w. josh

Bah, right - forgot about that. Still, Orton works for the same reasons.

Orton is a great pick to be the first cash-in failure - he's always over, he's a multi-time champ already, and he seems immune to 50/50 booking. Let Cena beat him at Summerslam and get Bryan in position as the next challenger and all is well.

Opener was one of my favorite MITB matches - fast-paced, bunch of awesome spots, a minimum of slow-mo climbs (the "ladder is off-center" spots are much more effective there), and a great ending. Everything else was damn good too, including the pre-show match (and probably excluding the women's match, which I admittedly half-watched).

Bad-ass 70s biker Adrian Adonis or Adorable Adrian Adonis? Because those are two VERY different hauntings.

In NXT, they were constantly yelling/moaning "yeahyeahyeah!!" during matches and beatdowns. It was obnoxious but effective, and the debut probably could have used some little tic like that, certainly. I'd still argue that the guy smiling beatifically in a rocking chair while they tried to decapitate Kane made them seem plenty unhinged.

Agreed. The Shield are (kayfabe and otherwise) accomplished, world-travelling wrestlers coordinating tactical assaults. Harper and Rowan stumbled out of the swamp and followed their cult leader's orders to beat up a fire-controlling necrophiliac. They shouldn't look polished.

What sucks is that the same fans seemed to be reacting to and enjoying the gimmick a minute before. It's not like it was a reaction of "stop trying to push these new guys down our throats." Everyone seemed to be fully into the creepy hillbilly thing, but then just couldn't suppress the need to show how smart they were for recognizing the guy. It could be fixed pretty easily by having Wyatt cut a promo next week acknowledging his NXT stint and spinning it as the WWE trying to turn him into something he wasn't and now he's allowed his true self to emerge.

WRESTLE-1 - not to be confused with Wrestle-1, the All-Japan/K-1/PRIDE events that featured several Mutoh matches. Because caps lock.

Kane with the sheep mask over his regular mask would be the greatest thing ever.

Just found out that former UWF TV champ Savannah Jack died last year. First guy I ever saw use the superkick.

It goes against the "All-Star" gimmick of the RAW match, but Bray with the briefcase would be awesome. Having two huge, deranged, possibly brainwashed minions with him at all times puts a new spin on the cash-in gimmick, and giving him some sort of focus for his promos beyond "say crazy-guy Eater of Worlds stuff" could be a good thing.

I'm calling the "Rampage to Aces and Eights" swerve right now. Come on, dude wasn't even wearing a suit!