with ring work.

I didn't follow much of Owens' indy career so I'm sorry I'm not marking out for the second best guy in JeriKO winning a world title because HHH took out the two biggest stars in the match. It's better than fucking Rollins I guess.

Why does HHH have to be the reason both Reigns and Rollins lose? Just pick one top guy to feud with and let Owens pin the other to win the belt legit. This was barely better than Andre selling the belt to Dibiase. We'll see if they're half way serious about pushing Owens in the following weeks or if he's a back drop to the important stuff. I'm happy for the guy, but that finish sucked imo.

HHH coming out deflated the whole thing for me. I guess it was my fault for thinking someone other than a McMahon or Helmsley was going to get put over. Owens winning a title with no history(other than being held for a day by Finn Balor) and needing HHH to take out two guys for him doesn't feel like it's that big a deal to me.

Post Summer Slam update 1. Sami v Nak (Dallas) 2. The Revival v Alpha (The End) 3.Kota Ibushi vs Cedric Alexander (CWC round 2) 4. Reigns vs Styles (Extreme Rules) 5. Charlotte/Sasha (Raw 7/25) 6. The Revival vs DIY (Brooklyn) 7. Owens v Zayn (Battleground) 8. Balor v Joe (Dallas) 9. Sasha v Charlotte v Becky (Mania) 10. Asuka v Bayley (Dallas) None of the matches I was looking forward to most from the Brooklyn shows made it. Maybe I'll re watch them without having sky high expectations. As of right now all those matches would be behind stuff like Tajiri vs Metalik, Aries vs Nak, and Bayley vs Nia

If Kendrick keeps wrestling at the level he has so far in the CWC he's going to make my top 5. After Takeover I think Dawson is a lock for my top 5. AJ has got to be #1 right now(when he's not wrestling epic match John). I'd go AJ, Joe, Dawson, Rey Jr, and Sasha.

I'm avoiding spoilers, but Kendrick and Ibushi are the two best guys left in the tourney so I'm pumped for their match.

If that match goes past 4 minutes Asuka loses credibility. I was hoping they would do something cheap like have Becky challenge as revenge for Bayley.