C.S.

I missed the pre-show (because I didn't care enough to watch it) and Dolph/Harper (because the WWE Network is still a terrible, buggy service that shit the bed because I decided to watch the PPV five minutes late - oh no!). Honestly though, no matter how "great" the I-C match was, I don't give a fuck. It's a lower midcard spot at this point, and it undoes Dolph's amazing Survivor Series push and moment. I had no desire to see it and won't be seeking it out. I only care about matches that matter. - Miz/Mizdow vs. Usos: What was the fucking point of the Naomi angle? It wasn't even a factor in this match. Cheap DQ finishes are never good, but Miz/Mizdow is a fun act. - Show/Rowan: I assume everyone is shitting on this, but I thought it was fun for what it was. Nothing special, but still a nice little brawl. - Cena/Rollins: Was shocked to see this so early, so I thought for sure Rollins would win. The earlier 3 on 1 stuff with Mercury and Noble reminded me too much of one of the Cena/Wyatt matches, and not in a good way. Otherwise, great match but unsatisfactory ending. - Nikki vs. AJ: It was what it was. I thought for sure Brie would turn at the end and we'd get a sister vs. sister feud for the title. But nope...I guess Brie's actions really have been poorly written, illogical garbage. - Kane vs. Ryback: Ryback is over. Corporate Kane isn't. Nothing else I can really say about this match. - Rusev vs. Swagger: Match of the night for me, and I'm not one of those people who thinks Rusev can do no wrong. There was a genuine false finish with the first Accolade - I really thought it was over - and then Swagger had me believing again with the Ankle Lock right after. Short match, but very, very effective. - Ambrose vs. Wyatt: I was surprised to see this in the main event slot, and even more surprised that a heel - Wyatt - went over. This was a stunt show/garbage match, which I guess was the point and what everyone wanted, but I don't really love those types of matches. Near the end when they were both laid out by the announce table, there was a blink and you miss it moment with Ambrose relaying the next spot to Wyatt - but I blame the close-up camera work more than Ambrose for that. Still, despite my dislike of garbage matches, it was good for what it was...until that monumentally stupid finish. Is Ambrose really such a moron that he wouldn't think to disconnect the fucking monitor first? The sparks didn't look cool, just stupid...and so did Ambrose's character. With the story that he used to stand up to the office whenever The Shield was stupidly booked, I'm surprised he let this one fly. It probably sounded better on paper. Not a bad show - entertaining enough, I suppose - but nothing I'll remember a few months from now either. Other thoughts: - Reigns is back! Yay? He needs another year before he gets a main event push. - Don't care about Cena vs. Lesnar at all. Their match at SummerSlam was the worst big match of the year. (Yeah, I said it. Don't care how much IWC love it gets, just because Cena got decimated. That didn't make it good or entertaining.) - Wyatt is overrated as a character and wrestler.

Why would HBO use a different company for its new service? I had assumed it would be the exact same service as HBO Go, but I'm guessing that's not the case. Edit: The article explains that HBO Go has had outages, and they expect MLBAM to better handle the greater demand. Considering how rocky the first week of WWE Network was, and the various little problems it has experienced since then, I think HBO is in for a rude awakening with the in-over-their-heads, overrated MLBAM. With that said, I hope MLBAM copies the live channel concept from WWE Network. That would actually make a lot of sense for HBO.

How do they do it?

I just finished reading Confessions of the Game Doctor by Bill Kunkel (which can be purchased as an ebook for a limited time from https://storybundle.com/games - and no, I have nothing to do with that site, author, book, etc.). It's mostly about Kunkel's lengthy career as a video game scribe, obviously, but he also wrote about wrestling on the side and there were a few interesting tidbits about that. - Kunkel and his partners Arnie Katz and Joyce Worley created the original Micro League Wrestling PC game (remember that?) - Andre was ornery and drunk during an autograph signing and hated doing them - all because of his disease. Nothing new there. - Funny Sting autograph signing story. Everyone expected the singer and wondered "what happened to him?" when they saw the wrestler Sting, as if the singer suddenly became very sick or weird. Hahaha. - Bill Cosby was an "unpleasant" asshole during an autograph signing, even though he was paid to be pleasant. Okay, that has nothing to do with wrestling, but I found it interesting. Keep in mind, this book was written years before the current controversy. Kunkel's first words about his side career as a wrestling writer described it almost dismissively - referring to it as wrestling "of all things" - but the guy was obviously a true blue fan, considering that he wrote for The Wrestling Perspective for several years (which was a great newsletter, but I'm guessing only the hardest of hardcore wrestling fans knew about it). To be fair, he did mention his wrestling fandom few more times in the book without any shame. The book probably isn't worth it just for the wrestling content, but if you like games too, it's a great read.

I was hoping the Rivalries shows would be like the Bret/Shawn Rivalries DVD/Blu-Ray, with the two parties in the same room swapping stories - but instead it's just another documentary feature, right? Kind of disappointing, if you ask me.

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Very fun show. I found the Zayn/Neville match a bit slow and lacking as I watched it, but after thinking about it for a few minutes and seeing the big picture, I realize it told a damn good story. And that's not even counting the fantastic Owens turn, which I called mere seconds before it happened, just because I wondered why Owens came out to hug Zayn again. I thought, either this guy is a major spotlight hog or he's turning. Still an awesome and unexpected moment though, because I didn't think we'd get this feud so quickly. Can't wait! Speaking of turns, I was actually rooting for one from Finn Balor or Hideo Itami during their match, because a rivalry between them is a lot more interesting to me than anything they can do as a team. I bet we'll get that split eventually, and some awesome matches after that. The Ascension doesn't do much for me, and the Lucha Dragons feel like a WCW Thunder jobber team. Balor clearly had the best entrance of the night (almost ruined by the announcers idiotically praising Balor's "creativity" until someone presumably yelled into their earpieces and told them to emphasize the mind game aspect instead), but The Vaudevillians were a close second with a really cool and creative (there's that word again) entrance that made me pop. I was hoping they'd beat the Thunder Lizards. I couldn't tell who was supposed to be face and heel between Charlotte and Sasha Banks, but I was rooting for Sasha. None of the matches were five-star classics, but this was a fast, fun show that actually felt important - something that can be rare at times for the WWE - because there were several major developments, new stars established, a feel-good title change, and an awesome ending. I walked away feeling very satisfied, and what more can you ask for?

What a ridiculous statement... I was never a Luger fan, and even I was cheering for him during all of this. One of the most memorable moments of the Monday Night Wars by a mile. A shame his reign lasted only six days, but his victory and post-match speech on Nitro were both beyond glorious.

Same here.

No way Henry becomes NWA Champion in the '80s. Everyone in wrestling was still very behind-the-times and racist back then. Yes, Watts pushed JYD, but that was only one territory and let's not forget his infamous Torch Talk interview. Plus, Teddy Long has gone on record about the racism he experienced in wrestling (you can see what he said on the WWE Network for only $9.99). And didn't Meltzer recently report that the n-word was a business term for black wrestlers well into the '90s? With all of that working against Henry, I can't see it happening for him in the '80s, no matter what an impressive physical specimen he would've been at the time.

I'd take that more seriously if it came from anyone other than Michael Hayes, who - by his own admittance - has smoked a mind-altering substance or two in his day. This. At least in my case. I don't hate Roman - I like him well enough - but he's nowhere near ready to main event WrestleMania or even be in the main event scene at all.

The Slammys are rigged, right? Because how else would Roman Reigns win Superstar of the Year? He's not that over.

Big Show seems like the obvious one. Would've been a HUGE star (no pun intended) in any other era.

I have to disagree about the WCW Watts era. I thought Williams and Gordy were incredible during that time. Yes, they got the super-push, which probably helped make them look even better in my then-teenage mind, but I remember their moves being awesome, powerful, and impactful. Everything looked "real" for lack of a better word.

Heavenly Bodies were one of my favorite teams as a kid, and no one brought the sleaze better than "The Gigolo." The SMW Tag Team Titles being defended at the Survivor Series - Rock 'n Roll Express vs. Heavenly Bodies - was really groundbreaking in an era where no other territory ever acknowledged. The Bodies' SummerSlam match a few months earlier vs. The Steiners was also great (except for the result). WCW wasted him as Jimmy Graffiti, but what else is new? I remember thinking the outfit was really cool though.

On that note, Scott Steiner winning the TV Title and turning heel against Ricky Steamboat was a similar situation and upset. Unfortunately, Steiner left WCW right after, and the TV Title was dropped. But that could have been great if he had stayed.

Bob Holly is the latest guest. I wonder how that is. Holly's book was far and away the best wrestling book in many years.

PJ Walker (the future Aldo Montoya/Justin Credible) beating IRS is definitely up there. What was the point of this angle? They never followed it up with any kind of push for PJ Walker. Aldo did get pushed later on, but they never connected that character back to PJ.

Every episode of Total Divas is now on Hulu Plus (which wasn't the case as of a few weeks ago), but the Network still only has Season 1. While I realize no one here cares about Total Divas, the fact that a "competing service" has WWE content that the WWE's own service does not is just flat out ridiculous. I understand why Raw and Smackdown are delayed on the Network (contracts, etc.), but that's crappy too because Hulu Plus gets them 24 hours later. As someone else here suggested, the Network really should be a "one stop shop" for WWE fans.

Didn't he get a low money offer to go to OVW (or whatever the WWE's developmental territory was at the time) and refuse to take it because he'd have to relocate and jeopardize his wife's high paying job in the process? I swear I remember hearing something along those lines a while back.

This smacks of revisionist history. MMA didn't mean nearly as much 15 years ago as it does now. Boxing, while on the decline, was still a way bigger deal back then. Whatever charisma and mic skills Shamrock had never really translated to the WWE environment. The thought that he ever would've been a bigger deal than Michaels in that match is just flat out absurd, and that's even if you think HBK was wildly overrated like some people here do.

Yep, the Rhino win was a genuine surprise, and then they went right back to Jarrett. I never stuck with TNA for long because bullshit like that made them a complete joke.

I never loved him, but I did like him. I remember his TNA World Title win over Jeff Jarrett at Bound For Glory (2005) - as meaningless as it ultimately was - being a pretty decent match and a nice surprise. Edit: According to Wiki, the Jarrett match was only 5 minutes and change, but Rhino was in another huge match right before that, which was under 15 minutes, so I'm probably remembering both matches as one memorable event in my head.

Well, this isn't good... Wrestling Inc. - Arrest Warrant Issued For Heath Slater, WWE Lawyer Responds I remember hearing something about this at the time, but I thought it had long been settled. I guess not.

That was me. Umaga was awesome, but he lost to Cena and then he was back down the card once the feud was over...like an old school Hogan monster opponent.