NoFistsJustFlips

For shame DVDR, yall are just gonna give Sheamus a pass for sandbagging every German and Powerbomb in sight? Felt bad for Walter. He was giving his body up 100% to take the beating. But Sheamus was sandbagging, and flexing on chops (makes them hurt less, but takes away the sound). Have you ever seen a Walter match where his chops were all thuds? Guess my opinion doesn't line up with the majority on this one. That's okay. Happy to see Vincci there with them and Imperium whole. A six man tag here would have been so fucking good. Dom helps Rey & Edge win. Dom turns on them. I guess I'll have to wait on the explanation for a final determination but seems like there's a logic gap there on the reasoning. Seth's gear is getting so weird. Elton John mixed with a giant chicken man. love it lol. I loved the idea Casey pitched with Theory getting cut off at every attempt and losing the case due to the time limit running out. It's never happened and it's the perfect story beat to get him closer to his vastly more entertaining NXT character. That punch Tyson threw looked legit great. Wonder if he just nailed Theory without pulling it. The main was very good. Man Drew needs to go back to that first theme. That shit was dope, forgot how good it was. It was a deflating finish but it was the right one. Drew is very good, but he's not the guy. It's a shame he's a victim of timing. He could have possibly been the guy if he got crowned at WrestleMania by beating Brock. But Covid said uhh uhhhhhah. But what in the actual fuck was that weird drunken karaoke sendoff?

To me, Braun's most valuable use would be part of the returning trio of Braun, Rowan, & Bray (cult swamp variant). The Bloodline's dominance is one of the better parts of the product in the recent past. Why not try to capture some of that lightning in a bottle that was The Shield vs The Wyatt Family in a similar, but different form? Compelling little bit of business that could occupy The Bloodline until the run up to Mania.

I find it way more likely it's Samoa Joe and we get Joe vs Punk at Grand Slam. But who knows.

I actually agree with you on that. I think to a certain extent a lot of what has leaked is deliberate. The Punk stuff for sure. Less sure on the Rosa stuff. But I really do think the Punk / Page heat is mostly planted worked stuff in the vein of trying to create a Bret / Shawn real life plausible rift. Punk loves him some Bret Hart stuff. Some post modern throwback worked shoot that turns into a full blow shoot is right up his alley lol.

I wonder how royalties shake out in a case like this. Say 100 wrestlers are in the base game that costs $60. But you're part of a DLC pack that has 6 wrestlers and costs $10. Which split would net you more income? Maybe they're cool with it because legal did the math and showed them they'd make more per purchase on the DLC pack than they'd make as part of the base game? The base game is going to sell more than the DLC. But you could make more (potentially) per purchase being in a DLC pack. If it's say $.05 per copy of the game sold or $.40 per DLC pack sold, which is the better take?

My numbers / years are a bit off. But my point is still valid using the contract documents released during Time Warner lawsuits: Full site reference : https://sites.google.com/site/chrisharrington/wcw_contracts

Just another instance of maybe me being happier with the booking philosophy of a different era here? But A.K. picked 98/99 WWE. That's a good choice to cherry pick what point he'd like to demonstrate. I'll do the same and cherry pick 1996 WCW. They had about 200 wrestlers under contract. They were super commercially successful during this run. Business was booming. You'd get the important people mostly every week or two. You'd get get your regulars that get in the rotation once a month or so. And you'd get these wacky dudes showing up you had no idea WCW even had under contract. It was the best. At least to me. AEW could keep the exact same roster and utilize it more effectively if TK just quit using his rigid formula. Nitro would hit 8-12 matches a week in the 2 hour era. AEW has 6 matches every single Dynamite. There is no deviating from that number. It is 6 and it will always be 6. Only one of those 6 a week is a women's match. Literally go back and check results. It always has been 6 and it's always going to be 6. And that is farrrrrrr more at blame than the roster size. TK is beholden to every match needing to be an epic. Throwing in a 5 minute sprint, or a 2 minute squash, or a story related indecisive finish once and awhile would make things far more unpredictable. You'd see more of the roster each week. Women could have 2 or 3 matches a week depending on that week's format. Everyone complaining about the roster size is missing the actual culprit. That stupid rigid format that has been run into the ground. Mix. It. Up. ETA: Leaving my post unedited but did want to add in my year and number were off a bit. 1997 had 125 wrestlers under contract and is basically a 1:1 comparison for AEW. 200 was wrong and exaggerated. But still a valid point.

I fully admit this is one of those moments where it seems like what I like out of wrestling is a bygone era and maybe it's passed me by. But I think extending Rampage would be a bad idea, brand split or not. I actually think Rampage & battle of the Belts are both bad moves, at least as far as my enjoyment goes. I get that they're making more money off of more programing. But I wish we went back to the days of just a single 2 hour Dynamite in a week. Less is more. My enjoyment in wrestling was at it's peak when WWE only had a 2 hour Raw. WCW only had a 2 hour Nitro. ECW just had their one hour of Hardcore TV. You would look forward to it all week. You never got burned out because it was just one show a week. Every company just produces too much content. WWE has 7 first run prime time TV hours. As well as the supplementary network shows. AEW has 3 first run hours, Battle of the Belts thrown in a couple times a year, plus like 3 hours of supplementary youtube stuff. Everything gets burned through so quick. There's no room to breathe and anticipate the shows all week anymore. That's a long answer to a short question, but my enjoyment meter would not enjoy adding an hour to Rampage at all. For whatever that is worth.

Cross posting from the AEW thready. That's a dumb move. I'd bet money they took them out to be a part of an ROH DLC pack. Which is incredibly annoying. Because they deserve to be in the base game. A DLC pack that has FTR, Briscoes, Claudio, Yuta, Mercedes Martinez, & Samoa Joe will sell like crazy. But it would still sell like crazy even without FTR being lumped in. There's literally no other understandable reason for them to not be in a game that has a roster so deep Abadon is in the game.

That's a dumb move. I'd bet money they took them out to be a part of an ROH DLC pack. Which is incredibly annoying. Because they deserve to be in the base game. A DLC pack that has FTR, Briscoes, Claudio, Yuta, Mercedes Martinez, & Samoa Joe will sell like crazy. But it would still sell like crazy even without FTR being lumped in. There's literally no other understandable reason for them to not be in a game that has a roster so deep Abadon is in the game.

Just my take on it, but I think it has less to do with the product / lack of a main event / cooling off than it does with them just absolutely burning the Chicago market to the ground. They had what 16k for a PPV there just 2 months ago? Now they are running 3 live events in a week there? Plus they've had at least one other live TV there this year. It's too much in too short of a period. The PPVs always deliver, but who knows what you're getting for a live Rampage ya know. 4 events in 2 months all with very high ticket prices, Forbidden Door especially, is just a bad call. I get the desire to have destination PPVs that are in the same city annually. But Forbidden Door being in The United Center should have caused a pivot. They should have went with Toronto for this weekend.

I know I'm way late to this, and I may have missed some posts trying to jam like 18 pages of reading in one setting. But I can understand if you don't like this direction. Perfectly acceptable opinion. But to say it doesn't make sense? Insert Dwight "False" gif here. So interim titles in a worked sport are kind of a forgone conclusion. The guy coming back is going to win. That's one thing to keep in mind. Another thing to keep in mind is they need a hook beyond that for the ppv. Mox being on fire and then just losing to Punk does more harm to both Mox & Punk than good. So with the benefit of a few days to see what's happening, it's all pretty obvious to me. Instead of just having Punk beat Mox in the unification match at All Out, which hurts Mox, and hurts Punk because people are digging Mox... they came up with this interesting story tweak. It's still gonna end with Punk as a champion and officially starting whatever story he was supposed to start in June but in September now. But the way they did it gave Mox some shine. He whooped Punk's ass. His interim reign became legitimate. He is the first 2 time world champion. It makes total sense to me. This is a way to make both guys better off coming out of the story than just Punk wins the unification. This is almost a thank you and a sign of major respect they are giving to Mox. They could have just had him lose. But they gave him this mini run and that great moment of the shock destruction of Punk. So now even when he loses, he can still hang his hat on all that.

No because you are dawg. We all know that and we've moved past it. I didn't ask for you to be banned in the first place. So I don't have an issue with your return. I just roll my eyes seeing people say you're getting bullied. Like nope, you're allowed to call out a shit poster's shit posts. That's not bullying. But carry on. You're due for another Polinski name drop or a freak out over an autograph signing issue anytime now.

Ah yes perfect, Kayvon should be out 4 weeks, will be rushed back too soon, and out for the year by week 1. Gotta love meaningless preseason games.

Easy Young Buck mnemonic device Matt = mutton chops Nick = no hair (he has hair, but it's the one with thinning hair / receding hairline)

That's what I get for scrolling through 14 pages all at once lol. Missed that one, thanks.

Late to the party, but the best Eddie of all time is somehow not clicking for everyone? lol He worked Eddie Guerrero in IWA Mid South and he always put that experience over like crazy. 1000% one of the Eddies is him. I would assume Umaga was the second one.

For as good as this show was, the Gene timeline was kind of a letdown. A letdown in the sense that everything preceding it was just so griping. And so visually spectacular. I'm not knocking the ending we got by any means. But when you compare it to episodes this season like Nacho's death & Howard's death & Lalo's death... the last three episodes just felt... there. Plus I did not enjoy the black and white. But the ending we got was pretty great as far as character development. It was the ending that was earned. Saul was just Saul-ing his way through everything until he found out Kim was in real legal jeopardy, civilly. That kind of made something click in him and it was his Walt / I did it for me moment. It didn't really do anything for Kim other than absolve her of the guilt she was feeling in driving Jimmy further down the Saul rabbit hole. Him talking a 190 year sentence down to 7, just to blow it up in the end is exactly what Slippin Jimmy would do. It's fitting. He's now behind bars for the rest of his life and won't be able to hurt the people he loves anymore. Not that there's any left. From a story stand point, it's great story telling. It's not as dynamic as the Breaking Bad finale. But it's the ending fitting of the character this show fleshed out. I liked getting to see Marie again. The anger she feels being directed at the only person left she can direct it to made sense. Even if Saul himself had pretty much no part in Hank's death specifically. At least someone involved is paying the price for the damage caused by Walt and his empire.

Only one day left til the finale. My DVR has the ep listed as an hour and 38 minutes. So a bit bigger episode to go out on. My final guess is the end result is Jimmy in prison. The big three will all have different outcomes. Jesse eventually escapes to isolation in Alaska. Walt died in a blaze of glory. Jimmy gets caught and pays for everyone's sins. It didn't have to be this way, but he's addicted to pushing things too far. Chuck was right about Jimmy all along. His fate is to be a criminal lawyer, just as Jesse said. But criminal in the sense he's behind bars now, advising other inmates on appeals and what not. A clever turn of phrase from right before his first BB appearance. I don't have a good guess as to how Kim factors into our conclusion. Admitting to multiple felonies in that affidavit takes away her ability to pass the BAR and show up in the final scene as Jimmy's surprise PD. So is it possible her role in this story is already over? I guess we'll find out tomorrow night. This is probably the end of this universe forever. There's no real spin off characters left. End of an era.

I don't know if that's a typo or intentional but I laughed real hard here lol. I need a Danhausen skit where he thinks the phrase is mail in the coffin not nail, and he just keeps putting random unsorted mail in a coffin expecting his latest feud to end because of it.

Everyone is tap dancing around it. I will just be blunt. Pedro is paintedbynumbers. He was banned before for being a psycho. I'm not a mod, it's not my place to say if evading a ban is something they frown upon or not. But this bullying BS is just that, bullshit. Paintedbynumbers made a ton of misogynistic posts, tried to instigate physical fights with posters, and was a general shitty poster. He is also Pedro. So to anyone lurking turned off by the exchange, there's your context. This isn't people teaming up on some new poster. This is posters recognizing it for what it is and rightfully dunking on this dude's return. I have no horse in the race, if the mods are cool with him evading the ban that doesn't effect me at all. But let's not acting like calling out the dude who slut shamed Britt Baker for years among other gross things is the innocent one here.

I can't speak to the financials in AEW because we're not 100% privy to how their contracts are structured yet. But I can tell you the reason WWE doesn't do this, money. Women filming in front of 200 people make less money than sitting backstage at catering for a Raw. Their contracts are not a straight salary. They make x per year no matter what. But they also make y for every event they are brought to. The number for y is dependent on attendance / gate / what event they are working. A house show that draws 5,000 pays them maybe $200 extra for the night. A Raw / Smackdown that draws 5,000 pays them $500 extra for the night. A PPV that draws 10,000 might get you a bump of $1,000. (Those numbers are made up and not accurate, just demonstrating the value of event sizes). Making a studio show for women only would certainly pay them less bonus income, ala working an NXT taping vs a Raw or Smackdown. So now while they're getting their own show and more air time, it's actually a demotion in pay the way it's structured.

As I understand it, the money he paid was his own money to begin with. He didn't pay out of WWE bank accounts. He paid out of Vince McMahon personal bank accounts. But with the strict SEC rules any payment made for the betterment of the company (as this was, to prevent legal actions against the company for HR violations) needed to be reported to the shareholders. McMahon is allowed to use his own money and make those payments, but it needs to be reported and filed with the SEC. And he never reported any of the payments. Which can have strict fines and consequences for WWE from The SEC. That's why this is what took him down. For 20+ years he didn't report a financial indicator to the shareholders that absolutely by law needed to be. When this is done being investigated The SEC may choose to take legal action against WWE and / or Vince personally. I don't know how likely any jail time is for him, but big fines are certainly a real possible.

See my read on that was the Jimmy call didn't shake her to her core. It finally gave her confirmation she wasn't in danger anymore if she told the truth. Jimmy told her Lalo & Mike & Gus were all dead. Jimmy himself is alive but on the run and making jokes about the FBI not being able to find him. This was a moment she was dreading but also begging for this whole time. She never told the truth because she was worried the cartel would kill her, or Gus would kill her, or worse someone would kill Jimmy in retaliation. At her core Kim knows what happened was wrong and went too far. She was just too scared for her life & Jimmy's life to a lesser extent to do the right thing. So now that the fear of being killed is gone... now that Jimmy is off and away from ABQ and (at least at that point) not likely to be impacted by her coming clean... it was finally time to do the right thing. That burst of crying was her finally allowing herself to feel the emotions and gravity of the situation. She was finally able to breathe and let it all out after 7 or 8 years of holding it all in. Jimmy didn't shake her to the core. Jimmy telling her all that finally took the death grip of her throat and let her breathe for the first time in years. At least that's how I interpreted it. She was basically doing her own fake "Gene" for 8 years in Florida. Now she can finally be Kim again. Even if that means she has to face consequences for their actions.

Like I've repeatedly said in here... a happy ending is not this writing team's style. Ain't gonna be no happy ending here brother. The Kim stuff was riveting and soul crushingly mundane at the same time. I very much did not expect them to go there with her coming clean. Howard's wife was still wearing her wedding ring. It's been 6 or 8 years and it's still haunting her. Just sad and tragic all around. Just like Kim's new hairstyle lol. Nice nod to Jesse and Emilo. Wonder if current day Kim realizes she met the infamous Jesse that was a partner of Saul's after the fact now. Good scene. I still hate the black and white and feel like I would be more griped by the finishing stretch if this was in color like the rest of the series. But no sense complaining. It is what it is. Bring on the final episode and the final Walt flashback.