JohnnyJ

Sheamus v. Christian comes down to booking. That was a crowd that only wanted to see what they wanted to see. The show was booked accordingly. It's not an accident that there were multiple Bryan and Cesaro segments and the other wrestlers likely to get crapped on (Orton/Cena) didn't wrestle. It's no different from Roman v. Bray last week. WWE has gone around the horn enough times that they should know how different things will play in different cities.

Thought they did a very good job with a difficult situation. I still believe Punk is coming back. It's still real to me dammit.

I do think its worth noting that WCW in the early 90s was a regional promotion with national tv and toy deals. I grew up in the Northeast and WCW was not coming to town. But that didn't stop me and my friends from watching the programming, and buying up the galoob toys and the WCW wrestling buddy ripoffs. And we were all about Sting. He was the guy in WCW who would appeal to the kid market. Sting wasn't a huge draw in the early 90s. However, these factors can't be completely ignored.

Calling it a punch is kind. It's a slap. But it's a slap with super impact because he jumps over the ropes to the floor to do it. Makes sense to me.

Torn here. Whenever an Uso is about to come out you know you're going to get an very watchable above-average, sometimes excellent match with lots of intensity. There are very few wrestlers I can say that about. But at this point for me, Christian is teaching a clinic. The more I understand about psychology and the lay out of wrestling matches, the more I enjoy Christian.

Deserved or undeserved, Davey has a million warning signs on him. So it makes complete sense TNA would throw the belts on the wolves right away without making them prove they can play ball. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. I took way too much enjoyment in the Kaval experiment. So happy they made a sequel.

I wonder is every televised nattie match in the last year even comes out to an hour.

My dream scenario, now that Punk has been off TV for a few weeks is to build a long term angle around it. Keep him off mania and do a Sting 1997 type deal. He was ousted by the authority, etc. You give Punk the time off he wants while building up interest the whole time.

I'm surprised that chanting for Punk has ruined the show for anyone. Outside of a few chants here and there its been pretty quiet.

The question with Punk and the question that comes up all of the time is what kind of spot/push does a wrestler deserve? You could argue that no wrestler deserves anything. It's a work and they should take any morsel of success given to them and say thank you. The WWE putting Bryan or Punk or even Cesaro in the spots they're in has made all of them enormously wealthy and successful. On the other hand, if a wrestler believes he is being booked poorly does he have a legitimate gripe? Punk likely believes he could be bigger/ more popular than he is if given the ball. The crowds tend to give the impression that they back this up. Should a wrestler in that position just take it or advocate for himself? I can see both sides. Either way, I want motivated Punk back. The lead up to taker-punk was some of the most fun I had as a wrestling fan in a long time.

Just finished Rumble 2005. Seemed like 2/3rds of the participants were or became main eventers. A few musings: - I wasn't watching when Puder was around and don't know what his deal was but god was it fun watching everyone taking turns chopping him. -Christian (unless it was dubbed in) has been using a variation of his current theme since 05. -Batista seemed taller in thus match than he does now. It looks like he shrunk. -Forgot this was the match where Vince tore his quads. He really no sold it like a champ.

VOD on the Roku 2 is much improved. Everyhthing is running pretty smoothly. There are a few minor buffering issues which i can live with.Last night I couldnt even get through 2 minutes of a show without it dropping. I'm already getting that look from the woman that I'm spending too much time watching. This will not end well.

Maybe it's just me. Weird. All of the other wireless devices in my place (PS3, Iphone, Ipads, laptops, etc.) work great.

I purchased a Roku 2 XS leading up to the launch of the Network. A few weeks back I fiddled with it a bit. It really is a piece of crap. Netflix has been around for a while now and watching it on your tv is traditionally one of the main selling points of the Roku. The Netflix App itself looks like its circa 2010. There is a search feature that doesn't work. All you can do is pick things which show up on the main menu or exit the App and do a search of all Roku programming and hope what you find is on Netflix. To get Netflix to stream properly I had to get a longer HDMI cable and move the Roku 10 feet closer to my router. I also had to make sure no other devices (i.e. my PS3) were on and using bandwith. With this setup, Netflix works 80% of the time. If Netflix, a billion dollar company which has been around for years can't get their search feature running on the Roku it's naïve to think that the problems with the Network are a quick fix. I'm curious how the Network would work on the device if it was literally hooked up to the cable modem.

In Hogan's defense, you try spending 2 and a half minutes talking about the WWE using only their buzzwords.

The musical distraction does make everyone look bad. That's why it was so much fun watching Batista falling for it last night. It wont phase him though, because he loves this business! Putting ADR in the ring with Batista somehow makes ADR appealing and a face. I'd love to see if this would carry over to other wrestlers. Like, how would the crowd react to Batista v. Mahal or a returning Lord Tensai?

I think the problem with Mania this year is that so much has leaked out leading up to the "Road to WrestleMania." We've heard rumblings for at least a month that they were going with Wyatt/Cena, Taker/Lesnar and Bryan/HHH (since the Punk walk out). This takes a lot of the thrill out of these events unfolding. Especially, since this is WrestleMania XXX and all the older stars floating around for the first time in a while, there was an assumption we would getting something surprising. Sheamus/Christian was really good. Really digging Sheamus since his return. I don't understand the booking of the world title over the last few months. Orton has been booked as a complete lameduck champ. Even Kofi scored a clean pinfall on him. It gives off the appearance that anyone on the roster could pick him off in a match without shenanigans. So, even if Batista was getting the responses the WWE wanted, why would that be a special match? To make matters even more confusing, Bryan has been booked as the true champ even though he's not getting a title shot. And Lesnar is easily the most dominating figure, keeps on demanding a title shot and he's not getting one either.

When they first announced the network I purchased a Roku 2 for my second tv. I assumed it would work seamlessly the way my PS3 does. Turns out, it's kind of a piece of crap. It connects when it feels like it. Loads at odd times, etc. I had some success with moving using a longer HDMI cable and moving the Roku much closer to my router. Eventually, I may have to move my cable modem into the same room at the Roku and hook it up directly to the device.

The whole thing is down. I don't get why they didn't let you sign up as the launch was approaching. Too many people trying to sign up at the same time. How long til we start with the healthcare.org jokes?

So many great things in Wyatt's/Shield and the chamber. Need to watch those matches again. Really seems like they've put together a roster of super workers. And then there's Batista. Unfortunately for the WWE, the fans have grown accustomed to a certain level of athleticism/action. Trotting out a muscled up guy who can barely work and telling the fans how great he is isn't going to cut it. The chamber match booking was what it was. They kind of booked themselves into w corner. They were set on Orton/Batista for the title, bray/Cena and Bryan/Authority. It wasn't pretty or satisfying but they got where they wanted to go.

Where's that great clip of Ric Flair falling out of his wheelchair set to old timey music. That's real, right? I didn't just imagine that it existed.

Thought the Cena interview was great. Cena seems very aware of his place with wrestling. It was interesting that he blamed the crowds reactions to him on years of the WWE relying too much on him and not creating new stars.

Christian in the Elimination Chamber is the second time this year that they randomly insterted him into a multi-man main event. They did the same thing for Money in the Bank. If they have no plans of making Christian a credible threat, no plans to push him, etc., from a creative standpoint, why exactly does he have that spot? I love watching Christian as much as the next person, but it's not like he's particularly over right now. It's so inconceivable that they'd have him win that you can't even make the argument of him being a wildcard.

Instead of putting one TNA wrestler in the tournament, why not TNA v the world? The entire TNA roster against individual competitors. How would that not be fun?

Nice catch. Just for that, I'll never tell you guys when the Network is coming to Neo-Geo.