Pete

Patton Oswalt has y'all in check this morning.

Ritchie was one of Jim Molinari's "God Squad" assistants when I was at Bradley, so that's like the perfect job for him.

CHAOS DOES THINGS THAT WANT TO DO AS THE FANCY. You'd think NJPW's English would be better with an entire faction of gaijin they can consult on stuff like that.

Someone give me a shout when he gets the multi-turban.

Axel's not going anywhere. WWE handpicked him to train with the Rock and Brock when they made their comebacks in 2011/2012. That's a little respect. It was just him getting tongue-tied during his "Genesis Of McGillicutty" promo that held him back. I was under the impression the trainers were Curt Hawkins and Axel - WWE just conveniently erased the former's participation when they were building up the latter.

The story

I keep saying this: he could easily go heel and keep doing the Make-A-Wish stuff. Especially if he treats all of the fans like an asshole EXCEPT the children, since they're the ones buying his merch... or more to the point, they're the ones forcing their parents to buy his merch for them. He's doing it for the kids, and would play that totally straight.

As a Jew who gets more and more tired of Israel's shit every day, I'm trying to remember when exactly "against Israeli policies" = "anti-Semite."

The Orleans is about a mile off the Strip. Not only is it not like going to Nassau from NYC, it's not even like going to Yankee Stadium or Citifield or Barclays.

Bryan mentioned Heath Slater by name on the Jericho podcast as a guy that he wanted to get over. Not that he has any stroke but I'm curious to see if anything will come of that. That actually sounds like an awesome gig for him. What a novel concept: use your wrestling scientist to experiment with the lineup and get dudes elevated.

Loved Kalisto getting over like a million bucks. Then again, he had a) Cesaro catching him, b) a completely rabid crowd, and c) the announcers putting him over like gangbusters. ______ Neville's debut was really soft in comparison, with a somber, distracted Saxton calling the action while the crowd was still coming down after Lesnar murderlated everyone. Also had to laugh at the spot where "Adrian Neville" trended worldwide and Byron had to STFU about it. If Tazz came up from NXT in this day and age, would he be "Ta" or "Zz?" Don't get putting Reigns in a spot that would make him the most hated man on the entire show. Seriously, after the horrific beating at Mania they could've easily claimed he had a concussion or some other malady. Speaking of maladies, a genital warts pox on whoever thought Cole should have the same injury that, you know, KILLED A WRESTLER a week ago. Fucker.

Rock's "derp" face is killing me.

Oh, I know it's doable. Just saying the jet lag will NOT be fun.

So Rollins flew from SFO to NYC for a Today Show segment and he's (presumably) flying all the back for Raw tonight. Poor kid's head is gonna be spinning for days.

What exactly was the deal with the Great Muta Blues Band playing out Sting? Not that it wasn't cool, I just didn't get the connection between the two.

Thought the show was a blast overall. Only one objectionably bad result (Cena over Rusev), but they protected him about as well as you could ask for and the commentary actually didn't play up this being his first loss. That said, there's way too much mileage with the Rusev/Lana act to even consider ending it yet. The main event was fucking brilliant and kept EVERYONE strong without a single turn. Brock stays strong by being a beast and not dropping the fall. Reigns gets elevated by taking an absolutely horrific beating from Brock, yet coming back and clearly dominating him... sure he dropped the fall, but he has an out because Rollins was fresh as a daisy. Rollins gets elevated by outsmarting everyone else and waltzing out with the title. And yet, heavy is the head that wears the crown because he's got 3-4 guys with beefs against him who will gun for the title now.

HOLY FUCKBALLS the cold. Colder than the opener, but the crowd was into it. Pleasantly surprised with how many folks showed up- merch was still flying off the shelves. I laughed heartily at the empty boxes for $10. Big difference in the makeup when Villa isn't pulling strings in midfield. They looked pretty dire without him. The stadium situation is hardly ideal, but I got there door-to-door from my house in 35 minutes. I'm okay with this.

I think Rey would like this week back.

Daniel Bryan stretches and takes in the view at Levi's Stadium.