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Yep. The three main matches of Summerslam feature three regulars vs two non-wrestlers who go back to their normal lives after the show and one part timer who was hot a decade or two ago, depending on how generous you're being. Nobody is a draw because Vince was tired of building draws only to have them leave, so when he needs someone to draw, he has to rely on those guys that were actually built up back in the day. What a sad, laughable mess this wresting company provider of streaming content is. Glad I stopped watching them five+ years ago and get all my schadenfreude second hand through podcasts and reading posts here.

As a dedicated e-fed participant in the early 2000’s it’s becoming patently obvious that Vince is running Raw like a gigantic e-fed. The characters he writes get pushed. The wrestlers he kind of likes get enough to be prominent. Poor old Kross forgot to submit his RP this week and got jobbed out with minimal writing effort.

Nikki won the women’s title and Kross looked stupid in his debut. Best RAW of the year.

Oh. My. God.

I just looked it up. The night after Royal Rumble 2014 (the night they had Triple H rant about "your friend Mark" crying on Twitter) drew 4.7 million viewers. The night the McMahon family came out and did the "keep watching, we'll do better" promo drew 2.5 million viewers. The second to last Thunderdome show on July 5th did the lowest rating in the history of Raw, 1.4 million viewers. WWE just trademarked the phrase "complaining is not conversation” according to today's Observer Daily Update. At what point does the light bulb go on and they realize treating your customers like shit for almost a decade has been a bad business strategy? Sure profits are high. And they will be for the foreseeable future. But the bubble IS going to pop. They don't respect the fan base, and actually despise it. That's the point of everyone ranting about the bad booking decisions. At a certain point the viewership is going to drop so low they aren't worth the billion dollar contracts. You'd think with such clear and obvious evidence of people not liking what they're doing, they'd change some of their ways. But nope, they dig in deeper. It's gonna get worse before it gets better.

"Look, I know I still think this guy is just an entrance and a manager. But I didn't want him booked in a way that actually reflects how shitty I think he is! Umm... I don't like him, but he seemed to be a fit for the main rosterwhich never seems to be a compliment" seems to be the prevailing mood. There is no principle of the matter. If the dingdongs in charge decided they see him the way most vocal internet fans see him, the people in histrionics about them potentially cutting bait are working themselves up over someone they don't even care about. Just bizarre. But any chance to scream about the boogeymen doing these bad things to people who let's be honest we don't really think ought to be presented as a star, 'cause they suck good lord are they boring when does Joe choke him out. And just in case anyone is precious about such things, anything about protecting the C-show belt in a company with 800 worthless belts gets the hardest possible eye-roll. Fans will. The narrative won't.

He’ll make this same face when the Feds show up at his front door to ask him where he was January 6th…

You liked the show. Other people didn't. You like to judge the on air show as an on air show. Other people like to judge a scripted wrestling program on the purpose of the scripted stuff. Why is the way you watch "the right" way? Everyone has an opinion and they're all equal. Some people judge movies on the story presented in the movie. Other people judge movies on casting choices and box office success. There's no "right way" to discuss wrestling. Wrestling is for everyone. We shouldn't be cannibalizing our own here lol. My opinions on the show vary. I mean during the pandemic Raw was just unwatchable. I didn't think this was a great show, but things are happening and it was definitely watchable. Cena opening the show gave it a real shot in the arm. He's fresh and exciting in a way that most of the regular roster is not. Sometimes going away is the best thing that can happen to you. In my head I expected the challenger for Lashley to be Keith Lee. Open challenges are generally always a vehicle to debut or have someone return that is supposed to be a surprise. But this did nothing for either guy. Lashley smoking Kofi made him look like a beast. Why couldn't he have smoked someone else? A dominant squash can sometimes be more worthwhile for a character than beating a name guy. Feel like Ricochet pinballing for Lashley made more sense. And Keith Lee getting a big dominant win to establish that he's back would have certainly been better for him. This all leading to 55 year old Godlberg challenging 45 year old Lashley in the 100 year epic... yuck. Because ya know with a record of 0-1 on the year Goldberg def deserves a title shot ? The Kross thing is just the worst. I do not like the guy when the bell rings. But he has equity they have invested in him. He has squashed all of NXT and he's their champ. Making him lose in 2 minutes is just a stupid move man. Like if Marvel shelled out a ton of money to buy back the exclusive rights to Venom and had him show up in Ant Man and had Ant Man defeat him with only 5 minutes of screen time. Just such a staggeringly bad business decision. I don't hate the concept, had it been with a less protected NXT guy. Developmental prospect buying his own hype and realizing he isn't as big of a deal as he thought when he makes it to the pros is a fine story to tell. Just not with an undefeated monster that's also the brand's champion. They took away his entrance, his hot chick, and his aura. Then the narrative when they release him will be "god damn these wrestler's today just can't grab the brass ring". I also called Nikki cashing in. They are dead set on getting Charolette to 16 time champion. So I fully expect her to win the title back next week on Raw. This was a cool moment for Nikki but you guys are kidding yourself if you think it's about merch or any of that. This was legitimately just an easy way to get rid of the MITB case and get Charolette one number higher. That's it. Charolette wins the title back next week. Does a post match beat down. Becky returns to set up Summer Slam. Nikki cuts promos about "I'm on the right track. I'm almost a super hero. I won my first title. I just gotta keep working and when I become a full on super hero I will win the title back and the world is mine". They've been pretty consistent with one big surprise per show now with audiences. Balor. Cena. Goldberg. Friday will be Sasha coming back probably. Then Becky on Raw. I actually like this method. Spreading the shots in the arm out to keep some momentum. And giving an anyone can show up feel is a really smart way to do it. Overall this wasn't a terrible show or anything. But the band aid of excited hot crowds that miss wrestling is only going to last so long. If they don't fix the way they treat everyone like a nobody, they will be back to shedding viewers around Survivor Series.

Congratulations!

The MITB concept is amazingly stupid but HURRAY FOR NIKKI!

Release Vince. Big savings there. Dude hasn't drawn since the 90's.

Can only imagine who they are planning on giving this one too. I look forward to the shirt tied to it on the back that says "If you can't say anything nice don't saying anything at all" Because of this, AEW is going to trademark a similar thing saying "Shut the fuck up or we will block you on social media"

HHH thought Vince and Dunn would love Karrion Kross because he looked at Kross, and he thought, well, this guy has: Really short hair Intensity! crappy tattoos boring promos really boring matches Intensity! And thought he was the new Randy Orton.

This is your regular reminder that Vince dislikes a) fat guys and b) guys who got over elsewhere purely due to booking. Keith Lee is an awesome big man worker who does cool shit? Well cover up that disgusting adipose tissue, cut his offense down about 95%, and job him out. Karrion Kross, I don't really like but can't deny that he at least had something, got everything that got him over taken away and was likewise jobbed out. WWE is my favorite slow motion car wreck. If 2021 Vince was running 1983 WWF, he'd be jobbing that Hogan kid on the syndicated shows to test him.

I know he’s trying to invoke Onita, but he does realize that everybody born before 1990 is really thinking of Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn, right? i’m just waiting for somebody in production to purposely slip in the Swamp Thing cartoon theme song to pop me. Actually they could Jimmy Hart that Swamp Thing song, and swap certain words for “AEW”, and “Wrestling”. You can also replace the main hook from “Swamp Thing” to “Mox-ley”. Let’s get corny with it.

[record scratch] [freeze frame] Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

All of NXT looked stupid. This is their UNDEFEATED, two-time champion who just beat the company's other FOUR biggest stars in ONE match. Does Vince think NXT is a rival promotion he bought? The Invasion didn't even bury WCW this deeply.

BUCKS IN SIX BUCKS IN SIX BUCKS IN SIX SUCK IT FROM THE BACK, NERDS

Not again...

When you interact with people in these discussions, you're incredibly cynical and condescending. You could try cutting that out and maybe try empathizing to understand where people are coming from instead of shitting on them. I suspect you already know this though and have little interest in doing so because acting in the former allows you to draw or troll people into arguments and fights. I'd hope that's not the case. More than enough people have done enough legwork to explain why this matters even if they don't care for Kross.

As a guy that is thoroughly in the Kross being terrible and get off my TV camp, Jeff Hardy coming out to No More Words and beating him warmed my soul. From what I saw, a pretty good Raw! First one of those in a long ass time.

Quintuple post? Is that a record?

You know I was gonna do this: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!! The Ouzo is flowing tonight, folks!

Can't wait for @Lawful Metalto acknowledge Giannis as the Head of the Table and his Tribal Chief ?

Why were people into NXT in the first place? An hour a week meant that people were protected and while it wasn't exactly a studio feel, it was a throwback feel. You didn't see every wrestler every week. They built towards big shows. In general, the lack of overexposure allowed people's poor qualities to be hidden or for them to be used in entertaining ways. There were other throwback elements like having Regal on commentary or Dusty being on screen almost every week, and then later on things like a tag tournament for a cup or the themed shows. Or just Renee being there as insanity happened around her like Lance Russell in Memphis (or Kermit). It let us see a bunch of people we enjoyed as indy stars on the WWE stage but in a way that they were treated better. It was basically WWE's take on indy wrestling, which let it shine on the big stage. It made it all feel more legitimate, like they "made it." The touring shows were rare and it was still special to see them and to see something you wouldn't normally get on TV, whether that was Bayley and Finn singing or what. They pushed women (and to an pretty equal degree junior heavyweights) in a way that was never even imaginable in WWE previously. I imagine half of that stuff isn't in existence for NXT anymore and the other half doesn't matter because it's become commonplace across the business.

Here's the problem; To Vince, and probably to a lot of people around him, nxt just does not fucking matter. We've seen too many times in the last 5 years or so that outside of one Survivor Series, the higher-ups don't see nxt as anything but a closet to keep performers they think they might need one day. Vince is too busy eating steak wraps with horseradish sauce and ketchup to give fuck number one about big dumb dipshit Karrion Kross and his unbeaten streak in nxt, or how it makes Cole, Ciampa et al. look like jerks for not being able to beat him. None of those guys ever have a chance of being anything on the main roster anyway. Cole, O'Reilly, Gargano, Thatcher, Dunne, whoever. Not a single one of them has anything approaching main event size. I can hear some of you saying "size doesn't matter anymore," but let's look at the two top guys on the main shows and the performers orbiting them. WWE is the only institution on earth where Kofi Kingston would be considered "small" and he just got his ass handed to him to build Lashley up even more. So the welfare of the remaining nxt performers is inconsequential. They don't matter and if there were any doubt remaining, VInce sees that show as something to keep Hunter busy. Karrion Kross also has what I like to call "Mike Awesome Syndrome." He's big for the small pond he was in, but he's gonna wind up in the ring with guys like Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, Sheamus, Randy Orton and Damien Priest and he isn't gonna stand out. He isn't charismatic enough to get over without Scarlett, and she ain't walkin' through that door. If Vince sees Keith Lee as "just another guy," Karrion Kross has no chance. No sense in getting yourself worked up over how him losing makes the third brand look.

i thought it was dumb because he was still NXT champion. Made the rest of the brand look like a joke. Had nothing to do with kross

Super-fun show to attend. Had Omega's blood splatter on to me when the two were brawling outside. That's a first for me attending a show. lol Here's some vids I took, including the above-mentioned brawl as well as Sami looking directly in to my camera before the piledriver through the table.

That people are defending such horrible booking decisions is baffling to me. Were people defending that time Brock beat Kofi in mere seconds as well? I didn't check too far back then, but I bet so. I think fans have become desensitized from years of shit booking. The "consensus" (I like him) that Kross is bad is irrelevant here and I don't see how it justifies this. This isn't like calling up someone random from NXT (No Way Jose, EC3, etc) and crushing them. That's dumb enough as it is (Why even call them up if you don't like them?). This was the champion who represented NXT. A wrestler who has crushed the rest of the roster there. Did NXT put too many of their eggs in one basket? Maybe. But WWE does the same, albeit with wrestlers who wrestling geeks prefer to watch, I guess. But if they tried to spread the eggs around more the fans would just complain anyway that nobody is special and they're only trading wins. Now the point to anyone who has been paying attention is that NXT's roster is full of losers and everything they did to build a monster champion was seemingly for nothing. Veteran Jeff Hardy (though he's someone who has lost to everyone but Cedric Alexander for months now) beating Kross isn't inherently bad. I get it, Kross sucks so people think it's funny. But it sure as heck shouldn't have happened before Kross put over SOMEONE in NXT first. ANYONE. Even if Kross gets a revenge win next week (Jeff Hardy has his solo music back, so maybe not?), I feel NXT looks bad in this decision. But let's say it doesn't matter. That they and the fans will forget about it. Okay, I'll pretend that argument works for a moment. Why do it anyway? Jeff Hardy could have beaten anyone else. He's probably not going to challenge for the NXT championship. It just looks petty and spiteful. And if they didn't mean to crush Kross here, then they're more incompetent than I thought. They stripped him of everything about his presentation but his music to make him just an ordinary guy. It's like they wanted to hammer home how much they think he sucks. I get it. It's what WWE does to most NXT call-ups to make them seem unimportant. But they seriously couldn't wait till he was no longer the NXT champion for that? I'd go on about Keith Lee's treatment in another giant paragraph, but at least they're trying to make Lashley look as as strong as possible for *sigh* Goldberg. Well, that and I feel they buried Keith Lee a long time ago anyway. Glad for Nikki Cross, though. At least unless she loses it in her first defense in a week or so. Not sure if I should bother hoping for better.

Just saw this now. Yeah, that's exactly what it reminded me of, that and Takagi's assault on Tenryu before the Koloff match, but mostly the RWTL league match as that had a big effect on me. As for Tenryu, there's always an element of hubris to him, or defiance. Rebellion. Dare I say Revolution. And I'm not sure I see that in Kawada later on. Kawada has a chip on his shoulder. There's almost something more nihilistic about it. Right around this period, Tenryu is leaping right into all of the red jacket guys just to poke fate in the eye because he can. You know, to prove he's alive and that he matters. I don't get the impression Kawada would do that in the same way. But Kobashi might. I think the difference is that Tenryu does it to tear down false idols and the idea of idolatry itself and Kobashi does it to prove that he belongs along side them, that he's worthy of standing with them, that he does not fear their wrath, no matter how devastating it may be. You can get the same end result and the same level of spirit (they both dare) but Tenryu tears down the establishment and Kobashi builds himself up. 1/28/90: Rip vs Baba: Just a minute really. Fun but not nearly as fun as a longer look would have been. I think it might be a little clipped but who knows. This is Baba's last single's match? Rip was just happy to be there. Oh yeah. 1/27/90: Bulldogs/Kikuchi vs Fantastics/Fuchi: Why do I keep watching interesting looking Bulldogs matches? This was fine. I barely remember it. A lot of action. A lot of noise. The very best part was the Fantastics clearing the ring and strutting and inviting Fuchi in who outright refused. I think Fantastics lost the offense for a bit there too. My amazing source during the 80s isn't as comprehensive by far in the 90s so it's all been a real struggle to get footage organized. There's the facebook group but that doesn't play well on the phone which is what I use as I'm running. I'm not 100% sure the best path moving forward. I'd like to stick with it until Tenryu leaves at least and it seems crazy not to go into 91 even if I stop there, but part of the appeal of this was that it was easy.

As always, fuck the Olympics.

The swing in consensus on Kross from merciless declarations of "this guy is the drizzling shits" to "how dare they drive this bus over him" is too funny. People are wild.

On one hand, big facts. On the other, from this list Snitsky was actually over for a time and Kross will never do anything better than "Tomko, give me a beat".

When Jesse would name drop the bands he partied with he would always mention the lesser known members to make it more believable. He’d never say I partied with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, he’d say “I partied with my good friends Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and the rest of the Stones.”

Last night was Karrion Kross' birthday. You can pretty much guarantee they'll use this meme in the next Botchamania:

Well, here's a match-up and a half.

I have a certain nostalgia for that fashion. Thinking about walking into a Pacific Sunwear, and buying the dumbest clothes gives me the warm fuzzies.

Vince probably had Kross losing tonight as a shot to HHH for losing the Wednesday Night WAR to AEW. DDP says I lost to Sara so it could be a lot worse.

No, it was the beginning! So now Kross and Hardy will trade wins and nobody gets over.

Fun show. Both MITBs were good. Figured Nikki was winning as she had the most momentum going in. Was pulling for Riddle in the men's MITB. Tag titles match was solid. Lashley was put over excellently and is looking better than ever lately. Charlotte/Rhea was great, didn't expect the title change but loved the match. Awesome main event. Result never in doubt but I still bought Edge's last Spear near fall. And agreed 100% with @SirFozziethat the Seth backstage promo prior to completely ruined any speculation to the eventual outcome of the match. Cena's pop was an all time great, best/biggest pop in years, loved it and put the event over the top.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm happy for Nikki cashing in and becoming champion and having that moment for her, especially with all the garbage she's had to put up with the for last year when it seemed like WWE was outright ignoring her and she was relegated to posting plucky underdog videos on Twitter. It seemed like WWE wasn't willing to even book her or give her the time of day at all. On the other hand, the rest of the booking for this show was abhorrent. Fans have been wondering and waiting for months for Keith Lee. He comes back tonight and jobs to Lashley right off the bat. Just how do you do that? Why not build up Keith Lee for a match with Lashley? Why are no enhancement or job guys just to make guys like Lashley or Kross look good for one night and say "Keith Lee is back baby! Welcome back Keith Lee! Get ready to bask in his glory for real this time!" Even if you're not a Karrion Kross, I don't know how the hell you walk away from that with any sort of positive opinion for his debut on Raw. Jeff Hardy has hardly been a serious face in the last year. A few weeks ago he was getting squashed on back-to-back shows by Jinder Mahal. So you give Hardy the big upset and now what? Kross' big speech after the match sounded ridiculous because the dude lost. He sounded like a loser. WWE decapitated a guy who has been a huge monster on NXT right off the bat. If Kross can survive this and come back from this, it will be a miracle. Where was the rush to call all these people up from NXT if this is how you're going to book them? If this was LA Knight, I can buy Jeff Hardy winning the match, but Kross has now been cut off at the knees right away. This feels like the post YOU ARE THE AUTHORITY ERA all over again. Even Keith Lee's comeback was just used as a transition to bring back Goldberg, f'n 54-year-old Goldberg, to come in and feud with Lashley. This is really where we are in 2021. No serious contenders on Raw to face Lashley but you have to pull Goldberg from the mothballs again to wrestle for the WWE Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg, who works like 2 minutes tops per match. Sure Goldberg is in great shape for his age, but I still can't take this seriously. The only thing different about tonight was the booking was still trash, but live fans were back, just like the same trash booking before the lockdown.

The Body can’t fight that feeling anymore.

I am here for considering 1997 as being "semi-recent"

I'd be more concerned with what Darby does OUTSIDE of the ring. That guy is like the 2021 version of Johnny Knoxville - so maybe that's why I gravitate towards his act so much. Most of us grew up in the Jackass era and from his social media, that seems to be the type of a guy he is. Eddie Kingston is a guy that I'll be honest, I knew his name but had never seen him work really let alone cut a promo before AEW. Now, he's in my top 3 favorite acts in wrestling right now. Yeah he's 39 and yeah it would've been nice if he had those 10 years, but think about his story. This is a guy who wasn't even in AEW a little over a year ago. It was a pandemic Cody Rhodes open challenge that brought Eddie Kingston to AEW and that one performance alone gave him what he has now. I mean, the guy was in a PPV main event for the title not too long after that. I'm just happy AEW came into existence so people like Eddie Kingston could get the shot that they so clearly deserved.