rolling Jericho calls The New Day trap queens 2016

kenny omega's tweet a few days ago implied that it might be ryback. thank god it isn't

WK11 card is looking insane. Eleven matches, all with the potential to be good or great (even the rumble match is entertaining in its own way). It's too bad that Ishii and YOSHI HASHI are relegated to the trios match, and I don't understand why Goto and Shibata have to fight yet again (why couldn't the Nakajima vs Shibata blowoff happen?), but otherwise I have no complaints, the show will be awesome.

straight up what is the point of a division, and now a whole weekly tv show, where cruiserweights are mandated to wrestle like non-cruiserweights and aren't given the resources anyone else is on the main roster to get their characters and feuds over

i appreciate the little bitty strands of storyline they're starting to pepper in but... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

this show would've been a good opportunity to introduce win-loss records. it's playing like the CWC without any stakes, organization, or any real reason to watch the matches themselves

jack gallagher's lucky they don't care about how many wacky submission moves an individual wrestler does, but even he's starting to do the same things every match

love that headbutt though

It's been reported that Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon are in charge of 205 Live, not HHH or anyone else involved with the CWC, which pretty much answers all of your questions.

not surprising!

i'm staying away from this UK stuff

since when is orton in the wyatt family?

also why is orton in the wyatt family?

About one month. I don't think the "why" was ever answered -- he was feuding with the Wyatts, then he joined them and people assumed it was a ruse just to screw with them, but now it looks like he's with them for real.

I guess it makes sense for Orton because he's already done everything there is to do in WWE, and he's said in interviews that he feels revitalized by this new direction for his character.

Poor luke harper. That guy deserves to be main event.

Any early suggestions for 2017 thread name? January should be great with wk11 and the rumble.

- more belts than main-eventers
- hide your kids, hide your wife, because WWE is filling its cruiserweight and womens tournaments
- how to make nobody care about a shield reunion
- official ILX petition to get DUSTIN a WWE contract
- braun, nia, brock, GM mick foley and various other monsters
- kevin & chris's bogus journey

I'm glad that jericho clearly reads this thread and realized his character needed a new direction

spare thoughts:

-i enjoy reading lance storm's thing about the charlotte/sasha match that i didn't actually watch, which is a condemnation of wrestling fans but really a condemnation of bad wrestling announcing, but also pretty good as a condemnation of wrestling fans. it's pretty lol that he's literally like "uh read a BOOK you nerds" but it illustrates, in general, the problem a lot of us have, where we're too stuck in the meta vince mcmahon has nurtured, we demand storytelling but look at everything through the lens of the things we're not supposed to think about -- how strong a wrestler is made to look in the present moment, especially. ofc it's also WWE's fault for being so shitty right now, and possibly always, that they can't tell a story 99% of the time so the other 1% doesn't stand a chance, and they're so focused on training fans to think a certain way that eventually you get trained to react a certain way. but if they ever actually did turn a leaf and give us a decent story to follow, would we allow it? should 'storytelling' even be a priority?

-next week's smackdown is basically a PPV on television simply because there's literally 2 months between actual SD PPVs. which is annoying imo, but everyone on reddit and wherever is treating it like a great thing. i like the idea of 2 month PPV builds. i wish the brands alternated every month and never shared a month. the hope is that you don't have a weekly TV show that's just all build all the time, or awkward holding patterns when they get one of those weird 6-week breaks. actually spend those 2 months putting on a good show with important matches that eventually lead to a PPV. i think a lot about how the first season of LU was amazing for like 32 episodes, and then ultima lucha was announced and the 5 or 6 episodes between took a nosedive because it was all build. and that was just one PPV.

-i have to catch up on NJPW from dominion on in the next 2 weeks. it took me like 2 months to get through the 2 BOSJ matches i consider "enough" to say i've officially gotten through BOSJ (the final and ospreay/ricochet). i don't think i can watch these tournaments unless they're happening in real time. i also don't think i should have a njpwworld subscription anymore.

I liked the finish of the Charlotte/Sasha match. The first 20 minutes were 'uh oh they're doing Bret/Shawn at WM12' but it really kicked into gear in the last third, making the overtime actually worth something.

My only issue with the booking of their feud, is that it would be totally fine to cycle Sasha out and slot in a new challenger for Charlotte, if they gave a toss about booking undercard feuds. I don't think it's an unfounded fear to believe that Sasha will spend the next few months swimming around in the doldrums with the other women who aren't getting title matches, since title matches are the only ones creative seem bothered doing anything creative with. At least on Raw at any rate; SmackDown! actually has a mid-card.

i like the idea of 2 month PPV builds

I LOVE the idea. But those days are long gone, man. The best we can hope for is NXT doing better lead-ups to their TakeOver specials; the last couple have been fun in the end but the builds weren't what they could've been.

have p. much 100% checked out of wrestling for now. whole thing just feels like a colossal and unconscionable waste of time. enjoy checking in on whatever Miz and Styles are doing on SD very occasionally. has James Ellsworth won the world title yet? everything about Raw is just terrible. every single fucking part of it.

the Lesnar / Goldberg match was the kinda thing I would've got worked up about once upon a time and is symptomatic of many of the problems with the way they run things today, but I lolled when i read the report. i don't think that's a good thing necessarily, when formerly devoted fans start feeling that way.

i'll check back in for the Rumble and Mania I'm sure, but short of something truly magical happening (hasn't there been talk of Styles getting a match against Taker / a returning HBK(?!)?) i think i'm out for the foreseeable. had enough of their bullshit

Rolling Chris and Kevin's Bogus Journey 2017

Bug in that link: I had to add the 'www.' to make it work for me.