WingedEagle

I love Bryan on commentary here. He sounds genuinely excited and doesn't scream over what I'm watching. Perhaps not who you want calling a match that's been building for a while where there's a specific storyline to focus on, but he's a great fit on this show. Cedric vs. Ibushi was a really good, fun match and easily the best of the tourney thus far. The standout highlight for me was Cedric's reaction after Ibushi kicked out following the brainbuster and high kick. The disbelief on his face is the kind of signature moment that is often missing from all but the biggest matches and will make this more memorable than a lot of other high profile matches this year. Absolutely loved and marked out for the post-match as well. Couldn't believe they left that in. It remains to be seen where they go with Cedric from here, but how do you not love the genuine emotion he showed? Not sure we get that more than a handful of times in any year.

Need to make an addition. Last fun match you saw: Watched a bunch of Midnight Express this weekend. Just squash matches, and they were such fun. Bobby Eaton is so ridiculously smooth, such a great bumper in the context of a match in that his spots never bring things to a halt but rather feed right into the direction the match is heading. It seems as though he's often the forgotten man behind Arn & Ricky Morton, perhaps due a lack of signature singles matches or combination of promos/angles. This may be fair to an extent, but he was excellent in what he did. To take nothing away from Condrey, who was also a willing and able bumper while easily transitioning to heat and picking apart an opponent an instant later.

No doubt its overrated.

Some quick hits here.

UFC's talker talking is newsworthy?

Can I cast a vote for anything ZSJ throws? He means well but nothing looks like it has the slightest impact, and I'm not someone who's a stickler for that.

Apparently Eaton has gone missing the last 24 hours. Hopefully he's found soon and safe.

I fired this up last night as soon as I found out it was available, and much to my surprise was wildly disappointed. Absolutely loved the brawl they had earlier in the month and this paled in comparison. Felt like they mailed it in at a smaller show, with much less energy and intensity. The first encounter was essentially a frenetic brawl with proper selling mixed in, but it was almost as if they were working with a really long shot clock and using every second of it in between the action. Park nearly killed himself on his dive this time, and even the weapon shots weren't strongly incorporated. Hoping they're more motivated if we get a third match. Rush needs to do something about that backne. Better or less pharmaceuticals, a proper dermatologist, something. Its like The Night Of kicked up a notch.

I was actually more impressed by Ziggler's mic work in the opening segment.

He lives! Some here I disagree with, much I do agree with and then the 2 big questions. On a micro level, the Rude comment is shocking as I thought you were a huge fan of his during that period. Has something changed on that front? I think the point about wrestling TV with jobbers and interviews/angles is an interesting one. Fair to say the quality of the matches on a week to week basis is better in a non-squash era, but the pacing provided by squash TV contributes so much to building big matches to a point where they feel BIG rather than exhausting any potentially fresh match-up long before its properly cooked. That overexposure (along with being older and having more things capture our attention) is probably a huge reason why less events and matches are memorable. Growing up I could tell you not only the results of most PPVs, but often their dates, purely off the top of my head. Now? Good luck remembering much other than Mania or the rare PPV that stands out.

That seemed like the best crowd reaction Reigns has had in a long, long time.

That's a relief, and actually sounds like a fun highlight show.

So it looks like they just put up the 6/25/07 Raw. Honestly can't imagine it stays there once people familiar with it are clued in.

I hope I always enjoy moments and scenes like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaB4-v_5ZuI

Correction -- all gone. Really odd. Clicked on 1981 & 82 and saw a ton of files, went back and now its all empty. I'm still seeing everything. Maybe it's frequency capped? This must be it, everything's still showing for me. Indeed looks to be the case. Crisis averted! Is this ditch's list? No.

Not to pour cold water on it, but I'd recommend a sub to the WON and seeking out the appropriate back issues that cover this history over the book. Dave goes deeper on the various topics over the years than the book and I found his work much more engrossing. Just some food for thought.

Ha pretty funny. I have no doubt the lineup will be solid and that a few matches will be good and most won't disappoint. But the booking is so stale that I'm having trouble envisioning anything win the current roster and its recent usage that makes this a compelling event to attend or see live. By the way they just put tickets on sale which is what prompted the thought.

Is there any reason I'd want to go to Final Battle? Can't fantasy book a lineup that makes me want to sell a friend on coming along that night.

Correction -- all gone. Really odd. Clicked on 1981 & 82 and saw a ton of files, went back and now its all empty. I'm still seeing everything. Maybe it's frequency capped? This must be it, everything's still showing for me. Indeed looks to be the case. Crisis averted!

Correction -- all gone. Really odd. Clicked on 1981 & 82 and saw a ton of files, went back and now its all empty.

Meltzer has said the Twitter banter is great for exposure and business.

Smackdown tonight was most certainly not last night's Raw.

While I would've liked this to feature some more focused limb work by either or both, and there were unquestionably sloppy spots, they produced enough big moments and a compelling, sound finish to knock this too much. I hope these two don't kill themselves one day because the execution puts them in dangerous positions, particularly Sasha, but hell if it doesn't make for great television. They built to the moonsault to the floor very well. That, along with Sasha's shoot suicide dive and some of the kicks that came across very stiff added to the drama as the match wore on. Loved the tease on the initial Bank Statement as I was sure that was setting up the inconclusive finish that expected early on. Then going right back to it for the tap in center ring was great. Not as good as Mania but it built very well and is probably my second favorite women's match from the company this year. ***3/4

Forgot to mention that but this was a huge and subtle plus. When the show's soundtrack isn't maddening and tired the entire product comes off that much more appealing.