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The Plight of the Badass

Hey Scott,

I've been watching NXT and I would like to say that Finn Balor is an amazing talent and a guy that exudes star power. This make me happy, as it sounds like they want to call him up and I'd love for Raw to have some cool wrestlers on it. But I also got to thinking about other can't miss prospects, specifically Cesaro. Cesaro certainly isn't dead and buried, but he's had a couple pretty crappy years now and I think I know why. Cesaro and Balor are badasses, they're clearly super talented at wrestling and look like they should be building pyramids out of the skulls of their enemies. They're almost too cool, and that makes it really strange when they're forced to interact with losers like Miz or Ziggler or Ambrose.

And it's not like this is a plight of talented wrestlers losing to not-so-talented wrestlers. Sami Zayn is great at looking good in defeat because he's the "normal dude" with tons of heart he can be beaten, But Cesaro is a superman, Balor is the DEMON KING. The way they wrestle and they way they hold themselves means they can't, as Jim Cornette said about Batista, be throwing armdrags in the second match. How is a guy as obviously physically powerful as Cesaro not in the main-event? Like where with total goons (i.e. Fandango) you ask yourself "Can I imagine him wrestling Lesnar at Mania without laughing my ass off" with Cesaro and Balor I ask myself "Can I imagine them trading wins with Titus O'Neil without letting out a long, sad, sigh"?

TL:DR version? Cesaro and Balor are almost setting themselves up for failure because they aren't characters I can see at every level of the card. They're too badass for WWE.

​Cesaro interacted just fine with Zayn and Regal in NXT. The mark of great wrestlers like him and Balor is that they can adapt to whatever situation they're needed in.  It also makes the breakup of the Real Americans all the stupider, because that would have given Rusev TWO opponents to have good matches with. 

Also, I feel like you should watch more old school NWA.  You'd probably enjoy the work of the Andersons.  

Comments

  1. WWE do not know how to book wrestling in a way that utilities those with genuine wrestling skill, they book them in specific ways and hope they can adapt and still make it work. As far as Vince is concerned we are still stuck in 2003 and he doesn't want to re-invent the wheel, he would rather use a square one.

    Balor will be fed to Cena. He will be the IC champ who loses every match for 8 months. WWE will tell us how great he is but will sure as hell make sure he never gets to showcase it on the main stage.

    I rather be a pessimistic and be surprised than optimistic and be disappointed.

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  2. Everyone should watch more Andersons. Those matches with the Rock and Roll Express were a masterclass in evil. Ricky... crawling to Robert... about... to... OlewalksovercasuallyandstompsRicky... NO TAG.

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  3. It's probably a lot easier to look badass when you're not pointing finger guns at people.

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  4. Vince wasn't entirely wrong about Cesaro. I know that's not popular around here and I do love watching Cesaro. I actually think this tag team with Tyson Kidd could be has Daniel Bryan/Kane kind of moment where he can find something beyond just what he can do in the ring.

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  5. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 10:24 AM

    Right, right. It's not that Cesaro still hasn't developed anything close to a personality. It's that he's just TOO BADASS.

    His style is perfect for ROH where persona doesn't matter as much. In WWE, you need to have some personality.

    Balor actually has personality, so he'll succeed when he gets called up eventually.

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  6. Speaking of badasses, Kid Rock is performing at Daytona.

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  7. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 10:28 AM

    And how exactly does Cesaro "look like he should be building pyramids out of the skulls of his enemies?"

    He looks like a generic guy with a "balding gym teacher" haircut and thigh wraps. As opposed to Balor, Zayn and others who have distinctive looks.

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  8. The Love-Matic Grampa!February 22, 2015 at 10:31 AM

    Yeah, the fact that three upper midcarders are seen as "losers" is a huge problem that WWE caused themselves.

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  9. The Love-Matic Grampa!February 22, 2015 at 10:35 AM

    Has Cesaro really been given those opportunities outside of the standard five-minute RAW match, though? I mean, he seemed pretty over before he became a Heyman Guy, then that went nowhere and then he was stuck in limbo. Is that his fault, or the bookers?

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  10. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 10:36 AM

    His fault. Even in NXT, his character was "generic major league obstacle" for Sami.

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  11. Exactly. The fans were ready to accept cesaro after his match with Cena. The swing was mega over. Then they turned him heel a night after turning him face and had Heyman talk about Lesnar constantly. WWE is to blame not cesaro.

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  12. I don't think you can ever say a wrestler is truly dead and buried, they could literally turn Cesaro into a big deal in one show if they wanted. I don't think Balor has anything to worry about either because it seems HHH is personally a fan and that entrance is bound to go down well with the big crowds

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  13. His most badass moment was getting punked out by Chris Walken in "Joe Dirt"

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  14. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogFebruary 22, 2015 at 10:50 AM

    If they had gone with the post Mania 30 Cesaro push, do you guys think he could have main evented with Brock this year?

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  15. Yes, we will quickly imagine and realize them trading wins with every 'loser' on the card because that's WWE's formula. Except for true main eventers and special cases like Brock, all these guys are the same and the WWE name is what sells. Just thinking that Miz, Ziggler and Ambrose are losers makes the point... all those guys bring significant talents (I could argue Miz doesn't, but whatever).

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  16. He's a massive ripped dude who can do insane feats of strength, that's how.

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  17. I think at this point, wwe only knows how to book their part time wrestlers in a way which makes them look strong. Outside of Cena, every single person on the roster has been booked in ways that kill their momentum. It has nothing to do with who's a badass, it's just wwe's complete ineptitude.

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  18. Absolutely not. The language barrier and hairline alone would prevent it.

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  19. Miz is the one most likely to stay on forever, just because he does such great promotional and TV work for them.

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  20. True Cesaro needs to develop a personality. Vince is right about that. However, what I don't understand is only giving him five minute matches on Raw. He can't really work a mic, but he has no problem having **** 20 minute matches. Raw is three fucking hours, so give him a 20 minute match in the middle of the show each week instead of a five minute pointless jobs. I doubt people will turn the channel while he's doing European Uppercuts, the giant swing, etc. It will certainly be better than anything else thats in the terrible second hour. Vince never had a problem letting Benoit have long matches from 2000-2003, and he was god awful on the mic. Benoit even got himself enough to make it to the main event by 2004, despite still being bad on the mic. Cesaro is pretty similar to Benoit in most regards, so why not treat him like Benoit. You never hear the audience chanting "boring" in a Cesaro match. Vince needs to stop expecting everyone to be John Cena. Some people watch wrestling for the "sports entertainment" but some want to watch the workhorses like Cesaro. Until Cesaro develops a personality, let him be a workhorse. What's wrong with that?

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  21. I never Benoit was terrible on the mic. I remember him doing reasonably well during the Sid feud.

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  22. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:10 AM

    He looks like a half-assed Smackdown CAW.

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  23. I can't think of a single Benoit promo I ever watched and thought "That's an awesome promo." He was good at portraying intensity, but I could tell it was nowhere near his strong suit.

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  24. Yeah but intensity was his entire persona.

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  25. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:12 AM

    Benoit had a presence where his in ring mannerisms made up for his lack of mic skills. Bret and Owen both had that too.

    Cesaro is a bigger Malenko in that he has good matches and might as well be a robot.

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  26. WWE knew how to book Booger Red and he was the ultimate badass.

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  27. Scott is right. Everyone should watch more Karl Anderson

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  28. Robo Cesaro might not be terrible. Come out, say nothing, obliterate the other guy, leave without saying a word.

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  29. Cesaro has more of a personality than Malenko. However, I feel he sometimes looks too goofy in the ring. Turn the Goofyness a bit, and he can have a big presence.

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  30. TJ: Give us a daily update, go on, enough of this palaver

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  31. No he was the American Badass. Anton Chigurh was the ultimate badass

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  32. Update: Daytona 500 is about to get underway!

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  33. Good point good point.

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  34. Hulk Hogan's valiant fight against male pattern baldness would like to respectfully disagree with you

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  35. It's not funny, insightful, or witty....It's Dougie!!

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  36. Well. Hogan was Hogan. cesaro is no hogan.

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  37. Miz brings heat, which is a very important talent despite what Vince thinks.

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  38. Who has the language problem, Cesaro? The guy who speaks five languages?

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  39. I suppose I mean more of an accent problem.

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  40. Until cena says 'when did the boogeyman get short and white?'

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  41. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:20 AM

    That would be awesome. Or cocky Cesaro would be awesome. But those are in-ring mannerisms he doesn't do.

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  42. They shat the bed with Cesaro post WM. Dude had all the momentum.

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  43. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:21 AM

    That and discussion of him turns sane people into screaming combative people.

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  44. I've come to the grim realization that im not going to finish all of these PPVS on time. So close.

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  45. And I think that's perfectly fine. Miz gets hate but he's a company man, does fine promotional work and is perpetually over as a heel.

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  46. You guys know who would have a daily update, a review of workout tapes, a plug for WCW 2000 and a link to his Angelfire page by now? Yep, Caliber.

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  47. I figured he meant Ken Anderson.....
    ..
    ...
    ....
    Anderson.

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  48. I think you meant "Ken." Ken Anderson.

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  49. Beat you to it! Because I'm faster than a speeding bullet! PPPEW!

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  50. It was the only Anderson I could think of in that split second.

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  51. Everyone loves to hate arrogant pretty boys.

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  52. You're a big fan of finger guns?

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  53. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:26 AM

    Idea for Cesaro personality:

    Pirate.

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  54. Puts you one up on Renegade.

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  55. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:26 AM

    Not Jim Neidhart dammit.

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  56. I very much have not enjoyed the Royal Rumble 1995 PPV. It contains the only major Bret/Diesel match from this period I hadn't seen and it's definitely way below KOTR 94 and Survivor Series 95.

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  57. I agree that there are several things Cesaro can be criticized for, but "not looking like a badass" is NOT one of them.

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  58. He wasn't connecting with 'the Audience' (i.e. My penis)

    -Vince

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  59. Is that you, Art?

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  60. It just dawned on me that Ken Anderson would make the worst James Bond.

    The names Anderson, Ken Anderson, Anderson.

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  61. Does Vince command blow jobs?

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  62. This Knicks teams is one of the worst rosters ever. Without Carmelo, I think they're even worse than some of those Clipper teams from the late 90s

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  63. No, I'm Burt Macklin. I'm with the fucking FBI!

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  64. How about an Alpine goat herder? He could have a valet named Heidi.

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  65. Hmm. Art, you can't change your name AND your avatar at once! It's very confusing!

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  66. It was a last second thing to pay homage to the departing Parks & Rec. It's funny that I didn't announce the name change or avatar change but everyone still knew it was me.

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  67. And instead of trying to be suacve at the casino he'd be making fart noises with his armpit and bellowing every thought that crossed his mind at the top of his lungs.

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  68. Yeah, that is one ugly, ugly roster.

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  69. I might want to see this movie now. Anderson for Bond after Daniel Craig.

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  70. Worse than the current lakers with Kobe on the shelf.
    I looked at a recent box score and only player I recognized was lin

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  71. Shawn Michaels could probably answer that

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  72. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:34 AM

    Bret too, if IYH4 is any indication.

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  73. Barring injury, we're going to get Cleveland-Atlanta in the ECF.

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  74. Isn't that by design though?

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  75. Replace Cleveland with Toronto, I think.

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  76. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:35 AM

    Lol, no. Phil really thought the triangle would fix everything.

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  77. I worked it out too! Eventually. I'd like to think if I changed all my stuff people would know it was me through the quality of the content.

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  78. "It's a triangle."

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  79. Triangle man hates basketball man.

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  80. Good man, MrA.

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  81. I'd see the unparalleled amount of wit and know it couldn't be anyone else.

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  82. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:37 AM

    Re watching season 2 of Parks. It just feels so off without Ben and Chris there.

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  83. It does feel different but that first bit of the season without them is tremendous on its own. I was watching early season two episodes and Beauty Pageant, Kaboom, Hunting Trip, Stakeout, etc are fantastic. The only bad episode(and one of my least in the whole show) is Sister City.

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  84. Mark. Remember Mark? I don't. What a character he was. Surprised he didn't get a spin off show.

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  85. Nobody let Vince know Sami speaks at least three!

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  86. That guy was lame. Shocked he lasted two seasons. And it's funny you were supposed to like him more than Andy

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  87. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:41 AM

    Sister City was way too out there. The best Parks are firmly in reality.

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  88. In a cruel bit of irony I think my WWF PPV viewing on the Network is ending right where yours began. At IYH I lol.

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  89. I've accepted Reigns is going to win tonight. But man, has it killed any desire for me to watch tonight.

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  90. Not just that but Fred Armisen really doesn't do it for me. He was way unfunny in that episode.

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  91. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:42 AM

    Mines started back up at a slower pace. I'm thinking Montreal today. Hoo-Rah!

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  92. Now it is. At the beginning of the season they thought they were going to make the playoffs

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  93. I never had any real desire to watch. But I'm sure I will anyway because the oscars are fucking boring.

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  94. Me too. I'm just hoping for a good match. Im hoping the rest of the card can deliver too.

    I really need a good current WWE PPV. Just to reaffirm they can deliver a good show top to bottom.

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  95. I've only got 2 more days left so Im thinking of putting a pin in it until I reup before Mania and finishing it then.

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  96. I'm weighing up whether to stay up to 4am tonight to watch live. I have the day off work tomorrow. It'd be the first WWE ppv I've watched live since Mania 29. There's a UFC show on too so I might do it.

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  97. I don't think you're going to get it. This seems like it's just a really important Raw.

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  98. Watch it live!(said the hypocrite who won't be watching it live)

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  99. No it's March 29th.

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  100. I think that's going to be how they do most of the minor ppv going forward.

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  101. I'm going to watch but I'm doing so without much excitement.

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  102. So... Why cancel just to resub next month?

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  103. There are 7 matches that should all be pretty good. Its a much better card than the Rumble

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  104. I predict that the live BOD thread will be much more entertaining.

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  105. When Reigns wins were going to have several people going crazy.

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  106. That's a pidgin. I really hope he doesn't find out about Sami speaking Arabic or we'll have Sultan, Jr. on our hands.

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  107. Oh, crumbs. Good point. I won't be staying up until 4am, I'll be staying up until at least 5am taking part in the carnage on here!

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  108. Well I subbed the weekend of the Rumble so my sub is gonna end up expiring the 24th, if I renew right away my network sub would expire a few days shy of Mania so then Id have to renew again to get Mania.

    This way I get to A) Take a break from Wrestling because I've watched an obscene amount over the past month and B) If I renew the day before Mania my month would cover Mania and Extreme Rules.

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  109. I still like that Carmelo played half the All Star Game but has to "shut it down" the rest of the year.

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  110. Expect a 50 page essay written by worst in the world tomorrow

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  111. That's my thinking or hoping at least. Every match but the divas match has potential. Obviously some won't reach that due to timing but hey if 4 of those 6 matches deliver then I'm happy.

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  112. I will never not look forward to a Paige match.

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  113. hey that's my future wife you're talking about

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  114. If they could bring molly holly and daffney just for one night...

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  115. I like how you can see him get more excited and worked up as someone agrees him with. He'll do his statement and if someone agrees you'll see his ears perk up and his next comment invariably will begin..."HAHAHAHAHAHAHA YUp" and then he'll double down on the hyperbole.

    I can't decide if I enjoy it more when people agree or disagree with him. Both are massively entertaining.

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  116. They're both great but I think agreeing with him gets him the crazy he needs so that he can go even crazier when people disagree with him if that makes sense

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  117. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:55 AM

    I thought he was either going to have a heart attack or kill someone after Hell in a Cell.

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  118. No that totally makes sense. Agreeing with him fuels him so that when someone does disagree with him it's an epic encounter. It's like feeding King Kong Bundy a few jobbers to make the clash with Hogan feel huge.

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  119. I'm still not 100% positive he didn't.

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  120. Now there's a guy who could change his name and avatar and you would definitely recognise immediately

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  121. His mania is not contained to his name.

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  122. The best we can hope for is a double pin or Show waddles out to KO everyone Battleground ending. THAT is a horrifying state of affairs.

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  123. I'm hoping it's overbooked nonsense like Curtis Axel laying out both guys with chairs followed by J&J, the Authority and all bearing down on Roman before Big Show makes the save. I want Memphis to be so insulted they go Full Chicago on Reigns.

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  124. My Client, bROCK Lesnar!February 22, 2015 at 11:58 AM

    He was the anti-Vince.

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  125. I think if Big Show is involved in Bryan/Reigns it would have the same effect on me as the Hologram had on Worst in the World.

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  126. Latest poll on WWE.com - who is the biggest threat to Brock Lesnar's title?


    Bryan 36%, Rollins 34%, Reigns 30%

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  127. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:07 PM

    Jake the Snake is the greatest midcarder ever. Discuss.

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  128. Adam "Colorado" CurryFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:11 PM

    It's definitely the weakest of the 3. Way too slow paced and the interference fucks up the flow.

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  129. Except he wasn't a mid carder.

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  130. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:16 PM

    ok upper mid card.

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  131. I'm going to watch because it's on. It's either that or an award show honoring a bunch of phony-baloneys that Vince wishes he was a part of.

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  132. One of the best to never hold a title. Makes me wonder how far he'd go if the guitar the Honky Tonk Man hit him with was gimmicked and not get injured.

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  133. In kayfabe Earl Hebner should have had his referee license revoked. Watches Bret use a chair. Allows it. Sees Shawn interfere. Match continues! Sees Owen interfere. Match continues! Gets in the way and gets knocked down. Chaos breaks loose and finally the match is declared a draw because "the referee has lost control of the match"

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  134. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:21 PM

    Jake would have had drug problems regardless

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  135. Im in the same boat as you, but this is the WWE we're talking about. You remember Royal Rumble right? Get your beauty sleep man.

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  136. Agree. Always took that story as a Hogan-esque level of bull

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  137. So weird hearing Michael Buffer talk in non announcer voice.

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  138. OH YEAH THE ROMAN ROAD IS TEARING UP THE FAST LANE!

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  139. I'd put guys like Perfect and Razor over him.

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  140. And it's probably rigged for Reigns too

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  141. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:23 PM

    Although that was a killer shot

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  142. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:26 PM

    Perfect and Razor were way upper mid card though

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  143. It's not like Jake was the only one doing drugs. And I read the story about the severity of the guitar shot many many years ago so who knows if it was true or not. I can see not putting the World Title on Jake because that character would not have been a good fit to be the face of the company. But, a run with the IC title was doable for him.

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  144. True dat. I saw a couple episodes from season 2 recently, and I had honestly forgotten Mark Brandanaquits had ever been on the show.

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  145. Well I thought this was funny. Screw everyone else.

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  146. Thanks man! Real recognizing real.

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  147. Everyone is a WWE superstar. Just interchangeable meatbags. No one bothers to think about characters or their motivations or who would logically beat who. I mean, Roman Reigns looks like Khal Drogo and instead of being a silent bad ass he's cutting shitty anecdotal promos and selling offense for geeks like The Miz.

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  148. My network acting very buffery this morning.

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  149. Adam "Colorado" CurryFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    That was the first show I ever watched, and I remember asking my buddy if that is illegal. He says "well, it's supposed to be..."

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  150. With the Goldust/Stardust match tonight almost certain to end in some kind of no contest smozz, and the Cena/Rusev match having a dodgy finish to lead to a rematch. I would be shocked if the Reigns/Bryan match didn't have a definitive finish, even if it's not a clean one.

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  151. Hey, at least he's white. Isn't that what's most important?

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  152. "Ya know! For kids!"

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  153. I'm super late with this here but I thought the brawl to end Raw was really good and it's given Reigns some credibility. Just as well to put him over clean as a sheet tonight, and I'm a Bryan fan.

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  154. Is this the thread? I barely woke up, that was the most sleep I've had in like a month.

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  155. Frankie Boyle sums things up: https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10405343_1048952978455223_1146893264951384952_n.jpg?oh=15f8768efc7bea1d8905cc7737f576ef&oe=5556679A&__gda__=1435371793_e7159e6deafba5dbe3f3d4e8403d9db2

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  156. Looks like it! No NFL, no daily thread :'(

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  157. I liked it better when Bayless had these set to auto-post lol

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  158. For the OP: Go look up some of Balor's work in NJPW as Prince Devitt. In particular, check out his work with the Bullet Club. He made the Bullet Club the coolest stable in the world and just screamed superstar the entire time. His feud with Tanahashi is one of the all time greats.

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  159. He was using auto-post! Oh man, I'm so disillusioned :/

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  160. "I liked it better when Stranger was here all the time and posted threads".


    FTFY

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  161. There are several MODs with posting privileges it can't take that long every week to set up a Daily & Evening thread to autopost. So if nobody is here to make a decent one with news bits, at least there's something for the community to use.

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  162. ..........waiting

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  163. Give posting privileges to the UK! Morning update up at 4am EST, evening thread up while people are still finishing their lunch, it'd be awesome.

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  164. Stranger in the AlpsFebruary 22, 2015 at 1:01 PM

    ....aaaaaand GO!

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  165. Jesus, I fucking hate the Flyers. Being a Pens fan, I also kinda hate the Caps, but much less than Philly. Plus, it's always fun to watch Ovechkin play.

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  166. I totally hear ya, man. I've been a Daniel Bryan fan for years but if they're going to go this far with Reigns, just go the rest of the way and see what happens.

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  167. Absolutely. The whole story of "Cesaro gets slowly more annoyed with Heyman for always bragging about Lesnar" angle was RIGHT THERE. Once Brock takes months off with the belt, that can be the final straw for Cesaro, he gets tired of fighting Paul's battles and turns on him. Lesnar shows up on RAW for a cheapshot beatdown to "put Cesaro in his place," but Cesaro comes back and wins the Royal Rumble.

    Boom, easy WM31-caliber main event. The fans were eating Cesaro up with a spoon last year, and another several months of awesome matches would've only sealed things. Cesaro turning on Heyman/Brock could've been akin to the Batista turn on Evolution in 2005.

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  168. Here's the thing, since Miz lost the title, his character has been totally directionless. His heel work had no direction, he was miscast as a face, and he was losing most of his matches, so the audience had no reason to care about him whatsoever.

    Now, however, they gave him an actual character (the Hollywood egomaniac) and he's hitting it out of the park. He's been one of the best acts on the show for months. The way the character is designed, it also doesn't really matter if Miz goes 50-50 in his results, since he wins just enough to be taken seriously yet loses enough so he's always getting comeuppance. Hopefully this Sandow storyline is leading to a big blowoff match at Wrestlemania, Miz and Sandow have both earned a showcase on the big stage.

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  169. That ppv create a running joke with my friends about the "this match must continue!" in regards to matches that are way overbooked with schmozes.

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  170. I have to laugh that almost every Parks & Rec character has made a cameo in the final season....except for Mark. Talk about persona non grata.

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  171. I don't agree, WWE has devoted a lot of time to building up a character who isn't afraid of anyone and never backs down. Unfortunately, that character is Stephanie McMahon.

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  172. Same here. They got the subscriber number they needed to break even, you'd think they would finally start upgrading the servers and getting the quality back to the levels it was at last spring.

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  173. I definitely don't buy the theory that guitar shot was what drove Jake to cocaine use, especially when you can watch his promos before the guitar shot and you can tell he was obviously doing coke long before that incident.


    Honky Tonk Man put it best in the '87 Timeline when he said "I've tried cocaine, it didn't heal any pain, all it did was keep me up for three days".

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  174. I would never say the guitar shot led to the drug use. I thought the injuries Roberts sustained from the non gimmicked guitar affected him long term.

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  175. I'm not opposed to a good finger gun every now and then. What's Dougie acceptable to do with your hands in a wrestling ring?

    Spoiler: your answer will be generic and contain zero specifics.

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  176. Yeah, pointing finger guns at people is super cool!

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  177. Go try it against someone with a real gun! I'd think that outcome would be cool.

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  178. Perfect, Razor, Owen, Bulldog, Vader, Rude, and many more fit into the category of "uppercarder": never truly a main event guy they build the company around but someone who regularly worked with main event guys and was always able to be dropped back to IC title status and back up to World title contender.

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  179. Anything pre-Ben and Chris is just terrible. Im glad they were all wrapped up before Harris Wittels passed, I can imagine they'd have completely lost th he essence of Tom Haverford without him.

    On that note, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is excellent, although im entirely positive it was cooked up as a wacky Parks and Rec spinoff where the gang all joins Andy as cops. The character comparisons are literally one to one. Still love it.

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  180. Ha! The real beast incarnate

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  181. Nobody is arguing how cool finger guns are, Dougie. We all love them.

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  182. Well I think he's beautiful! *stomps away

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  183. Honestly shocked that it wasn't her that ended the Streak.

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  184. The Reigns Train is in the Fast Lane!

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  185. A "very special episode" of Monday night Raw?

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  186. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogFebruary 22, 2015 at 6:38 PM

    Yeah, I agree with all of this. I think he would have been just fine as a relatively silent ass kicker. The eventual Big Swing on Heyman could have been this era's Austin-stuns-McMahon. A Big Swing on Lesnar at Mania would have been a tremendous "Wrestlemania Moment" too.

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  187. his 1993 work in WCW was fun on the ppvs


    "the VERY DAPER Lord Steven... REEEGAAAAALLLLL"

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  188. I bet it led to a lot of the drug use, guy had constant chronic pain in his neck, and was in the ring every night doing back bumps!

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  189. Cesaro may have played a role in Sami's story as opposed to being a Protagonist, but he wasn't generic. He was better, and he knew he was better and that made him arrogant and complacent. Sami took advantage of that once to beat him, but a focused Cesaro who knows what's coming is unbeatable.



    The issue I have with WWE matches is that most of the time, one guy wins or gets on offense because he's booked to win or he's supposed to be on offense now. Cesaro is a guy who's so dominant in matches, and then he just keels over dead at the end. His opponents victories are rarely 'earned', they just...happen.


    Cesaro's loss to Sami felt natural because the focused newcomer is going to beat the arrogant vet who's dicking around. And Cesaro beating Sami afterwards felt natural because Cesaro is just as athletic and he's also twice as strong.


    Wrestler's shouldn't lose because because that's how they booked it. Wrestlers aren't people, they're archetypes, and their achievements should play into those archetypes. Wrestlers should win or lose based on their traits and how they're opposed to other people. If a guy lacks confidence and can't keep his head in the game (i.e. Tyson Kidd) they should lose because they get distracted at a critical time and their opponent takes advantage of it.


    Ambrose shouldn't be beating people clean because he out-wrestles them. Ambrose should be beating people clean because he can take a ton of punishment and he's unpredictable. At the same time his losses should play into his emotional instability and his lack of foresight.


    "We tell stories", right? Go ahead and tell them, and tell them with wrestling matches. Talk to each wrestler and ask them for a list of strengths and weaknesses of their character. When the agents plan a match, look at who wins and loses and base the ending (at the very least) on the winner's strength and the loser's weakness. If you are a wrestler and don't have any weaknesses, than summon William Shakespeare to slap the taste out of their mouth because flaws drive stories.

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  190. I think a guy who can turn silly shit like the Giant Swing into a Kayfabe dangerous move is a much better gimmick than "Silent Killer".


    Cesaro is so much better than you that he can do stupid shit and still win.

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  191. Cesaro is like if Jason Statham wasn't a midget.


    And his offense is legit, I don't know how Cesaro moves and Miz moves are both getting two-counts. Doesn't make sense.

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  192. "Wearing multi-colored artwork underneath his gorgeous robe... Ravishing Riiiiiiiiiick Rrrrruuuuuuude!"

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  193. If he's an upper midcarder that means he's a midcarder.

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