He morphed into Erick Rowan.
They didn’t do the “Surprise! He’s back!” thing, so I guess big bearded guys are interchangeable.
Eh, Austin never does the “Toughest SOB gimmick” on his podcast normally. And to be honest while he has maybe brought it out twice that I can remember on his WWE Network editions, I don’t actually remember him doing so last night. So I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Steve is pretty down to earth and real on his podcasts, he doesn’t do them in character.
The Lesnar interview wasn’t one of his better ones, he typically asks hard questions (which is why I like him more than Ross or Jericho, who never do that with talent), and he tried to a few times but Brock made it really clear he wasn’t answering any questions he didn’t like, and he didn’t.
Lesnar will probably take some flak for his answers, but I kind of respect his honesty–wrestling isn’t his life, it’s his job. He has the physical gifts to make a lot of money at it, but it’s a business arrangement for him, not his life’s dream.
It’s always seemed to me that Brock’s WWE persona is basically just an amped-up version of who he is in real life - he does whatever he feels like doing at the current moment, doesn’t take shit from anyone, and basically just puts up with people so he can get paid and have fun on his free time.
I can emphathize with that.
Maybe time for Harper’s face turn now. Or they don’t need him now that Brown Strongman is there.
Cena out for a while (for what? does anyone know yet?), Randy out, it’s about time guys like Ziggler and Cesaro got more exposure.
Anyone getting tired of KO’s 30 second matches?
He also missed the house shows in Mexico over the weekend and WWE has made absolutely no statement about why, which appears these days to be code for “he has a concussion but we’re not going to say so because we’re getting sued over concussions right now”.
I’ve read that he’s hosting some sort of fitness-themed “Biggest Loser”-esque game show, and he’s taking the time off so he can do the tapings without having to be on the road at the same time.
I’d say it’s a safe bet he’ll be dropping the US title on Sunday, but to who is the big question, since it’s still being promoted as an open challenge for now. (I’ll do a full batch of predictions in a day or two when I’ve had time to ruminate on things.)
For the first time since I started watching WWE again in 2013, the Intercontinental Champion is actually winning the majority of his televised matches, most of them in clean finishes, instead of getting pinned by ham-and-eggers over and over again and then inexplicably retaining on the PPV. That’s a step in the right direction.
Yup. Wade Barrett has to be crying in his cornflakes comparing how they treated him to how KO is doing with the belt.
Frankly they treated Ryback with the belt pretty well too
Wait a second… How the fuck is Kevin Owens carrying out the NXT Championship? What did I miss?
Nevermind, somehow watching a Raw from June. They all run together…
HIAC predictions
RKOrton is out with a shoulder injury, so the Wyatts vs he and Dean has been removed from the card.
Cesaro, Neville, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev, King Barrett, and Sheamus
Usually when somebody loses on TV prior to the PPV, they get redemption. Since all three faces have been looking at the lights lately, I’ll pick them to win at HIAC.
Kevin Owens vs. Ryback for the Intercontinental Championship
KO keeps the belt and gloats about it to the consternation of many.
New Day vs. The Dudley Boyz for the WWE Tag Team Championship
While it’d be nice for the Dudleyz to win the belts for nostalgia’s sake, and they have been matching the lose-on-TV-but-win-the-PPV pattern, I don’t see a hot act like the New-hoo Day-hee losing. Hopefully it won’t be stupid cliche loss like D-Von getting distracted by the Trombone of Doom and getting rolled up by Kofi. Xavier will eat a table but ND will keep the belts.
Charlotte vs. Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship
Charlotte keeps the belt so she can work feuds with Paige and Sasha.
John Cena defends the U.S. Championship in an Open Challenge
Since Cena is supposed to be taking a few months leave, he’ll drop the belt, but to whom? They need a replacement babyface, so I’m going to go with Dean Ambrose.
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt
There’s absolutely no reason the other Wyatts can’t surround the cage and prevent Roman from winning. I’m guessing Roman will drop off the top of the cage onto Harper, Rowan and Stroman gathered together like bowling pins, lucha style. Roman wins with Superman Punches galore and a Spear through the cage wall.
**Seth Rollins vs. Kane **
If Kane loses, he’ll no longer be DOO. I’m thinking Sheamus will cash in MITB but Seth will pin him instead of Kane. That way, Seth keeps the belt and Kane keeps his job, since technically he didn’t lose.
Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker
Lesnar wins and goes back home to swim in his profit margin and fuck Sable for 6 months.
You gotta know Barrett is going to be the one to eat that pin.
Would be interesting if Prince Pretty showed up with Hook-nose and won the belt from Cena, but I don’t see that happening. Would also be interesting if they went with Ambrose and he went back to NOT defending the title, like last time he had it.
There will be at least one spot where Reigns drops off the cage, is caught by Harper and/or StroMongo, carried to the door and thrown back in the cage. Then they’ll probably repeat the spot only to have Reigns punch his way out of it, land on the floor and win, but be instantly attacked and laid out by Harper and StroMongo.
Isn’t this a Hell In A Cell match? Since when can you win those by escaping the cage, especially as the cage surrounds part of the area outside of the ring?
Now that WOULD be interesting…
I don’t think it would be that bad a decision either since, honestly, US title is probably the highest he’ll reach.
Depending on where they put the match on the card it could be Xavier Woods (I’m so used to watching “up up down down” that I couldn’t remember his wrestling name lol). I think if it’s early they could trot him out, he could win, and then he just accompanies Kofi and Big E LAST NAME REDACTED in the tag match.
I meant “send him through the wall” prior to getting the three count.
Yeah, that would definitely be against the rules. WWE would never allow that.
Is anybody actually interested in Taker-Lesnar?
Not even a little.
Not really, no. Taker should be done already, and this heel-not-heel bit is stupid.
But Vince can never let go of past glories.
Well, I for one am kind of glad they’re having all these ratings issues while Vince keeps pulling his old stars out of his ass in a failed attempt to nudge them. Of course, I only expect both (ratings and appearances by old stars) to get much much worse as he flails around in panic and keeps trying THE ONE THING HE KNOWS, but one can only hope that at some point either the network or his family step in and force a change.
WWE always dips in ratings during Monday Night Football.
UT-Lesnar, meh. I’ll probably fall asleep. They probably don’t want another Sting situation, and messiah Brock doesn’t want to risk injury so he can hold a possible UFC return as leverage for his next contract negotiation.
Ok, someone needs to 'splain something to me.
The entire Ethos of Wrestling is how hard they work. They sell this every day. Working a ludicrous schedule. Training. Wrestling every night. “Leaving everything in the ring”. Cena is big on it, so are most of the top guys, and the top 5 women.
Right? So this is a major big thing. We all know this.
So… They take Eva Marie, who is excellent eye candy, but otherwise has precisely zero talent. They send her to be trained by THE Brian Kendrick. They hype her coming to NXT. She has a couple of craptastic matches and gets booed out of the building.
So what do they have her character do? Work harder? Be tougher?
Nope.
They have her go on a month-long vacation, “me time” in her own words, and film vignettes.
So, um… How the fuck does that get her over, or make her look good? I mean, it may be looking for some form of heel heat, but it’s just so contrary to the entire business.