C.S.

I loved the show. - I'm kind of sick of Balor's entrance too, but I like the painted look and I hope he keeps evolving it and eventually changes it up outright for different occasions (like Rey with the themed costumes). - I like Balor and Breeze, but it took a while for their match to really "click" with me. - Not sure I like the "look" of heel Emma, who now comes across as someone who just got dumped by their boyfriend. Just cold and unpleasant. Maybe that's the point, but it doesn't work for me. Dana Brooks is hot, and I hope she can develop into a solid worker. - A shame if Rhyno was only brought in to be used as fodder for the devoid of personality Baron Corbin. - Enzo and Cass got screwed, but I agree with the NAO comparison - both good and bad. They need to add some new material to their act, which NAO never did and they suffered for it. - I don't know what the hell Blake and Murphy are trying to be, but it rings completely false in every way - like two in-over-their-heads indy kids playing dress-up. Just awful. I don't buy their "characters" for a second. - Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch was, far and away, the match of the night. Sasha has been on fire forever, but Becky Lynch has really come into her own. Just a fantastic match. - Getting kind of sick of the gimmicky train wreck brawls that every Owens vs. Zayn match devolves into, but I guess they had no other choice tonight with Zayn's injury. Just feels like it doesn't really showcase what either of them can do. - SAMOA JOE! Amazing that he got to debut as that. Overall, even though I had some nitpicks, NXT once again delivered one of the best shows of the year.

Dave was the victim of a "sloppy angle," apparently. https://twitter.com/Billy/status/601496615103426561 and https://twitter.com/Billy/status/601497505252052993

Section B, Article 5: "Skoaland Clause."

Awesome match, horrible finish.

Network frozen for anyone? Just came back.

Decent promo by Ryback, but the catchphrase at the end sounded so fake and forced.

"They all look alike." What the hell kind of a finish was that?! Edit: Yes, realize that's Wrestling Heel 101 and been done a million times before, but in this context, in fucking Baltimore, really???

Did WWE relax its rules on blood? Seems to happen every month now.

Did Sheamus just drink someone else's water?

As fun as it may be, I find it hard to care about Ziggler vs. Sheamus, because they're both stuck in the same position month after month - especially Ziggler.

Sandow and Axel suck as these characters.

I missed Truth vs. Stardust, but I'm in time for New Mega Powers vs. New LOD...yay?

And Bob Ryder responds proving he doesn't know when to shut up and lay low: Both of them sound pretty bad there. Shockingly, Meltzer's grammar is better than Bob's during this asinine exchange.

My first instinct was Rude, yes, because of his red hot 1992 run. But it's really hard to vote against DiBiase, who was so much more versatile as a character and in other areas. 1. As heels, it's close. Million Dollar Man was a once-in-a-million character, but Rude was a great heel too. This is a tie, or close enough. 2. I could never buy Rude as a face, but DiBiase was good at it. 3. Both were managers. Neither were good at that, but DiBiase was better. 4. Was Rude a color commentator in ECW? DiBiase was probably better at that too. 5. In the ring, WCW Rude was more interesting than WWF DiBiase, but DiBiase was by no means a slouch. I have to give DiBiase the slight edge because you could do more with him. Versatility means a lot to me. P.S. Not sure why JerryvonKramer thinks people are out to troll him. Is that really a thing? With all due respect, that sounds a bit ego-centric to me, as if a bunch of people are posting in this thread solely to get a rise out of JVK. Please...

Kind of off-topic, but since you brought it up, I've always wondered: What exactly is the Village Green Preservation Society board and why is it locked?

The only thing the OP says is "Who is better?" There's nothing indicating that the thread is about ring work only. To be fair though, I didn't read the GWE thread this sprang from, so it's possible I'm missing part of the larger context that everyone else apparently came into this thread with. Better drawing power alone doesn't make someone a better wrestler - of course not. I'm not saying that at all. My argument is that better booking can make someone a better draw, which can then give them opportunities to be in better matches where they're able to showcase more. (Note that I'm using the word can, not will.) All three tie together. I don't believe in the concept of looking at one aspect of wrestling in a vacuum (in-ring, in this case), because you can't draw accurate conclusions about a wrestler's overall abilities (or lack thereof) that way. Just my opinion, of course.

But why should drawing power be disqualified? Wrestling doesn't work in the kind of workrate-only vacuum that so many people online wish it to. If someone is less over, that should and does matter. Of course, in Matt's cake, if he hadn't been cut at the knees during his great heel Matt Hardy Version 2 heel run, terrible Edge feud where he was made to look like a chump, etc., he might have gotten more over. That goes back to my earlier point about booking. Jericho has lost luster recently because he's been booked abysmally and Hardy lost luster a decade ago because he was never booked past a certain point. It all matters.

Are you really asking this? Come on now! The answer is EVERYTHING! People on the bottom of the card don't get the same chances to showcase their skills. You know that. There's a tendency around here to make the false argument that the way a wrestler is booked doesn't matter, when the reality of it is, it absolutely matters and has a major effect on every aspect of someone's career and ring-work.

It's a case of diminishing returns with Jericho because they haven't put him in a position to matter. Some of that may be Jericho's fault if he's getting to choose his own feuds - such as with the massively overrated Bray Wyatt. But I know he didn't choose to put himself in the position of facing - and losing - to a fad wrestler like Fandango (who would be much better if he could let loose and be Johnny Curtis again). Is Jericho slightly overrated? Maybe. But I don't know who is actually considering him a top-top guy. He's right underneath that designation. Can you really be a "top level guy" in current-day ROH though? I do agree that Hardy should've had more opportunities on the big stage, but for whatever reason, he didn't. You can argue "what if" and "coulda, shoulda, woulda," but Jericho was put into the position to matter and Matt Hardy wasn't. Based on the facts (you know, what actually happened), I have to go with Jericho.

WON editors? This is Dave "Run-on Sentence" Meltzer we're talking about. If he's not edited, why some random show reviewer get that royal treatment?

WON has always been weak as hell, though, when it comes to website reviews and columns. The main draw are the newsletters and (I'm assuming) audio. With that said, I haven't been a subscriber in years either. But the shitty website wouldn't make or break my decision either way. Edit: Or am I misunderstanding, and this review was in the actual newsletter? If so, I agree with you. BTW, the review sounds incredibly lazy. I didn't even see the episode and I was able to correctly guess that it was Uhaa Nation when a friend of mine told me about the show but didn't recognize who it was. "Big black guy" - what a fucking joke!

The Giants documentary, which is on WWE Network now, made Khali seem like a very big deal in India, showed footage of him over there, etc.

I haven't listened to it, but what else was she supposed to say? "No, I don't understand the business." Obviously, she can't say that either.

I came in to post about this. Didn't know it had an official name. It's a marvel of a move, especially in Davey Boy's hands.

DK would've been a terrible choice for Drago. Wasn't his back also shredded by that point anyway?