Sex Machine Gun

(somewhere outside Louisville, a man explodes from a woman beating up men)

Say that and then look at responses before Dynamite on the day of. This isn't bitching about a thing I did not getting traction, it's an indictment of how poor this program has become. Yeah, I know show threads get locked. That's why I'm registering surprise at how little anyone even notices. This is supposed to be the flagship program of the biggest promotion in North America and no one can be bothered to care. How bad is that? Not like you'd have a reason had you watched the show tonight.

It's just over two hours in. I've watched the whole thing. Pray for Mojo.

I know live comments on shows is verboten around here but this isn't really revealing of the show's contents and I didn't want to forget this two hours from now (plus a lack of interest has kept this from even being pinned): Who else fills the role of veteran in WWE better than Randy Orton? I sat for a minute thinking of how long different people had been around and realized Orton is, for practical purposes, the WWE stalwart who is perfect to put people over for the next three years. Why doesn't he *feel* like that?

I think you being the only person replying to the start of the thread less than thirty minutes out speaks to everything you're feeling. Raw would be so much more interesting with a Hurt Business that has the World and Tag straps, rather than just the World and boring, non-Slapjack members of Retribution.

I just said all of that right before the sentence you actually quoted.

Via SBNation: They said some other crap too but meh. There was conjecture about Sheamus appearing (finally) and an AJ/Omos championship celebration. Surely some Alexa Bliss bullshit. I'm just sad now, I gotta stop opening WWE show threads.

Who else forgot Stomping Grounds was the name of a PPV?

The Bengals went with a Patriots-esque mild massaging of their uniforms to create a new design. I dig it, but I already liked their uniforms anyway. Much better update than the Falcons last year.

Given he's been living in the online world since he left WWE, what would have possessed Ryback to include "retire" as an option? If I was on Twitter I'd say go back to WWE so he could be fed (har har, irony) to Roman in a post-SummerSlam feud.

EDIT: Double Post

I second the "about the same" answer. It doesn't matter who the champs of anything are, wrestling's kind of in the toilet popularity-wise, entertainment in general is fractured into more and more niches, and watching live television is increasingly rare. You could book whoever you want to win the straps but they'll be hard pressed to even have half the viewers of a 1999 episode of Nitro.

Heyman's always good but damn was that a great line during his interview segment: "there was no rain delay, those were the tears of angels."

"Listen the rhythm of the falling rain, telling me just what a fool I've been..."

McAfee is making SD appointment TV for me tonight.

Stupid sexy Hook!

Finally they got rid of all that dead weight! Now we can get another Corbin push like we've all been clamoring for.

You'd think that BIG MONEY MATT HARDY~ could afford to have others fight for him.

Oh shit, we had Tyson tonight! ... sure wish I knew how his appearing and involvement will improve buyrates/sales. I'll admit I can't remember what even happened in that match, but even if something earthshattering happened I couldn't tell you what that particular angle was at play.

This show did well to forward or renew feuds but holy fuck was it trash. Here's how poorly this kept my attention, as someone who considers Wednesday their wrestling night: I paused it while on the phone with someone with 45 minutes left in the show. So little of an impression had been made on me as a fan to where I realized I'd whiffed on the main angles in the last hour. Nothing made me want to see more even though I'd already been nominally into the program. Team Taz and Christian is a goddamn plot culdesac.

There really needs to be at least one brand new (to TV) person in a match every week on Dynamite. Unlike the 90s we aren't looking at a bunch of people who have had to work within the parameters of a network program in AEW. This isn't a bad thing but something people overlook too often. You can't just go from, say, some PWG show to national television without adjustments. The sooner the greener members of the roster get TV experience, the better.

So one of two things is at play. One, they're creatively bankrupt and desperately trying to get every drop of juice from the Wrestlemania fruit. Two, they assume people who aren't fans are so goddamn stupid that "Wrestlemania" is a synonym for "pro wrestling" in their heads. You know, like how UFC is up in the hundreds with their card titles. Is WWE's concept of their fans where they imagine a group of people sitting around in October asking each other "You wanna watch Wrestlemania tonight?"

Tim White finally got the job done!

It's possible for the venue but only if there was no elaborate entrance stage. 90-something was probably more like it. The stadium's website went off of the kayfabe figure which you can tell because they mention WM III having 93k previously.

Maybe you play the sound of a railroad crossing closing no matter whether he hits it or not. HOW IS THIS BRAINSTORMING BETTER THAN RAW ITSELF