C.S.

Anything is going to bomb against Star Wars, unfortunately. Ronda, McGregor, and Molly Ringwald would fare no better.

You couldn't be anymore wrong than you are. Ronda at her peak was nowhere near Conor, so comparing them is horrible. Also Conor is an entirely different fighter than Ronda. Ronda brought into her own hype and that's why she got wrecked. Conor on the other hand is a smarter fighter and picks fights carefully. That's why he avoids taking certain fights. He knows who he matches up with better stylistically and he also knows who he can draw the most money with. He also got choked out by Nate Diaz and TKO'd by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and if anything those 2 loses made him a bigger star than he already was. That pretty much disproves you're argument. Also lol at implying that Cena's rise to popularity has anything to do with Big Match John and not because he's extremely charismatic and marketable. I'm sure whenever he's being considered for movie roles the producers and writers are thinking "Jeee, hopefully we can get Big Match John to show up." I love all of the UFC bubble posters and Meltzer acolytes who think I genuinely care about the fighting merits of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor - LOL! - or try to argue that it actually matters when it comes to their drawing power. You refuted your own argument by calling Ronda a fraud, secretly a terrible fighter, whatever your point was. Then what was she a drawing card for? Not her crocheting skills, that's for damn sure. It was for her fighting. "Fraud" or not, she had a shelf life in the fighting dept. Even if Conor is a million times better as a fighter, he too has a shelf life. John Cena can wrestle for another 20 years and generate excitement and publicity for WrestleMania, etc. Ronda and McGregor can't fight for another 20. THAT'S my point. (Even if Ronda and McGregor end up in the WWE, as they probably will, don't expect lightning to strike twice. They'll do well, but it will be more on the Ken Shamrock level. Neither of them will become the next Hogan, Rock, or Cena in wrestling.) No, Ron Howard and Molly Ringwald are not going to care about "Big Match John" when it comes to casting their next secret project, but Cena's wrestling base will. Wrestling may be even more of a niche than UFC, but let's not act like there aren't millions of wrestling fans out there still. Hollywood obviously dwarfs wrestling (and UFC), but that doesn't mean wrestling publicity isn't important too. Both Rock and Cena used wrestling as a springboard to become successful movie stars. Their Hollywood careers would've been a much different story if they were never wrestlers. Part of Rock's transition from Disney movies (Tooth Fairy, etc.) to badass action star included his WWE comeback. It was all calculated for one thing to feed into the next. Ronda and McGregor aren't going to be able to fight in 20 years and then use that to springboard to something else (Hollywood, etc.). By then, they'll be long gone and forgotten. Whereas, Big Match John could conceivably still be wrestling by then, generating publicity, and keeping himself in the public eye to set up projects outside of wrestling. UFC fighters and people in other sports don't have the same luxury of time.

In no galaxy is Conor McGregor a bigger star than John Cena - I don't care how much money they make. McGregor will be a footnote, a mere blip, in five years. (Don't believe me? Look how fast Ronda cooled off.) Meanwhile, Cena will continue to be Big Match John and appear in blockbuster Hollywood movies.

Not sure why Bix is feuding with Daniel Bryan or Bryan Clark or Bryan Alvarez, whichever Bryan it is, but there's a Black Friday deal today to get the first month of WO/F4 for $3.99.

IMO, Angle/Cena is a lot more appealing than Angle/H. At least you have the cool callback of Angle being Cena's very first WWE opponent.

https://www.pwpodcasts.com/ has recaps of all the major podcasts. It's a PWTorch/Keller site, which is why I'm mentioning it here.

Even AJ admitted (on the Stone Cold podcast) that it took years for him to put it all together, get the psychology aspect of the business, etc.

I get that you're not impressed with Finn and that there's nothing I could say to make you change your mind, but... Finn vs. AJ was excellent. I know you'll credit it to it being AJ and negate Finn's performance, but that was fantastic. IIRC his match with Reigns on that RAW where he earned a spot in the Universal title match was pretty good too. He was also super over in NXT and is super over on RAW. How has Nakamura been a flop on the main roster? They built his debut as one of the selling points for that one PPV in which he debuted on, gave him various title matches and has been featured as one of the top guys on SDL beating some fo the big names on the show. The fact that he hasn't won the title yet doesn't mean he's been a flop. AJ vs. Finn was a decent match, yeah, but wildly overrated and not even my favorite match on that show. With that said, it was last-minute and AJ flew countless hours just to get there. In light of that, it was a damn near miracle. My problem with Finn is that everything with him seems so mechanical, and "The Demon" brings nothing extra to the table other than the entrance and cool look. No added intensity, no different moves, etc. It also feels really forced most of the time. There's nothing natural about anything he does, whether it's plain Finn or Demon Finn. It doesn't even matter whether the Vince "souring" rumors are true, because we just had AJ vs. Brock, so why would you present a much lesser version of that dynamic with the inferior Finn? I don't believe the Vince rumors anyway, because Finn did beat AJ right before AJ regained the World Title. My guess is still that Finn will win the Royal Rumble and jump to Smackdown to face AJ, or at least the possibility is being considered, which could explain why they're moving away from Brock-Finn. Obviously, all of that is wild speculation on my part, but it wouldn't shock me. Then again, it also wouldn't shock me to see Finn in the WrestleMania pre-show or Andre Battle Royal either. Nakamura felt like something really special in NXT, at least at first. But it's been downhill since then, even in NXT. Has there been a great Nakamura match on the main roster? Okay, I'm sure there are 1-2 I'm forgetting, but there should be 20-30 considering how good he actually is. I liked it, but it's one of those things where you wish it was three times longer.

To be fair, Finn vs. Brock is a match I have no desire to see. Finn hasn't impressed me one bit in NXT or WWE, and Lazy Brock is Lazy Brock. It just came to me that I bet Finn wins the Rumble and uses that to jump to Smackdown and face AJ for the WWE Title at WrestleMania. Nakamura has been a flop on the main roster, but the last AJ-Finn match was relatively well-received.

AJ vs. Brock surprised me too. They subverted expectations beautifully, giving us the lazy Lesnar squash for the first ten minutes, only for AJ to turn it on its ear. Brock won undeservedly, but you can't have everything. The Survivor Series main event was...well, it was something.

Imagine if any of those other women had been booked half as well when they're already twice as over as Asuka. For lack of a better description, she's been booked like the female Brock Lesnar. To her credit though, at least she hasn't phoned in any of her matches like the lazy, useless Lesnar has done for the past two years and will undoubtedly do again tonight.

No snark here. Her win tonight was met with crickets. Her never-ending NXT reign was beyond boring. I realize she was put in a tough position after practically the entire division got called up, but I did not enjoy anything she did. She's technically competent in the ring, but nothing else about her works for me.

Would you prefer for them to have jobbed Asuka? Sometimes the right thing and the obvious thing are the same. I would have preferred a final that wasn't Asuka vs. Tamina, who has never been a credible threat. I also would've preferred Asuka getting attacked and taken out before the match, to make this less predictable and more interesting. But yes, Asuka winning is obviously the right finish if they had to keep her boring ass in the match. They're dedicated to this failed Asuka experiment and will continue shoving her down our throats.

Can they telegraph Raw's win any more obviously?

Is it bad that I'm using this match to cook dinner? The outcome is so obvious that I can't bring myself to care. I'd LOVE to be able to eat my words though while I eat dinner.

I hope Shield loses or there's a New Day turn. Shield will win their "return match" and there won't be a New Day turn.

I'm here. Nice to be noticed! There are a few matches that should be great, but I honestly have very little motivation or excitement for this - of course, I'm watching anyway. I skipped the bloated pre-show, and it sounds like I made a wide decision. This show is already too long. BTW, to the poster who said he stopped watching Raw and SD, I think a lot of us are in the same boat. Well, I am anyway.

HOLY SHIT!

Lars Sullivan looks like a powerhouse. Kassius Ohno remains as ill-fitting and unimpressive as ever in NXT. Whatever magic or mojo he had on the indies has officially been killed off. He should take notes from Velveteen Dream on how to lose a match and still look effective and get your character over (assuming Velveteen loses - the match is still ongoing). What is Ohno's character? Duke the Dumpster Drose joined a basketball team?

Major Kindle sale on WWE books: 99 cents - Big Apple Takedown $1.99 - 10 Count Trivia: Events and Championships - Andre the Giant: A Legendary Life - Are We There Yet?: Tales from the Never-Ending Travels of WWE Superstars - Batista Unleashed - Eric Bischoff: Controversy Creates Cash - Have More Money Now: A Commonsense Approach to Financial Management - Hollywood Hulk Hogan - Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D.--The Reality of Amy Dumas - My Favorite Match: WWE Superstars Tell the Stories of Their Most Memorable Matches - Rey Mysterio: Behind the Mask - Rumble Road: Untold Stories from Outside the Ring - The Unauthorized History of DX - The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship - WWE Legends - Superstar Billy Graham: Tangled Ropes $2.99 - Adam Copeland On Edge - Ted DiBiase (WWE) - Walking a Golden Mile (William Regal) - Note: One review mentions bad typos and formatting issues in the Kindle version. $3.99 Note: This has been $2.99 in the past. - Cross Rhodes: Goldust, Out of the Darkness As tempting as it is to splurge on all of these, 1. I already own most of them in hardcopy, and 2. I worry is that all of these will end up being like the Kindle version of the Regal book with typos, formatting issues, etc. (according to one review). I did buy Big Apple Takedown for 99 cents despite already owning the paperback because it's batshit crazy in a good way - it throws Attitude Era WWE stars into the middle of a wonderfully terrible action movie/cop/crime scenario. How is the DiBiase book? Worth it if I've read his previous book? (Every Man Has His Price: The True Story of Wrestling's Million Dollar Man) I'm worried it'll just be a WWE-published rehash.

If that's true, then Jericho wrestling Omega is completely pointless. The whole idea - I'd imagine - is to get thousands of new fans. But New Japan needs to meet those fans halfway by upgrading their bush league NJPW World service.

I'm reading through Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling now, and while I thankfully haven't noticed any typo/grammar issues, it is a pretty dry read overall. Plus, in a chapter about a specific wrestler, the author will spend several pages going on a tangent about another wrestler entirely. The two do eventually intersect, but I wish the other wrestler had just been given his own chapter instead. It's interesting so far though, especially the way it shows wrestling transitioning from a shoot to a work. IMO, 90% of wrestling matches - even with shooters - were works (and 90% is probably a low number).

He looks like a normal human being?

Jericho or not, NJPW World won't do shit until it has a site in full English and proper apps on set top streaming boxes like Roku, PS3/4, etc. Yes, there's a Chrome extension that jerry-rigs the site to display English, you can hook your laptop up with an HDMI, cast it from the website, etc. All of that is bush league city, and no casual Jericho/WWE fan will bother with any of that. This needs to be as simple and streamlined as possible.

Dave is a notoriously poor writer, unless he's edited (which he wouldn't be on Twitter). I can only hope this is his idea of dry humor and he was taking a subtle dig at ROH's geek fanbase. Probably not though, huh?