So Raw is 30 minutes away and this might as well serve as the thread for people to throw out their KOTR thoughts before the show starts. I am hoping that Luke Harper wins the whole thing just because it would be fun to see him in the crown.

 

Ok well I guess you guys don't give a shit about KOTR

 

The crowd jumped all over the Justin Beiber line but I thought the Catwoman barb hit way closer to the mark.

 

Loved Ambrose-Sheamus.

Damn, Sheamus vs Harper could be great but I've got a feeling they're gonna find a way out of running that match.

I'll be honest... after last night's show, I had no desire to sit through a RAW. Nothing from that show made me think that I need to see the follow up.

Same here, and I bailed out after Big Show/Reigns since I have zero desire to see yet another Randy Orton main event. As much as I loved Wrestlemania, I have zero interest in the current product.

Lana is full on Sable mode now. That makes Rusev the next Marvelous Marc Mero. Yikes. (unless it's a "swerve" which would end by Lana finally helping Rusev win back the US title, since apparently the feud isn't over, but…)

Raw has such a different feel to it without Triple H and Stephanie dominating air time. I'm not saying it's particularly good but the show goes by faster and feels more relaxed. When they come back full time, which I assume will be next week,it's going to be unbearable again

I'm still with the people who think that Lana will reveal this to be a ruse after the I Quit match, but I think the ultimate direction for her is a sort of Ninotchka gimmick where a babyface shows her the wonders of America and despite herself she starts to give in. I just don't know what babyface they have that could possibly pull that off.

 

Sami Zayn eventually. Or MAYBE Ambrose playing James Dean.

I'm still with the people who think that Lana will reveal this to be a ruse after the I Quit match, but I think the ultimate direction for her is a sort of Ninotchka gimmick where a babyface shows her the wonders of America and despite herself she starts to give in. I just don't know what babyface they have that could possibly pull that off.

 

Sami Zayn eventually. Or MAYBE Ambrose playing James Dean.

 

I would love for this to signal the return of on-location segments. Ambrose taking Lana to the Grand Canyon and extolling the natural beauty of American soil.

Or MAYBE Ambrose playing James Dean.

 

I read this as James Deen, which would certainly announce and end to the PG era.

 

Or MAYBE Ambrose playing James Dean.

 

I read this as James Deen, which would certainly announce and end to the PG era.

 

 

Material for the next Jerry Springer Too Hot For TV episode, no doubt.

Couple of items from Meltz

 

The company had already started shooting promotional videos for Steph v Rousey before Dana's comments and are not going to give up in trying to convince him to change his mind. Steph was supposed to build to the feud on Jericho's podcast tonight.

 

Vince sees Lana as the "female face" of the company and she is set for a huge babyface push after she is presumably revealed to be American. Although not set in stone (they still might call her Lana) Vince thinks her real name "CJ" will remind people of Pam Anderson's character on Baywatch. Anderson left Baywatch nearly 20 years ago and the show has been off the air for 15. Classic Vince.

 

Eva Marie is set for a huge push and will be a totally different more serious character when she returns. Kendrick has been training her

 

The curb stomp was banned due to advice from the legal department over the concussion stuff

Vince thinks her real name "CJ" will remind people of Pam Anderson's character on Baywatch. Anderson left Baywatch nearly 20 years ago and the show has been off the air for 15. Classic Vince.

 

 

That's incredible.

How old is the average raw viewer then? Sounds about right to me.

Couple of items from Meltz

 

The company had already started shooting promotional videos for Steph v Rousey before Dana's comments and are not going to give up in trying to convince him to change his mind. Steph was supposed to build to the feud on Jericho's podcast tonight.

 

Vince sees Lana as the "female face" of the company and she is set for a huge babyface push after she is presumably revealed to be American. Although not set in stone (they still might call her Lana) Vince thinks her real name "CJ" will remind people of Pam Anderson's character on Baywatch. Anderson left Baywatch nearly 20 years ago and the show has been off the air for 15. Classic Vince.

 

Eva Marie is set for a huge push and will be a totally different more serious character when she returns. Kendrick has been training her

 

The curb stomp was banned due to advice from the legal department over the concussion stuff

This company is so moronic. Let's build to a match we may not be able to produce. Let's build around someone who can't wrestle. WTF?

For fans of the tag title match at the PPV, don't miss the rematch on SD, which was more of the same goodness. Highlighted by Xavier Woods laughing on the floor, and everything Cesaro and Kidd did. Many more matches between these two, thanks.

 

I'm still getting my head around Naomi as a heel and I'm not sure I like it, but between her forearm and Nikki's forearm, I think when it comes time for their match I'll be begging for something I never thought I would ever beg for again thanks to New Japan: a forearm battle.

NXT was back in form this week with some good storytelling between Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Alex Riley to lead up to the next Takeover special. They did a good inversion of the original manipulation Owens did to get his title shot with Zayn saying Owens had basically been in his shadow his whole career. This then translated nicely into the main event of Zayn versus Riley which Owens overshadowed being on commentary and intimidating the announcers and especially mocking Riley.

 

Enzo and Cass got a nontitle win over BAM and it looks like Carmella might actually be staying with the Sawftees while Alexa Bliss joins Blake and Murphy (maybe?). Blake added a super-douche pony tail to his look and I think it worked.

 

Dana Brook looked better this week against Bayley which shouldn't be a surprise since BayBay is a pretty solid hand at this point and has the crowd behind her.

 

Becky Lynch looked really good grabbing an arm and just working it into a sick armbar for a great squash outing.

 

Adam Rose put Itami over with a nice and simple shine-heat-finish sequence that had no back-and-forth at the end and I think did its job perfectly well.

 

Corbin vs. Rhyno will be happening and I'll endorse that.

The CJ/Lana thing feels like the best example yet of Vince not giving a damn about NXT and willfully fucking up a year or two of character development so that he can have one more Torrie Wilson sit on his lap. I'd expect her Florida State self to be huge as a babyface for a few months, but would need to become a good worker with above-average Diva storylines to sustain it. The women's pool is just too muddled right now to accomodate another attempt at Trish 2015. To say nothing of how bad the explanation will be for "Here's why I, an American, posed as a Putin sympathizer for a year". Like, 10x worse than Kofi dropping his Jamaican gimmick by explaining that he was just a big fan of Jamaica.

Michelle Beadle on twitter said she is "turning in her WWE fan card" after the company's continued support of Mayweather (domestic abuse charges). That's actually a pretty big deal since she helped put together the Lesnar interview and urged ESPN to start covering WWE

It's a black eye against the company for sure. I know others will make the "wrestlers do this stuff too" argument. There's validity to that, but that loses sight of the groundswell behind the Mayweather detractors, how high profile Mayweather and his problems are, and how a lot of people have, rightfully so, pegged Mayweather as a negative sports influence and thus any association with him will be looked down upon.

The fight is over now and everyone will be on to the next thing to be outraged about on twitter within a day or two. I also expect Beadle's time as a non-fan to last as long as the average message board poster who quits watching forever!~ because his favorite wrestler lost.

The anti-Mayweather stuff has been going on long before yesterday's fight was even announced. Beadle, Rachel Nichols, Mike Gallego, and Sarah Spain have been writing about and reporting about Mayweather's despicable actions for some time. This isn't exactly a fly by night issue, it's one with staying power.

I will be shocked if she is not back in the front row for Summerslam. Not that I really care one or the other, but I agree with goc this definitely smacks of hyperbole, but it is not like it is some great loss WWE is not very good anyway.

Mayweather is a despicable human being, but HHH praising Mayweather's performance should not be conflated with him glorifying Mayweather as a human being. You all have not disowned me or others for praising Benoit as a wrestler. Rewatching Benoit in the late 90s, I think he is the second best wrestler of 98-99 in America and I hope people are bright enough to realize I am not glorifying an evil, evil man. Her reaction to that tweet seemed to me, very extreme. As WWE & HHH, i would just ignore and move on, this would be a no-win situation.

The key difference though is that you, I, and the woman down the street are just everyday people. We do not represent a multi-national corporation that purports to be kid friendly as well as have a vested interest in programs that are against domestic violence, bullying, etc. In that context Triple He's support of Mayweather is a very poor move.