Go2Sleep

I'm not sure about this. Seems like Eva was getting some ironic cheers during her last match at least until the late kickout. It's tough to stay ahead of a trendy crowd like Full Sail, and the more it looks like they want the crowd to feel that Eva is being forced, the more they'll cheer because it's the opposite reaction of WWE wants. I'm pretty sure those Cena-style chants are gonna become a big thing during Eva's matches and eventually the "Let's go Eva" side will be noticeably louder. Eva's basically gonna be the Ascension of the women's division.

It would also be a good opportunity to let the women's title be the main, but I'm not sure if they have someone strong enough to pair with Bayley right now.

Brock/Show matches are always fun. I'm not gonna read in to the title dynamics of Rollins/Cena until after NoC. Given both Sheamus and Orton's propensity to get stuck in never-ending B-level feuds, I think we should expect them to still be fighting at Summer Slam 2016.

Is the next Takeover the one in London or is there one before then? Either way, I think it's Joe/Balor taking the tourney. If there's an earlier takeover, they can do a lot of interesting double duty angles, and possibly a Joe heel turn between the matches. If the next Takeover isn't until December, I think they just play it straight with them winning and do a respect angle from there. Jordan and Gable will look great making it to the finals and being competitive, and there's always the tag belts waiting for them afterwards. Really excited to see Gargano/Ciampa. The other reason I don't see Joe/Balor falling apart early is looking at this bracket, Bull and Tyler have to be the first team to implode. I don't see them doing that angle more than once for the tourney.

Rollins gear got better when they added the gold trim at Mania. Looks great with the main belt. I am disappointed that he seems to be phasing the bleached streak out of his hair, though. That was such an awesomely douchey hair style. I'm not sure what I'd do different with Ambrose. He's supposed to be a loner bar-fly or something so the beater and jeans work in that regard. Roman definitely needs to ditch the Shield imagery, though. Not just the gear, but get new music too. I think that's playing a small role in holding him back because it just adds to the forced-ness about him. Both other guys moved on and embraced their new characters, while Roman's entrance might as well have "HEY REMEMBER HOW YOU LIKED THE SHIELD? WELL THIS GUY WAS A PART OF THAT SO YOU SHOULD LOVE HIM!!!" scrolling across the tron and ringside LED panel.

I have to completely disagree that Rollins has reached his peak in WWE. He hasn't even come close to a singles face run yet, which is the majority of his potential. He's just been sqeezing more and more out of his heel side than anyone thought he could.

Is the story of Snuka pretending to not speak English even documented anywhere credible? I've only seen it in "sleaze" context. Even though no one has any reason to trust Vince, I'm sure he'll have enough plausible deniability to avoid any serious consequences.

STF, Accolade, Kimura, Hell's Gate, Bank Statement... The Yes-Lock, Ankle Lock, Anaconda Vise, and Cross Arm Breaker have all been legit in recent years too. I think WWE has actually gotten a little more submission heavy if anything recently. Like Heyman says, you can get anything over if you train the crowd.

Rollins vs. RVD (6/30/14), Rollins vs. Bryan (2/2/15), and Rollins vs. Neville (8/3/15) would be the Raw matches I'd recommend for the Rollins side of things. Obviously the Ambrose/Rollins FCA (8/18/14) too. I think you're underrating him a lot. Roman's top matches are elite, but I think his average output is lower than Rollins overall. Not entirely fair to Roman, because Rollins has several years more experience working with high-end wrestlers. I like Roman's chances a lot more after Mania than I did going in, but he's still on the slow rise at this point. Writing did him zero favors as well. Ambrose has definitely been the most underwhelming of the three since the split. Every once in a while, he'll pop up with a fun tv match, but his major programs outside of Rollins have been lackluster. Still a great promo and bumper, though. Right now he's like very poor man's early 2000s Mick Foley.

I seem to remember the consensus being that the stable as a whole was great but Rollins would be the least successful singles guy if/when they split because Ambrose had mic skills and Roman had *the look.* The fact that his WWE run has been as great as it has when he's been a heel for 95% of it is what really makes him stand out to me. A truly limited worker wouldn't have the production he does being booked against his strengths.

Armageddon 06 ladder match easily if you accept additional gimmicks. For non-gimmick, I always liked Jericho/Eddie/Benoit/X-Pac from No Way Out 01.

Seth Rollins is in the same boat as AJ Styles and Neville where no matter how much good character work they do or how many smart matches they have, they'll still be seen primarily as movez guys because their execution is so good and maybe that's all they had going for them at one point. I said Seth was easily the best guy in The Shield from day one, and I haven't seen anything that changes my mind thus far. If anything, the gap's gotten wider, especially with Ambrose. Reigns has gotten a lot better, but he started the farthest back. Even when they strip away the things you think would be essential to his character and help his matches (Being a face, Shield, Curb Stomp, J/J) he still finds himself having multiple top 10 level matches each year. Just this year, his performance in the Rumble triple threat, his execution of the cash-in, and the Neville match on Raw were all great character performances in addition to big action matches. I'm not really sure you could make a good argument that he isn't a top 5 WWE guy this year. I'd say he was top 5 each of the last two years also, but there's a bit more room for argument there.

To settle the "Where have I seen this before" question regarding Braun Strowman's finisher: It was Chuck Palumbo's finisher (Full Throttle) during his brief 07 run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WygkfHIipto

On the women's front, I wasn't too upset with how things went down. No one really wants to see Alicia Fox or Brie Bella in 10 minute singles matches, all the faces were booked strong, and they teased some jealousy with Paige and Charlotte at the end. I will say that this dead-ass crowd mustering an audible "Let's go Sasha" chant tells me they need to start featuring her more or she's going to become a Daniel Bryan-esque distraction. That Sting promo was so, so bad. It was an honor to lose to HHH in 2015, but it would be shameful to lose to the current WWE and US champ. Summer Rae's promo was hilarious though. *The Look* was apparently the giveaway that he was trying to seduce her, not stripping in front of her or asking her to hop in the shower with him. Actually the whole thing was pretty funny in the wrestlecrap sense. Lana's delivery of "She saw you... Naked?" and her general coldness as Dolph explained a perfectly reasonable story were priceless too.

The match results have actually been really good for elevating the right people. Brie, Alicia, Paige, and Naomi have been losing most of the decisions. Charlotte and Sasha have yet to be pinned, and I think Nikki and Becky have each taken one fall that was protected with interference. I can see worrying about the lack of angles so far (though I think that will change soon), but the match results have been spot on for subtly establishing who the important ones are.

Pretty sure they mentioned him retiring due to concussions on screen.

Dolph hasn't gotten significantly better or worse in 5+ years, but matches that looked special in 2010 didn't look as great once Bryan, The Shield, etc came along. "I used to have four star matches, but then they changed what a four star match was. Then what I was having suddenly wasn't a four star match. And what was a four star match seemed weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you."

And I think Owens was definitely affected by it. He would've been set for months with a win at Battleground. Semi-related, does anyone remember if Kurt Angle kicked out of his opponents' top finishers during his "try way too hard to have an epic with a midcarder" phase, or did he just let them kick out of the Angle Slam and reverse the ankle lock a hundred times?

Wouldn't have been a total waste if Rollins won clean, but I'd argue that it wasn't really that great of an angle. Cena just mowed down the midcard, kicked out of all their finishers, and most of the matches weren't even that good. Even if someone did end up getting a rub, a bunch of guys would've still come out worse. I'm sure the writers thought they were doing everyone a favor by giving them competitive matches with Cena, but when everyone from Rollins to Ryder has the same match, it means nothing.

Damn, you can see Seth wants to break Cena's nose right then and there.

I don't feel like 2015 has been terribly deep compared to last couple of years. NXT going nuts (particularly the women giving them a new avenue for MOTYCs) is the only thing helping this year out, because the list containing only main roster matches would be really uninspiring almost 2/3 of the way through the year. It's even more worrying because MOTYCs are generally pretty sparse after Summer Slam in WWE. NXT doesn't really have a set schedule yet, so they could still produce more. Last year, their December show was the best ever, so I'm guessing most high-end stuff from here out will be from NXT.

Eva beating Bayley for the title with the Sliced Red is gonna get the loudest heat this year. Well, unless she gets ironically over by then, which I wouldn't rule out.

Even though the refs say they're always supposed to count to 3, this is the first time in a while I've seen one actually go through with it on an obvious non-finish. Good job avoiding Botchamania, Drake!

Wait, am I the only one who remembers the Dudleys in WWE from 2001-2005, or just the only one who didn't like them? Though I'd have no problem with them as trainers, and even the occasional nostalgia pop despite my personal tastes.

So, word is the Dudleys are back full-time, possibly with a multi-year deal. Why? Just why? The tag division can join the IC division in x15 mode now I guess.