HumanChessgame

Don't watch much Soccer then? Actually, who was the last heel to 'dive'* and try to get his opponent disqualified when they'd done nothing wrong? It was Eddy, wasn't it? Guys don't even complain about having their hair pulled after an armdrag any more. * 'Flop' in Basketball terms. Fake being hit with an illegal technique. The "pretend you got hit in the nuts and get your opponent DQed" has been done in Chikara several times, usually in a multi-fall match.

I gave up during the scene where the cute blonde was yelling as the main character for daydreaming about stalking her as she's in a bar. Yay, another crime show where a major charactor has an Autism Spectrum disorder. That hasn't been done to death or anything. I liked it for the most part. Shows and movies with some sort of hacker storyline usually turn me off because of how glaringly inaccurate all the details are to someone in the IT industry, but this show reigned in the absurdity quite a bit. I'm totally with you on the overdone trope of any character with high amounts of tech skills being borderline autistic or being otherwise socially incompetent. Speaking of overdone tropes, it's pretty obvious a major angle will also be built around the "main character is in love with his opposite sex best friend, but of course she doesn't appreciate him and dates douchebags instead, but realizes later she actually loves him too" and that needs to not be a thing anymore.

At first I thought Mada was Thomaso Ciampa. That's about all I remember about him. Most of the other male contestants weren't that memorable either, and even less for the women. It really needs more time to establish their personalities. I'm going for Giorgia on the women's side, it's too early to call for the guys. ZZ looks like he could make it based on his personality alone if his physical conditioning gets better. The post-show segment was the only time I've not wanted to see Miz get hit by a bus.

Is there anyone who would qualify as a "home grown" TNA guy? As in someone who didn't work much before getting started there and has spent a bulk of their career wrestling for them? I know Roode did some job matches in WWE but I think he's been there most of his career, James Storm even moreso. Abyss got started in NWA Wildside/Anarchy and had a cup of coffee in ROH but it seems like he's been a TNA lifer. Anyone else?

I thought the same thing, though by the end I was a bit more sold on it. What made the first season so good was that it brought together the perfect storm of factors to make such a compelling finished product - the southern gothic aesthetic, characterization, script, cinematography, etc. It was one of those things that can't really be duplicated. The 80s Michael Mann thing they've got going here isn't bad, but comes off as trying way too hard to incorporate elements that made the first season good instead of creating something fresh. I can already tell motorcycle cop guy is going to be so bland it's going to almost drag down the rest. Vaughn's part wasn't bad, but came off like a second rate version of Dinofrio's Kingpin performance. Granted it's way too early to tell but I get the feeling I'm just not going to be invested in whatever his main storyline is. I'm all in for more David Morse as an older Bray Wyatt as well. Perfectly acceptable episode, but I'm not going to get my hopes up for it being as interesting as season 1.

I realized how badly Raw needs Paul Heyman saying stuff. Speaking of cliches that need to die, "heel acting threatening towards a face's family/friends" needs to not be a thing. It's especially terrible when said family actually gets involved, though hopefully we won't see a "play tea set on a pole" match out of this. RTruth is hilarious in this role. Owens is one of the best heels in years.

There was a discussion in the cliches thread about the need for managers to make a comeback and Maddox would be perfect for the position. He'd be great putting together a mid-card heel stable, or maybe just managing a team or one guy. The guy's a natural talker and heel and is good enough in the ring to bump or work a mixed tag match when he needs to.

She didn't have to go with him in the first place though. That's my issue. Look, I get she's super smart. I get she probably has a plan. But I just can't buy someone so smart would put themselves in a situation where they are almost certainly going to end up dinner. Or in jail as an accessory to several murders. Basically: she went with Hannibal because of plot. Which is fine, but it under-mines the character a bit. I get that it's not the most sensible-sounding option given the situation, but her deciding not to go is something I think Hannibal would consider rude or betrayal or a sure sign she was conspiring against him and thus put her in a situation even more likely to face some unpleasant consequences. The rest of the season is going to need to play out before I have a final opinion on the whole thing though.

It's not like there's much Bedelia could do in those situations. Hannibal isn't going to refrain from killing someone just because she asked nicely or tried to restrain him. She's also pretty much trapped as I doubt she has the resources to run and is probably afraid of what he'd do to her if she tried. Last season her attempts at working with Will and Jack showed she knows what Hannibal is and must be stopped and that he might be onto her motives, but she realized she couldn't get away with it. As intimately as she knows him, she knows there are fates worse than death as far as he's concerned and is trying to do what she has to do in order to survive and pick her spot to get away. This is probably one of my favorite shows right now, and definitely one of the best from a stylistic standpoint but I think it's getting dangerously close of just getting too avant-garde for it's own good. Granted appealing to a "casual audience" is not the objective here nor should it really have to be, but the past few episodes have been getting so incoherent it's hard to decipher the actual plot. I'm really hoping they don't pull some "it was all a dream" angle at the end of the season.

Anyone know if Dark Matter or Killjoys worth watching?

He was part of that Survivor Series angle where the Authority were trying to fuck with the face team. His performance in that match was off the charts, so naturally there was little follow-up to it.

I should probably go back and watch it again, but Dolph was insane over (and I remember most people around here liking him) when he cashed in on Del Rio on that post-Mania episode of Raw. He plays the underdog who gets people to rally behind him and actually makes you think he can win when up against someone significantly bigger or better than he is. Problem is, there are several other people on the roster now who do that better than he does and are more solid in the ring. The Billy Gunn comparisons are a bit out of place though, other than the haircut and one finisher I don't see that much in common as Ziggler is far more competent in the ring. I like him overall and hope he stays in the business for a while longer, but his is a case of there just not being anything more for him to do in the WWE at this point. In older days he would be ideal to get sent off to another territory for a year or so and work different people then be able to return as a fresh face that wouldn't have the stigma of being a guy who will never win much. Also, his ring name is terrible. It sounds like the name of someone doing a half-assed Val Venis gimmick.

Incredibly weak looking strike finishers.

The tag rope is still there, but it never seems to get mentioned on commentary or utilized at all in any way. I remember pointing it out to a friend at a live show a couple of months back. It's a weird touch that WWE keeps around. I remember a match between Eddy and Chavo and some other, slightly younger wrestlers (Edge and Christian maybe?) and the Guerreros were using the tag ropes throughout the whole match but the other team never touched them. The commentators never mentioned them either. I think the general consensus was that since Eddy & Chavo were trained more "oldschool" than the other guys, they instinctively used them.

Wrestlers with actual gimmicks.

Kidd needs to pull a Joel Gertner and wear a bow tie on his neck brace.

On this note, the eventual split up of successful tag teams. Sometimes two guys just have great chemistry together and the sum is greater than the parts. If that's the case, keep them together and avoid splitting them up as it usually ends up in both guys drifting into obscurity or realizing the error of the ways and putting them back together.

This. The "music of a person a wrestler is feuding with hits, they come out and taunt them, then their opponent rolls them up" finish is overdone and annoying. On a related note, a heel's goon squad constantly interfering and the refs doing nothing and leading to an eventual DQ or fuck finish needs to go as well. I realize this is part of a cowardly heel's schtick and as much as I like the antics of J&J Security, each time they come out it's pretty much a foregone conclusion as to how the match will end.

I don't have the network anymore but had been hoping to see it at some point, so that's disappointing to hear. They should have done an Owen/Eddy style tribute with people sharing their memories of him as just about everyone had some great Dusty stories to tell.

I'm guessing it leads to Paige bringing in her mom as a partner at the next ppv. Or bringing up someone new from NXT.

Kevin Owens became the biggest face in the company when he powerbombed Roger Klotz through a table

Considering Cena no-sold the beating Lesnar gave him at Summerslam, I figure he'll brush this one off as well when he comes out to do his "Be a man,Owens" promo tonight.

The MITB match wasn't bad, but that Bray fuck finish was stupid and is setting up yet another feud Bray will lose and Reigns won't come out looking any better in the end. At least going with Reigns winning it helps set up the Shield 3 way that needs to happen as all men involved are getting to the peak of how hot they are. I think showing people a feud featuring Ryback, Show, and Miz violates something in the Geneva Convention. Cena/Owens was another solid match but this was on ROH levels of finisher killing. I get Cena is trying to show he can do more than 5 weak looking moves, but that Code Red was absurdly sloppy and the Lethal injection never looks good. Owen's maniacal laughing after the post-match beatdown was fantastic. I'd be looking forward to the rubber match if I had any faith at all it would be booked competently. Tag titles match was solid and I've always liked the PTPs so it's good to see them win. Main event was fun but way too long. I wouldn't have minded the ending if they didn't immediately award the match to Rollins. Them both grabbing the belt and falling with it and having no controversy about the end whatsoever made it seem pointless.

I remember there was a rumor for a while that one of those guys he beat first was Goldberg before getting the Goldberg gimmick but I think it's actually Luther Reigns. Here's a link that talks more about the segment and identifies the two guys who were on his team as Layton Morrison (mulleted kickboxer guy, who has an imdb page listing a long body of stuntwork) and Craig Mally (excitable boxer guy who has a scant imdb page but nothing much else on google).

Considering he's 50 and how hard he lived in his ECW (and probably a good bit of the WCW era too) I'd say he looks about how someone with his age and mileage should look. I'm still surprised he and Sandman are still kicking when so many of their contemporaries are dead now.