SirSmUgly

The Vaudevillains were over, but they changed their entrance theme. I honestly think the change in entrance theme hurt them. The crowd wants to cheer their silly gimmick and they're supposed to be heels, so I get the logic behind the change, but it really hurt them significantly, I think.

I didn't say that. I remember liking Batista's work in that triple threat. However, even on re-watch, most of the reason that I like that match so much personally is because of the anticipation for and emotional release from Bryan winning and celebrating.

Honestly, I forgot the Shield/Evolution six-man tags. I can take or leave the other stuff you mentioned (well, I like the WM triple threat, but not because of anything Orton was doing in it), but those two six-mans were really good. I retract my earlier statement regarding Orton.

Orton shouldn't get in because I can't remember a better-than-decent match that he had. Personally, if the part-timer in question did staggeringly awesome stuff, I'm all for that person getting in. Brock Lesnar had what might be the best triple threat match in company history and the best extended squash of anyone in company history this year. That's enough for me. Those matches will be talked about for years and years and years in large part because of him.

People are going to argue that Ambrose/Wyatt Lumberjack is a great match of that type (I personally hated it; it seems kinda polarizing as a match) and I've heard people say that Ambrose/Wyatt Ambulance match on RAW is really good (I didn't enjoy it, but I typically don't like that stipulation). I think when Bray gets in, those are the matches that any supporters will hang their hats on. Well, that and his sweet clothesline.

Re: Punk lawsuit, did anyone post this link from the WWE's own website? http://www.wwe.com/inside/wwe-addresses-cm-punk-allegations-27130843 I don't see how not having a record proves anything; nor do I see how the video is necessarily proof that Punk was lying (if the growth is lower on his back and under the trunks, it would be hidden from view).

I guess I'll nominate Chuck Taylor, one of the few indie guys that I actually kinda keep up with where I can. I liked his tag stuff in PWG this year, but I don't know if it's online anymore.

Just saw Cristobal's post. Nevermind about the women.

I like the "delusional pretty-boy gets a big smoldering bodyguard" gimmick. It's one of my favorite pro wrestling tropes. YMMV. (Note: I think he's REALLY good at portraying his gimmick, so as you watch more of him, he might bring you around a bit.)

This show had so much stuff going on. It felt packed in a good way. Owens comes out and justifies his actions in a way that is going to keep the crowd split on cheering for him. Man, that crowd was hot. They were chanting for everyone heatedly. Rhyno shows up and Tom Phillips says that though it's now called the Spear, the man who made that move popular is in the ring. I looked to see if Goldberg had also showed up, but nope. I don't like Rhyno or Finn that much, but I want to see that match because I can't imagine how their styles will go together at all. I loved that Enzo and Cass get the "sing-along" treatment, but when Enzo got to his spiel about Carmella, the crowd stopped singing along and booed mercilessly. Even better, after he stopped talking about Carmella, the crowd went right back to singing along with him. Captain Obvious would assert that they really need to get Carmella away from those two OR turn Enzo and Cass heel, and I think the former is a smarter idea right now than the latter. Blue Pants is charming as hell. Sasha Banks is still awesome. Double-knees in the corner is so vicious. Love that move. Oddly, I think women have my two favorite moves in the company right now (Banks's double-knees, Nikki Bella's forearm). I can't believe I'm saying that. Neville/Owens involved some pretty awesome bomb-throwing. Owens bumping around like a pinball was impressive. Neville's high-end offense is the best in the company (including the main shows; I know some people will say that Rollins does, but Neville is really, REALLY crisp on all his stuff).

I don't think Tyler Breeze is a future World Champ or anything, but he definitely scans better than "nothing-happening midcarder." I would use him with a bodyguard to get the bodyguard over on the main show. One could pair Breeze with Corbin as his smoldering bodyguard, for example, and use Breeze to get Corbin over when the latter eventually turns face.

Man, these food jokes about Joe are the wurst. I'll see myself out.

He was supposed to voice Killbane, but he ended up getting to voice Angel. Hogan voicing Killbane would have been magical, though.

If NXT in its current form existed about ten years ago, Joe would have eventually been at or near the top of the card on at least a handful of WrestleManias. I'm sure that he's thought about that at least a couple of times.

Now that is just the limit. Change "Moldova" to "Bulgaria," and I think we've got Rusev's new nickname!

Zayn will be WWE World Champ someday, even if only for awhile until Vince can get the gold back onto his favorite at the time. Zayn is Daniel Bryan with better stick work. He is going to be MEGA-over, even if they book him like garbage for awhile. I look forward to "Team Zayn and Kane," WWE Tag Champs in 2018.

I assume that those two groups of people are distinct from one another in a lot of ways. I can see why people would be annoyed by Enzo, which is why he really should be a heel when they call him up as the little shit-talking asshole who had to get his much bigger friend to bail him out of fights. They'll get over even though they aren't very good wrestlers just on their character work if they get booked to do a lot of sneak attacks and have Enzo be the little douchey guy that starts stuff all the time.

Are you seriously anti-HHH and NXT? When did your soul die? I really don't give a shit...<snip> Vinnie Ru, is that you posting here?!

Are you on PS4? The DLC should be added directly with your download. Once you're on the ship, go to the missions screen, and you should be able to access Enter the Dominatrix and How the Saints Saved Christmas at any time from that point on. They'll have little fleur-de-lets next to them to indicate that they are the extras. Same thing with DLC costumes and guns; those will be available in the shops and indicated as extras with fleur-de-lets next to them.

Vince Russo proclaiming not to like NXT, trolling or not, makes me more sure than ever that NXT is the best weekly show on U.S. television.

That second guy Cristobal mentioned did work a dark match at an NXT taping a couple months ago, IIRC, so that one isn't as surprising to me.

Apparently showed up at the next set of NXT tapings and stared down teasing a feud. I wasn't trying to find that information, so I'm sort of bummed that I saw it. The surprise would have been cool.

Can I say that I really liked the Solomon Crowe vignette last night? It was clearly modeled on the people who did the broadcast signal intrusion in the Chicago area and did a weird Max Headroom-type thing. Loved how they had a similar voice-over for it. That character has a ton of potential from a creative standpoint.

He was criticized by Alex Riley, the HEEL announcer. And the whole point of Sami's run was that he WOULDN'T ever compromise himself or take a shortcut to win. You'll have to forgive me for blocking out Alex Riley's heel commentary. However, I don't see how "pinning the guy you beat up" = "taking a shortcut." Zayn refusing to waffle Neville with the belt during the match where he won the gold was much better at getting that point across.

Embarrassing note: As a kid, I looked forward to Larry Zbyszko interviews in AWA because they would always have a cool theme park graphic of "Larryland" in the background that I loved to look at.