The year was 1924 and the Democrats were trying to pick a nominee for President.
The two-front runners were Al Smith (the Governor of New York) and William Gibbs McAdoo (a Senator from California). Smith was the early favorite, the party favorite, but there was another factor in play: the Ku Klux Klan.
The KKK had seen a resurgence and had some political power. And back in the day, before Republicans played with the racists, the Democrats played with the racists.
The KKK was not just anti-semitic and anti-black but anti-Catholic. And Al Smith was a Catholic. So McAdoo had the support of all the Democratic delegates associated with the Klan, and notably did not reject this endorsement.
And so the convention went on, and on, and on, and after 103 ballots neither guy could win.
So the Democrats got a compromise candidate: John W. Davis, who went on to not make a splash and was soundly defeated by incumbent Silent Cal Coolidge.
That convention took place in New York City. At Madison Square Garden, no less. But mostly, it happened in New York City.
93 years later and the KKK’s still fucking everything up.
We’re a week out from SummerSlam and I dunno. Stacked card, big card, not much buzz. Something seems off. RAW’s got it together, mostly, and SmackDown has in-ring a solid card but the stories all seem so off. And that’s what I’m here for. The wrestling doesn’t reach its’ peak without the stories.
And TakeOver: Brooklyn – it’ll probably be good, but I dunno. Is NXT’s new thing that it only has like 4 good shows a year?
The wrestling is off. This country is off. And Linda McMahon is in the god damn cabinet of the guy who isn’t just playing with the racists but actually is one.
Give me my Roman, give me my Braun. Give me my good brothers at 1053 Ridge watching six ungodly hours of professional wrestling on a Sunday evening.
Just wish it didn’t feel so off.
RAW (8/14/17)
Big matches, hot crowd, Kurt Angle running around trying to keep things together. This was a fun show. They clearly saved all the good stuff for the go-home show, as last week was a bunch of gross time-killing.
It did lose a little steam towards the end, but any show that starts with a Shield reunion(ish) and MOTYC, and ends with a Brock Lesnar/Braun Strowman pull-apart brawl is something special.
There were a lot of SummerSlam “previews” that were really just the same match happening on Sunday – Neville/Tozawa with Tozawa’s big moment, Balor/Wyatt to get to Demon Balor, the 6-man that will just be the same thing. It made for a fun show, but like last year might take away from Sunday.
By the way – Boston was an AWESOME crowd. Great work folks.
Opening segment with Seth and Dean finally officially reuniting was a little drawn out but great stuff. Crowd was HOT for the Shield teases, as they always are. This has been some incredible old school babyface storytelling.
HOWEVER – the brawl between these two was pretty awful though. Also, The Bar continues to be a one-note trash story device. The Authority got played out but Corporate Sheamus & Corporate Cesaro would be way more interesting than Tough Guys in Skirts. Would also go along with the whole Burn It Down thing and the Shield reunion would make a lot more sense.
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax was INCREDIBLE. This was Eddie vs. Brock in the women’s division, the closest we might get to Daniel Bryan vs. Brock even. I am serious! Nia has work to do but when in there with a game opponent and used correctly she can already do some incredible stuff. The match with Asuka in Japan was amazing, as was this.
This thing just got better and better – great ragdoll babyface, the monster used to its fullest, fired up babyface comeback, hot hometown crowd. Sasha just took a BEATING and there were so many awesome little moments – Nia’s splash against the ropes continues to be an awesome spot, the rana catch on the outside. Loved Sasha getting on the sub she beat Nia with a month ago, that sub getting countered with a Samoan drop, then Sasha rolling outside after taking the Samoan to avoid the cover which was so incredible the crowd POPPED. Sasha’s comeback was sooooo good – desperately fighting Nia off on the top rope, kicking her legs out to set up the tree of woe, the REPEATED KNEES. Then the Bank Statement, the roll-through Bank Statement, THE TORNADO DDT BANK STATEMENT. Incredible, phenomenal. MOTYC. #LEGIT.
Also, Alexa’s high chair was my everything.
Elias cutting off the R-Truth rap was a very good use of Elias and R-Truth.
Big Cass promo was the promo Cass needed. This had HEAT. Adored the shot of that one fat Boston guy being REALLY pissed off at Cass. And then we got an awesome straight-up old school heel beatdown, with Gallows and Anderson and Cass wrecking Big Show. This was the angle this shit feud needed.
I don’t know how it makes sense but I really need Enzo to turn on Show and be Cass’ mouthpiece, awesome Cass promo this week aside. Some folks might want Enzo to stay slim and work 205 Live, but I want him to gain 25 pounds and become the new age Captain Lou he was always meant to be.
Neville vs. Tozawa for the Cruiserweight Title was a really good match but not the blowaway great match I think these two could have. Lots of good stuff here – the intense matwork and staredown early, Neville’s big bump on the apron off of Tozawa’s dropkick, Tozawa’s straight punch. One of the things I love about Akira Tozawa is how he just rocks his opponents with crisp clean work – everything connects exactly as it should, and it works even better against a game bumper like Neville. Dug all of the Faces of Tozawa towards the end, just freaking out as the win was in his grasp. Very happy for Tozawa but this still felt a little like when they blew Bayley’s big title win on RAW. But, it’s also the cruiserweights so who cares.
Balor vs. Wyatt was a solid match but didn’t connect emotionally like Sasha/Jax or Neville/Tozawa. There was some cool stuff… Bray’s deadlift gutbuster and the Sister Abigail where he just dragged Finn off the top especially. And then they did the post-match angle to get to a reason for Demon Balor to show up, and… I mean – a BUCKET? A bucket of what looked like freakin’ jam? Seeing Demon Balor will be neat but this is two years in a row that they kind of killed the mystique of Demon Balor with their need for advertising. I legit laughed out loud at the “Bray Wyatt vs. The Demon Finn Balor” match graphic.
Hey! They gave Emma a chance! Well, kind of.
Point: They are intentionally making Jason Jordan heel. Counterpoint: His first feud is with The Miz, who they usually use when they really do want to try with a guy, and they are teaming him with The Hardys, who are eternally over.
6-man tag with Hardys/JJ vs. Miz/Miztourage was a lot of armbars. Balor/Wyatt followed by Emma/Mickie followed by this was what finally did the hot Boston crowd in, though they got them back towards the end. Incredible Whisper in the Wind catch by Bo Dallas here. Solid finish with a fun Jason Jordan hot tag but this wasn’t much for a while. The Jordan thing has a layer of stink over it that they’re going to have to address at some point.
Nice enough Face-To-Face-To-Face-To-Face (LOL) angle at the end with Brock, Braun, Joe and Roman. Heyman did the promo he does. Like Heyman, with his spray-tan sweating off, holding up the title belt as Braun entered. Sweet pull-apart, highlighted by Brock vs. Braun being OVER, that blonde security kid taking a bump over the top after a light glance to the head, and a DA HIT SQUAD cameo.
Brock vs. Braun is something special, man. Would be vaguely interested to see them have Heyman turn on Brock in favor of Braun ala Survivor Series 2002 but now that I write that out it sounds stupid.
SMACKDOWN (8/15/17)
This was an AVERAGE wrestling show. They had a big angle, for once, but the angle was kind of stupid and there’s just a crazy lack of buzz on SmackDown headed into SummerSlam. Nobody has any momentum. It sucks.
Am a big fan of John Cena’s promo pic.
The Indian WWE Champion calling people xenophobic for heel heat still seems awfully tone deaf. Otherwise, love a goofy as hell colorful stereotype WWE celebration, which is what the Indian Independence Day thing was. Can’t believe Shinsuke Nakamura is challenging for the WWE Title at SummerSlam and I’m just like, eh.
Nattie/Becky was perfectly fine but not sure who’s stoked for Nattie/Naomi. Did Naomi do a “what the f-” on commentary!?
Tamina continues to stink. The stuff with Lana is embarrassing. Stop it.
Daniel Bryan trying to be cool with The Usos might have been the highlight of the week, and then I remembered Bryan still isn’t cleared and got sad.
The Rusev/Gable angle/match was fun. They had the classic last week, this was all about a Chad belly-to-belly and then VICIOUS RUSEV! Vicious Rusev is sweet. Crazy throw into the announce table, and amazing RKO Outta Nowhere by Randy. Mischievous Randy is the best.
AJ Styles/Kevin Owens/Shane McMahon feud continued to do not a thing for me this week. Love AJ but guy hasn’t done much this year, and it’s kind of incredible that he remains so over based on the goodwill of last year’s performances. Love AJ and KO but this was goofy as shit… these aren’t the guys to do some Mayweather/McGregor staredown, they aren’t tough guys they are good wrestlers and the build should reflect that. Plus Shane catching AJ’s hand like he’s the god damn Undertaker, uggggghhhh.
New Day vs. Usos was a decent enough teaser tag. Liked Xavier’s Game of Thrones reference, love The Usos theme, loved New Day just rocking it with double teams.
More fun with Breezango this week… just a thought but might be worth them having a wrestling match at some point though.
Cena vs. Jinder was good solid stuff, a Big Match John match with Jinder who isn’t spectacular but looked like he belonged, along with the Singhs being buttholes. Can’t believe John let Jinder kickout of the AA – way to go, Jinder!
And then Baron Corbin cashed in Money in the Bank and lost. And. Well. SmackDown did something exciting, at least. But, yikes. Corbin looked like a real goof and MITB is getting mighty close to batting .500. Like, maybe Corbin beats Cena, and wins the title without being sneaky – but what was the point of MITB? Or, maybe the foot was under the rope? And Corbin plays tape next week? How did fresh Baron Corbin get held down by a guy who just took an AA, anyways? I dunno. This just felt off. I hate being an over-analytical dumb ass wrestling fan. Shut up, man.
205 LIVE (8/15/17)
HAHAHA I can’t believe 205 Live still airs live after SmackDown.
This show was book-ended by a solid tag and promo, but middle was your usual 205 Live vacuum.
Cedric/Metalik vs. Nese/Gulak was a pretty good match. Metalik is a freak. That springboard wheelbarrow armdrag thing he does – I mean WHAT. Cool hot tag by Cedric too. Cool. Cool cool.
Neville staring down nobodies in the locker room was nice.
Ali vs. Kendrick was a collection of things before the Jack attack.
Swann vs. Daivari was a collection things before TJP limped out.
Neville as the Mad King could be real nice. Could be.
Yup.
NXT (8/16/17)
Asuka/Ember Moon contract signing was another NXT contract signing. Would’ve been interesting if on some planet we got to see them actually try and build up Ember Moon. Asuka meanwhile might’ve just cut the Promo of the Year, in Japanese.
“So she takes off running, there’s 50 feet of cable behind her, the camp’s going mental, and you wouldn’t believe it – she ended up marrying Robert Plant.”
Using a new tag team’s need for a squash (Street Profits) to also get another angle over (Lars & His Unfortunate Partners) – there’s the NXT I used to love! This was a high-energy squash match. Liked Montez’ freak-out over Dawkins’ right hand.
This tag partner thing is cute, but everybody knows The Hands is the gimmick when Lars comes up.
Billie Kay vs. Ruby Riot was a bad wrestling match.
Drew McIntyre vs. Roderick Strong was a good physical match I kind of didn’t care about. There was some fun enough stuff here but there’s just nothing to either of these guys right now, it really takes away from the perfectly fine wrestling.
MAIN EVENT (8/16/17)
Kalisto/Curt Hawkins was a fine 5-minute cruiserweight match. So was the Dorado/Metalik vs. Gulak and the other guy tag. The finish with Metalik moonsault to outside and Lince SSP from same post was sweet.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Sasha/Nia, it was all I want wrestling to be.
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Headed into Brooklyn and once again Sasha Banks has got all the buzz. Might be a statement on WWE right now as a whole but still.
Strong RAW, rest of this were voids of wrestling shows.
RAW: 7/10
SmackDown: 4/10
205 Live: 3/10
NXT: 4/10
