Go2Sleep

I dare anyone to write a more depressing epilogue to the Real Americans break-up.

I still maintain TNA was doomed from the beginning largely because it had a name that was impossible to take seriously. Not just the acronym, but what it stands for. It was so embarrasingly obvious they just wanted to name the company TNA because it made someone giggle and they would accept anything that remotely fit. Because, really, who the fuck would pick "Total Nonstop Action" as the first choice for the name of a wrestling company? The re-brand to TNA Wrestling was somehow more pathetic, as it was an obvious attempt at a non-juvenile makeover, but made it sound even more like a porno. Of course, that was after it was obvious the company was doomed for various other reasons.

Truth ending Bo's streak is terrible. Bo was totally getting over as an ironic face and a long, fluky streak gimmick was a perfect complement to that. Bo trying to act "tough" is going to be boring as fuck, as it has always been. It's obviously not as egrigous as say, what they did to Cesaro post-Mania, but it's just another example of the writers trying to force the square peg into the round hole and generally not being good at reading the audience. Zeb's promo was one of the worst of the year too. Even ignoring "gathering around a football," the scripted material was beyond atrocious."A mother and daughter learning to cook together..." "A family being thankful they survived another year..." Who wrote that shit? Other than those two things, this was a pretty good show, though. Cena and Cesaro topped their match from February, imo. Felt like a lot more Cena offense, which is always a good way to freshen up his matches, and their counter sequences were really sharp. Rollins/Jericho was really good until the finish. Rollins eating the codebreaker at the end undid it somewhat, but they did a great "cocky, athletic youngster vs. feisty veteran" match. Rollins bumped well and did a great job working in his flashy counter spots as a heel, and most of Jericho's offense was emotional bursts at the beginning and whenever Rollins starting taunting him. Couple of really strong matches there. The Steph/Brie angle is panning out really well too. Good way to stop all the Nikki shit and move things forward. It'll be interesting if Brie can channel some real fire for their match, because Steph nails all her character stuff and seems to have a lot of "way better than expected" matches, so I think there's some potential for something special if Brie can muster the performance of her life.

He was in passable in WCW until about 97. He had some decent to good matches with Liger, Eddie, Juvi, and Super Calo in 96. Once he joined the NWO, he was terrible forever. Wolfpack/post-NWO Konnan was the worst, wrestling with sagging jeans and a girdle. One of those guys that was inexplicably over, though. At least he was ok as the mouthpiece for LAX, so he didn't have to end his career on 10 consecutive years of sucking.

The crazy thing is after seeing Ted in NOAH, I thought he'd do well in WWE. At least he flamed out properly, instead of lingering for years and occasionally tricking people into thinking he had what it took to be a big time player like Cody. Also, I should add Ed Leslie to my most hated list. Talk about a guy who was never good or interesting in any one of his million gimmicks. Pays to be friends with Hogan, I guess.

If I had to pick the one absolute worst Miz moment, it would have to be the I Quit match with Cena for the title. Over The Limit 2011, I think. It was largely due to Miz trying to re-create Orton's performance at Breaking Point 09, and instead delivering the worst psycopath performance in wrestling history. There were other terrible things like Alex Riley being involved the whole time, and one of the more egrigious and uninspired Cena superman comebacks, but Miz's performance in that match still stands out as one of the worst I've seen.

Currently, it's still probably the Miz, as I'm reluctant to name NXT guys. Mojo, Cassidy, and The Ascension are all worse, but maybe with more experience or a different gimmick they would look better, who knows? Miz has been around for years and only came close to being good for about 6 months in 2010, and was pretty quickly exposed as not being ready when he actually got the belt. I can't think of any really high end match he's had as a heel or face, coward or tough guy, early or late in his career, anything. His match with Ziggler on Monday was pretty much the best you can get out of him, and that's not good. All-time might be Buff Bagwell. From generic white-meat face, to a passable-but-quickly-tiring run as an annoying heel, to one of the most annoying faces ever, I can't think of a single phase of his career or match of his I enjoyed.

I've got no problem with the Sin Cara/Kalisto team, but no way should the Vaudevillains be doing clean jobs to them right now. That's what the French Connection is for. Also, I hope someone told Rene the word she was looking for is "luchador" Summer and Charlotte did a lot of the little things right, but big things wrong. The whole match should've been like that first exchange and corner trash talk sequences. Instead, it was two long-ass restholds and they lost the crowd. Wasn't as terrible as the crowd doing the wave would suggest, but definitely could've been better. I thought they were going to protect Mojo for sure, but I was pleasantly surprised with how Breeze finished him. Main event was ok. They definitely protected Neville until the post-match. If they were gonna close with someone in the accolade, it should've been Zayn, not the champ.

It's 2 am, and I'm gonna bite on this. I'm gonna sacrifice rankings for now in order to ensure I list everyone. Elevate (13): Alberto Del Rio (Jobber status now, should be IC/US gatekeeper with his in-ring skill) Bad News Barrett (Ignoring injuries, he should be upper midcard/part time ME, not lost in the IC/US shuffle) Brock Lesnar (Pay him all the money, the guy's a legit star) Cesaro (Why they abandoned his natural face push is a mystery for the ages) Dean Ambrose (Best promo in the company and is this close to breaking out, strong booking can make that happen) Dolph Ziggler (Gets ridiculous pops, no reason he shouldn't be a midcard title staple a la Kofi) Luke Harper (Brawler of the future, should be upper midcard gate keeper at worst) Mark Henry (Should be on-screen in some capacity, even as a pre-show host) Paige (Should be the divas ace for years to come) Seth Rollins (Breakout star waiting to happen) Sheamus (Completely forgotten at the moment, should be an upper midcard staple with his talent) Titus O'Neill (Should be Nation 2k14's enforcer) Xavier Woods (Should be getting regular midcard time at least) Hold (20): Adam Rose (Gets decent pops, crowd sings along, just what you need for a low card guy) AJ Lee (Can still be a top diva, even with all the NXT women call ups) Big E (Needs some character work before I'd elevate him, but definitely has potential) Bo Dallas (Perfect midcard character, lots of future flexibility) Bray Wyatt (Tough to get a good read on his current status, but upper midcard is a good spot) Christian (Too good when healthy to not be a midcard staple) Daniel Bryan (He was primed to be the next ace before his injury, which is exactly what he should be) Emma (She's definitely capable in the ring, being a diva jobber might be her calling) Goludst (Important midcard staple, like Christian) Jey Uso (Good midcard team) Jimmy Uso (See Jey) Kofi Kingston (Perfect midcarder) Natalya (Solid enough to be the veteran diva jobber) R-Truth (Decent jobber) Randy Orton (Perfect upper midcard gatekeeper) Roman Reigns (Skeptical about his long-term viability, but he deserves a chance) Rusev (Gimmick is tiring, but he's showing flashes in the ring) Ryback (Heel jobber role is what he needs) Summer Rae (Middle of the pack diva) Zack Ryder (This generations Scotty 2 Hotty) Demote (17): Big Show (Getting older, time to step down, give him Khali's spot) Brie Bella (Post Steph, she's as expendible as any current diva that isn't Paige or AJ, gotta keep her for TD tho) Chris Jericho (He's limited already, but he should be limited more, promo work only basically) Erick Rowan (Improving, but you can't push everyone, victim of too much talent above him) Fandango (Hard to say if it's a real demotion, but he can be the new Sandow) HHH (Love what he's been doing, but he's dangerously close to overexposed) Jack Swagger (Current face run is fool's gold, low card for life) John Cena (Cycle him out of the main event for at least a little bit) Justin Gabriel (Should be a jobber on NXT) Layla (No more wrestling, but she can stay on as a valet) The Miz (Decent promotional guy, but low card for life) Naomi (Tries hard, but not good enough to hang with the next gen divas, future jobber) Nikki Bella (See Brie) Sin Cara (Shouldn't beat up and comers on NXT) Stardust (It's never gonna happen for Cody) Tyson Kidd (His time is up) Undertaker (Can't release the legend, but it's time to hang 'em up) Release (18): Alicia Fox (Solid enough hand, but NXT has much better prospects, someone has to go) Cameron (Easy choice) Curtis Axel (Boring since day 1) Damien Sandow (Just put him out of his misery) Darren Young (He's still around?) David Otunga (See Darren) Diego (Unneccessary) Eva Marie (Looks completely void of natural talent in the ring, easy to replace) Fernando (See Diego) Great Khali (Can barely move) Heath Slater (The band can get back together on the indies) Hornswoggle (Don't see the appeal in midget wrestling) Kane (He's just done) Rey Mysterio (Also done, send him to the HOF) RVD (D-O-N-E) Rosa Mendes (She's still employed?) Tamina (See Rosa) Torito (See Hornswoggle, plus I've already canned the matadors) NXT Call Ups Sami Zayn (Pro Comp: Daniel Bryan) Adrian Neville (Pro Comp: AJ Styles) Charlotte (Pro Comp: Michelle McCool) Bayley (Pro Comp: Mickie James) Sasha Banks (Pro Comp: Melina-ish) Other Call Ups Chris Hero Jay Briscoe Mark Briscoe ??? ??? If we can change announcers too, I'm bringing Rene and Regal up to do Raw and PPV with Cole. Lawler's gone, JBL goes to the pre-show. Tom Phillips and Alex Riley can do SD.

Nation 2k14 will replace them.

Vince just made Debra the The Rock's manager out of the blue, I think. E: FB

I just want one segment after Brock wins the title where the entire Authority + Lesnar are gathered together and Brock just glares at Seth Rollins and says "You thinkin' about usin' that?" and Rollins hides the case behind his back and mumbles "No sir..."

This show managed to be even less inspiring than I expected going in, since I at least expected a good Rollins/Ambrose match. The tag title match was good, but it definitely should've ended after the indy-style no-sell of the the superkick into the lariat. Liked both of the first falls coming off quick cut-offs during expected hot tags, but 3 FIP segments was a bit of overkill. Finishing run was great, but needed to end sooner with the other team winning. At least the Usos didn't fully botch their big finish. No idea what any of the Wyatts do after this show with any degree of credibility. Remember when they looked like world beaters after taking out the Shield? The rest of the show was just complete head-scratch material until the main. Not delivering what looked to be the best match on paper and the best feud? Bray jobbing clean to Jericho? Miz winning the IC? Cesaro getting dumped by Slater? Cena winning was obvious and necessary, so whatever there, but no post-match shenanigans? How does any of that make someone want to renew their network subscription? Not to mention, just about every match featured some really sloppy ring work. Sheamus and Dolph were botching everything, Paige and AJ didn't appear to be on the same page, and there were some really obvious whiffs in Bray/Jericho, as well as Cena and Orton's laughable opening to the 4-way where each strike was missing by 2 feet. I hesitate to rag on the current state of WWE too much, because who knows with Brock coming back and Ambrose and Rollins possibly getting featured more prominently, it could turn around, but this was a dogshit ppv.

Could be like that for a while, we'll see if he can cross the Bryan-threshold and sustain reactions long enough to force a real push, or if the reactions will fade with uninspired booking.

Nothing has gotten me close to giving up wrestling, but I distinctly remember having the remote in my hand ready to change the channel should anyone enter the room during a few segments. 1. The HHH funeral parlor re-enactment segment during the Katie Vick feud 2. HLA 3. Vince doing JR's "ass surgery" 4. Boogeyman eating Jillian's facial growth Those just happened to be when I was living with my parents or a randomly assigned roommate early in college, though. Anything post-2007, I've never worried about. The really embarrassing shit in the attitude era before then (Anything involving the Godfather, Al Snow eating Pepper, kiss my ass match, etc) didn't seem so embarrassing at the time, probably because I was 12.

Granted I've never been able to get into Lucha so I'm not fit to comment on Negro Casas, but best US worker at 40+ has to be Flair, right? I mean he turned 40 just 5 days after Chi Town Rumble and was a top US worker for another 4-5 years, in addition to sprinkling in great performances well into his 50s as previously mentioned. I guess Terry Funk would have a good case too given that he turned 40 in freakin 1984. I also need to throw a Vader shout-out here in the "brief renaissance" department. His AJ run from 99-2000 was boss.

I think 45/50 is a better threshold for this question. Also singles matches only, because the list would be a mile long if you included tags. Flair, Foley, Taker, Michaels, Savage, HHH, Misawa, and probably more all had MOTYC level singles matches after hitting 40. However, if you move the limit to 46, that eliminates 95% of those matches. For best after-46 singles performances, I'd say Flair (vs. HHH at Taboo Tuesday 05, vs. Foley at Summer Slam 06), and Finlay (vs. Benoit at Judgment Day 06).

Umaga had a short babyface run in the summer of 2007. Don't remember it at all... haha I don't remember him doing anything outside of getting cheered for killing pre-comedy Milan Miracle Santino, which was not supposed to get face heat. But wikipedia says: Amazing the stuff you completely forget when you've been watching 15+ years, as I'm sure most of us have.

He really turned on Buff Bagwell more than anything. He used interference from Scott to help him beat Booker for the TV title, but played it off like he didn't know what happened. He asked Buff where he could find Scott backstage, and Buff and Rick shook hands, making Bagwell the only person who couldn't see Rick turning on him from a mile away. Predictably, Rick interefered in Bagwell's match with Scott for the US title. Later in the show, Rick and Scott both came out to attack Sting during his match with Goldberg (after Bret Hart had already started attacking Goldberg). At least I feel somewhat vindicated now for watching that horrible show last week.

Has Rey ever been a heel? I can't remember if the Filthy Animals were supposed to heels at one point, or if they were just obnoxious faces the entire time.

It's only bad if Ambrose doesn't beat Rollins at Battleground, which I'm sure he will since Rollins is due for some post-MITB jobs. Although realistically, it's only marginally worse if Ambrose loses, because I doubt there's any significant plans for him after the Rollins feud is done either way. Best case scenario, he's probably feuding with Cesaro over the IC.

That Rollins injury better not be legit. I just thought it was a convenient way to keep him strong by avoiding the finisher exchange at the end and reinforcing that he's not really on the same page as Orton and Kane.

I'd say if those are the worst Rollins matches you can point to from this year, he's doing really well. I'll trade those two for his roles in the first two Wyatt matches, the tag with Ambrose against the Real Americans, and the double-injury match with RVD. Just like I'd trade Cesaro's first match with RVD for his matches with Zayn, Orton, and Cena. Or like I'd trade the Bryan vs. Kane for Bryan vs. Bray, Orton, and HHH. With the amount of exposure everyone gets these days, it's impossible for even the best workers to not have subpar matches occasionally. Even if Rollins isn't your cup of tea, it's hard to argue he hasn't been involved in a lot more good matches this year than bad ones.

Seth Rollins has been a heel for 90% of his WWE run, and it's yet to stop him from having good matches. Even looking at his recent work, he looked great in MITB, and had a really good match with freakin' RVD the next night. It's hard to imagine the Ambrose matches won't be appearing in this thread in the next couple of months either.

Am I the only one that doesn't like Big Cass at all? Enzo seems like he could make a decent annoying heel manager, but Cass is just a giant goof and his "forced-ness" noticeably stands out on a show where most people are doing ridiculous gimmicks in their first major tv exposure. He also has a Matt Morgan-esque un-intimidating 7-footer aura (like he looks like he'd be an ok NBA bench player, but looks silly trying to be a pro wrestling monster) and possibly the worst finisher in wrestling right now. It's not just that it's an elbow drop, it's a terrible looking elbow drop. Can anyone convince me he's appreciably better than Mojo?