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The thing about Reigns that makes this problematic is that I have no real sense that he's a creative guy. Every super top "carry the company" guy I can think of played a big part in creating their persona. As stale as it is today, Cena is a creative dude who crafted a look and message that was calculated to appeal to kids and he was brilliant at it, not just at performing it, but at designing it. Hogan played as much a part as anyone else in creating his character. Same with Austin and Rock. With Rock you could see it even before he was allowed to cut loose. With Reigns I don't see that creativity. Yes, it's a more stifling environment now and you are told to read the script. But if he or anyone else is going to be the new Cena, at some point he has to show himself to have a good mind for developing his own character. So far he seems like just another earnest, hard working guy who does whatever Vince says the way Vince says to do it. And if that's all he can do, then there's no way he builds a brand around himself.

Can we just change the name of the flying knee to "The Knee That Beat John Cena But Didn't Beat Roman Reigns"?

The Lego Movie not even getting nominated was the real tragedy of the Best Animated Feature award.

HHH selling the bat like he was Freddie Lounds and Sting was Francis Dollarhyde was weird. He had a sledge hammer. Sting didn't even have it ready, he was pointing it at him like a Kingsmen umbrella. Does it shoot something out of the end?

I didn't mind how that played out. Rusev got out of the STF twice and he kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment. I never felt Rusev was going to lose. The low blow was a cheap shot but Rusev still looked really strong. I don't even care that much that Reigns won. I never thought we'd have Lesnar vs. Bryan which is unfortunate. My one thing about it though is that I don't buy Reigns as a no-selling ass-kicking kind of dude against Lesnar. Brock should probably squash him but we know Reigns is probably winning.. how do they get there without it looking ridiculous? Brock is a fucking monster and Reigns has nothing that should be able to keep him down. Solid show. Crowd sucked. This WrestleMania card... wow.. not good on paper. Very low expectations. Brock losing to a spear would be laughable. Brock losing to an actual spear piercing his body would be laughable. He would just grab you and impale you on the other end and wear you around the rest of the evening.

Naylor never recovered after he dropped the mask. It was sad.

Orton's world title run in 2013/2014 was full of fucking great tv matches and disappointing ppv main events. It was bizarre as hell.

LET'S GO CRAZY.

Here! I'll do the work for everyone! This is what was said about Reigns in the March Madness, starting with Cena. OOOOH WAAAAH - Craig H I like Cena and everything but Roman's been in a ton of OH F I HAVE TO WATCH WRESTLING RIGHT NOW! stuff this past year. - Me Cena's injury and the fact that I didn't think he had a particularly strong tv match year but his standards hurt him here. I could see a case for Cena, but I voted for Reigns - Dylan Waco Everything Reigns has been involved in has been consistently awesome. - Just Drew Roman's in my favorite match of 2013 (Rhodes/Shield) and probably of 2014 (Wyatts/Shield), and he's a central part of why for both. Cena didn't have a down year from March to March, but Roman had a career-making one. - BL88 If there was no shield this last year...imagine how excruciating it would have been to get through week after week. Imagine there's no Cena for the year. I'd miss seeing Bryan beat him with that kick, but apart from that 's pretty good. 's pretty. good. - Piranesi Reigns hit super man punches and flipped his hair in ways that made us all feel funny and it was leaps and bounds better than more Cena matches. - Scraylo Cena has many great singles matches (and some good tag matches as well) and thus Reigns would need to have a ridiculous amount of high-end tag matches to balance and surpass Cena's workload. Considering Roman Reigns would be in 42 of the 50* best television matches of the past 12 months, I think that he's got the volume and quality to do it. - The Damn Yeti Reigns' work in the Survivor Series match was pretty damn boss. Go back and watch him sell the situation and then immediately game plan a way to protect himself and win the match. It really shows that he has an awareness for telling a story and he utilizes his body language and wrestling to enhance that story, really well. He also does this in tag matches where he is constantly engaged and reacting to what's happening in the ring. He's not just an improviser sitting on the back line waiting to tag in and start his scene. He's always apart of the scene, and always "Yes And'ing" - Jaedmc It really comes down to who would I rather watch right now. Reigns is fresh, and he had a breakout year this year. Cena had a good year too, but Reigns simply had a better one. -E.J. Casas matches I have watched this year have all met my already high expectations. Reigns repeatedly exceeded low ones. I think it's really amazing to watch someone improve literally every week before our eyes, but just because someone is constantly getting better, it doesn't mean they are already great. I wouldn't begrudge a person voting for Reigns by any means because he has had a tremendous year, and I have a feel that next year he will cruise through this round if he keeps on his current trajectory. This matchup is kind of like the 89 Pistons vs. young Jordan. It's not quite there yet for Jordan, but once it happens, it's over. - J.R. Goldman Objectively, Roman should not win this. But Roman has been part of so many matches I loved, and got so many cool moments, I can't stay objective on him. - El Dragon I have liked what youtube has to offer on Sombra, but you could probably count on one hand the number of guys that could believably pull off the Royal Rumble performance. - JR MAKE IT REIGN - Craig H I'd say that Roman does just about everything well. We had a discussion on here awhile back about working for the cheap seats and how Cena is the master of that. I'd say Daniel Bryan is in that conversation as well, but Roman is getting to that point. Any time that dude is in the ring, I am captivated. - Craig H What I saw of La Sombra made him seem like a good wrestler! However, Reigns has been in about eight or ten great trios matches plus that awesome Rumble performance, so I'm going with him. - Smelly McUgly don't hate Sombra, though he's not really my favorite kind of Lucha worker. I honestly don't recall a single match or performance out of him in the last twelve months that I thought was better than pretty good, though I recognize that some people absolutely loved the Volador Jr. match. Honestly there are (literally) 64 luchadores I like better than him in the relevant period. Meanwhile Reigns is probably one of my three or four favorite guys in wrestling, a guy who's natural charisma can carry him even when he gets a bit lost on offense, a guy who made the spear not look shitty again, a guy who mastered the art of the slugfest an exceeded all of our expectations for him, a guy who made the crowd go "oh shit, here we go!" when he stepped into the ring with....Titus O'neil. So yeah, Reigns wins this for me easy. - Dylan Waco Roman Reigns is on par with Bryan for being "The Best Hot Tag in Wrestling" right now, which is amazing, since the SHIELD have only really been faces since, what the show after the Rumble? - El Dragon

Don Jardine going in before Demolition isn't THAT terrible.

Blue Pants Dudley

Fast Lane through the eyes of my 8 year old daughter: The opening 6-man tag - She is a big Ryback fan and thought the match was okay. Goldust vs. Stardust - She likes Star/Cody but wasn't a fan of this match at all. Said it was boring. Usos vs. Cesaro/Kidd - She loved this match. When I was getting us some snacks from the kitchen during the match, she'd run in a tell me all the awesome moves they did. Wasn't a fan of the ending but she does like Kidd. Sting/HHH - She could care less but thought for an old guy Sting was hot. Bella vs. Paige - She was conflicted as she likes the Bellas but likes Paige as well. She thought the match was okay but wasn't too excited about it. Ambrose vs. Barrett - She likes how crazy Ambrose is and acts. She calls him a wildman and loves to watch him to see what he'll do next. Wyatt - She thinks he is creepy. Cena vs. Rusev - She is a huge Cena fan and seemed disappointed he lost as she does not like Rusev. Was into the match and thought it was pretty great. She fell asleep before the main event but would have probably been disappointed that Bryan lost. She was also sad that her favorite Brock Lesnar wasn't there tossing people around. She loved the three way last month and didn't think anything came close tonight that she saw. Overall, she enjoyed the show and cannot wait until Mania and seemed excited about seeing Sting vs. HHH.

So hey this was a card full of misfires up to the last two matches. Aside from the big segments, both of which I thought were basically perfect for what they were looking to accomplish. Opening six man tag somehow managed to pick the worst possible guys to work the bulk of the match, leading to a terrible affair with a few good spots. The finish is just as infuriating because it's actually a great double finisher, except it's Kane and Show teaming to beat Dolph in 2015 to set up Randy Orton killing all the heels. Mediocre match that was super frustrating because it could have been good if Dolph/Rollins were more the focus. Misfire. The Dusts had a good little match until the botched finish. Sort of a long game feeling out with Goldust holding back and Stardust just trying to rip him apart. I loved the ridiculous number of counters given how well they know each other and the finish would have been great if the ref hadn't screwed it up. Misfire. Tag Titles felt restrained given the teams. Again, I don't get the heavy push on Tyson when Cesaro is RIGHT THERE and the match was just...weird. Great spots, but the hot tag bit was sloppy and mistimed and the whole match just kind of felt disjointed. No real rhyme or reason and it's like they jammed the tag formula into 3 minutes to set up a 6 minute finishing run. Really brought out the worst in each other and I mean...it was still fun, but not great. Certainly not what it could have been. Misfire. Paige vs. Nikki...man, it was good for what it was. Nikki's improvement is noticeable and I love her working her way through AJPW tributes. Green and finishing with an elbow last month, yellow with the big powerbomb this month. Orange outfit, Nodawa throwing Nikki Bella can't be far off. Paige is Paige so most of the work was good. But the bottom buckle cradle fumbled and the finish was overly abrupt and with the tights pull being kinda flubbed. Sadly another misfire despite good work. BNB vs. Dean...man, I called it. Barrett is the guy that Vince keeps pushing because Vince is really into him despite him never really getting all that good in-ring. Great promo, granted, but Wade should really just be a manager/enforcer deal. His moveset is just such a weird hodgepodge that never really fits any of the gimmicks he's done and he doesn't really know how to structure a match. Ambrose helped a lot with that here and it was a decent deal, but Ambrose is another guy who got super hot on his own merits but isn't a WWE guy and thus has an upper limit on the card. Thus we get the horrible compromise between what the fans want and what Vince wants. Terrible. Misfire. Rusev vs. Cena though...total showsaver. Unsurprisingly, the IWC at large is sleeping on it but this was Rusev's match and his story to tell. Cena is the Ace. He's lost a step or two, but he's still the Ace. Rusev is overconfident because he hasn't really been pushed all that hard so far, but he hasn't faced anyone quite like Cena and it's about 5-7 minutes in when Cena starts cutting off the stuff that usually leads to the end that Rusev starts to realize that he's out of his depth. Most of the time he just has to survive long enough to get the kick and the Accolade, but Cena isn't most guys and as the match goes on you can see Rusev starting to doubt if he can actually get it done. Because as tough as Rusev is, he's never been challenged enough to really have to figure out how to go deep into a match. As it goes longer he keeps getting more and more desperate and it becomes apparent that Cena can survive his stuff and dig deeper. Rusev may be tough enough to survive an STF for a bit or even an AA but he's not sure of it and avoids them desperately, trying to find anything that'll keep Cena down. Superman keeps coming though. Rusev survives each of his bombs once, but he's losing momentum. He gets his opening and finally gets the Accolade but for the first time since he came to the main roster, it doesn't work. So he's forced to cheat. Cena holds up his end by being monster match workrate Cena, but this really is Rusev's match. Then the main event...it's great too. Bryan comes in trying to wrestle like it's 2013, but Roman's got all that shit scouted and schools him for trying. So instead Bryan gets makes an opening with the leg and just uses it to break Roman down. Roman manages to work away from it and his leg recovers, but Bryan gets another opening with the stomach kick and since that works better gets right on it instead. From there he uses a combination of good scouting and clever work to stay on top with a good mix of big spots and striking to keep him down. Roman holds tough and uses big power moves to wear Bryan down himself and in the end it comes down to a war of attrition. Very much becomes a case where Bryan has these weapons that would put down Roman in any other match, but this is for the main event of Wrestlemania and Roman will not die. This constant fight to survive leads to Bryan getting frustrated and making his biggest mistake, leaving him open for the Spear which is a silver bullet and easily THE most protected finisher in WWE right now. Frustrating show on a lot of levels, but those two top matches were great with some of the best storytelling I've seen on the main roster of WWE in some time. Mixed bag, but great matches are great.

I don't know about the toothlessness. Cena's had very few pass out losses in his career, certainly not recently. Rusev's sort of a different beast. He's not just a monster. He sells way too much for that and has this savvy to him. He's not Yokozuna or Kamala or Umaga. He's more like Borga or Koslov but even that's not accurate. They were soldiers, warriors. There's something beady-eyed about him. He's not Oddjob or Jaws. He's one of those post-soviet assassins that they send after Jason Bourne mixed with sort of a character out of an old pulp from the 30s, that sort of clever savage lurking in the shadows. He's unknowable but aware. Monstrous but more human than we'd like to admit.

Vince's troll booking is hilarious it makes reading the post show reactions worth it. I can honestly say I don't give one single shit about anything at Mania other than the crowd reaction for the main event. It kind of feels like the worst possible show given the talent they have. Oh well at least there's still NXT.

Daniel Bryan is a miracle worker. But you already knew that.

March Madness is the best.

Thats my issue. I like DB as much as anyone, but he's the poster boy for people who throw their toys out of the pram when they cant get their own way.

If tonight didn't guarantee Bryan's spot in March Madness I'm going to be pissed. All you fuckers whining about quantity while DB is having a legit MOTYC with Roman fucking Reigns of all people. I'm not even trying to hate on Roman. He really has stepped up his game since the Rumble and I actually think Roman/Brock could be really good. It's just that Bryan/Brock at WM could have been the greatest pro wrestling match of ALL TIME. I truly believe that. It's hard to watch that opportunity pissed away, but here is to hoping Brock signs on for a few more years.

There's a word for that. It's called "apathy." Congratulations, you're right where WWE wants you. They successfully beat you into submission.

You know what. Maybe this show wasn't that bad after all. Sean Hannity ✔ @seanhannity AMERICAN Sniper snubbed by liberal hwood Predictable. #CluelessOscars

no talk about Stardust's fire promo there? no one?

Hey yo, survey says spoiler tag those leaks next time, please. Is that considered a spoiler? If you are reading page 2 of the WWE Fastlane thread AFTER the show has ended, you kind of deserve whatever "spoiler" you might read. He posted them in the monthy wrestling thread before the show started. That's the heat.

Zero investment in Mania right now.

Hey yo, survey says spoiler tag those leaks next time, please. Is that considered a spoiler? If you are reading page 2 of the WWE Fastlane thread AFTER the show has ended, you kind of deserve whatever "spoiler" you might read.

Well, tonight confirmed that even after his long layoff, Daniel Bryan is still the best professional wrestler in North America.

If someone can look me in the eye and tell me that Reigns/Bryan match wasn't fucking tremendous then they need to get there head checked.

My favourite part was how the crowd HATED the idea of Reigns being mentioned with Austin and Rock, but then with Triple H it was just kinda like "eh, sure, whatever".

Absolutely not. The opposite. Every argument you've ever made should be stored in an easily searchable database so that it can be referenced and queried. Obviously a position can change, but you'll have to justify it. The honest folk with internal consistency will slowly rise to the top, while the trolls and contrarians will at last be outed and shunned like the vermin they are.

Hit level 5 in the Iron Banner after 2 games to get me the scout rifle. Picked up the shotgun and the other emblem just for the sake of it since i had the glimmer. Pretty much done with the crucible again now, its not something i'd really play for fun. If there are some tempting items in the Iron Banner next time round though it will probably be enough to change my mind! Just need a ton of shards now and to put some time into my second warlock and i'll have 3 31 characters to just keep trying my luck with on Crota's End until i eventually get those pieces of armor.

So apparently that WAS Will Arnett in the Batman suit during Everything Is Awesome Oh and the suit he was wearing - Val Kilmer's suit from Batman Forever

They could have absolutely made Bryan the new face of the company. They didn't want to. That's Vince's choice and I don't have an issue with Reigns but I don't feel he is ready and I think this whole thing will backfire on them. I don't think your new top babyface should be receiving such little support. I'd be shocked if Lesnar isn't way over at Mania. They did a terrible job booking Reigns since the Rumble.

It doesn't really count as revisionist history if that's what everyone was saying WHILE it was happening. That's just regular history.

It's fine to have a 85% Lesnar crowd. The dude's been booked stronger than anyone, ever. And he was tossing around heel Authority figures not so long ago. So he's not so much a heel anymore, since he went after Seth Rollins' flunkies. I think everyone collectively forgot Reigns has been in a ridiculous amount of the high-end matches. They were all either six-man or tag matches. But he barely was "carried" by Dean or Seth, as has been recently revised in history. He had so much great stuff -- that Survivor Series where he took out 500 people, the Rumble, the final part against the Wyatts, random trash talk moments, him chasing down Del Rio and taking him out in the awesome Shield Destroys Everyone On Smackdown match.. When it clicks, he's going to be huge. And guess what? He's now one more high-end solo match from clicking now. I'm glad they stuck with what they wanted to go with from the start.

I just want to note that I watched Tegan and Sara and that was about it. My mind is still blown seeing T&S on the Oscars.

Orton's pants are signed for fewer dates than BARACK LESNAR

There is alot of criticism (most of it being 'he's not Bryan Danielson') but his Superman punch cannot possibly be one of them. They've found their next Cena in Reigns alright. Any good he does gets drowned by hatred because he's not so and so.

Why the fuck did Orton do a surprise run-in in his wrestling gear? Lameeee

That's some high-quality video you've got there.

Tell that to Jimmy Del Ray.

The annoying ringsiders made up for it. Especially the one guy that kept yelling "YOU STARTED IN MEMPHIS" at Sting. He said some other stuff also but I tuned him out. "ITS A GOOD OFFER, STANG!"

Yeah, you need to find someone other than Daniel Bryan that Reigns can have a match like that with before you say this.

Let's not pretend this gear wasn't fucking awesome.

Re-sign Resign 2 entirely different words

Bigger waste of 3 hours tonight - fast lane or the oscars? Trick question, since the oscars will be wellpast 3 hours.

In hindsight, we should have known better. A gunshot to the chest is barely a 1 out of 10 on the Sasuke bump scale.

Except it's not a child but a 35 year old man in a Green Lantern shirt.

Bob Holly talked about this match in his book. He said that you could hear Shane McMahon cussing Jarrett up and down and trying to fight him while Jarrett was in the office with Vince and Shane trying to get his money. Jarrett wouldn't go into the ring until his wife called him up and told him the money was wired into his account and that after the match, he went back, picked up his stuff and went to the airport. Didn't bother changing out of his gear or even showering all of the flour and crap off of him. Road Dogg watched his stuff while he was in the ring so that no one would fuck with it.