I was hoping it wouldn't happen but I kinda saw it coming. At least when they gave Goldberg the belt it made sense in terms of the story they had built between him and Lesnar...too bad the Goldberg/Lesnar match at WM was garbage. Orton beating Wyatt, on the other hand, was bullshit and serves no purpose unless they really make Wyatt up the ante and become even more sadistic and deranged, going full-on against one of the big names in the company and coming out on top.

His whole stint with the Wyatt Family made little sense and he always looked stupid standing there with a bunch of hillbillies. He joined the family to destroy them from within. Okay...why? If the greater purpose was to finally break Luke Harper away for good, they could have done it without involving Orton. If they can make the story more interesting in the coming months I can live with it, but at the moment it just feels like a waste to give the belt back to someone who really doesn't need it (or deserve it) at this point.

I'm interested in what's going to happen with the roster shake-up this week. My biggest hope is that Harper makes it to Raw. I can already see so many incredible matches for him there.

Allow me to disagree. I wouldn't call it great, I wouldn't call anything from a WrestleMania since WM24 that didn't involve Undertaker or Bryan to be great, but that was as best as we were going to get. Goldberg was an insanely limited performer even at his peak and the story told - old veteran looks like he hasn't lost a step until the huge monster finally wakes up - was fine. The match itself, though limited in variety, succeeded in reinforcing Lesnar as THE MAN.

It could've been a lot worse. We could've gotten Goldberg doing flips for no reason and Lesnar getting his ass kicked for 35 minutes before no-selling everything and ending the match with the weakest spot yet (see: Okada/Omega).

I've been saying it for years, but whoever told Bray to be a slow and methodical monster in the ring needs to be fired and blacklisted from any remotely credible wrestling promotion. Here's a HOSS that's proven he can work with the best (it takes two to tango, as they say, and Wyatt/Bryan from Fast Lane in 2015 was great), so let's have him focus on chinlocks and Goosebumps-quality "horror" imagery instead of letting him be the wicked bruiser he always should've been.

It's like they took a look at Stan Hansen, decided his work was too great, and focused on King Kong Bundy as their "monster" archetype instead.

Very true. I was still hoping for something a bit more interesting than a showcase of finishing moves, especially after seeing a bunch of great matches beforehand.


Could not agree more. Wyatt's one of the best they have right now and he keeps getting shafted...at least he's faring better than his brother, though. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just the beginning of Wyatt's true rise to the top, where he fucking belongs.

I'm a Hugger love me some Bayley.

For those unaware, Edge and Christian now have their own podcast, the appropriately named "E & C's Pod of Awesomeness." It's only been around for a couple of months and it's already one of my favorites with a lot of potential ahead of it. You really get to hear just how brotherly Adam and Jay are and have always been... ribbing, jabbing and jokingly talking shit back and forth to each other as you would expect them to. A new episode every Friday, I really think it's worth a listen.

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/dgital- ... wesomeness

Is this done independently of WWE, like Jericho's? I like E and C but a lot of their WWE comedy stuff seems really forced and comes across as it is trying just a little too hard.

I really like Killing the Town, by Cyrus and Lance Storm. Very funny and a very interesting insight into the business and the life style of wrestling.

It's independently done. Their Network show is basically free from Vince's control too, as are most Network shows after the first couple episodes. It's pretty much become the smark insider reference power half-hour, and it's absolutely amazing.

Rip Rogers' tweet about the indy match formula is causing so much talk on every board I go to, and the responses are pretty mixed. I'm seeing a lot of people agreeing and less disagreeing than there would be a year ago.

Then he had to go and make jokes about Will Ospreay possibly being a sex offender. I know that's Rip's sense of humor (the guy can be hilarious), but Jesus, it's 2017 and he's THE indy darling right now. Maybe go a different route since that type of humor hinges on vocal inflection and body language when using it?

The discussion on that entire subject, including Orton's contribution on the subject, has been so toxic that two threads on the subject on another board have already been locked.

What is this about Ospreay and sex offenses? I've never heard of any of that.

Ospreay tweeted another pouty response about how the business has evolved and Rip, whose sense of humor literally requires hearing the tonal inflection of his voice and/or his body language, started jabbing him about being pro wrestling's Jimmy Savile, a UK DJ who's had 450 claims of sexual assault raised against him over the last decade. I have no idea why he went down that road, but it's clearly a shitty joke and not a legitimate accusation.

I knew about the "...dive" stuff already, but the sex offender thing just sounds like Rogers being petty and just throwing out a baseless insult.

Again, it's Rip's sense of humor. He's a good ol' boy edgelord. It really needs to be heard in his voice in order for it to really be understood as a joke.

I think Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate from Takeover: Chicago has outdone AJ vs. Cena at the Rumble as the new WWE match of the year for 2017. That match was absolutely fucking magnificent. An instant classic in every sense of the phrase.

There'll be a big women's tournament coming up this summer, kinda like the Cruiserweight tourney they did. Hopefully, this will expand their meagre roster in the 'E. I'm hearing these names so far:

Deonna Purrazzo (ROH; TNA; WWE NXT)
Rachel Ellering (Paul Ellering's daughter, indies; briefly in NXT circa 2016)
Heidi Lovelace (Shine; Shimmer)
Kimber Lee (Shine; Shimmer; recent CHIKARA Grand Champion)
Nixon Newell (What Culture Pro Wrestling)

That match was goddamn incredible. If I didn't watch NJPW then this match would by far be my match of the year! Incredible bout with two "new" guys, at least new to WWE. Tyler Bate's moveset is so diverse, he's so fun to watch.

Meltzer gave Okada vs Omega II 6.25 stars out of 5... thats 0.25 more than their match at Wrestle Kingdom

The match was really badass, but I guess it just depends on what kind of wrestling you enjoy. Personally, I enjoyed their WK match a ton more than this one, but this would still be a super high score if I did that kind of stuff. This second match just felt like they were stretching things out a bit too much in order to use up time.

The Wrestle Kingdom match had more crazy shit happening in it, but the second match was bolstered by the storytelling and all the little details. I was marking out at my desk watching that match at 3:00 AM. I thought it was absolutely fucking fantastic, and the only thing that's gonna top that match is gonna be their inevitable third match, hopefully at Wrestle Kingdom 12 next year to bring the story of Kenny's two year quest to become the top guy in Japan to its logical conclusion of him winning the world title from Okada.

The question, however, is where does this leave Tetsuya Naito? He was looking to be the one to dethrone Okada, but then the first Wrestle Kingdom match with Omega and Okada happened, and then the Dominion match happened, and now it's totally up in the air who will be the one to beat Okada. The two ways I think it could go down are either Okada wins G1 and challenges Omega since Okada's been getting cockier and more full of himself throughout this title reign, thus leading Naito to feel snubbed again and want more than ever to become champion, which will also finally turn him babyface after crowds have been cheering him nonstop for over a year now, or Naito wins G1 and loses the title shot to Omega, which will also turn him babyface. Either way, Omega needs to win the title and Naito is going to turn babyface at some point.

Okada v. Omega II from NJPW Dominion is one of the greatest matches I've ever witnessed. Everything about this match is the reason I love and watch pro wrestling. The first one was more of a spotfest, but this one told a complete story from start to finish.

If you aren't watching it, turn on the Network and watch Money in the Bank right now. It's laughably terrible.

I didn't watch since I had to work, but OOFA. By far likely the worst show WWE has done this year, and may be the worst PPV overall so far. Only other one that comes close is UFC 208 with almost every fight going to a fucking decision and the main event boring everyone to tears.

On the plus side, Samoa Joe will hopefully avoid Lesnar's utter laziness and Braun Strowman is back and probably going to win his feud with my main RAW boy Roman. Not that I'm complaining since Braun is very much worthy of his place in the title picture.

Joe is doing literally everything in his power to get both the Lesnar match and himself over. Even though we know what the result is gonna be, I'm absurdly excited for the match based just on Joe's sell job alone.

Also, considering that it's gonna be Lesnar vs. Strowman at Summerslam, expect Braun to win the ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire against Roman.

I can't comment on Braun (not a current viewer and he's clearly over as hell), but as far as Joe avoiding Brock's laziness? Heyman's high on Joe and has been for years. He's also, IRL, a very pivotal figure in Brock's life/career. It's not outside the realm of possibility that Heyman gets in Brock's ear and says "work your ass off with this guy," nor is it unbelievable that Brock, who truly loves being challenged, would bring his A-game against a guy that his buddy Kurt Angle also speaks very highly of.

Beyond that? It'll be interesting how stiff they get with each other. It's the only match with the current roster that's piqued my interest in years, and it's piqued not from booking/match quality "smarky" standpoints but in how a pro wrestling angle is meant to be: here's two people, here's when they're fighting, here's why you should care.

Odd. It's almost like presenting it with a sports-like feel between people that the audience knows are talented is the way to go.

Samoa Joe vs Lesnar has been a dream match of mine for a good amount of years. I am so stoked to see how that match goes. I can imagine there will be blood since both guys bleed insanely fast. Maybe they'll make it a first blood match so that way Lesnar won't have to work too much

Wanna make it even shorter? First Sweat.

Gotta admit, I'm pretty excited about Joe versus Lesnar. I've been a fan of Joe's for years...loved watching him totally kick ass in TNA (thoroughly marked during the match where he took on the BroMans and DJ Z by himself...a full on squash match, and it was hilarious). Ever since he made it to the main roster, I've been begging for the bookers to put him against Brock. He's one of the best around and deserves to be recognized as such.

Also, has anyone been watching Ring of Honor lately? I came back to it over the past month after stepping away for a few years and I really like what they're doing. The War of the Worlds '17 PPV was outstanding (mainly for Will Ospreay vs. Jay White) and Best in the World was almost as good.

I just realized that ten years ago yesterday was when Chris Benoit killed himself after killing his family over the weekend prior. Jesus. Time really does go by fast. I distinctly remember reading the news online and then watching the Raw tribute show to him that night and thinking something wasn't right. Then the next day it came out that the deaths were being investigated as a murder-suicide and my whole world came crashing down. Benoit was one of my absolute favorite wrestlers ever, and nothing was the same after learning what he did, even if his brain was completely destroyed from 20+ years of concussions and head trauma. It sucks that it went down the way it did. That's really all you can say about it. If any one decent thing came out of what Benoit did, it's that it finally made WWE clean itself up for good, and the company, the talent in the company, and professional wrestling as a whole is all the better for it.

I think the Joe vs Lesnar match will be great but my dream match as far as Lesnar goes is Shinsuke Nakamura. Shinsuke is set for AJ though, and I think I can live with that...

Everything I need to know about current ROH is summed up with Cody "career fucking midcarder" Rhodes winning the World title. I'm not saying Cody isn't a solid hand, he regularly busted his ass in WWE and was able to have some fun moments, but when you look at the ROH World title lineage and you see LowKi, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, CM Punk, Christopher Daniels, Nigel McGuinness, and Roderick Strong, then CODY RHODES sticks out on the same level as Xavier.

Still not as bad as WWE Champion Jinder Mahal.

Do keep in mind that the primary reason Cody was made champion was because they've been planning Okada vs. Cody at the G1 Special show in Long Beach, and they wanted a champion vs. champion match because it'd be good publicity. Doesn't hurt that he's seemingly being primed to take over Bullet Club from Kenny Omega once they finally turn him face fully, and Bullet Club/Elite merch is gonna be hotter than ever now that their shirts are gonna be in Hot Topic on a national level.

Also, it keeps Cody out of the G1 Climax, which is only a good thing since his open spot theoretically got us Kota Ibushi in there instead.

The G1 Climax blocks were just announced, and this just might be the best tournament ever based on who's in each block.





I'm so fucking hyped for this now.

Good points to consider, but think about how this would've gone down when ROH was a truly worthwhile product during the "Gabe booked, Cary owned" days. A WWE midcarder? Holding what was once THE most prestigious singles title in Western pro wrestling? And he's not even that much better than he was in WWE? Speaks horribly about the state of US indies when ROH pulls a TNA.

You could've said all of this about Kenny Omega two/three years ago.

tl;dr -- give the guy a fucking chance. Kenny Omega getting a chance is what elevated him to legendary status.

To each their own, but Omega's never done anything for me outside of a couple PWG matches. I'm also not into NJPW much at all (preferred FMW in the '90s and Dragon Gate for this decade), and think ICW/Progress are the best companies on the planet, booking-wise and match-wise.

Speaking of which...
PROGRESS WRESTLING IS HOLDING A SHOW IN BOSTON, MA ON AUGUST 13TH

Subrick, should I expect to see you there?

I know, I know...

I bought the PPV after it aired (knowing nothing of the outcome) and became afraid when the first thing I saw on the ROH website was the announcement of new champions. Story-wise, I think I'm fine with it, but I'm not familiar enough with Cody at this point to know how I feel about him. I've seen him do some interesting things in the ring and he has good mic skills, he just doesn't excite me the way much of the other ROH talent does (who, sadly, aren't in the world title picture...cough cough, Caprice Coleman/Jay White/Hanson).

Overall, I still prefer ROH over WWE (which isn't saying much...I actually prefer Impact over WWE right now). The booking and wrestling are better, the matches are more captivating, and I rarely feel as if the writers are just rehashing the same old tricks. Also, the Briscoes crack me up every time.

EDIT: Maybe I just need to get out more. I've watched some ICW and other English promotion stuff and really enjoyed it. At the moment, I stick to what I can find on YouTube (since I don't have cable) and ROH since I'm familiar with it.

Yep, looks awesome. There are a few people I don't like that are in there but that is to be expected. Don't think I have the time to watch the whole thing like it did for 2-3 years (except last year) but I will try to catch the most interesting matches. Its always interesting to see how things end up. NJPW has been on such a roll for the past 5-6 years or so. Its the only wrestling I really pay much attention to (but honestly I don't have much time anymore to even follow them unfortunately).

The final matches of each block are gonna be Tanahashi vs. Naito for Block A and Omega vs. Okada III for Block B. Once we get to the tournament start in a few weeks, I fully intend to finally get NJPW World.

Admittedly I'm not big on NJPW, but one thing I can't fault them for is Team No Respect's booking decisions. Gedo/Jado revitalized the shit out of that company, rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure that Inoki refused to accept was broken, and they've been on point with keeping matches that have happened numerous times continue to feel fresh. I say this because I don't see Okada/Omega III being a G1 final, personally, as they just had their second encounter. It makes more sense to me to build G1 around Omega once again, maybe not another win but another strong showing, and have the third bout some time in the fall.

Anybody catch GLOW on Netflix? It's been getting favorable reviews from most but I'm not particularly enthralled by it. I'm also biased against Marc Maron (he's annoying as shit) and Alison Brie without Dan Harmon's writing does nothing for me.

First night of G1 Climax just ended. Very, very good show. All the tournament matches delivered, especially Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito, which is already the top contender for match of the tournament. And we still have 18 more shows of this.

God, New Japan rules right now.