Kyuubi

I have never enjoyed a Royal Rumble match and as progressive and great the women's rumble is, I rather not watch 2 back to back. Hell no. These matches are hour and half affairs. I rather not. Nope.

Legal student here. Rape cases are inherently flawed in this country because the situation is meant to entrap people who the victim does not know or are serial offenders. However, rape cases do not account for the most common rapist and it is probably the most intimate and personal crime: the person the victim knows personally. In this case, rape kits are deemed ineffective because it is usually a crime where there are no witnesses, vaginal/anal/whatever orifice of your choosing bruises do not mean much and can be excused away as 'rough consensual sex.' Most prosecutors try to look for instances where the victim's lack of consent is explicit like drugging, or alcohol level. The issue with the latter is that the accused can be drunk too and that gets iffy. As for what supreme is saying, several anecdotal evidence from victims(like most) state that police officers do engage in victim blaming and sex shaming especially in regards to women. Police officers are not objective and have the same perceptions in society are enforced in procedures. Those same biases can be attributed in a mostly male organization like the police who can and have often sided with the rapist. You can simply look at the sheer amount of cases that never make to trial do to the police not believing the victim(supreme provided that stat) and even when they are tried you have to worry about the perception of the jury members. Not to mention that since objective evidence such as drugs usually do not exist or aren't relevant, the rapist can simply say that it was consensual and it becomes her word versus his assuming that this is a male on female rape scenario. It becomes an assessment of character casted upon the victim which discourages women from even coming forward or revealing their names. In this instance, this girl is already screwed from the jump because from what I gather, she is a sex worker. And while sex workers are allowed consent(and there is no evidence that Enzo bought any service from her as far as I know), you best believe that the police are dragging their heels on this and if this makes it to trial, the jury is most likely going to do the same. All a defendant has to do is shoot down any personal testimony and raise the character of his client and make irrelevant any objective facts. Revealing herself and her identity was a mistake in my opinion.

The issue is that those guys should be able to compete in both 205 and the main roster. By accepting talent like Neville, Kalisto, and Enzo, the former two who were terribly booked into losing all the time and the latter who was just terrible, they buried the division when guys in this division are just as talented if not more so than most people on the main roster. Cedric, Mustafa, and a few others should be able to compete with Elias, Jason Jordan, and Apollo and the Miz as well as compete in 205. The idea that what separates AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, and Cesaro from this division are 12,13, and 20 pounds and that is ridiculous. For fuck's sake, Finn Balor is a cruiserweight and they just could as easily gotten him in division instead of Enzo while he was languishing in that pointless Bray Wyatt feud. It is a division, not a safe haven for jobbers. They should have handled 205 Live like NJPW handles their Jr Heavyweights. Dumping Enzo with the title when he was selling merch and consistently losing and getting his ass handed to him was burial. Especially when he started winning clean. They gave this show the fucking least to work with and all of the sudden it is the guy's in the divisions fault for not getting over yet the times when they did get to showcase on Raw with appropriate context and build, they stole the show. Even last night, they put on three solid matches and the main event garnered a this is awesome chant from a crowd that wants to be dead.

Well I heard rumors that TJP flirts with underaged girls, and honestly if anyone on 205 was going to get rape allegations, I was surprised it wasn't him, but yeah. The dick pick thing? Yeah, I know he does that and begs for nudes and shit. Premium fuck boy.

Here is my first. Cedric Alexander vs Mustafa Ali Starts off like typical face vs face with friendly exchanges and showmanship. They are just one upping one another until Cedric just gets a little to physical with Mustafa in the corner and when Mustafa gets annoyed by this, Cedric just responds that this is a competition. They used the dead crowd to their advantage as the two started talking shit to one another during the rest holds, and as the match continued, action grew more intense. Cedric and Mustafa sold like champs and literally yanked the crowd's attention forcefully getting a reaction out of them. It was a great match and the best on 205 since Neville left.

Cedric vs Mustafa is my MotY candidate. Well the first of 2018. Cedric is incredible guys. That match was sublime. From the in-ring work to the facial expressions and even the story of them gradually becoming angrier as the match went on. Cedric is really good at this wrestling thing and when he is not bogged down with shitty angles and story devices, the guy can shine. Mustafa was great as well. This match gave life to a crowd that really wanted to be dead for this show. It got a this is awesome chant by sheer story telling and ring work. Lince looked great although I do not like the new finisher. TJP continues to be a forgotten relic of 205 and everyone has outshined him.

Goldust is awesome. My problem is that WWE does the least to help this show or it's roster. Instead of getting any of the guys rub like having one them compete against guys like Finn Balor or Roman Reigns when he was doing that John Cena US gimmick, they say, "Hey, let's bring over a guy that we consistently and unfairly buried for years." And also it was a backhanded way of dealing with fan demand.

...Dude already has been sending girls unwarranted dick pics.

I have never been so annoyed with the WWE's incompetence. From the jump, they screwed this show by putting the title on the most vanilla motherfucker in the fucking tournament. I love TJP, but his matches in the CW Tournament were not the highlight of the event. He was just there. And then they gave him the most dead gimmick of a video game nerd. What the fuck. Oh, wait. 205 Live comes on after Smackdown when no one gives a shit anymore and are ready to go to bed.Then the whole Alicia/Dar/Alexander business that ran way too fucking long and went absolutely nowhere. Then you bring Neville over which is great, but you have him bury not just 205 Live, but himself by implying that he joined the division because he could not make it in the main roster. After a year of bullshit, you put the fucking title on Enzo. A guy who already had priors and mishaps even before this rape business. And you have the worst wrestler in the WWE become champion because people pop to his stupid fucking catchphrase and don't give a shit afterwards. Oh, so you run a poll asking if fans would like main roster talent to work with 205 which people overwhelming said yes, and you get fucking Goldust? WWE tried to tank this show. They deliberately did as little as possible. I hope WWE releases these guys so they can work somewhere else. This is bullshit.

I just don't get it. NJPW is a lot more lax compared to a typical indie schedule and definitely a lot less intense than a WWE schedule by sheer workload. Yes, when the wrestlers require heavy workrate matches, they over deliver, but that is like once a month. They usually stick them into semi-meaningful multi-tag matches where dudes can just chill out in the corner and get into little skirmishes. You go to ROH overseas maybe once or twice a year. You don't really leave Japan much. Like as @TheVileOne mentioned a match between Kota and Roode in a fucking house show, New Japan rarely if ever gives that kind of match without eyes at home not being able to see it. I don't think New Japan demands too much compared to WWE or ROH or TNA. It's the wrestler's ideal type of company where they aren't overextending dudes in countless houseshow matches while still making meaningful gains. It is the kind of company a person like Kota should thrive in. Whatever, I guess. It does throw a wrench in Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi because as much as I love Okada, those two, to me, are better than him by a slight margin and a match with those two headlining would be magnificent.

...Why the fuck is Kota still a freelancer? Are you kidding? I was under the impression that he was signed with them since he seems to be doing a lot business with just them. I don't see Kota doing anything else with any other promotion. For fuck's sake, the guy could have been the face of New Japan years ago. He still can be. Does New Japan not want him or is this a weird thing that Ibushi does? I don't get it. And NJPW is really lenient and the only company they probably won't do business with is NOAH. I am so annoyed because I assumed that he signed with New Japan because who the fuck wouldn't.

Thinking the same thing. Still getting used to logical but slow booking of NJPW, but I kind of feel that if they are turning Kenny, then they should have Ibushi vs Kenny as the match to do it. Although I feel that match should be a Wrestle Kingdom match for the IWGP Heavyweight Title since neither of them have won that belt yet. There feud and rivalry should headline Wrestle Kingdom imo. But that is just me.

They broke up a few years ago. Apparently she has been hanging out with Paige and Sasha backstage. I'm guessing she is pining to get her job back or some shit. Yeah, I only watched a few matches, but really was not pressed to watch the whole show. Seth and Finn was a pleasant surprise. Did they botch the finish or something? Is Nia okay? The match between her and Asuka was great, but I was worried. Cedric vs Neese was nice for an opener, but they ran that match in the ground. They need to bring more talent in the division or break up the division entirely. Enzo is not compelling enough to lead the show and quite frankly has not been drawing a thing since he has been sporadically on the show doing fuck all but his catchphrase. If Enzo beats Cedric then there is no point for that division. Cedric is the most over face in that division and I am not going to wait for Gargano and Ciampa and whoever from NXT to join for more competition. Cedric is the best booking decision for the belt so naturally they will keep that fucking thing on Enzo.

Stephanie needs a Stone Cold to her Vince. She needs one crazy ass woman to beat the shit out of her on a daily basis. A woman who could give less of a fuck and really just spit on her face anytime Stephanie tries to dress her down because that is the issue. Stephanie tears down people a monthly basis and basically emasculates them. A woman that won't kiss her, her husband's, or her broke down ass dad. It has to be a woman too because this is not the attitude era where women get put through tables for any given reason. Nikki Cross needs to be in the main roster yesterday.

Watched the final three matches. Umm. Okay, I understand that Jay White is supposed to be a work in progress and he is not supposed to be this insta-star. I had to watch like two videos of Nj's Young Lion process to understand the system and it;s benefits and I am not at all knacking it. This was a huge move for some dude who literally just "graduated" in a sense, and I see some moments of greatness from Jay White, but his match was by far the weakest of last night. I don't know, it just felt ordinary. Jericho vs Omega. I might be in the minority but I honestly was not impressed by the match. I thought it was nowhere near what I've seen from Omega or any of the New Japan top stars in 2017 in pace or hard hitting. It was not bad, but it just was not great. And yeah, I am glad Jericho hopped over and did his thing and he was great as a character and all, but I enjoyed Suzuki and Goto more. I enjoyed Kota and Ibushi more. And I enjoyed Naito and Okada more. They were going for a brawl and it was kind of a mess. Okada and Naito delivered. Sure, it was 30 minute marathon, but it delivered. I was surprised by the result, but I know Naito will get his match eventually. I think this was my match of the night. This was excellent character work from Naito as he was slowly but surely becoming more frantic. He was slowing down as the match continued on. He was not hitting combinations and was going for huge impact moves immediately without following up. I think he even that Stardust Press as soon as he started gaining some traction. Naito was forcing moves. He was duking it out in the middle of the ring with Okada and exchanging blows. He lost his tranquilo when faced with the opportunity that was taken from him by the New Japan Fans previously and was swept in the moment while Okada just endured his storm and waited it out. Okada is becoming arrogant in that he constantly endures his opponents offense and then comes back and seemingly unfazed. He tries to match his opponent in their own style instead of his own. In the Omega matches, Okada faced Omega at his speed and tried to match it and it cost him a draw and then a pinfall loss. He tried to do the same to Shibata and that shit did not work and even his final Rainmaker looked weaker for it. The only reason Okada loss here is that Naito lost his cool and that is his achilles heel. Naito can't help himself when he has the opportunity to rub it in the face of Gedo and Okada and NJPW board of whatever that took his stardom away previously. He becomes fired up and that has always been his downfall. A+ show tonight. Can't say that I will be looking forward to anything WWE except for specific matches after this.

It's cool. I went with my gut because I knew Kota and I knew Cody. Cody is a great foundation for guys like Kota who need to slow the fuck down. I've rarely seen him work with guys who are super athletic like Kota and the closest to Kota was Rey Mysterio in a mediocre Wrestlemania that,if I recall correctly, stole the show. Rey Mysterio does not compare to Kota, but I figured if Cody worked with Kota in the same manner he worked with Rey except bigger and more athletic and daring spots, filled in some character work, it would be a sleeper. Anyways, I took a break after the Jr Heavyweight 4-way so I haven't yet got to the IC match, US match or the Heavyweight match. So far, I do have Cody and Ibushi as my motn but no match so far has not been bad at all. I am still new to NJPW so it was me trying to understand names and factions a lot of the time. Young Bucks vs 3k was good starter. I am not really a fan of the Young Bucks or most of Bullet Club really, but I felt that this was one of their better matches as I liked the precision back work that the match incorporated. I don't see that in the WWE where they used impact moves to emphasize back selling so that was great. I do not like 3k's gimmick at all. I am sorry. J-Pop/rap is the music on the elevator ride to hell and really they did little for me outside of the terrible taste in music and their glorified hype man with a fire extinguisher(I know who Rocky Romero is). The Never Open Weight Gauntlet was fun for me because I was still trying to remember which faction was who. I don't understand why ZSJ is part of Suzuki-Gun, but whatever. It was a fun sprint or marathon...whatever, Good match. Rhodes and Ibushi was great. I kind of always wanted Ibushi to be the one who takes on Tanahashi's spot as ace, but dude is kind of weird with his loyalties. Cody kind of proved himself to be a good worker and Brandi is the greatest manager in wrestling right now. I am glad that this delivered. LIJ fucking won the tag titles! I was surprised to see Davey Boy Smith in NJPW. I love how the KES basically wiped out everyone ad lived up to the Suzuki-Gun name of being straight fucking thugs. That was cool. Goto vs Suzuki was amazing and excellent character work from Suzuki all around. Was started by the shoot headbutts, but it fits Suzuki's character. I think leader's of factions should embody that faction's character and throughout the night, you witnessed the antics of Suzuki-Gun just being fucking vile and unhinged people. And their leader is the worst and I love it. Dude had the most amazing emotions throughout the match as he was beating the shit out of Goto. Even after the match, he shaved his head...angrily. Good shit. The 4 way was a fun little sprint. I wanted Hiromu to win, but it did cap off the feud between Ospreay and Scurll with Ospreay finally getting a pin on him so good on that. So far, this show is wayyyyy better than anything in the WWE. Can't wait to watch the final three matches later.

So is Daniel Bryan trying to get fired because that was the most clear heel move he has done since he became GM? Like egregiously so. The Authority never made a handicap match for a title. They put champs in handicap matches but wow.

Joe is the best heel right now. The way he fucking told Renee that Ambrose should be glad that he spends his holidays with the ones he loves while giving Renee the shittiest grin ever. Holy shit. Look at this shit. That is some good subtle evil shit right there. Assholes aspire to be like Samoa Joe. I salute Joe. And Kudos for Renee for providing the acting.

And also people refused to see Daniel as a joke to not compete on a top level. If Vince had his way, Bryan would had stayed in that midcard hell. It was due to the success of the "Weak Link" storyline that Daniel went from coweardly heel to super face "Yes, Yes, Yes," Daniel Bryan.

I decided to add on to this. Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate 3 These two....wow, they are really talented. They have this creative drive so they don't really mimic the same spots or they give the same spots a bit of the twist. This match was the best of the three for me as I literally had to rewind a few times to fully appreciate the action. What is also amazing is that these matches had very limited story telling outside the ring, but so much story in the ring. I was very engaged and delighted. So this is my match of the year. Cedric Alexander vs Drew Gulak, 205 rematch The crowd was shit. We all know this, but the action was top notch. Drew turned up the intensity for this match and pulled out more spots that I have not seen from him since the CRC. There was a bit of story telling involving Enzo as he became more and more aware just how talented and physical Cedric is and his face when Cedric pulled that weird tope turned into a double kick in the face sold it. The finish had a bit of character work that I really appreciated from Gulak because his character is not comfortable on the top rope hence why he insists on keeping the action on the ground. So the little effect of his legs shaking was a nice touch with Enzo berating him to get down from the top rope. Cedric yanking him down and then turning it into a Lumbar Check was wicked. I am glad that the cruiserweights are selling that move like death because it is by far the most wicked finisher in 205 Live if not in all of the WWE. MVP addition Tyler Bate So before I did not include Bate because he seemed like a generic babyface with cool moves. It hurt that his best performances involved Pete Dunne so I was biased. But Bate is actually one of those faces whose in-ring work reflect their character which more than I can say about Cedric. Bate is resilient and really tough so he getting his fingers dislocated and then relocating them and continuing on with the match is character work. Dude also is super strong and I like that he power outs of spots is cool too. Right now I am tied between AJ Styles and Braun Strowman as the MVP of the year.

The issue with Cedric is that they are booking him as a generic babyface when he is really good at conveying intensity. The dude has these scripted promos where he comes off as a the plucky dude, but his offense is some of the most brutal in the WWE. The guy is stiff and physical as hell. He is athletic and for all intents and purposes, he should never be booked as the underdog in 205 or in any situation not including Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, John Cena, or any of the legitimately big guys. I hae seen Cedric toss around Michael Elgin after his huge weight cut like it was no different than with Jack Gallagher. The man is freakishly strong in which all of the muscle he had before his cit stayed while his fat disappeared. Cedric is not Kalisto and he is bigger than Nelville. Gulak said it best. He is the biggest guy in 205 and hits really hard. His feuds basically amounted to him taking out these wiry snooty snotty assholes who did not resort to outperforming him to win, but just cheapness and distractions. Even Tony Neese, the next biggest guy has problems out muscling Cedric. His finisher is the only finisher that involves some measure of strength outside of TJP and Gran Metallik and you can't really compare the Lumbar Check with the Detonation Kick and Metallik Driver. Cedric needs to be imposing babyface/tweener. Not this good guy bullshit. His story was that his own pastor said he would not make it. No one believed in him. So he needs to be constantly showing that intensity that he conveys in the ring. It should be when you see this dude, someone is about to get they back broke. In that exact syntax. Someone is about to get they back broke. Not "their back broke."" I mean every time Cedric appears on the screen, he should be the living embodiment of this.

The crowd fucking sucked. Cedric Alexander vs Gulak was amazing and on my MOTY List. Definitely not the best, but whoa did Gulak turn up on the heat? The guy went CWC Gulak when he was just a better ZSJ. It was a really competitive match. Enzo sold that he was genuinely threatened by Alexander and while I feel that Cedric will lose the match for the title, I kind of want to watch Gulak stretch out Enzo.

Yeah, my match of year is Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate III. Holy shit.

Watching the match right now and I got to the part where Dunne stomped on Bate's fingers. I haven't read any results, but...Pete Dunne is fucking brutal. Holy shit. Edit: He did that shit again!

I am calling that Ronda Rousey is debuting at the Rumble. So the Jason Jordan vs Seth Rollins match was the typical weekly Jason Jordan match which is something I was not expecting to say at all this year. I mean I like the guy well enough and I get the story that he is supposed to be this overly eager dude with a chip on his shoulder that it is too big that it is obviously affecting his brain or something, but this formula that they have for him as well as his acting ain't doing him favors. He comes off as forced and I appreciate that the WWE is not giving up on him because aside from the shitty angle of being Angle's son, I do think Jason Jordan is talented if anything else. The match was good just like all Jason Jordan matches, but it is killed because of his character no one likes if that makes sense. He is like X-Pac in a way. Good worker, shitty persona. Also, Seth's finisher has always been shitty. Dude is super athletic. He can do better than that. I mean I've seen Matt Riddle do that rip cord flying knee better because he actually does a flying knee. I get that he can't do that Small Package Driver he used to do in ROH because there is no heat that be created with the movie since it is like an automatic pinfall, but come on. It is such an anti-climatic way to cap off matches. I'm glad Hideo made it to the made show finally. He put in the work. Maybe he can generate some more heat. as already stated, I wished he attacked Finn after the match since they literally have nothing with Finn. He has no real rivalries until the Miz returns and honestly, I don't see why Miz is even feuding with him since he appears to have issues with Roman since roman took the title from him. WWE just drop Finn in the cruiserweight division. Like just do it. Speaking of which, Enzo needs to shut the fuck up on commentary. This was probably the longest work level match of the night and has been being built up for three weeks sans Enzo. 2 of the previous matches were arguable matches of their respective nights and have been getting the biggest pops only for the lead up to be drowned out by whatever garbage Enzo was spewing tonight on commentary. Combined with Booker T's clueless remarks, this was absolutely terrible. Corey and Cole had to literally drag Enzo to focus on the match and shut up his rambling. It also hurt that the camera insisted that whatever Enzo was doing was more important than the fucking match that they have been building for three weeks. Are you fucking serious? This si why I liked the Miz. Miz frequently did commentary and yet never took away from the match. In fact, a lot of times he added input that was insightful and contributed to the psychology of the match or paid notice to it for the viewer and most of the times he was on commentary, it was a match involving one of his rivals. He wasn't obstructive, but he was in-character. It didn't bury the match. God, I wish I was watching the foreign table announcing because that was bullshit. I actually thought Dean was hurt. Dude sold that injury like a champ. I never really liked Dean, but got to give him kudos for him even making me concerned for him. Where the hell was Roman? Good show overall.