kingjames

Hot take - Wade Barrett's best comparison is an English version of Mr. Perfect, if you switch out "technical wizardry" for "brawler with some power moves" and remove the drug abuse, but keep the promo ability and inability to remain uninjured.

Hasn't Barrett been injured for long stretches of time? I mean, WWE creative has been terrible in pushing guys, but I can remember him having a decent amount of heat in midcard runs, only to get put back on the shelf. I can understand, given his health history, why you wouldn't pull the trigger on Barrett doing anything of importance, given he seems to get injured inordinately often, even by pro wrestling standards. It's a damn shame, because he has all the upsides you mentioned. But I can understand feeling like his health is too big a liability to push him. Happens all the time in unscripted athletics, where you see teams passing over a guy because you want consistency and reliability you can make plans around instead of a brilliant talent who you build on that goes down and leaves you without a viable Plan B. Maybe he's just been extraordinarily unlucky, who knows? But from a risk/reward standpoint, if I'm the biggest company in the world in my business and have my pick of whatever workers I want, why take the risk when you have other talented people available? Wherever he winds up, I hope he succeeds and his body holds up.

I love the Vaudevillians, SO MUCH, but there is no way in hell they ever get that gimmick over to a mainstream audience. Aiden English is an amazing worker, and god he can sell, which means I think his destiny has always been that of what Stan Hansen called "carpenters" - the guys who build up the big stars. We toss around "jobber" when the fact is you need people to job to build a company. I hope he & Gotch have long careers putting guys over, have a cult following enough to sell some t-shirts & make a little merch money, and have an occasional Barry Horowitz push here and there. And even if they always lose, I will still love their shtick & respect them. Corbin is one of the few guys in NXT to be solid in-ring (he's made a TON of progress in the last year) and still draw legit heat. He's WWE-sized and with the looming retirements of Taker, Kane & Show, there's a "big man" role opening for him to thrive in. His promo game since the double-submission tap out has really come along, with the promo on the episode before Takeover being one I'll remember years from now. He's sneaky athletic like late-90s Kane & Taker, as well. I think he's got a decent shot at making it over to at least an upper-midcard, occasional title-shot without the outcome being too obvious kind of guy, with a potential #1 or 2 heel in the company position not being completely out of the picture.

A couple of moments bumping it above mediocrity is still forward progress in my book. I'm waiting on Crews before I call it pointless. I can easily see him in an IC title program against Miz, because Miz's main function is to act as a midcard heel gatekeeper, a function I think he is actually quite good at. You need those second tier guys who can help elevate a new guy up the card, and Miz being one of those guys strikes me as a fantastic use of a useful performer with a limited upper ceiling. Which makes me think the Ryder win/loss wasn't entirely pointless. If you want to get the IC strap off Owens without Owens getting pinned, the ladder match was decent. You have a WrestleMania surprise win, and more importantly, a reward to Ryder for sticking it out and being willing to go to NXT to help develop a high upside but very raw worker in Mojo Rawley. I saw the win for Ryder as a thank you & WrestleMania moment that can never be taken away. Also, if they are willing to acknowledge the Ryder/Emma relationship, the Miz win opens a parallel Ryder & Emma/Miz & Maryse feud, which could be a decent way to get more than one story involving a woman going at a time, if Maryse can still go. We know Emma can help carry her if need be. The NXT women's division is still reloading after the ascent of Charlotte, Sasha and Becky, and likely Emma, too. I think they have to keep Bayley around for at least a little while longer to help get the next wave of NXT women ready, or at least until you can build someone up enough to be more than a jobber squash for Asuka. I mean, you're not wrong because you can't be wrong, this is all opinion & personal preference. I guess I am just feeling slightly more, and more importantly, cautiously optimistic that the Mania main event represented the nadir from which an upswing can rise. I understand anyone who lacks that optimism, though, as past performance remains the best predictor of the future.

That's spooky good AI, because that sounds exactly like the kind of douche move KO would pull to keep a title. And then he'd justify it and make it your fault! Note, I use "douche" here as a way of saying how much I enjoy Kevin Owens' immense skill as a heel performer

You know, I doubt NXT makes a profit of note, and it seems possible it might lose money. So if awkward, middling WrestleManias subsidize outstanding NXT Takeovers, then sure, why not? I got my thrills on Friday, Sunday having things worth watching (which it had some) was a bonus.

<p>Anyone calling this the worst WrestleMania of all time didn't suffer through late Hulkamania/New Generation WrestleManias. Woof, those were awful.</p><p> </p><p> I thought the show was decent, not great, and last two segments were particularly poor. I cannot imagine how they salvage the Wyatt Family after tonight, and they did so to put over a 40+ ex-wrestler and the company ace who's over as can be, love or hate him? I thought it was another example of the WWE showing us, as an audience, that the new product and performers are insignificant and weak, which is an ongoing theme in WWE booking, and one that seems like it hurts the product long term for a questionable payoff.</p><p> </p><p> The Reigns victory needed to happen to get it out of the way, but I don't know that I have seen a match so utterly rejected by the audience since crowds chanted for Rocky to die. Either they were muting the audience because they were booing or that crowd was dead for the main event. There was just no heat in that match except for boos for Roman, outside of the Steph spear. I just wonder how long the WWE can actively fight their audience.</p><p> </p><p> I think the problem with the build to this match is that they positioned Roman as the anti-corporate, anti-authority man, but the fans see him *as* the corporate-ordained champion. It lacks sincerity, and as dumb as WWE thinks its audiences are, they are not so dumb as to not be able to tell when someone is insincere. The way they've booked Roman is shameful. He's a much better performer than he gets credit for, even if he should generally stay away from the mic, but the way they've booked him has done him no favors - negative favors!</p><p> </p><p> Still, rest of the card was okay to pretty good, in my opinion. Whether you like work rate or heat as the measure of a show, I think this was a WrestleMania that started strong, stayed at least average through most the show, and dropped off sharply at the end.</p>

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the advice and perspectives. I had a lot of time over the last week which I don't think I'll have quite as much, so I think the posting schedule is probably going to be something every 2-3 days from here on in. Good point about not making it a job, BMS - I've got so many games of TEW 2013 I started and found not being able to share with other people what was going on and geeking out about it with other people definitely resulted in a lot of games getting abandoned. But if it felt like a job it'd definitely also not be fun to do any more. I've also taken your advice before you gave it, and have played out ahead. I keep notes after every show, so I don't lose anything, which means I get around to writing when I can. There are a lot of really interesting diaries running right now. I hope you all don't mind me doing what any good wrestler does, which is steal the crap out of great stuff other people are doing and make it my own I just wanted to give the shout out and thanks here because I've already definitely lifted things here and there from the people on this forum who are damned good at these diaries!

What is a reasonable posting schedule for a diary? I play, and write, fairly quickly. I could do one a day most weekdays, honestly, maybe more on a weekend day. That said, I don't want to spam the forums. Nor do I want to lose anyone who might want to follow but feels crushed by a tsunami of posts. What do you all think I should do?

<p>CGC Diary?</p><p> </p><p> Been a lurker for a very long time, and started up TEW 2013 again juuuuust in time for the announcement of TEW 2016. Been thinking of writing up a narrative about an angle for Canadian Golden Combat, where Trent Shaffer creates a new stable based on the idea of being sick and tired of the Elite and the DeColts hogging all the spotlight (I admit I have been riding that feud <strong>hard</strong> to get ratings). This new stable forces the DeColt family and the Elite to do an enemy mine and come together to fight off this upstart threat. I'm thinking of setting it up to be nearly a year's run, from the ending of the DeColt WrestleFestival's Day 2 through to the next year's DeColt WrestleFestival Day 2. Wouldn't hotshot directly into the feud, probably wait until the In the Company of Legends PPV for things to really get hot.</p><p> </p><p> Would anyone have any interest in this diary? Or is TEW 2016 being the new hotness (I mean that seriously, I am stoked for it to come out) mean that I ought to wait and do my first diary once it's out?</p>