Monday Night RAW: Shane Should Be In Charge for Realsies

Last night's RAW left me as optimistic about WWE's main roster as I've been in probably two years.  For the first time in 2016 RAW had a sense of urgency, like Creative actually gave a shit about what they were churning out.  I have to think Shane McMahon was contributing offscreen as well as on, because it makes no sense otherwise that a creative team demonstrating nothing but cosmic ineptitude for months suddenly becomes competent again simply based on this week's pretend authority figure.  Leave aside the fact that Shane being in charge onscreen makes zero sense and renders his entire two-month angle with The Undertaker meaningless, and that The Wyatts and The League of Nations have no reason to dislike each other.  This was easily the most entertaining RAW so far this year, and if Shane was indeed in on the Creative for this show, he needs to be given much more rope going forward.

First off, this show had three very good matches, one of which was easily PPV quality.

AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn was in my estimation AJ's best WWE match to date, proving wrong any doubters who thought he'd have trouble adjusting to the 'E style.  It certainly didn't hurt that he was in there with Zayn, who's become one of the best in-ring talents in the entire organization, but AJ looked like a major player here, right at home in McMahon's ring.  AJ definitely should've won at WrestleMania, but in the past eight days he's been booked with tremendous momentum and I'm sure at Payback he'll come off as a major threat to Roman's Empire.

Another standout match was Charlotte vs. Natalya; no surprise given the quality of their previous bouts.  Nattie was over HUGE, by the way.  The crowd went nuts when it looked like she won the belt.  Nice to see such a hot crowd for the women.  I assume based on Nattie's DQ win that she'll get another crack at the PPV, and that should be a classic.  No sign of Sasha or Becky, so I'm not sure what the plan is there.  I'm hoping they keep Sasha chasing Charlotte till SummerSlam so she can get a huge victory in Brooklyn.

The third good match was Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro for a shot at Miz's I-C belt.  This was another fine contest with two laugh-out-loud Owens moments.  The first was when Owens had Cesaro in a headlock and screamed, "I have the best headlocks!  Headlock master!"  I desperately hope this turns into a crowd chant and/or a T-shirt.  The other occurred when Owens rolled out of the ring in frustration, swatted JBL's hat off the commentators' table, and then picked it up for him, saying "I got carried away John."  Byron Saxton said something to JBL about the exchange, and JBL calmly replied, "Kevin Owens is a nice person.  He's a gentleman, Byron."  Cracked me up.  Anywho, Cesaro won the match and is now in line for a shot at The Miz.

Music Review: Deftones - Gore

by Dan Moore

@SouthieDanimal

With their 8th studio album in 28 years, Deftones continues to dish out solid albums and ear-bleeding tunes. Their newest, Gore, is no exception. Trying to top 2012’s masterful Koi No Yokan is almost impossible, but they give it a good try with this newest effort. From beginning to end, this album is what you’d come to expect from Deftones output. Crunching guitar riffs, haunting vocals from frontman Chino Moreno and his trademark cryptic lyrics. Whereas Koi No Yokan seemed to be one long excellent track, there’s a distinct separation between songs on this release. They go from the epic guitar and chorus of "Prayers/Triangles" to the long form "Acid Hologram" followed by the screaming on "Doomed User." They all work together to form an excellent beginning to the album.

The band continues to be lumped in with the nu-metal craze from the 90s, but they’re so much more than that. They’ve evolved past that generalization and into their own genre of music. I’ll call it a mix of ambient sounds and rock. Look no further than "Xenon" on this album, and try to tell me that’s a nu-metal song. It’s a sound unlike any Deftones song that’s come before it. A truly unique tune amidst their entire catalog.

Deftones performing at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion Aug 1, 2015.
This show left me legless as it rocked off the bottom part of my body. 

It’s not as cohesive as previous efforts, as it will go from quiet anguish to truly jarring loud guitar work. It’s a bit of a wandering effort when that happens. It takes you out of the moment as you have to reconfigure your brains from being pleasantly attacked with Chino’s melodies to being punched in the face with huge guitar riffs. At times it’s a good thing. But it hurts the flow of the album overall.

This album shifts from being overly dependent on Stephen Carpenter’s guitar work to mixing in a lot more of Frank Delgado’s electronics work. The result is a dreamier quality to the songs than ever before, but it's also quite dark and sinister sounding. A beautiful nightmare, if you will.

I’ve been a huge Deftones fan from the beginning, and this album proves they still have it. They’re at the top their game once again. Though not as good as the previous Koi No Yokan (and it should go without saying, nothing will top their truly exquisite masterpiece, 2000’s White Pony), Gore continues the outstanding string of albums Deftones has produced. They show no signs of slowing down.

Pro Wrestling: A Mark's History, part 28 (The Horrifying Death of Chris Benoit)

2007 was the year I became a Ring of Honor fanatic.  I started the year by attending a live show (Dedicated) which featured a pretty damn good Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness match, plus a host of other fun bouts (Davey Richards vs. Rocky Romero, a wild mixed tag where Daizee Haze was legit rammed head-first into the post and sprouted a potato from her forehead, and a fine Briscoes vs. Aries & Strong 2/3 falls main event).  While there were certainly much stronger ROH shows, the action was so crisp and had such a sense of urgency WWE lacked that I was blown away by this experience.  I'd been to two ROH shows in 2003 but this one felt like a much more well-rounded package and the action was relentless.

At intermission I picked up four ROH DVDs, largely with the intent of finally checking out some of Bryan Danielson's work.  I'd read glowing things about him for months and was quite intrigued to see what all the fuss was about.  I went with Main Event Spectacles (featuring Danielson vs. AJ Styles), Fight of the Century and Irresistable Forces (both headlined by Danielson vs. Joe), and of course I had to pick up the ROH show that generated unprecedented internet buzz and singlehandedly jumpstarted their DVD business, Joe vs. Kobashi.  I watched all four in short order and was shocked by two things.  The first was that Kobashi was not a diminutive high-flying wrestler as I'd pictured (I knew nothing about the man prior to this), but a brawny slugger who could trade brutal power moves with Joe, leading to one of the best ROH matches of all time.  The other shocker was Danielson, who I'd also pictured as an aerial wrestler, but whose style owed more to William Regal and Ric Flair.  This was a consummate mat technician who seemingly knew more holds and counters than anyone since Lou Thesz.  Danielson's grappling-heavy matches with Joe and AJ were a huge breath of fresh air at a time when WWE relied heavily on gimmick matches and outmoded Attitude Era tropes.  Right away I couldn't wait to absorb as much ROH as I could find.  Within a few months they'd become my favorite wrestling promotion by far.

Goddamn this was great

In WWE the two big feuds were John Cena vs. Umaga about which I was less than interested, and the reunited DX, Triple H and Shawn Michaels (who'd spent much of 2006 feebly trying to reprise their 1997 comedy schtick despite now being 37 and 41 respectively, and feuding interminably with Vince & Shane McMahon) against the exciting new heel team of Randy Orton and Edge, or Rated RKO.  I loved this pairing of the company's top two heels, but unfortunately they were booked as DX punching bags for much of the rivalry.  The plan for WrestleMania 23 was a rematch of 'Mania 22's headliner, Cena vs. Triple H.  Holy jeezus this idea bored the shit outta me.  I wasn't all that impressed by their first go-round and certainly didn't need to see it again.  But Hunter tore his quad for the second time at the New Year's Revolution PPV, and Plan B was put into action.  This involved Shawn Michaels stepping in to take Hunter's place, and it would also mean the dissolving of DX (Thank Christ!).

The Royal Rumble was bafflingly referred to as "the most star-studded Rumble of all time," which is guffaw-inducing if one takes even a cursory glance at the lineup.  Go ahead and look it up on Wikipedia, I'll wait......  After a very lackluster show which included the overrated Cena-Umaga Last Man Standing match to blow off their feud, the Rumble itself boiled down to Shawn vs. Undertaker, and this would prove to be the one outstanding segment of the show.  Shawn and Taker traded near-eliminations for several minutes, unknowingly foreshadowing their future pair of WrestleMania classics.  Taker eventually got the win, but I couldn't help lamenting that the two World Title challengers at WrestleMania were both over 40.  WWE desperately needed to start building for the future, and the only guys getting real opportunities were surefire non-starters like Umaga, Bobby Lashley, Chris Masters, and Mr. Kennedy.  I really thought it should've been CM Punk getting the Rumble win and a main event push, given how over he was and how far ahead of Vince's pack of favorites.

The one good part of Rumble '07

In TNA they'd already screwed up just about everything they'd been doing well.  Kurt Angle beat Samoa Joe in a rubber match that January and became an immediate fixture in the World Title picture, while Joe languished as an upper-midcard gatekeeper.  TNA began importing even more former WWE/WCW talent like Scott Steiner and Tyson Tomko while keeping their homegrown stars at arm's length from the top Championship.  This, coupled with constant screwjob finishes, cheap publicity signees like Adam "Pacman" Jones (who wasn't allowed to take bumps but was given a Tag Team Title run anyway), and bonehead gimmicks like the Reverse Battle Royal, made TNA completely unwatchable by year's end.  It was clear TNA would never be a viable WWE alternative, as their creative strategy seemed to consist of trying to "out-WWE" the actual WWE.  No, my only solace would be with Ring of Honor.

NJPW Invasion Attack 2016 Preview & Predictions

Welcome to another round of Enuffa.com PPV Predictions!  This Sunday is New Japan's latest offering, Invasion Attack!  

It's been a rough year so far for NJPW, as they've lost several of their top talents, from AJ Styles to Nakamura to the Bullet Club to Kota Ibushi.  WWE has been all over their shit of late, and New Japan is finding themselves scrambling to rebuild their roster.  Kinda reminds me of the WCW vs. WWF dynamic in early 1998.  WCW had signed away quite a few talents and the WWF had to dig deep to find stars up to the challenge of carrying the company forward.  I don't doubt New Japan will fill that void, but it may be a bumpy ride on the way.  That said, this year's Invasion Attack looks like a pretty strong show despite the thinner roster.  Let's take a look....

Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi

The first of two filler tag matches, this one pits the lower-card Bullet Club guys against Jr. Heavyweight stalwart Taguchi and former NXT talent Juice Robinson.  I don't expect anything incredible here, just a fun little opener.

My pick: Bullet Club

Kazushi Sakuraba, Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata

And here's the other warm-up match, which features the comedy of Yano mixed with the MMA of Sakuraba and Nagata.  I expect this will be better than the opener but again, nothing special.  Probably just a feel-good ending.

My pick: Team Liger

Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Evil & Bushi

Goto recently joined the Chaos stable which will hopefully reinvigorate his career.  I like the pairing of Goto and Ishii and wouldn't mind seeing them go after the Tag belts.  The Ingobernables stable needs something and I'm not sure what.  Their antics were entertaining at the beginning but I feel like they're treading water at this point.  The problem is they won't be outdoing The Bullet Club, so as long as that faction exists any other heel stables will seem weak by comparison.

My pick: Goto & Ishii

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs. Roppongi Vice

This is a tough one to pick, since WWE has apparently been courting Ricochet.  Personally I hope Ric stays in New Japan, as they can't really afford to lose more stars.  Plus I love the Sydal/Ricochet combination.  But I could see New Japan hedging their bets and taking the belts off them, just in case.  They know Romero isn't going anywhere.

My pick: RPG Vice

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Kushida vs. Will Ospreay

I'm really excited about this one.  I've yet to see Ospreay in the ring but I've heard great things.  Hopefully Ospreay will make his mark here and be one of the next guard of New Japan stars.  That said, Kushida's been an excellent Jr. Champ so far and I don't think it's time to take the belt off him yet.

My pick: Kushida

Top Ten Things: AJ Styles Matches (Pre-WWE)

Welcome to another Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  In honor of WWE newcomer AJ Styles' WrestleMania debut, I thought I'd look back at the pre-WWE career of this truly remarkable athlete. 

AJ's career dates back to 1998, when he burst on the scene in NWA Wildside before a new promotion called TNA snapped him up and made him a cornerstone in their X-Division.  Simultaneously an indie promotion known as Ring of Honor collected all the best talent from around the world, and Styles now had two prominent companies in which to make a splash.  He would create a stellar body of work in both companies, quickly earning a reputation as one of the best pound-for-pound workers in the business.  In 2014 his decade-long run in TNA was over, and he made the jump to New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he'd add a gritty, strike-based dimension to his dazzling in-ring arsenal.  In only two years AJ would amass easily a dozen Match of the Year candidates, feuding with the best stars in the company.  Then in January 2016 he'd finally sign with WWE, making a huge debut at the Royal Rumble.  In his first 18 months in WWE AJ has delivered multiple top-notch bouts and won the WWE Title, while adjusting perfectly to the WWE product.  Regardless what level of success he achieves in Titanland, one cannot deny that AJ is one of the most innovative, special talents in the history of pro wrestling, with a body of work that speaks for itself.

Here now are AJ's top ten matches, pre-WWE.....

10. Bryan Danielson vs. AJ Styles - Dissension - 1.28.06

Danielson and Styles had fought each other before, but this was the best match they ever had.  The crown jewel of ROH and the cornerstone of TNA faced each other in early 2006 in a brilliant, evenly-contested match in which Danielson repeatedly goaded Styles into losing his cool.  This match demonstrated Bryan's gift at playing the cocky heel, and after 31 minutes of tremendous back and forth, he narrowly retained the ROH Title.  I could watch these two fight all day long, and it really sucks we won't get to see this pairing in WWE.

9. Petey Williams vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin - Final Resolution

Ultimate X was a fairly goofy gimmick match, but in 2005 Williams, Styles and Sabin made it work, creating one of the best and most innovative spotfests I've ever seen.  Resisting the traditional three-way format where one guy is almost always resting while the other two duke it out, they strung together super creative spots that involved all three participants, building to a sensational climax.  An early TNA highlight.

8. AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - G1 Climax 25 Day 17

This was just EPIC.  27 minutes of exemplary storytelling with the top Block A spot hanging in the balance.  AJ's Bullet Club members were not at ringside, so there was no outside shenanigans, and the result was the best match these two have ever had together.  I was fully expecting AJ to take this one, so the suspense in the final minutes was palpable as Tanahashi hit multiple Hi-Fly Flows to win the Block.

7. AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki - G1 Climax 24 Day 7

Voted Wrestling Observer's Best Match of 2014, this pitted AJ's explosive aerial offense against Suzuki's gritty MMA attack, and the result was one helluva fight where both men's stables got involved mid-match.  Suzuki worked AJ's arm like crazy, and at one point AJ amazingly countered an armbreaker with a one-armed version of the Styles Clash before hitting the full version for the win.  Great, great match.

Music Review: Weezer - "The White Album"

by Michael Drinan
@mdrinan380

Weezer is a band that, time and again, I’ve placed high hopes and expectations on in an effort to convince myself they are a really great rock band, not just a pretty good rock band that hit it out of the park on their first two albums (“The Blue Album” and Pinkerton) and mediocrity the rest of the way. So, after being let down time and again, album after album, one could make the argument that my disappointment is self-inflicted. Maybe Weezer doesn’t want to be what I want them to be? With the release of their new self titled album, “The White Album”, it’s become clear to me that one should not expect much from Weezer, just repetition.

When listening to their latest self-titled effort, I found it be catchy, fun and melodic, almost in an ode to The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson. Each song made me tap my foot, bob my head and caused me to picture blaring this album on my car stereo in the summer with the windows down. Rivers Cuomo is known for his catchy melodies that stick in your mind, even on Weezer’s shittiest of albums. Overall, “The White Album” is a good rock/pop album and comes from a band that seems to still enjoy playing together. They sound tight and together.

This album could be a pseudo-concept album centered around the beach and California but more so on summer with Rivers going through all his experiences during the season, with the excitement and romances, the fantasies and the drugs, only to be let down at the end by declaring it an “Endless Bummer”. As inspiration for this album he used the dating app Tinder to meet different girls and learn about them and what they want,presumably, out of him. He took in his California surroundings and created stories and characters from them. He wrapped it all together into a catchy, weird teenage awkwardness. “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori” sounded like the closest callback to “The Blue Album” I’ve heard from the band. The beginning of “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” sounds like a Beach Boys song so much that if it wasn’t for Rivers’ straining to reach the high notes later in the song I might not have been able to tell the difference. The closing two songs on this album are fantastic. “Jacked Up” sounds like a complete departure from the Weezer sound that I immediately dismissed the annoying high pitched “I’m all jacked up over you/I’d bury diamonds just for you”. The song also has my favorite line on the album “Why why why do my flowers always die?” A very provocative and introspective lyric that I love, especially coming from Rivers. The closer “Endless Bummer” is a great acoustic song that seemed to sum up the summer of experiences of love and heartache, into a declaration of mediocrity. The stripped-away strumming of his guitar is striking and the slow buildup of the rest of the band coming into the song is one of the best musical moments on the album.

The highlight for me is the single “King of the World”, the rare song in which Rivers lets us see him for exactly who he is, a considerate, sensitive man who really loves his wife. He really wants to create a better world for his wife so she doesn’t have be scared, sad or anxious about all the bad stuff that the world can cause. It’s a song with subject matter that I think Rivers hasn’t given us before. I really appreciated that song.

Combine all this with producer Jack Sinclair’s love and devotion to Weezer’s early work and you have an album that is right out of the 90s. This album does sound like Weezer of “The Blue Album” period and there are even a couple of songs that could’ve been leftovers from Pinkerton. However, I can’t shake the feeling that that isn’t a good thing.

WrestleMania 32, or How Long Can We Make This Show?

Well WrestleMania 32 is now in the books.  The very, very, very long books.  Jeezus Christ, what were they thinking stretching that PPV to FIVE hours??  Plus two hours of pre-show?  Absolute insanity.  But was the show any good?  Yes.  And no.  Let's cut open this bloated WrestleMania corpse and see what's inside.

The three pre-show matches all roughly amounted to filler.  Kalisto vs. Ryback was the best of them and really should've been included on the PPV (instead of the stupid battle royal).  Kalisto looked good and had surprisingly okay chemistry with Ryberg.  The 10-Diva match was actually watchable and just about everyone got some time to do stuff.  The Usos-Dudleyz bout was your basic free TV match.  Meh.

The real show kicked off with the 7-man Ladder Match, as I suspected it would.  I wasn't much looking forward to this, but I'll be damned if they didn't knock it outta the park with this one.  Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn carried the majority of the workload, and based on their innate chemistry it understandably gave this spotfest a big boost.  Sin Cara, Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler all got a big spot or two as well.  The crazy moments in this match were much more memorable than in last year's Ladder Match, and while I don't much like Ryder winning (Are we back to the I-C Title being a jobber belt?), I liked this match a lot; much more than last year's.

Sami Zayn was on FIRE

Next up was AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho, part 4.  This got 17 minutes and was easily the best these two have produced so far.  But Jericho still came off a little sluggish at times, and it's really time for Styles to work with a younger, quicker opponent.  Comparing this to AJ's routine five-star matches in NJPW illustrates pretty clearly that Jericho's lost a step over the past five years.  Still this was a damn fine undercard match, and despite more 50-50 booking it was a strong Match of the Night contender.

Looks like they'll get one more chance to really make this feud work

The New Day vs. League of Nations was oddly changed to a regular six-man, as Wade Barrett acted as the manager.  This was slightly above RAW quality, with everyone very motivated to make their mark.  It's a real shame the League of Nations hasn't been booked as an actual threat, or this match would've been elevated by a good story.  LON took the expected win to keep the feud going, but were then made to look like total punks at the hands of Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and Mick Foley.  I will never, for the life of me, understand the mentality behind bringing back guys from 20 years ago to beat up the current stars.  Why would you ever call attention to your past product being superior to that of today?  Vince really hates those damn millennials I guess.  Makes sense, after all "they're not at all trepidatious."

B-Cuddy's Uninformed Wrestling Predictions: WrestleMania 32

Everyone's favorite wrestling hater is back to offer his predictions on Sunday's WrestleMania spectacular!  Take it away Brando, ya flyin' douche you.....

WrestleMania. The Super Bowl of bad acting and man-tights. The Holy Grail of make-believe. So how many is this now? WrestleMania 35? 67? No answer required because I couldn’t care less. Superfan Editor sent me the list of matches and corresponding pictures. I’m surprised he found the time. I think he’s working on a recap of a backyard match between four 10-year-olds in Saigon. Anyways, from the list for Sunday, it looks like this thing is approximately 13 hours long. I understand it’s the biggest pretend event of the year, but Christ almighty. Real or fake, I don’t think a “sporting event” should eclipse the time it takes to fly to Mars, or for Derek to read a book. But that’s just me. Let’s get this bullshit over with…

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

I have no clue what this is. I don’t know who’s involved in the match or what the point is. So we’re off to a great start. All I got was a picture of that behemoth. Forgive my vulgarity, but can you imagine the mule on that guy? They should have used him to find oil.

The Pick: I’m sure someone wins.

The Usos vs The Dudley Boyz – Tag Team Match

The Usos are wearing shirts that say “USO CRAZY.” Get it? LOL!!! I guess the war-paint is alright, but what the hell do I know?  They seem like a formidable tag team?.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯      On the other side, The Dudley Boyz picture resembles a photo of Dave and one of his exes. So there’s that.

The Pick: I’ll go with the Usos. What difference does it make?

The Total Divas vs B.A.D. & Blonde – 10 Diva Tag Match

Back in the day when I would actually watch this horseshit, there were, maybe, two women who wrestled. Three, if Chyna is considered female on whatever planet she’s from. Now there’s 10 fighting at once like there’s a shoe clearance at the UGGs store.  Hopefully they just fight and don’t go yipping at each other on the mics. Because if you wanted to watch 10 women squawk at each other about nothing, you could just watch The View. However, I will say this…you got a better shot of an actual fight breaking out during this than at any other point in the night. Because I don’t care what business it is or where they work…there is absolutely ZERO chance that all 10 girls get along. ZERO. Take any girl you know. I’ll bet you any amount of money she doesn’t like a total of 9 other girls she works with. If she claims she does, remember she’s just lying so she‘s right and you’re wrong. It’s a classic move.

The Pick: I only know who one girl in this photo is, and that’s Paige. So I’ll go with her. Or whatever team she’s on, or however this works.

Kalisto vs Ryback – United States Championship

After a journey which I’m sure started with selling oranges at an intersection or running a Taqueria stand, Kalisto has worked all the way up to US Champ. It’s the American Dream in true form. Bravo, Masked Man. His no-neck opponent looks like Miggsy, only masculine.

The Pick: Kalisto tries to land a flying Burrito off the top rope, but Ryback catches him, and gives him a steroid-suplex into the next dimension.

WrestleMania 32 Preview & Predictions

Welcome to a brand new season of Enuffa.com WWE PPV Predictions, with myself and Dan Moore.  Dan won last season 67/94 to 64/94 but the slate is now clean and I'm fixin' to Reign supreme this time (Reign, get it?  Like Roman?  Eff you.).

This Sunday is WWE's 32nd annual flagship PPV, WrestleMania, and much like last year it's lookin' like kind of a stinker.  What was once the most fun period on WWE's calendar has become just another shitty couple months where the creative team phones it in and the wrong guys get prime spots on the card.  I will say though, there are a few matches I'm actually excited about this time, which was not the case for me last year.  So let's get to predictin' this crap.

Pre-Show Match: The Usos vs. The Dudleyz

This year the two-hour pre-show will boast not one, not two, not three, but FOUR matches.  Yup, of the eleven bouts booked, 35% will take place before the PPV even starts.  When did WWE become incapable of fitting 8-10 matches on a four-hour show??  The first of these unfortunately placed showdowns pits The Usos against the recently heel-turned Dudleyz.  I don't even remember what they're feuding over, but they're feuding apparently.  Nothing at stake here, but the match should be fine.

My pick: The Usos
Dan's pick: I JUST DON'T CARE. Go Dudleyz

Pre-Show 5-on-5 Divas Match: Total Divas vs. Team Bad & Blonde

Yeah, this is pointless.  There is some good talent in this match (Natalya, Paige, Naomi) but none of it will be used in a meaningful way.  This is one of three "Let's get everyone on the card" bouts.

My pick: Total Divas win.  Because ratings on E!
Dan's pick: Divas

Pre-Show Andre the Giant Battle Royal

Only took three years (two really) for WWE to make the Andre Battle Royal completely irrelevant.  After Cesaro got a huge moment in 2014 and was then not pushed at all, WWE booked The Big Show to win in 2015, and not get pushed at all.  So who will 2016's winner be, who won't get pushed at all?  Since basically no one announced for this match thus far matters in the slightest it's a hard one to pick.  My personal choice would be Tyler Breeze, because he's really good and they haven't done dick with him since he got called up.  But Vince doesn't like him.  Because of brass rings.

My pick: Someone Vince does like, despite his complete lack of talent or overness, Braun Strowman.  For fuck's sake.
Dan's pick: I'll go with his brother in arms, Bray. But I don't care.

Pre-Show US Title Match: Kalisto vs. Ryback

New rule, guys.  Stop putting Title matches on the Pre-Show.  If a Title isn't important enough to be defended on a PPV it shouldn't exist.  Period.  This should've been the 7-man Ladder Match since Kalisto is a high-flier and there's zilch going on between these two other than the US Title (which isn't important enough for a PPV apparently).  The match itself should be fine, though I'm not invested much in either guy.

My pick: Ryback wins the belt
Dan's pick: Ryback will win and will also probably injure Kal with some sort of botched move.

Nut Up for the New Season of Archer (HEY! PHRASING!)

by Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

New episodes of the animated series Archer start on March 31st and I for one literally can’t wait for them. Archer is the story of…um, Archer, who was a spy for The International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) who then became a drug dealer before going back to spying for the CIA after ISIS was disbanded (moreseo because of the actual ISIS appropriating the name) and who is now a private detective. But it’s so much more than that.

It’s probably the second funniest show on television (1st place goes to another FX program, Always Sunny, which just concluded a stellar season). The animation is excellent. And the voice cast is top notch. Seriously, the group of actors they’ve employed on this show works so well together. They’re all so good that from season to season, I’ve had to pick a new favorite character (Currently, it’s the handicapped homosexual cyborg with a transplanted African American hand, Ray Gillette).

Sploosh

It’s truly the supporting cast that makes this show shine. H. Jon Benjamin is of course great as Archer, but everyone else on this show is so goddamn hilarious you almost forget about him. The show works so well after all these years because the cast of characters act like a bunch of friends hanging out in a bar giving each other shit ALL THE TIME. Not to mention the fact that essentially all the characters have all slept with one another. From Judy Greer as the sexually demented Cheryl to Lucky Yates as the SERIOUSLY demented Dr. Krieger, the one liners and callbacks to previous season jokes fly around as if they’re in some kind of dangerous type zone.

NXT TakeOver: Dallas Preview & Predictions

Welcome to another round of WWE Predictions, here at Enuffa.com!  It's a busy week since WrestleMania weekend now has two big events.  We'll have two rounds of 'Mania 32 predictions coming in a few days, but first I'll be prognosticating the other major show, which for me is a mortal lock to overshadow and outclass WrestleMania from start to finish.  That show is of course NXT TakeOver!

Holy lord this show is stacked.  On paper this should easily be in WWE's top three for the year.  NXT has been such a godsend, from a company that is otherwise running on creative fumes.  Were it not for NXT in fact, it'd be hard for me to justify remaining a Network subscriber right now, so terrible has been the build for this year's WrestleMania.

Fortunately Triple H and his creative team have put together an incredible-looking show for this Friday, which includes two major in-ring debuts and three big title matches.  The NXT brand has grown into a totally viable alternate WWE product by presenting simple, logical, easy-to-follow angles and spectacular in-ring action, and this TakeOver special looks to be a perfect cross-section of that product.  So let's get to predictin'....

Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin

Aries technically made his NXT in-ring debut at a house show, but this will be his first televised match with the company.  This feud is all about revenge, as Corbin beat the crap out of Aries during the latter's first NXT appearance and Aries is looking for payback.  Corbin has been improving in the ring, while Aries is one of the best pound-for-pound workers in the business.  Should be a fine match, though I imagine given the storyline it'll get out of hand rather quickly.

My pick: I think this goes to an indecisive finish of some kind to keep the feud going.  Aries wins by DQ probably.

NXT Tag Team Championship - The Revival vs. American Alpha

Both these teams are great.  The workrate in this one should be off the charts; think Anderson & Blanchard vs. Haas & Benjamin.  American Alpha has incredible main roster potential if handled correctly.  Both are stupendous between the ropes while also possessing a  goofy charisma.  Can't wait for the fireworks here.

My pick: American Alpha capture the belts

Apollo Crews vs. Elias Samson

If there's a weak spot on this card, this is it.  I'm not crazy about Samson or his gimmick, but hopefully Crews can get a decent, brief match out of him.

My pick: Apollo Crews

Dan Reviews Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

by Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

I liked it. I went in thinking it was gonna be garbage, but I liked it. BVSDOJ is everything you’ve heard or read about from other reviews. It’s too long. It’s way too dark. There’s nary a fun moment in the film. And the narrative, to put it nicely, is clunky. Despite all these faults, I still found myself enjoying this movie.

First, the bad:

The main issue I found with this movie was the fact that they skipped over a shared universe and delved right into it. In the Marvel movies, you know that Captain America and Iron Man have conflicting views on things as it’s been boiling over for a few flicks. But in this movie, it’s clear why Bruce Wayne isn’t too fond of Superman, but Superman’s reasons for disliking Batman are glossed over. He doesn’t like his vigilante justice…and then he just shows up and tells him “The Bat is dead”. There’s no history between the characters, so their conflict seems rushed and forced.

Same could be said for Lex Luthor’s issues with Supes. We know Lex hates Superman because he’s hated him for about 80 years in various forms of media…but in this movie, he just does. His motivations to want to kill Kal-El seem to change throughout the movie. He’s never really focused on a sole reason to off this alien fella. And Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex is UNREAL annoying. I have no idea why he played the character as a whiny, petulant dickhead, but that’s what’s on the screen.

They also try to cram waaaaay too much into this movie. Between setting up Batman’s history, Clark & Lois’ ongoing relationship, the government issues with Superman, Lex doing Lex things AND jamming in five more superheroes, this movie is beyond bloated. It’s also way too fucking long. Do I need a nearly 3 hour movie of guys in rubber underpants beating each other up? Well…yea, ok, I do, but it coulda been a bit better than this one.


Onto the good…

Ben Affleck nails the Batman portrayal. He’s more Bruce Wayne in this than Bats, but he’s damn good in it. He has the pretend rich boy act down perfect. And he still shows the angst needed to perform as Batman. He’s also RIPPED in this movie. The man is in perfect shape right now.

The One Thing Wrong with The Dark Knight Rises

by Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

Ah Batman movies. There have been literally hundreds of these flicks made. Yea that's right, hundreds. Literally. And they've all been scrutinized and enjoyed on many different levels (except for Batman & Robin, which sucks shit through a straw). The films of the Christopher Nolan trilogy have been universally praised and loved. The high point was The Dark Knight, the second of the trilogy, looked upon by many as the perfect comic book movie. Its follow up, The Dark Knight Rises was also well-received but got its fair share of criticism.
 

Now I'm not here to point out the obvious flaws in this movie (such as a CIA agent nonchalantly taking three unknown, hooded terrorists onto a prison transport. Or the letdown of a climax when Bane, the physical threat we had been waiting to see fight Batman after his return to Gotham, gets bumped off by a motorcycle missile from a pointless secondary character, which then causes the plot to focus on a different villain, another pointless secondary character). Plenty have done that. I'm here to point out this one thing wrong with TDKR. This scene right here:

In case you don't know, this scene here is Joseph Gordon-Levitt as young GCPD officer John Blake being called 'hothead' by Matthew Modine as Deputy Commissioner Peter Foley. Blake is perhaps the only levelheaded, non-moron on the whole squad (Don't get me started on Commissioner Gordon. One bad decision after another from that guy.) and he's being derided by probably the biggest idiot on the force. And it's not even the fact that he insulted him at that point in the movie. It's the insult he used. Who the fuck calls another grown man a hothead? What is this, the 1920s? Is he mad cause Blake made a move on his dame and she thought he was aces?

Not only that, Foley calls him that like three more times in the movie. It's his go-to criticism for the one up-and-comer in the whole precinct. Christ, Foley got Gordon to say it about Blake! It's INSANE. I Haven't heard that since Sister Catherine called me that back in the 5th grade in catholic school. Call him a pain in the ass, a jerk, anything else. Christ, where do they learn their insults in Gotham, from Superman?!?

Dan's Top 9: Batman Actors

by Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

DAN'S TOP

Batman v Superman gets released this Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing this flick with a mixture of awe and bewilderment. Part of me thinks it could be great but a bigger part of me thinks it's more likely to be a flaming shit burger. With this new chapter in the Bruce Wayne mythos coming out, I've come up with my list of the top Batman performances in screen history, with #9 being reserved for the worst.

9. George Clooney (Batman & Robin)

Nevermind the myriad of problems with this legendarily putrid film ("Hey we cast Arnold, known for his bulgy muscles, lets stick him in a garbage can for the whole movie!"). The fact that George Clooney decided to just play George Clooney in this movie is baffling to me. He did nothing in this flick to make himself a memorable Batman. I wanted a dark knight and all I got was Danny fuckin' Ocean.

8. Ben Affleck (Batman v Superman)

Yeah that's right, I haven't even seen Benny play this role yet and the son of a bitch is better than Clooney. Christ, he was bad.

Regardless if this movie is any good, the armored Batman is BOSS

7. Val Kilmer (Batman Forever)

In this shitty Batman movie, Mad Martigan plays a less crappy Bruce Wayne than Clooney. He's not bad in this but he's completely forgettable. And the movie SUCKS.

6. Clark Bartram (Batman: Dead End)

This one is based solely on visuals. In this fan film, Bats chases the escaped Joker and runs into some more trouble.  The Batman in this flick looks like he jumped straight out of an Alex Ross comic book cover.  Such a striking depiction of the Dark Knight detective.

The History of NXT TakeOver: R Evolution

R Evolution - Full Sail - 12.11.14

Aside from a really dumb name ("R Evolution?" Like "Our Evolution?" O-U-R, as opposed to A-R-E?), this TakeOver special was a pretty freakin' good show.

The festivities started with the in-ring debut of Kevin Owens (formerly Steen) against CJ Parker.  This was about as good a three-minute match as you're likely to see. Owens got in most of his big moves, which the audience exploded for, and Parker accidentally broke Owens' nose with a palm strike before falling to the pop-up powerbomb.  Helluva debut, and the visual of Owens standing triumphant with blood gushing from his face added to his ultra-tough persona.

That's gotta hurt

The Tag Titles were up next as Lucha Dragons defended against The Vaudvillains (love this goofy gimmick) in a fun little seven-minute battle.  This was fast-paced and both teams got decent time to show off their movesets.  Kalisto got the pin with Salida del Sol after a back-and-forth affair.  Nothing mindblowing but a fun little match.

Another Baron Corbin squash was next as he killed Tye Dillinger in under a minute, with the crowd counting the seconds.  I'd still have given these Corbin squashes a good two minutes to get in all his stuff.

The Ascension's last hurrah in NXT was fourth as they faced Hideo Itami and vaunted newcomer Finn Balor (formerly Prince Devitt).  Balor had appeared on NXT TV but this was the NXT debut of his alter-ego The Demon, and it was an absolutely spectacular entrance.  Balor's theme music is probably my favorite in all of WWE right now.  The match itself was middling, with not enough offense from Itami and way too much from The Ascension.  Sorry, I just find Konnor and Viktor's movesets totally generic and not very intimidating.  The third act had some nice false finishes and Balor looked great.  This match gets a pass for Balor's entrance, the hot crowd, and the last few minutes.

Best entrance since The Undertaker

Monday Night RAW: Poor Dolph....

More unpleasant WrestleMania takeaways from last night's RAW....


1. The Undertaker once again confirmed he's fine with being Vince's bitch.  Shane literally pointed out as much to his face, and yeah, Taker chokeslammed him, but he's still going through with the match, isn't he?  I've asked the question before, but why in the name of Jeebus would Taker agree to participate in this nonsense, onscreen or off?  In the storyline, why would Taker want to work on behalf of Vince and The Authority?  Does Taker fundamentally agree with their management style at all?  Is Taker a believer in the idea of a ruling class?  Does he like their constant screwing over of all the babyfaces?  From a storyline perspective nothing about this makes sense.  From a backstage perspective it makes even less.  Why would Mark Calaway, who in recent years has prided himself on having potential show-stealing matches at WrestleMania, agree to fight Vince's non-wrestling son?  And yeah, I know Shane has a history of crazy stunts and all that crap, but let's be real.  The man is 46 years old, and WWE is not the company it used to be.  The days of Shane flying through windows and jumping off the Titantron are over.  What we're left with is likely a very tame, unnecessary Hell in a Cell match with pretend-control of the company at stake.  I keep seeing people posting stuff like "I can't wait for Shane to take control and fix RAW!"  Guys, you realize he's not actually taking over the company if he wins, right?  This is all an angle.  Vince will still actually be in charge, making the same stupid decisions he's making now.  So this debacle is all for nothing.  Remember the last time The Authority was ousted from power?  How long did that last again?  Two months maybe?  I'm also seeing rumors that Shane vs. Taker could CLOSE THE SHOW.  So lemme get this straight: CM Punk wasn't good enough to main event WrestleMania, but Vince's kid is?  Fuck off.

2. Roman Reigns is back!  And as unpopular as ever.  Reigns returned to RAW last night to get himself a little payback for Triple H's beatdown a few weeks ago, by doing the exact same thing to Triple H.  And once again the crowd didn't care for Roman's shenanigans.  I can't ever remember a less popular top babyface.  Diesel is about the only one who comes close, and even he had fairly solid crowd support once he reunited with the white-hot Shawn Michaels.  Reigns got justifiably violent revenge on the top heel in the land, and no one cared.  Also, this echoes something WWE did in the lead-up to WrestleMania 25, when babyface Champion Triple H broke into Randy Orton's house and beat the piss out of him in front of his wife.  This just three weeks before the biggest show of the year, for which fans were expected to shell out $55 to see Triple H get his hands on the dastardly Orton.  Except we already saw it.  On free television.  Triple H kicked Orton's ass literally all over his house and then threw him out the front window.  So what could Hunter possibly do in a sanctioned, traditional wrestling match three weeks later?  WWE followed up a savage home invasion with a tame wrestling contest in which Triple H would lose the WWE Title if disqualified.  Boy, now I'm on the edge of my seat.  And this is exactly what we have here.  Roman Reigns already got revenge for Hunter beating him up three weeks ago, by beating up Hunter.  So the match at WrestleMania is more or less superfluous except for the fact that Hunter's still the Champion.  But as booked, this feud has mostly been about a personal vendetta, not the Title.  So what are we tuning in for in three weeks?  A civilized athletic contest?  This approach to hyping a big PPV match is totally backwards.  The babyface should get beaten down and then attempt to get revenge for weeks only for the heel to escape unscathed.  OR, the babyface should say "I could kick your ass all over this arena tonight but I'm gonna wait till WrestleMania when the Title's on the line."  It's pretty simple 101 booking formula, and it's only ever worked ALWAYS.  Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, for Chrissake.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Talk Show (1997 Album)

By Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

Back in the 90s, Stone Temple Pilots were one of the most popular bands around. Their biggest song “Plush” was impossible to run away from.  They had a huge hit with “The Big Empty” from The Crow soundtrack. They were everywhere…and then the band got sick of dealing with Scott Weiland’s drug problems and got themselves a new singer.

In 1997, Dean DeLeo (guitar), his brother Robert (bass), and Eric Kretz (drums) formed the band Talk Show with lead singer Dave Coutts, formerly of Ten Inch Men. They released their first (and only) album in late 1997. Being a devout STP fan, I felt this was a complete betrayal from the band and didn’t buy the album. Years later at Nuggets, a used CD shop near Fenway Park, I saw the disc for $2. By this point I was A FUCKING GROWN UP and realized that, yes, musicians can make music with different music-making people. So I bought it.

The album is very much Stone Temple Pilots with a different guy singing. The DeLeo brothers were at the height of their catchy tune writing. After STP’s albums Purple and Tiny Music, this album essentially perfects the sound they were going for on both those albums. The music is incredibly pop-sounding but also quite good. The lead single “Hello Hello” is hella catchy and is the highlight of the album.

Coutts is a very capable singer. He’s got a raspy crooner-type voice, very reminiscent of the vocal style Weiland went with in Tiny Music. With Coutts leading STP, they have a real Spacehog-esque sound to them. But…it just doesn’t gel completely. The biggest problem is that it sounds just like a Stone Temple Pilots album without the trademark Weiland singing. If STP hadn’t existed, this wouldn’t be a problem. The album and band would’ve been able to stand on their own. But it’s such a jarring difference from their former musical stylings. It never completely feels like its own thing. The album seems like a space-filler until Scott Weiland could get his shit together and the band could go back to their full-time gig. The DeLeos would form another band years later, Army of Anyone, with a new singer Richard Patrick from Filter, minus Kretz on the drums. That to me is a much more successful “STP without Weiland” album than this one.

Not to say this is a bad album. It’s a fine example of where alternative rock music was back in the late 90s.  It still gets some play in my house on my CD player (Yeah, I still got one, fuck you, I’m old). But without the esteemable vocals of Scott Weiland, the album and band have been lost in the annals of time. In fact, my friend and site founder Justin Ballard didn’t even know this band existed, and this is a man who made music FOR A LIVING. What a loser.

Pro Wrestling: A Mark's History, part 27 (An-gle! An-gle! An-gle! An-gle!)

Early 2006 saw a couple big shakeups in WWE.  World Champion Dave Batista went down with a torn tricep, forcing him to vacate the Title, and the company held a Battle Royal on Smackdown to determine the new Champ.  In general I find Battle Royals a pretty lame way to fill a Title vacancy but on this occasion I was thrilled to see Kurt Angle jump to Smackdown and claim the Big Gold Belt.  Immediately the SD Title picture became intriguing, until I realized they were proceeding with their original plan of Mark Henry being the top challenger.  Batista vs. Henry was yet another Hogan vs. SuperHeavyweight Heel-type matchup, but Angle and Henry had no chemistry together and their resulting match at the Royal Rumble was a big ol' stinker.

The other shakeup that month was John Cena losing the WWE Title to brand new main eventer Edge, after the latter became the first man to cash in Money in the Bank.  Now, when this concept was invented in 2005 everyone assumed the man holding the briefcase would simply come out on RAW, announce he was challenging for the Title at the next PPV, and there would be your next main event feud.  Instead though, in a stroke of genius rare for this era, Edge waited until after Cena had just won an Elimination Chamber match and cashed in the briefcase then, leaving Cena easy prey.  This fit Edge's "ultimate opportunist" character perfectly, and I was over the moon for a lengthy Honky Tonk Man-esque Title run for Mr. Copeland.  But once again prior plans got in the way.  WWE had long ago penciled in Cena vs. Triple H as the main event of WrestleMania 22, and by God that's what we were gonna get.  Edge was treated as a totally undeserving transitional Champ, and dropped the Title after only three weeks.  Fucking yawn....

This was all kinds of awesome

The 2006 Rumble PPV was pretty goddamn awful, featuring two phoned-in Title matches, both of which took place AFTER the Rumble itself.  The Rumble was of course won by the diminutive Rey Mysterio, who turned in a fantastic record-breaking performance (his 62:12 ring time still holds today).  Unfortunately WWE saddled him with a horribly tasteless "I'm doing this for Eddie" theme, and implied that every stroke of luck Mysterio had on his way to WrestleMania was through Guerrero's mischievous, beyond-the-grave intervention.  I was however psyched that the 'Mania World Title match would pit Angle vs. Mysterio.

But wait, WWE had to ruin that too, by shoehorning Randy Orton into the fold.  After beating Rey Mysterio for his World Title shot at No Way Out (in what was, to be fair, a pretty great little match), Rey was only reinserted after Smackdown GM Teddy Long felt bad for him.  Yeah, there's a great way to get your underdog hero over; he loses his Title shot but gets it back anyway out of pity.  No Way Out also featured a stellar Angle vs. Undertaker main event, that outclassed everything at WrestleMania.

WrestleMania 22 was on paper a cobbled-together mess, with almost nothing that excited me.  Aside from Angle vs. Rey vs. Orton, which got criminally shortchanged at 9 minutes (I'm still baffled by this horseshit), and the remote possibility that Edge and Mick Foley might have a solid outing (which turned out to be an early MOTY candidate - goddamn that match was brutal), I found very little to look forward to about this show.  In reality though it was most certainly watchable, and the Cena vs. Triple H main event was fascinating if underwhelming, due to the rabid Chicago crowd being split down the middle.  Cena had been getting some audible boos for several months, both against Chris Jericho and against Kurt Angle, but 'Mania 22 was on another level.  Easily half that crowd HATED John Cena, and it led to some of the earliest "Let's go Cena," "Cena sucks" chants I can remember.  As it turned out Edge was the only top heel in 2006 able to keep the live crowds in Cena's corner, which in hindsight was quite an accomplishment.

This could've been all kinds of awesome but they fucked it up

Monday Night RAW: Taker Will Beat Up Vince's Kid

And the Road to Shitsville continues.  Sorry, did I say "Shitsville?"  I meant "What Passes for  WrestleMania These Days."  This week's RAW featured two events of significance, noteworthy for very different reasons.

The first involved The Undertaker, who appeared on RAW to respond to the news last week that his match at WrestleMania this year would be against The Boss's Kid.  After an interminably long entrance, Taker listened to Vince prattle on for a few seconds before grabbing him by the throat and essentially saying, "Sure, whatever, I'll beat up your son at 'Mania.  But if I kill him it's on you, not me."  Really?  That's all the vaunted legend has to say about being forced into a match and used as a hired goon to do Vince's bidding?  No scruples about beating up a clearly lesser opponent?  No issues with his 'Mania match generally being a fairly epic encounter, or at the very least settling some sort of personal issue (Personal to Taker himself I mean)?  Nope, Taker's just gonna go along with this because he's got nothing else planned that day.  Not only that, this beloved hero to millions won't even take personal responsibility for whatever he does to Shane?  He's already absolving himself of any wrongdoing.  "Fine boss.  If your son never walks again it's your fault."  Not, "I'm not gonna break your son's spine just to settle your personal vendetta.  You got a problem with Shane, you deal with it."  What a fuckin' hero.  "But," you may be saying, "perhaps this is how they turn Undertaker heel."  To that I reply, "Hey dumbass, it's the fucking Undertaker in his home state.  Remember that other time they tried to turn a universally loved Texan wrestler heel - IN TEXAS - by aligning him with Vince McMahon?  How'd that turn out again?"

Nothing about this angle makes a single bit of sense.  None.  WWE is actually banking on a sold-out AT&T Stadium cheering like hell for a 46-year-old businessman to become the "2" in 22 and 2, joining Brock goddamn Lesnar in the I Beat Taker at 'Mania club.  If people were pissed about a legit MMA fighter and freak of nature like Lesnar beating Taker at WrestleMania, how do you think they'll react when Taker has to lay down for Vince's kid?  Did Vince and the creative team forget to take their pills this month?

The other bit of significant business from RAW was Dean Ambrose getting all up in Triple H's grill and challenging him to a WWE Title match.  Hunter responded by beating a rain check into Dean's ass, and for the second week in a row the Cerebral Assassin laid out a top babyface.  Only difference is, when said babyface was WWE's top hero Roman Reigns, the crowd cheered Hunter like he'd just announced the Beatles were back together.  This week, Hunter's assault on Reigns' sidekick Ambrose was met with the appropriate crowd hatred.  So WWE.....what have we learned here, hmm?  Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, you're pushing the wrong goddamn guy as the company's flag bearer for the next decade?

Post-beatdown Hunter accepted Ambrose's challenge, and it was announced today that the two will meet on March 12th, at the newest WWE Network special, Roadblock.  So in other words, we're getting the WrestleMania main event we all wanted....three weeks early.  Now I'm as intrigued by this matchup as anyone, but it raises this question: What does WWE think is going to happen when Ambrose fails to close the deal on March 12th but Reigns gets the job done on April 3rd?  I once again fail to see the logic behind "The fans prefer Ambrose so let's get his WWE Title shot outta the way.  Then at 'Mania everyone will have forgotten about him and they'll love Reigns again."  How little does Vince McMahon think of his audience?  We're not stupid, sir.  When Hunter is still the WWE Champion at 'Mania and Roman Reigns is still the #1 contender, everyone's still going to react with apathy or scorn for Reigns.  WWE really just refuses to accept that the fans simply don't like Roman Reigns.  Vince lives in this fantasy bubble where things just magically work themselves out.  He's like a spoiled little kid who's so used to getting his own way he can't fathom that anything would ever not go as planned.