Brock Lesnar vs Fandango at SummerSlam

Exactly. Make the F5 kickout a once in a while thing. The ending made Joe look like he's not on Brocks level. They were doing it great until the ending. This only leaves Reigns as a guy who is on Brocks level and I hope they reconsider their WM main event next year.

Michael Cole acting shocked every time someone kicks out of one finisher doesn't help either.

I've fantasy booked this multiple times...

I'm curious on this, because I'm only passingly familiar with puro--more for a lack of time than anything else. I know some finishers, like the Rainmaker, get thrown around like crazy and aren't exactly an auto-pin--or at least that's the impression I'm under--which is what I assume you mean by "aren't magic.'" What's different about that than WWE spamming finishers?

Just legitimately curious what the subtleties are.

It's up there with Vinces "1-2-he got em."

But was it a title unification match?

You mean like when Okada hit kenny with like 20 rainmakers?

For all the titles. And then WWE shuts down afterward because it will never get better than Fandango winning all the titles.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So I'm sitting in catering then next thing I know I'm semi-main eventing the 1st ever <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@WWE</a> GREAT BALLS OF FIRE. This business is crazy. FACT</p>&mdash; Brian Myers (@TheCurtHawkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheCurtHawkins/status/884246479988293632">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The dif is the audience. Here finishers are magic. You get hit and then you die for 3 seconds. The bell revives you and you live again. In puro the moves are just moves. Like a boxer having an effective left hook. He wins a lot of fights with it but he lands plenty along the way. Or maybe it only takes one. In puro he last move doesnt beat you, every move along the way beats you. The last move is just the last move.

One is steeped in fantasy, the other in reality.

Both are fine though, its all about what the audience buys into.

That's a good clarification and a subtlety that's pretty easy to gloss over.

Puro is more dramatic imo. Every move has drama. In the western psychology only 2 to 4 moves a match have real drama.

I think that's fair from the handful of puro matches I've seen recently. I don't think the two are necessary mutually exclusive, but I appreciate the war of attrition style more than one-hit KOs too. Mostly just worried about the time investment to dive into NJPW/etc.

Fun show--mostly because it felt like shit actually happened, which has been the big weak point for most WWE shows, weekly or otherwise, as of late. Lots of potential interesting stuff that can crop up tomorrow, including finding out whether or not I'm right about that actually being a double turn.

See you all tomorrow, probably. I'll be finding out in the afternoon/evening whether or not my quarter-million dollar offer on a house is being accepted (spoiler: probably not), so there's a non-zero chance I'm going to drink myself to death in a gutter somewhere before Raw. WHO KNOWS!

Overall, that the most fun I've ever had at a WWE event, even more so than WrestleMania 32.

Once i get through my WCW run on the network im prob dropping my subscription in favor of njpw world

I mean...

It was Wrestlemania 32...

Think the sheets hinted at least since the Orton match about the WWE treats his matches like MMA fights now. Lets them have shorter big matches for Lesnar and play into his Beast persona more than if he just had long matches or kickout fests.

Did a quick check and Royal Rumble 2015 was the last time he had a match go 20+ minutes.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Seven Deities must be alerted to <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND">@MATTHARDYBRAND</a> condition... <a href="https://t.co/bByX4ENB4m">pic.twitter.com/bByX4ENB4m</a></p>&mdash; TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/884221651839332358">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Things did not end well the last time <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND">@MATTHARDYBRAND</a> tasted his own blood. <br><br>Or did they.. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GreatBallsOfFire?src=hash">#GreatBallsOfFire</a></p>&mdash; Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) <a href="https://twitter.com/RebyHardy/status/884229807910797312">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Sounds like a pretty solid show, if not spectacular. Odd that they put Heath Slater vs. Curt Hawkins on the show instead of Balor vs. Samson.

Seems weird that Enzo and Cass only debuted on the main roster in April 2016... feels like at least 2.5 years ago

They were in NXT forever, the creative team was Lifehouse "Hanging by a moment" that their time there would suffice this break-up angle that this generation hasn't seen since uhh,,, ahhh,,, everyone is breaking up, love is defeated

I get the feeling Reigns-Lesnar at Summer Slam will end with Braun interfering (since he's clearly not finished with him) and we'll get Reigns-Lesnar at Summer Slam AND WrestleMania.

I really feel so bad for Slater and Hawkins. Nobody should have been put in that spot, not even the biggest jobber on the roster. They somehow managed to bury Hawkins in a worse manner than his weekly two minute squash matches ever did. And Slater's been getting genuinely over of late only for them to treat his match like it meant absolutely nothing and not even show it. The announcers went as far as saying their match was just to fill time. And not one person in the arena kept watching them once the ambulance was shown on the tron again. That sure makes them look great.

It was just so unnecessary. They should've just kept the cameras backstage the whole time rather than running actual wrestlers out there to drown.

I swear to any gods old and new; somebody HAS to photoshop a matador bullfighting cape onto a gif of the finish of the Strowman/Reigns match!

I am not stoked about the NXT TakeOver special or the possibility of Reigns-Lesnar at Summerslam. That being said, I'd rather watch Cena versus Reigns at next year's Mania since that is clearly the bigger matchup.

If finishers typically finished people in one shot, it would have made sense for Joe to kick out, to build him up with a rare exception. As it stands though, they use the japanese style of multiple finishers without understanding why its done that way over there. So having a finisher that actually does the job in one, is a breath of fresh air. Its honestly part of the reason I like Corbin.

Like the commentators said, Joe just got caught. I thought it was good for the typical 5 minute lesnar slugfest, and made Joe look like a beast. Regardless of the cheap shot at the start, to be able to make someone like Lesnar look that weak, that fast makes Joe look strong.

You take your bad juju and get the fuck out.

Just preparing everyone for a WrestleMania card consisting of Reigns vs Lesnar and Cena vs Baron Corbin or something.

What's the quota on things not PG the writers get? Attempted murder via ambulance crash and leaving the scene of a crime...very rolemodelish, Roman.

Do they get more leeway for PPVs? Broken Open Matt Hardy..

On paper, the idea sounded great since it was Angle trying to get everyone distracted from the heinous incident Reigns had just committed and to keep the show going on as scheduled.

WWE completely botched the idea with the split-screen stuff and playing ambulance sounds which made the crowd focus right back on the backstage stuff. Didn't even bother to show the finish of the match since not even they cared about it.

I don't know. They censored Brock Lesnar saying "bitch". Didn't censor the "punk-ass" before it though.

lolwwe

They're rodeo clowns, dammit

Sorry for not being able to meet up again SLIK, my stepfather falling 16 ft off a ladder(mom said 12 first, then my stepdad who resembles Kane boasted a 16ft drop) took precedence. Jesus to the hell, heels aren't supposed to unveil their weak shit family moments, but that's why the asshole from the Texas centerpole wasn't there.

I hope he will be ok!!

HOW DO YOU LEARN TO FALL OFF A 20 FOOT LADDER?

HE MUST BE BROKEN IN HALF, BAH GAWD

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For those of you asking, <a href="https://twitter.com/HeathSlaterOMRB">@HeathSlaterOMRB</a> defeated me last night with a Canadian Destroyer off the top. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEGreatBallsOfFire?src=hash">#WWEGreatBallsOfFire</a></p>&mdash; Brian Myers (@TheCurtHawkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheCurtHawkins/status/884503930490826752">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Wouldn't surprise me. Not even that bummed out by Brock vs. Reigns at this point. It's obvious that Brock is the babyface and Reigns is the heel. Reigns has that potential to develop into a star if they stop trying to get him to play against his instincts.