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It was more important for WWE to get over a new top heel (Because look at that heel roster...it's pretty weak (ADR, Sandow, Wyatts, Axel, Barrett, Shield), with Punk, Henry, Show all turning in the last couple months, there are no heels left, really. Certainly no heels you can build a main event around. Sure, it would've been a great moment to have Bryan win the title and celebrate, but Wrestlemania/Royal Rumble are where you go for great moments, Summerslam is largely about beginning the WM build, however so slowly.

Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Due Date, Old School) is one of those guys who you imagine buys 'Now That's What I Call Music 27' while in line at a gas station and that is his only musical purchase of the entire year. It's not that he uses necessarily bad music but it's all really, really popular/overused music: Kanye West ('Stronger', 'Cant Tell Me Nothin'); Black Eyed Peas (Imma Be); Curtis Mayfield (Pusher Man); Flo Rida (Right Round); Phil Collins (In the Air Tonight); Pink Floyd (Hey You); Neil Young (Old Man). He apparently never listens to the actual songs, and only goes for said artists' most famous, notable songs.

-Wyatts-Kane deal was good. I just genuinely love Bray Wyatt's voice when he does a promo. Dude could read audio books and I would listen to them, like Werner Herzog (Just a very different voice!). -Sandow-Christian was a lot of fun. That bump Christian took off the stairs was some Mick Foley-level-dude-launching-himself-off-a-knee-bump-level flying there. Sandow working the cartwheel in as a counter is so much better than just doing it at the end of the match. It's too bad the MITB briefcase have to be for their own respective titles, because Sandow coming out and cashing in on Cena/Bryan at Summerslam and being Vince's new well-spoken Corporate champion would be killer. -Loved the 6-man. Henry was great here. I loved the part where he faked out the guys on the apron by shouting them. The sequence on the floor was amazing, too, culminating in Rollins' insane tope and Ambrose's great sell of the WMD. -Miz-Swagger was pretty boring. I liked the pre-match spiel where Coulter said that nobody liked the Miz because it's true. If anyone from WWE is reading this, contact me as I've already fantasy-booked Miz' heel turn (It involves a losing streak and Ted DiBiase!). -Bryan-Barrett was really terrific. I liked Bryan channeling all his frustration into that one sequence where he kicked Barrett and alternated with a kendo stick shot and just pummeled him with it. Vince's insane mocking of Bryan's beard and his attempt to communicate a dwarf (I guess?!) was amazing. The last bit with the ref bump, Maddox (who took a nasty cane shot!), Vince teasing putting on the shirt and Triple H was really great and probably should have been done on Raw when more people were watching. Fun show.

So, clearly you meant to type "why wouldn't you make it roar?" So, I thought I'd just throw that up here so no one thinks you're out of you rmind. It just seems like a lot of unnecessary work. I guess it wasn't so much the roaring, as it was the screaming sound it made when it had its "eyes" plucked out. Why would you design a machine to scream when it's in trouble?!

You know, while watching 'Conan the Barbarian' and 'Conan the Destroyer' in the past year, at no point during either viewing did I think "This is good, but it would be so much better if they added a kid doing martial arts", so of course once I'm finally able to track down Red Sonja it has exactly that. Brigitte Nielsen is just a terrible, terrible actress, but she looks the part so well I'm willing to overlook that, and Arnold is back and there's an evil lesbian queen with a mask and...Ernie Reyes Jr...oh...oh man. Every single scene with him is just so annoying. Also, if you were to construct a killing machine and send it after people you want dead, why would you make it roar? Bah! Disappointing. I might put this even below the recent Conan reboot.

Finally got around to watching the rest of this. -Hardy-Styles-Kazarian-Aries was okayish with a stupidly booked ending. Like, why did Roode have to distract the referee so Daniels could Appletini (*Sigh*) Hardy in the face?! Isn't the whole gimmick of the show that there are no DQs?! That's what Tenay and Tazz kept saying all night. BTW, I don't think there's a more cringe-inducing move in all of wrestling right now than Austin Aries clap-his-hands-behind-his-opponent's-head move. That shit is the WORST. He does it so slowly (to get a louder clap sound) that it's always...always obvious that he's simply clapping his hands behind somebody's head and then that guy looks like an idiot selling it. I also enjoyed the part where Aries threw a punch at someone outside and bounced his arm back at himself after punching the rope. That double-ladder collision into the two guys standing on the apron was nuts, though. -Loved Sabin coming out of catering carrying the title, like he just carries it everywhere. -A&8-MEM interview/fight was just dumb. Especially the part where the vicious bloodthirsty biker gang stops beating up the guys they're going to face next week because their music starts playing. At least get some security guys in there to break it up or something. -ODB-Kim-James was fun enough though I still find anything/everything ODB does just annoys/kinda disgusts me. I did enjoy her taking her bra off to choke people with but losing to the other half and just having it hanging out of her shirt while wearing another bra leading to a great Tazz quote: "How many bras is this chick wearing?!" -As much as I was praising WWE for John Cena being the ultimate tweener, TNA is the master at creating tweeners. Just not in a good way, but in a "Are we supposed to like this guy?" way. I mean, Austin Aries has been getting a face push lately, because the crowd is totally into him. So when Sting goes and asks him to help out, what does the brave good guy do? He turns him down. Off-camera. With no reason given, so it just looks like he's a total coward. Which makes him a face? -Rampage-Tito promos weren't bad, actually. For two guys with minimal wrestling training, they pulled this off better than two guys who've been trained/taught in the system for years, like Cody Rhodes and Damian Sandow. "Many of butts" was definitely a highlight. -Joe-Anderson-Magnus-Roode was okay. Again, not sure why the ref has to be distracted so bad guys can throw another appletini in a guy's face. Just for the record: Duct-tape covered hammer > Appletini > Steel Chair > Bra > Kendo Stick in terms of what is the most effective weapon at keeping someone down on tonight's show. Tazz celebrating Roode getting the win when his own "brother" in there was baffling, too. -Main wasn't bad, which I chalk up mostly to Bully being entertaining. Swerve was a swerve but I actually thought it was going to be Tito and Rampage turning on MEM. I guess this makes more sense. Special shout-out to my favourite quote of the night when Tazz was running down Magnus and mocked his white tie and said he had a white tie like for his confirmation and Mike Tenay said something like "Nobody cares" and Tazz went "Thanks...my mom cares."

I thought the opening of Conan was literally the best thing in the movie. Jason Momoa was really boring as Conan. He's much better as a big stoic bad guy in 'Bullet to the Head'

Hmm, she doesn't even get a snappy comeback to...

I own it but haven't watched it. The consensus out there is...no it's not worth it. I might get around to it at some point, still.

I LOVED this show. -Paul Heyman works the crowd so well. He comes out, talks about NXT being the home of the future. Crowd is chanting his name, cheering him. He says NXT is where the next Paul Heyman will come from. He says NXT is where the next BRAAAAAAAAAAAAWK Lesnar will come from. He says it's also where the next...crowd is all amped waiting for a CM Punk mention...Curtis Axel will come from! Axel comes out to big heat and boos. They say there's nobody in NXT who could challenge him which brings out Big E. Langston. And it just reaffirms the point that Big E. needs to be a face tomorrow on WWE TV, he's just so much better. His moves make sense when he can do them in fives with the crowd chanting "Five!" and he just seems like a naturally nice guy. In some ways, I'd kinda like to see the Summerslam mixed tag end in a double-turn with AJ and Dolph back together and a vengeful face Big. E hunting Dolph down. Match was short but fun. Heyman's interference that didn't faze Big E. leading into another great "OH MY GOD! NO!" moment from Heyman. Plus it had the quote of the night, as rzombie noted on his blog: "I just thought of something. If you put Paul Heyman's and Big E's hairdo's together, you'll have one complete haircut."(<--Regal of course). I loved this segment. -Mason Ryan-Scott Dawson was short and kinda pointless. Kayfabe-wise, Dawson should probably fire Sylvester Lefort as I don't believe he's won a match since hiring him as his manager. I love that Enzo Amore guy. There is no way his partner's 7 feet as the announcer said, is there? Mason Ryan is friggin' terrifying. He looks like his skin's going to just explode when he flexes. Okay squash. I'm amazed Ryan's not on WWE TV, quite frankly. -Paige-Summer Rae was great. I mean, it's obvious that Paige is probably the best diva in WWE (Wrestling-wise, at least), but I was surprised at how good Summer Rae is. Instead of being Fandango's dance partner (And she's perfectly fine in that role), she probably should have been brought up to the roster as Layla's new recruit for LayRae (Or SummerLay) as a team because she's clearly the best Diva heel they've got. I love the bitchy cackles she does when her opponent misses a move. -Bayley as Chris Farley from the Chris Farley show is amazing. That segment should have probably been on Smackdown instead. -Main event was a lot of fun. Even Corey Graves didn't look that bad. But Xavier Woods was king-sized in the final stretch, nailing every one of his moves perfectly for good believable near-falls, then final stretch with the perfect timing where Rollins power-bombs him into the turnbuckle and he bounces back and gets CRUSHED by the Reigns spear. This is as good of a Shield match as I've seen since they stopped wrestling Daniel Bryan. Seriously loved this show. It boggles the mind how it can just smoke something like the TNA show that ran on the same night as it, or just be so much better than Raw and Smackdown week in, week out.

It's gonna be an interesting few weeks. Because if WWE pushes Young hard, people are gonna say "It's just because he came out" even though it does feel like the PTPs are always on the verge of getting a major push, they're constantly on TV, featured in the ad for Summerslam etc. etc. And if WWE jobs him out, people are gonna complain "They're only doing it because he came out" neglecting the fact that Young has been getting jobbed out for a loooooong time now.

The key word is "openly". Pat Patterson was well-known backstage to be gay, and on the internet, but was never "openly" out there. Right, that's why Jim Ross said stuff like. "And he's single, fellas!" Still...that's not really "openly" gay. Especially in light of wrestling's history of denigrating heels as homosexual (I mean, Goldust turned face by revealing he wasn't "queer"!), Ross insinuating that Patterson, a heel, is gay, isn't really declaring someone as openly gay. I mean, you could use this same line of reasoning to say that John Cena was openly gay because The Rock said as much. Or how many heels John Cena has suggested are gay. Also, to people saying "So what?", "It's not a big deal", etc. etc. It IS a big deal. It certainly is STILL a big deal. Hopefully, one day, it won't be. Hopefully one day there will just bs some people who are straight, some who are gay etc. etc. But you need only to look at the upcoming Olympics in Russia to see that, yeah, it IS still a big deal to come out as openly gay. And hopefully Young isn't punished for this. And hopefully Young has the courage to stand up and go "Yeah, so what?" And, hopefully, in the not too distant future, media won't have to ask wrestlers, athletes, celebrities and the like this question, because it isn't a question anymore and people are just gay like other people are not gay, and it's no big deal. But, yeah, at this moment in time, this is a big deal. Nice work, Darren!

The key word is "openly". Pat Patterson was well-known backstage to be gay, and on the internet, but was never "openly" out there.

Got a kick out of The Creature From the Black Lagoon with its bizarrely-motivated heroes (Like the scientist who, from the very first possibility of the creature existing wants to shoot it) and it's actually-pretty-awesome-looking creature. Julia Adams was actually more saucy than one would expect from a film of this era, some of the underwater scenes were actually quite well-shot and it was just genuinely enjoyable. I like that it didn't overstay its welcome with the 80ish minute runtime, too. Enjoyed Dredd. The only thing that didn't really do it for me was the obviously made-for-3D effects of the slow-mo drug which were just kind of annoying if you don't see it in 3D and felt like the director trying to marry the concept of action movies and drug movies and make the first action drug movie. But the action scenes were great, I liked the decision to eschew the traditional 'epic boss fight' and have the struggle of making it past all the guys the big obstacle the hero must overcome and then a bit of a thinking man's puzzle that Dredd finds an "innovative" way out of. Also, nice to see Avon Barksdale in a prominent role. I also kinda thought Olivia Thirlby would have been a much bigger star by now as she kinda charmed every scene she was in in 'Juno' away from Ellen Page, then was a solid actress in 'Snow Angels' but she's still just in supporting roles in action movies.

I don't wanna linger in this thread because I haven't finished Season 5 yet and don't want to spoil anything (I started it last Winter but I hate to get to the end and have no more new shows to watch so am taking my sweet time). But of the first four seasons, I'd probably rank them 4 - 2 - 3 - 1. But, I'm planning on going through and watching the whole thing again once I finish. Who's your favourite underrated character (i.e. not Omar, McNulty, Bunk)? I have to give honourable mentions to Bunny Colvin who is just amazingly great as the cop actually trying to make a difference who loses it all trying to make things right but the one who probably stuck with me the most is Cutty who I was just immediately taken with and remember actually closing my eyes at times going "No, no, no, Cutty!" because he just seemed like such a solid dude trying to turn things around. It's at the point now where I'll watch anything and if I spot him I get all excited and shout "Cutty!" like as if it's the same character and he got out of Baltimore, now tending bar (In 'Horrible Bosses').

Also known as Sports...all sports.

The Will Leitch review is quite fascinating. He gave it a B.

Ban. "Cartwright?"

BTW, there used to be so much talk by Vince Russo etc. about tweeners and shades of grey, is John Cena the best tweener of all-time? He acts like a face, does the right thing, but says enough silly stuff to keep the smark-types against him. So, they can use Cena to face main-event heels (Punk and Show last year), upper-card heels (Ryback, Henry) but also returning stars (Rock) and upper-card faces who have to at least appear in a main event (Bryan, Orton). I mean, he really is the all-purpose tweener world champion, because you can program him against ANYONE and he'll make it work.

He's not wrong.

I thought ADR had the best match on the show. Everything he did looked nasty and vicious, the top-rope reverse superplex. Blame Kofi. He couldn't even jump high enough to nail his big flying clothesline, and seemed to mistime his boom legdrop. Do you think Kofi made up for it on the Battle Royal? He had a helluva spot with Swagger and Cesaro. Sure, I'll give him that. Maybe he was so busy going over the physics of what he had planned in his head that he forgot to jump high. Also, this reminds me of my favourite exchange during the ADR-Kofi match when Cole said something about Kingston being a good man and JBL asking why and Cole mumbling something about him jumping high. JBL was amazing tonight. I actually cracked up when him and Lawler were commiserating about the botched ending to the Nattie-AJ deal and Cole said "The most important thing is Natalya won" and JBL added "Twice!"

I thought ADR had the best match on the show. Everything he did looked nasty and vicious, the top-rope reverse superplex. Blame Kofi. He couldn't even jump high enough to nail his big flying clothesline, and seemed to mistime his boom legdrop.

Though that wouldn't be really bizarre choices, given his MO. But, 'Money Talks'...

Inspired by jae bringin up Stanley Kubrick's love of 'White Men Can't Jump'. And it reminded me of this quote from Seth Rogen about Terrence Malick: "“And [Director David Gordon Green] said to me the other day, ‘Guess what Terrence Malick’s favorite movie of the last 10 years is?’” Okay, what? “Zoolander! He knows every word, watches it every week. Which just goes to show, you never can predict these things.” Then, looking up the 'Creature From the Black Lagoon' IMDB page has this tidbit: "Ingmar Bergman watched this film every year on his birthday." inspired me to look around and see if there any other good ones. Paul Thomas Anderson is, apparently, a big fan of 'Heavyweights'. Per Judd Apatow: "For a few years [he and Anderson] had the same agent, and he told me he was a big fan of 'Heavyweights'. He was working with Adam [sandler] on 'Punch Drunk Love'. And it was a great point of pride for me. Also, Quentin Tarantino loves 'Money Talks', while Roman Polanski loves 'Rush Hour'. BTW, I'm not passing judgement on any of these films, it's just funny, I love it that they profess a love for something that goes against the norm instead of sticking to stuff that everyone loves like 'Citizen Kane' or 'Dr. Strangelove'. Anyone got any other good ones?!

-The Neville/Ambrose match was pretty bland, really. They just didn't mesh well, at all. Neville's dive was ridiculous, though. -Emma/Summer Rae was terrific. The Advanced Shopping Trolley was amazing. Also, it goes without saying, but Summer Rae is hot as balls. -Breeze-whoever was entertaining. I'm happy that it appears Breeze read my post from July 25th ("Also, I'd like to see Breeze do his model pout over his prone opponent and tweet that out too.") as that is exactly what he did last night (Minus the tweet). His finisher is more of a set-up move, though. He should probably pay tribute to past models and do the Boston Crab. -Dallas-Krueger was a perfectly acceptable match...but it was pretty boring. I will say I like that Bo Dallas' interview was totally good and I like that they're now moving him more towards heeling it up. But, man, that crowd just HATES him. Impressed that Kruger bit his own hand so hard while in the submission hold that he drew blood. Bottom 3 Performances: 3. Edge Jr.: I actually don't remember what his name actually is, the guy who hangs out with the swarthy Italian guy. He needs to do something other than repeating his partner's catchphrases. And he really looks like a younger, taller Edge. 2. Bo Dallas: His interview kept him out of the bottom spot. He's actually perfectly serviceable in the ring, but the problem is, with him shifting towards being a heel, his ring-style doesn't match as it's all about fighting out of spots and momentum spots. Doesn't work very well when the crowd is booing it. 1. Dean Ambrose: He didn't do anything poorly, he just didn't really impress me at all, unlike pretty much every other time I've seen him. Top 3 Performances 3. Kruger: Looked solid here. I like that sommersaulting clothesline he does over the ropes. There's actually a handful of things he does that really reminds me of early Mick Foley...minus the death wish. 2. Summer Rae: She's really not much of a dancer, but she conveys that level of bitchiness so well. Nailed her finisher perfectly, too. 1. Emma: You have to hit just the right mix of goofiness/silliness to make that gimmick work and she's nailing it right now. Hard to put 2 competitors from a dance battle as 1 and 2 this week but...it was so good.