w. josh

Insane ending. As far as the question of whether this was the preplanned end of the angle or things were sped up/changed, I'd argue that either scenario looks good for Bryan's future. Either the WWE set up a short angle to build to that moment last night, or they had a longer story planned but changed it because Bryan's crowd reactions flagged slightly for all of two weeks and they wanted to reverse that trend. Either way, the writers/corporate/Vinny/whoever thought it was important to keep Bryan at or near main event level while transitioning him out of the title picture at least temporarily.

I'm guessing there was a Brutus Beefcake push involved.

Derek Teevee getting broken in half by a bug-eyed squawking Brock Lesnar (with the network logo next to Jimmy Johns on his shorts) next week is gonna be awesome.

It wasn't just that crowd. People were chanting "We Want Dolph" for weeks on end after the MITB win. It was only during the subsequent forced cool-down phase (the Bobby Lashley Protocol, if you will) that the chants let up.

Archibald Peck.

After YouTubing the Splash for a bit, I concede it generally had more impact than my memory allowed. I think I was tainted by the latter-day splashes where Sting would reach out and grab the top rope two feet out and sloooowly pull himself into the corner. That said, Rawley's still a big ol' athletic hoss with a catchphrase made for t-shirts sold at Spencer Gifts. He'll do something.

Rawley definitely seems like a Cena 2.0 in the making. Or a modern version of surfer Sting. Hell, it's not like the Stinger Splash ever looked all that hurty, Ross just always put over how athletic the leap was.

That was all Strong. Why on earth did he try to tuck his head forward?

Well they seem to have about seven months of content taped, so they should be good until then at least.

I agree that Harper should have delayed the cover, but it really wasn't as bad as you want it to be. He took a non-finisher (as in, not his opponent's finisher) from the middle rope and kicked out at two and a half. He didn't get his head caved in, didn't take it on a chair or concrete, and didn't pop up and hit three more moves immediately before selling. It was a huge near-fall designed to put over how DB Never Gives Up so that it had more impact when he Gave Up at the end. Also, Barrett sounds more like Lemmy Kilmeister every week. Maybe he's trying to subliminally suck up to HHH.

I mean, that's not a great Orton, but it's a pretty spot-on Briscoe.

This is Batista doing press for a giant, financially risky Marvel movie, though. Something tells me he's not going to go on any "fat chicks" rants this time around.

You have a point. I mean, why would wrestling fans like watching consistently good wrestling matches?

Eh, what he's saying is the current champ is afraid to give him a title shot, so maybe the next guy will. It would work better if they played him up as more bitter and less shruggy about the Authority screwing him over, but openly acknowledging that the champ is afraid of Bryan instead of just calling him a career midcarder on air is a step in the right direction.

I'm hoping Reigns just splits and they keep the stable going with someone else. It's the best-booked group they've had in years, and there are still ways to keep the gimmick fresh - Ambrose takes on more of a condescending leader role with Rollins/new guy until they get fed up with him too, they willingly take on supporting roles for him Horsemen-style, there's a prolonged try-out period for a third member...all sorts of gas left in the tank.

'Taker/somebody vs. Rollins/Reigns, Reigns looks to have 'Taker beat, Ambrose interference backfires, the good guys win, Reigns hits his breaking point and beats the hell out of Ambrose/leaves The Shield. If the Reigns experiment works out after that, you've got a 'Taker/Reigns singles match for the next year.

Man, that hometown DB crowd sure was loud for the main.

Cole and Lawler constantly interrupting the opener to read the Twitter scroll was the woooorst.

What is it like to live in a world without joy?

Well, that doesn't sound like a situation from which one could draw any parallels to WWE booking at all, so I'm just going to take all of that information at face value.

So, Vince just saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Good to know. And gimmick aside, "Adam Rose" is the blandest name that ever did bland. Unless they retcon him to be Playboy Buddy Rose's son. Then it's golden.

People. The problem with the tattoo isn't that it's ugly, it's that they have a prominent female wrestler named AJ. Same reason he wouldn't be able to keep his name. They changed Regal and Helms' very common first names - there's no way in hell they'd have two AJ's running around. They're not signing him anyway, so it's a moot point, but still.

The Respectacles.

I don't think you can really embrace a 5XL. I mean, you can try, but you're not going to get very far.

Ahem. That's RYBAXEL, thank you very much.