Rhymes with penis.

I thought Val was an alright wrestler, with a great look and a terrible gimmick. Val Venis is fine for a mid card but it will only ever be a mid-card (look how ricky rude got stuck in the upper mid card) and Venis was no Rick Rude.

I think they could have done better with him, I think he did as well as he could with the gimmick.

Regarding Shane's theme music. Dante will remember better I am sure but I think Shane "left" to buy WCW before the merger and that was the point he adopted Money Money Money as he had a rivalry with Vince and the WWF in general.

I think he did main event wcw for a while. But his brief top line feud with warrior went nowhere. I think the rumour was hogan wouldn't even step in the ring with him because he had a reputationof being a bit of a stiff bastard (also a genuine hard man by all accounts)

Great stuff this...

I thought Summerslam was poor overall. Most of the matches flat out bored me (even the ones that looked promising on paper). I thought Orton v McIntyre was great once it got going, but like you say Fiend v Strowman was so pedestrian I actually fell asleep during it, then woke up for the stuff at the end which was enjoyable.
The Thunderdome is a good step up from the performance centre visually, but to me, the amount of money they must have sunk into that suggests they don't think they're getting the crowds back in anytime soon.

Yeah, I enjoyed the shenanigans, but that was the wrong feud to crowbar it into.

Shouldn't be a surprise, he's great entertainment.

So obvioulsy he's on Raw Underground.

For the most part. The main event was an absolute trashfire which further confirmed that the WWE absolutely do not understand what they have with The Fiend. Every other match was solid at worst, and Keith Lee was made to look like such a superstar it's almost exciting trying to predict what they will do to waste him.

Main event:

Diluted Dante wrote:

Main event:

Spoiler:

It was won by a man who didn't sign the contract for the match until 10 minutes after it started, entering after a ring collapse spot with the smallest weight we've yet seen, and got the pin by kicking a unstoppable supernatural force in the dick.

Well, I'm glad I dont follow it anymore.

Re: The Fiend - I think he'd be a great comic or film villain but I think he put me off the whole thing.

If you use him right ie not as just another wrestler he should be great. The problem is that whilst Bray and the designer are on the exact same wavelength, the writers and bookers haven't got a fucking clue. The Fiend (and Bray himself tbh) work best on long term planning with callbacks. Few wrestlers build a mythology. Vince has been presented with the god damn Undertaker 2, but because he personally doesn't understand the appeal he fucks it off if it's not instant fucking millions. It's infuriating.

As said though, the womens tag match was absolutely stellar. Shayna Bazler has become a wrestler, as weird as it sounds. Her and Nia's "original odd couple" gimmick looks like it's gold to me, and Bayley and Sasha continue to prove that they're two of the best in the world.

g.man wrote:

I like The Fiend, but he's potentially problematic because if you give him the belt, then where do you go from there? If he's an unstoppable supernatural force, then who is going to best him? How does it keep his narrative interesting. With regards to last night's main event at Payback...

Spoiler:

I thought it was a good compromise. The Fiend didn't lose face because RR pinned Strowman to take the belt, whereas it boosted RR's "OMG! has he turned heel?" return by having him low-blow The Fiend to momentarily incapacitate him while he pinned Strowman. It was an elegant solution to a potentially difficult narrative situation.

Given that you were bringing Roman back the answer is you... don't give it to him. But since they did:

Diluted Dante wrote:

If you use him right ie not as just another wrestler he should be great. The problem is that whilst Bray and the designer are on the exact same wavelength, the writers and bookers haven't got a fucking clue. The Fiend (and Bray himself tbh) work best on long term planning with callbacks. Few wrestlers build a mythology. Vince has been presented with the god damn Undertaker 2, but because he personally doesn't understand the appeal he fucks it off if it's not instant fucking millions. It's infuriating. As said though, the womens tag match was absolutely stellar. Shayna Bazler has become a wrestler, as weird as it sounds. Her and Nia's "original odd couple" gimmick looks like it's gold to me, and Bayley and Sasha continue to prove that they're two of the best in the world.

I get the Taker 2 thing. But Taker wasnt as OTT as Fiend from what I've seen. 

Just a thing though - in your spoiler you said they could use the Fiends ability to teleport as a thing? Like thats a reasonable thing? That shit just doesnt work for me in wrestling. Wrestling for me works best if its larger than life but still grounded somewhat. I never really liked when they went too off the wall with undertaker back in the day and it really doesnt appeal to me with the Fiend. Just a personal thing, but I dont think the Fiend would bring me back to the WWE at the moment. 

I love the idea that Bray has gone insane and believes that being the Fiend makes him immortal or something but I dont think bringing actually fantasy elements into wrestling works. Its a bit the same with Finn Balor. If its part of the wrestlers way of psyching themselves up, it makes sense. If it actually means they've become a kind of superhero or villain though... nah.

Its still real to me dammit.