SirSmUgly

Honestly, I find the presentation charming. Not "big time" by our standards, but then again, that sort of presentation is grating at this point.

I think the quickest fix for the show is to rip out the heel authority and just have a matchmaking committee that rarely makes air (and only for important events). Then, have everyone care about being champion. That immediately adds a high-stakes sense to the shows because right now, everything is low-stakes. Lose? You'll just win the belt back eventually. Get fired? You'll be back on TV in two weeks. NXT sold to me that Sami Zayn might well lose and leave NXT forever. Heck, Bo Dallas has only been on NXT television once since losing his match to leave NXT, and that was under a hood trying to sneak back in. NXT's stips matter. Their belt matters. They don't need a heel commish because the stakes of being champion are enough for everyone's motivation. Why does the NXT Women's Championship mean as much as the WWE WHC at this point? It genuinely does. That is a big problem. Same with the NXT Championship. Honestly, both belts would mean more than the WWE WHC were the gold not on a monster that never shows up.

I think the problem with the angle is the Authority coming back is a) too soon after their loss at Survivor Series, b ) was spurred by a weak angle where Cena could have just gone down and fought off the dudes threatening Edge, and c) the Authority running roughshod over the heels all summer was barely over enough as it was - the real heel with heat was Brock Lesnar, but because of limited dates, he was off TV and barely even mentioned as champ. So while Gregg is right that the angle makes sense structurally - bad guys ousted come back due to a nefarious plan and exact revenge on the faces that ousted them until a mega-face sets wrongs right - he is totally missing that the ways that the company put that story into motion are flawed. - The Authority is rapidly becoming heatless. - The nefarious plan to get the Authority back in power looks like Rollins and J+J Security drew it up with chalk on a sidewalk somewhere - Sting probably isn't over enough with the current crowd to pull off the MEGAFACE AVENGER thing, but that's because they have mentioned him roughly as much as they have mentioned Brock Lesnar during Lesnar's title reign. Multiple hours of TV a week, and no priming of the audience to understand why Sting is a dude to rely on in this case Those are three things off the top of my head that make this something that people probably find unsatisfying.

That you actually believe that tonight's show is in any way comparable to any of those angles is why it is so hard for me to take anything you say seriously. Did I compare this angle to those? No. I'm stating that everyone has a knee jack reaction to everything on Raw these days. It's a yawn fest reading it, honestly. People love the strong angles on NXT and Lucha Underground as they happen, so it's not a case of people being unreasonably knee-jerk on this board.

Was Bryan on this show? I was planning on watching any segments he was in after the fact, but I didn't see anyone mention him. I'm on "only watch Bryan" mode right now until they ditch the Authority and start booking at least at 1995 WWF-level of competence.

Konnor at least fits the part reasonably. Viktor looks like he's cosplaying or something, though. Totally inauthentic. If their work was good, they could overcome it, though. Bill Eadie looked only somewhat less goofy in his costume than Tobias Fünke did in his "Discipline Daddy" getup, but his work was so good that it didn't matter in the end.

Re: Match lengths - Every case is different, but I've come around to thinking that somewhere between fourteen and twenty minutes is the best length for most matches (excluding stuff that needs to be shorter or longer for specific situations, like squash matches). That gives enough time to complete a clear narrative structure without getting repetitive or meandering too much.

Why, oh why, did he do an Asian bow to a couple of Lucha guys? Mocking Sin Cara's bow, I think.

Yeah, we're headed toward a Bryan/Lesnar scenario where Rollins cashes in and wins right after Bryan beats Lesnar. It's probably going to help Rollins get the rest of the way over as a top-level heel to do that, so even though I'd rather see Bryan get a run all the way into Summerslam, I would understand if Rollins over Bryan via cash-in was the plan.

I wouldn't say NEVER agree, but on this point, we must part from one another ever more.

Watching Portland on YouTube made me really love Matt Borne even more than I already did and wish for more 2/3 Falls matches in today's wrestling. I find that for me, watching '88-'89 NWA via Worldwide, Saturday Night, and PPV is maybe my favorite wrestling-related thing to do if I need to get some work done or if I get into the mood where I have a hunger for wrestling.

I feel like RZombie feels about Mark Henry except about Sheamus. I wouldn't pass the Matt D "can you empathize" test either. Beyond him being a good striker willing to give and take stiff shots, I'm not sure why people like him. I don't get it. I watch Sheamus and wish I was watching Finlay instead. That guy had a real sense of meanness that both face and heel Sheamus lacks. There's no authenticity there, no sense of seething violence brimming underneath the surface. What am I missing?

I saw the 'Taker Streak DVD recently, and I'm pretty sure 'Taker/Henry, 'Taker/Flair, and 'Taker/HHH I are all significantly better than any of the 'Taker/HBK matches or either of the last two 'Taker/HHH matches.

Yeah, and my problem with the Fall of Man is that the big dude should be decapitating guys with a clothesline and the small dude should do a chop block. What they have going now is surprisingly not impactful.

There are really only two things I want to see: Sting vs. a main eventer in an eight-minute glorified squash where Sting hits all his spots twice apiece. Bryan vs. Lesnar with Bryan winning the gold. The rest of the upper-midcard on down is so uninteresting to me at this point that I don't really care what happens. To paraphrase Jay-Z, everyone else is like a treadmill just running in place, getting nowhere fast after a whole year done passed.

Daniel Bryan is the best, man.

The Ascension sucks, but they can be salvaged if they watch a lot of Demolition and use the formula of convincing clubbering + knowing how to cut off opponents and delay the hope spot/hot tag.

I didn't watch this show, but Bryan is back, so I care again. Well, just about Bryan, but I care.

Rollins isn't a great promo, but most of his issue is the shit that the writers script for him. "Dean Ambrose is held tightly in the grip of insanity. I knew that at HELL IN A CELL, to defeat the embodiment of pure insanity, I would have to transcend insanity. What you saw last night was a man who has TRANSCENDED INSANITY. Ambrose's brutish insanity was not enough to stop SETH ROLLINS from continuing to make his way to the top of WWE!" That's a reasonable approximation of your typical Rollins promo. Like, who the fuck actually talks like that? The writers are the worst.

I had to see it spelled out before I got it, so don't feel bad. Thanks, Wikipedia!

That he was ever able to do that stuff at all flabbergasts me. Actually, Show is also very impressive for being in, what, his mid-40s and being that size and still being in quite good shape. This guy should be at the "Special Attraction" stage instead of the "gatekeeper for young guys we're pushing" stage in his career.

Speaking of the Giant, is he one of the most athletic wrestlers ever, like if we were doing a consensus top-20 most athletic list, he'd be on that list? I'm watching Uncensored '96, and he takes a crazy over-the-corner bump against Loch Ness. Every big match he has in '95 and early '96, he's doing some other crazy move or bump that is just astonishing.

FL has no state income tax either, so the NXT guys probably don't have to pay state taxes in that case based on OSJ's experience.

So yeah, my premise is wrong.

Road expenses are tax deductible so you get it back at the end of the year EN090. Look, insult my family or punch me in the dick, but call me EN090, and we're going to have to duel in the streets. Business expenses are tax-deductible, but every time I've ever read or heard a wrestler talking about salary, they always point out the road expenses that end up eating up their contracts. They could all be bad at taxes or just super-cheap like Mick Foley, though.