Stiva

The more I think about this, the more I think Lesnar winning the Rumble would be the best idea. Reigns comes in first, fights off everybody and HHH, with The Authority conspires to eliminate him and after that, you're left with Lesnar facing the odds. Maybe against the 4 Wyatt members; Lesnar fights them off, wins the Rumble, wins the belt. At Fast Lane, it's Reigns/HHH; if Reigns wins, he gets the shot at Lesnar. Maybe you do Heyman promos where he brings up last year's Mania, he talks about how Roman deserves the shot. Reigns beats HHH, Reigns beats Lesnar at Mania and we all have a great time. Probably. That took me 30 seconds and I think that is way more interesting than HHH winning and more shows where the heel champ comes through

Gangrel is from Florida and I'd pop for him coming in, spitting "THAT RED LIQUID" into someone's eyes before they tumble over the top rope. What's Santino doing? At this point, I'm pretty much only watching this match for the surprise entrants.

Speaking of Balor Club, I'm guessing that this is how they're debuting him on the main roster? Gallows and Anderson as the team of the stable, Styles and Balor as the singles guys. Push Balor, build up the Styles face turn and build to a match between them? That could be wild.

Awesome! I've always meant to dig into TEW since EWR is so good but could never get around the interface issues and how long it takes to actually book 2 hour shows. I hope he streamlines everything in a way that eases that burden since everything else about 13 is excellent.

Weren't those DX runs huge successes when it came to selling merch? I know that point is tangential to the discussion but that seems like Vince seeing an opportunity to get more people crammed into the merch booths, rather than a network directive.

That'd be great. I don't get a ton of days off at Christmas but I'll gladly spend one of them watching this stuff.

Finally get through the 90 and 91 yearbooks Will sent me out in about June. Send Will more money so he can send me more yearbooks so I can make the same resolution next year.

I want that idea but with The New Day instead. 20 seconds of them beating a guy up and a minute and a half of Xavier playing the trombone and Kofi and Big E dancing.

Bayley/Jax completely ruled with a result that I wasn't expecting. Jax is a total star; the way she carries herself and her aura is enough but she clearly knows enough about being a monster at such an early stage, knowing when to be knocked down, what offense to use etc. Bayley was great too, just bumping like a lunatic and making that choke look like all of her energy was being ploughed into it.

It's wild seeing Americans on Twitter loving these chants when everyone in the UK who has had to put up with them at football matches for a decade is sick of them

I'm a huge fan of Dawson. He's a good bumper, good seller, his offense is always crisp with a real weight behind it and he's great at all of the little touches that play to the cheap seats. He and Dash are a great team and this is a hell of a title match.

2015 has really sucked

Deciding to watch Raw and Nitro back to back now that I have the Network and it's so odd. I've seen all of these shows before but never as they were aired, as it were. It stands out how much every single part of Nitro seems fresh and new, aside from the segments with Hogan. Even the Flair/Arn cage match, which should be a huge match, is over within 8 minutes and the announcers spend most of the time talking about the "NEW" Hulk Hogan. Turning heel was a masterstroke but it's telling how tired wrestling audiences were of him for most of the 90s to this point. At my current watch, Raw is right in the period where Watts was booking and one episode has that amazing Diesel/Shawn/Taker vs Bulldog/Yoko/Owen six man with the great heel beatdown and it's followed with a ten minute segment that's just Vince and Lawler commentating over Bret/Issac Yankem from Summerslam. You take the rough with the smooth, I suppose. Also, PG-13's WWF run really did rule.

If it is a tournament, I'm calling Reigns to win the tournament and Sheamus to cash in. Maybe after Reigns beats him in the first round.

Tournament at Survivor Series sounds like good fun. Wonder if they pull the trigger on Roman or anoint a new Authority guy with a heel turn as they screw him in the final.

This rules, thanks

They could easily get around that by having tags main event the house shows. Rollins could get a cheap pin over Cena but still eat his finisher anyway. Or his partner, whoever it may be, could take the fall.

I believe Steiners vs. Heavenly Bodies from Summerslam 93 counts here.

Bryan's organic connection with the crowd stood, and still does, stand out in a ridiculously controlled environment and if he's ever healthy enough to continue, the entire sequence will repeat again because nobody has taken his place as the fan's man. I agree with Loss that their idea of what a wrestler is and looks like is so removed from Bryan but I think, when he returns, they're going to get exactly what they've tried to repress for 18 months. It's how they react that's important.

No Johnny? Not sure I can handle such rampant negativity

Not to go into well-worn HHH territory but putting himself opposite the hottest act in the company time and again isn't something to praise him for. There's no way Bryan should have been working Kane in his first title program when Bryan/Batista and the Bryan/HHH rematch, this time for the title, were right there. There was no real reason for Evolution to work The Shield except that dumb Rollins turn that came way too early.

Great line-up. It says something that I have no interest in watching the show but a ton of interest in hearing you guys talk about it.

I agree that there's a tremendous amount of crossover between 90s fighting games and wrestling and that's awesome. As for why I like wrestling, I think the actual wrestling side of it is amazing; I love the idea that two (or four, or six) workers can tell a story in the ring with only 12 minutes to do so. I love the athleticism but my love of wrestling comes from everything awesome that surrounds it. The angles, the gimmicks, the promos, the deep history to dig into, the fact that different sections of the world all have their own rules and cultures. Wrestling is a world that seems impenetrable but once you get in, once you accept it, it's amazing. Basically, I like wrestling because I watched it as a kid but something stuck with me, something intangible, something unexplained. I remember realising I loved wrestling around about the Smackdown Six Era. Triple H on Raw genuinely turned me away but I came across Smackdown by chance and here are all these awesome tag matches.I was 12 years old and I vividly remember those matches restoring my love of wrestling. Now, I love wrestling because I appreciate the psychology that goes into a great match but I love watching Southern wrestling angles, Stan Hansen kicking the shit out of some poor and Jeff G Bailey Wildside promos.I love All Japan tags, I love lucha six mans, I love WWE gimmick match main events, I love TV cage matches, I love southern tag matches, I love everything. I honestly couldn't tell you why the wrestling bug, in all it's formulaic favour bit me but I love it so, If I had to give a reason, it's because there's an excitement; a genuine love for the product that's missing in every other adventure I couldn't tell you how I got into wrestling but I love the idea of telling a story through battle; I love the idea of someone encapsulating the gimmick for a promo and I really love how pro wrestling, seemingly against itself, is the most carny, self promoting industry in the world. And it's beautiful.

I think it would be really funny if they've edited it into a Homer Simpson on Rock Bottom style hatchet job and it took people weeks to notice.

Woods is incredibly quick on his feet. You watch him in any other setting and you can see that. I think Big E with Woods as his manager is money waiting to happen.