Howdy Blog O' Doom!
#Snowmageddon2015 claims another one!
Well not here in Florida where I'm currently shivering with these temperatures in the low 60s. Thank god for the sunshine.
Rumble last night. First and foremost the title 3-way was tremendous stuff. All three guys brought their best games and really tried to tear the house down. Seeing a Phoenix Splash for the first time was pretty incredible too. I enjoyed pretty much every aspect of that match, especially the way Rollins and Cena resorted to doing anything possible to stop Brock. It was great action and a fun story of survival.
The Rumble itself...all right I'm in the crowd that is fine with Reigns winning. The execution of the win was atrocious. Between the Rock save and the return of Rusev (it was cute when Santino did it but it shouldn't be something tried every couple of years) everything felt flat. A classic case of doing too much when they just should have stuck with him winning in the most logical way they could. Yes the fans were going to be upset if Bryan didn't win. Fans have had their favorites lose Rumbles in the past. And running in a town like Philly is always a little unpredictable so you can't necessarily cater to that crowd's wants and needs because like some e-mailer suggested they might have been cool with Zack Ryder winning.
There were good things in the Rumble. The Bubba Ray/R-Truth stuff was fun. I thought Bray Wyatt worked his ass off as the iron man and they completely botched what should have been a significant elimination.
The bad is far more numerous. Again no issue with Reigns winning or Bryan being eliminated but being dumped at the halfway mark was stupid. Pat Patterson tried booking it with Hogan in 1989 and saw the match energy drain and never made the same mistake again with a dominate fan favorite. Even if Bryan isn't winning, his elimination has to be significant and someone has to be in a position to get serious heel heat off of it. In my opinion they gave Kane and Big Show the spot that Rusev should have been in. We'll do a quick rebook to draw out my thoughts:
Final Eight: Bryan, Wyatt, Rusev, Ziggler, Kane, Big Show, Ambrose, Reigns
Ziggler enters number 30 and hits his big moves, gets stopped by Kane on a chokeslam attempt, kicks him low and hits the fameasser. Kane gets up staggers to the ropes and is eliminated on a Dolph super kick. Down to seven.
Wyatt and Reigns are fighting in a corner over an elimination. Ambrose and Bryan are working on Big Show. Rusev knocks down Dolph with a closeline. Ambrose and Bryan get Show off his feet and Ambrose goes for Dirty Deeds and gets eliminated when Show blocks it and flips him over his shoulder. Bryan starts a kick combo on Show, ducks a knockout punch and kicks him in the face to send him staggering to the ropes. Bryan hits the running knee to eliminate show and turns into kick by Rusev that sends him to a shocking elimination.
Ziggler, Reigns, Wyatt and Rusev are your final four. They pair off in traditional face-heel sides with Ziggler and Wyatt fighting in one corner and Rusev-Reigns in the other. And from there I would probably have Wyatt eliminating Ziggler off a counter for the fameasser and doing a 2-on-1 short segment with some heel miscommunication, Reigns eliminates Wyatt first and Rusev last to win.
Is the crowd going to go apeshit crazy for Reigns? Probably not, but Rusev eliminating Bryan should have shifted a lot of heel heat on him and got the crowd eager to see him eliminated. Wyatt eliminating Ziggler should have shifted heat on him too. So Reigns looks more favorable in the end.
Maybe my biggest problem was beyond Reigns they had the chance to really cement Rusev as top heel too and they failed on that end. I thought Rusev really should have been the heel of that match, eliminating Bryan, dumping a couple other popular faces. He was the right guy to get that opportunity and they blew it there as well.
Maybe they should bring Patterson back in just to book this match. Or make the bookers watch the previous Rumbles.
Anyway TV tonight
RAW Live from Stamford Studios!
NHL still on All-Star Break, only 5 NBA games as two were postponed.
Australian Open tennis is getting to the Round of 16/quarterfinals.
Super Bowl coverage as the New England Deflatriots continue to proclaim innocence.
New Gotham, etc. etc.
Tonight's Independent Lens documentary is on Sex Trafficking.
Enjoy and keep is somewhat clean!
#Snowmageddon2015 claims another one!
Well not here in Florida where I'm currently shivering with these temperatures in the low 60s. Thank god for the sunshine.
Rumble last night. First and foremost the title 3-way was tremendous stuff. All three guys brought their best games and really tried to tear the house down. Seeing a Phoenix Splash for the first time was pretty incredible too. I enjoyed pretty much every aspect of that match, especially the way Rollins and Cena resorted to doing anything possible to stop Brock. It was great action and a fun story of survival.
The Rumble itself...all right I'm in the crowd that is fine with Reigns winning. The execution of the win was atrocious. Between the Rock save and the return of Rusev (it was cute when Santino did it but it shouldn't be something tried every couple of years) everything felt flat. A classic case of doing too much when they just should have stuck with him winning in the most logical way they could. Yes the fans were going to be upset if Bryan didn't win. Fans have had their favorites lose Rumbles in the past. And running in a town like Philly is always a little unpredictable so you can't necessarily cater to that crowd's wants and needs because like some e-mailer suggested they might have been cool with Zack Ryder winning.
There were good things in the Rumble. The Bubba Ray/R-Truth stuff was fun. I thought Bray Wyatt worked his ass off as the iron man and they completely botched what should have been a significant elimination.
The bad is far more numerous. Again no issue with Reigns winning or Bryan being eliminated but being dumped at the halfway mark was stupid. Pat Patterson tried booking it with Hogan in 1989 and saw the match energy drain and never made the same mistake again with a dominate fan favorite. Even if Bryan isn't winning, his elimination has to be significant and someone has to be in a position to get serious heel heat off of it. In my opinion they gave Kane and Big Show the spot that Rusev should have been in. We'll do a quick rebook to draw out my thoughts:
Final Eight: Bryan, Wyatt, Rusev, Ziggler, Kane, Big Show, Ambrose, Reigns
Ziggler enters number 30 and hits his big moves, gets stopped by Kane on a chokeslam attempt, kicks him low and hits the fameasser. Kane gets up staggers to the ropes and is eliminated on a Dolph super kick. Down to seven.
Wyatt and Reigns are fighting in a corner over an elimination. Ambrose and Bryan are working on Big Show. Rusev knocks down Dolph with a closeline. Ambrose and Bryan get Show off his feet and Ambrose goes for Dirty Deeds and gets eliminated when Show blocks it and flips him over his shoulder. Bryan starts a kick combo on Show, ducks a knockout punch and kicks him in the face to send him staggering to the ropes. Bryan hits the running knee to eliminate show and turns into kick by Rusev that sends him to a shocking elimination.
Ziggler, Reigns, Wyatt and Rusev are your final four. They pair off in traditional face-heel sides with Ziggler and Wyatt fighting in one corner and Rusev-Reigns in the other. And from there I would probably have Wyatt eliminating Ziggler off a counter for the fameasser and doing a 2-on-1 short segment with some heel miscommunication, Reigns eliminates Wyatt first and Rusev last to win.
Is the crowd going to go apeshit crazy for Reigns? Probably not, but Rusev eliminating Bryan should have shifted a lot of heel heat on him and got the crowd eager to see him eliminated. Wyatt eliminating Ziggler should have shifted heat on him too. So Reigns looks more favorable in the end.
Maybe my biggest problem was beyond Reigns they had the chance to really cement Rusev as top heel too and they failed on that end. I thought Rusev really should have been the heel of that match, eliminating Bryan, dumping a couple other popular faces. He was the right guy to get that opportunity and they blew it there as well.
Maybe they should bring Patterson back in just to book this match. Or make the bookers watch the previous Rumbles.
Anyway TV tonight
RAW Live from Stamford Studios!
NHL still on All-Star Break, only 5 NBA games as two were postponed.
Australian Open tennis is getting to the Round of 16/quarterfinals.
Super Bowl coverage as the New England Deflatriots continue to proclaim innocence.
New Gotham, etc. etc.
Tonight's Independent Lens documentary is on Sex Trafficking.
Enjoy and keep is somewhat clean!