SomethingSavage

Say whaa?? Surely you're not suggesting they chose Paul for any reason other than to bury the memory of Dubbya See Dubbya?!? Preposterous! Political hit! Rabble, rabble, rabble...

Yup. Rousey's eye shadow shit was terrible, but she could've strolled out there with Summer Rae's mascot chicken head over her face and still looked less ridiculous than Paige.

Why on earth would anyone be all butthurt or act personally offended by this decision? Jesus. I mean, maybe Heyman *was* heavily suggested to him. So what? Clearly Goldie gets along with the guy and appreciates his efforts throughout his last run. Besides, there's not exactly this long laundry list of guys that are clearly better candidates for the spot. Page? Bischoff? Neither of those guys have been anymore personally or professionally intertwined with Goldberg than just about anyone else he's run into along the course of his career. Them's slim pickings, and that's hardly any reason to act outraged over Heyman getting the nod.

It's a work. The entire concept of the show hinges heavily on Bruce's responses being the closest thing to a sneak peak at how Vince's mind actually works. That's the appeal. That's the gimmick. He can only veer so far away from that. Plus, in all fairness, Bruce LITERALLY said that he found the nappy hair comment racist and distasteful. Twice. Beyond that, his defense and reasoning behind Hunter going over was pretty much what you'd expect to hear from Vinnie Mac himself. Once Prichard agrees on Conrad's perspective and gives all the answers that fanboys are calling for, then that's it. Show's over. The dynamic dwindles and dies. There's no more conversation to be had. It'd basically be two guys agreeing with one another and rattling off results & historical happenings for several hours. And lord knows there are already plenty enough of those podcasts out there. As far as Booker taking it in stride, I tend to agree. It's no secret that Bruce and Booker are fairly close friends, so it would have come up at some point if he were totally disgusted by it. Beyond that, Booker has spoken out against the company on other issues before - specifically back when he felt like he was misled about them using his school for a developmental league, only to get passed by for Keirn and FCW instead - and it still never came up as anything substantial. This is Bruce's show functioning at its best though. He's a conduit to the crazy intricacies and hypocritical standards of a maniacal businessman. It's both fascinating and frustrating to hear his response to some of these matters. But that's the point. Anyone asking for Bruce to just throw up his hands and willingly admit fault or agree with widespread smart mark opinion is kind of missing the point, really. He *has* admitted - at least to some degree - a bit of embarrassment and shame when it comes to the usual suspects (Katie Vick, HLA, even this thing here), but he's also smart enough to understand that ain't what drew the house, brother.

Yeah. They were trying to get Warrior for Arizona. DiBiase may seem like a weak headliner, but the guy's got a recognizable name and a timeless gimmick. People still remember him, rappers name-drop him, etc. I think that year just suffered from a thinner field due to them really stacking the deck and overloading on headliner acts for the Hall in those first few years after they brought it back. It's like they were trying to make up for lost time & overcompensating by just piling everybody into the club as quickly as possible.

This podcast has had its moments. Some episodes were light, funny, and a breeze. Others were atrocious and dreadfully boring. So it's always been a bit of a mixed bag from the very beginning. Tony's been a good sport throughout though, and that has kept it enjoyable for the most part. I *will* say that his self-deprecating comments became almost uncomfortable and awkward at times. That stuff wore thin and struck me as legitimately off-putting.

I'm not going to die on a hill to defend Del Rio or anything, but I always dug the guy so much more as a baby face. His spirited debut promo with Lucha Underground and the brief program with Big Show both spring to mind immediately. He almost always seems to go back to the heel routine though, and his work feels so phoned in and mundane most of the time in that capacity. I *will* say I've enjoyed short bursts of his heel in-ring stuff - specifically the Kalisto series, the Dolph Payback performance, and those couple of matches with Christian wherein he worked the arm & shoulder socket like a fucking king shark. With all that being said, I really don't see any purpose behind bringing him in again. Of course, that hasn't stopped them before. But yeah. The guy's personality appears to be borderline toxic at this stage, and he really has nobody else to blame (although he's gotten very good at that). Berto basically burned all that goodwill he had upon leaving WWE the first time around. And his last run was almost a total fail. The booking certainly didn't help, but he looked to be phoning it in for about 90% of that run. At a time when they've got Almas ripping it up in NXT, Metalik begging to be showcased on the bigger stage, and Rey Mysterio himself on the verge of signing back up, there's just no good excuse for bringing him back on board. They have a Latino presence on their programming at various levels. And Berto has never been nor will he ever be Eddie Guerrero in terms of moving those numbers. They'd have to rebuild the guy from scratch all over again anyhow. Why not take that TV time and those resources and put them behind a fresh face like Almas anyway?

There was nothing brilliant or extraordinary about the action itself in the Women's Rumble, but the booking was absolutely on point. It's just a matter of timing and spacing out the surprise entrants enough to offer up some interesting situations or scenarios with the others. That's it. It's definitely strengthened by the fact that the Rumble has been so badly booked and presented in the past few years as well. This one is a glowing masterpiece by comparison.

Not sure I see any plus for a weekly 3-hour wrestling show. Nobody benefits from it creatively, and I can't be convinced otherwise. Even the argument that lower guys get more exposure doesn't hold up, because everything reaches a point of OVERexposure on a weekly 3-hour program. It's become an endless treadmill of television rematches, with very little ever getting the chance to feel fresh or special - simply because everything under the sun has been done to death, just for the sake of filling those 3 hours.

The "dream match" concept should be the new twist they use to freshen up the Money in the Bank. Make it an open contract for "any match" the winner desires, at any place & time they want it. Stop limiting it to the singles belts. Inject the premise with some new possibilities. Making it more of a "genie in a bottle" deal, centered around wish fulfillment, could at least create some speculation & anticipation.

It felt like the women's Rumble was immediately being overrated in the moment. But I can understand why. To me, it was more a masterful piece of booking than it was a great match. Don't get me wrong. The execution itself was solid. Nothing struck me as sloppy or out of place. Everyone worked hard, hit their notes, and got out of there okay. But the booking for their Rumble was on fucking point that night. Fast forward to the Chamber, and yeah. The women's Chamber blew away anything the men did that night. It's not even close in my view.

I haven't gone back and watched it in awhile or anything, but I remember 2008 being a pretty strong in-ring year for TNA. Joe/Angle at Lockdown, the Joe/Booker weapons cage match (not the awful one from Houston), Joe/Sting, Angle/Abyss from Turning Point, the Christian/Team 3D program, and several other gems are rarely referenced but are well worth scoping out.

Don't get me wrong - I understand why they're running with Styles versus Nak. I get it. It's the goodwill match for the diehards. It's the make-good and the counterbalance for whatever celebrity match or hoss fight or godforsaken musical concert that will have the Bullet Club fanboys all up in arms and bitching about elsewhere on the show. My issue isn't with them booking Styles versus Nak as the title match. My issue is with the meaningless, lifeless, aimless direction of their program. There's no heat. There's no meat to the matter. There's zero reason to care about it, outside of it being two guys that the diehards really dig. There's simply no narrative. Plus, yeah. Despite this dream match supposedly being this endgame all along, they've shown no real sign of that. Some of you guys are mentioning that Nak's faded since the Rumble, but what the hell was he really doing before that? Nothing worthwhile. It honestly feels like he fell off the planet after those two losses to Jinder back in the fall. It's not strictly a Smackdown issue either. Their booking leaves alot to be desired all across the board. There's such a giant gap between what's actually presented on TV and what the stories are intended to be. I honestly don't understand how a casual fan could catch on anymore. It's like everything they do requires you to have some inside knowledge about what's going on backstage or who's talking trash about who on fucking Twitter. And nine times out of ten, they don't even attempt to connect the dots for you or make an explanation. They just start babbling about how EVERYONE knows what Roman Reigns posted on his instagram last weekend, and so now we have this feud... Or some such horse shit. It honestly feels like, with almost every one of their programs, you're always just walking right into the middle of a story. There's rarely ever a logical beginning, middle, and end with anything they do anymore. That's the issue. With Nak versus AJ, it's just so evident that there's been NO effort to make it anything more. They've become so work-rate dependent that they don't even bother telling stories anymore. It's practically a 180 from how they used to promote and do business, which is really fucking weird when you think about it.

God knows the Mania title match could use SOMETHING. There's no direction or purpose behind it at this point. None whatsoever. It's just a standard match that would feel at home any other night of the year. Nak is positioned as a baby face, and he gets baby face reactions appropriately. But that's about it. He's a bare minimum act, generating bare minimum effort. There's no reason to invest any care or concern into the character, because the effort just hasn't been there. They still have plenty of time to infuse some life and energy into the act, but Christ. It's dire at the moment. The guy's just another baby face at this rate. His entrance and signature spots get pops. But there's no indication that he's actually any more over or any more buzzworthy than a Bobby Roode - or hell, even a Tye Dillinger when he shows up. They're all practically interchangeable. Seriously. Slide Roode or Tye into the same role and nothing changes. I mean, I guess some neckbeards might get bent out of shape and blog about it, but those people would still watch, regardless. Wouldn't put even the slightest dent in business though. All of that just to basically say - the Smackdown scene feels so ice fucking cold.

I admittedly gave up on Smackdown after the superstar shakeup last Spring, but things feel REALLY frigid over there. Is it just me, or is Nakamura ice cold as a challenger? I can't even recall the last time a Rumble winner felt like they had this little momentum or purpose in the lead-up to Mania. I mean, I get that they're promoting the Styles bout as a dream match, so they can coast into it and just present it as dry and straightforward as humanly possible. But omigoddamngod, it just feels sooo fucking lazy and lethargic. I guess I can understand why some people would get somewhat excited for it, but meh. Nakamura is so incredibly uninteresting as a character that it just does nothing for me. They've made next to no effort to get anybody invested in Nak as a bit player at the lowest level - let alone a challenger to the belt at the biggest show of the year. Maybe I've missed something recent though? I mean, I make it a point to scope out the weekly 5-minute list recaps WWE puts up on their YouTube page, but I swear - Nak is so bland that he even comes across as fast forward material during his 60 second features on those things. It's awful. I'd never deny the idea that the guy can go when he wants. And he's got a certain charm with his wacky mannerisms, but it's not enough. It doesn't convey ANYTHING. It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't project an actual, ya know, personality. Somebody tweet Jesse James and tell him to get this fucking guy some Tajiri tapes or some shit, so he can learn the subtleties of developing an actual personality without needing to speak. 'Cause this hokey, stroked out spasm shtick ain't amounting to dick.

Both Trent and Juice Robinson have REALLY turned a corner over the course of the past year or more. Juice got there first - or at least started piecing the puzzle together sooner - but yeah. Trent has shed some of his lesser qualities and more grating tendencies, which has really strengthened the rest of his performance. His selling and timing have particularly been on point recently. Give me Juice and Trent over Sabre or fucking Ospreay every day of the week and twice on Sunday, plz&thnx.

Season 3 was a fucking blast. I know the show has its critics, but I absolutely loved last season. It's a far cry from being traditional wrestling, for sure. But it still stands out as a crazy fun TV show week to week, regardless of whether that's your thing or not.

Maybe because the same people who are praising him now were the same critics bashing him during all his pre-NXT work? Just a wild guess, of course. But yeah. Basically nobody had much love for Gargano before he took the trip to Full Sail.

Their first TNA episode did crazy big numbers. The only ones I strongly recommend to avoid are several of the PPV recaps and that fucking awful episode on CM Punk.

I know people's tastes & opinions may vary, but I thought Jarrett's 2011 was a fucking blast. The "Double J, Double M-A expert" shtick was fun shit from the start, and then the whole six-month program with Kurt Angle was WAY more enjoyable than it had any right to be. It could have been terrible, but they seemed to strike up a great chemistry right away - going all the way back to their previous program in '08/'09, but I really found Jeff's character work to be on another level by 2011. The MMA stuff, the coupling with Karen, and just the overall act felt much more polished. The feud featured A LOT of rematches and extra stipulations, but the finishes were creative and entertaining enough to keep me invested through the whole thing. I'm someone who definitely prefers southern fiery baby face Jeff over country music villain Jeff. And, while I originally dug his Don't Piss Me Off facelift, that whole run wore out its welcome by the time he started veering into the Slapnuts horse-shit. All that being said, I believe it was right around that 2011 TNA stint where I finally bought into Jeff as a main event level heel. It felt like he really put all the pieces together, despite no longer being involved in the World Title picture or anything by that point. His whole heel act was just worlds better than his tiresome Planet Jarrett days - although, at times, I honestly think some of those matches were good fun in an overblown, overbooked WWE style way. I honestly think Jarrett just gets a lot of residual hate from those fucking awful reigns up top in WCW. Because I didn't mind him as a mid-carder in the Fed, and a good chunk of his TNA stuff isn't as terrible as it's made out to be.

I can appreciate the enthusiasm, but TNA has been much better than this for longer (albeit still abbreviated) points in the recent past. I'd like to see 'em turn things around, but yeah. I'd pump the brakes before I invested too much hope into it just yet. Let's wait and see where they're at after the Redemption PPV or so. I will say this though - I feel like they've got to get away from the concept of doing their TV tapings in bulk. It just saps any sense of excitement or unpredictability from the product.

I like Emma well enough, but why is she wearing Danny Devito's gloves from Batman Returns? Looks like she shuffled through Scurll's gear and came back with the scraps. I see this a lot with current indie guys lately, and I'm not even sure which side of the fence I fall on, to be honest. Is it better to hang back until you have something more defined in mind to fit your character, or is it worth looking REALLY stupid just to stand out and appear somewhat unique? Almost feels like a lot of guys are leaning toward the latter & trying way too hard.

I did a similar re-watch of all the Chamber matches back in 2015, and yeah. The majority of them were surprisingly great and thoroughly enjoyable for the most part. Held up better than I imagined, and the gimmick itself appeared borderline bulletproof... And then the IC Title one went down & shot that theory to shit.

Is that the Meltzer interview up on Hannibal's YouTube page that goes about half an hour?

Was there a shakeup on the SmackDown creative team at some stage or something? I mean, it's almost unfathomable to even imagine that this team of minds is the same crew behind that awesome run of weekly TV stretching back from summer '16 through spring '17. I get that there was a talent trade, but the shit we're seeing now seems so drastically different from everything we were getting week to week back then. Just feels devoid of any concentrated effort regarding characters or stories at this point. Everybody's sleepwalking.