Go2Sleep

Note the date: Sure there's other reasons he's not getting as much heat as they'd like right now, but it still seems relevant.

I think if you really wanted to pinpoint one thing for Itami, it's his moveset. He's got a "good wrestler" gimmick but hasn't found any spots that pop the crowd. They're dying for him to use the G2S, but it never happens. His finisher seems to change every week, and none of them have been particularly inspiring. I've still yet to see him do the falcon arrow, or the slingshot into the ring with the arrogant back kick to the head. Both of those seem like they would get over. Also the booking hasn't been too kind to him, although I think that's just accidental fallout from the strong booking of Balor. Itami got a 5* debut, but then got beat down by the Ascension for like 2 months straight, and his "backup" has since out-performed him in every way, including beating him clean this past week. No doubt Balor is a great talent with serious main event potential who deserves every bit of his current push, I don't want to come across like I'm complaining about that. I just think his push has had some unintentional negative side effects for Itami, most of which would've been averted if he connected with the fans through his matches mind you.

This is assuming the Authority makes it past Mania without Sting getting rid of them once and for all.

That makes some sense, I guess. I didn't even think about him not being pinned in singles until someone else pointed it out. He's been pinned by Bray Wyatt a couple times and I think by one of the Rhodes brothers too, so he's never really had that undefeated aura to me, even though he rarely loses decisions.

Pretty solid episode of Raw, definitely had that "pre-Mania" feel where everyone is looking a little better than normal. Rusev looked great in that beatdown on Rowan, then had that great reaction to the flag botch. They have to dig up some indy worker to play the stagehand who set up the flag for a righteous beating. Roman looked his best since the Shield broke up. Not sure why he jobbed to Show, but whatever. Those spears at the end were very inspired, and he carried himself a lot better in the promos (because they smartly didn't make him do too much). Bryan definitely had his best night since his comeback too. He was really good with not making Roman look bad, and actually somewhat sympathetic even, in their segments together. His match with Rollins shows he still hasn't lost a step, and his previous matches being mediocre were in fact the product of working with Kane. He got to dig deep into his bag of moves and work a frantic pace with Rollins, who he has exceptional chemistry with. I can't believe he did the belly-to-back superplex, though. That's probably one move he should be cutting out of his arsenal post neck surgery. The one guy who didn't come out looking good was Axel. Now I've never liked him and wouldn't be upset if he was never on tv again, but holy shit, that was all-time burial. JBL actually said "change the channel" when he was cutting his promo. Ouch.

So, in the "random, unexpectedly good matches" department, I just watched Mr. Kennedy vs. Shawn Michaels from Armageddon 07. Kennedy's performance is very inspired, and Michaels was oddly not mailing it in despite being in a throwaway midcard match on a nothing ppv. The match starts with a lot of intensity and Michaels does a good job looking like he's surprised at how much of a fight he's in, and upping his intensity accordingly. His chops early in this match were actually decent, and there was little wasted movement from either guy. Kennedy predictably goes after the back, but Michaels creates an opening by working the arm and hand of Kennedy with some uncharacteristically vicious, Regal-like offense. Kennedy does a great job selling his hand for most of the match, and both guys do a great job conveying desperation and an urgency to win. The finish drags a hair as we do get a mailed-in Shawn babyface comeback sequence, but after the predictable SCM reversal, they come back with smart finish out of nowhere that plays on all the earlier work in the match. Definitely worth a look next time you're in a random match mood.

I expect Balor/Itami to be somewhat restrained, kind of like the first Zayn/Neville match. I imagine there will be a bigger match between them down the road. I'd be surprised if this match goes more than the standard NXT weekly main (12-15 minutes).

Yeah, I'm kinda leaning towards Corbin now too. He's raw, but he definitely has a lot of "presence" as the announcers like to say. Don't get me wrong, I love all my indy workrate guys, but Corbin has a look and moveset that really stands out on this show. I liked his Kane-style flip over the ropes into a punch. Perfect little touch to show he's not an immobile hack, but his main style is still brawling. I think seeing the smaller guys flop around for his kicks and punches would add some good variety to the big matches in NXT. Neville should do this quite well next week. I kinda want to see Baron get to the finals, but you certainly can't go wrong with Neville vs. either Itami or Balor. I liked Blake and Murphy's new entrance, but I agree they need a team name and something to help differentiate the two in the ring. Something's wrong when it feels like an American and Australian are working a "brothers" gimmick. They seem decent enough in the ring, it'll be interesting to see what they can do with the gold. I loved the contract signing because it was exactly what I said should happen last week. Predictable isn't always bad if the story and execution are good. I'm not sure how legally binding a contract that has some words scribbled out and new ones written above them is, but I guess wrestling contracts are not noted for their realism. Also, how sad is it that Tom Phillips is a huge upgrade over Rich Brennan? God, I hope Brennan never comes back.

One doesn't want to assume, but I figure quite a lot of them check out the board at this point. We knew about Punk. I think it's a safe bet that Batista knows about Fashion Watch as well. I wish I could remember more details, but I know somebody cut a promo using a joke from the previous week's Raw thread word for word a couple years back. Might have been Punk.

Good squash match where a little guy is squashing a big guy. Benoit is vicious attacking the knee (which sets up the finish), and muscles a guy twice his size over for an impressive looking super plex. Also some vintage Larry Z commentary here (human chess, new world odor, and a sexist comment all in less than 8 minutes)

That Rollins/Lesnar interaction is pretty much what I've been hoping for since Brock won the gold. Rollins is so good at being "fake tough." Reigns actually looked serviceable by the end of the show. The blizzard is the best thing that could've happened for him, because that face-to-face would've looked a million times worse with audible "Let's go Lesnar," and "We want Bryan" chants in the background.

If Roman could blade (or let Brock hardway him like he did to Cena in the 2012 match), a valiant effort that comes short could go a long ways to rehabbing him. A Bret/Austin style match for this generation perhaps.

If they have any sense, Cena/Rusev will be a one and done, or at least the rematch will be held off to Extreme Rules. I'm telling you, the international flavor of the crowd plus their general disdain for Cena would make that match a disaster. I actually think Sheamus would make for a good Rusev opponent at Mania. Also imagine a world with a credible Cesaro who got to keep the "we the people" chant could fill that void.

The saddest part for Roman is that the pop he would've gotten for winning last year would've been incredible. Somebody should really introduce the writing team to the concept of "striking while the iron's hot."

I think the one way to salvage Wrestlemania as it stands now is to fully run with Lesnar as a face and turn Reigns heel. The match ends with Lesnar beating Reigns in 5 minutes, not any worse for the wear, then Rollins comes out with MITB. Those two work a 20-minute match where Rollins scores a flash pin to cement himself as the top guy. Ideally, Lesnar would stick around to chase Rollins for a rematch, and Bryan would get worked in there somewhere. In addition to the otherwise horrible idea to force Reigns against Lesnar, how has nobody thought Cena/Rusev won't be a terrible idea for Mania? They do realize like half the Mania crowd is European and would love to troll the good old US of A, right? I mean, generally speaking, it sounds like a feud that really does need to happen for better or worse, but nothing will say "not understanding your audience" like loud pro-Russia/US sucks chants at your biggest show of the year.

They almost have to be planning on Reigns (heel) vs. Brock (face) at Mania. Trying to play Reigns up as Cena-lite would go so bad for everyone. The triple threat was good as expected. Lesnar and Rollins both tore it up, and what a great finishing run.

Would Rainbow fit in here? I could be way off base here, but I would guess most Blackmore fans would prefer Deep Purple and most Dio fans would prefer his solo work or time with Sabbath.

The problem with the non-title stip is that it goes against everything they've been building with Owens so far. Everything he's done is mainly to shoot past everyone else who "doesn't deserve" to be ahead of him and get straight to the top. He should refuse to sign for a non-title match, and instead offer to take on another match if he needs to "earn it" for Regal. Sami would be so hot, he'd hastily put the title on the line and Regal would have no choice with his show in two weeks and only one main event people are interested in.

Not crazy about Owens/Zayn being non-title, makes the whole show feel a lot less special imo. Hopefully they fix that with Owens refusing to sign the contract otherwise. Wouldn't make much sense for his character to do anything else. The tournament is an interesting field, and I hope they play it straight and not take the easy route of doing a Corbin/Dempsey double count out. I'm sure Balor/Itami would rule in the finals, but I think Balor/Corbin has more intrigue.

Despite the silly result, Rowan/Harper was a pretty fun little slugfest. Rowan should definitely keep the pounce in his aresenal.

I'm pretty sure HHH is a message board poster who was loaded up with HGH and sent back in time to hook up with Stephanie McMahon so he could save the future of wrestling.

Fine, I'll agree to the fact that he was "seen again" after the loss to Truth. However, repeatedly losing clean to the likes of Truth and Swagger was definitely bad writing for his character and hurt him in a way that The Ascension getting beat up by 7 popular old guys did not. That's the point that shouldn't be lost here.

Or he gets in the Rumble by joining the Authority and getting the acceptance he craves. A Rowan heel turn would suck so much. His face turn was actually somewhat inspired for a couple of shows. Pretty good case for "wins matter" because his reactions went back to zero real quick after losing clean to Show. Don't know what he'd do as a heel besides put over Ziggler before hitting the ME/Superstars circuit.

Oh man, a win over Mark Henry in 2014, that's huge. Pretty sure he lost to Henry on some ppv pre-show in about 30 seconds also, but either way I don't think 3 minutes on Raw and/or a Superstars match counts as "heavily featured."

The loss happened in July. Bo was heavily featured until his injury in late October. Heavily featured on Superstars, maybe. I understand this point, but let's at least wait until they job to the Outlaws before we call it bad booking. I also agree that The Ascension are terrible and was happy to see them leave NXT, but turning their suckiness into their gimmick instead of pretending that they're good like they did in NXT is the best possible use for them right now. They actually got some heat when they came out on Monday, which at the moment, would attest to good writing (I know, it's weird on hte main shows), since crowds were dead silent for their first few appearances.