NintendoLogic

And the US remains undefeated against England in World Cup play. That means the official name of the sport is soccer. Sorry, those are the rules.

The thing is, most outside-the-ring aspects of pro wrestling are inherently more entertaining when they're done with the explicit goal of generating business. I'm much more entertained by a promo that's intended to get a match or angle over than one that's self-indulgent jerking off. If you look at Britt Baker, she's a good talker but a bad promo because she mainly focuses on popping the crowd with catchphrases and inside references and just in general trying to get herself over at the expense of her opponent. I'd place Miz in that category as well, albeit for a different reason. I can't think of anything he actually does wrong on the mic from a technical standpoint, but he has so little credibility as a wrestler that it's impossible to get excited about the prospect of seeing him in the ring no matter how well he hypes it up.

Too many people have forgotten that heat is a means to an end and not an end in itself. The goal is to draw money. Getting heat by building anticipation for a match that isn't going to happen is bush-league and embarrassing any way you slice it.

Only promoting things you intend to deliver is pro wrestling 101. The Elite surely knew that doing what they did would lead to speculation about Punk returning. If that isn't in the cards, then it was DX-tier pointless jerking off. And it bears repeating that the Elite are management and thus have a responsibility to be the adults in the room. With that said, if Punk does come back and they're all able to do business, my opinion of everyone involved will improve significantly.

The worst booking since the Authority lost at Survivor Series and were back in power a month later.

Isn't Dax's shoulder pretty much held together by silly string?

Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana did a best-of-7 series for the NWA title. It was called Seven Levels of Hate and each match had a different stipulation (first blood, dog collar, steel cage, etc.).

As amusing as the prospect of Ki trying to potentially shoot on Jericho in the ring might be, neither of those clowns have any business in any remotely respectable promotion. Keep them quarantined in CYN or the NWA.

WWE and BTS are both fans of Saudi blood money, so it's a natural pairing.

Whatever you may think of MJF as a performer, the show centered around his title chase did a million-dollar gate at a time when the product as a whole is ice cold.

I have a theory about TK's booking. It's well-known that he's a long-time Observer reader, and Meltzer has long said that good promoters listen to the fans and great promoters manipulate the fans. I think he hesitates to deviate from long-term plans to pull the trigger on hot acts at least in part because he wants to leave no doubt that he's the one pulling the strings.

I never thought Linda would find a worse career than CEO of WWE, but full-time election denier certainly qualifies.

Oh look, it's the division's top heel cutting another babyface promo. The crowd at Full Gear is going to completely turn on Saraya unless she proves to be far better in the ring than anyone is expecting. What the women's division really needs is a heel gatekeeper who can make newcomers look like a million bucks while putting them over. Nyla Rose would probably be the best pick, but the pairing with Vickie is just death.

The interview may have been in character, but Corbin really did have the skids greased for him the same way Braun did. He got into the business because WWE had a relationship with the NFLPA and agreed to take any cut player who said he wanted to be a wrestler.

It's also a reminder that we shouldn't give HHH too much credit for fixing Vince's mistakes when those "mistakes" include getting rid of the likes of Braun and Karrion Kross.

She didn't have to bump and probably made a killing from merch royalties, so I don't blame her. As for Austin, he's been vocal about only wanting to come back if he could perform to a certain standard, and Cena looked beyond washed-up in his last few regular matches. The biggest conceivable money match would be with Punk, but even if he could negotiate a release without a non-compete that would prevent him from working Mania, he likely won't be medically ready by that time. Lesnar and Goldberg would also be huge, but they also carry a significant risk of Austin dying in the ring.

For those unaware, Guevara was providing guest commentary for Bobby Fish's boxing match on the undercard of the Mayweather event in Dubai. Now that's a feud that could main event any arena in the world. Speaking of Dubai: PROGRESS Wrestling: Everyone Welcome* *heterosexuals only

Corgan making the Funkasaurus his world champion after questioning whether women could carry an NWA PPV is hilarious on a number of levels. Between that and booking EC3, it looks like the wheels are in motion for a highly-anticipated-by-no-one NWA/CYN crossover.

Nah, I'm perfectly fine with sending the wish.com version of The Rock to the Wyattverse. He can be the Paul Jones to Bray's Jimmy Valiant.

As for Saraya, I think a bigger issue is that having her feud with Britt Baker right off the bat is setting her up for failure. Britt may be the top heel in the women's division, but she's also the division's biggest homegrown star, which means a portion of the audience is naturally going to side with her over a WWE refugee. She also makes it incredibly difficult for opponents to get over at her expense in promo battles. Being cocky and running people down is fine, but at least serve up some softballs for the babyface to tee off on.

Kingston already served a suspension. Does pie-facing someone backstage really warrant the additional punishment of being jobbed out in perpetuity? Then again, I don't know if a losing streak/downward spiral storyline is much better. That sort of thing has an abysmal track record when it comes to getting someone over.

Continuing to push Theory after Vince's departure would be a textbook example of the sunk cost fallacy. The chosen one gimmick is instant death, and even if it wasn't, the rub would be wasted on a dork like Theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Wrestling#Super_Star_Pro_Wrestling Some of the changes are at least somewhat comprehensible (Sting and Choshu both used the scorpion deathlock), but others are just baffling. Ricky Steamboat as Bruiser Brody?

UFC's parent company severed ties with the Saudis and returned a $400 million investment after the Khashoggi killing. And Tiger Woods turned down a high nine-figure deal to join LIV Golf. So no, not everybody in sports and entertainment is completely amoral.

The fact that Braun's peers in the locker room interpreted his tweet as earnest rather than a clumsy attempt at humor tells me everything I need to know.