Lurker > Strife2

The "hardcore WWE fans" are the only fans WWE has left...BECAUSE OF SHIT LIKE THIS! The booking system itself is rotten, and Vince assumes "What can possibly go wrong" when no one is a star, and the brand itself is poison.

Yeah, let's give the title to Goldberg. No one cares, we're giving Drew the push we should have given him last year. Nothing's wrong....

*Ratings drop below 3.0*

*Send Rock*

*Ratings back below 3.0 after he's done*

Shit: why didn't people stick around? We gave them Brock Lesnar as champion over a sympathetic babyface I never wanted to push...what could possibly go wrong...

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

It's almost as if 50 year olds can't lift as much as they did in their 20s or 30s...

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Kamille only 5'10" but that lower camera shot makes her look freaking tall as shit.

First NWA show ever, and I dig it. Short, fun, and doesn't screw around with the formula.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Pope channeling some crazy charisma in that promo. Damn.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

I think this is the most recent one.

Thunder Rosa v. Melina is the main event.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Aron Stevens is still a godly heel. Speaking of people WWE fucked over.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

*Watches NWA POWER for first time*

Stu Bennett on commentary?
Actual faces and heels?
In ring storytelling (and character building)?
Advertising stuff for later in the show?
1 hour long?

Thank the Smashing Pumpkin Gods.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Where is that "Stop Supporting WWE" quote at? I need it right now.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Never actually watched wrestling back then. Started with Bret/Diesel in 95, so never saw anything before then. Wouldn't know what to expect.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Is NWA any good? I've been looking for thibgs to watch recently, and remembered NWA was on Youtube. I think AEW and NXT are 2 hour investments, but heard NWA was short, concise, and character driven.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

It says all you need to know about WWE that sending you to NXT is a last ditch effort to sign contracts.

It feels like everyone EXCEPT HHH, Heyman, and the wrestlers involved are complete idiots.

Vince: We won't use you Matt...BUT NXT! WE HAVE A THING I'M NOT INVOLVED IN! MONEY TAKE MONEY!

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

No, but maybe this "Ozzy Osbourne" guy who released a new album could bring some viewers. He was last with some...rapper thing named "Karl Malone" or something.

*The new Ozzy record is the worst he's ever done...so please no*

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Now I remember why the Sheamus thing could be Dunn. Cornette revealed once that Lawler wanted Lance Russell to induct him, for Dunn to go:

"Who is Lance Russell? I have no idea who that is. I don't think any of our fans will know who that is either, because he's not mainstream enough. I know. Get William Shatner instead."

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

...wow.

Kevin Dunn or Vince? It sounds like a Vince thing, but Cornette has said Dunn is very...VERY stupid when it comes to things like this. I forget offhand, but it sounds like Dunn has the memory of a goldfish.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

The closest thing I can say is a close second to the "gay panic" moment would be events leading to and from the second boss. Without spoilers, the males in the party kinda...coerce a girl into something to trick another character for dungeon progression.

It is played for laughs, despite how bleh it is coming off the first case, but again, it is plot important. The gay couple is never plot relevant at all, and can easily be scrubbed out of the narrative.

And saying nothing of dating older women or Kawakami's whole story arc at all...Persona isn't morally right in MANY instances.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

God the women's roster is weak as fuck if you need the Riott Squad to fill it out. Even in storyline...oof.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Sylvando was half 'gay stereotype/half court jester," so DQ had a good enough balance.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

I hated those scenes in P5. Actually, Japanese games and anime in general use the" "FLAMING ****" with a lisp trope for laughs (think a side character in .hack/G.U.), and it never works.

I am all for them cutting these types of scenes if the original aim of the character's are " They like guys and they talk weird, aren't they just the funniest thing?"

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Hello "Ladies."

*sticks kick me sign on Val's back*

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Good.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

What I enjoy about Raw's setup recently is BECAUSE they like no logjam of stars in midcard and main event (at least like before), they have kind of forced in some squash match format since the draft. Or at least spaced out fued opponents a (tiny) bit more.

You still have the Andrade Rey/Carillo overkill, but Black and Murphy had a minifeud going where they were kept to at most 1-2 matches.

That is an old school build mentality that is slowly peeking through.

You still have a shit ton of 50/50 "stars" but I will take Rowan randomly meandering if he is kinda off on an island away from AJ/Orton/McIntyre

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Jakyl25 posted...

He made it very clear on the investors call that they are separate companies with no overlap and he can handle adding the XFL to his WWE duties with no loss of focus

Says the guy who can't keep Smackdown from sucking most weeks. Vince is hopeless.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

*Watches Drew prance and dance and own his segment against Mojo*

Hey, WWE....more of this please. Just...just...more of it. Drew is awesome, and shame on you for waiting forever to let him show it.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

2 weeks.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

I think the worst part is Jinder did improve, but only AFTER he lost the damn thing. He has some charisma if you let him show it, but they stuffed him with the stupidest gimmicks: foreign main event heel and foreign goofball heel. He had some weird hijinx with Owens for a little while.

Sure, in ring he's pretty crap, but that hasn't stopped them from using Mojo Rawley or Rowan fifty million times.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

The thing is I give WWE credit for trying something...out of the box.

The problem is the execution was just BAD. I think for all the bitching people like Corbin gets, they built him up for like 3-4 years. If he ever wins the title, it won't be some crazy unbelievable shock. Jinder was...just all kinds of wrong. He just plummted from World Champion to 24/7 jobber in like a year. Like holy fuck.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

AJ #1 is good enough for me. Still kind of insane how successful how his WWE run has been. It doesn't feel that long.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

My issue is when was the last time a real life bitch fest or offline movement turned INTO a storyline afterwards? I recall Edge/Matt/Lita, and maybe Ryder, though those were different circumstances entirely.

Edit: Oh...the fucking YES movement, jesus. Forgot that somehow.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Why the fuck am I the bad guy?

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

My entire point is, "is this a feud Brock, Vince, and Riddle all WANT and said, sure, let's fucking go." Becky and Ronda pulled this shit, but they were in the middle of the Wrestlemania build. It was happening, it was done, and I think everyone involved knew it, wanted it, and said go with it.

Brock and Vince don't give a fuck, and Riddle's doing it anyway, probably without consent. I can't make that any more clear. Drum up business with people who are in on the joke and ok with it.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

But if it doesn't lead anywhere (which the Punk things with Rollins and Miz didn't), then it is stupid. If you act like a dick to people (which I have, trust me), expect them to go, "Who the fuck are you. I don't want to work with you. Piss off."

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

So it's a good idea to call coworkers out in public? "Hey, you suck at your job. Fuck you nerd. Fight me."

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

WWE micromanages the fuck out of everything. If this Riddle shit with Goldberg would go anywhere, they would have recapped it 50 million times on TV by now.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

It's not to the level of "Graves insults a dude with clinical depression", but we don't need to know Riddle thinks Goldberg is shit. I don't think Riddle is asking "Hey, is it ok. Let me drum up business" and they go with it. It sounds like he is being a prick and doing it without warning.

Talk to people offline, get their permission first, and there's no issue. I don't think Vince gives two shits about Rlddle, so none of this is gonna do anything.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Yes, but all Lesnar has to do is tell Vince to fire him, and he would.

Either way, I guess Riddle is tagging Lesnar in a bunch of shit, saying "ME RETIRE YOU DUR!" as an attempt to increase his profile or stir up dirtsheets or whatever.

I have no problem thinking you're hot shit or sticking up for storyline nonsense or creative decisiobs. It is another to post videos about coworkers going "Dude. Goldberg, you suck balks bro."

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Yeah, fuck Riddle. Doesn't matter how good you are in the ring if you an asshat to coworkers. WWE doesn't give out feuds by bitching on social media. It sounds like a good marketing tool in thoery, but the way Riddle railed on Goldberg and Lesnar isn't doing him any favors.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Book a top 5-6 that can rotate around in feuds and make them important. But WWE's philosophy is "TOP GUY TOP GUY TOP GUY TOP GUY"

The only people who are over are legends or people fans care about so fucking strongly, they don't care what WWE does to them. That's not how it should work.


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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

I keep watching the Edge return back, and Jesus Christ. That is probably the best Rumble entry I can remember. Sure, the camera work was wonky (thank god for edits later), but so much going on there.

• The music/initial pop is just massive (AJ's debut, Rey's shock return, Cena's return are the only comparisons).
• The fan shots actually added to it (there's this one fan just screaming like, "Thank fucking god yes" in the video)
• Edge's initial reaction just soaking in the moment, almost crying.
• Flipping the switch into go mode with the face and hitting the fucking pyro was magic
• The wrestlers in the ring selling it like death.
• Edge spearing the shit out of everyone and soaking in the moment again.

I can't stop rewatching that. I don't care if the rumors kept making it a possibility. The fact it even happened at all hit home the same way Bryan's return did.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

I've NEVER liked the Iiconics. That shouldn't be a shock.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

It's not. Mandy and Sonya aren't great by any means, but they have decent grasp of their characters and complement each other with the power moves (Mandy) and striking (Sonya). They just suck at promos.

Now if only the IICONICS character work mixed with Fire and Desire's in ring, you'd have well rounded wrestlers. Too bad both pairs suck in the opposite fashion.

*Peyton is better than all of them, but BLARGH Billie holds her down*

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

I think worrying about the "clean" or "dirty" situation in a Rumble match flies in the face of two things.

1. Rumbles are No DQ, and 2001 was the "hardcore" Rumble. Everything is clean and anything goes.

2. Lesnar is notoriously weak to nutshots...like every other man in existence.

Didn't matter how. Drew got the final shot in and was the focal point of the rest of the build.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPQqbpXVUAAhmlK?format=jpg&name=medium

Never forget. Such a good feeling. It just works.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

The entire point of this match was to use Lesnar as a vehicle to get the next guy over. Had Lesnar won, it would have been the stupidest fucking thing outside of the 15 Rumble, where WWE just had NO ONE left that anyone wanted to win. But the story was, "Lesnar doesn't want to defend his title at a "token" Rumble match anymore," so he got fucked. Reigns winning this year would have been like Rollins last year: safe, if annoying. but No. They used the fear of status quo to do something they probably SHOULD have done since Drew came back: strap the rocket on him, but hey. Better late than never.

Reigns probably doesn't need a Rumble win ever in his life to be a credible threat, so this is how they should use Reigns: "ANYONE BUT YOU" is a legit thing they can use every single year to do things just like this. But the final 5-6 guys after Corbin and Ziggler were eliminated were people the crowd would have accepted as winners. Freaking Edge man. Hot damn.

WWE can still surprise.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Just when you think WWE just can't do anything right, they got dragged kicking and screaming into the right decision. They've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting on that Drew push, and they finally went with it.

Now they just have to make it stick, and get that fucking title off Lesnar.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Take the stupid lights away, less finisher spam, and a reason to care. Way to learn how to make a Fiend match work this time.

And the match wasn't great, but god only knows how godawful Reigns/Fiend will be. The ceiling is "not shit" now.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Well, let's hope this is one of those "Vince got his winner" things and doesn't fuck up the Men's Rumble.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Bleh

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

That's it? They had free reign to go and do anything, and that's it?

Not even a baseball bat.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

"This is just chaos."

Shut up Cole. This is like eating paper.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass

Can they go backstage or go somewhere nuts yet?

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass