Rolling Chris and Kevin's Bogus Journey 2017

Like, what are you supposed to do? The boss comes along and picks you for a major push and you say 'sorry Vince, I don't think I'm ready'? That's a shortcut to future endeavorment right there.

I watched rasslin religiously from like 1985-2005 but had to peace out after shit got brutal (the hhh-kane feud over necrophilia was a bridge too far) but now apparently I am going to No Mercy this Sunday. Not sure what to expect..

There's nothing as brutal as Katie Vick anymore, thankfully. The tag title match looks like the best thing on the card. The women's match has great talent involved though it's a five-way so likely not much room to shine. The rest is... well it's a brand PPV between bigger shows, you'll remember what that's like before you lapsed. Enjoy what's good and try to ignore the shit bits!

Lesnar v Strowman will probably be quite a spectacle in the flesh. Two big dudes

No Mercy has a freaking wrestlemania card, it's gonna be great. Wrestlemania maybe not so much

Yeah, this is the biggest non-big 4 PPV in some time.

yeah i don't really get that tbh. why are they bothering? have they even put a big promotional push behind the two main-events here? seems like a bit of a waste of two of their money matches

leaving aside the on-paper lineup, would anyone actually advocate tuning in for this show? is there a single hot angle? i saw that Cena had been chatting breeze about Roman Reigns on tv in a sufficiently "ooooohh is he kayfabing or is he FOR REAL?!!!!" sort of a way to get the internet all excited. anything to it?

can't front, the only WWE show i've watched in the last, idk, 18 months or so was the Royal Rumble (because no matter how much i disengage over the course of the year, i will always watch a Royal Rumble) and before that it was probably an NXT special? Or the bizarro-world Wrestlemania from hell in 2016. and nothing i read about anything that they're doing makes me want to check back in. which is horrifying really because i love wrestling and they've got so many potentially awesome guys and girls on the roster, and i just do not gaf about any of it. the presentation of everything they do is terrible

WWE is like the pro-wrestling Saturday Night Live. It gets a bunch of talented performers, gives them the highest production value of any show in their genre, and uses it all to churn out mediocrity and worse. But people watch it because it's the big leagues for that kind of entertainment, and every once in a while there's something brilliant. (And fans are always nostalgic for an earlier era that mostly sucked too.)

Impact/TNA is MadTV in this analogy.

yeah maybe. tho i do wonder how much blame should fall at the feet of the wrestlers? lots of "top guys" on this roster who are fundamentally bang average at lots of the important bell-to-bell stuff (Rollins, Ambrose, Owens, there are others). it's like they spent their whole life watching really good and special wrestling but totally failed to identify what it was that made it good and special. or is this style being imposed upon them from above? idk, i feel like if i ever have to watch another 30 minute WWE main-event with finisher trades and hundreds of kickouts etc. ever again then it'll be too soon. i don't really want to watch Cena vs Reigns this weekend, but more importantly i don't really think i need to, i already know exactly what that match is gonna be like, whoever wins

That SNL analogy is so OTM.

lots of "top guys" on this roster who are fundamentally bang average at lots of the important bell-to-bell stuff (Rollins, Ambrose, Owens, there are others). it's like they spent their whole life watching really good and special wrestling but totally failed to identify what it was that made it good and special.

I think that's too harsh; Owens really gets what it means to be a live performer with a nuanced character. Maybe it doesn't translate as well on TV but that's not necessarily his fault. Commentary, for one, does an exceptionally poor job of explaining WHY we should, as viewers, be invested in any particular match.

Well sure, Owens has an excellent line in mannerisms and trash talk during his matches which admittedly does add a whole lot to the overall effect, but I'm still not convinced that he has the least idea how to put together a match that I want to sit down and watch

And that's OK too. I can't pin down exactly why I enjoy his matches, I've never sat down to analyse it in any depth, but I do. On the same note I also cannot understand how anyone can rate Randy Orton when he puts me to sleep (only exception being his Mania match with Rollins).

I think this card and other ppv cards (as well as the apparent return of starrcade in november) are being used to prop up network subs, which the higher ups have been thinking will sag in q3

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cagesideseats.com/platform/amp/wwe/2017/7/27/16050802/wwe-network-subscriber-count-down

not sure if the hoo ha over jinder's clumsy "you hated me because you're racist and you secretly hate nakamura too because you're racist" promise these last two weeks will help on that front either

"If you hate the ethnic heel then you're a racist too" is like the modern day "shades of grey" character profile in WWE-universe Land.

the wwe style where every single match is structured the same boring way is absolutely an imposition on the wrestlers, evident via 1. every single match being that way, and 2. it not corresponding to how those wrestlers wrestled in the indies (and often even in nxt). i'm not as anti-wwe style as a lot of people are, but it's nevertheless probably no coincidence that my favourite wwe match of 2017 is the bate-dunne takeover match that seemed unrestrained by that standard format.

had a great time last night.. crowd was really into it and very generous with the 'this is awesome' chant. show kinda lost steam at the end, and the main event finish seemed kinda out of nowhere. womens match was amazing!

It did seem like a great crowd at No Mercy (judging from TV). The women's match, tag title match, and Cena vs Reigns really delivered. The main event was an all-time stink bomb in terms of expectations.

cracking up at how michael cole was dancing around saying "bullet club" to intro this finn/aj match

watched Lesnar - Styles last night, my first match in god knows how long. it was very good. AJ Styles seems to be fast approaching the Flair / Funk / HBK / Hart god-tier status and WWE are unexpectedly acknowledging it and playing to it. and Lesnar still sells better than just about anyone else has in the past 20 years when he can be bothered.

seriously, if you missed this match, seek it out. 15 mins or so, one of those ones where they actually let Lesnar's opponent look competitive. rock solid storytelling, totally comprehensible strategy from both men and some fantastic near falls that made sense in context, not just the usual finisher kick-out bullshit.

seriously seriously. there's a bit where AJ gets Brock caught in the Calf Crusher and Brock is forced to use an unorthodox counter. it's unbelievable. shocking. a moment of visceral brutality that no one other than Brock could make work. best spot i can remember in WWE

That was a good match for sure

didn't bother with the rest of the show, apparently the main event was a stinker? lol at the idea of putting together a match with all that talent involved and turning it into a story about Triple H punking Kurt Angle. Shane McMahon top babyface in 2017, jfc

one of those ones where they actually let Lesnar's opponent look competitive

Except for that first half where Brock completely rag-dolls SD's top superstar.

'Rock solid storytelling'? What are you on?!

I really liked it but Yeah, brock should have just pinned him after 5 mins.

I also watched velveteen dream v Alistair black on recommendation. They both seem like guys with a lot of potential. I cant believe noone has tried to be modern rick rude before. That he has also tried to make him a strong face character instead of vince's awkward attempts at queerer cowardly heel types made it even more interesting. The guy has a lot of potential, especially as he has cena's physique.

Were any other matches from this weekend worth watching? I dont think I will ever be so down on life that I would watch that main event.

Lol agree to disagree. If you don't think lesnar should be ragdolling styles then I don't know what to tell you. He's like 5 times the size of him!

And the storytelling was rock solid! Lesnar obviously has too much if you try and go toe to toe, take out the leg, take away his base, hit every big move you've got in your arsenal while he's grounded, pray like hell you keep him down for 3. It was bang on!

Anyway, dope match.

Oh I get it on principle, but it falls apart when I consider the whole thing holistically: Brock being an older part-timer who hasn't actually *wrestled* a match in years, and who got obviously blown up in minutes, versus the (slightly) younger, better conditioned and more highly skilled WRESTLER. One can't be all graps-mad one minute then change the tune just 'cause it's Brock. It's bullshit.

Idk, I kind of take the point but brock is a special case, no? Through virtue of his sheer size, athleticism and legit fighting skills. I don't think it'll ever be believable NOT to have him toss around any given opponent like a sack of straw in his matches, certainly not during the early exchanges. Maybe once he's considerably older and more broken down.

Besides, I still love that aura that he has and the fact that they protect it. Obviously too often these days they go too far the other way (ambrose squash lol) to the detriment of his matches. But I thought that they got it about right this time

Brock as a special case - that's where we differ. For me it just breaks my suspension of disbelief to make exceptions for this one man, whose big fight aura is completely blown out of proportion in my estimation. And a man whose presence never fails to undermine the active roster, too. He's just one aspect of many, but the way he's booked is not unconnected with the worrying decline in house show attendance, I'd argue. But hey, that's really a blend of my objective and emotional reading of it all. If you or anyone else gets a kick out of him, then fair enough.

To be fair I've not actually seen him recently - missed the Goldberg, Samoa Joe, strowman stuff - and I gather he's been consistently phoning it in harder than ever this year while still being the super protected end-game boss baddie the whole time, which certainly isn't great from an entertainment perspective.

WWE house show attendance / business health generally is pretty high on the list of things I don't gaf about, makes no odds to me if they wilfully tank their own company

Anyone watch the njpw big shows? Is there anything actually interesting enough going on in wrestling for a rolling 2018 thread title? "Rolling Samoa joe is the only really interesting wrestler in 2018"? "Rolling young bucks sell all the merch to people who have never watched them wrestle 2018"?

i'm excited about the mixed tag challenge, but i'm more excited about rusev day

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-mixed-match-challenge/article/rusev-to-team-with-lana-at-wwe-mmc

Rolling 2018: Where Every Day is Rusev Day