That Alvarez rant is really good. A minor semantic point I would bring up is that genuine heat in WWE is very rare. No one is genuinely hated to the point where you pay money to see them lose, because they always smile and wink at the camera. It's pantomime-level stuff, and the stuff that Alvarez alluded to in that link about being easy, but you don't truly know the art of it until you've mastered being a good babyface.

Interesting to note that possibly the next-in-line to take over is someone who has never made a good babyface themselves. We might be stuck with this functional-level of good guy/bad guy without any genuine emotional attachment for some time yet.

I tagged the promoter of a local Indy Fed to a story on the Progressive Liberal, trying to get him to book him for a show.

Hated that rant. He's not wrong, he is just "too smug". Never want to hear him talk again.

Oh yea bryan is a bit much 100 per cent agreed.

Squeaky, whiny delivery, but he is right.

Only hope is that Triple H, who is a proper student of them business and seems to have a real appreciation for the past, has different ideas that he can only fully implement once he is in control.

NxT is a completely different concept with a completely different audience, but the difference in booking there and building up stars give me hope that he understands how to build stars and protect faces and have heat and real emotion in feuds.

That's what I cling to anyway

Another thing to note is that guys like Austin were very protective of their characters as faces and what they should/shouldn't be doing

It must be much easier booking a fed with no stars to cater to...but the result is what we are seeing now.

Was also easier back in Austin's day because there was competition. You don't like how shitty you're being booked? Tell them off, go to WCW and make them see the error of their ways.

That's true, and probably remains their biggest issue. They won't push themselves in this regard until they are under threat.

Like guys have mentioned here before, the decline started at the invasion, once the battle was won. More interested in rubbing in the victory rather than making more money off a proper invasion.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/ryansatin">@ryansatin</a> Paige was in the front row in the mask for the main event of Slammiversary tonight <a href="https://t.co/ZHmzeC7ybF">pic.twitter.com/ZHmzeC7ybF</a></p>&mdash; AJ (@aj_autograph) <a href="https://twitter.com/aj_autograph/status/881712875961798657">July 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Lucha Paige should be a thing

Good lord, what a fucking dunce.

I'm not very optimistic about Triple H taking the reigns. You can still see via his main roster work that Triple H is the same Triple H with the same Triple H ego. NXT has been quite inefficient at turning out main roster ready stars, and he seems more occupied with signing guys to get his rep over with the IWC right now, and less about actually setting the WWE up to have a sustainable future.

Exactly. No way do we get 8,000 title reigns for guys who aren't effective in top spots if there is another promotion taking attention away because it is actually delivering a captivating product.

Ex writer talks about how Vince wasn't a fan of pushing Dolph Ziggler and how he booked Sandow after his MITB victory.

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ugh

I'll always remember how in Foley's book he pretty much says the reason the product got better was because Vince acknowledged how he was out of touch and let guys have more input on what they did.

I have been critical of NXT too for the exact same reason. I don't think it does its intended job, but as far as being courageous enough to have guys protected from being pinned and to make matches between certain guys seem like big deals...it is better than the main roster. Or it was, before it was gutted.

It's the small things too, like the bit that leaked a while ago about entrances. Triple H puts together these fantastic NXT entrances, only for Vince, Dunn and co to destroy them when the make the main roster.

It's only a small hope based on a few things, but currently, it's not even watchable for me in its current state, so will hold on to any hope I have lol

I don't remember that, but when there are too many cooks in the kitchen......

Its funny to me how all the old boys who suck vinces dick in hopes to land a gig praise the production values. I mean yeah there are certain things you can respect particularly compared to other companies but it is so inauthentic and unorganic. There is no amount of intimacy in how its produced.

Bryan Alvarez ✔ @bryanalvarez
Jeremy Borash can retire knowing that on July 2, 2017, he had a better match than Hiroshi Tanahashi.

just spat my juice out
spot on

NXT is a much shorter show, though. He can afford to make it "artistic." He's able to book well when someone only has to wrestle once a month, but when it jumps up to four or eight times a month (depending on whether there is a brand split or not), it'll be interesting to see who is protected.

Some of the entrances in NXT are great too, but he does tend to overdo it as well. If everyone gets a special entrance, then how are they special? Nakamura's just started to get weird towards the end. I was kind of over Roode's after the Flair entrance with all the women.

No, no, no -- it was Vince Russo that saved wrestling.

Holy shit, this. Thank you. It's very click and point. And the misses are there just as much as the hits.

:lol:

Roman Reigns got "Thank you, Roman" chants in Japan. The WWE should work a trade agreement with New Japan. They can send over Roman Reigns and get Hiroshi Tanahashi for a few months. Everybody gets something out of it.

... I'd subscribe to the network for Cena V Okada

Cena vs. Tanahashi is my dream match. Or the two of them in a tag.

Would love to see Roman Reigns vs. Minoru Suzuki.

Imagine this card:

* John Cena vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

* Randy Orton vs. Kazuchika Okada

* Roman Reigns vs. Minoru Suzuki

* AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito

* Brock Lesnar vs. Togi Makabe

* Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi

* Kevin Owens vs. Kenny Omega

* Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Tencozy

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Goodbye and good night. <a href="https://twitter.com/KennyOmegamanX">@KennyOmegamanX</a> is moving on! <a href="https://t.co/Ff5RG2N1HH">pic.twitter.com/Ff5RG2N1HH</a></p>&mdash; TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/881673560103809024">July 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Some bad news for NXT according to Pro Wrestling Sheet. Tommaso Ciampa's injuries ended up being a lot worse than expected and might not be back till next March at the earliest.

Completely shelved whatever plans they had for a DIY feud since Gargano should be on the main roster well before then.

Getting injured shortly before Takeover Chicago and getting hurt again during the event made things a lot worse for him. He was already dealing with a shoulder injury for a while and wanted to take a break to fix it.

If Gargano is already on the main roster by then, I say skip bringing Ciampa back to NXT, just bring him back to the main roster immediately.

I wouldn't mind Lesnar vs. Suzuki. Because, while seeing a Superman Punch countered into a Fujiwara is a fun thought... A German countered into a leg lock chain of DOOM is even more so.

And from there, I'd go with Orton vs. Naito, Nakamura vs. Okada (Forbidden Match II), Cena vs. Tanahashi, AJ vs. Ibushi (Another good rematch), Sheamus and Cesaro vs. G.o.D., Braun vs. Ishii, Roman vs. Makabe, New Day vs. Sanada, Bushi, and Evil, and just for my own personal amusement, Enzo vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (I just want to see Enzo tied up in such a way that his body looks like his stupid haircut).

And have Young Bucks get squashed by the Authors of Pain for the Dark Match.

Kind of don't like they that split up Gargano and Ciampa. Injury aside, it doesn't feel particularly good, or like either man will have better opportunities as singles guys. Imagine if Ciampa had been injured and then returned to help out Gargano down the line? Magic.

All good matches. Brock vs. Suzuki would be...interesting. Brock against many of the Japanese guys would be interesting.

Yeah, Nakamura vs Okada is the way to go and while you're at it Omega vs Styles. Maybe even throw Balor in there. Tanahashi/Cena is a no brainer. Im thinking Naito vs Roman Reigns. Agree on Lesnar vs Suzuki and New Day vs Los Ingobernables. Orton is who gets me as if it wasn't for Nakamura being in WWE I'd have Okada/Orton, also sucks about Shibata or that would be who id have Orton against.