Coffey

A few great pictures from tonight worth saving though.

It really helps Rhea's character though...

I felt like Cross & Scarlett were can't miss stars but I guess I'll see what WWE does. Scarlett is gorgeous of course, but the entrance with her lip syncing comes off as so cheesy.

Maybe Dream will text him a dick pic mid match to distract him!

Agreed. The beginning part was suspect with Gargano working Lee down & keeping him down but they moved passed that.

Even with an injured hand, I don't know if I can suspend disbelief enough to buy that Lee couldn't dead weight lift Gargano with one arm. He weights like 125 pounds lol. The hand work has been pretty good though.

This match is being worked weird.

Damian Priest is giving me early Baron Corbin feels.

Funny, I was thinking "man, this is a real bucket of shit." Mauro ain't helping but the horrible strike exchanges a few minutes ago took me completely out of it.

I didn't watch the whole clip, just about the first minute & a half or so... but I assume no one dared list a non-WWE match? I can't imagine Otis is repping the likes of Jumbo, Misawa or Kobashi. Why is the NXT PPV on Sunday this time instead of Saturday? I was looking forward to coming home & watching it after work but now I see it didn't happen yet. I thought NXT PPV was always on Saturday?

I don't think this will stir up as much drama as The Forgotten Son did - nor will people employed by WWE probably want to ruffle feathers of any of the Powers That Be, but this is still pretty tone deaf.

Does it surprise you that a Trump defender is a fucking idiot at this point? Those are just facts.

How is Dominik Dijakovic getting called up already but they never capitalized on the momentum they had with Keith Lee? His showdown with Roman Reigns at Survivor Series & his showdown with Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble have both basically been wasted. Him being a midcard champion on NXT means less than nothing. That's like being a tag team champion that wrestles on Main Event. Not that I have anything against Dijakovic, more power to him, but man, how many times will WWE squander opportunity instead of trying to capitalize when something catches on?

Bray Wyatt is to WWE what Rob Zombie is to Hollywood. Are his movies any good? Nope. But he still has his fans that pretend he's some sort of directing genius the likes of Stanley Kubrick. Bray Wyatt puts on a clown mask & wrestles in pants that don't fit & suddenly some people are like "OMG, he's so original!"

Last thing Kairi needs is to be hitting her head more. That poor girl is going to have some serious issues if she gets more concussions. She's already a tiny thing that takes hellacious bumps. I don't want to see another situation like what happened at TLC.

I don't disagree with any of that. I did like when Nia exploded through the table when they finally got her over there though. I reckon in the future they won't try to do any feats of strength with the women where Nia is on the receiving end though.

It's interesting to me because the Michael Jordan The Last Dance was so successful & now wrestling has The Last Ride. I don't know how successful it is, as we never really get WWE Network information other that the subscription number they give investors which includes free memberships. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot more of these style of episodic, documentary like shows. Not just as a whole, but even just within the confines of professional wrestling, I think we're just getting started. Especially now during CoVid-19. In the sports world, I wouldn't be surprised to see them on the likes of people such as Tiger Woods or Mike Tyson & in wrestling, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them in other promotions. It feels like WWE is definitely going to do ones on Triple H, Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair.

What was your issue with it? Just how hard it was for them to get Nia up & walk her into position?

Good for Apollo, man.

And you know it's killing Vince, Jr. knowing he had to do this after AEW did it first.

I missed the boat by putting my reply in the RAW thread from last week instead of this thread. D'oh!

The news about the performance center people being the live crowd has me intrigued enough to watch at least the beginning of RAW tonight, so that's something.

I actually kind of like the group of Jimmy Havoc & Penelope Ford with Kip Sabian. Ford has a great presence on camera & Havoc being a cheating scumbag is great. Plus, I think Sabian lacks a lot so they help cover up some holes. I prefer them as a trio than any of them individually is what I'm saying.

I like Cage but that debut is... lackluster.

There was a time, when I was a lot younger, where I looked at the WWE the same way that I looked at the NFL or the NBA. It was like the best-of-the-best. The greatest basketball players went to the NBA. The greatest American football players made it to the NFL. The cream of the crop of professional wrestlers went on to then WWF now WWE. "You gotta go to New York." "Vince will make you a star!" How many wrestlers believe that anymore? You make a name for yourself elsewhere? WWE might bring you in & slap you on NXT. Maybe it would work out? But I doubt there's confidence like there used to be. Of course, that wasn't accurate in the first place but at one time, you could make the argument that WWF was where all talent wanted to wind-up. The goal was to be wrestling at Wrestlemania. Like, kids growing up playing football fantasize about the Super Bowl. Little kids on the basketball court in the park aren't thinking about the Euro league or playing in the G League. It wasn't just the Hulk Hogan WWF. Harley Race wrestled there. Ric Flair, Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, André the Giant... everyone that was anyone. Nowadays though, the show just feels like it's nothing but jobbers, top to bottom. There aren't any stars. Trying to brand the company as the star, to me, has backfired. WWE developmental turned into another brand instead of developmental, with their own TV show where they basically just try to wrestle like every other WWE show. WWE created multiple divisions, or brands, or shows or whatever the hell you want to call them, to try to create competition... with themselves. RAW Vs. Smackdown. NXT invasions. NXT UK. And none of it works because it's all WWE & everyone knows that. They're not back to trying to have people jump shows again, like that shit matters. It doesn't. I think the Charlotte Flair thread is interesting. Loss made a great point. When WWE does try to make someone special, like Charlotte, it backfires with some of the fans. She's "pushed down our throats" or whatever. But how many clean losses did the big stars of yesteryear take? Of course the business model has changed & there's a lot of hours of programming that need to be filled... but you used to have to PAY to even have a chance to see top stars lose. Now wins & losses & titles reigns don't mean anything. Being a champion doesn't mean anything. Braun Strowman is the world champion for crying out loud. Everyone that's anyone nowadays is like a ten time champion. Can people even name who the midcard champions are anymore? They job people out before trying to build them up & then wonder why they don't catch on when the perception of them is that they're losers. WWE as a whole, top to bottom, needs a revamp & an entire overhaul. I don't mean changing the RAW theme song or the color of the ring ropes. The format needs to change. The direction needs to change. The personnel needs to change. Everything. That is if they care - which if revenue is still coming in & being generated, I don't think they will. But the stars aren't there. The shows feel like they're crumbling. Smackdown had a pretty good number this week, comparatively, but RAW did not. They're doing shows with no fans. Still trying to run PPV. But without live attendance, or live show merch sales, or even PPV buys as they killed off that revenue with the WWE Network. Where is the money coming from? All I see is the TV rights deals from USA & FOX & the Saudi Arabia deal. Which last I heard was now shaky (admittedly I don't know a lot of details there, some kind of pissing contest?) & I don't know how USA & FOX are feeling right now. But I would be surprised to see WWE get huge numbers on their next contracts, whenever that is. So maybe they will try to make changes sometime soon? I get that Vince McMahon feels burned. Hulk Hogan with the steroid trial & then going to WCW (even though they brought him back). Steve Austin refusing the program with Brock & going home (even though they brought him back). The Rock going to Hollywood. Brock going to UFC. Even now with Roman choosing to stay away for health reasons & Becky getting pregnant. Even the people that they tried to make into big stars, that didn't get to that level, still feel like they're "leaving" - so I get why he's trying to make the WWE moniker the draw & not the stars. But that just creates a bunch of apathetic fans without any big stars. What gets the biggest reactions in WWE nowadays? A big return from injury or a superstar from another promotion like AJ Styles showing up, something like that? I don't believe that professional wrestling is cyclical. If it's good, it's up. If it's bad, it's down. Right now, wrestling is pretty bad. Not just WWE but because of the pandemic, as a whole. It's hard to find current stuff to watch & follow. But WWE still seems to dictate the professional wrestling world. When they do new things, or try new ideas, you see those pop-up elsewhere. A good example being the Money in the Bank briefcase. Suddenly there were briefcases everywhere. Even New Japan has one. TNA did it. Small thing, but just an example. You've seen it more recently with the women. Every company has a female division now. Not a coincidence that it's after women main event Wrestlemania & WWE starts using them so much more predominantly. Not that women haven't been working in non-WWE places for a long time, especially in Japan, but now it's EVERYWHERE. Even companies like NWA knew they had to start with a women's division from the jump when they started NWA Power. So when WWE feels lame, when it feels like no one there is special, when it feels like it's a waste of time, people won't watch. They won't spend money on it. Hell, even the discussion on places like here feels like it's dwindling. There's not a lot to talk about. The wrestlers suck, the shows suck, the company stinks. There's occasionally a pearl but for the most part, I think a lot of us that continue to follow due so out of habit more so than anything else. For several years, I continued to follow just so I could be up to date on current events & activities for discussion sake but I even lost interest in that. Anyway, I'm rambling...