Godfrey

I have a couple of pals who usually come into town for wrestling and over the past year both guys have opted out of WWE live events (and one stopped watching altogether). They both cite Jinder and Roman as the reason for their lack of interest. It's a good thing there's fairly regular independents in Ontario or they'd both be out entirely.

Stop ruining my dreams.

Liv is kind of in the spot that Alexa Bliss was in when she first came in: young with potential but hasn't put it together yet. The problem is not everyone is Alexa Bliss. And I agree, a women's tag title would be a great addition. Give the Iconic Duo run of the scene to start while you give newer women a chance to get established. And who knows what might come out of it? Some sort of female Revival? (I have no idea what that would look like but I like the idea)

For a guy they supposedly don't like, they sure do give Enzo a lot of TV time, merch, and now a title. Sure, he takes a beating every time he's on camera, but at least he's on camera, right? And sure that new shirt is trash, but at least he has shirts, right? I don't know what the company thinks of him anymore. As for him as champ, I could see him weaseling out of matches and running his mouth for a while since that plays to his strengths. Plus it gives the other cruisers something to really aim for since anyone who challenges him could probably take the title (they wanted to challenge for the belt before but then they had to fight Neville which is much more intimidating). I'm not saying it's going to work, but it could. Especially if Enzo starts hiring goons.

I got 38 seconds into that video. How did everyone else do?

Don't know how reputable the reporting is, but apparently Braun was booed after the PPV went off the air. If true, well done, WWE.

If Sasha doesn't turn on Bayley tomorrow for inserting herself into a match and then eating the pin then that was practically character assassination.

I always counted the 2011 Royal Rumble as the among the worst if not the absolute bottom of the barrel. So much nonsense and dead time and it goes an extra 10 guys and the end is such a let down.

Between the Singhs and Shane, someone is taking a really inadvisable bump off the Cell. Shane's already done one but it's been a year and a half so maybe he's ready again. If not, RIP a Singh. Edit: A reminder that Shane is a maniac.

Wasn't this the criticism levied at Kota Ibushi in the CWC? Everyone he faced looked great even in defeat while Ibushi himself never seemed to get to quite the level people expected. At least Sane has time to stick around and adapt a little more.

Lollywood Lulk Leagun!

I really wasn't sure about it since it was a mix of women I didn't know (so they could've been bad) and rookies, but outside of one match in the first round it's a fun outing so far.

I was going to say, do they have enough high profile first time matches for the next 17 weeks or are they going to tone it down once the seasons under way?

WCW vs the World was always my favorite. I'll never forget when I figured out Mukluk (I think?) was really Tenzan and it all clicked. Before that I wondered why The World wrestlers were always doing so many dragon screws.

If WWE Films just remade older action movies using their roster, I would watch every movie (unless they cast Roman as the Terminator).

Thank you for this description of OVE. I've been wondering what their deal was for a few weeks but the prospect of turning the sound on on Impact is quite daunting.

If they move to Toronto and start hiring, I will do everything in my power to work there so I can answer these kinds of questions.

An 8 woman tag also limits each of the MMAers ring time so they can really block out the match to make everyone look good, especially if Shayna does most of the work.

Braun/Show is my favorite series of matches in 2017. There, I said it.

And rightfully so. Kind of surprised she didn't go further. Is there any reason she isn't signed anywhere yet?

I wonder if they booked themselves into a corner pushing Shayna as far as they have. I think they want a quality match for the final and I'm not sure she's up for that even with a pro like Sane in there with her, let alone as possibly carrying the NXT title. But they also wanted to keep Baszler strong for (or "in case they pull the trigger on") a 4 Horsewomen vs 4 Horsewomen angle. So unless they give her the win and the trophy, which would kind of be an insult to the woman wrestlers, she's getting beat by cutey patooty Kairi, who WE know is great but I could see someone in the front office balking at. I think having Mercedes eek out a win with cheap heel tactics not only would have pushed the "this wrestling, not MMA" narrative but also gotten Shayna out without losing face, got a good heel in the final for Sane to bounce off of, and given a woman who's busted her ass for so long a nice showing. But that's just me.

Put her with Heyman and let the rest sort itself out.

That hat is the biggest heel in the tournament.

Excited for that team as both guys seem like a natural fit. Riddle should get over huge for his MMA background and surfer bro good looks. And you're right, Riddle/Suzuki is a match up that needs to happen. I've only seen highlights of Riddle/Shibata but if they're any indication he should match up with New Japan guys pretty well.

His "TNA to GFW back to TNA which is now GFW" move would be interesting by itself, but that's just the past few years of a multiple decade career through madness. An honest autobiography would be a great read.