NintendoLogic

The thing is, lifting weights by athletes didn't really become commonplace until the 80s, the same time that steroid use exploded. So it's hard to get a feel for what a natural muscular athletic (as opposed to purely cosmetic) physique can look like. I do recall Dave saying that Jack Brisco was considered the archetype of what an athletic physique should look like in the early 70s.

Here's an alternate explanation: maybe that segment was a receipt for Lana no-selling Rock's promo the last time they were on TV together. Granted, that's not much better.

This is the same company that treats Ric Flair sexually assaulting Becky Lynch as a comedy spot. Divas Revolution, indeed.

Cleveland and Cincinnati hate each other, so I doubt the audience will see Ambrose as a hometown favorite. Mind you, Reigns will still get booed out of the building, especially when he backdoors his way to a victory after the Wyatts take out Brock.

This past Raw had the only rebound lariat I've ever liked. I love the babyface gets thrown out of the ring and immediately rolls back in spot, and it was like the reverse of that.

I don't think it was fully on the up-and-up. Reigns got #1 in a rigged number pick, HHH got #30 in most likely another rigged pick, and the McMahons orchestrated a mass beat down of Reign's by the LoN, who've been portrayed strongly as their henchmen. They executed it clumsily (someone on commentary should have speculated how HHH got the best number), but it's something they can bring up tonight on Raw LOL. Seriously. He doesn't have to rig shit for his own spot. He is a freaking boss! All he has to do is give out 29 and keep the last one for himself. That was clear when he didn't even have a segment talking to anybody about the pick. Its not like they stuffed the roller with Triple H's name for the 30th pick. Still, Reigns being tossed with no real shenanigans after taking a power nap in the back isn't going to get the average fan's blood boiling. It's like what Bil Watts recognized about Junkyard Dog. The only way he would stay over is if he never lost by anything close to fair means.

I think it's more interesting that they shot him straight to the main roster. I was under the impression that WWE had an ironclad policy of having everyone do a spell in developmental after the Sin Cara debacle.

So basically, they did everything right with the Rumble except the booking of Reigns.

Do you think the DX crotch chop was planned all along or improvised based on the crowd reaction?

Plus, it would've been silly for him to be in the Rumble for an extended period of time after having been in a grueling LMS match earlier in the night.

Will WWE even allow AJ to do the Styles Clash?

Compared to exploding and coming back perfectly fine the next week, that's a minor quibble.

I've watched next to no WWE this past year, so I'm horribly out of the loop. Why is Rusev no longer Russian? Is it because Putin said nice things about Vince's pal Donald Trump? Even more importantly, why is wearing boots now?

Kawada was using the rabbit lariat in the early 90s. Did he only do it to Taue?

I don't know if I've ever seen anyone get over as a main event heel as quickly as him. Seriously, what a dick.

Scalia is perfectly willing to abandon originalism when it would take him places he doesn't want to go. Check out his concurrence in Gonzales v. Raich.

I don't think this is a fair criticism. The point of the skit is that Vince is so clueless and out of touch that he doesn't realize what he's saying is horribly offensive. Dick Murdoch worked with plenty of black wrestlers despite being a Klansman. And Strom Thurmond had a black child. Racism is a continuum, not a binary state.

You guys remember how we were discussing what Vince McMahon running for office would be like? Donald Trump is showing us.

I think you're making a flawed argument here because whether you liked something or not doesn't necessarily make it "better". I could tell you that I liked Plan 9 From Outer Space more than Citizen Kane and you could probably see where I was coming from even if you didn't agree with me, given that it's a matter of taste, but you'd probably still think I was an idiot if I gave Plan 9 a higher rating. I know Kane is better. You know Kane is better. I know why it's regarded as a groundbreaking masterpiece. Doesn't mean I don't get a bigger personal kick out of Ed Wood and his nonsense. This analogy has limited value, though. Plan 9 is a fundamentally incompetent film on pretty much every level. It has no artistic merit except as kitsch. The wrestling equivalent would be something like Abdullah the Butcher vs. Zeus. And just about anyone would agree that Flair/Steamboat is a better match than Zeus/Abby. The question comes when you try to compare matches that have passed the threshold of competence. How do you compare Flair/Steamboat to Hart/Austin or Misawa/Kawada or Dandy/Casas or whatever? At that point, it's almost entirely a matter of personal taste. You're basically trying to rank flavors of ice cream.

My point is that talk about "the business" and the best workers being the ones who draw the most money is largely a smokescreen to deflect criticism of workers by fans.

Even though 99% of the people in the business don't treat it that way? There's a reason everyone calls it "the business" - because that's what it is and how it's approached by damn near everyone in it. I doubt "artistic integrity" and other such pretentous buzz phrases are considered much, if at all. Even Bobby Heenan stresses that the point was to make as much money as possible. They may say that, but when you ask them about Brad Armstrong, they praise him to the moon.

Art is form and content. What content does wrestling have? "Wrestler A is tougher than Wrestler B"? "Wrestler A is more skilled, but Wrestler B is really good at cheating"? If wrestling is an art form, it's a highly degenerate one.

Marty Jones vs. Terry Rudge (taped 11/30, broadcast 12/4).

I had meant to post this in the MITB thread, but it somehow ended up in the EC thread. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31144-elimination-chamber-2015/?p=5677577 I don't know if I accidentally posted it in the wrong thread or if I initially posted it in the right one and it got moved for some reason.

Setting aside the match's internal storyline, I think Cena/Owens was a glimpse into the future of WWE main event style. With all the guys who cut their teeth in the indies and/or Japan coming in, it's inevitable that matches will feature more nearfalls and high-end offense. Guys like Ambrose and Harper have been working in that vein for a while now.