Hokuto in Winter

May 29 Observer Radio - discussed. Nope, interest levels falling like a stone ever since the 10 year high of the post 'mania Raw.

With the amount of people over the last 15 years who have been called the next HBK early in their careers surely we're up to HBK 18.4 or something now.

The thing is Vince yells in everyones ear, he did it to JR. Foley decided he had no desire to commentate after experiencing it and while I'm sure he hits good points making a guy rerecord a line because he's not fond of the term 'making out'... I mean you're never going to learn what is going to set Vince off on any given day if you work for him for a lifetime.

More of this kind of thing.

You'd be pretty cranky too if you had an employee on the job for almost two decades that still needed to be led by the nose every time out. Don't know if joking or not.

Face champions never get over when they're booked weak. Paige more or less works every match as an underdog. If they wanted to go that way with her they should of had her work up to the belt.

For sure. All the tiny things Vince objected to and Cole had to re-record were my highlight 'He doesn't like the term making out? should I say they kissed' Plus it seems like Vince was using 'JR' as an insult as JBL said something one break along the lines of 'He was calling you JR not me' in regards to some perceived fuckup.

A wrestling audience can always be educated. They confiscate signs they don't like, they sweeten crowd noise on taped shows. They're not new to changing the way a crowd comes across. You can do allot with good babyface promos - back when the what thing was new Undertaker paused in an in ring promo said 'Idiots say what?' and after that they stopped for the rest of the segment. Plus simple stuff like not having the announcers acknowledge and praise 'JBL' chants when a match is going on. I'm not even putting any thought into this, creative people employed by WWE could come up with many ways to work on this stuff.

Alicia Fox can really go. She has the best looking strikes of any of the women. Tamina is still green and I really don't like the three bodyslams spot. Paige is fantastic but I think she is being poorly served by the way her matches are being booked, taking a beating for 80% of the match and then wining with a quick comeback is not playing to her strengths - she has a good varied offensive arsenal and she's not getting much of a chance to show it off on the main roster shows.

Nattie vs Boss Sash was fun and I liked the Neville/Kidd faceoff. Looking forward to Takeover.

Americans don't have Panto and I dare say most do not know what it is.

Onos not the dreaded 'white space' I know when I go see Shakespeare performed I'm glad the actors have the chops to stop the audience screaming 'what!?' during a soliloquy. What Shakespearean theater lets the audience scream anything at the performers? Sorry, I think the point I was trying to make got lost a bit with the Shakespeare thing. What I'm trying to say is the idea that wrestlers need to go to acting class to learn to alter the cadence of their promos to prevent what chants is ridiculous. Plus it's stupid that we find ourselves in a situation where someone can't cut a promo using dramatic pauses and the like because of the crowd wanting everything to be an audience participation bit. Go on youtube and watch some of the great talkers doing promos in the 70's through 90's and imagine a 'What!?' at every pause. Did those guys lack 'acting chops' - would the promos have been in anyway improved if they had to work around them by altering cadence or would they in fact be worse? Lance Storm has made the point before that people chanting for CM Punk or singing a theme song during a match that involves neither Punk nor the performer who's music they are singing is disrespectful to everyone who came to the show and wants to enjoy that match. I'll extend that to everyone watching at home also. By allowing and encouraging these kind of crowds the WWE has created a Tragedy of the commons situation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

Onos not the dreaded 'white space' I know when I go see Shakespeare performed I'm glad the actors have the chops to stop the audience screaming 'what!?' during a soliloquy.

I agree. Which is sad in it's own way.

If I understand correctly the post show stuff is not scripted, or if it is they're given much more leeway with the material. So yeah it is a different guy, it's Bryan Danielson as opposed to the same writers who write the promos for everyone on the roster. --- I don't understand the logic of the cage match at all. The psychology of a cage match is so a babyface can get his hands on the heel without a] the heel getting away and/or b] the heels cronies interfering. Cena beat Bray at WM in a match with very little interference. So the rematch is in a cage... and then the cage match has nothing but interference and to cap it off after Bray hits his finisher on a distracted by demon child Cena he walks out of the cage rather than pining him... and this feud is going to continue. Between Wyatt/Cena III and Bryan/Kane II Payback is already looking like a crap show.

She's pretty clearly the best womens worker they have. The front office think that's Nattie though, so Nattie gets the 'need a good hand' spots and Alicia gets left in the 'You're female and not a] the fresh new thing or b] on our reality show so we'll just have you work jobs on tv till your contract is up' position. If TNA was what it was five or six years ago she could go there and tear it up with Gail Kim in a nice long PPV match with a hot crowd but it's not so eh.

The cage match is okay if you're fine with more outside interference in a cage match than Cena/Wyatt by several orders of magnitude. Also comedy spots. That said Ricochet vs. YAMATO was great and worked at a slower pace and with more body part work than 95% of dragon system stuff. Plus the Flamita Open the Brave Gate defence should be seen, perfect showcase for probably the most promising luchador of his generation, he does spots I've never seen before yet still works nice and snug - he's got endless upside. The other two big matches are really good but if you're not into the style they won't change your mind.

That has to be the doing of the HHH/Steph regime. Vince was apparently always hard to sell on stables.

Smackdown is on a bit of a roll for nothing shows. Main Event has been way more consistent. Still, Paige match was fun.

I think the gimmick is strong enough they'll come up as a team. As for upside Viktor is a handy worker* and Konnor is big but not by WWE standards. For the near future they have way more to offer as a unit as sick as I am of watching them squash teams every show. * Actually it's worth quoting Meltzer on Viktor. 'He's the kind of good hand that would have a place on the roster of any company in history, but right now you need more than that as WWE is so stacked with talent'.

1] The injured list was interesting, they have Alberto Del Rio, Rey & AJ listed. Also CM Punk which is amusing. 2] The promos as written are universally horrible.

It was probably a one week deal. Plus it's not like anyone treated him as a heel. Plus it's Hornswoggle and thus stunningly irrelevant.

I like this more than Cesaro Vs. Sami Zayn. Great psychology. Unique feel. Very underrated.

Christ that guy is a douche. He pretty much ruined the cheap heat podcast for me as he talks all over the guy I want to listen to. I watched his Emma interview from 'mania as I'd never seen or read anything with her before and it was a masterclass in poor journalism and general ass-hattery. 'I had no idea you were Australian, I'm not up on NXT so you know...' ignoring that she's talked on Raw and Smackdown and 'Of everyone I've ever interviewed I've never met anyone less like their on screen character than you'

I think Corey Graves has cemented his status as my favourite NXT guy since I've been watching(since Arrival). Bo was amazing selling the confusion and anguish of realising the crowd did not love him, turned him face for me until the match got under way and I was bored. Not that it was awful but we've had some really good main events these last few weeks and this was a step below. Plus I don't really want to see Justin Gabriel here. I have faith that Adam Rose will make it, I like Bo and hope he does also but if I was laying real money on the line I'd not be taking that bet. Agree on all counts. <3 Sasha.