Nice!
Did you have fun?
Who do you think got the biggest pop of the night?

Good/Bad news regarding this week's numbers. The good being it was higher than last week by 50k and higher than same week last year. The bad being 3rd hour was under 3 million for a Road to Mania show.

Rankings wise, it took the top 3 spots for cable.

In terms of actual ratings, it was slightly down from last week with a 2.13

Yeah! I had a good time. The biggest reactions were definitely for Cena, Strowman, and Reigns. Rollins was surprisingly very popular. I saw an ungodly amount of people wearing his latest t-shirt. Also, Asuka got a huge reaction for the dark match.

Elias generated a lot of heat and I remember it getting very difficult to hear what was going on. The crowd could see Strowman waiting on the stage and lost their collective minds.

Sounded quiet.

You ever think that maybe crowds were louder in the Attitude Era because everyone was drunk?

/Having more fun. Sure.

Maybe people actually watched wrestling because they were all perpetually drunk on a Monday too?

A modern day product aimed at kids probably doesn't have the same rowdiness level.

/Isn't as over.

My friend and I were participating in the "John Cena sucks" chants during his entrance and a little kid looked at us with her sad puppy eyes. I couldn't continue after that.

I definitely heard loud cheers when Elias was in the middle of his thing due to Braun coming out and setting up at the top of the ramp.

I think the standard for loud has changed.

That's what the fuck I was saying.

You're apologizing for it. I'm critiquing it.

Seriously sick of hearing how much "heat" a guy like Jinder Mahal gets, playing a clip and hearing crickets. Or the same with how "hot" a babyface is. It's relative to being in the bubble.

I don't think there's as much of a "noise" correlation as you're letting on. I can watch an entire comedic film and think it's hilarious without ever laughing out loud once, so to speak.

That's pretty common when you're watching something alone. But when you're watching with friends or in a cinema, it's a little different. Sporting and entertainment events are occasions where people can get together and join in some mutual cathartic noise-making. It's not exactly quiet at a concert that attracts younger audiences. I just think the product is cold and not very engaging.

I like to pretend I'm alone when I'm at wrestling shows, as to not be associated with the unwashed masses.

Ha, just looking into an NXT crowd makes me agree with you.

Wait do they not sell alcohol at WWE now? Fuck I planned on getting hammered at wrestlemania so I could at least have an enjoyable time

They do sell beer. The lady sitting next to me was sloshed and very "touchy-feely".

Ryback was able to get legit pops. Until, you know, they decided he should be a jobber.

Watching that insane reaction he got when he first got his hands on CM Punk that one night just makes me sad now.

I think the bubble was eventually going to burst with Ryback anyway. He wasn't very good. That being said, I kind of miss him a little bit, and I can't believe I'm saying that.

Ryback was amazing. He was perfect in his role.

He always felt inorganic to me. Clunky. Like he wasn't up to his push and didn't have the charisma or intensity needed to go along with the look. The booking around him was fucked. By the time they turned him heel he was done.

Oh he was pushed to soon no doubt but the crowd loved him. He will probably have the last legit pop of WWE.

A lot of it had to do with WWE panicking once Cena got hurt and him only filling in for Cena instead of having a legit main event push. He pretty much was like Ziggler post-Survivor Series 2014 for his big push being just smoke and mirrors.

Probably needed another 6 months to a year in the midcard to develop into real long term big star. Turning him heel was a good idea but WWE killed off all its potential by just feeding him to Cena.

Ryback was fucking awesome. Once he got the past the Goldberg chants and started getting himself over he was good to go. The rush into the main event sceneb jobbing him to Punk, the SHIELD, Mark Henry then Cena did him zero good. He never recovered from that.

Whenever they talk about Braun they probably say "let's not screw him up like Ryback"

The debut of the shield was beginning of the end for Ryback.

LOLOLOL that's amazing

ABT I'm sorry man but atmosphere is so important to a wrestling product, drunk or sober, kids or adults.

I actually always thought the Punk match was perfect. He no longer had to carry the Goldberg "undefeated streak" cross but still looked unbeatable because of how it happened and looked like a badass standing on top of the cell over Punk to end the PPV. Meanwhile it gave him a good, seemless out from the title picture since he could focus on getting his hands on and murdering Brad Maddox for a while instead.

Everything after that though... Jesus...

The first match yes. That should've been it. But he jobbed to via shenanigans a few times after that that right? It was the beginning of his end. Which is sad because he was legit over.

But the thing is: The Shield were instantly more interesting and appeared to have a much better upside. If you could only push one entity, I don't think there's much disputing that The Shield were the better option. I mean, you could have kept them separate and whatever, but that just highlights the level that Ryback was not at.

Him losing to Mark Henry at WrestleMania 29 was extremely questionable.

Ryback's ceiling was WAY higher than Rollins and Ambrose. He was a potential "face of the company" mainstream star. Neither of them have that value. Reigns seemed like he may have had that potential but it didn't really pan out.

The Shield were being booked perfectly though. They could have gone over Cena but they didn't need to go over Ryback. It didn't do much more for them and it did a TON to fuck up Ryback. Especially when you consider The Shield's first loss was to Christian and The Usos on a random Smackdown. lol

As far as the Mark Henry loss... What the fuck...

It would be bad enough if they just pushed him to the moon, got the exact response from it they wanted and then some by having even smark crowds fall in love with him, and then reacted by saying "Nah, nevermind" and just burying him.

But they job him clean to Mark Henry AND THEN PUT HIM IN A WORLD TITLE PROGRAM AGAINST JOHN CENA THE VERY NEXT NIGHT.

If there was ever an example needed that WWE doesn't know what the fuck they're doing on a weekly basis anymore, it's that. It's insane how horribly backwards and counterproductive that was.

Yes they were more interesting. There were 3 of them and doing things no one else was doing for a long time. But no, there upside wasn't anywhere near Ryback. Ryback should have been the next face of the company for a decade. WWE blew it though.

Ryback was more green than the Shield but that obviously didn't matter to everyone clamoring for THE RYBACK.