WWE

[bigraj]

Network update: "On Demand" seems to be fine on PS3. Watching the Great American Bash '89 and it's playing great. Fast forwarding worked like it should. Enjoying the awesome Sting-Muta match now, and all is right in my world.

Damn. How big of a star could Muta have been in the U.S. had WCW kept him around long-term? Quite a few audible "Muta" chants during his match with Sting, and I remember him being very over throughout the rest of year, and into 1990.  At the Clash when the Horsemen turned on Sting (I'm as shocked as you are , the crowd went apeshit for every move Muta made during the cage match against Flair and the Andersons.  Did Vince ever try to sign him in the early 90s, when Bret and Shawn were moving up the card?

[Kimmel]

I never heard about Vince trying to get Muta at all.


But could you imagine Muta in Yokozuna's spot?

[bigraj]

That's what I was picturing. Muta with a HUGE push and feuding with Flair before he went back home, Savage, Perfect, Hart, Michaels, etc. Not sure how well Gary Hart's promo style would have gone over in the Fed, but Cornette would have done a great job as his mouthpiece.

[Kimmel]

Listening to the Austin podcast with Regal, never knew that the WWF gave him a tryout before he signed with WCW and that WWF wanted him in 91.

Wow that would have been very different and really good.

[bigraj]

Can't wait for part 2 of that interview. I was surprised to hear that, too. The Lord Steven stuff was pretty over in WCW, but I'm sure he would have had some other gimmick in WWF. Not sure the WWF crowd at the time would have appreciated Regal's slower, but absolutely brilliant wrestling style.

[darthfoley]

Have been enjoying NXT Arrival, but right before the main event ladder match suddenly the live feed completely died on me.

[jackknight]

Went to Arrival so didn't have any problem with the feed. But everyone seems to have from the people I've talked to. Sami/Cesaro was amazing. That uppercut when Sami jumped through the corner was right in front of us and it was brutal. Paige's new finisher is great. But Ascension's new entrance is horrible, especially considering how amazing their old one was. Maybe they'll switch back. Marked out big time when Too Cool showed up. About time I caught them down here. Met Natalya for the first time and got her autograph. Neville made my night however when he made a point to come over to us and celebrate his win after the match. Thank god we've got no more Bo. WWE can have him. lol.

[tlyne]

Just started watching Starrcade 84 and the confusion by the ring announcer Tom Miller, Gordon Solie and Bob Caudill on the double pin with Mike Davis and Denny Brown is quite humorous. At least Gordon had an excuse, I'm sure he was drunk.

[bigraj]

Wow. Pretty bad Raw last night, which ain't good this close to 'Mania. No Daniel Bryan? 'Taker gets the best of Lesnar again? The Shield is stuck in a match with the Old Age Outlaws? What the hell is that Divas match supposed to be? At least they announced Scott Hall Razor Ramon for the HoF.  Very good Cena-Harper match.

[Captain Charisma]

I actually enjoyed Raw last night. Cena/Harper was really good. Shield/Real Americans was great. Brock/Taker hasn't been great and no Daniel Bryan is bad for business, but using the time to diversify Bray's character and establish the Shield as babyfaces isn't a bad move. Corporate Kanelaws might not give the Shield the best match, but it gives them a win at Mania and entrenches their babyfacedom. Seth Rollins is amazing, what a performer. His ring work is keeping him neck and neck with Reigns as 'the breakout star' of Shield even with the company putting Roman in that spot and Seth having to take it for himself.

They're killing the Diva's division and putting the tag titles on the Uso's hurt the belts instead of helped the talent, which is the total opposite of how that is supposed to work, but Hunter's work with this more IWC oriented character is winning me over, as long as he taps clean to Bryan and this isn't legit. I mean all this work as great as long as it's setting up Bryan for success. Steph and Bryan's work has been stellar throughout.

Luke Harper has serious potential. That guy is money. How long before he and Roman Reigns are in a blood feud for the WWE championship? Over/under at 2 years?

[bigraj]

Anyone else watch the HoF ceremony last night on the Network? Outside of Jake and Hall, the other inductees were pretty boring.   Well, Carlito was really funny, and Kane was really classy in how he handled Mr. T without being rude and his induction speech for Paul Bearer was great.  DDP and Nash were also pretty good. Had no problems with the live stream, so I hope that bodes well for WM XXX tonight.

[bigraj]

How'd everyone like WM? I thought it was a good show. Loved the opening with Hogan, Austin, and Rock. 2 great Daniel Bryan matches. Cesaro looked great in winning the battle royal. The Shield looked like monsters squashing the Old Age Outlaws and Kane. The Divas match was better than I expected. Cena-Wyatt wasn't as good as I was hoping. The Streak came to a surprising end. Even "Brock Lesnar's #1 fan" in the crowd couldn't believe it. The match was okay, certainly not up to the standard of 'Taker's recent matches. Maybe that's why he was ready to end it, Taker knew he didn't have it in him to put on another spectacular. I don't know. Is he done for good, or was this maybe a way to add intrigue to future WM matches?

Does Orton get his rematch tonight, and then we move into a DB-Batista or DB-Brock match for Extreme Rules?  Maybe save DB-Brock for SummerSlam?  I'd prefer that.  Do we have a Bryan-Cena rematch for the title(s) around Money in the Bank?  How quickly (and how far up the card) do they go with Cesaro?  How long do we run with a babyface Shield before turning one or two members?  Can Bray Wyatt shake off a big loss as easily as Cena can?  Could be a lot of fun in the next few months.  

[thecommish]

I thought WM was pretty lackluster, aside from the HHH-Bryan match and then the main event. Taker vs Brock was the ultimate disappointment. The streak ending didn't bother me at all and I'm fine with Brock being the one to end it, but the match itself was tough to sit through. Taker was clearly in a lot of pain and really shouldn't have been in the ring at all IMO.

That said, Raw the next night was amazing. Best episode in at least five years, with one of the best closing angles of a WWE TV show ever.

[bigraj]

Looking forward to being in attendance at the CajunDome for tonight's Smackdown/Main Event taping. The Wyatts vs the Shield headlines Main Event, so I'm expecting a hot match there.

[rockojerome]

I'm more into wrestling right now than I've been in years, I thought Wrestlemania was fucking great. That audience was hot. The tag match made it feel like those belts really mean something again. The old favorites were used very well to set up a particularly special show. Seeing Hogan and Austin face off was a huge smart mark out moment, knowing the years of bad blood between the two. I said "If Rock comes out now, I'm gonna piss myself" just as his music hit.

And THIS happened:



That whole segment, it felt completely real. That was one of those moments that worked as a work AND a shoot. You just don't get a lot of those, especially not with guys of that stature.

HHH put Bryan over clean. 100% clean. No shenanigans, nothing but a straight up match, with plenty of back and forth. As a HHH hater from way back, I've got to give him a whole3 lot of credit for that. I was expecting someone to run in to help him, then someone to run in to help Bryan, then Bryan to win in just another one of those "Yeah, but what if..." deals that doesn't settle anything. Instead we got a definitive win.

The Shield squash was good because it featured a bunch of nice spots and served to put over the guys who need to get the push now, and seems to have spelled out the end of NAO.

Wyatt/Cena was the only one I would've done differently. A Wyatt win there would've been huge for him, and Cena might be on his ways to fewer boos and negative chants if they could dial down the same traits in him that make Superman boring to people. That said, I don't mind him at all as a mid-card guy. Hope they keep him there for a few years at least.

Even though it was completely telegraphed, I thought Big Show was going to win the Battle Royale (and I loved that they had a Battle Royale). Cesaro picking the fat motherfucker up and dumping his ass over the top rope was a great Wrestlemania moment, and again, a guy is getting a push that deserves it.

I dislike Brock. A lot. A whole lot. But I love that he ended the streak, because it was thoroughly shocking. I looked just like the people in that crowd. Once I recovered, I thought it was stellar. Just like everybody else, I wasn't particularly excited by the match, but that was because I was 110% certain what the outcome would be. What they did was incredibly, extremely unpredictable, and I love that. That's Hogan turning heel level shock. And the fact it was Brock? Well, it had to be. He has heat for life now. Marks will hate his guts for eternity. That's fucking golden.

And the main event was all I wanted it to be. That shit was wild, the psychology was solid. From Batista and Orton's reactions and the way the medics looked, I thought that Bryan's injury was possibly legitimate all the way up to the point that he leaped up off the stretcher.

I thought it was great. No complaints.

[bigraj]

Just got back home from a pretty fun Main Event/Smackdown taping and immediately became depressed when I fire up the PC. Looks like Warrior had died. twitter.com/TripleH

[thecommish]

He must have been knowingly going through health problems for a while because there was a lot of talk about death in his Hall of Fame and Raw speeches.

What his poor wife and daughters are going through is awful.

[rockojerome]

Yeah, really. That was the first time in their lifetime that they saw their dad on that stage, then he dies immediately after.

[bigraj]

For some reason, I really suck when taking pictures with my iPhone, so these are the only decent pics I have from the Smackdown tapings. I've already got my ticket for the September 15 Raw. Same section, 4 rows back, and 10 seats to the left. I'll have a better view of the ring for the "go home" Raw before Night of Champions. I might take my "real" camera then.

[darthfoley]

Enjoyed Mania. Enjoyed the next night's Raw more.

[Captain Charisma]

Being there kindly skews my perspective, but I thought both shows were great. The Hogan/Rocky/Austin segment was on fire. The only negative at Mania, from my seat, was there were times it felt like Brock forgot what he was supposed to do or was waiting around for the next thing to happen. It's like my mind entirely blocked out the 3rd count though. The only sound I can remember after the 2nd count was Paul E.'s "OH MY GOD." It was so surreal. Even after the 21-1 graphic appeared there wasn't a sound. And then when Justin Roberts announced Brock as the winner, that was when it was finally real. And in the ultimate testament to Daniel Bryan's popularity, nobody else currently on the roster could have brought us back. Even those who weren't opposed to the ending of the streak were in shock when it happened, and it took Bryan to get us all back in focus.

Celebrating with Bryan at Mania wasn't nearly as fun as celebrating with Bryan at Raw. When we started the "You deserve it" chant and he had to stop, it literally brought a tear to my eye. It was surreal, like am I really here celebrating Am Drag as THE man in WWE? I will start a new thread about my entire experience and sharing my pics and stuff from Axxess, Wrestlecon, Mania, and Raw, but the biggest takeaway from the trip is the genuine feeling of this being a new beginning for WWE. They might renig on that, fumble it, or go right back to their comfort zone, but Bryan/Shield vs. Corporate Evolution is money. Managerial warfare over the King of Swing is money. I'd love to see Zeb get Rybaxel involved as ex-Heyman guys. AJ and Paige are poised to lead a Diva's revolution, there are so many talented women in WWE it isn't funny. Wyatt and Harper exceeded my expectations seeing them in action.

Everything exceeded my expectations except for Taker's match. His entrance, along with everything else I witnessed and experienced, shattered my expectations though. Was well worth every penny I spent. I think Wrestlemania will be worth whatever you spend. If you spent a couple grand, you can make Mania worth it. If you only spent a hundred bucks, Mania would be worth it.

[rockojerome]

I'm with you. Super into WWE right now.

[bigraj]

Damn, I want to see a WarGames match of some sort (Hell in a Cell, maybe) between Evolution 2.0 & Kane vs Daniel Bryan & The Shield

[darthfoley]

I've been wondering if that's where they're headed too, Raj. HHH was always a fan and he did keep mentioning war last week.

[rockojerome]

HHH is super into War Games and Vince was always dead set against it. Now's HHH's big chance, with Vince's diminished presence.