Carmella's wins over Charlotte and Asuka are legit probably the worst examples of finishes needlessly putting a heel over strong and shitting all over the face that I've ever seen.

Omega over the past year + has been a bigger deal than AJ was by far.

Maybe to the hardcore NJPW fans, I don't know. To those of us who only vaguely hear about things about Japan but don't watch any of it, he is not as big a deal.

AJ was Mr. TNA and had a relatively short run in NJPW to get people talking about him again before jumping. Omega has been the biggest deal outside WWE during the hottest period for non-WWE wrestling in 17 years.

I mean, neither one is/was gonna cause a huge boost like someone jumping ship pre-2000s would have. We're just talking within the small scale of hardcores.

He was Mr. TNA when TNA was what NJPW is now but had the advantage of being in the United States. Kenny is great but I dont think he's at AJ's level of popularity in the states. Kenny would still get a huge reaction though if he showed up, just not as big as AJ in Orlando for the Royal Rumble big.

Way behind on NXT so I'm catching up today.

Kona Reeves is weird-looking.

Super weird looking

I don't think it's just the name but his face resembles a young Keanu Reeves in my opinion. His body though is what's so weird, built similar to Big Cass and Punishment Martinez which are both clunky. Kona moves around better I think.

Was gonna do a "running commentary" but then I realized I had 7 episodes to watch. So much rasslin!

Also I'm a big fan of Ricochet. Didn't know who he was before he came to NXT. Dude can do some amazing things

The other thing is AJ spent most of his career in what was basically WWE-lite. It made it a little less of a culture shock seeing him in WWE. TNA obviously had more exposure in the US at a time but it wasn't exactly a beloved and revered company. If it were then we'd be putting Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, etc. in this discussion as well. AJ needed that ROH/NJPW run to bring himself back to relevance. In front of a similar smark crowd, I definitely think Omega making a surprise entrance in a WWE ring would get a monster reaction.

poor gerard is reading his reps and still crying. really feel for him.

Read that as Keanu Reeves and got confused for a moment.

Go watch Ricochet vs Will Ospreay. DO IT.

I mean, I guess it could still apply if he happened to be in the crowd

On it!

He was also one of the main tecnicos on Lucha Underground as masked luchador Prince Puma. Seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix right now.

Keanu Reeves vs Stephen Amell at ALL IN

Whoa

NOOOOOOOOOOO!! SHE'S NOT KNOCKINGATHEDOOOOOORRRR! KICK IT DOWN!!!

In fairness, this goes back to him being micromanaged in his earpiece more than him actually sucking. See: "A Beast In The East" I still think he prob'ly got chewed out for that one Sasha Banks match where he actually called a Meteora instead of just saying "KNEES TO THE FACE!!!", because heaven forbid we actually call moves other than finishers during a broadcast.

On AJ Styles vs. Kenny Omega:

* AJ was in the public consciousness for quite a while before jumping and had a back catalog of so many great matches. He was a "darling" since 2002, so everything had 14 years build, in a way.

* When AJ went to New Japan, it really put a lot of spotlight on New Japan with the western audience that wasn't really there before. His New Japan work sort of "refreshed" him from the TNA stank, and put his skill against TNA's shit booting and management and reminded people of why they loved Styles in the first place.

* Basically Omega's entire body of work has been in New Japan, and there is a less of a history of him contributing classics at this point. I think a more direct comparison would be to Prince Devitt, honestly.

An underdeveloped thought I've had when trying to define this "non-era" we've been inhabiting for so long, and just when I think it started. They say stuff like "Ruthless Aggression" era and "New Era" era, but what is the true tenor of the times during this period?

That's why I'm going to pedal the term "Big Time era" defined by the period of time that Vince McMahon just didn't give a crap whether or not his product was on the pulse anymore. This is the period where the mission was Cena, Cena, Cena, because that guy that made the great impression in the opening match of WrestleMania XX was the guy to make an impression as the WWE tried to go "legit." 2003 saw HLA, CLBs and heel Rocks. It was still trying to chase something. 2004 was the first year they really promoted the event as being bigger than the talent. 2005 was really the last time that they thought something hot needed to happen to carry the show. And this is the last time that the WrestleMania shows were truly memorable. This is about the period of time you start forgetting who won Royal Rumbles. 2006 was the first year that you were getting John Cena whether you liked it or not, and 2006 was the year that the babyfaces walking out of the show with the belts were booed. Don't like Mark Henry? Too bad, he's in The Undertaker match. Aren't feeling Carlito & Chris Masters? They are your opening act.

Something about WrestleMania 22 just feels like it epitomizes where WWE was going to go. This is the show with Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels, where Vince would end up challenging God. This is peak Vince McMahon boredom without him having any competition. There's not so much a violent shift as there is an incremental one. Plus, the theme song for WrestleMania 22 was "Big Time," which was released in 1986. It feels like something so random and arbitrary to promote the show, like "Great Balls of Fire" last year. This is the complete erratic departure from trying to find something that worked in the wake of the Attitude era and instead finding someone to hammer home until you get the brand more over than the performers.

Finally in December on my re-watch of all the 1984 WWF television. It's been a pretty fun experience watching the company evolve into what we see today.

The 1000th episode of SD is going to be in Washington DC. Might have to go

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="it" dir="ltr">Mamma Mia but it's Mauro Ranallo �� <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mammamia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mammamia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/august13?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#august13</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wwe?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wwe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrestling?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wrestling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nxt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nxt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/takeover?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#takeover</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mauroranallo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mauroranallo</a> <a href="https://t.co/p50ibyo3sG">pic.twitter.com/p50ibyo3sG</a></p>&mdash; The Heel Factor (@TheHeelFactor) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHeelFactor/status/1028966237756375041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bring back the Giant Fist!


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: The historic 1,000th episode of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SDLive</a> will emanate from the <a href="https://twitter.com/CapitalOneArena?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CapitalOneArena</a> in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16 and air LIVE at 8/7c on <a href="https://twitter.com/USA_Network?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USA_Network</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SD1000?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SD1000</a> <a href="https://t.co/yTWsNJ6b2x">https://t.co/yTWsNJ6b2x</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1029006919300796417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

100% chance SDLive 1000 will be better than RAW 25 was.

oh no

Enzo Amore has retired because “nobody can afford to pay him to get in the ring again”

Lol

More like he retired loaded as they paid him to keep him the fuck out of a ring. A brick wearing a singlet would be capable of more.

Here...it's XL you fat fucks!

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Them not making him and Samoa Joe the faces of the company permanently was so dumb.

Recent rumor that got debunked teased at Asuka walking out of this week's Smackdown and wanting out of the WWE due to being pissed at the direction of her career since getting called up. Got attributed to PWI which later turned out to be fake.

In an interesting twist, turns out there is a some truth to the rumor but not from Asuka's side. Observer's Meltzer recently talked to a few within the WWE and the current feeling there is they are fully aware her booking has been very terrible and she'd be in the right to do so had she actually walked out.

If Asuka walked out she'd wind up getting her contract frozen just like Neville who they are still holding hostage almost a year after he left.

Maybe if they put the fucking title on her in the first place....

There was as much chance of that happening as Charlotte actually connecting with her moonsault

She's really not good enough