Go2Sleep

I didn't expect him to go anywhere else, but in a perfect world, he'd at least be a protected midcarder instead of having a losing record and not even appearing to be an eventual IC/US title contender.

Yeah let's take the one likable babyface in an entire division, and make her a lacky for a midcard heel stable. If they can't get Bayley over then there needs to be a fucking major overhaul within creative(which let's face it a major overhaul is already needed). I'm starting to wonder if they wouldn't just make more money off acts like Bayley by leaving them in NXT as it continues to grow instead of being brought up to the main roster and being booked like a geek thus not getting over with that audience and tainting the wrestlers value in the eyes of the NXT audience. They desperately need a face like Bayley on the main roster the question is how long before they fuck it up one month, two months? There's no way they could translate Bayley to the main roster as is and have her get the same heat she does in NXT. The fans there have been invested in her journey for 2+ years. Look at a ready-made guy like Tyler Breeze and how he was just another midcarder in his first two weeks on the main roster. They'd probably be better off starting more people off fresh and seeing if something develops organically like it does in NXT.

I think Bayley in the Wyatts would be pretty cool actually. I'd love to see what kind of range she has character-wise and I especially want to see her work heel at least once. It sounds more appealing than introducing her as face (who only gets about 10% of the heat she currently does because most of the audience hasn't followed her journey) and feuding with the Bellas for 4 months.

Did anyone really get worse on NXT this year? It's such a well-booked promotion with so much talent, I don't think anyone can help but get better (even guys and girls that were already great). The worst I can think of are completely stagnant guys like Blake, Murphy, and Crowe, but even then, you could reasonably argue they actually maintained or improved slightly over the year, just not enough to matter or avoid getting passed by new arrivals. I think by the literal definition of "most improved" it has to be Chad Gable. At the start of the year, he was a jobber that looked like an indy-ripoff Kurt Angle. Now he's one of the most over guys, routinely has solid matches, and is making people around him better by proxy. Dash and Dawson would be sleeper candidates too.

The "over jobber" is a role that's always in demand for WWE. Truth, Ryder, Santino, Scotty 2 Hotty, Funaki, and Brooklyn Brawler... Just off the top of my head. There's way more value in Dillinger being an over jobber than a heatless midcarder.

I can't remember if it was Bryan or Jericho that said it in the podcast, but wrestling fans like to do two things at live shows: Chant and move their arms Gonna have to go knock the dust of that MOTY list for Joe/Ciampa. I had nearly forgotten good wrestling existed since the last Takeover.

Don't forget the rub from Lesnar breaking Taker's streak going to, uh, the Undertaker.

So how long until Neville gets his win back on Breeze? Still no KO? (Apparently he's sick according to the newz sites) And, damn it, I thought Monday was supposed to be the emphatic end of the Bellas.

This is all part of too much airtime. If the matches get cut in half, what fills that extra time? The "floor spot -> (Insert wrestler) is rolling! -> commercial" thing has to be one of the more annoying tropes in WWE, though.

There were a bunch of guys who are alright (all those late 2000s guys), but did they have anyone who would've been a top 5 worker in any year from 2012-2014? Del Rio maybe? Again, seriously who was the best worker? Raw was no great shakes 4 months ago, but going from Rollins as the primary double-duty match guy to Roman and losing a reliable decent 10-minute match guy like Cesaro is still going to have a noticeable negative effect on the show.

Sheamus and New Day dancing was easily the best part of this show. The women's stuff was at least moving in a good direction. They haven't messed with Sasha yet (well other than saddling her with Naomi and Tamina but what's done is done), and Becky finally got to do something. The whole Dunn/McMahon "all women are bitches" booking reared its ugly head, but a 4-way ladder match with Charlotte, Paige, Becky, and Sasha would be something I legitimately want to see. This is what WWE looks like with no star power and no talent. Seriously who was the best worker on this show?

First half WCW is terrible, but every WCW ppv from June-December of 96 falls somewhere between good and all-time great. WWF wasn't great overall, but most of their shows were only 2 hours so it's not too hard to get through. Plus Shawn, Foley, and Taker were all working their asses off that year if nothing else. Hopefully you enjoy WWF attitude era shows, otherwise you might die when you have to watch WCW from 98-01.

It helped them get their feet in the door, and to some extent, I'm sure the small percentage of hardcores constantly chanting for them gave them a little boost with the rest of the audience. Still, I doubt more than 5% of WWE fans saw any of Bryan or Punk's work in ROH. Bryan was definitely their most recent star, but it took them forever to figure out how to use him, then he got hurt right after so... I also think Rollins has a subtle star quality about him. He's at least at that Edge level where he's a reliable main eventer if nothing else. He could easily be a huge deal when he comes back, but I think we're all through giving WWE the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making things like that happen. On the other two questions, I think everyone agrees overexposure is a huge problem and has been for some time. Even HHH hates the 3-hour Raw model, and Smackdown is useless at this point. It's only going to get worse the thinner the roster gets too. I don't think the quantity of promos are as much a problem as the quality. Sure, sometimes that opening segment gets into serious overkill territory (which leads to the trickle down effect of a commercial break in every match), but the attitude era had lots of well-remembered long promo segments. Overscripting is another issue people have been harping on forever and it definitely has merit. It's a big reason why just about everyone feels the same, because their words are all coming from the same person. They could probably stand to mix in more backstage interviews and taped interviews instead of everything being an in-ring monologue, but without guys getting more creative license, changing the scenery won't do much.

The main roster is having some atrocious luck with injuries right now, but it's been pretty uninspired all year. I only watch ppvs or whatever they're called now live, I usually watch Raw in less than an hour on DVR, and I can't remember the last time I actually watched any SD. The storylines haven't been interesting at all, and the match quality is the worst it's been in several years. If you took away NXT matches, the MOTY list would be embarrassing right now. That said, overall it's probably better right now than it was at this time in 2013 or 2010.

Not too surprising about Crowe. He was getting lost in the shuffle bad, and with the rumored new names coming in, and it wouldn't appear he was getting out any time soon.

I guess Raw is more watchable now than it was at this time in 2013. The problem is that the only person on the horizon that can inject any life into the product is John Cena, which dampens my hopes for an early 2014-esque rennaissance heading into Mania.

Can't go wrong with watching everything on the network, but honestly, if you want the GREAT NXT you're used to today, start with R-Evolution.

I always thought the WWE injury rate was just a function of how many matches they have. I could be wrong, but don't indy guys do maybe 2 shows a week at most, and in Japan they're doing month on/month off, whereas WWE does 2-3 tv shows a week plus multiple house shows throughout the year? In addition to the general wear and tear with no recovery time, the chances of a fluke injury are higher just as a matter of volume. You look at guy like Seth Rollins working that schedule plus being Mr. Double Duty on Raw for like 2 years straight, and you have to consider him insanely lucky he lasted as long as he did. Bryan was Mr. Double Duty before Rollins and while he racked some notable injuries on the indies, he didn't seem to get the "injury prone" label until he was working the WWE schedule with a higher volume of less strenuous matches.

Yes I'm sure this will result in loud heat for Sheamus as well as loud pops for Roman from now on and not dead silence, or worse yet, "boring" chants.

They finally got Roman the biggest face pop of his life when he speared HHH, then proceeded to give Sheamus the title and end the show with Roman crying in confetti to silence. Good work.

My non-Roman prediction is Ambrose wins it all, and they test Roman's moral resolve as he has another "close but not quite" moment and his best friend passes him by.

The biggest problem with the main event promo was how poorly written it was. Having Charlotte talk about Reid at length telegraphed the whole thing to the point where Paige would've looked stupid for not calling it out. The whole thing was so meandering and aimless until the end, it felt like they were just looking for anything to wrap it up while making people forget how little sense the rest made. You just have Charlotte talk about her talented family that never gives up and how she's gonna carry on the legacy by beating Paige this Sunday, then Paige comes back with Ric giving up on his marraiges/dignity, David giving up on his talentless career, then the Reid-bomb. Takes half the time, no back-and-forth just one promo each, and still gets mega heat.

The WCW themed ppv sets ruled. Just the right level of cheese, and there would always be some kind of garbage match that would roll through and make use of the unique props while Dusty went nuts on commentary. The biggest problem problem with WWE's look is that it hasn't significantly changed since like 97, and even moreso since the mid 2000s. Outside of permissible content and the requistite personnel turnover, shows from 2002 look identical to the ones today.

You know what else was cool on this show I forgot to mention? Dawson bringing back the Nagata Lock. I always liked that move.

Just another great episode of NXT. Liked that run-in by Crews to start the show. It was way over and Crews got to show more range than "happy to be here." I think he's definitely in line to be the next face champ. The mixed tag was a prime example of why NXT is the best. Out of those 6 people, I cared about maybe 1.5 of them going in, but together they all produced a really strong match that made everyone look more important at the end. I really liked the booking of Bayley as the #1 person in the entire match. Hitting the B2B on Murphy is a good subtle build to her being able to hang with Nia. Nia Jax is looking more comfortable each week, and the Eva angle is intriguing. I also liked the backstage segment with Bayley and Alexa where Nia handled the dominant tweener role perfectly. The tag title match was fine. I really like Dash and Dawson. They're an ideal straight-man team for all the other wacky charismatic teams around them. Them vs. Jordan/Gable is money. Joe's promo was good at the end, as was using Drake to set up the choke. I hope Joe gets a run with the strap. I'd love to see matches with him against Crews and Hideo (and Zayn of course if he comes back to NXT instead of the main roster).