NoFistsJustFlips

The Dynamite Thread is still closed, boooo. I thought Fenix vs Merch Freak was a fun opener. They did some really cool stuff. That crowd was HOT too. Did anyone else have trouble hearing the commentary? The audio mix has been weird the last couple weeks and it's hard to actually hear the announcers over the music and the crowd. That isn't just me is it? Jericho promo was great. The execution of the SCU stuff was a little rough. But I liked the idea in theory of them doing something different and having the face lull the heel into a title match by pretending to not want one. Playing off the heel's ego and contrarian nature. The beat down and saves were a little awkward but the crowd reacted big to them. God damn Billy Gunn is 56 and jacckkkkeddd. I didn't mind him being in here. You need surprises from the past to keep that anything can happen feel. But yeah he probably shouldn't have gotten so many eliminations. The outcome here was pretty obvious. Them missing the camera shot in PnP vs Private Party saved their ass. Santana def forget to interrupt the count. They totally lost the live crowd with that fuck up. Luckily the tv audience didn't see that the ref stopped for a ghost, and they covered for it okay. Mox vs Darby was my kinda shit man. Two dudes OVER AS FUCK. Going out there and knowing who they are and being allowed to do what makes them so over. It felt alive. It felt organic. That is what I want out of pro wrestling. Hook it to my veins. That finish was gnarly as fuck tho. Hope Mox's torso was big enough to cousin Darby's neck.

Here's the fatal flaw of this lame *BRAND SUPREMACY* stuff... who are the crowd supposed to cheer for? In previous years it made no sense because if you're a WWE fan, Raw & Smackdown are both WWE. And the rosters rotate so often there is NO DIFFERENCE. So who do the fans cheer for? Who is the face? Who is the heel? Now you throw in NXT. Okay in theory I could get behind WWE vs NXT because it's plausible main roster guys *could* dislike the "minor leagues" and NXT guys *could* dislike the main roster making more money or whatever. But it's Raw vs Smackdown vs NXT instead. It's too muddy. It's too artificial. There's no real brand to cheer. Its like a Survivor Series Match in the 90s that's Superstars vs Wrestling Challenge vs Action Zone. So then it comes down to okay you're supposed to cheer for the performers you like. Shades of grey. All of that is fine in theory, but then the make the wrestlers really fucking stupid. Why would Shayna and her crew team up with their hated fucking rivals that they're fighting in a cage just cause some women with blue shirts and red shows show up? Makes me not want to cheer for any of those performers because there is no logic in that. No one wants to root for idiots. Characters that make out of character choices that don't make sense tend to turn off the audience, see Stone Cold joining McMahon and him cooling wayyyyy off immediately. A heel tun that made sense would have been fine, but they chose for him to join up with the one guy that his character would never logically team up with. This show more than any other soured me on NXT as an alternative brand. They are literally no different than Raw or Smackdown now. Same formula. Same sound byte yelling commentary. Same illogical *BRAND SUPREMACY* booking. Listen there were some really good matches tonight. And some really fun moments. But I just can't get behind a show full of characters that do stupid things. That was never NXT before they decided to become an official third brand. Maybe I'm wrong, but a year or two years down the road this is going to be seen as a major mistake. AEW has the money to fight long term. And WWE just swallowed up their own alternative and decided to make it more like the rest of the sloppy illogical main roster brands. Which kills the edgy vibe NXT had. And it also further dilutes Raw & Smackdown because there's now three brands doing the same thing. For clarification I'm not stating all of this as fact. This is just my opinion. There will be differing opinions and I'm okay with that. But just for me, this Survivor Series stuff is what officially turned me off of the NXT as an alternative. It's just WWECW again.

Funny foot note to the Jake Atlas signing... he was on that episode of Undercover Boss WWE did last year. You know who else was supposed to be on that episode? Wardlow. His segment got cut from the show. But they rented out a gym for him to train a female wrestler. It was Stephanie in her disguise. When they do the finale in the performance center you can see there's 4 people there even tho only 3 segments aired. You can see him when Steph does the big reveal. How any of them were fooled by her disguise is beyond me. It looked like Stephanie with the big nose fake glasses deal. So obvious lol. Wardlow got a tryout at the performance center after that and they didn't sign him. In a few years they're gonna look back and kick themselves for that one. Dude is the real deal.

That would have been an epic visual. Damn that's an amazing story to tell. It's like the Undertaker / Jeff Hardy ladder moment for a new generation. I hope that eventually happens down the line. I like the way you think. King Of The Ring 1998 Mankind vs Undertaker Hell In A Cell was in Pittsburgh. Great reaction that night. 2014 Royal Rumble was in Pittsburgh. I was at that one live. Bryan vs Bray is the best match Bray has ever had and Bryan was close to peak 'Austin over' that night. Rey coming out at 30 and Boo-tista was a loud as hell reaction too. Also lots of loud chants during that Randy vs Cena match. Goldberg, same old shit, we want divas, ect. Crazy stuff. I don't think Pittsburgh is a bad crowd.I just think Pittsburgh only gives a shit when they are presented with something to give a shit about. I don't think anything on Raw in the past 3 or 4 years has been anything to get hyped over. Just my opinion tho.

Loved this show. That crowd was hot and it made everything even better. Shit man Scorpio Sky's shoe was more over than 90% of WWE's main roster lol. Scorpio Sky was pissed at himself for not hitting that finish clean.I feel for him. He didn't even celebrate just put his head down in the buckle out of frustration. You could see Kazarian trying to snap him back into it and get him to celebrate instead of breaking character. Regardless of the finish, he came off like a star in that one. The squash was solid. Santana & Ortiz have a much better look in AEW. They've always been great but the basketball shorts look was a turn off for me. Custom overalls that match is a way better look. Agree with who ever said Ortiz kinda ruined Jericho's promo with his ranting. The women's match was rough. Britt used to be pretty solid. She fit in great at All In. My theory is her trying to shoe horn 1) the dentist shit and 2) trying to fit in Adam Cole spots to be cute for the smart mark pop is throwing her off her game. It's just too much going on in her head at once and needs to dial it back down a bit. Riho is over as hell and the crowd elevated that one. The women's division needs some guidance. JR is dead set on willing Jungle Boy into a name change. It's not a mistake. He's def doing it on purpose. I sense it being a deal where Jungle Boy doesnt want to live off his dad's name & is trying to make his mark on his own, and JR just doesn't care and thinks name dropping his real name is going to help the kid out. Who knows, JR may be right. But man I did not expect that match to be as fun as it was. Good on The Lucha Bros for not eating them alive and making that a hell of a segment. Omega, Mox, Hangman, & Pac are all in their primes and that tag match was also really fun. I didn't think Mox & Omega would gel as well as they did but man their ppv match is gonna be killer. Main was perfect booking. Darby looks even better in defeat. I don't think they needed the Hager spot. Should have just had Jericho move & have him miss the coffin drop / lost clean. But I get what they were going for. Weird choice to have rope breaks in a street fight tho. The crowd even chanted its a street fight at one point. Pretty tame for a street fight but it told a great story and I liked it a lot. They are 3 for 3 with me.

I think you're exactly right with 1 & 2. Reigns wins, Reigns goes first. Becky goes second. 3,4,5, & 6 are wrong for 100% sure. You must not have see that only certain people can be drafted on certain days. For some reason Charlotte, Rollins, New Day, & Brock can't be drafted Friday and can only be drafted during Raw on Monday. Why? Because reasons. Unspecified reasons with no logic. I'm with @Niners Fan in CT, they should legitimately let the networks pick them as a shoot. I totally understand why that would never happen. But can you imagine how much buzz there would be with fans if you legitimately had no idea who could go next? That's what I mean about having no pulse. We all basically know how it's going to go already. Dolph & Roode will get drafted to Smackdown. Oh no the Raw Tag Titles are now on Smackdown. OMG. But wait. The War Raiders win them Monday on Raw so the titles move back to Raw at the last minute. Whew. That was close. Yawn.

That's a fair point. A break would probably do me some good. But it's a dirty dirty addiction and I just can't do it. I'm 35 and haven't taken a break at any point in life. If the dying days of AWA & WCW didn't push me away, nothing can lol.

This is my main gripe with WWE these days, can anyone explain how any of this makes ANY sense? There is zero internal logic to anything anymore. It's all random with no rhyme or reason. So say Reigns wins and Smackdown gets the first pick. Well they can't draft either of the top champions... so who cares?? They aren't eligible to be drafted until Monday. Also, how are champions even eligible to be drafted at all? The Smackdown Tag Champs can be drafted to Raw and The Smackdown Tag Team Titles can theoretically be a Raw brand title? HOW? Of course every draft they run the same exact story where some champion gets drafted and the titles are uneven but that champion *just happens* to lose his title at the last minute to even things out. Happens every single time. WWE has no pulse. There's no danger. It's the some boring illogical safe stuff over and over. This is my purgatory.

Wow. I've lurked here for like 15 years and that ending was sooo bad it compelled me to actually comment. First the positive... Becky & Sasha had a killer match. Probably the best HIAC match I've seen since it became it's own PPV concept. This is the match they should have ended on. Solid work with two super over characters, and a clean decisive finish. If you're gonna do that hokey hee-haw rasslin finish with Seth & Bray open the show with it and just get it over with. This show was in Sacramento too. Not some hot bed of rebellious insider internet fans like Philly or Boston. This was about as normal of a town as you'll get for a WWE PPV and even they booed the shit out of that horrible finish. My first gripe, one that no one mentioned yet, is the HORRIBLE red light effect for the match. It sucked when they did it for Kane. It sucked when they did it for Sin Cara. And it still sucks now. Its like watching a Virtual Boy from the 90s. Pictures from inside the arena were even worse. Probably as bad as the Orton AJ lighting issue from Mania this year. They also already changed the lighting effects of his entrance and made it considerably worse (I'm a nerd for lighting / production cues). But this company is so stuck in their formula that they will never ever shake it up and go with the hot hand. It's really simple. If you don't wanna put the title on Bray... don't book him in the title match. Ugh. What they delivered was bad. It's not Seth's fault. It's not Bray's fault. It's 100% on creative. I'm fairly sure with the vibe Bray created with this character it wasn't his idea to do a ridiculous oversized cartoon mallet. It's the same guy that thought Moxley should drag a wagon. Or get a shot to inoculate him from "a town like this". It's all good shit in Vince's head. When a crowd stays way after the show ends to boo your product, chant refund & bullshit, and chant for the other product... you have a major problem. Especially in Sacramento of all places. But history has a tendency to repeat it's self. And WWE def feels like it's 1995 all over again with cartoony non-sensical stuff that makes you embarrassed to admit you watch. Thank god for AEW. Even if you don't prefer their product (I do), it will push WWE to stop booking for one guy's tastes (Vince), and start actually pushing what fans want.

It's funny that you say that lol...