Domino_Not_Deuce

It's almost like screwing your most over act out of your World Title twice in as many months would get under people's skin!

Henry's retirement fakeout was the best promo/angle of 2013. I enjoy Wyatt's crazy-ass ramblings but Henry nailed every single aspect of that retirement perfectly.

Inserting Rey Mysterio, as broken down as he may be, into the Shield/Rhodes/Bryan/Usos/Harper mix is basically the most beautiful thing they could have ever done. We were a Hero/Cesaro team away from me weeping tears of joy at WWE's feet.

Still watching 2001 WWF and it's really a mixed bag post-Mania. It picks up with Benoit and Jericho working against Austin and there's some excellent TV matches and promos from Austin especially but this is really the beginning of Kurt Angle and his awful habits. The cage match against Benoit on Raw is embarrassingly bad. Angle gets German suplexed from the top rope in the first five minutes, both guys get to take a bump from the top of the cage and there's another sequence of 10 German Suplexes in a row. And then the crowd is supposed to believe that an ankle lock could finish it? Austin is tremendous on the outside but it's really no wonder that Angle's neck was fucked as early as 2004. Then there's the street fight with Shane where that idiot Angle tries to suplex him through the glass 3 times before deciding just to throw him through it. Do it after the first missed attempt! He's just desperate to cram the spots in and for some reason, guys like Benoit and Austin go along with these ridiculous, spot-killing sequences. The Benoit/Austin match with the 10 Germans is really bad too so it's not just Kurt. What strikes me is how fucking good Jim Ross is on commentary. Heyman plays a great heel for him to bounce off of but his timing, his turn of phrase, his selling of moments is worlds away from anyone they've had since or ever will have. Today's commentary is so stilted and sterile in comparison. The Hardys are so great. I forgot about Matt's brief run with the European title where he was wrestling guys like Eddie, Malenko and Big Show and showing signs that he would go on to be the awesome TV match worker he was in 2007. X Factor is such a strange stable because Waltman and Albert are two guys I like but the latter is only now looking good. He and Kane have a very odd chemistry that results in awesome big man matches. Credible is just there to make bad poses and superkick people. DDP's debut is really good. The general build, though goofy in premise, is actually really well done to the point where people are desperate to see the reveal and nobody is disappointed. With the Invasion on the horizion, they should have claimed he was doing it to psychologically unhinge Taker so WCW could pick him off easier but it just devolves into fucking nonsense. Speaking of the invasion, watching this at the start really hammers home how badly they squandered this. The first invader is Lance Storm and the crowd goes batshit. Lance Storm. The PPV itself did around 700,000 buys, I believe and that had Rhyno and The Dudleys in the main event. What a gigantic fuck-up. They could have been swimming in money, to this day. Rhyno's hardcore matches are awesome because they always have a spot where he misses a spear and ends up wedged in a bin or a shopping trolley. It's like a slapstick stage play. Tajiri debuting as Regal's silly sidekick has all the hallmarks of awful WWF comedy but the match where he debuts vs. Crash is great. Tajiri is great anyway, of course but Regal's facial expressions on the outside are incredible. Going from shock to being impressed to being smug that this little psychopath is on his side. In fact, Regal's stint as commissioner is excellent atm. I'm sadly not seeing much of him in-ring but his skits with Austin, Vince, Tajiri and co are always great because he's such a natural actor. So yeah, the matches are still short but getting longer, they have a couple of guys who they can rely on for good TV matches but the crowds are quieting significantly. Austin gets great heel heat but you can tell everyone just wants to cheer him. It's interesting to see whose pushes got way laid because of the Invasion taking place. Albert was obviously going to the rocket strapped to him through 2001, the Hardys were working singles matches a lot more, Edge and Christian's break up did take place but it seemed like it was delayed for a month or so to make them babyfaces for the short term. It's OK but certainly far from their best product, at least in the spring months. But, hey, at least Chyna isn't on TV anymore.

Difficult games show up on GOTY lists all the time, unless you're clamouring for rougelikes to get their props or something. I'm disappointed when a game prioritises spectacle over all else too but Tomb Raider quite obviously does things that AA and Uncharted don't. It also refines a lot of the mechanics it does take from Uncharted in neat ways with the auto-cover system being such a blessing, I'm amazed it's taken this long to implement in that kind of game. As for this, I probably had the most fun with Rayman Legends out of anything I played this year, loved the art style, loved the amount that they packed into the thing and could pop it in to ace the races right now. GTAV was great but the GTA-ness of it all (driving across the map to watch a cutscene so you can drive all the way back to play the mission, for one) is beginning to wear a bit thin, especially with the likes of Saints Row and Sleeping Dogs alleviating some of that boredom since GTA IV. Monaco is tremendous with 4 players but the chances I have to actually play it that way are thin. Doesn't stop the game itself from being worth your time though. I guess I'm just indifferent to The Last of Us. Forced stealth towards the beginning with real awkward in spots but fun when it worked but the gunplay later on was pretty bad. Saints Row IV was the kind of ridiculous bullshit I enjoy in video games so that was great fun, if a tad repetitive in between the major story missions if you're gunning for 100% I'm forgetting a ton so for GOTY, I dunno, let's say Mario 3D World.

The best part of this PPV for me was the revelation that on the foreign language broadcasts, the commentators still say "Trending Worldwide on Twitter" in English.

I would like to see a Tag Team Turmoil match with WWE's current tag teams and I would like it to run for the length of an entire Smackdown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHcqsFu3xs He's coming.

I care about nothing in this company except those 15 or so guys who were in and around the main event but what a group of guys to have on your roster. If it was my company, I'd have them all wrestle each other every week too. Hope Rey can have a good run without his knees erupting because that shot at the end of the 7 babyfaces celebrating would have had 10-year old me cheering. The Del Rio/Cena angle was good too, both guys delivered good strong promos. I've no doubt that'll be a fun match on Sunday but I assume there's no chance of Del Rio going over.

I wanted to see how the Invasion holds up 12 years down the line so started watching WWF from the night after Mania 17 and it's telling how Austin's heel turn is put over as the biggest thing ever until he hooks up with HHH. From then, it's all about the pair double teaming people and HHH of all people handling the share of the mic work which is crazy as Austin's promo on JR on the Smackdown after Mania is tremendous. But, their little series with The Hardys is fun and the main events with Taker, Kane, Edge and Christian are incredibly hot suggesting that the crowds were into the pair, at least initially. Also, it's crazy how easier the shows are to digest compared to even 2 or 3 years later; there's good wrestling thanks to Regal, Angle, Benoit and Jericho all working with each other, Rhyno is putting on entertaining squashes and garbage matches, Eddy is Eddy (though he'll be released soon) and every midcard act is being given a feud or a story. RTC is on a losing streak and they're losing faith in Steven Richards, the Dudleys are feuding with X Factor because they were bullying Spike, Benoit and Angle are trying to see who the best submission wrestler is (including the Ultimate Submission match at Backlash where two guys who had never tapped to anything were suddenly tapping to armbars but the match itself is fun) and the McMahons are having their usual family drama bullshit. It's simple but it means there's barely any wasted moments on the show, Chyna matches aside. Everything intersects in a way that it simply doesn't nowadays. Recently, you've had the Shield bringing everyone into the main event mix by simply being awesome but everything else seems neatly compartmentalised in comparison. They're helped by having a ridiculously charismatic roster though, to the point where I genuinely can't think of anyone who is boring to watch. RTC has Buchanan and Goodfather but Val Venis does the majority of the working. Raven is pretty shitty but is assigned to hardcore matches where he can think of neat spots with Rhyno. Despite 2001 being acknowledged as the downfall of WWF/E as a consistently good TV product, they're still showing more effort to build feuds and protect guys than they do today. Though, it still stands that the Two Man Power Trip, despite Austin doing his best to be a gigantic dick, would have been better served with an Austin/HHH program throughout the spring, with the heel and face roles reversed. It would make sense for Austin to get his win back against HHH from No Way Out but the whole thing seems to have been designed to make sure that never happened. So, the early signs of decay are there but it's still an entertaining product with hot crowds. When November rolls around though, I may have a different tune.

The story of Austin hitting himself in the head with the bedpan repeatedly to find the sweet spot before hitting Vince is so great.

I don't think we all realise how much we need heel Dave Batista back in our lives.

Mid-2000s Photoshop jobs were something else, man.

As a filthy Brit, this is not available to me but I would like to live vicariously through everyone that applied.

It can't possibly be happening, they always manage to bounce back. Like a dead cat being dropped off a roof.

"You can go round kissing babies and hugging fat girls" That heel run from turning on Rey in awesome roid rage to going out in perfect heel anger whilst wheelchair bound was incredible. If he ever comes back, he needs to pick up exactly where he left off.

WWE succeeding in spite of itself will be the subject of all online discussions in the 2030's

When Wyatt was injured in NXT, he rocked up in a leather butcher's apron and a face mask and that was great. Maybe if his thigh injury is serious, he could come out in a rocking chair on wheels. Kane could return and roll him down a flight of stairs.

It's pretty great. Does that mod use pre-set or random potential? That will greatly influence if you get guys like Cena becoming huge stars or Kid Kash main eventing WWF. I think it's pre-set as when I was briefly messing around with WCW in another game, it was mentioning guys like Cena, Batista, Punk etc. as stars of the future.

I'm playing some TEW13, installed a mod where WCW remains open in 2001 and am just watching from afar whilst booking NWA Wildside. On the first Raw show, WWF has booked an Albert and Dean Malenko tag team and I am suddenly sad that I didn't get to see that random pairing. WWF have also signed the Bushwhackers, Greg Valentine, Corporal Kirchner and Jake Roberts. Slightly more sensible signings in Viscera and Tommy Dreamer. I've definitely made the right choice in watching the AI book this lot. WCW Slamboree 01 had a Flair/Luger vs. Steiners main event and Buff Bagwell beating Mike Awesome. If this game is good at bringing new workers, developing current ones and growing the world, I'll love this.

Why would Taker work Survivor Series other than to suit your fantasy booking scenario? Shit, man, I'll call him up and ask. Jesus Christ, that was a totally reasonable response.

Especially if they make all our dreams come true and Titus O'Neill and Darren Young become joint WWE Champion and go around foiling the Wyatts' attempts to kidnap poor Kofi Kingston and have their way with him.

I hope Rhodes vs. Wyatts gets a good chunk of time since Brodie Lee hasn't had a chance to work a decent match yet. Putting him in there with Goldust for long stretches of time seems awesome to me.

I get a Wyatts vs. Kane/Taker vibe for Mania. But, if they're putting out feelers for those guys, there's no way that goes on the card. Maybe Survivor Series.