DMC

Well yeah, that's my point. He's going to meet the Vince resistance, which is a significant obstacle. Not everyone can overcome that and even those that do, it takes a certain amount of luck - even for 12 year veterans like Kofi.

Agree about Riddle. It's going to be very difficult for Gargano to gain traction on the main roster as long as Vince is alive, just like it was for Bryan. He's perhaps the epitome of the vanilla midget unfairness.

I haven't seen it (canceled my subscription a while ago), but from what I read that seems pretty low for Dream/Riddle. I think Dream has a lot of "WWE" potential. As in, compared to your average NXT guy, he could really excel at Vince's "sports entertainment."

It would appear you have a turnout crisis compared to last time. My quick count is, what, 62 this time? That's less than 20% of the previous turnout. Thanks Obama.

So seems to me Vince being the guy that makes the Woman's match a three-way is designed to set up a match between Triple H and someone. And someone is likely to be Batista. Not sure I get that. Is Triple H supposed to be the face while Batista is Vince's henchman. If not, how? And does anyone want to watch these old men fight in the first place?

Certainly could be. My news sources on the subject entirely entail this thread.

I think AJ just needs to move into semi-retirement mode along with Bryan.

It also was a different era in which the onus was much more on the talent to push and market themselves. I agree Ambrose could use a change of scenery. Hopefully he leaves on good terms and can return if it's mutually beneficial in a couple years.

Classic Vince move.

Can't. Had no idea how the card was gonna be stacked but started watching around 9 cuz I just wanted to watch the last two hours. Ended up watching 3, which back in long long ago was an entire show. I don't get why they think these 6 hour shows help them in any way. The crowd is always dead halfway through of what are supposed to be the biggest showcases of the year.

I didn't start watching til a little after the Woman's Rumble started. And yeah, it was not entertaining. Turned off the sound and paid attention to another screen. Styles/Bryan was very disappointing too. Never got into it, and a really random ending. Actually liked Balor/Lesner, was much better than than the previous match in 15 less minutes. The Rumble was fine. Very average, but fine. Think the right guy won, by everything I've read the past year Rollins has been the MVP of the main roster. Now hopefully he can beat Lesner. Someone has to, right?

Thanks. The day I trust Meltzer will be a.....New Day. Kinda sad this is how my interest is piqued this year. Always love Royal Rumble season - and I will probably seek illegal means to watch it on Sunday. Was in a writing binge last night (Tuesday night), and it's my ritual to leave the TV on. Left it on Smackdown and when I heard "No Chance" that's still nostalgic. The fact three of the four participants in the championship matches are Bryan, Styles, and Balor is pretty cool from an outsider's (no pun intended) perspective. Can you imagine if the put these three with Rollins for Mania? Say, instead of the dumb "Fatal Fourway," they have an ECW style elimination four (instead of three) way dance. The last two guys can pick which title they prefer. Obviously just a fantasy, but thought I'd share. That's a great lineup of still able top guys.

Is Balor actually being pushed or is this more of a random thing?

Would have liked to have seen Lesner/Bryan at Survivor Series. Always been a David v. Goliath dream match, so they screwed that up by turning Bryan heel. But, from what I've read Lesner actually showed up to make it a good match, so that's cool.

I can't embed anything from youtube. This started maybe about 30 hours ago. Wondering if this is my problem or something's up on your side?

So, the only thing the leaks didn't help with is we're definitely getting a Jon/Dany baby after that convo in the dragonpit. Oh joy for preggers Dany.

I thought the episode was pretty fun overall, for what it is at this point. In particular, Davos' scenes are great, and the whole process of putting together the Magnificent/Suicidal Seven was quite enjoyable. Arya confronting Sansa confounded my expectations on how they'd tease some tension before LF is killed. It'd be interesting if Arya consulted Bran in the remaining two episodes. Gilly finding Rhaegar's annulment is apt to piss off book purists for all the right reasons. Ridiculous on all counts. The Jaime-Tyrion conversation was meh.

Aye that's fair. But by the same token, this is the problem that is playing out (much more deliberately and realistically) in the books. Ramsay can't just sit in Winterfell with unsure allies. He must prove his strength - and eradicate any threats. Again, that's partly (although certainly not all) why Roose sends men out at the end ADWD.

To be fair, this was clearly set up by Ramsay killing Rickon - and Sansa warning Jon that Ramsay would do something to make him make a mistake....but yeah.

I really liked that episode til the lat 10 minutes. How cartoonish can they make it? That sea battle made Pirates of the Caribbean 3 look good. And how the hell does Euron seemingly have super-fired projectiles (that clearly aren't wildfire)? Totally ruined what should have been good deaths for the Sandsnakes/Asha (I refuse to call her Yara). But I guess this is what you get when you streamline shit.

I honestly don't get why everyone is so up in arms about this. Dragonstone is important for three reasons. Two, Cersei doesn't care about: obsidian and Targaryen ancestry. The third is indeed its strategic position in terms of its ability to serve as a base for a naval blockade to the Gullet, and King's Landing. If you have ships. If you don't have ships, Dragonstone is just one (albeit exquisite) fortress on a fairly small rock. There's no reason to care about it. Even in the books, Cersei only concerns herself with Dragonstone largely as a ploy to goad Loras into a rash attack - and doesn't do anything about it until she has the Redwyne fleet. Now, one could say that confronted with the same situation, Book Euron would have seized Dragonstone on his way to KL, but that really just seems like nitpicking. As long as there's a naval confrontation in the next couple episodes, I don't get all the complaining.

Of course, just saying it consolidates her as the Tyrell foil for both Cersei and the HS. Further, I'm not sure we'll be seeing any nuking this season.

Margaery's, presumably? She's definitely the star of KL at this point, and Dormer's been great.