Stevie Ray Von Erich

I want Murphy to start calling himself Captain Australia and build an Australian Horsemen with TM61 and Billie Kay.

I feel like there are a couple of theories for finishers. One, the rhetorical, is that a finisher is a signature move a wrestler has perfected to the point that it is more impactful or effective than any other move they perform, such that it will finish a match: Hogan's leg drop, Cena's AA, Brock's F5 Another, the logical, is a move that a wrestler's move set is built toward so that the finisher is a logical result of a particular style and an end-cap to a strategy. Flair usually worked (the wrong) leg, Bret worked the back. The second makes sense in a kayfabe world AND are used to build psychology and story in matches. The AA only builds a story such that it SHOULD earn a fall, but due to fighting spirit and the toughness of the opponent it may not. Now, while a huge, strong guy throwing you or landing on you is likely to hurt, so is everything they do. Unless a finisher has a larger story or cause, a psychology, other than THIS SHOULD WORK, then I think it's a pointless, overdone, and easy story to tell. Now if Cena spent an entire match working over the back and FINALLY hit an AA but the opponent kicked out, then I would likely be bothered. It would be a sensible conclusion to an obvious story that was interrupted only to extend the match and (usually) create a sense of drama or tension due to unpredictability (I would argue that defying logic and established stories to make something classic or epic is a major flaw in WWE as they don't have the storytelling ability to explain why moves only work sometimes and not other, which I think is part of my argument). Most finishers these days, and since the heydays of the late 90's, aren't really built toward in either style or story. There are exceptions, but mostly, and especially in WWE, the finisher has lost all logical mooring except as a rhetoric symbol which suggest an ending, only an ending (not a strategy or identity), and only occasionally an ending. This is easily changeable with structure and psychology, and there are greats examples on the indies, sometimes NXT, and globally, but WWE is built on the rhetorical value of the finisher and not the logical value. I think finishers solely as a rhetorical artifact and not a logical artifact make them passé. THAT is why 1,000 AA kick outs don't bother me. It's a lazy, shorthand trick to build tension. TO STAY ON TOPIC: Big Cass has to stop screaming after every spot. It destroys the flow of his matches and makes him look awkward. Like, he just seems so proud of himself for doing a clothesline or big boot. We get it. We saw it. Stop yelling at us. All of his shine in the Summerslam match is punctuated by his yelling.

I don't mind finisher kick out because the idea of a finisher in and of itself is silly. Like, I get it and the tradition, but it's just a weird hangover from the last century.

Also also: Jose's gear and finish are garbage (seriously, just use the wind up pitch punch!) but everything else really clicks for him. He has some great fire and can work intense and playful, which is actually pretty rare. Aries is Aries, same peaks and same valleys.

Dash is the king of heel stooging. He does all of these small, great things that keep the match progressing and make his opponents look great. He also has a classic pro wrestling body, and I appreciate his beefiness. Dawson is a legit heel. He does nothing the fans should cheer for, and it is incredible. There is nothing redeemable about his character or presentation. It's beautiful. I love The Revival but never want them to win because they are so effective. Like, I love watching them but never cheer for them even in a smarky, ironic way. That is revolutionary in 2016. Also, as a side note, Nak's matches have become unbearably formulaic over the past couple months. I love Joe though and hope he's not hurt bad!

God, I keep forgetting we still have Drew Gulak and Zack Sabre Jr. in this thing.

Maybe in the minority, but I thought Hoho Lun looked fine. He didn't jump off the screen and his German is not the right finish for him, but he's got a pretty effortless babyface charisma and connection with the crowd already. You can teach somebody how to work tighter.

Is it just me, or does almost all of Carmella's offense require her opponent to be the better, more athletic wrestler? Everything she does looks okay, but varies so wildly based on who she's wrestling, and I think that's the reason.

I feel like there is a pretty big difference between chanting in reaction to something and chanting to amuse yourself. People try to start all sorts of weird, funny chants all the time at shows but the vast majority of them aren't picked up by the rest of the crowd. A lot of times it's just someone trying to have a laugh or get a laugh from the people around them. I think most chants and reactions are trained now. There's just a script for how to react at a wrestling show. This isn't to say the reactions aren't genuine, but "THIS IS AWESOME," "HOLY SHIT," etc., aren't entirely organic either. I think it's weird that so many of you would take offense to people being tired of that script or the specific scripts that develop in Full Sail. I also think it's weird not to acknowledge that a lot of crowds try really hard to be cute or clever for their own amusement. I'm not making an argument about how that attitude relates to what people think about what's happening in the ring, but to ignore that most chants start as something a person WANTS other folks to chant (because they think it'd be funny) seems ignorant.

Sombra's entrance attire kills any swag those videos built up. He comes out in pleather suspenders and a fedora for god's sake. imagine if he had, say, No Way Jose's gimmick.

I like Nia, but I agree 100% that her current gimmick is DOA. She is SO likable on Breaking Ground, and her heel character seems to just be "you have pretty eyes." I like Ciampa so much more than Gargano at this point, but I do appreciate Johnny selling the superplex after getting the flash roll-up. I think the Drifter has been better than Aries in NXT and it kind of bums me out that he's getting jobbed out (even though he's getting to wrestle on the top of the card with the main event talent). Ty Dillinger is awesome. If they raid NXT for Smackdown in the draft, I hope he and The Drifter stay around and feud over the title. Buddy Murphy has some heel-stooge chops, he just needs a gimmick. I would love to see a pro-Australian heel just for something silly but could potentially have some teeth after turning cheap heat intro real heat with a hot feud.

I'll acknowledge that the video is beyond cheesy, but it has me interested in a TNA match and angle, so mission accomplished? Also, shout-out to the tanning bed visible when Reby makes her way over to the ring.

With how deliberate the tag was paced to start, I felt like they needed another ten minutes to build to a really hot finish, but the match just ended as I was staring to get into in. I haven't seen much of TMDK, but I like how weird/goofy Thorn(e?) is. Nakamura has been nearly perfect so far. Aries needs to be a heel. He gives off this scowling intensity when he's fired up that makes for a great heel mannerism because it makes him seem like a dick. Jose is fun, but that is a nothing gimmick. It needs some soul or purpose. Think Bayley before she became the ultimate underdog or really early Emma. It's fun, but there is no direction. And I can't stress this enough, that pitch punch should be his finish. Can we spring for a Network subscription for Nia so she can watch some Vader? Carmella is all energy, no connection. She's a great face, but the connection with the crowd isn't there so her fire comes off awkward to me. Decent week, but the build has really only been going on for a week or so for this coming Takeover. It feels much more like a main roster PPV in that sense, and there's not been a lot of grand storytelling this time around, even if the matches will be good.

I would love to see a women's tag title as long as there are old school tag teams and not just two women thrown together. I want the women's equivalent to the Major Brothers or Los Matadors. This would also be a great time for a six-man title, but that is not likely.

WWE just announced that Smackdown is going live on Tuesdays starting July 19th. Two live shows on back to back nights is going to be weird.

This has been happening for a while, but whoever told the wrestlers to stop promo-ing to the camera should be fired. It looks terribly awkward for someone to be addressing another person directly but just staring into space or looking at Rene Young when they're doing it. Poor Corbin looked at the camera right before Dolph showed up and look terrified. I miss the old Hogan style promos where you talk directly into the camera when you're addressing the fans or your opponent.

The amount of hate Rollins gets here has always been huge and surprising. Like, y'all were hating on Tyler Black when he was still a Jimmy Jacobs lackey.

When Cole and JBL mentioned that Jericho had been in every WWE match type I spent the rest of the match thinking of all the kinds of matches he's never had. Unless I missed that Jericho Punjabi Prison match.

I've seen Hollis wrestle around Atlanta a lot, and it is surreal seeing him on Raw. Good on him!

Ty Dillinger would be a PERFECT television champion.

Poor wording on my part, just meant the issue between the two parties and not to imply he had anything against them. TJP looks WWE-tv ready to me. I can't imagine they won't sign him. He could be their new Evan Bourne type.

What's Naylor's beef with WWE? It seems like a weird, petty thing to keep him off the shows. Unless I'm just clueless and there's a whole story there.

Is anyone else just not feeling No Way Jose? He has pieces of like three different characters, and while all the pieces are good, I don't think they go together very well. There's the theme music, which is very club/dancey, but he does almost mambo steps in the ring. WHY is he dancing so much? His presentation is built around his heritage, but No Way Jose is sort of a generic moniker that plays on a stereotype at worst and is a dated turn of phrase at best. WHY is this his name? I like the baseball stuff, but combined with the dancing it feels like an afterthought. His windup punch should be his finish, not that cobra clutch slam. I also don't like his gear. He's a handsome big dude, but he looks like he's just wresting in inside out windbreakers or scrub pants. I am sure he will grow into the role as they figure out what works, but for the moment it seems like they took a bunch of ideas they thought would get over and forgot to have a cohesive character base to contextualize it all.

Pillman was SO good as the heart and soul of the WCW cruiserweight division in the early 90s. He wrestled a variety of guys and looked good against all of them. As I go back through early WCW ppvs his matches are usually a high point in an incredibly hot period work-wise. It would have been nice to seen him elevated to a Sting type level.

With the Takeover being so soon after the mini tour at the start of June, I'm really curious what those cards are going to look like.