NintendoLogic

On a certain level, WWE's hubris is understandable given how much success they've had in Mexico despite lucha libre being so deeply ingrained in the culture. The first-ever WWE event in Mexico in April of 2004 set a new live gate record for the country, and once they got on TV there, they instantly made CMLL and AAA look minor league. WWE/Stardom is a story in itself. Talks fell through because WWE couldn't answer basic questions about what kind of plans they had for the company after purchase. Instead, they tried to seal the deal by offering to induct Rossy Ogawa into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Gable Steveson has signed with WWE. He looks like a can't-miss prospect on paper, but you never know with this company. The fact that he's not exactly a dynamo of charisma doesn't help.

That looks like the set of a Nickelodeon game show. It'll be fitting if they bring back obstacle courses.

They announced during intermission at Wrestle Grand Slam that Wrestle Kingdom will be three nights in 2022. They'll run the Tokyo Dome on January 4 and 5 and Yokohama Arena on January 8. I'm not sure they could put on a compelling one-night WK with how depleted their roster is, let alone stretched over three. You just know EVIL's going to be in the main event of one of those shows.

I find it surprising that someone would argue Lawler had the more varied toolkit of the two. Hansen may not have been a man of a thousand holds, but I'd say he was clearly better at the traditional title match style. When Lawler worked with guys like Bockwinkel and Dory Junior, it was striking how much they had to dumb themselves down so he could keep up. Also, Hansen was a far superior tag wrestler.

Has Miz done anything in Hollywood outside of the WWE umbrella? It'd be pretty funny if he pulled a Stacy Keibler and quit the company once he realized how much the treatment of wrestlers pales in comparison to that of real celebrities.

The fact that they planned on running a show called NXT UK Takeover Dublin tells you how ill-conceived the whole project was.

It looks like he was too busy playing Risk when he should have been watching his back.

I don't think anyone seriously expects this to improve the product. NXT has sucked for years and will continue to suck with this new direction. It's more schadenfreude over Hunter's continued fall from grace. First he got his ass handed to him by a DVDVR poster, now he's been outmaneuvered politically by Brother Love.

Well, shit. On the plus side, maybe this means they'll move Big Show/QT to the buy in.

It's bizarre how many people subscribe to the idea of the money being in the chase in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I'm not sure there's ever been a babyface who dethroned a long-term heel champion after multiple failed attempts and then went on to become a long-term successful champion in his own right. That's really what it comes down to, though. Far too many people think HEAT~! should be pro wrestling's default state and babyface triumphs should be rare and fleeting because their brains have been rotted by terminal levels of exposure to 80s JCP.

This right here is why having guys like Christian on the roster is so valuable.

Sure, but there's a big difference between sucker punching someone who's expecting a worked blow and landing a hit on someone who's actively defending herself. In other news, we have some clues as to Asuka's recent whereabouts. She had vehemently denied Meltzer's report that there's nothing wrong with her physically and creative simply had nothing for her. Normally when someone in WWE emphatically denies something Meltzer reports, it's almost certainly true. But her arm being in a sling suggests that she's been on the shelf due to injury. Or maybe it's something minor that she could work through but decided to take care of since she wasn't being used.

By all accounts, Charlotte had no interest in wrestling until Laurinaitis saw her one day and asked her why she wasn't in the business. And Ric wasn't exactly much of a shooter himself. In his early years as NWA champion, he brought along Harley Race as an insurance policy for his overseas defenses in case someone tried to shoot on him and steal the belt. Even so, Nia would gas out in about 30 seconds in a real fight. Giants can't fight, especially ones with bad knees.

Dave said on WOR that Nia/Charlotte was an attempt at a worked shoot, but that sounds like some bullshit his WWE sources fed him like when they told him that Kairi getting her head split open when Nia threw her into the stairs was Kairi's fault. Regardless, I hope they wrestle each other every week. Matches that completely fall apart as two sloppy reckless workers with entitlement issues get fed up with each other is the closest thing to an entertaining product this company can provide.

Red Velvet has had more TV time this year than Riho, Serena Deeb, and Leyla Hirsch combined. She and Jade Cargill are on TV every week (and before that, you had the inexplicable Big Swole push) while Hikaru Shida, who carried the division on her back for over a year, has been locked in the Dark/Elevation dungeon since losing the title.

Speaking of tired old acts, Gangrel said on his podcast that he was supposed to appear on Dynamite but that got nixed after the Broodbath on Smackdown. Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing as you. Gangrel has a podcast?

The Kane feud was indeed shit, but this specific point is incorrect. Bryan never abandoned Brie and only ran from Kane to try to get her to safety. When they were cornered, he stood his ground and fought back. Really though, the booking of Bryan in WWE was a comedy of errors. Remember that the only reason he got the title run in 2014 was because they had to retool Wrestlemania after Punk walked out. Even then, it was only so he could be the sacrificial lamb to feed to Lesnar at Summerslam. The Yes chants were indeed huge, but getting WWE to acknowledge that was like pulling teeth. He was in the World Series parade and they never even mentioned it on WWE TV. When he came back, they stuck him in feuds with fucking Big Cass and the fucking Miz. Before you knew it, he was dead in the water to the point they had to turn him heel to salvage him. Honestly, the only time I'd say he was booked reasonably well in WWE was during his run as The Planet's Champion. That's why I'm more unfazed by Becky Lynch returning as a heel than everyone else seems to be. Given WWE's track record, they likely would have fucked her up to the point where they'd have to turn her heel eventually anyway. They might as well just cut to the chase.

Big Dog gonna have to eat his words about Punk not moving the needle.

So is she denying that she's fine or that creative has nothing for her?

Bianca was resonating until Becky squashed her like a bug. Top stars win matches in 30 seconds, not lose them. As for Becky, she would've been dead in the water eventually anyway since this company can't book babyfaces for shit. The fact that they had to turn Daniel Bryan heel says it all.

I could see Vince selling if they make him an offer he can't refuse. As Dave has said, he's at the age where he has to think about the financial well-being of his grandchildren. Of course, they're set for life by any reasonable standard, but the McMahons (and most extremely wealthy people, for that matter) are far from reasonable. Also, being a billionaire on paper and having that much in liquid assets are two different things.

To be honest, I'm not sure Bray Wyatt the cult leader was actually better than the Fiend. His matches were just as bad unless he was being hidden in Wyatt Family six-mans, and his promos were even worse. Nothing but interminable incoherent rambling. He does have value as a merch mover, and Windham Rotunda obviously has a lot of unique and off-the-wall ideas. The question remains whether they can be channeled in the service of compelling wrestling matches and storylines. We do have the Matt Hardy precedent. The Broken Matt stuff went over like a lead balloon in AEW, so they retooled him and made him a far more effective act.

According to PWInsider, Sasha is expected to be unable to perform. Yet here they are hyping it as if it's a done deal. Blatant false advertising is pretty far down on the list of shitty WWE business practices, but it isn't something people should simply shrug their shoulders over. I hope they replace her with Carmella or Zelina just so I can see the live crowd lose their shit. They'll likely set a record for CM Punk chants in both volume and duration. By the way, they should put the belt on Cena. WWE needs a champion who can actually draw.

I watched the video of Punk's entrance that AEW uploaded to its official YouTube channel this morning. In the recommended videos sidebar, I saw "Seth Rollins gets covered in the horrific darkness of a Broodbath" from last night's Smackdown. You couldn't ask for a more perfect encapsulation of the difference between the two companies.