NintendoLogic

If it sets up a rematch, the result is fine. If it was just a one-off, then it's stupid. It seems increasingly apparent that the latter is the case.

Basically, I want to see something that looks competitive and allows me to suspend my disbelief. Most flippy-doo stuff fails on the second count because it requires too much obvious cooperation. Most mat-based stuff fails on the first count because if you're not throwing strikes, you're not doing everything you can to try to win.

I was surprised at how much I liked Ishii/Okada. Since Ishii was involved, I was afraid the match would involve a bunch of endless strike exchanges and pop-up no-selling. But there was none of that, just great hard-hitting wrestling. MOTYC for sure. I have to say, though, that I didn't recognize Gedo with his beard. At first, I was wondering what Jay Briscoe was doing at ringside.

The most depressing "you still got it" chant I've ever seen was for Steve Williams at a show he worked in Colorado a few months before he died. He was practically a walking skeleton at that point, so chanting something like that when it obviously wasn't true seemed rather cruel even if that wasn't the intention.

Am I missing something? None of the things Shawn said sound objectionable to me. It seems to me that RVD is reading too much into things. I disagree. A lot of it feels like a glorified exhibition. So what does a non-exhibition style look like? What kind of standard bearer are you talking about? I've gone on record as to the kinds of wrestling I like plenty of times. If you mean specifically within WoS, I already mentioned Rudge and Jones.

The plan was for Cena to win but be beaten so badly that he would have to be carried out, allowing Brock to claim that he was the moral victor. Instead, Cena cut that weird promo after the match.

W2BTD?

For all the complaints about Brock being selfish and uncooperative, it's worth remembering that WWE (apparently) double-crossed him with the end of the first Cena match.

Chops in general are stupid. Yes, they hurt. But it's not the kind of incapacitating pain that can end a match. They're the worst of both worlds: they hurt like hell and look like shit.

I'm not saying Del Rio is a UFC-caliber fighter. But he's not just some guy off the street either. I'm sure he knows enough to not "get his ass beat" by a featherweight. Combat sports have weight classes for a reason.

I don't care how good McGregor is. A featherweight isn't beating the ass of a trained fighter who outweighs him by 100 pounds.

Wresting criticism isn't taken seriously because wrestling doesn't reward serious analysis. It's an attempt to intellectualize something that fundamentally isn't intellectual. Even the most cerebral wrestling is still about 90 percent visceral. Putting too much thought into it leads to making mountains out of molehills and bending over backwards to see things that aren't really there.

It appears that TNA's business license has been revoked as of Saturday. https://tnbear.tn.gov/Ecommerce/FilingDetail.aspx?CN=129027161081156127145204026234034035153058153189

I continue to maintain that Ryback should have beaten Punk for the title. Sure, it would have diminished Rock/Cena. But you have to create new stars at some point, and if you don't strike while the iron is hot, the opportunity could be lost. Ryback was unqestionably over (the same people who were chanting "Goldberg" at the beginning of his matches were usually chanting "feed me more" by the end), and the Hell in a Cell buyrate showed that he could draw if he was properly pushed and protected. Getting punked out by the Shield week after week killed his aura.

I disagree. A lot of it feels like a glorified exhibition. I doubt the Funks were fluent in Japanese. There was a match between Terry and Mr. Pogo in which Pogo broke his neck. Terry wondered why he was just lying there motionless and started attacking him. The referee tried to explain that he was injured, but Terry couldn't understand what he was saying. The impression I get is that the only foreign wrestlers who learn Japanese beyond a basic level are hardcore weeaboos like Kenny Omega. You need to realize that it's much easier to get by in Japan without knowing Japanese than it is to get by in America without knowing English. Hell, Stan Hansen was there for decades and he doesn't speak a lick of Japanese.

The mat-based stuff bears at least some semblance to a real fight, and Saint was a short guy who did gymnastics combined with comedy. I didn't say I liked Saint, just that I find him more tolerable than most WoS. If I had to pick, I'd rather be annoyed than bored to tears.

These two paragraphs utterly contradict one another. How so?

Added a selection for 2016. I figured we're deep enough in the year that I can make a pick with a reasonable degree of certainty. Of course, I'll probably change my mind before the end of the year and then change it back the next year.

I find World of Sport mostly unwatchable. I can get into guys like Terry Rudge and Marty Jones who weren't afraid to mix it up, but the purely mat-based stuff is like watching paint dry unless it's spiced up with some Johnny Saint razzle-dazzle. I also dislike Michinoku Pro immensely. Most people would agree that impressive highspots alone don't make a match great, but for me, it goes beyond that. Flips and dives and the like are actively detrimental to my enjoyment of a match. When I watch wrestling, I want to see something that bears some semblance to a real fight, and midget gymnastics combined with comedy emphatically does not fit the bill.

https://twitter.com/TheFrayMovement/status/758824488175702016 J'accuse!

Bernie Sanders is the Zack Ryder of presidential politics. He got himself over by appealing to the smarks, but he doesn't have the goods to be a main event player. Also, how long will it be before Trump starts getting X-Pac heat from the voting public? Cutting a heel promo on a Gold Star Mother has to be the last straw, right?

Del Rio implying that HHH was a racist after he got released seems like a good candidate.

If they do turn Reigns heel, they pretty much have to do a double turn with Rollins, right? The fans actually want to cheer him, and I rather doubt that they're about to make Finn Balor the top babyface on Raw.

http://fightful.com/russo-balor-defeating-roman-reigns-and-rusev-was-nail-coffin-me I only caught Balor/Reigns, but it must have been a great show if Russo hated it that much.

Does Enzo always have a smiling pile of shit on his outfit or is that just because of his promo?