Timbo Slice

It's a Christmas miracle or something. As always, we planned to do a two hour show. As always, it went three hours. As always, it was a lot of fun.

The idea that Cena/Taker is a passing of the torch is hilarious. Cena's the face of the WWE. Not even close. There's no real passing of the torch necessary. Cena beating Taker helps nobody.

Wait, you really think Undertaker would put over Bryan at the expense of the Streak? Taker likes Bryan and while I think that the Streak should never be broken, Bryan would be a fucking made man if Taker put him over.

Considering he just joined The Wyatt Family, Bryan taking down Taker makes at least a little bit of sense. I don't think there's anyway in hell that Bryan would job in the situation, but who knows at this point.

Yeah, Bryan's still over. The degree of how over he is at this point is splitting hairs. He was a supernova at some point this year, sure, but it's not like he's flamed out. This seems like the usual WWE slow burn booking. Will's right though. This only works if Bryan comes out on top here. But it's not going to matter what the reaction is. It's going to matter if Bryan gets exactly what he wants, and whether the crowd will like the fact that he did it regardless of the cost. If it turns the Wyatts faces (Which is a huge possibility), then that's just what happens. I don't care if the fans blow the roof off the place every time he comes out. It's obvious they want him to succeed. If he succeeds this way, the crowd will respond in kind.

I'm gonna jump ahead here and recommend all Bork Laser/Mark Henry matches. I can't see those not being awesome.

It's more about the audience he's presenting this stuff to and the platform he's doing it on. Basically, he's a guy presented as someone with "inside knowledge" about pro wrestling, yet his interviews are full of fluff. It's pretty obvious in the Triple H interview that he was putting him on something fierce, and here, he's given time with one of the best stories in pro wrestling in a long time and doesn't really get into the parts of his backstory that aren't easily accessible on the WWE website. That's not an "elitist" take. It's more about why a guy like that is being given time on a major website when there are many other prominent writers on the subject (some that post on these forums) who would do much better. You mean a company that has Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd, Stephen A. Smith and Chris Berman as some of its most visible personalities trots out a lead pro wrestling voice who pushes fluff over insight? I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Grantland is presented as an alternative to ESPN that isn't supposed to feature the fluff of the guys you mentioned. It's SUPPOSED to push insight. Shoemaker isn't.

It's more about the audience he's presenting this stuff to and the platform he's doing it on. Basically, he's a guy presented as someone with "inside knowledge" about pro wrestling, yet his interviews are full of fluff. It's pretty obvious in the Triple H interview that he was putting him on something fierce, and here, he's given time with one of the best stories in pro wrestling in a long time and doesn't really get into the parts of his backstory that aren't easily accessible on the WWE website. That's not an "elitist" take. It's more about why a guy like that is being given time on a major website when there are many other prominent writers on the subject (some that post on these forums) who would do much better.

Fucking ay, Regal/Cesaro. What sucks is that there will only be one match.

That's true with basically all WWE at this point, though. The heat isn't throughout the match. It's basically them playing for the stretch run. That's how it's been for a while. Only matches that are truly "special" like Cena/Brock or Cena/Punk from MITB 2011 have that heat that lasts the entire match. It's rare that fans are so into a match going in that they're going crazy the entire time. Hell, even the Rhodes/Shield match from Battleground only got big halfway through the match.

Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards debuted tonight at NXT. Richards took the last name of Billington. Imagine the shock.

John, if you missed this incredible lede, I wouldn't blame you. "The Case for Randy Orton - Why the guy who was one the most boring man in WWE is now the champion we need" Seriously? Grantland's trying to cater to "Smart" fans in some aspect and this is what they come up with?

Does AJ Styles do anything as well as Kofi Kingston?

There are a couple tags involving Los Guerreros that were absolutely money. Also, the Rey/Edge tag matches were sensational thanks to Rey. I know people aren't favorable of Angle and He Who Shall Not Be Named, but I got no problem thinking fondly of those matches. I think there are better finishes to the matches we are seeing now, but there are some great FIP segments in the Rey/Edge matches from both guys, and a couple finishes that actually rank up there with some of the finishes we've seen lately.

There's a Kawada/Nagai match from 2001 where Nagai basically gets nothing in at all and Kawada just destroys him. He busts out the half crab and stomps, which made me cringe.

Also, Will, I think the gas money saved was a good move.

I liked the match in a lot of ways. I thought it was built right, they hinted at things from previous matches, Cena's escape was actually smart as opposed to him just breaking the cuffs. Orton did bring it a bit and everything was clean, but there wasn't anything about the match that screamed memorable. It reminded me of the Flair/Sting Clash match to unify the titles, where it was treated like a big deal, but there wasn't much to distinguish it as above their previous matches because of the stakes.

It's not a boring ending. It's that the guy holding the belts at the end is boring.

I do find it funny that Punk supposedly winning so that he's not as pissed off at the booking happened against a group that supposedly has the company's next golden boy. Meanwhile, Bryan jobs clean as a sheet.

I'm trying to figure out why that was so definitive from a booking standpoint, but It was a great match from a work standpoint. Bray is figuring it out a bit.

Brodus threw a fucking heart punch in the match. The Miz is officially a heat suck at this point.

I had reservations about those two teams being on last, but they made it look damn good. Rey getting the better of some reversals he has been on the receiving end of was neat to see.

What's this in reference to? Punk not liking the booking?

Christmas always gets overbooked. Too many story lines that get wrapped up and not always in a satisfying way.

Thanksgiving is always the big draw. Christmas seems like that yearly tradition that a lot of people go to, but the food isn't as good. That damn turkey goes over everyone, I swear.