C.S.

The "Vanilla Vegan" Austin Aries?

Posts like this are unbelievably embarrassing and speak to the perpetual infanthood so many young wrestlers seem stuck in on social media. I get that the fan was just as childish, but this does Havoc and AEW no favors. I've never seen him and I already can't stand him (and not in a money-drawing "heel heat" sort of way). As for Orton to AEW, he just cleanly defeated Mustafa Ali this week, so I doubt it. With that said, it would be interesting to see him outside of his WWE bubble and comfort zone. I said interesting, not exciting or something I'd actually want to happen.

Why Terry Funk signed with WCW at this point is another one of life's mysteries. Okay, not really a mystery: it was obviously for the money. But he had to know he wouldn't be used properly or fulfilled in any way. Guess at that point, in his relative old age, he was just looking to become as comfortable as possible financially. Can't blame him there.

Not really. He was a foreign heel originally, which is a gimmick that has always had a shelf life. She's a blonde bombshell who has been in major mainstream movies like Pitch Perfect. Why they continue to misuse and marginalize Rusev now that they know he has more range is another story though. I got nothin' there.

The Dean de-push begins.

I see all of the points Bischoff made about David Flair, Crowbar, and Daffney, but to be fair, Vince Russo got easily the best he was ever going to get out of David Flair, and the same is arguably true of Crowbar and Daffney. Not sure what that Bagwell comment even means. Nash vs. Funk was a terrible idea and never should've happened. Maybe I was too much in the "wrestling bubble" back then, but I absolutely thought Funk had a million times more credibility than Nash, who was a lousy WCW World Champ and didn't have one good match there in five years. Yes, the nWo was major, but Nash is easily the third wheel way behind both Hall and Hogan when it comes to whatever impact and cool-factor that faction had. (I'm more positive about Nash's WWF run, which had several memorable matches and moments.) But I guess to the casuals, Nash had to win because he sticks out like Ron Jeremy's penis at an airport? *Shrug*

It's because he's a foreigner, non-Hispanic.

Rumor/Potential Spoiler: Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Jimmy Hart) The tag team, not the stable, so no Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, or Davey Boy Smith. Supposedly according to PWInsider, which I never go to because they had a rep for massive spyware years ago - no idea if that's still the case.

I only watched the Network show, so the "epic struggle" of Dream wrestling five times in one night didn't really come across to me, despite the commentators hammering it incessantly. Maybe they figured a long-ass tournament would be overkill for viewers? Sure, so why can't they figure that out for even longer-ass PPVs? Because of the weird formatting, I wasn't nearly as invested in this as I normally would've been. Then again, it probably doesn't help that I got spoiled on the winner. But the right guy won, because what I saw was a 23-year-old kid carrying and surpassing "grizzled veterans" all the way through (on the Network, at least). Out of everyone else, Zach Gibson made the biggest impression on me. Humberto was okay. Drew Gulak has a much better look than he did in his CWC/early 205 days, but he's still a bland bore in the ring. Jordan Devlin made no impression on me, so if he's the next big darling, I don't see it. Cole and Bate were fine, as they always are.

To be fair, they were limited by how long/short the actual Super Bowl Halftime is, so I understand it - and I was expecting it, so the match was fine to me.

Fun little match. Nothing will beat Foley vs. Rock for me - because as ridiculous as that was, it was a true spectacle - but this was cool, and I hope it's something we get every year going forward. SPOILER FOR THIS AND WORLDS COLLIDE:

Fun little match so far. The WWE Performance Center looks incredible. I now want a studio show set there every week. The crowd is molten hot for such a small crowd. HBK looks like he's on his way to Sturges for Road Wild. Not sure what to think of his commentary yet. Having occasional minor feed quality issues, which makes me wonder if this has a bigger audience than WWE anticipated or if there's some other issue. The last NXT TakeOver had 1-2 small glitches for me, but Rumble was perfect while this is not, so go figure. I rarely have problems with any other streaming service, so I can never figure out why WWE Network is so finicky sometimes.

Anybody watching?

Zach Gibson vs. Humberto Carrillo was okay. I was more impressed with Zibson. I wasn't feeling Drew Gulak vs. Jordan Devlin at all. Maybe it's just me? Cool gear and look for Gulak though. He's come a long way from his "bland science teacher" beginnings in the CWC and early 205 Live.

Anybody watching this?

And if Becky won the Rumble for the same reason instead of Charlotte? If that's the case, people are probably lining up to have Jax potato them.

There's no way Shayna gets fired for anything - not if they want to keep Ronda happy.

The problem with using Nia Jax as a "monster" is that she can't pull it off in the slightest. It doesn't matter what the size difference is - she's not intimidating at all. Is it a case of her being too beautiful? I don't know. I see beauty in all women, but wrestlers like Chyna and Kharma pulled off the same role a hell of a lot better than Jax is.

While all of that is true, being in the ring with the dull Roode and the robotic Balor probably didn't help. With that said, yeah, Hideo Itami showed me absolutely nothing. For as much as I bag on Asuka and Hero at times, at least Asuka brings it in the ring and Hero is decent enough in his "trainer" role or whatever it is - Itami in NXT/205 was a bland bore both in the ring and as a personality.

Easily the biggest disappointment since the original Sin Cara. Whatever had in Japan and ROH, he didn't bring with him to the WWE. He was also the victim of bad luck (multiple injuries) and bad timing. When he was called down to 205 Live, I knew he was dead in the water. I'm glad they actually let him go. Maybe he can be an asset somewhere else (AEW?), because it was obviously never going to happen for him in WWE.

That belt is a work of art. I want to buy it right now!

The end result would be Becky making Charlotte tap because they'll want to protect Ronda, so leave Charlotte out of it IMO. Same as Bryan tapping out Batista instead of the champion Orton at WM30 (which no one cared about at the time and it didn't hurt Bryan at all, but I still thought it was stupid booking).

Holy shit! Time for you to start the "Wrestlers who are better than Seth Rollins" thread.

Gargano-Ciampa from the first round of the CWC. I bet a lot of those first round matches would fit the bill.

Only in wrestling would someone as "eccentric" as Hayes have an executive position.