Go2Sleep

It's kinda weird for how good NXT is booked, that the tag titles seem to stick to the most boring team in the divison. It might have been premature to call these guys the next T&A, because those two at least had enough presence to give Trish a platform to get over, while Alexa seems to be getting sucked into the black hole of Blake and Murphy's boringness. Their triple team finisher looked alright, though. Chad Gable looks like a stud. I remember he looked way better than he had any right to in a squash match with Tyler Breeze a few months back, and he really brought it in his official debut. Plus he's showing a lot of charisma, getting chants and everything. Jordan will benefit a lot teaming with him, but he's gonna really need to find some charisma of his own if he doesn't wanna be left in the dust in a few months. The Corbin video was another good one. They just need to make those for everyone. It's such a simple way to keep someone relevant and fresh in people's minds without clogging up TV time. I'm not sure they're headed in the right direction with Eva Marie. Believe it or not, I don't think she screams natural heel. Based on what I've seen from her Total Divas persona, she acutally seems like a genuinely sweet person deep down, even if she's a bit oblivious at times and makes head-scratching life choices. She's not a very good actress, but one emotion she's pretty good at conveying is being hurt because she has no idea why people wouldn't support her. Of course the crowd's gonna boo her, so you have to work with that, but I think going straight antagonist heel right off the bat with her is a bit lazy and doesn't play to her (thus far limited) strengths. She has "heel who thinks she's a face" written all over her. Sami Zayn always seems to cut the realest promos in wrestling. It's impossible not to like that guy, hope he can make it back as a surprise Rumble entrant. Sasha/Charlotte was good, but definitely not as good as their R-Evolution match. This one felt a little more disjointed at times, and the trash talking didn't feel as heated, probably because the post-match stuff felt very real. The finishing stretch was nice though, with the extensions coming out, not breaking the figure 4, and that Melina-like submission-selling flexibility from Charlotte. It was also nice to see their match get the legit main event hype throughout the show.

Dean made Disco look like a million bucks at BATB, though. Not that Rey didn't have a better match on that very show, mind you. Since you seem to have been watching all of 1996 WCW, I have to ask, what is your best match from that year? I re-watched all the Nitros and ppvs from that year a few years back and it was really high quality stuff (espcially the second half), but I'm having trouble picking *the* top match from that year. It's tough to pick between stuff like Rey/Ultimo (WW3) and Benoit/Malenko (Hog Wild) which are like pure-strain workrate, or something like Benoit/Sullivan (GAB) that has more of an edge. Finlay/Regal (Uncensored) is kind of the compromise between those two categories. There's probably 8-10 other matches that are just as good, and that's not even starting with the "fun, but not quite in the discussion if I'm being honest" group.

I think my big source for optimism is that HHH seems to take his NXT stars pretty seriously. Vince is still Vince, but the second ranking guy being on board should mean something.

Well, yeah, but isn't that the most sensical way to do it? You tinker with NXT, then when you find what works, you apply those changes to the main shows. Plus then you have a stable platform to develop more talent down the line. Everyone keeps saying nothing will change over night, but that Raw segment was the culmination of work they've been doing for like two years.

While Sasha gets better and better, her team names get worse and worse. I can't imagine this one lasting too long, though.

Wouldn't things like hiring Sara Del Rey as a trainer and HHH making the women's division a priority in NXT count as behind the scenes changes?

I was wondering if that line was a rib since the two Euros in the match have both dropped a name during their WWE run.

I kinda feel like you've come through a wormhole from 2008. The women's division hasn't looked anything like that the past year plus. They've already been doing all the things you say they need to do. They've been loading up NXT with talent and quality training and they've been slowly conditioning the viewers for longer, more serious women's matches on tv. The WWE-ized Shimmer fanbase is called NXT, and it's grown immensly in the last year and a half. You seem to think that it's Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha that will be starting the unappreciated groundwork for the next generation, but I'd argue AJ, Nikki, and Paige have already done a lot of the unappreciated groundwork and Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha will be the generation that gets to reap the benefits. The only thing I'm worried about writing-wise is Vince, but the rest of the goofs on the writing staff still have to answer to HHH or Steph, who I'm guessing will be a lot more involved in the creative side of things for the women than they were in the Piggy James days or whatever. I'd think you'd also be surprised how many current WWE fans weren't even born when Trish was barking like a dog. That shit was almost 15 years ago.

They've been giving the women's division a pretty serious push (by WWE standards) for months now. I know most people (and I'm guilty of this too believe me) tend to x4 the women's matches on Raw, but they've been getting a lot more time week to week this year, and are definitely moving away from the "catfight" style and towards a "serious wrestling" style. Honestly, their biggest problem to this point hasn't been the effort, it's just lack of talent and depth. Bringing up the top women from NXT fixes that in a hurry. You're right that would take years to gain traction, but luckily AJ and Nikki have been doing what's likely to end up being some very thankless groundwork the last two years, and now Paige, Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky can come in and reap the benefits, which they are very suited to do given their ability. If HHH and Steph are really backing this, it's got a pretty decent shot of working (See Rollins, Owens, etc).

You keep saying that, but I really don't think they give a fuck about that.I think they do since that was one of the points Nikkie made in her promo. On this point, I have to agree with Big Fresh. You can tell they don't have too much bad blood with AJ because they mention her by name, unlike her husband whose title reign is far less likely to ever be surpassed. If anything, I feel like it's a setup for Nikki to lose before Day 300 (probably Summer Slam or the night after). As far as the overall impact of the women's (Hey WWE, if you wanna be really progressive, quit branding them as "divas") segment, I think the important thing to remember is that this is basically a total reset of the division. Long term continuity isn't the most important thing here because it's really about just infusing a lot of high-end talent at once. The segment may not have made a ton of sense, but the NXT women all got good pops and the whole thing was way over with the crowd which is a lot more important. This segment accomplished exactly what it was intended to, and I doubt it's too long before these alliances are broken up and they settle into what they really want to do (building the division around Paige, Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky). That US title segment was top notch stuff. Welcome to the new age of big guys where they'll do big power moves, but throw in some high flying too. Cesaro was on point as usual, the only thing separating him from 2012-13 Daniel Bryan is a money-making catchphrase. He's so close to breaking the fuck out. This is also undoubtedly the best Rusev as ever looked in the ring, or in terms of booking. He went move for move with two kings of the indies and looked like he belonged. Even better was the follow up where he survived heel Cena and nearly had a star-making moment before the heat went back to Owens, which is fine in this context. The counter of the AA into the Accolade was beautiful. I won't get too hyperbolic about the match itself (still way behind Lesnar/Cena/Rollins, and Kidd/Cesaro/Ziggler from last year) but it was a lot of fun that helped everyone involved. The Brock/Rollins segment played out exactly like it should. I'm certainly glad Kane was written off, and Brock brought it like he always does, but Rollins impressed me the most this segment. I've raved about Owens' heel work, specifically in NXT, but there is not a better heel going in WWE than Rollins right now. He's just so unlikeable in every way. He doesn't cut funny promos, uses what should be big-pop offense in the cheapest ways possible, and uses his superior speed primarily to run out of the arena at the first sign of danger. The way he left Kane high and dry, then came back well after Brock left and threw a pissant tantrum compared to what Brock did last week was just low. He actually made me feel sympathy for Kane, a guy I've wanted off tv for years. He even fucking ran after he stomped a guy's broken leg. If they play the Battleground match straight with no interferrence, it has a very good chance of being the runaway MOTY. You know both guys have the talent, but the character dynamic with Seth as the ultimate hit-and-run coward and Brock as the ultimate wrecking ball is just stars-aligning perfect at this moment. I haven't looked forward to a match this much since the first Shield/Wyatts tag.

I wanted the answer to the question "How bad does a wrestling company truly have to be to go from on top of the world to out of business in under 3 years?" I feel pretty confident in saying no company has ever turned out a worse product during a calendar year than WCW in 2000. It makes you appreciate the good stuff. Rey was crushing it that year, but Benoit wasn't that far behind him. Or Malenko for that matter. Keep watching into 97 where those three stay in top form, plus Eddie starts turning it up and Jericho breaks out. Top 10 WCW matches from 1996 would be a hell of a list.

I honestly don't remember much about this one, but based on the date, it has to be right. I vaguely remember Hennig flopping around like only he could for old man Harley Race. From http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw97.htm

As I continue to soldier through every WCW ppv from 1999-2001, I found this "vintage deathbed WCW" image from Sin. Also, if you want to see a one-match botchamania reel, watch the 6-way cruiser match from Superbrawl 2001. I've never seen two wrestlers botch more moves together than Evan Karagias and Jimmy Yang throughout that match. Every sequence between them was non-stop fail.

Kong had quite a few advantages, her size being one and she was booked as a monster. Sasha is dominant despite her size and she's amongst the best sellers out there; she doesn't come off invulnerable and she actually looks just as good operating from the bottom (everyone knows she can turn it around when she needs it). Sasha's better on the mic and her character is so much more versatile. I don't think you can hold those first two things against her. When it comes to size, you work with what you've got. And it's not like Sasha hasn't been booked really strong too. I'd agree Sasha has a higher ceiling due to her age and environment, and she may well be more talented right now than Kong ever was. But the question was "when was the last time a female wrestler was so highly regarded in the US?" and the answer is Kong. Kong also had a good rep on the indies before she got to TNA.

Awesome Kong in TNA. She didn't have much to work with outside of Gail Kim, but she was must-see tv. TNA dropped the ball by not giving her a run with the X-Division title.

Schiavone was really good for a while. Looking back, it's pretty amazing how he held that team with Dusty and drunk Heenan together for so long. And he was still hilarious when he stopped giving a shit for good in 99. I'm amazed he didn't shoot-snap working with an even drunker Heenan and eventually Mark Madden and Stevie Ray, or that Vince Russo didn't concoct a worked-shoot version of that happening.

The biggest problem is "cloud nine head over heels in love" Dolph is vomit-inducingly bad. I do admire Rusev's work, though. He's the name-actor who realizes he's in a shitty production and commits to hamming it up the entire way.

Worth it for the "Gay Community??!!" line. I wonder when they changed their philosophy on "performer" and "performing," since that seems to be one of their big things the last couple of years.

I was thinking about this after Titus dropped the "2 degrees" line on him. People confuse bad public speaking skills with being stupid, and this has led to the downfall of many an announcer trying to bully guest commentator Titus O'Neill. He might stumble over his words, but his content will leave you unable to even make fun of that. New Day/Lucha Dragons was an underrated match overshadowed by the aforementioned commentary. New Day has consistently been a bright spot on WWE TV since Mania. I loved the Brock segment if for no other reason than I always wondered why wrestlers would bring axe handles out as weapons with out the axe blade attached. Poor Jamie's gonna be in a full-body cast by Battleground. The Cena/Cesaro match was another great one in a vacuum. I preferred it to last week's match, but I don't know how much more epic-y Owens/Cena 3 can get to put Owens over. Ultimately, I guess it's silly to worry about that, since in 3 years, we're just gonna look back on this as an awesome match with no regard for how it fit in the context of another angle. That bump Cena took into the barricade was nasty.

Admittedly, my only two memories of JBL's original run without re-watching anything are him harping on Lashley's "elevated enzymes" and relentlessly shitting on MVP's debut, but maybe those are outliers of his overall performance? There were definitely times when it seemed like he was more interested in getting himself over than the people in the ring, or at least he was unaware of how he was slipping into "promo" mode a bit too much in the booth.

I remember him always being pretty antagonistic and putting a lot of attention on himself in the booth. But even if he dials it down, what does he add to what Cole and Saxton did? 3-man booths tend to be pretty bad in general, but there was absolutely nothing that made me think "You know what would make this better? JBL." His only appeal the last few years has been occasionally making some obscure historical references, and Cole and Saxton did just fine in that department without him. Even if he restrained himself from trying to one-up those two (which might be a Vince thing), he's just cluttering the booth at best, splitting material that 2 guys can handle 3 ways.

I think Corbin or a re-packaged Solomon Crowe are the best bets to move up.

Even if you want to put all of JBL's negatives on Vince, there's still nothing of value he could've added from the booth here. Cole and Saxton put over both the faces and heels and covered all the history. He's completely unnecessary.

I have to agree this was a fun show. Looked like HHH had his hands all over it since it resembled NXT a lot more than Raw. The minimalist aesthetics really let the wrestlers stand out, and the commentary proved how much of a hack JBL really is (although I've been saying he's as bad as Lawler for a couple years now). Just a nice, simple show that didn't try to do too much. I was impressed with Jericho, easily the best he's looked in about 3 years. This match might have been the best on the show. I loved Cole name-dropping FMW, Dragon Gate, and differentiating the Walls of Jericho and the Lion Tamer. Divas match was just a divas match. Was hoping someone taught Nikki how to do a Tiger Driver to complement her running elbow. That would've probably gotten a good pop. Brock/Kofi was exactly what it needed to be. Loved all the no-selling by Brock and Kofi can sure take a bump. Balor/Owens was fun, but I think their NXT TV match was a little better. That Green Bay Plunge that Owens did caught me off guard. They did a nice job mixing up their usual spots. The tag was a terrible choice for the main event and went on way too long, but whatever.

I think "anyone active" is the number one answer, but for people that have been retired for a while I'd say Kobashi, Booker T, Mick Foley, and Daniel Bryan (if he's actually done) should they go in the next few years. I've pretty much seen Booker's whole career, and his rise in status coincided pretty nicely with my rise in fandom. I feel like I've seen Kobashi's whole career too, even though it was in post-2005 downloaded form. Plus he got me into puro. Similar deal with Bryan and indies, plus my biggest in-person markout moment at WM 30. Kobashi, Bryan, and Foley also have the whole "they died for my entertainment" guilt thing going on that hit me pretty hard with Misawa. Of course if they make it to old age (60+), that softens the blow. Also the Undertaker actually dying will be fairly surreal, I think.