HumanChessgame

At some point I thought that if I ever ran an indy, there would be two guys whose gimmick was they had a never-ending match. They'd fight out to the ring, go for a couple minutes, then brawl back behind the curtain. Repeat on every show. Now that I think about it, that's basically what the 24/7 title was. It just occurred to me that it's Wrestlemania season and I can't think of any mention of the Hall of Fame yet. Haven't they usually announced a name or two by now? Maybe with all the unscrupulous shit going on with the company they decided to table it this year?

He covered his face with his wrists as they cut away and was leaking when the camera went back to him, so it was pretty clear he gigged himself.

I'm assuming they wait until the PPV for FTR/BCC which should be top notch. In the meantime I hope they give us Dax vs Moxley in the meantime. Briscoe vs Brody was terrific and Mark tapped a gusher after the Kevin Sullivan spot at the end. I hope this isn't the last we see of Chicken vs HOB. Toni Storm's promos continue to be the gift that keeps on giving. I agree with the sign in the crowd saying to give Aminata the graphic.

It's mainly the guitar hook in Hchicero's theme that starts around 0:11 that made me think of the comparison to the main riff in the other song that kicks in around 0:40.

This fucking slaps (do kids still say that?) and I'm going to have to check out the artists other stuff. I almost thought this was a remix of Eminence Front by The Who, kind of like DDP's WCW theme was basically a Smells Like Teen Spirit cover.

Rock getting what-ed pretty much cemented what the crowd is going to think of him. I wonder if they do Seth/Cody vs Roman/Rock on night one with some kind of stipulation, like if The Bloodline wins then Cody never gets another shot as long as Roman has the belt, but if they lose then Roman's entourage is banned from ringside? Cody gets the deck stacked against him even more and who knows, maybe they even try and turn Roman face when Rock's interference backfires? I'm assuming Seth is facing the winner of the EC which Drew looks to be the front runner. As far as Walter goes, you can have him drop the title to a debuting Bron Breaker or Ilya. Sami is another possibility after his recent hype video, and he'd be great working from underneath Walter.

I was having some driving thoughts about what completely absurd outcomes this whole situation could have earlier today and thought about what if they ultimately decide to lean into the negative feedback Rock is getting? The main event ends up Cody/Roman with Rock as guest ref. After a bunch of dog and pony show interference, Cody hits several finishers on Roman and has him pinned clean. Rock counts 1, 2, then stops and Rock Bottoms Cody, throws Roman on top, counts the pin, and gloats about what an idiot Cody is for thinking he'd actually betray his family. That someone has willingly had sex and reproduced with Meltzer is one of the more surprising pieces of news I've heard today.

I thought they would save the trios match for the ppv, but either way it should be a banger.

Drew's shirt in the opening segment was hilarious and looks like it's up in the WWE store. I'm assuming Punk/Drew was the original plan before Punk's injury so now my prediction is that Drew wins the EC. Do they stretch out figuring out who Cody is going to challenge until then though? Drew/Rollins will be fine, but just like with any other potential challenger, it's a foregone conclusion that Rollins is going to lose given his injury status. Maybe he ends up not being cleared and they decide to make the EC for the vacant title? As messy as the men's WM title picture is, the women's is the opposite. Every once in a while they gas Shayna up and she comes off looking legit dangerous and puts on a great spectacle. Tonight's match was one of those times. I was worried they were going to stretch the Nia/Rhea program to Mania, but it looks like that gets done with at the EC and Becky wins to set up their match. For the other title we got the setup of Bayley and Io who have the whole partner turning on stablemate storyline to add intrigue to the match. The women's tag match was good but not as good as last week's. I guess Uso ends up being Gunther's Mania opponent? He wouldn't be my first choice but it'll be something fresh.

Another thing to keep in mind is they've been telling the story of Nick Aldis not taking any of Roman's shit. That might progress into Aldis telling Roman he's pulling double duty at WM or wrestling a three way or whatever else shoehorns both Cody and Rock in whether he likes it or not.

This was my first exposure to Hechicero and he didn't disappoint. It seemed like he had a counter to anything Danielson tried to throw at him on the mat and really made it look like Amdrag was in over his head. Team CMLL vs BCC trios match at the next PPV? It also made me wish they used Angelico more as I really want to see him and Danielson just tie eachother up for 10 minutes. It's good Keith finally got signed. He's been a great workhorse over the past several weeks. Speaking of people who need to get signed, Aminata put in the work once again. I wasn't expecting as competitive a match as that for Serena's comeback but it was good stuff. The main event was fine but kind of by the numbers.

Does the gear most of the female wrestlers wear really leave that much less to the imagination than most of the men's gear?

I don't have much to add about how stupid and nonsensical this booking decision is. With Punk being injured they naturally have to re-book some stuff and I can also totally believe that Rock's involvement also has something to do with his new board position (and possibly to take some heat away from the Vince situation). Cody even bringing Rock into his corner makes sense in his desire to one-up Roman, but all you have to do there is have Cody say he arranged to have Rock as the guest ref to make sure none of their other family members are going to try anything funny. You can even have some intrigue about whether Rock is going to just double-cross Cody and side with his family. Then after Cody wins you can have Roman get in Rock's face to set up a Summerslam match if you really have to do that. Or hell, maybe they're just going to do what Christian and Adam Cole have been claiming they're going to do and Cody says Rock is going to beat Roman for the belt and hand it over to him.

Toni Storm's commentary was probably my favorite part of the show. Was there any point to the Acclaimed/BC segment other than to make sure the show ran over by five minutes?

I wonder if Jarrett doesn't want to say anything against Vince/the WWE in general to potentially keep the door open in case he needs a job again.

If this is true, it's some Maven eliminates The Undertaker type shit.

I didn't watch the post Rumble presser but I'm shocked that a place like WWE where everything has always been so scripted they didn't just only include journalists who would tow the company line and only ask pre-screened questions.

repost...disregard

I don't mind Graves when he isn't going over the top and trying to put over whatever is being piped in his earpiece, but McAfee was like an even louder and more annoying version of him.

Naomi's return was a surprise as the last time I watched a TNA show she was champ so I figured she was still under contract. She ended up going quite the distance. I was also surprised they acknowledged TNA and completely shocked when Jordyn Grace showed up. Tony Khan isn't the only one with access to a Forbidden Door! I don't know if Kairi's elimination was a botch, but it looked like both her feet hit when she initially went out. Jade debuting was expected and her dumping a dominant Nia was an impressive way to make her look strong. Dug the faceoff with Bianca. Tiffany Stratton got some nice shine in her debut as well. Going in it seemed like Becky was the obvious winner and when the last three were left I realized I'd completely missed her elimination. Bayley/Rhea is a decent enough Mania option and they've got the added Damage Control drama or potential fallout. This was one of my favorite women's rumbles on account of them not shoehorning a bunch of divas in. Half the stadium could have taken a dump during the entrances and intro of the 4 way. There was no way Roman wasn't winning so I didn't pay that much attention to the match but what I saw was fairly plodding. Owens/Paul was decent and the finish was a creative way for Owens to lose via shenanigans. No DQ match at Mania? The surprise returns/debuts continued with Andrade coming back in the men's rumble. My prediction about Bron debuting turned out being accurate. His faceoff with Gunther was boss even if he did wind up eliminated by Dom. I wondered if anyone from TNA was going to turn up in this match, but there were no other surprising entrants. The match itself was decent if unmemorable. Repeat winners of the Rumble is stupid, especially back to back, but I admit Punk not winning was a swerve. Cody/Roman with Rock as guest ref at WM?

Not a peep about the ongoing controversy on SD. The women's tag match was really good.

I think a lot of the Rumble outcome depends on if Rollins can make it to Mania or not. If it's a case of Rollins being medically cleared but definitely needing to go away for a while for surgery after a la Cody with a torn pec, then it makes it pretty obvious he'd lose unless they're going to vacate the title. In that situation I could see Punk winning the Rumble (which seems the pretty obvious conclusion) and wonder if they'd have Rollins, bad wheel and all, somehow beat Punk then decide to pull the trigger on Priest cashing in (or maybe the next night at Raw when Seth is seemingly going to forfeit the title). After Monday they really teased Punk and Cody which makes it look like that's on the table for Mania if they need some big match. That match would honestly have enough story to not need a belt involved but leaves the winner of the Rumble in the air. Gunther would be great, but I keep hearing he and Lesnar rumored as a Mania match, which is probably more fan speculation than anything, but I'd like to see it if Lesnar is willing to do business. They could have Lesnar be an unannounced entrant and be eliminated by Gunther, then maybe Lesnar distracts him or whales on him after the elimination causing him to get tossed. Then he defends the IC title against Lesnar at Mania but drops it to a debuting Ilya at the next show. Rock winning would be stupid and I can't imagine the crowd being happy about it. The EC is up next and maybe Orton wins that to give us Orton/Roman for those titles? I don't care about such a match, but it would make sense and be somewhat fresh. Maybe Roman wins then Rock comes out and gets in his face after, leading to Rock and an Uso vs Roman and the other Uso at Summerslam? Does anyone else debut in the Rumble? Jade seems like a no brainer. Bron maybe? I really don't want he and Corbin winning the Dusty Cup as I'm not a fan of two singles guys thrown together and beating the established teams.

Dustin getting more tv time lately then having this great match with Christian made me want to see him as Sting's last opponent. Granted Sting probably couldn't do ten minutes solo even with Dustin and Dustin is far from an upper card guy but I just think it would really be fitting. According to Cagematch they've been on the same team 58 times but have never wrestled eachother.