Phil4126

The Usos talking about Shane, half admitting he does have a decent shoe game, realizing there was still trash to be talked, and shouting "THAT AIN'T THE POINT" almost killed me

This might be the best all around episode of the actual weekly tv show NXT has ever done. All the matches were great, the opener with Ricochet/Black vs EU being my personal favorite. EU really is quietly becoming one of the highlights of the weekly shows. Even if the crowds are indifferent when they come out, they are always way into the match by the time things get going. I love that Undisputed Era hangs out with their merchandise just draped over everything around them. OReilly's ridiculous(in a good way)rebound bump off the ropes was aces. Brought a smile to my face to see DIY together again with the old music in front of a crowd that gets it. Just makes the news about Ciampa even sadder, though. Dream calling down the spotlight at the end of his reminder(not a speech!) was *****

This really cannot be stated enough. Drew should be the monster heel at the top of the food chain. He should be a monster murdering everyone in his path. If he absolutely must lose to Dolph(which not even Hawkins deserves because DOLPH ZIGGLER IS THE WORST) then DO SOMETHING WITH THAT. But Ziggler is mia and nothing ever came of it. Braun looked like a world beater who we all thought was the new chosen one and now he's holding up the Weekend Update guy by the throat? I mean, sweet merciful fuck, if we wound the clock back to Summerslam and told me Braun vs Drew would main event Mania I would have been all in. Now I don't want to see it in segment ten of Raw. What the hell happened?

Not a surprise with Don Callis' schedule. Honestly the show was never really as good once Lance left. Cyrus is a good cohost, just not a good full time host. Him and Lance always did have some of the best debates and analysis of not only what works either in the current product or past shows they reviewed, but explaining from a wrestler's point of view why exactly this works. Shame to see it go

I could see it happening but I don't have any faith that it will actually stick. How many times have all the authority figures been removed for good, never to be seen again and honest to goodness we mean it! only to be back within a month. I know supposedly Vince hates being on TV but he just keeps..coming..back to more and more diminishing returns. I'd be all in on this story happening if I thought we would never see the old man again.

We do not deserve Rusev

Give me Lee vs Dijakovic at Takeover and let those big bastards kick each other's asses! It amazes me how long Aliyah has been around and she's still struggling to do anything above basic. Not everyone has to be a superworker but you'd think she'd show...something by now. Seeing the monster pop for Bayley and Sasha just brought a smile to my face, even more so when Bayley hugged Izzy. Both have had their fair share of hiccups on RAW but it was good to see them get a hero's welcome back "home" Ciampa is such a magnificent shit stirrer with Gargano. I'm all in on evil DIY

Into the Triple H-verse?

a thousand times this. No one should have as much screen time as he does in any role. Peak Steve Austin didn't even get as much time as Baron does. It's a small thing too, but the switch from Lone Wolf to Constable Corbin didn't make any sense. Why does the lone wolf give a shit about how Raw is being run? Why does Stephanie appoint him to monitor Kurt Angle's job? Why did he suddenly become the Dwight Scrute of WWE? Why is he still wrestling in dress clothes and randomly being aligned with Drew and Lashley after onscreen being told multiple times how much he sucks at life? If you want to change the character up, that's great, but my god can there at least be a reason why?

This is the main problem with creative. How many times have we heard people say that they are writing to an audience of one? And this is a dude who is increasingly out of touch with what the current fan wants but he's long been out of touch with society as a whole. I like Bruce and don't see where he can hurt things anymore, but Vince still has to sign off on everything at the end of the day. Personally, I don't give a shit who is writing the show. Whether its onscreen or behind the scenes, I do not care who is in charge. I just want an entertaining show. You know why Regal is a great onscreen GM? You never see him except when there's an important announcement to make and then he goes away. You know why I liked Chris Kreski? I have no idea what that dude looked like or what he thought or felt about anything. He just showed up and did his job and THE SHOWS HE PRODUCED WERE ENTERTAINING AND MADE SENSE. That's all I want in my wrestling these days.

For a match I literally expected nothing out of, this match was GREAT. They clearly gave no fucks about their own well being or the other guys and beat the shit out of each other. Just an angry violent hate filled match and I loved every second of it

This sounds like one of the most random things ever and I need to see it. to the youtube machine!

I can't give enough likes to everything about this

I know it's a god damn broken record at this point, but you could have made all the monies and then some if you had turned Roman heel at one of any of the opportunities you had over the years. Let the guy get booed, let the fans get it out of their system and he will get organically turned back by the fans anyway. THEY DID IT FOR THE ROCK AND IT WORKED LIKE GANGBUSTERS(no, I'm not saying Roman is anywhere near the equivalent of Rock). He's never going to turn, I know. He's going to get a hero's welcome(as he should)as the guy who beat cancer and now is coming to kick your ass. But man, what could have been

Maybe I interpreted it wrong, but didn't the report from Satin say they let Arn go? If he was fired and didn't leave of his own accord, something huge must have happened for them to let someone like Arn go

All of the matches listed are solid selections, but if I had to throw one out that's not on the list yet it would be Moustache Mountain against the Undisputed Era from the NXT weekly TV show. Not sure of the exact date, but its the match where the Era are being shit heels of epic proportions just destroying Trent's knee. Tyler Bate does such a great job with his expressions wanting to throw in the towel but not wanting to give up on Trent, who in turn would rather get his leg snapped off then give up the match. Just a great, great tag team match. I would put it at the lower end of the spectrum, but I love the hell out of it. My top 5 would be: (1)Shield vs Wyatts at Elimination Chamber (2)DIY vs Revival-2 out of 3 falls (3)Daniel Bryan vs John Cena at Summerslam (4)Taker vs Shawn in the retirement match (5)Almas vs Gargano

Can't wait to hear the story behind this

I liked this week's episode, but it felt a notch below the usual quality being away from the British crowd. Feels like you take the exact same matches and put them on in England and the crowd brings it up a notch. Especially the Grizzled Young Vets(I really can't see them without hearing the good brothers song in my head)segment. Toni vs Rhea was great. Both of them, especially Rhea are huge stars waiting to happen. BRING ON KASSIUS VS WALTER

I would so be all in on this at Takeover:New York, but I bet you are right and they won't double book them WrestleMania weekend. If I'm a betting man, we get Rose and Deville at Fastlane.

If the wrestling gods are kind and just, we will get The Bar against Lorcan and Burch at least once and LET THE VIOLENCE BEGIN. If Mia Yim is to be brought into the orbit of the 3HW, I could be down for a six woman tag with the sky pirates teaming with her against Shayna and company. Basically anything that gets more sky pirates on my television. Black vs Strong was a great way to start the show. I like Strong on his own and getting ReDragon back together in Undisputed Era. I loved the little touch of Ciampa looking down over the north American title match. Curious to see where they go from here since they really hammered home about Gargano dropping the ball in his first title defense

I honestly don't know how I feel about this. As a big fan of all four guys, I love seeing them get a moment to shine on the main roster. But then I look at this years long story with Gargano and CIampa. Them officially being a team again would have been a HUGE DEAL on NXT's show. Here, it's just a random match. They beat the tag champs and it was just...there. Ricochet came off looking like a huge star, but will that matter in 2 weeks? I don't know which was worse for Black's debut, Cole's dumbass "OH YEAH" or Graves talking about how Black fights for all the 9-5ers who feel like they don't belong or some shit. When has that ever been a part of Black's character? I want to have faith they will be ok in the long run, but you just brought up this wave of people, one of which on paper is all things Vince wants in a wrestler(EC3). And what do they do with Mr Carter, whose strength is talking? They don't have the fucker speak! I don't understand what's happening here. And on an unrelated note, I love all things Bayley. I think the team with Sasha is great and I am happy they won the belts. In the name of all things good and holy, if we must have them involved in extended talking segments, LET SASHA DO THE TALKING.

I'm sorry, but screw all of this. No, there wasn't this big outcry for a Kofi title push before the past two weeks. But this is a great feel good story that fell into their laps by sheer happenstance. I'll admit, I didn't care about the entire of Kofi getting anywhere near the belt before the gauntlet match. But that son of a bitch took his shot and he SCORED. He made me believe. He had an entire crowd going nuts for him. Not in the "This is awesome clap-clap-clap" sense, but because they were emotionally invested and wanted him to win. And you don't see that anymore. WrestleMania has sadly become a show where we as fans are just beaten down, confused and pissed off by the time the show is over. Question why things are happening and Vince answers FUCK YOU, THAT'S WHY. This is a story that might actually make people happy. And if it doesn't work, Bryan can take it right back at a Smackdown or the next PPV. But God damn, why not take a chance? #kofimania

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"I picture myself (at WrestleMania)...but again....we became so strong and we're featured but the more you hang around, the more you're forgotten. It doesn't matter how good you are. I think I'm good. It doesn't matter what I do. It kind of ends up the same thing." I think this is the most depressing of all the things Rusev said. So many people have said the truth about him, this guy makes everything work. Angles and stupid shit that would have killed most guys, Rusev takes that ball, runs it for a touchdown and spikes that sumbitch. Let's be honest, there's no way Rusev Day should have actually been a thing but by god him and Aiden struck gold. Bare minimum they should have been tag team champions but good lord what a missed opportunity. I don't know when his contract comes up, but he needs to get far, far away from WWE. NJPW, ROH,AEW, wherever, go somewhere and show WWE what they missed out on. Rusev is a fucking huge star waiting to happen, it's just a damn shame it hasn't happened already

Oh trust me, i have that urge at least 5-6 times an episode of raw. My wife will even ask me the next day "how much did cole piss you off this time?" Just knowing that's how wrestlemania will end. Fireworks going off. Seth spinning the belt around over his head. And stupid, stupid Michael Cole announcing him as the beast Slayer....theres that urge again