Kevin Wilson

This is what WWE is now that TKO owns it. I have no issues with WWE's storylines (some hit, some miss like every promotion) and they have some great wrestlers, but this presentation is what TKO wants. Its about squeezing as many ads as possible, as many crossovers as possible, as many celebrities as possible to make "viral moments" to increase visibility to their ads. We'll never really know how much of each show is Ari vs. Nick vs. HHH in regards to who decides what so I'm not pointing my fingers at any individual, its just the machine. Giving two women that came in with a weekly highlighted storyline for a major championship only seven minutes on a four hour show is indefensible. Having 85 total minutes of in-ring action on your biggest show of the year on a service that costs some fans $25ish to $30 a month (depending on how you bundle it) is indefensible. But people will still defend it - its about the presentation, the showmanship, the 'event'. They have multiple four minute actual ad blocks but don't have a spot for Carmelo Hayes, Tiffany Stratton, or IYO SKY. And it is what it is. As a wrestling fan, personally I think they are making a mistake, that as time passes fans will tire of it. Wrestling tends to go in cycles and sometimes after a down cycle it never cycles back up, we've already seen some cracks showing. This will be the last one I watch for a bit as I only have ESPN Unlimited for football season and just kept it a little extra to get through WM, I'll be out of the WWE PLE game until September when football starts up again but hopefully by then it'll be a little better.

Seth Rollins is the ultimate company man, 0% chance he is winning as far as I can tell. If I had to guess they are building up for Gunther/Brock this summer, they'll keep him strong until either that match happens or they give up on it.

They added a bunch of matches tonight on RAW, they are now up to 12 according to the always reliable wikipedia. Still nothing with the Asuka/Kairi storyline and nothing for IYO, that's been a focal storyline so I hope they make it on WM and aren't just on 'super smackdown' the Friday before. Last year each show had seven matches so room for a couple more if they opt to fill the cards out.

I'll replay this at some point. I liked it when it released, had a few things that made me mad (like the glitch that made all the items in your home disappear after a certain event, really hope they fixed that in the last couple years) but overall it was fun. I figure by the time I dive back into it, it will be pretty updated and patched and may feel like a new experience.

I'm usually on team "I am paying for this, give me all the hours of great wrestling" but honestly this card is borderline overwhelming. There are only a handful of breather matches, the bulk of it are intense feud singles or tag matches, all of which have ****+ potential and could go 20+ minutes and no one would blink. And they don't do recaps so its just going to be emotional big match after emotional big match after another with little filler. I'm still not complaining but this card is crazy packed and its going to be exhausting by the end.

Disappointed he signed with a team he already played for, he's no fun.

Its funny as I hadn't tried to search it in awhile, I found my last post about it on DVDVR and it was longer ago than I thought it was, not sure when Wrestlingdata added it. Now I can say I saw a very young Ken Shamrock, not that I have any memory of that and we couldn't take pictures much due to the rain. I sent it to my dad and brother, they got a kick out of it.

I've talked about it before but one of my greater life annoyances (I have a simple life) is I can't find the card for one of the first wrestling shows I went to. I did find my literal first, a WCW House Show in 1989, but sometime in 1990ish I saw a wrestling show outdoors at Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA. The only things I remember is that the Nasty Boys and Ricky Steamboat were there, and it rained really hard and the wrestlers were just trying to do their spots as safely as possible. By the end they just brawled outside the ring the whole match since the ring was too slippery. Very low attendance from my memory, mostly just chairs at ringside. It was not a WCW/NWA event, my thought from research is that it was a South Atlantic Pro Wrestling show as both Steamboat and the Nasty Boys wrestled for them in 1990. But can't find the card. Just remember it being a wild experience.

That seems pretty surprising, were there rumors of that happening? Was Montgomery stealth-unhappy about being the #2? Seems like the Gibbs/Montgomery combo was working well for them.

Daniel Jones is a walking contradiction. I think in this market he's earned the right to be the Colts starter since who else? Malik Willis? Minshew? Levis? But at the same time I don't think he's done enough to get a Top 15 QB long term contract with 90 mil guaranteed or something crazy. But he may just get it as even being potentially a Top 20 QB is enough. The sad fact is even with 8 billion people in the world there are only like ten great Quarterbacks, then teams scrambling to over-pay for the next best ten, then the last 12 teams having nothing at all. Its the oddest thing I can't figure out, even recognizing its one of the most difficult positions in sports to play. You'd still think there'd be more than ten great ones floating around.

The funny thing about Daniel Jones, and I'm not a Jones hater at the level some are, but he was pretty "above good but not great" when the dust settled last year. He had some great games but didn't hit above 70 QBR after mid-October (five times before that), had a top-tier running game and they only beat one team that made the playoffs (by one point). Now its possible that Darnold winning a SB will lead to another five years of "we don't need a great QB, just one that doesn't fuck up too much while the defense handles things" but I don't think the Colts defense is at the Seahawks level. Jones absolutely earned the right to be the Colts starter but the idea of him getting a $40 to $45 mil a year long term contract (which some are projecting if they reach a deal after he is tagged) after half of a good year just shows how desperate teams are for any type of positive QB play.

After the two hockey results I know Canada is big mad, they really felt like the better team today. Goalie came up huge.

Really curious to see what the market will be for Hill. Between that horrible injury and his age, then throw in that he isn't always the.. easiest person to work with which doesn't matter when you have elite skill but does matter if those skills are fading. I figure he has two main options - sign a two year deal for lower money than he'd want, knowing he'll miss part of next season, or wait until he is fully healthy/has tape proving it and go for a final big contract. Or I guess option three would be signing a deal like one year/10 mil from a team with too much cap, hoping he recovers and the deal turns out to be a steal (no Bills, do not take this option).

Ended up going to Walker, too lazy to look up and see if an offensive player that didn't record a TD has ever won Super Bowl MVP before this. Definitely like NFL MVP, strictly an offensive award unless a defensive player does something truly next-level.

I mean its "defense", a kicker, or an offensive player that scored no points (Walker). Not an ideal situation for the MVP Picker.

MVP should be "the defense" but I don't know if any one particular defender was exceptional enough to steal an offensive player's award.

also we are rooting for kevin to win his SB square, which on paper is a horrible one - Seattle 9, NE 7.

You kid but the way MVP works, if Darnold even gets one TD at some point he'll be the MVP, they hate giving it to non-offensive players. I'd put my odds on Walker right now since none of the FGs were particularly long or difficult.

If there are no TDs does the bet carry over to next year's SB?

Seattle is boring and takes no chances but probably was the right call. Let the Pats show they can do anything on offense, so far the plan is working.

Kinda makes firing McDermott look even more silly, since this won't be a 'new voice' or a 'change in culture' like they were promoting. On top of the fact Bills fans wanted him fired mid-season for calling too many bubble screens. I personally don't mind it but I'm not sure how he's more qualified than some of the other options and it means the same offense that many fans didn't like last year.

Your description is more a damning statement on the GM than McDermott, since he doesn't get to pick the players on defense or the weapons around Allen. The coach doesn't necessarily get to provide that "something more," the GM does, if McDermott had control of player personnel that never came out (although I don't doubt he had a voice). The GM hired Joshua Palmer and Elijah Moore as Josh Allen's new weapons, you can guess how it went. I'm more surprised that Beane survived/got promoted than anything else, if you want a list of pros and cons for him the 'cons' list is far, far longer based on drafting and FA signings. He really has only had one really successful draft pick, you can probably guess who.

That's just using numbers to justify anything. Counter would be last game the offensive had five turnovers which effects field position and were missing their CB2, CB3 briefly, SS, FS, SS2 briefly, DE3, LB2, LB3, DT1 half the game, and forced a punt in OT to put the offense in position to only need a FG to win the game. There is always going to be a way to justify firing anyone, I could find numbers right now to justify firing literally any coach in the NFL, doesn't mean the grass is greener on the other side.

That was probably more likely under McDermott but I assume the new coach will want a complete refresh, and probably won't bring back an OC from the prior regime. I'm sure its happened before but it just seems like the least likely outcome, unless Josh Allen stumps hard for Daboll and the new coach takes that into consideration.

Daboll being hired would be glorious considering all the Bills fans that hated him four years ago, a real full circle moment. Whoever they end up hiring I'll fully support but I'm not going to pretend I agree with this decision. And before anyone pulls the 'McDermott was only successful due to Josh Allen' card I gently remind that McDermott broke the Bills 18 Year Playoff Drought with TYROD TAYLOR as the QB and helped hire the staff that honed the beast currently known as Josh Allen. I am not saying he shouldn't be fired due to having success in 2017, just pointing out he is a good coach. Yes, obviously him being the 2nd winningest coach of the last eight years or whatever is and should be connected to Josh Allen but to say he is only successful due to Allen isn't true either.