DMJ

I'd also just add that, at least in the case of Trenesha Biggers (Rhaka Khan) and Kurt Angle, it was covered by media at the time. A cursory search of "Kurt Angle Arrested 2009" reveals that it was a news story outside of just Pittsburgh. The issue was, you can count on one hand how many people actually cared. And the same was true when he was arrested multiple times after 2009 for DUIs. Now, I'm not comparing DUIs and domestic violence, but its not like Kurt Angle has had just one "slip-up" or a single lapse of judgment. As Biggers makes clear in her tweets, he was/is an addict who was likely enabled by the WWE until even they knew they had to cut ties with him - at which point he went to TNA and was enabled by them for years. Its great that he's been clean and sober since 2013 and I'm not saying people don't deserve second and third and fourth chances, but that whole time, when somebody usually has their "fall from grace," they actually fall. Angle kept working, kept being promoted as TNA's top guy, continued to make lucrative deals that whole time. At no point was Kurt Angle actually "cancelled." He lost the respect of some people, obviously went through familial turmoil over the years, but if you're Trenesha Biggers, its hard not to feel like your story was swept under the rug so that the Kurt Angle Brand could keep making money. Also, as Biggers point out, Angle's particular substance abuse issues (steroids, alcohol, painkillers) and her accusation of domestic violence are analogous to what we learned about Chris Benoit and even to Steve Austin's history of domestic violence. She's not wrong in raising awareness that domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and other awfulness are all a problem. And, as far as "opportunism" goes, hell yeah she (and others) should be dredging up the dirt now. When Terri Runnels first said Brock Lesnar exposed himself to her - an allegation that she made in 2004 - nobody cared. Thanks to #SpeakingOut, the volume has been turned up and people are actually listening now. I'm not going to go into my thoughts on that particular story, but I'm also not going to dismiss anyone's claim offhand or question motives when this movement has brought to light just how rampant this sort of behavior - from the "mild" to the extreme - has been for decades.

That denial is so, so strong. I think it mostly stems from the fact that, on the ledger sheet, the company is making record profits year after year. House show attendance, TV ratings, and overall cultural cachet are clear indicators that the WWE, as a brand, is cold and has been getting colder and colder - even during the once-revitalizing WrestleMania seasons. But profits are profits so that means Seth Rollins is demonstrably a bigger star than John Cena according to the yes-men and the WWE cheerleaders who refuse to acknowledge the obvious: that, while the WWE has been very successful in adding new revenue streams (especially internationally), their original bread-and-butter (actually putting butts in seats for non-Big 4 shows, having people watch their shows on TV regularly, selling pay-per-views) is in the gutter.

I don't think its "completely insane" to consider describing women by their attractiveness as problematic. You might not find it offensive. I, personally, don't find it super offensive. But if I was to ask you to describe your wife, girlfriend, or a co-worker and the first thing you say is, "She's super hot," it is objectification. When you emphasize the "eye candy" aspect of another human being, their cosmetic look, that's not cool. When I tell people about my wife, my first thoughts are that she is intelligent, funny, is super hard-working, laid back, and gets along with everybody she meets. I don't think of her measurements. When I tell people about female co-workers, I talk about their role in the school, their personality, maybe their attitude. I don't say, "My principal is Mrs. Soandso. She's about a 6, maybe a 7 after some drinks. She's really dedicated to being a mentor for other teachers." Honestly, I didn't listen to the whole interview so it could be taken out of context - maybe Sammy Guevara did talk about how Sasha is hot because its hot to be confident, talented, and a warm, kind person. If that was what he meant, then that's great. Unfortunately, it came off more like the kind of shit you'd find posted at r/WrestleFap, where when people are talking about Bayley's "assets," they're very clearly not talking about her work ethic, in-ring psychology, or how many Make-a-Wish dreams she fulfills each year. Also, on the idea of "I wanna rape her" being a joke, it is obviously not a "punchline joke," but it is a "joke" in the broader sense of being an absurd exaggeration. It is a "joke" because I believe Sammy Guevara or the 13 year-old kid in my class were saying the most extreme, over-the-top, hyperbolic, and disgusting version of "______ looked so good that I could barely contain my animal instincts." Its a joke the same way that in old cartoons, you'd see characters drooling when an attractive woman (or bunny) walked by. Its not dissimilar to the way that people have made jokes about wanting to kill Donald Trump or another politician or celebrity. The "joke" is that your hatred for this person is so deep, you want the worst, most extremely violent thing possible to happen to them. Do these people actually desire this realistically? Of course not. If even a small percentage did, there would be attempts at their life by the hour. Maybe "joke" isn't the right word for it, but "I wanna rape her" was, to my ears, not meant literally. It was still disgusting and vile talk, but hyperbole is undeniably a form of satire/humor.

Not that I think Charlotte has done any good for NXT's overall ratings because she clearly hasn't, but it was reported a couple weeks ago that her segment was the highest rated segment on this particular episode. I'd have to go back and look but I believe that was also the case in other episodes in May. https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/06/mike-tyson-aew-segment-loses-viewers-670945/ Also, on the topic of Braun Strowman's appearance, its really amazing how in the 5 years since he debuted as part of the Wyatt Family, the company has really never bothered to update or make his look special at all. Like, say what you will about the various Undertaker designs or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, how simple Big Show's black singlet was, but they were at least iconic (even if Big Show's a reference to Andre). But what about Strowman's look is iconic? Its cargo pants and a tank top. Its almost as lazy as Kevin Owens' gear, but at least Owens' basketball shorts and sleeveless tee-shirt have their roots in him being an indy guy on a shoestring budget.

Yea, definitely tasteless and disgusting and so gross. The joke of saying "I wanna rape her" was so weird to me the first time I heard it - which was about 8 years ago, from a 13-year old middle school student in my class who was referencing another teacher in the building (something along the lines of "Did you see what she was wearing today? Man, I wanted to rape her"). Obviously it was gross and vulgar then, but I also chalked it up to the student being a 13 year-old boy with issues related to impulsivity, attention-seeking behaviors, etc. I mean, it was a fucked-up thing to say, but when I shared the story, few were surprised that those words came from that student. The fact that a grown person would say it is so disappointing and ugly and vulgar. Using the word "rape" on top of just objectifying a woman is a double whammy of assholeness. I really wanted to like Sammy Guevara and even looked up his age - just in case I could somehow explain it away as "Well, he's only 20 so he says stupid shit" - but he's 27 years old. By that age, you should be smart enough not to (in vulgar terms) "say everything your penis tells you to." Even if he had said, "I visited the WWE and saw Sasha and she looked so hot," it'd still be problematic and immature, but you add in the idea of "She looked so hot that I wanted to assault her" and it is appalling. I agree that saying it is not in the same ballpark as sexually assaulting someone, but that also means that a sincere apology could mean something (whereas some of these "apologies," like the ones from Havoc and Joey Ryan, have been worthless to me). Over time, maybe I'll root for Sammy Guevara again - maybe he'll apologize, maybe he'll show maturity in some other way and I'll be able to see this joke as a lapse in judgment (lord knows I've had my own) - but, for now, yeah, I'm not going to be a cheerleader or supporter for him (just like I've kinda stopped rooting for guys with multiple DUIs or with a history of homophobic statements).

- I figure Dream will be getting released in short order and that someone knew there was fire where there was smoke when the first allegations sprang up before Takeover. As tone deaf as it may sound, its not going to be a major loss considering Dream lost his "aura" and "specialness" a long time ago (a point that alot of us brought up before the allegations even started). - As El-P said, I've long given up on viewing pro-wrestlers as heroes and am alright living in my cognitive dissonance when it comes to wrestling. Call it separating the "art" from the "artist," but I can still enjoy Led Zeppelin and other 70s rock music knowing full well that these rock stars were routinely having sex with high school freshmen. John Lennon admitted to hitting women. I can look past the misogyny and glorification of blatant man-on-woman violence of 90s hip-hop (Dr. Dre, for example) while I view someone like Chris Brown as the scum of the earth. I don't think I could ever enjoy a Louis C.K special anymore, either. That's cognitive dissonance - I know its irrational and inconsistent and I could try to reason it out and make excuses but truthfully, if I'm being 100% honest, all the reasoning would amount to me ignoring the horribleness or compartmentalizing it away because I like 90s West Coast hip-hop and I like Ric Flair matches and promos. It is much, much easier to say fuck Jack Gallagher, Velveteen Dream, Jimmy Havoc, Matt Riddle, and most everyone else that has been "outed" because I have far less of a connection to them than I do a Ric Flair.

Just read a news/rumor/gossip thingy about Vince McMahon calling Angel Garza a "young Eddie Guerrero." It made me chuckle because if there's one guy that probably appreciated young Eddie Guerrero, it was Vince McMahon - who hired him when he was 33 and had already established himself as an incredible performer in multiple promotions, including his rival WCW and ECW. The past 20 years have proven that Vince has a very poor track record of taking young anythings and making them into a legit star. I mean, his last success story that he built from the ground up was who? Cena? Reigns kinda? Not downplaying Angel Garza's talent, but if anyone is going to be a breakout Latinx star, my money is actually going to be on Sammy Guevara just because he's in the best position to actually try a bunch of stuff, figure out what works, and get over without having the WWE Machine pigeonholing him or killing his creative spirit.

- So I actually Google'd this and it's Nine Line Apparel (not technically Blue Line) that he seems to be sporting and has been involved in/supporting for at least 2 years (there's a Facebook post featuring Taker from 2018). Its a veteran-owned company, pro-gun, etc. etc. I agree that it seems odd that not only does he seem to have their apparel on for all the interviews and backstage at various events, but its usually the same tee-shirt/sweatshirt. Like, I own at least a half dozen Guided By Voices tee shirts and, chances are, because I only own maybe 12 tee-shirts total, if you see me around town, I'll be rocking one...but the same one? Every time you see me for like the past 24 months? - I totally buy that the Undertaker didn't know or pay too much mind to the AEW Double or Nothing/Starrcast link. AEW wasn't yet on TV. Jon Moxley hadn't shown up yet. Aside from Jericho and the Rhodes, this was a bunch of "indie guys" and there's no reason to believe the Undertaker has kept any tabs on non-WWE pro-wrestling since, well, before he joined the company 30 years ago. To him, it was probably an offer from Ric Flair's son-in-law to come do an autograph signing and, I'm guessing, it was a very pleasant surprise for him to learn that he could make a ton of cash - probably more than he thought possible for a non-WWE event - in the process. Imagine, you've been in the WWE Bubble for 30 years where your value and income is based on being a cornerstone of the most successful promotion in the world. Sure, you might hear rumblings that "You can make good money in Japan" or "The indies are actually thriving" or whatever, but if your the Undertaker, you've got to have your doubts about just how green the grass is outside of Vince's yard, even if its coming from credible sources like Jericho or The Hardys. Then, your contract expires and you get a big offer for a signing and its gotta be somewhat mind-blowing. And then you get a call from Vince and he says you can't do it and maybe part of you wonders if you've actually been undervalued and there is a marketplace out there. Taker strikes me as a guy that follows college and NFL football, UFC, and maybe even college basketball more closely than he follows pro-wrestling, even the WWE itself. In terms of spare time, he seems to also spend a ton of it either recovering from surgery or having surgery. Plus, he's got young kids and Michelle McCool probably drags him to Bible study all the time too based on her own devotion. I just don't see him spending his free time keeping tabs on "the business." - Anyone else think its kinda cool that multiple times in the doc we've seen Taker chumming it up with The Miz? It kinda warms my heart that The Miz sorta became a lockerroom leader (maybe not a "leader," but at least a veteran) after being treated like shit for so long and, based on most stories, hasn't made "paying your dues" a thing and is friendly and well-liked by just about everyone (save for the most recent issue with Covid-19, which, to be fair, it was always reported he was showing symptoms - which are very general - not that he ever tested positive).

Aside from what's been reported about Edge's triceps injury, do we actually know how many re-takes and edits were done? I can understand criticizing the very idea of doing re-takes and editing, but I'm also not convinced that they shot this like a film where after 10 minutes someone yelled cut and they sat down on director's chairs for a coffee break. I'd wager that Edge and Orton, like most wrestlers, wanted the "performance" to be as live as possible. Considering they've both got thousands of matches under their belt, that would be the most natural way to shoot it anyway ("live to tape" as they say). To me, I'd have to really know how much they doctored it up to criticize it that heavily. I mean, do we know for sure they didn't doctor up Sheamus/Hardy or AJ/Bryan (which, I believe, was also taped)? Are we just giving those matches the benefit of the doubt but not this one based on Edge suffering an injury during a retake? If that injury never happens and we never get confirmation that they did re-takes, how does that change your view? Just seems like a questionable demarcation line when the WWE could be doctoring up all of the taped matches and the Edge/Orton one or the Bryan/Zayn one from Mania or Bryan/AJ from SmackDown were *still*, in my opinion, significantly better than average matches. I mean, if we're conceding that these matches are being taped and edited to make them the most exciting presentations possible, why the fuck do I still not care about Drew McIntyre?

As a WWE-centric fan, I'm totally comfy with my view being incredibly narrow and limited but because this is pro-wrestling we're talking about, I'm also comfortable living in that ignorance. So, with that disclaimer, I'm going to say Daniel Bryan by a country mile, then probably Styles, and then, by another mile or so, John Cena. I'm curious, especially from the perspective of those more knowledgable and worldly than me, if instead just picking your number 1 and having to expand it to 5 or 10, where would Cena rank? There was a time when I may have gone with Lesnar above Cena, but Lesnar's worst matches are worse than Cena's worst, in my opinion. With Cena, you could always count on at least some sort of effort. Lesnar, on the other hand, has matches where he clearly doesn't give a shit and those are too much of an insult to the audience for me to overlook them.

https://theblast.com/132838/stone-cold-steve-austin-once-shut-down-racist-post-with-stunning I have no idea what Austin thinks of the current protests or the Defund the Police movement. I wrote a bit about it on r/SC in one of the threads there - I think Austin, like many Republicans but especially from Texas and other southern states and in the business of pro-wrestling, was probably raised to vote Republican and came up in a business that is entirely centered on fiscal conservatism and "ruggen individualism." Socially, I'd guess based on his podcast that Austin is pretty liberal, but would he ever vote for a "tax and spend" Democrat? Does he think "Uncle Sam" deserves any of his millions? I believe Austin even stated, at some point, that he voted for Trump in 2016 (who, if you ignore the history of racial discrimination and sexual harassment dating back to the 70s, is also a guy who, for most of his life, was an irreligious socially-liberal guy). Sadly, as I said in that thread, all the pro-BLM tweets in the world from the likes of Stephanie and HHH and even John Cena won't mean shit as long as these people continue to vote for Trump and other Republicans because when you vote for fiscal conservatism, when your number one issue is your own bank account, you end up voting for social conservatism as well and that means you're voting to restrict women's rights, to continue militarizing the police, to continue esoteric drug laws...

I know its a real high bar, but I guess I was just expecting something more unique based on the buzz? Like, I remember hearing about guys like WALTER, Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Nakamura, even Kevin Owens and more recently Keith Lee before ever seeing their matches and then, in one match, it was like, "Holy shit. This guy is INCREDIBLE." To be clear, I'm a guy who has really only watched mainstream US wrestling his entire life, so even if these guys stole moves and spots from others, seeing them for the first time, they were so, so different than what I'd seen in the WWE or WCW in the 90s or most of the 00s. Not only did some of these guys have an aura, but they were just so fresh. I did not see anything I haven't seen before with Kross. The moves, the gimmick, the entrance - none of it seemed wholly original. Again, I probably set my expectations too high but if this is the guy that becomes the face of NXT, I'm probably gonna stick to just watching the Takeovers and ignoring the weekly shows.

Its masterful tweeting, no doubt. That wrestling school line is savage. Its also kinda brilliant in that it will undoubtedly rile up the "fan boys" who will justifiably shit on Orton for being a smug asshole who uses too many restholds. Orton also needs all the heat he can get because his program with Edge nosedived at WrestleMania (and its actually been Edge who has been eating the most shit about it online).

I'll have my full review up on my blog soon, but some quick thoughts - - Easily the least "must see" Takeover show in recent memory. I feel like there's been at least one WWE Match Of the Year candidate on every Takedown show going back to the first one, but this one offered nothing of the sort. - I didn't see anything special about Karrion Kross. The first time I saw the entrance, it was cool. By the second time, I was pretty much over it. Its like a mix of The Brood's entrance, Finn Balor's Demon entrance, and Aleister Black's "evil" entrance but not as interesting or fresh as any of those - let alone any of Bray Wyatt's entrances or the Undertaker's iconic entrance. It may be really silly, but I almost feel like they should give him that helmet that Vader used to walk out with as, if I'm not mistaken, part of the gimmick is that he's almost like Bane? As far as in-ring skills go, he was fine, but again, I didn't see anything truly special. There are wrestlers who, the first time you see them, you see "It" and a lot of "It." Karrion Kross has some "It" but not enough to turn heads. - Dream/Cole wasn't the worst "big match" of the year (that was Edge/Orton at Mania), but it was bad. There was once fear that, when he got to the main roster, Vince and the writers would "ruin" Velveteen Dream, but Triple H and the NXT staff took care of that just fine. I'm not sure where he goes from here, but I also no longer care. Similarly, there was a time when Finn Balor was seen as a potential top guy in the WWE but since going to NXT and the heel turn that led nowhere, its almost retroactively erased any and every prior accomplishment. He was the first Universal Champion? That can't possibly be the case. Next you're going to tell me Tatanka won the first King of the Ring. Like, it would kinda make sense that there'd be a reality where that happened - Tatanka was undefeated for awhile - but it would be in an alternate reality. Like Finn Balor once being really relevant. - NXT needs a dramatic reshuffling. The opener showed that there is depth in the Women's Division, but I didn't see anyone in that match get a real spotlight, which is what they need - someone "on the rise" who will be a fresh challenge for Shirai. Is that Raquel? Is that Lerae? Is it Nox or Kai? It didn't seem like anyone left that match with momentum. Meanwhile, on the men's side of things, they really should be picking between two options right now - Keith Lee either gets called up and pushed strong on the main roster or Keith Lee wins the NXT Championship within the next month or two. Obviously Kross has momentum too but there's still time to further develop him - Keith Lee is gold right now, ready to be in that top spot. The longer they wait, the more they're going to end up with yet another guy who had potential but they let die on the vine.

Roman Reigns appears in the first scene of The Wrong Missy, a Netflix move from Happy Madison. I was going to skip this one and - if you're not a fan of the Happy Madison brand of comedy - I'd tell most people to skip it too, but my wife and I chuckled more than a couple of times. Lauren Lapkas is the real lead with David Spade playing the straight man (which is what he does best anyway, see Tommy Boy and Black Sheep) and, if you're ever heard her on the podcast Comedy Bang Bang, you know she can be really funny. She deserves better than this, no doubt, but she also gets to be batshit insane and silly and ultra-vulgar and that means there are actually laughs to be had. Anyway, long story short, Happy Madison has a history of casting pro-wrestlers (Captain Insano, anyone?) so Reigns getting in there is a good step towards a more permanent jump to Hollywood even in a straight-to-Netflix movie. Also, if you're a fan of Lauren Lapkas and want to watch a brainless comedy, The Wrong Missy somehow managed to surpass my (admittedly very, very low) expectations.

I had never seen this match, but am watching this whole show (and reviewing it) for my blog. As others said above, this is a terrific match filled with great little moments and performances. What I wanted to add, though, is that Gorilla and Jesse are FANTASTIC on commentary. Like, Heenan during the 92' Rumble-level brilliant. I love how they chastise both the heels and the faces for not making tags or pinfalls. They pay respect to the solid offense of teams from both sides. I love how much they talk-up the shock of seeing the Conquistadors last so long. The way they handle the double-turn is great too, not "over connecting" the dots and inexplicably having more information than the viewer. They have great chemistry and treat the match like a real athletic contest without talking down to the audience.

I'm going to say "No" just because there are "worse" wrestlers I like better. If you look at things from a technical perspective (meaning, a wrestler sucks if they're not smooth or good at executing even the most basic moves), I like Sid and Ultimate Warrior much more than I like Mongo. Then you got guys like Johnny B. Badd/Marc Mero who are technically better but not as fondly remembered, but I'd still certainly put above Mongo. I would also agree with whoever mentioned that he was fine in tags. In 97', he was tagging with Benoit fairly often and had two PPV matches against The Faces of Fear and Jarrett & Malenko. There was enough competency around for those to be perfectly passable. I do like the idea of Mongo being a weird "dividing line," though. Like, I'm confident in saying that Sid and the Ultimate Warrior were better than Mongo, but I'd just as confidently say Mongo was clearly better than both Harris Twins combined and El Gigante.

That's fair. I definitely was speaking from privilege there. I don't think they'll cover up or blur his shirt - nor should they. It was bullshit then, its bullshit now. And you're also right, the issue isn't that the Undertaker is wearing the shirt - its that he owns the shirt at all and supports what it stands for. I think what I was trying to point out (and fumbled it and will likely fumble it again now) is that what was maybe "problematic" 4 weeks ago when The Last Ride premiered is now impossible to "unsee"/ignore/defend. I know, for me personally, for example, my neighbor's Blue Lives Matter flag made me roll my eyes when he put it up 3 months ago - now, when I see it, it makes my blood boil and I really, really wanna steal it from his porch and burn it on his lawn. I absolutely should've been infuriated the first time I saw it, but I'm not going to lie and virtue signal when I didn't feel that rage initially. I'm willing to admit my eyes have been opened up a bit over the past few weeks. I'm hopeful that I'm not the only one.

Well, in two weeks, when the next Last Ride episode airs and Undertaker's still wearing that Blue Lives Matter garbage, we will likely see some upset responses from fans. Of course, in his defense, police brutality - while undoubtedly an issue - wasn't the number one issue in the country when they filmed those interviews. Its not even clear if they filmed the interview during the pandemic (I'm thinking it was before). I think Undertaker or another producer would probably have the sense to have had him wear something less controversial if they had the benefit of hindsight, though I don't think they'll go back and blur his shirt or anything. Or maybe they will? To be clear, I think Taker wearing that shit sucks and I thought so before George Floyd's murder, but 6 months ago, I probably would've considered "ACAB" to be a really radical notion too, that it was just a "couple bad apples" and that there were more "good cops" than bad. I think most people held that view. Now, though? "ACAB" doesn't seem as extreme.

I had not seen the three hour documentary about the Lex Express and all I can say is...Holy shit. This is less of a "doc" than just a bunch of mostly raw, unedited footage. I'm only 30 minutes in and I can't imagine what the rest of this is going to be like. It starts with a lengthy, lengthy music video that was definitely made back in 93' and I'm guessing played on Superstars and stuff? Think "Tell Me A Lie" but more patriotic. We then cut (kinda) to the USS Intrepid, but its being captured by a single camera so it is dizzying, sea-sickness-inducing "fan cam" style. At points, the cameraman zooms in on random fans and it just crazy raw, uncut. I'm guessing they were going to edit this all down. So far, no "talking heads," no post-production at all, just random and rather minor (to my knowledge) sports celebrities* attempting to slam Yoko mixed with some random WWE stars like Bob Backlund (still sporting long hair) and Scott Steiner. Also, for those that still have The Last Dance on my mind, at one point Scotty fucking Burrell shows up to try to slam Yoko!

I sorta mildly agree with what you said, but I also think you're overstating how detrimental the on-again/off-again thing with Bayley has been and how "on fire" Sasha has been since coming to the main roster. Like most everybody, the booking hasn't been helpful to Sasha - but, for her, I'd argue its been particularly messy. Her position since the call-up has always reminded me of what Bret said in Wrestling with Shadows about his position in the fall of 97'. I don't recall the exact quote but he basically says, he got all this heat by turning on the fans, but then they moved it all to Shawn (I think this is in reference to how Shawn screwed Taker at SummerSlam 97') and now, with Austin and Taker as the babyfaces, Bret was basically a guy the fans didn't really hate as much as Shawn and could no longer cheer. Banks had been the top heel in NXT and really established her character as the arrogant, cocky "Boss," but upon getting called up, that straightforward character seemed to get forgotten as Charlotte was the clear Alpha, Becky Lynch and Bayley were the underdog babyfaces, and Sasha was...well...she wasn't actually a dominant "Boss" (that was now Flair), was no longer the girl talking down to the fans and getting heat (that would be Alexa Bliss), but was also not somebody everyone would naturally root for like Bayley or even steampunk-era Becky. They had her win and lose championships left and right - which did, at the very least, give her some credibility as a capable worker - but it did her no favors in the character department as it just made it seem like she could win or lose any night. It also meant that, because she'd already won multiple championships, each win became less meaningful than the last. Its hard to sell an emotional "boyhood dream" storyline when you reach the mountaintop in your first year on the job. Even recently, when she came back from an extended break, they had her almost instantly in the title picture (which made sense) but lose the actual matches (which made less sense). That has nothing to do with Bayley. Losing to Becky, even in good matches, killed her momentum. Its been like that in almost all her programs. I'd also add, personally, that I think the lack of focus on who her character really is has resulted in her becoming one of the least consistent promos on the roster. There have been times when she just looks lost out there. I would be too if my gimmick was being "The Boss" but my win/loss record made it clear that I wasn't on the same level of Becky, Charlotte, or Ronda. Nikki Bella was booked stronger than Sasha ever was too. Its kinda hard to get that character over when you're at the same credibility level as Nattie and Carmella. So, yeah, I'm a fan of Sasha and think she has a ton of talent, but the WWE's inability to make her the star she should be has very little to do with Bayley.

Count me in as someone who believes this "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" is a trolling swerve. And, personally, I like the idea. I know Edge and Orton have a ton of accolades and all that, but neither one has ever had their wrestling been their strongest selling point. Edge has been the Ultimate Opportunist, he's been a guy willing to go to extremes, he's even been something of a tag specialist, but he's never been pushed as this particularly great wrestler like, say, Kurt Angle or Benoit. Orton gets a bit closer there as the company has certainly played up his natural abilities and expert timing, but they've always done that to support the idea that he's a calculated, cold killer, a Viper who strikes without trepidation. I'm expecting that we see something dastardly out of Orton that ends the "match" in under 5 minutes. Of course, they've already had Orton do just about everything in the playbook to Edge so I'm not sure what that will be. Another Con-Chair-To wouldn't seem like a big enough deal. Maybe a "Pillmanizing" with the chair around Edge's neck? Wasn't that what Orton teased when he first snapped on Edge at the RAW building to Mania? I'm not sure how you gimmick that without Edge being put in danger of being paralyzed but that's a different discussion. The point is, when they pull the bait-and-switch, I'm not going to be crying "false advertising." Or I could be wrong and they're going to give Edge and Orton 30+ minutes in a straight-up wrestling match and it is no way going to be greatest wrestling match ever, or probably great at all. They really should lower the bar and call it "The Most 'We Hope Its Good' Match Ever."

^ I definitely misinterpreted your comment about Rodman. Every point/counterpoint you gave made total sense to me and I even learned a bit as I wasn't as aware of all the minutae in some of those series and years, especially in the western conference.

Short answer, "No." Long answer, "No, but..." Charlotte shouldn't be dominating 3 brands at once, nobody really should, but, then again, Flair checks a ton of boxes. She's got name value. She's a terrific worker and can be counted on to have good matches. She carries herself like a star and, if I'm not mistaken, is not injury prone, doesn't shy away from the spotlight, and has, according to rumor, wisely politicked to be maintain her cred and status. She's not the best promo, but, man, how many times have we seen Sasha get a live mic only to get caught like a deer in headlights? Before this year, Bayley was the same way. I've always liked Becky and Bliss, but it took awhile for Becky to find a winning character and Alexa Bliss, as others have said, is now seen as damaged goods due to injury. I'd put Corbin, Del Rio, and HHH above her, for sure. Maybe even Shawn Michaels too. I know I'll get shit for it but Mark Henry might be on the list somewhere above Charlotte. I know it wasn't prolonged, but remember when they tried to make Koslov a big deal? I put Charlotte in the same place as Cena - yes, sure, she's been booked really, really strong and has never not been "in the mix" at the top of the card - but the division is comparatively smaller than the men's roster so that's bound to happen when you're also the most consistent, the most reliable, the biggest "name," take the least amount of time off, carry yourself like the biggest star, have the most marketable look in the eyes of the boss, and seem to be the most "corporate."