sek69

I liked what they did with Bobby Roode, they knew he was going to get the "new guy making his first official appearance" pop, and he shifted into heel mode without missing a beat.

...and I think that creates a lot of the resentment towards the old guys as well. Fans who don't like how the company treats their favorites get upset they rely on draws from a bygone era, the older guys not used to the post-Internet Twitter banter world end up snapping back at them and looking like they're shaking their canes at all the whippersnappers in their yard,

It's like every time you think TNA finally ran out of lives, Dixie manages to put in the Konami Code.

Wrestling is such a different beast that people never leave the business unless they die or get too injured to compete. That leads to a lot of old timers feeling their opinions carry more weight than the youngsters, and maybe sometimes there's merit to that. The problem is that a lot of old timers don't handle getting their ideas challenged very well and usually end up coming off very poorly in the process. There's also the very real issue of not every great booking idea from the past being able to work today, and some people who either were fans of the past territories or worked for them take it to heart too much.

So apparently Vince hasn't been at TVs the last few weeks and has been doing his micromanaging from the office, which seems like a pretty significant story that just got kind of a passing mention by Dave.

I love how guys are selling losses, it looks like their worlds are ending by being eliminated from this tournament.

Hardcore Heaven 95 was just added to the ECW PPV section if that floats anyone's boat.

The problem is that things like OTL and the magazine get a fraction of the push from the company that the afternoon Shouty Head Shows get. Plus you have ESPN Radio where they replace real journalists like SVP with meatheads like Danny Kannell who just aren't sold on head trauma being serious issue, and anyone who thinks so is part of the War on Football.

True, but it really exposes how in-the-bubble Dave gets when he gets Aspberger's level hung up on ESPN not treating WWE with journalistic integrity when in reality they're just more open about WWE stuff being a paid ad buy.

Was surprised to see Cedric hit a Brainbuster, I guess the no head drop rule doesn't apply in the CWC?

ESPN is widely mocked in most places for being the NFL's power bottom in their relationship, and they act like sports they don't have a contract to carry don't even exist.

Huh. My brain was convinced they were on ESPN but a quick check shows they were in fact syndicated.

Did ESPN Classics carry Herb's UWF at one point or am imagining that? Yes, I want to say they also briefly ran that weird AWF group that had rounds like World of Sport. Also the worst part of this will be endless Dave Meltzer rants on how ESPN isn't treating wrestling like a sport and how that's such a black eye to their journalistic cred (when in reality that ship sailed when they became official PR departments for the sports they cover).

To me, the CWC has been a success just for the reunion of Regal and Tajiri on Twitter.

That promo was even weirder since it came off like Cena's version of the Lost My Smile speech and implying he'd be gone for a while but IIRC he was back like the next week or two.

Well that's assuming the plan was to make him the champ, which it seems clear wasn't the case (at least at that time) until Roman got popped. At the time Dean was just another piece of meat to be served up to Brock.

There's no reason in either kayfabe or real life why Brock should have done anything more than he did with Dean. The guy was pushed as a borderline comedy geek who lost all his PPV matches, why would Brock be portrayed anywhere close to equal with him.

The gimmick of Eva Marie never actually wrestling a match is one of the best parts of Smackdown Live.

Chops like Flair, Steamboat, and Ronnie Garvin would throw where it was one at a time and looked like they were putting their all into it looked good. The whole "rapid fire chops" thing is what looks like crap no matter who's doing it. No selling a hard chop like Hawk, Nikita, or Sting used to do was the highlight of badassery. Now you look like a geek if you sell one.

The best part of the wedding deal was Lana in the background trying fruitlessly to ge the tiara out of her cake encrusted hair while Rusev was yelling at Foley. The comic timing those two had was great.

This seems to be the leading theory. From what I can tell it wasn't all that shooty-shoot but more like Joey was coming off like he gave 0 fucks.

Conor's statement did make me wonder who on the current roster would actually stand a chance against a trained fighter. Del Rio and Ziggler come to mind just based on their MMA and amateur wrestling backgrounds.

Doubtful, considering Trump's a Friend of Vince.

Gallagher has a unique persona, but his success would hinge on WWE writers overcoming the urge to make him the new Santino. Which you know they would the second they saw his old timey Conan O'Brien look.

As annoying as JBL can be on commentary, he's proven to be pretty good on the Legends show. I thought the episode with Booker was good, but like Chief said it wasn't breaking any new ground if you've heard any other Booker interview. Having said that, if you've never heard his story it's a must see, Booker's probably one of the most low key inspirational stories in wrestling.