Any WWE fans in the audience? (Part 1)

The Game Room
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It’s a rare Wednesday night that I’m actually off work and able to watch NXT when it airs. This episode was pretty good. Unfortunately, it looks like we won’t be getting to actually see the matches they taped at house shows for the tournament - we got some snippets, but that’s it.

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa looked great in their match. Gargano especially, as he had some great opportunities to show off his acrobatics against Bull. Bull, on the other hand, needs to work on his punches - there was this spot where he was throwing punches at Gargano where it was obvious that his hand wasn’t anywhere near Gargano. They cemented Bull’s face turn after the match with Breeze turning on him. I’m interested in seeing where they’re going with Gargano and Ciampa from here - neither of them are under contract with WWE AFAIK, and they’re being allowed to use the same ring names they use in the indies, which was unheard of until Joe showed up but seems to be becoming increasingly acceptable.

The Lucha Dragons’ promo could have used subtitles a la an episode of Lucha Underground.

I think it’s finally struck me what bothers me the most about Dana Brooke - she looks like a more muscular, slightly less chav version of Billie Piper.

Apollo Crews is talking about the “Apollo Nation” in his promos now, which is a pretty clever way of incorporating his old name (which predates his wrestling career and goes back to his high school weightlifting days) into his WWE image.

I actually kinda want to watch Dean Ambrose’s movie. The idea that he was a badass cop who got involved in a high-stakes shootout in a locked-down office building actually works well into his backstory.

The main event is apparently from a Smackdown taping a few weeks ago, which explains the Jimmy Uso/Tom Phillips commentary team. (It’s not a very good team, either - these two have no chemistry, and there are way too many awkward silences.) Finn has a cool new leather jacket to wear to the ring, which kinda helps in establishing Finn the man as a different character from Finn the Demon. Hunicara looked great in this match, but ultimately he ends up on the ground as Kallisto takes a musclebuster and a coup de grace for the win. (Jojo incorrectly announces Finn as “the IC champion” after the pin.) I get the impression that they’re building to a Finn/Joe title match at Takeover 7: A Good Day To Take Over, so presumably one of them is going to turn on the other before the tourney is over.

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NXT was pretty decent overall.

Whoever runs Full Sail’s Twitter is on their game because Ms. Cups was telling a friend that we are going there tomorrow (without tagging or hashtagging them) and within about 15 minutes she got a tweet from them saying “We’ll see you tomorrow”.

Good on them and we’re excited to go. I’ll be wearing my Jake the Snake shirt and I’m assuming she’s wearing her Dean Ambrose shirt, we’ll have to look for ourselves come tape time

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I can testify first hand that you don’t want to show your uncivil side online. I used to complain about one of my now former company’s clients in LiveJournal (as well as some of my company’s managers) and got shitcanned when somebody associated with the client found it. We may have Freedom of Speech, but that doesn’t mean we can get away with it.

Another thing about Dana: when she does her promos, she sounds like she’s reciting, not ad libbing. “Eye ee-am the tow-tul Dee-va. Eye turned dee-own the Ar-nulled In-vi-tay-shun-ul so eye kee-an be the next NXT Dee-vas chee-ampion.” Great Og, that accent turns milk sour.

The Smackdown audience didn’t seem to react to Finn’s entrance, but by the end of the match, they were making noise. Finn came off as a tad bit heelish, but he looked like he commanded the ring.

Of the new breed jobbing to the stars now, I’m actually digging The Drifter. He’s got “the look” even if his guitar gimmick is kind of ehhh. I hope they don’t have him turn into the next Honky Tonk Man. I kind of like the Clint Eastwood thing he’s got going.

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I looked at her at the beginning of that promo, thought “she doesn’t look half bad there” and then of course she had to open her mouth and I cringed. With that voice, accent and mannerisms, she will never be more than a heel with a lot of go away heat.

And I fucking HATE the Usos on commentary even as I like them as a team. Lose the semi-ghetto speech patterns and stop fucking calling everyone “dog”.

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The taping was fun and were currently in a long ass line to try and get takeover tickets. Im not holding my breath…but were trying anyway!

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How’d it go? Did you get the tickets?

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So like I said last night, the tapings were fun. The funniest thing to me was just how loud the arena was with random conversations happening and people getting up and leaving the arena left and right. I don’t know why I thought it would be more…formal? I guess? and just be seated the whole time.

They really just paraded match after match after match with nothing but small breaks in between. No promos, no backstage segments, no nuthin. If they didn’t tell us “hey, it’s time to do the NXT chant!” we wouldn’t know when one taping ended and another began. Ms. Cups and I were in the corner opposite the crane, so maybe on a long-shot we will see each other. Also Bayley ran right next to us, so that should be interesting to see too.

They announced Takeover 7: Takeover Takes Back was going to be at Full Sail and they announced the main event, which I’ll spoiler just in case

Bayley and Sasha are doing a 30 minute Iron Woman match that I think is for the title. This leads me to ask…What exactly goes into an ironman match?

They also announced the finals of the Dusty Tournament are going to be at Takeover, that’s not a spoiler because I’m pretty sure that was obvious.

So after the main event (and basically during) of last night, the crowd started bolting from the arena in order to line up outside and get tickets for Takeover (and the taping afterwards). We watched the whole match and waited for around 90 min or so (thank the Lord for a McDonald’s that’s right there). They let people in only 10 at a time so it took a while, but at the end of the day (night?) for a whopping bucks a ticket Ms. Cups and I are going to enjoy Takeover at Full Sail! Woo-hoo! We didn’t spring for night-after taping tickets because it would be another day I’d have to ask off and that’s annoying.

ETA: Something else I forgot that happened that was pretty neat, we saw the contract signing for Kana (who is now called Asuka, which is stupidly pronounced ASK-ah).

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If you’re asking…

[spoiler]what an “Iron Man” match is; it’s “most falls in 60 minutes” (or, in this case, 30), presumably with a sudden death “overtime” fall if they’re tied at the end of the time limit. If you have WWE Network, the main event at WrestleMania XII has one, although there were no falls in the 60 minutes. An example of one with falls is WWE Judgment Day in May, 2000.

I just hope they don’t do what they did at WM 12 (which, BTW, was not the first “iron man match”), where they don’t mention the possibility of an overtime, they are tied at the end of the time limit, the champion assumes it’s a draw and walks away with the title belt - and then she’s told about the overtime, which she then loses.
[/spoiler]

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Smackdown “Take the Bullet” report

Wyatt Family promo opens the show with darkness and fog. References to Revelations & Garden of Eden, “Anyone but you, Roman,” Jimmy Uso better not get involved, sinister nursery rhymes, bee bop a vroom DEPP!

OK, predictions have been flying as to who Dean & Roman’s partner will be. Somebody photoshopped Baron Corbin in a poster, then it evaporated. Orton has been ruled out until further notice, and Jimmy Uso’s next, since he’s teaming with D & R tonight vs New-hoo Day-hee. That part doesn’t really merit a spoiler, since Oos has been announcing and is thus expendable. An NXT callup is possible, but mainstream audiences are still unfamiliar with their talent. I’m thinking

Chris Jericho

Cesaro vs da Miz

Cesaro still has his ribs taped up. I don’t get it. If you have sore ribs, the last thing you want is something tight wound around them. Yes, I know, it’s sympathy heat for the face, but it’s been done to death. Miz flaps his hands for 5 minutes before taking off his shades, and Cesaro mocks him later in the match. After selling his torso tape through the commercial break, Cesaro makes Miz tap to the Bret Hart homage.

Paige vs Sasha

All of PCB comes out and all of BAD comes out. They get into a shoving match which results in the referee sending the non-contestants to the back to go sit in the corner. Sasha and Paige cat-fight it out for a while, and apparently it got so intense, another referee had to come out to control these Furies. Then BAD ran in to stomp on Paige, and CB ran in to stomp on the stompers.

Ambroos, Roos, and Uso vs Noos Day

Xavier gets Superman punched at the end, and Oos gets on the top corner to do a splash, then bee bop a vroom DEPP! The lights come back on, and Oos is missing. The Wyatts are back at the top of the ramp, and Braun has Oos in the Headlock of Doom. Bee bop a vroom DEPP! The Wyatts have disappeared, leaving Oos’s prone body behind. Dean & Roman sell concern.

Lucha Dragons vs The Ascension

Ascension comes out with their new bff Stardust. Thanks for your 4-star match with Finn and Samoa Joe, Lucha Dragons. Now job to the Ascension in 2 minutes. Neville runs out afterwards to spin and flip on the heels. Couldn’t they have spent less time recapping Seth getting his goddamn statue crushed so this match could last longer?

Seth Rollins vs Ryback, Lumberjack Match

About 20 midcarders surround the ring, including a scheming Kevin Owens and a grumpy Big Show. Standard match at the beginning. When Seth is tossed out, everybody hates him and whups up on him, and he goes back in whining about it. When Ryback is tossed out, everybody’s too afraid of him and politely let him return of his own accord.

Eventually, Ryback is tossed out and lands on Big Show, who takes it personally. He throws Ryback into the barricade, then KOs Mark Henry when he remonstrates. The other faces gather around and force Big Show backstage, shaming him for his bad deeds. In the meantime, the heels are in the ring stomping on Ryback, because it’s no DQ. Now THAT was funny!

This leads to several bowling pin scenarios, which ends when Neville Red Arrows the heel cluster. Ryback is alone with Seth and sets him up for the Shell Shock. What have we here? Kevin Owens didn’t take part in the group heel aggression. He grabs Ryback’s foot, causing Ryback to stumble, allowing Seth to get him in the Pedigree for the win.

DEPP!

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Well, they’ve decided that since NXT is running at a loss, they’re NOT going to be giving any of the talent any bonuses for the big events.

This is really really stupid. When Bayley and Sasha Banks go out there in front of a crowd of 13,000+ and put on a match of the year candidate, you fucking give them a bonus!

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I don’t think you need to spoiler it - they announced it on the website last night.

That being said;

An iron-man match is a match that goes for a set length of time (60 minutes is typical, but seeing as Takeover only runs for 2 hours that’d be a bit much), and at the end of that time, whichever competitor has scored the most falls - via pin, submission, DQ, or countout - wins the match. In the event that the score is tied at the end of the allotted time, the match goes into sudden death and the first person to score a fall of any kind wins. Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo had a great ironman match on Lucha Underground which I believe is now available on Youtube.

No, that’s the correct pronunciation. Written Japanese (kanji notwithstanding) is written with one character to each syllable rather than to each letter, and the characters for consonants each have a vowel attached to the end - Asuka, for example, would be written in hiragana (the more formal of the two syllabaries in written Japanese) would be あすか, with the middle character representing the “su”. In most (but not all) cases, the U is silent when used in this context - I’m not going to try to explain it, because I barely understand myself and the rules are about as arbitrary and based on obscure historical evolutions in speech patterns as are the rules in English about when letters are or aren’t silent or why “through” and “cough” don’t rhyme or why some people pronounce “Ralph” as “Rafe”.

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Apparently, Seth Rollins isn’t the only sports entertainer who’s not welcome at outdoor music festivals;

[QUOTE=Chicago Riot Fest FAQ]

Not allowed;

Large bags or backpacks (no internal frame or camping-style backpacks)

Tents, ubmrellas or temporary structures of any kind

Video equipment of any kind (including personal camcorders and GoPro cameras)

Audio recording equipment of any kind

Portable audio equipment of any kind, including portable “boom box” stereo systems

Professional photo equipment (SLR cameras, detachable/removable lens cameras)

Selfie Sticks

Justin Bieber

CM Punk (emphasis mine)

Crying

[/QUOTE]

On the other hand, they do emphasize that John Stamos is allowed to attend, so I guess that’s good.

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Did Smapti just school us in Japanese? Is that the state of Washington’s second language or something?

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I went through a phase in my teenage years where I wanted to learn Japanese so I could understand the Super Nintendo JRPGs that hadn’t yet been translated to English. I gave up when I decided that trying to learn kanji was too damn hard, but I have some recollection of the basics.

Long story short, the u is silent more often than it’s not.

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So next time I play Street Fighter I should be calling Akuma Ak-ma??

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AFAIK, the U in Akuma is intended to be pronounced. It’s only his name in America, anyway - in Japan, the character is called Gouki (豪鬼), and the U is silent.

For the record, Gouki is Japanese for “great soul”, whereas Akuma translates as “devil” - or, if you will, “balor”. :smiley:

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Apparently, the latest rumor going around the dirtsheets is that WWE is looking at bringing Jeff Hardy back when his TNA contract runs out.

Maybe he and Sting could finally have their rematch from this trainwreck.

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Jeff Hardy is a walking Wellness Policy violation. He carries more drugs than Eckerd’s. Can’t see why WWE would want him back, unless it’s to capitalize on Dudleyz nostalgia.

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Crowd: “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!”

Sting: “I agree!”

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Maybe Vince is just a really big Willow fan. He digs the umbrella.