SirSmUgly

It's almost like people have different opinions about those two wrestlers or something. Wild, man. (I'm just kidding you! The Jericho Fatigue is real though, bruh.) You forgot a few options there. When WWE does the thing that makes sense and that people want to actually see, they get some love. When they change it up into something people want to see, they get some love. If they changed it up and Owens or Ambrose won last night, they would have got mostly love except for from Fowler in the case of Ambrose. Someone praised them for at least picking a logical story and sticking to it because the alternative is throwing stuff at the wall. I just wistfully remember the days that they both told a logical story and it was actually a story people cared about...or I go watch NXT for that stuff.

Well, it's a fool's errand to do it for any sport because we'll never know for sure! It's fun to talk about, though. There are more variables in something like football or basketball, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to figure them out. My only issue was when Vincey called them a top-ten all-time team on the basis of their 15-1 record, which simply isn't good enough, sixteen small points of data. We never talk about the 1998 Vikings as a best of all time team and they went 15-1 and might have won a Super Bowl if their kicker didn't miss an easy field goal at the end of a playoff game. Is a kicker missing a FG he usually makes the difference between a top-ten all-time team and being forgotten to history? That seems silly. That's why we need to think about the idea beyond "look at the record" and "scoreboard." However, it's definitely Carolina's year and I look forward to another NFC team blowout of the Broncos and maybe a ton more terrified Peyton Manning photoshops in two weeks. Nah, I wouldn't say that by my measure you are, but then again, you could be. I'd have to look at what y'all accomplished in a few different ways. The 2013 (I wrote 2012, was wrong, that team had no pass rush) Seahawks beat a Panthers team that was fundamentally similar to the 2015 Panthers team, so maybe the Panthers aren't top ten either. I'm not serious about that statement, by the way, just trying to show you the flaw in your logic. You're still focused on SSS and not on the bigger picture. The Wyatt thing made me laugh. Good luck to your guys in two Sundays!

OK, coming over here to actually talk football in the football area from that Royal Rumble thread. To Josh Mann: I never argued that the Panthers were undeserving, so I'm not sure why you felt that you had to argue that they weren't. They certainly are. They're likely the best team in the league even if they lose to the Donks. To Vincey Greene: No, I wouldn't say the 2014 Seahawks are as good as the Panthers. Talent on the field might be similar, but the coaching in CAR was simply far superior this year. I wouldn't say that the DeBartolo 49ers are the only teams that would be better than the Panthers. At least two of those Parcells' Giants teams from the '80s, the Jimmy Johnson Cowboys teams of the '90s, probably the Donks' teams that won back-to-backs, the '02 Ravens, probably three or four Belicheck Patriot teams (though probably only one of the Super Bowl winners, funny enough) and yes, the '12 Seahawks. That's off the top of my head. And no, whether they win or lose (let's hope win because I want to see all the haters get salty that Cam has a ring and also Donkeys fans can be pretty mean), that won't change things. And my point about the Giants wasn't that CAR is also 9-7. My point was that the best team doesn't always win the title since Josh Mann was insistent that only wins matter. Well, for a Lombardi, sure, but not for deciding who is the best team of all time. Also, you don't know what a strawman is.

Yes. Seriously, sorry I got drawn in. Carolina fans have this psychotic obsession with their team being called the best team of all time. It's compelling. Kinda like HHH has a psychotic obsession with being considered the best wrestler of all time! Zing! OK, seriously, I'm done. No more NFL talk from me. I agree that it should stay in its proper place. I wonder if the 'Taker/Kane vs. Wyatts match was it for 'Taker or if he's going to be slotted in for WM. I don't see anyone coming out of this show who would fit into a match with him.

Sure, but that doesn't mean that I forgive their schedule totally when assessing how they stack up against other teams. I'm not quite sure what Seattle has to do with it because they're a dysfunctional team that you could argue was the best in the league, talent-wise. They suck to root for and weren't the best team in the league full stop, but that has nothing to do with Carolina beating the Saints, Bucs, and Falcons for five free wins and having low SOS to the point where that 11-7 including playoffs team was the best one they beat (Arizona was a mirage, but that was always obvious, no?). But this is not a football thread because I'm avoiding those threads because the coaches of my team wasted maybe three years in which my team could have (should have?) won titles. Let's talk about the mismanagement of the WWE instead of the mismanagement of my (or any other) football team. And how many teams in history fucked themselves out of titles by not taking care of business that they should have? At the end of the day, the scoreboard is the only thing that matters. So? That has nothing to do with Carolina not being a top-ten team all-time. The champion is often not the best actual team. Titles are great, but they're a flawed metric precisely because of small sample sizes. Winning Lombardis is great, but 9-7 reg. season teams have won them. You don't think the 9-7 Giants were actually better than the 16-0 Patriots, do you? Play that game a hundred times, and the Pats win the easy majority. Juuuuuuust like HHH's fourteen title reigns or whatever don't make him as good as Ricky Steamboat even though Steamboat had fewer title reigns. Ha, see how I did that? Stayed somewhat on topic? I amaze myself.

Sure, but that doesn't mean that I forgive their schedule totally when assessing how they stack up against other teams. I'm not quite sure what Seattle has to do with it because they're a dysfunctional team that you could argue was the best in the league, talent-wise. They suck to root for and weren't the best team in the league full stop, but that has nothing to do with Carolina beating the Saints, Bucs, and Falcons for five free wins and having low SOS to the point where that 11-7 including playoffs team was the best one they beat (Arizona was a mirage, but that was always obvious, no?). But this is not a football thread because I'm avoiding those threads because the coaches of my team wasted maybe three years in which my team could have (should have?) won titles. Let's talk about the mismanagement of the WWE instead of the mismanagement of my (or any other) football team.

Welp, I think Brie Bella might be DVDVR's new Mendoza Line.

Rollins is worse than Ambrose. Reigns and Lesnar were MVPs of 31. Rollins had a mediocre match with Orton that had a decent finish and then ruined a very good one-on-one match by cashing in, after which he proceeded to shit out a bunch of bad matches for what was only seven months, but which felt like seven years.

The Super Bowl features one of the top 10 teams in NFL history. 15-1 doesn't lie. I'm gonna need to see the DVOA to prove that claim. (I hope they win, but they're not close to one of the top ten teams in NFL history. They're very good, though.) Advanced stats are dumb in football. The 72 Dolphins don't have a particularly good DVOA. Save that mularkey for baseball; it seems to have no bearing on the winning and losing of games in such a short season. They're not and trying to say that the football season having a SSS means that the stats derived don't mean anything is just wrong, but even excepting them, 15-1 with that SoS still wouldn't place them top ten. They're the HHH of football. Lots of wins, but I need to see the receipts when it comes to placing them as an all-time great.

The Super Bowl features one of the top 10 teams in NFL history. 15-1 doesn't lie. I'm gonna need to see the DVOA to prove that claim. (I hope they win, but they're not close to one of the top ten teams in NFL history. They're very good, though.)

HHH actually having interesting control segments with varied, logical offense against Bryan was an outlier. The Sting match sucked, he had terrible matches with Lesnar, nothing he did with Punk was any good. He did show up bigtime for that awesome Bryan match, though. Easily the best match of his career, and it's not particularly close.

You'll take that back after HHH has another 25+ minute epic with Reigns where he spends 17 of those minutes in control doing various boring-as-shit knee-based offenses and plodding around the ring before the cliche finisher trade sequence to the end of the match. Ambrose has sub-Brie Bella level offense, but at least he has charisma and looks like he might have an episode in the ring during each match and keeps people engaged and sells nicely.

Ambrose sucks in-ring, but crowds love the guy and are genuinely behind him as an underdog. And HHH isn't better than Ambrose in-ring to the point that the difference matters to me.

Also, HHH was and is always going to get a face pop from a crowd of NXT-watching smarks. He's proud papa face HHH on that show, hugging people we love like Bayley and Sasha Banks and being an actual cool dad unlike that chump Jericho. He's going to be the face for the next two months in this feud.

The show was definitely not bad or anything. It just had a bunch of outcomes that I didn't care about creatively. This is how shows always are. I can't remember one that I've watched after it originally aired since WM 30. Typically, we get decent in-ring action and questionable booking from these shows, and they all run together in the end. This will sound ridiculous, but sometimes I really do wonder if they're trying to book Roman into oblivion on purpose. It's clearly just incompetence, but I still wonder sometimes anyway. HHH losing the gold to Roman at WM won't help Roman. Having a title reign longer than four weeks might do the trick.

Yeah, there was way too much interference and stuff. If the Miz is going to wait outside, why even have numbers? He should have to get in before the next entrant comes out or be eliminated. Guys had roving gangs running around out there. Why didn't the LoN just hang around and help Sheamus or the other Wyatts hang out after beating Brock and help Bray? And whoever said that Brock looked ineffectual after being tossed by three eliminated guys and doing nothing at all was also right.

If they ever let Ambrose eventually win that thing, the folks attending are going to break a few decibel levels. They blew it again. They have Fastlane. Have Ambrose win and then run HHH/Ambrose at Fastlane. HHH can be the Drago to Ambrose's Apollo Creed. He can hit Ambrose in the head with the sledgehammer and tell a horrified Stephanie at ringside, "If he dies, he dies." Then Roman can be Rocky except with about one-one billionth of Sly Stallone's natural charisma. But noooooo, two months of HHH as WWE Champ yet again. I saw enough of this shit in 2003, frankly.

Some thoughts that you should skim through. 1. Owens/Ambrose was a nice match. They went about a hundred miles per hour and did the best brawl they could in the no-blood era. As soon as they went away from those Chekhov's Tables, it was clear that they would end the match with a spot through them, but for two guys who typically run through a lot of movesy-type offense quickly with no transitions, this sort of match was perfect for them because those things don't matter as much. 2. The New Day is awesome and Big E should really be WWE WHC. They're really wasting him in the spot they have him. Woods as Don King for WWE Champ Big E, on the other hand, would be (even more) money. Match was solid, and as usual, Big E and Woods were co-MVPs of a New Day tag match. 3. Kalisto doesn't have nearly the charisma of Rey Mysterio at all, so I'm not sure how well he'll fit into that spot that they're obviously grooming him for. He was sloppy tonight, but ADR had some really mean heel work and should work guys smaller than him more often because he always abuses smaller opponents in interesting ways. 4. Charlotte being the third-most-over person in the Becky Lynch match is just the story of Charlotte. They want her to be the centerpiece of that division going forward, but Lynch/Banks/Bayley/Asuka all have more charisma and significantly better in-ring. Glad to see Becky get some good crowd support. I was bummed that Becky lost and look forward to her getting a run. She's really naturally likable, so I'm hoping they don't have her do the stupid "bitchy girls are crazy and mean" stuff they make all the other women do. Sasha coming back got a nice pop in my house. I was especially happy since I didn't expect her back for a few months. 5. No offense to Lilian Garcia, but I wish that they'd drag Howard Finkel out of mothballs for the Rumble every year. I miss "NOW, let us ALL find out WHO DREW NUMMMBER ONE...in the ROYAL! RUMBLE!" I think I got all the emphasis right. Reigns is looking like a goof if he loses or SuperCena if he wins, neither of which is good. Poor bastard. He didn't get booed as badly as I thought he might, though. Rusev. AJ Styles! With the sick entrance music, tho! One-third of the way through, I'm enjoying this match, but I'm tentatively waiting to get trolled. OK, that R-Truth comedy spot made me laugh. R-Truth does Cloudcuckoolander really well. I also laughed at Kofi and Big E. Kofi took someone's soda for sustenance during his ringside rest! Classic. Rusev! Those idiots in the League of Nations forgot to summarily pick Roman up, put him in the ring, and dump him back out over the top rope. Why did they let him lay there and then be carted out so that he could come back later/have a claim to never having lost.? I hate to be Comic Book Guy in this thread, but they needed to cover better for that so that it would be logical somehow that Vince and the LoN left Reigns out there. Strowman tossing Kane and Show turned him face in my house. Now for the inevitable Strowman/Lesnar showdown in a few minutes! Owens selling the ass-whipping from earlier was awesome. Dude looked king-sized coming down the aisle. Then he immediately started fighting Styles. Awesome. Owens dumping Styles was a smart way to eliminate him. ZAYN! Get some revenge, buddy! I love that Owens makes too many enemies wherever he goes, and it comes back to bite him in the ass down the road. Say what you will about the smark crowds, but at least they make guys who are basically unknown by the main roster-only fans (like Styles and Zayn) seem important. Neville's bump off that discus clothesline was sick. Mark Henry Brock Lesnar clotheslined through Chris Jericho to hurt Braun Strowman which, damn. Crowd died after Brock got eliminated. HHH coming out at thirty is going to be some bullshit. Though when he gets cheered because everyone hates Roman, that should be funny. OK, now that HHH is here, I'll admit that I was secretly hoping Bryan would come out at that spot. I can't seem to quit him, I guess. I stopped caring around the time Bray got dumped, but at least the Rumble didn't suck completely for a large part of the match or anything like the past couple years. HHH as champ in 2016 sounds like must-miss television, though, under any circumstances. WAIT, COME ON AMBROSE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Fuck that rebound clothesline though really. Aw man, fuck it. At least it makes logical sense even if I have absolutely zero desire to see it. WM is probably going to be pretty shitty again from my perspective - since 20, I have enjoyed 21, 24, and 30 as above average. They really don't book these shows for me, I guess. But I mean, it could have been worse!

Crowe didn't get over at all. Crews is over to a not-insignificant degree, to not go over the top with my analysis of Crews's overness. I now know how Bálor fans feel when I criticize him for being dull as dishwater, by the way.

I am playing on Normal. Most of the time, the game feels fair, but I have missed a lot of point-blank, high-percentage shots, and that gets frustrating. If I understood why I missed more clearly, that would be nice. It is still fun, though. The customization and base building are actually more fun than the tactics to me, and I hope they expand the latter significantly for XCOM 2. And after that, I hope we get Civ VI in 2017 because this is the longest that Firaxis has ever gone between base Civ releases and Beyond Earth was the most disappointing and lukewarm successor to Alpha Centauri that I could have ever imagined. Whoever is the lead designer for VI should combine the gameplay of Beyond the Sword with a beefed up version of the World Council in Brave New World. Bam, instant classic.

I like XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within, but fuck, my guys walk practically up to an enemy only half-shielded or not shielded at all and, with 90+ percentage chance of hitting something, miss way too often. Having a 75 percent chance of hitting something feels more like a 50/50 shot. The only times that I have lost any soldiers outside of the ones scripted to die in the first tutorial mission is when I have missed enemies at 90+ percent twice in the same mission.

I can't wait for Bryan's music to hit at #15 or whatever while the crowd goes nuts until after thirty seconds, he doesn't come out and the music changes to HHH's theme.

One of my favorite posts that I ever have read on this board is the one where some guy was talking about playing with his action figures as a kid and his Wolverine was unstoppable except for when he'd run up against his Jakks Papa Shango, who was basically like the Galactus of all his toys. Shango was way over with the nine- and ten-year-olds in my school. That's one of those gimmicks, much like the Wild West Zombie Undertaker gimmick, that is conceptually silly, but was executed perfectly in practice.

I never really enjoyed Batista at all in his career until two years ago when he turned heel, put in work in those awesome six-man tags against the Shield, and then did his little wave thing on the way out, which whenever I see that GIF is an automatic belly laugh for me for whatever reason. His problem was that he's much better as a shithead pampered entitled heel than as a face, but they (logically) brought him back as a face for that run. Even if Bryan weren't on fire at the time, I think the crowd would have turned on it fairly quickly. Plus, without heel Batista, we don't get those two six-mans between Evolution and the Shield, so it all worked out well from my perspective as a fan who wants to be entertained. I wouldn't mind seeing him back again, but only if he basically does his own version of The Rock's Hollywood heel gimmick.

With respect, you're grasping at straws. If HHH's concern is "my kids might Google it," I'm pretty sure he likely wouldn't think that his kids searching and easily finding pictures of a topless woman being sexually provocative was cool either. This is why I think I disagree with Matt in the sense that while HHH is smart enough to understand the politics of his answer, I don't think his answer was meant to be political beyond it being the only reasonable response to Austin's question that could replace, "Well, my wife and I can't stand Chyna and we don't want her using her speech to talk about us being together behind her back, so she's never getting in no matter what." Beyond wiggling his way out of that question in that moment, there was no political import to his statement.