Go2Sleep

HHH trying to re-enact Jack Nicholson's big speech from A Few Good Men was one of the most painful promos I've ever seen between the inferior delivery and shameless plagiarism. Whoever wrote that should be fired. Actually kinda liked the rest of the show until Anonymous GM returned. It's good to see faces other than Cena get some strong booking for a change. Rollins was great with J/J security in the main.

Rusev wearing flip flops backstage cracked me up for some reason. The divas title match was really interesting. The callback to Mania 28 was unexpectedly deep, but I couldn't tell live if that was supposed to be a Brie heel turn or not? Any insight from the commentary on that one? The main event was good. Lots of heat and unexpected booking. Henry getting KO'ed in 3 seconds and everyone's reaction was a great start. I don't think anyone saw Ryback as the first face out and certainly not by relatively clean pin. It's hard to be surprised by a Big Show turn, but I guess I kinda was. It made sense from Show's perspective, but nothing else Team Authority did pertaining to Show made sense at all. If it was the plan from the beginning, why KO Henry? If it was a spur of the moment decision, why didn't he finish off Ziggler too just to be safe? Why wouldn't they do the old SvR goon tactic of having someone take a double CO by beating Dolph up on the outside for 10 seconds? Anyway, if you don't think too hard, it was still fun. Loved seeing Ziggler have a nice moment here, hopefully he won't get Kofi'd. Of course, Sting showing up was huge even if it was ridiculously drawn out. I was expecting Orton to punt HHH into a lengthy absence after the match, but maybe that'll happen on Raw instead. TLC is coming up real fast, so I wonder how quick they'll establish all the big matches. Bray/Dean is a surprising choice for the full TLC, although it should be solid. It would have to be a pin/sub TLC I think, because I have no idea what they'd hang up for those two. I could see Ziggler/Rollins in the ladder match for MITB. Cena/Show will probably get the tables or chairs match, but I have no idea what program is big enough for the other one. Harper/Rowan? Rusev/somebody? The Bellas?

Wasn't that Bragging Rights? Our one chance for an Eric Escobar ppv appearance...

I loved AJ's totally honest and nonchalant "Well she looks better in it than I do" reaction to Brie's outfit. I only killed the x4 speed because I had to double take on AJ Brie, but that made the segment worth it. Can't say I'm any more excited for the ppv, but I'm totally behind Harper and Rusev as midcard champions. Hopefully Miz and Mizdow win the tag belts on Sunday.

This is honestly the least excited I've been for a ppv in a long time, and certainly the least excited for one I've been at live. There is just nothing inspiring on this card, and if you told me this was the lineup for Raw this week or SD 2 weeks from now, I wouldn't doubt it for a second. The one thing I could think of that would make this show feel special is if they only go with 4 matches and the main event goes an hour plus. There are enough bodies in there to make it work without anyone getting too tired or the match getting too boring, and leave 10-15 at the end for lengthy Rollins/Cena (or Orton if he's there) showdown. I'd also like to see an NXT elimination tag on the pre-show, but that seems even less likely than an hour plus main event.

While the angles, characters, and overall shows for NXT have been steadily good all year, the commentary lately has just gone to total shit. It's nearly as bad as Raw. Regal and Renee were awesome in the booth, and I didn't even mind goons like Riley and Albert rotating through because everyone had a different style. Unfortunately, they stumbled into the horrendous Brennan/Riley/Albert combo and someone somewhere thought "Hey these guys sound like a less experienced version of our Raw announce team, nailed it."

Itami and Balor will both go on to bigger and better things eventually, but I'd like to see them have a decent run as a team. NXT's tag team division could be amazing with the Lucha Dragons, Itami/Balor, the Vaudevillains, Kidd/Gabriel, Steen/whoever, and teams like Dillinger/Jordan and Murphy/Blake showing occasional promise. The only question is who is going to fill the void of title contender once Zayn/Neville wraps up. They might go to some WWE reject, since it almost has to be a filler program where either heel Neville or ace Zayn goes over. Don't think you'd want to waste Itami or Balor right away in a program like that.

I really liked how the finish to the main event didn't telegraph which direction the angle is going. Could've been Neville faking an injury, could've been the start of Sami snapping, or it could've been Neville getting hurt and Zayn making a mistake as it appeared. Really good work by both guys. Also, that dive by Kalisto was a real "holy shit" move.

That tag match would look a lot better if Lesnar/Orton was on the show as the main. As the main event by itself, it doesn't seem very special. I'll never understand how WWE went to like 50% gimmick ppvs and ditched KOTR (which was an awesome gimmick) but kept Survivor Series when throwing pairs of feuding heels and faces into a tag team match along party lines has been Raw/SD's gimmick for the last 15 years. And yet, Kane's still there. Hey, bestiality was Kurt Angle's thing, give him some credit.

Corbin should use a power bomb. Tried and true, and he's tall enough to make it look good.

If there's one silver lining to Ambrose never getting a win in what should have been a huge program for him, it's that they're at least protecting someone worthwhile. I'm not sure if it's by design, but Rollins is cashing in on all the best aspects of the Shield and post-Shield booking. Has he lost a decision by pin or submission this year?

I think either guy would do well as a heel, and I'd love to see both of them get a shot at it at some point. I love it when guys can use cool moves and still be hated heels, as Seth Rollins has done recently. This time around, I think it'll be Neville, since he's pretty much exhausted as a face. He's been dominant all year with an upstanding "take on all comers" attitude, booking that is actually becoming of a champion. There's not much left for him to do except fight Sami, whereas Sami's face run still has a lot left. He still needs a major triumphant victory, then he can go into the ace phase Neville has been in without feeling stale at all.

Bryan/HHH is kind of an interesting one. It was the first match on the show (and a great one), but the Hogan/Austin/Rock promo was actually the "hot opener" in terms of card structure. Matter of perspective I guess, but it seems to me like saying Bryan/HHH opened WM 30 is like saying saying one of those Sheamus/Miz type matches that is last on the card main events Raw when there is a big promo segment to end the show.

That would be awful, but it looks like they're moving Carmella away from those two. She's got her own music and was acting more heelish in her last match. The best direction would be for Enzo and Cass to embrace their true calling as Carmella's goon squad, though. Those three just click together and I look forward to their segments every week now (and if you go back to the last thread, you'll see I wasn't a big Cass fan to say the least). If Carmella can work up to championship-material level in the ring, that's a main-roster caliber stable.

With Jericho/Gedo sandwiched in the middle, HH 97 probably has the best 3-match opening combo. If you want an Eddie match, I'd go with him vs. Dean at Uncensored 97.

Lost in everything else is that Ziggler/Cesaro was really fucking good. Those counter sequences were quick and clean, the arm work to set up the finish was subtle, but flowed well (even if the jagoff announcers unsurprisingly had no idea how to put it over and couldn't identify an armbar takedown). And that superplex spot was BOSS. Great effort from both guys. Everything else before the main was just there, and I'm in the "finish was trash" camp for the main, but that's been beaten to death. Their FCA match on Raw was 100x better anyway.

Neville seems a lot like AJ Styles to me in that there's an inherent backlash with him due to his "flippy movez," but he's actually a pretty smart worker who has great timing and pacing. He just has the added bonus of all his big spots looking super pretty and that's what people take away. Zayn's #1 in NXT this year due to the Cesaro match, but Neville looks better beyond that. Good matches with Bo Dallas, Brodus, Titus (none have whom really have any other matches worth a damn all year), and his matches with Kidd were pretty even with Zayn's. For my money, Neville and Zayn are neck and neck for best NXT worker this year, and there's a pretty sizable gap before you get to #3.

It would be horrible if Ambrose doesn't win clean with no gimmicks afterwards. Just let him have *a moment* please. At least save his next feud for Raw the next night. Unlike a lot of recent MITB winners, Rollins has actually been protected, so eating a clean loss here doesn't hurt him anywhere near as much as not getting a clean win would hurt Ambrose. Is Orton good to go for HIAC? Rumor was he got banged up in the match on Raw, but didn't hear any follow-up on the severity.

The first Wyatts/Shield match was a perfect storm. Both acts were at their hottest point, it was far enough down the card that there wasn't any overbooking in the build up, just simple promos and each group looking badass. The Shield and at least Bray Wyatt were both protected enough that the result meant something. Just had a total dream match feel, then the in-ring action lived up to every expectation. Harper showed some crazy new stuff, it was the first face Ambrose performance, Rollins was pinballing in top form, Roman and Rowan never looked better. All the little touches were there, even the smallest moves were executed well, the finish was epic, post-match selling by the Wyatts... Pretty much everything you want in a match. My underrated matches are Zayn/Cesaro from NXT Arrival and Bryan/Orton from the 2/3 Raw. The former is about as good of a "feisty babyface vs dominant heel" style match I've seen in years. Lots of great character work between the spectacular moves. The latter should've been a ppv blowoff in 2013, but was still great in a vacuum. Bryan was on offense for at least half the match and got a clean win, even fending off Kane for a thoroughly satisfying win. Orton flipped the switch to "really good" for this one, displaying all the great timing, stiffer strikes, and long-term selling that separate his elite performances from his routine ones.

Glad I wasn't the only one who caught that. That was DDP-Smells Like Teen Spirit levels of shameless. Also Tyson saying "Why would Tyler Breeze have Nattie's phone number" was a HHH-quality burn. Made Sami look like a dope, but damn it was hilarious.

There was some good wrestling on the show this week. I guess I'm the only one who really liked Orton/Ziggler. It definitely sounds like fast forward material these days, but these two have always had good chemistry. The match here was a pretty sound counter-based match that avoided overkill territory because neither guy actually hit most of their big moves. Dolph catching himself on the missed elbow and going straight to the chinlock caught my attention early. Both guys were on point with their timing, and the pacing was totally "vintage good Randy Orton." Finish was nice too, obviously. One of the better surprise RKO spots in a while, and infinitely better than the played-out "countering an imaginary jumping move" spot. Rollins/Swagger was decent too, although not quite as clean as Orton/Ziggler. Seth is really doing a great job making his what-should-be-ideal-babyface style work as a heel. There were a couple pretty inspired sequences in here towards the end like the curb stomp counter and Rollins bringing back the avada kadavra or whatever it was called in FCW. He should probably start featuring it regularly now that Del Rio's gone. Show/Rusev was also pretty good, and they got a lot more to work with than I expected. I think Rusev could actually make a really good face some day. He's an underrated bumper and a great athlete that can pull out surprise high-impact moves, like his king-sized dropkick here. Finish was garbage, but it kept Rusev strong, and I liked the post-match where he got what was coming to him.

Total Divas is a spin-off of WWE, using the same characters in an entirely different show. While there is some cross-promotion, the linear timelines and actions of the characters in each show are independent. Trying to establish inter-show continuity is a fool's errand.

As fans, it'll take some getting used to watching Itami go from super-stiff minimal-selling slugfests with Nakajima, Shiosaki, Low Ki, etc to having to bump immediately and lay there for a minute off your typical terrible WWE worked punch and swing at guys who don't want to eat his slaps and kicks at full force 250 days a year. He's also not exactly getting a lot of help by being paired with The Ascension. Those guys haven't even shown they can be carried to a good WWE match, let alone lead one on their own. They should've kept Tyson Kidd around for Itami's first feud.

Good thing D-Bry and Naomi never hooked up. Gotta have one person in the relationship that says "maybe you should listen to the fucking doctor."

I think one thing that really kept Akiyama from being a true ace was Kobashi's longevity disrupting Akiyama's natural career arc. If Kobashi was worked back down the card a la Misawa from 02-06, that was the perfect time for a long run on top for Akiyama. Despite the injuries, Kobashi re-invented his style and was still as over as ever during that time frame. It looked pretty obvious that the long term plan for NOAH at the outset was to start with Misawa on top to get attention, but quickly pass the torch to Akiyama (which he did in their GHC HW title match). Then in 2002 they realized Kobashi was their most over guy and had something left in the tank so they abandoned the Akiyama plan. My guess is Ogawa got the transitional champ role partially as a thank you, and partially so they didn't have to retcon Akiyama/Misawa in case Kobashi broke down again. Because looking back, it seems kinda strange for Misawa to do a torch-passing match with Kobashi after he did two of them with Akiyama in the previous three years (one in AJ, one in NOAH). Not saying that Kobashi didn't deserve that run because it was a great one, but by the time it was over, the ship had sailed for Akiyama. Their last chance to salvage it was in early 05 with a decisive win over Kobashi, but they went with Rikioh, and welp...