Any WWE fans in the audience? (Part 1)

The Game Room
1942

KOTR was actually a good show. I wish all the main roster shows were like this. The promos were short, the matches lasted at least 10 minutes, and the announcers sounded a bit more at ease.

BNB has the mouth and proper arrogance to pull this off. Hopefully, they won’t make the KOTR designation a joke like they did the IC title and have him lose repeatedly. Neville made a good showing for himself. The audience actually knew who he was, and the announcers acted like they were really interested in him.

I’m hoping they don’t forget Dean Ambrose in the Dolph/Sheamus angle. He’s bound to be pissed at Ziggy and should revert to his unforgiving SHIELD aspect to administer payback, which would lead to another triple threat scenario at the next PPV.

1943

I’m less concerned with the King execution from here on out, but it does make me happy that they produced the show the way they did. The Network needs more live shows that actually have a purpose in furthering the storyline. Draw more people to the network that way. I really wanted King Neville, but King Barrett will be just insufferable…so he’s perfect.

My fantasy booking for the Sheamus/Neville match was actually that Ambrose would run in, Sheamus goes for the Brogue and Ambrose ducks it and starts attacking Neville, the announcers freak out, the bell rings, Lillian says “The winner by disqualification…Adrian Neville!” and Ambrose goes to Sheamus and just sarcastically says “ooooops” and walks out. Woulda been the best!

R Truth is goddamn hilarious. He cut a promo on spiders. He cut a promo…on spiders. If anyone says wrestling isn’t fun, you show them that segment.

1944

On the bright side, you don’t have to defend your Kingship, so WWE can’t default to its standard midcard booking of [del]Champion[/del] King loses a bunch of [del]non-title[/del] non-Kingship matches, only to retain the [del]title[/del] crown on a PPV.

1945

Am I mistaken or did King Barrett just win more matches in one show than he had the entire year up to this point?

1946

If it wasn’t for the damn Simpsons Tapped Out thread we would have the most posts on The Game Room page.

D’oh!

1947

According to something I read over the weekend, Barrett had won a total of three matches on TV this year, and one of those was by DQ.

1948

Don’t give Vince any ideas. Remember the “King of the WWF” gimmick (when Harley Race got injured after winning KOTR, Heenan “passed the crown” onto Haku and started calling him “King of the WWF”)? That crown did change hands when the holder lost a match. (It looks like the list of “kings” was Haku, Jim Duggan, “Macho King” Randy Savage, and Dusty Rhodes, who pretty much retired it as he was a “common man.”)

But it’s just not a “real” KOTR tournament unless the winner has to wrestle three times on the same night.

1949

Wade Barrett, at this point, is the most successful jobber on the main roster. For some reason, the writers deem fit to keep giving him titles, and accomplishments, and hit gimmicks and catch phrases and promos, and keep him in the spotlight, but when it comes time to actually book him in a match, they can’t come up with anything better than “Imagine how good it’ll make Randy Orton look if he can beat the King of the Ring!”

I’ll believe they actually intend on going anywhere with this when I see it happen. In the meantime, can we just pray that this is the end to the “Dolph and Sheamus both want the other to give them a rimjob” storyline?

1950

It’s not just Barrett, though he’s had a particularly bad run; as I mentioned upthread, booking the IC title in particular tends to consist of “Wrestler A gets IC strap. Wrestler A loses non-title matches to Wrestler B on every Raw until the next PPV. Wrestler A wins to retain on PPV. Wrestler A loses non-title matches to Wrestler C on every raw until the next PPV. Wrestler A wins to retain on PPV.” etc, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. In my head-canon, the IC Championship is literally cursed. It’s a -1 Belt of Losing Non-Title Matches, Cursed. I’d book lots of zaniness around it, Chikara-style.

Anyway, I really popped in to say: Thank you Drago; you deserved a better exit than that. ALso, I assume that when you inevitably come back in season 2, you will be fighting in your true dragon form.

(Also, since I"m watching NXT right now: Fuck me, Bayley is going to lose to that creepy bodybuilder bitch, isn’t she? sigh)

1951

Bayley will not fuck you.

1952

*BAWANAWANGAWAHHHHHH

BAAANNNNHHHH*

This ep wasn’t as amazing as the past few have been, but not every show can be a barn burner.

Interesting starting promo… Dario shows the Crew what they will have to deal with if they let him down again. He takes them to Malanza’s cell and introduces him as his brother. Do tell? Another intriguing aspect of Dario’s motives. Malanza is some kind of monster that killed Black Lotus’s family, and Dario is keeping him imprisoned in a temple to the Aztec combat gods. Again, I wonder if Robert Rodriguez’s makeup crew is going to produce some kind of CHUD mutant here?

After Fenix defeats Killshot in the opening match, Dario goes outside and encounters a goofball who wears an Aztec Pride shirt and begs him for an opportunity. I didn’t recognize the guy (do you Smapti?), but I guess he’s soon to be the LU comedy relief. Sure enough, he runs into the triple threat match between Cage, Cuerno & Hernandez and gets his ass handed to him. Hernandez wins that match, but looks really lazy doing so. I don’t know if it’s a matter of taking the carefree attitude personna too far, but he didn’t look like he was trying hard at all, much like Kevin Nash throughout his entire career.

Vampiro has a meet & greet with the Trios champs, SoH, Ivelisse and Angelico. The three soon start squabbling with each other and Vampiro looks disgusted. Angelico is from South Africa, but he talks like he’s from Southern California. Ivelisse tells him, “Shut up! Who told you you could have an opinion?”

Finally, Prince Puma takes on Drago, who must leave LU if he loses. Drago’s mask and gear is now red instead of blue. Too bad he wasted that money. I was thinking Hernandez’s interference would cause PP to be DQed so that Drago wouldn’t technically have to leave, but the referee is too staggered to notice Hernandez’s largeness, so PP gets the win. This had a really cool aftermath, though. Dario escorts Drago outside, closes the door, and then we see a bright explosion of fire through the cracks, and hear the sound of wings flapping in the distance.

*BAWANAWANGAWAHHHHHH

BAAANNNNHHHH*

1953

Sigh…don’t I know it…
A berry solid NXT overall. Maybe it’s cuz it was a better show, or maybe I psychologically knew it was from a fresh round of tapings so I was happier about it…either way I was entertained.

Opening Talks with KO and Sami: I missed the first part of this because I watched it on my computer instead of the Playstation (wanted to keep the Lightning Game 7 on) so I missed the Sami callout, but understood what had been said cuz of context. I rather enjoyed KO mouthing off to Regal. Sami gave a good promo too!

Quick Tangent: I’m sure Sami Zayn is just as good as everyone says he is…but I’m not all about him like some of the wrestling fans are. I think that he’s a solid player all around, but I’m not quite in the “OMFGZZZ He Is Teh SavIOrZ of WreSlinGZ!”. I also thought, for the first time, that KO looked fat as opposed to big guy.

In the Kitchen with Carmella: I think it was funny that this little promo took place in a kitchen. How cool is their backstage then?!?. Thesuperhappyfuntimegroupyeah! flirts more, Carmella show deference and then Alexa Bliss comes in cuz…why not? I liked this segment because it showed Carmella isn’t about to leave the guys.

Jersey Boys vs. Superhappyfuntimegroupyeah!: I love that Enzo and Cass are getting wins, they’re basically the anti-Bayley’s (more on her in a bit). They are such a fun tag-team and they have the NXT crowd eating out of the palm of their hands every time. It’s fun seeing the crowd talk along with them.

Bayley vs Dana Brookes: Ugh. Just…ugh. A stupid promo from Bayley, a stupid, pointless loss, and interference from Emma for…reasons. I wish this were Emma saying “look, this girly thing is fun but it won’t get you anywhere so I’m going to force you to change”. and have it be a maturity thing. But nope, it’s just killing her storyline for no reason. Bayley deserves better…when was the last time she won on tv??

Alex Riley complaining for some reason: This is a weird storyline. I’m sure it’s a callback to old promotions where the announcers were former wrestlers who sometimes got in on the action, but he’s being booked to lose and it’s confusing to me. Either way he’s going to face Sami later on in night

Hideo vs. Adam Rose: Apparently Adam Rose is a good wrestler, although I have yet to see it. Easy win for Itami because he isn’t about to lose anytime soon

Tangent number 2: What the hell happened to Finn being the number one contender? They did a big ole tournament and everything, he won, was the number one, and then just lost it? That’s not like NXT to just drop something like that…

Rhyno promo on Corbin: I’m a fan of Rhyno and his insanely huge arms. I am all for him beating Corbin. The whole situation is actually win-win. If Corbin wins he looks strong for beating Rhyno, if Rhyno wins than he looks strong for taking the streak and it also brings Corbin back to reality and he can get into a legit storyline.

Becky Lynch vs Some Jobber: Becky’s promo was VERY scripted, her opponent was ugly. That is all.

Sami vs Reilley: Anyone NOT see KO interrupting from a mile away? I knew this before he was on commentary, and him on the mic just sealed it. I wish that someone would have come out to help Zayn, but alas it’s just making KO strong. I do love the fact that KO rarely ever wrestles. Make him the Brock Lesnar of NXT. Tease his dominance, bring him out maybe once a month to squash someone, and keep his big matches only for Takeovers.
Whew that was a long one! It was a good NXT after all!

1954

OLAY OLAYOLAYOLAY OLAYYY OLAYYYY

OK, I want to like Alex Riley, but he just comes across as a whiny bitch. I enjoy seeing KO beat him up so he can whine to Regal for another match to get his revenge. Despite all the grimacing and teeth gnashing and “Time to Rage” mantra, he does anything but rage when he gets in the ring. He either does the mat-wrestling technical move set or uses dropkicks, but hardly ever brawls. The guy’s huge, but he acts like an undersized jobber. He’s just too nice. He escorts old ladies across the street. He gets their cats out of trees and they make him chocolate chip cookies. He’s such perfect fodder for KO, but not in a way that makes me pull for him. I just laugh when I see him get punked out, because now he’s going to go tell his mommy on everybody.

OK, why is Bailey’s headband so important? Does it keep her brains from leaking out? STC, why’s your girl being such a victim?

Becky Lynch looks hot and exudes a lot of energy nowadays. I guess she’s the heir apparent to the women’s title when Charlotte and Sasha get called up.

Rhino and Baron Corbin are about to clash, but I hope it’s not one or two Corbin squashes and that’s it. It should at least be as lengthy as Corbin’s feud with Dempsey, and Rhino should teach Corbin a few things in the process. Short squash matches don’t fly at the main event level, and Corbin needs to work longer periods.

Good to see Hideo win, but I’m so sick of Adam Rose. He looks like a has-been metal head trying to recapture the glory days with his hair and mascara.

OLAY OLAYOLAYOLAY OLAYYY OLAYYYY

1955

I think of Bayley in two lights: The same-but-opposite of AJ Lee, and a child.

Same-but-opposite of AJ Lee Bayley is the girl who was always a wrestling fan and is now living her dream of being a pro wrestler. However in AJs case it was always “Fuck yeah I’m gonna be in WWE I’m the best and it’s gonna happen.” But Bayley is more like “(wide-eyed gasp) I’m here! I’m here and I’m doing my thing! I’m so excited! Look! It’s (this diva) and (that diva) oooooo I’m working with them! I’m so happy!”.

The child aspect of Bayley is with her hugs and headbands gimmick. She uses those things as security blankets. Old Bayley (before whatever the hell she is doing now) focused about 90% SBO Bayley (her winning and wrestling well) and 5% child Bayley (hugs’n’shit).

Now, and with whatever this Emma thing is, they’ve reverted to 95% child Bayley (where are my precious headbands! I need my headbands) and 5% SBO Bayley (since she still wrestles? I guess?).

That’s why my fantasy booking isn’t Emma just being pointless and a bitch or whatever but trying to tell Bayley to grow up. “This happy and air-head thing won’t work…trust me…I know,” (I always thought of Emmas character as a Lennie from Mice and Men) “so I’m going to prove to you that you can make it by your talent!”.
Yes I realize I just wrote a 5 paragraph in-depth explanation to Bayley. Welcome to wrestling I guess.

1956

Yeah, not sure about this at all. Just has a bad feeling about it. I get that they’re working on a full blown program between Emma and Bayley and want to build up to it, I just don’t think this is effective. And Dana is just being introduced to the weekly show, so the win, even by a fluke or interference, helps her somewhat.

He came in to get beat up repeatedly by Owens and make him look strong while not requiring other people to fill that jobber role. It also gets Riley back into the mix without an immediate strong push, and we get loss upon loss to build that whole “rage” thing.

I believe that he had his match and lost.

You apparently missed Corbin losing a couple of times too. No more streak. This gives Corbin a strong opponent who can match his power style and force him to sell (which he hasn’t really had to do) and adjust to more ‘real’ matches that go a lot longer.

Glad to see Becky improving at promos, anyway. And yeah, her opponent was bad and they didn’t really mesh well. Some of the bits were sloppy.

1957

Wait, Corbin has lost? On TV? To whom?

1958

Forget so soon? You guys railed on me for not putting that in a spoiler box a number of pages back.

1959

Sorry, that’s his reaction to the loss, to Neville (with Bull Dempsey interference) in February.

1960

I haven’t watched this week’s edition of the Wednesday Night Wars yet (road trip), but I just got finished watching Foley’s standup show on the Network. It was pretty much the same set he did when I saw him live last month, and to my delight he didn’t clean it up too much for the Network (his one F-bomb was different, and he didn’t get to tell his story about going to a live sex show in Germany with Al Snow).

Mick is a really humble guy in person. Before the show I went to, he hung out at the merch table and posed for photos. I bought an 8x10 and a Cactus Jack shirt both of which he autographed for me (which, sadly, means I can never wear that shirt). My friend who came with me brought a homemade Mr. Socko which he got Mick to sign, and managed to get Mick to hug him (though he wouldn’t do it on camera.)

His opening act was Brendan Burns, an Aussie comedian who happens to be a huge wrestling fan and did a wrestling a themed set that basically revolved around how hilariously politically incorrect wrestling is. (“If you’re a straight man, and you’re a Randy Orton fan, guess what - you’re fucking gay! And not the OK kind of gay either, not the ‘they should be allowed to get married and adopt children’ kind - more the ‘asserting yourself in prison’ kind.”) He capped off his set with a story about how he once got the Great Khali to break character by heckling him during a match with Carlito at the O2 Arena. (“Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me! Sir! Sir! Sir! If I may, it is said in wrestling circles that a man may be of such technical prowess that he could execute a quality match against a broom. You, sir, are that broom! YOU’RE A BROOM, SIR! A BROOM! A BROOM!”) You can find that bit on YouTube if you look for it.

It was, however, an entirely different set than I saw him do the year before, and of course the Q&A was different - he talked about Charlotte and Hayley being his favorite NXT wrestlers, and talked about training Bray Wyatt at the Performance Center while dressed in his Santa gear. If he comes around your neck of the woods, I highly recommend not missing it.

1961

I saw Foley at Charlie Goodnight’s last year, and like Smapti said, go see his show.

My favorite bit was his story about taking part in the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ravioli commercials. He said the director wanted to film a giraffe chasing him holding a can of ravioli and asked if he could make that happen. Foley said no.

Why not, said the director.

Foley replied “because giraffes are herbivores.”

He said they emptied the can and put in sliced apples. That worked. Foley said the giraffe actually chased him, and they are deceptively fast. They may look slow, but they have really long strides.

He took some Q&A from the audience after the show, and one girl asked him about the Celebrity Wife Swapping show he was on. I hadn’t known about it, so I googled it and watched the show. Foley and his wife Collette swapped with Antonio Sabato Jr and his fiancee. I fell in love with Collette. She’s really laid back and level-headed. Sabato’s fiancee turned out to be an uptight control freak who had schedules printed out for cleaning the house and coordinating their daughter’s activities. When the couples reunited at the end of the show, the fiancee felt like Sabato didn’t have her back and left in a huff. Foley said she kept texting him afterwards, and Collette kept getting texts from Sabato. The Foleys found themselves acting as couples counselors.