Uncle Coaster

I've seen Ivan preach. He started in character for the first few minutes, but pretty quickly started talking in his normal voice.

I absolutely wish there were a more exciting story at the top of the WWE right now. No doubt about it. Evil authority is played out and boring. However, I am surprised at the reaction to last night's show specifically. In my opinion, the story has progressed rather naturally for about two months now. Last night's show I thought did the best to advance the story of any show in a while. We got the twist of Rollins being added to the Royal Rumble main event and the firing of Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan, which at least adds intrigue as to how they will come back. It has pretty much been a disinteresting story, in my opinion, but I thought it has all at least made sense. I'm surprised anybody could have gone into last night expecting anything different/better.

I was at Mania XXV and consider Taker-HBK my favorite match I've ever seen in person by a wide margin. The atmosphere at least in my section was off the charts. That being said, I don't think I've watched it at all since because I don't want to tarnish my memory. It was awesome, I'll never forget it, and I don't want that ruined.

I watched the 1994 King of the Ring last night for the first time since seeing it air live. Art Donovan was even more glorious than I remembered or stories I've heard since. It's amazing how Gorilla blatantly ignored him, while Savage tried to answer him from time to time. Speaking of Savage, I remember at the time not caring for him on commentary but watching the '93/'94 Raws lately I have to hand it to him for trying to get the New Generation over. He was rooting for the good guys and it gave them some credibility, I think.

I'm not quite there, but I can see myself rounding the corner. I'm torn between the fact that I like most of the characters and overall development, but the announcing makes it brutal and some of the details in the storytelling is baffling. I still enjoy it more than I don't, but they seriously need to refresh some stuff starting with the way they handle the announcers. I was a Jerry Lawler fan for a long time as a kid and I've heard Cole call some good matches, but they way they are today is just so unlikable that it's hurting the show for me. I believe they should split the announcing crew into a two-man team on the ramp that are your storytellers. They talk over the in-ring promos, the entrances, recaps, etc. Then you have a two-man team at ringside who only talk bell-to-bell. They are your serious guys. That way, WWE can focus on the entertainment that they love to do, but can still highlight the in ring talent when it matters.

This week's episode seemed like an episode of 1980's Superstars. That's not a bad thing. While nothing fascinating happened, by the end of the episode I found myself caring more about nearly every character that appeared. I did not care at all for Enzo Amore when I first saw him. He's growing on me, though. Is he the only guy who looks directly into the camera during backstage segments (when there isn't anyone interviewing them)? He's done it two weeks in a row and I like it. He's told a joke or said something important and then looks into the camera briefly as if to say, "you catch that?". I like Bull Dempsey. I would have liked to have seen him call an audible in the ring and pause when the crowd counted to like 20-21 and wait for them to get to 22 and then just wallop his opponent and shout something like "who cares!". The announcers could have done a better job getting over that Bull just wanted to beat on his opponent and not beat him quickly. Either way, I'm assuming he'll meet Corbin on the 11th and I will be watching excitedly. We really don't know how much potential either of these guys have but this will give us a taste. I don't post much here but I think this is my third post in the last few weeks that has mentioned how much I love Bayley. She is such a likable character and I am firmly on the bandwagon that says the WWE has an untapped market segment in pre-teen and teen girls that would get behind her if she is handled properly. She could make the WWE a ton of money. I wasn't paying attention to the finish this week and I want to watch it again because to my wandering eye it appeared like she got sad for a second and then just got pinned. Didn't make sense. I like Alex Riley as "The Analyst" on the raw and ppv pre-shows but I now agree that he is no good as the heel announcer. Three people in the booth doesn't work, especially when all three are just learning the craft. They spend too much time talking about what they like and not enough time talking about the wrestlers themselves. Knock it down to the new guy and Jason Albert and it could work.

Fair enough on the first point...I thought decimating Team Cena was intended for the other members besides Cena himself, which has been the story for the last few weeks but I admit to not watching much of the show yet. On the second point, I don't think they waited until 6 days to promote the match, though. The whole story was who would "step up" or "survive" to join Team Cena. It really didn't matter who it was in order to sell the show. Whether that build worked or not is up for debate for sure, but I don't think this was a case of them waiting until they were a week out from a major show when in fact they'd been building to it for several weeks. Now, the rest of Survivor Series? That's been poor, but I thought the build to the main was fine (although i agree it seems it was set up for Orton).

I normally dislike the music playing before someone comes in for the save, but I thought it worked in this case. The point of the segment was to finally reveal Team Cena after weeks of The Authority thwarting his efforts to put together a team. Stretching it out in dramatic fashion worked for me. Cena was never in physical danger out there. There were no threats of violence. I'm curious, though, how you would have laid out the segment and still kept the "reveal" aspect of it? Cena staying on the ramp to begin with is about all I can come up with, but he was there for a contract signing and the contract was in the ring. He didn't even know he'd have a team when the segment started.

I only saw the final segment, but I enjoyed it. Took me a while to notice Harper carrying the IC strap. Dolph leading the cavalry to support Cena was pretty cool, Big Show was ok, but then I loved the Rowan reveal. It was a lot like the old random guys thrown into the elimination tags but with an "ah, ok, I guess it makes sense" kind of vibe to it. Either way, Rowan is different and thus good. I actually liked the Cesaro tease, too, Of all the trolling they could do, that was actually kind of funny. I had the same reaction the crowd did when his music first hit, which was not much of one at all, so was fine with him not joining Team Cena. And I'm a big Cesaro fan, too. The crowd wanted Ryback and they got him. I was good with that, too. I'm glad to see him getting the reactions he has been getting since returning. We'll see how long they can keep it up this time.

I had never seen Hideo or Finn before NXT but was well aware of their reputations. After the last month of TV I am completely invested in them as wrestlers. A simple, yet well executed story. Bayley continues to make me want to watch tv. There's something about her that I just love...and I don't mean that in the creepy way at all. I'm not one of those "WWE creative can't do nothin'" type guys, but I have my doubts that she'll be given the opportunity to be this character on the main roster. I hope I'm wrong, because like so many others have said, it could be an absolute gold mine for them if she is given that opportunity. NXT is quite frankly like a throwback to wrestling from the 80s. One hour a week, you don't see everyone every single week, and the stories play out over several weeks/months and make sense. Every episode ends with me looking forward to next week. It is my favorite tv show by far right now and alone is worth $9.99 (except for new subscribers in November).

Well, it probably didn't help that the UK launch was delayed by a month... That's true, but their international market is so strong and they ended up going to more than 170 different countries and only getting about as many people as attend two strong houses. WWE has long been good at controlling expenses. They are fortunate that when business is down they can cut slack and it won't show up in their product. Unfortunately, they tend to go to personnel first when cutting, but it does make sense. I'm looking forward to the conference call this morning. The last one had some surprisingly upbeat analysts. I hope somebody gets on the call today and is strongly disappointed in the subscriber number. I want to hear their response.

Yeah, 30,000 international is shocking to me.

I thought all of the matches that were not held inside the cell were fun. I'm getting more invested in Rusev with every show, I still think Mizdow has potential to be near the top of the card some day (although I don't expect it), and darnit i liked both women's matches as well. Overall, a very enjoyable show. I did chores during Cena-Orton, just wasn't feeling it. I was definitely disappointed in Ambrose/Rollins. It wasn't so much the ending, where it may be leading, etc, but because I was hoping that this would be a breakout performance for the two of them. I thought the potential for them to main event for 20-25 minutes was gigantic and the booking didn't really give them that chance. I'm a Bray fan, so anything that puts him back in the spotlight is ok with me. I have no problem with Ambrose losing or with Wyatt interfering and I think it will be interesting to watch play out. I just hope we eventually get to see Ambrose vs. Rollins back in the spotlight like this some day.

I've absolutely enjoyed reading the last few pages. Craig has explained very well that sometimes people with power think they know what's best, even if it isn't, and it can be frustrating. Then Greenbat is getting frustrated because he doesn't like the main angle for exactly that reason. Well played, WWE. Well played.

I have the Von Erich game. Got it for Christmas one year back when it came out. Loved playing it and am still known to break it out from time to time.

re: The Flying Goat Another thing I forgot to add when it comes to announcers....it's ok to take wrestling seriously. We all know the entire premise of wrestling is ridiculous. We don't need to be reminded of it each week. Oh...and why don't (m)any of the women have last names? Or foreigners have first names?

I'm 41 and still love WWE, but... - Long talking segments. The most glaring flaw of the 3-hour era of Raw, imo. I don't want to watch people talking this long on a wrestling show. King Kong Mosca didn't need 15 minutes to break a water pitcher over Pat Patterson's head. Piper's Pit never went nearly that long. Say what you want to say and get it over with. If you want to talk about wrestling, start that nightly studio show on the Network that was first mentioned back in January. - Commentators ignoring matches. I know that commentators have been entertainers since Ventura and even before, but at least they focused on the matches and the importance of winning the matches. It's been mentioned before, but there is so little emphasis on winning that it seems like the only ones who care are those who bitch and moan online about someone not getting a push. This should be the commentators job. - Lack of style clashes. Somebody mentioned this in another thread recently (and it too has been mentioned often throughout the last few years), but nearly every wrestler is the same now and wrestles the same way. Where's the variety?

Not sure why, but every time I see that picture of Neidhart I think it's Rick McGraw at first.

Attended night 2. It was my first Chikara show since night 2 of the last Tag World Grand Prix, so it has been several years. I didn't really know most of the wrestlers or much about the storylines other than what I read over the last few weeks. Overall, I enjoyed myself and thought it was easily worth the $20. Seemed to be a bit too much comedy for my tastes, but it did make the main event featuring Eddie Kingston that much more different and exciting to me. Match of the night for me was the opening four-way. I'm not a huge flippy fan, but when it is done well it can be great. I liked that a lot. The second four-way, I though, came across as a bunch of people doing stunts, so it was a clear difference between how to do it right and how to do it poorly. I may try to follow Chikara a bit more closely now and see if I can get back into it.

I had never seen him, either. Only knew his name from reputation. Now I've seen him and am already invested in his character. Seems so simple when it is done right. Bull Dempsey has the potential to some day be my favorite wrestler. Not sure what his potential is as far as moving up the card, but I dig the guy. Reminds me of the older vets that would come in as heels during the 1979-1983 WWF when I was just a wee one. Not much more I can say about Bayley that hasn't already been said. She stands out. I want to give her a hug so bad...and I say that in a purely clean and innocent way. Between the main roster and NXT the WWE has Paige, AJ, Emma, Bayley, Charlotte, and Sasha...all women I enjoy watching immensely. Best time to be a fan of women's wrestling in the US in a long time.

I felt like a kid at the Smackdown taping last night. I was giddy over high fiving Michael Cole, Big Show and one of the Colons, and then topped it off by fist bumping Roman Reigns.

"I'm over here" actually had me look up from what I was doing and take notice. A great line. Also, Belly-to-Bayley is the best name for a finisher in a long, long time. NXT has really been doing good by women's wrestling in the last year.

The most amazing thing about this is that just about a year ago the WWE embarked on one of their most amazing journey's ever (the Daniel Bryan climb to the title). Whether it was what they planned or not, that was the ultimate example of southern style wrestling. EDIT: I should say the ultimate example of the "journey" not just the generic term southern style wrestling.

I used to enjoy the Tag World Grand Prix but always had something come up to prevent me from going to a Trios tourney. Hoping this year I get to go. My dream team: Crime TIme and Akeem

At one time my favorite wrestler was "Dangerous" Danny Davis...by a wide margin. It was my first experience with an evil ref that was actually a ref (not a guest referee turned bad) and I bought into him hook, line and sinker. I vaguely remember a match on Action Zone pitting Mantaur against Aldo Montoya. I am pretty sure it was them. I also remember going to class the next day and telling people, "This is a great example of why the New Generation is going to be just fine."