Rehabilitated Rick

re: Cena/Roman I'm over all the shooty bullshit, at least when Punk was doing it came from a raw pissed off organic place or even the Cena/Rock program which was a real life feud playing out in front of the cameras, not some pre-approved exposing the business by mentioning how many ''great'' matches one has had and ticket sales, who friggin cares? isn't the goal in wrestling to ultimately win? It's all so transparent and hokey, just kick each others asses, give me some pull apart brawls not some tongue in cheek breaking the fourth wall nonsense that everyone knows is bullshit. It might entertain the vocal minority, but it's garbage to me. The line about Roman not passing a piss test definitely was eyebrow raising though. Outside of my gripes with that this was a fun show, Roman/Jordan & Braun/Cena were solid, Brock/Braun feud continues to be awesome, a Dean Malenko cameo, Miz's destruction of Enzo (which yes exposed Enzo, but was real) and a fun main event.

Baszler/Candice is one of my favorite sub 5 minute matches of the year, just chaos from the get-go.

I saw it more as Cena showing tough love rather than it not helping anyone, sure it was business exposing and probably went off script, but Roman will learn from it and it won't matter in 4 weeks when Cena puts Roman over clean. I figure Cena is pissed that he's willingly given up his spot on top of the card only for Roman to spill the ball time and time again.

Shades of that Phil Brooks vs. Paul Levesque promo, I can see it being polarizing for some, I loved it. Big Show without the beard is terrifying

Has that ever happened in like the past 15 years? Shinsuke being protected as this god like wrestler who should win the title then wrestle once a month is IWC hyperbole at it's finest, that's just not how WWE works unless you're Brock. In a perfect world he'd be attraction only, but he hasn't done anything worth that kind of notoriety since his debut. AJ/Bryan/Punk are proof that you can overcome WWE's structured 50/50 spotty booking and stay over if you're good enough.

If she wins the tournament then you have to think Kairi would be the perfect candidate to finally dethrone Asuka, I'd have liked a Nikki Cross feud/title win but that ship may have sailed for now, outside of her I don't think any of the current women on the active NXT roster have much of a case.

Cole is pretty much guaranteed. Interestingly the British Strong Style lads, Mark Andrews & Wolfgang have traveled with the NXT crew to Brooklyn, I'm wondering if they could squeeze a surprise UK Title match on the show.

Most of the talent go out of their way to actively avoid Vince. Corbin on the other hand apparently has a healthy relationship with him, even going as far as pulling light hearted ribs on each other backstage, the fact Vince has apparently given Corbin bullet point promo privileges, given him the money in the bank case and has been inserted into a program with the biggest star in the business suggests Vince has taken a shine to him. But hey, Vince is definitely punishing him or something.

According to the replays Jinder's feet were under the ropes which could offer Corbin a reprieve of the failed cash-in. Lol @ all these rumors though, if you listened to Corbin on Jericho's podcast he and Vince have a good relationship it seems, Corbin cashing in & losing (yet getting the reprieve) to draw heat for his mini-feud with Cena doesn't sound too far-fetched. I figure Corbin dismantles Cena, Cena goes off to do whatever project he has scheduled in the fall and Corbin gets his briefcase back next week.

In a perfect world AJ/Owens with Shane being the enforcer/ref would be for the WWE title and Jinder/Nakamura would be for the US Title, bizarre that it's the other way round. As much as Jinder is finding his footing, Nakamura isn't ready either, do I want to see him as champion? Sure, but WWE Nak outside of the entrance has done nothing to convince me, I envision a Bayley like backlash within 6 months.

I've got heart palpitations, my ticker can't take matches like that back to back nights. Unbelievable On Shibata and deconstructing the bump he took, either it was to signify he was back, or it was to signify he was going out on his own terms? who knows. Stoked he looked healthy and happy regardless.

is Jericho back then? his promo suggested he was back ''tonight'' which may or may not have meant it was a one time thing. He looked quite rough, that David Beckham Alice band revealing his receding hair coupled with his Bud light gut made him look about ten years older since the last time we saw him. His return and match were both great though, I'll give him that.

The finish was atrocious though, AJ hardly fought for the escape, whoever the ref was took an eternity to make the count, on initial viewing it raised doubt that it was supposed to be the planned finish or something was lost in the entire transition and it wasn't executed perfectly. Typically the Irish Meltz manipulated that doubt and tried to create a story, of course.

Oh it came from who shall remain nameless.. I heard it in passing. Disregard.

I was going to give this a miss but caught the replay after getting home early from work. Considering the talent pool of apparent world class workers on the roster, putting on a show this bad is criminal, what the fuck is going on? I think I'll just stick to New Japan. Apparently the AJ/Owens finish was botched and AJ was supposed to go over, I mean, I suppose that would be a viable reason for the abrupt ending at least.

I see Enzo partying with Drake's dad & the Weeknd regularly on instagram, he probably think's he's a bigger deal than he is. That being said as much as he sucks in ring, his promo's the past two weeks have been pretty great, it'd be a shame to see him get shit canned over something so innocent. Big Cass is whatever, Steve Austin is a trump fan, as is many other guys on the roster including JBL, it is what it is. Politics meshing with wrestling sucks, it's part of the reason ZSJ has been repulsive lately.

on Bret's birthday too, that's rough

I'm not really getting the ZSJ hate, outside of the pro-Corbyn meta bullshit he started to incorporate into his entrance since the last UK general election, he's the perfect candidate to be the winner given he lives in the States now and as noted is booked all year round. As much as Juice brought it, Zack had his working boots on last night

I can't watch any of his matches, if I'm passively watching the network and he's involved on an old Nitro or something I will skip forward or turn it off, it's just not right. Like the other dude in this thread, it destroyed any fandom I had left until Punk's promo pulled me back in.

Dave's ratings have taken on a life of their own since the first 6 star match, honestly though, Okada forgot to sell his knee about a quarter of the match in, as much as I hate judging fake fights and if called upon would rate the majority of Strowman's matches as 5 stars or whatever parameters you want to work with because I like what I like, a simple thing like OKADA NO SELLING THE KNEE THAT OMEGA HAS BEEN BATTERING FOR 20 MINUTES is a notch against this match being anywhere near the goat, Dave has lost his mind

The only thing I don't like about Naomi is that dumb robotic consecutive kicks thing she does but I have no problem with her having a lengthy run with the belt, she's come a long way since being a part of Brodus Clay's shtick

So Lana's taking the belt Sunday right? I give her props for nailing that finisher in that dress at least

Oh and whoever booked that main event needs sacking immediately, two really early falls that no-one gave a shit about then an awkward double count-out, such a lazy unimaginative shit show that made both teams look terrible. I know it's in the gif thread but Titus rag dolling Tozawa around was funny, when this cruiserweight ship finally sets sail I hope Tozawa gets kept on, he's money.

so I guess Reigns is going to call out Cena next week which would make sense given Cena's apparently a free agent now. Echo the sentiments regarding the pull apart brawl, excellent stuff.