Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Place to Be Nation Community evening discussion thread.
We got an all new NXT tonight, as well as baseball, so chat about whatever is on your mind!
Also, check out Brian’s recap of last night’s 205 Live!
What’s new on the PTBN podcast feeds? Check these out too and share your thoughts:
*Walks in, looks around, wanders over to a stool at the end of the bar*
Alright, let’s see how this goes.
That Rollins pod is a really good discussion from two guys on completely different sides of his candidacy
I feel like he’s finally pointed in the right direction as a performer the last few months or so. Slowly adding more substance.
I haven’t watched him as closely since his babyface return, but i will say I wasn’t as turned off by his staggered selling in the Mania match as others. And as Aaron noted in the pod blast, he really was the best guy in those 6-mans from 2014. I remember noting as much in our Elimination Chamber 2014 Reaction show (three years ago!)
I agree, I think he will be mid 40s for me personally. It was nice to hear another side of it. It made me look at the negatives that were mentioned.
What’s the NXT main event tonight?
Damn it.
Oh, hey Duck. How’s it going?
Great! Reading up on CMLL announcing a truly underwhelming World team for their interpromotional event! So far it’s like if they partnered with WWE and Vince sent them Kane and Matt Hardy.
And Haku.
For real. The actual Haku is competing.
I don’t care how old he is, I buy Haku as a threat to anyone at any time.
Last Woman Standing for NXT women’s title
Asuka vs Nikki Cross
Just remembered to go to my settings and turn off email notifications. That can get a bit overwhelming.
Howdy
Mike
Ferrari!
Sup Mikey!
Yankee game doesn’t start for another 35 minutes, which means I’m forced to focus on work. Not cool.
I just traded for Tanaka (second place, dynasty league) and he makes his debut tonight for me :crossesfingers:
I drafted Tanaka and then traded him a week or two into the season – the guy I traded him to sent me three or four messages BEGGING me to trade him. A bunch of people in my league yelled at me for the trade. And then Tanaka started to suck.
I’ll probably regret the trade overall, but it worked out for me for a few weeks.
Hey hey! It’s a new era for PTBN… can’t wait to get this party rocking… good stuff already!
This should be fun.
What the hell is going on with Rick Porcello this year?!?!
He way overachieved last year… way way way.
I agree with that but I don’t think he’s this bad.
He belongs in the Yankee bullpen
I’ll drive him to the airport!
Official prediction as of today: Joe or Brock? And do they fight again at SummerSlam?
I think Joe’s a one-off opponent, though it could be great as a series. Ideally, they brawl to a shmozz of some sort to set up a rematch. In practice? Brock wins, moves on to either Braun or Roman.
I agree that it’s a one-off which sucks. Heart says Joe. Head says Brock.
The sad thing is, since Brock came back, people have been clamoring for him to go up against more of a variety. And when they finally do, after wasting 5 years of potential match-ups, I am nowhere near as excited as I feel like I should be.
I’m still incredibly excited for the match. It should be a good one.
Oh, I’m looking forward to it. My enthusiasm has just been dampened a bit.
The fan in me wants Joe to win. They have made him look like a killer. I cannot wait for this match, but sadly I think it’s a one off with Brock winning. I hope it’s not a squash but a competitive match.
Brock wins; I just hope like hell it’s something more than the bog-standard hundred-suplex Brock match. The brawls have been v. promising.
Watching last night’s SmackDown. The Fashion Police are so, so good.
I could get used to Naomi squashing fools too.
Fandango is a gem. They need to let him cut loose more. I even dug him as Johnny Curtis on NXT.
Both guys understand the value of deadpan acting.
They are. I figured both those guys were jobbers for life but I’m happy they’ve found a solid role.
That’s for me to watch tomorrow, but I loved Fashion Vice from last week.
I’m about to watch the 94 Rumble with my boys. Should I bother to explain what a Kwang is?
Always
They are very confused by the mist.
It’s better they hear from you than from on the streets somewhere, you know?
ANY wrestler they see wearing a mask my oldest asks “Is this guy like a ninja?” He took one look at Kwang and said “That’s no ninja.”
Also my eldest declared that he HATES Bart Gunn.
They are cheering for Diesel. Pffft. Marks.
“Don’t throw out Diesel. He’s so cool!”
“Who’s Mabel’s henchman?”
I would love to hear a report back on their opinion of the casket match!
That casket match for me is one I always enjoy. Idk why but I have always liked it. I also like the wcw battlebowl match from 1991.
I legitimately don’t get the hate for it. It’s a fun, over-top segment. I’ve always loved that match.
Me either. I loved all the bad guys forcing him into the casket. Then the rebirth as well.
Watching it now, the main thing I could live without is the power of the urn stuff.
I never understood that as a kid. Then how did it magically end when Paul Bearer turned on him
I can’t put them through that yet. Too many tough life questions. We’re just doing the Rumble to start. They are VERY upset that Rick and Scott might fight.
Rey Fenix, Donovan Dijak, and Dezmond Xavier added to this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles
So I was looking ahead through my guide and saw that New Japan has a 4 hr block on Saturday. Is this the California show on free tv?
Yes. It’s on AXS TV. I believe night 2 is airing on AXS the following week.
Thanks! I know what I’ll be dvring
They are also airing Okada/Omega II on Friday night.
Tried a weed lollipop for the first time tonight. Pretty decent .
Willy Wonka sell it to you?
Probably his brother, Billy.
What kind? Dandelion? Crabgrass?
Got it off herbal dispatch. Lemon flavoured. Made by MOTA.
Lemon.
Hey! It’s me!
HEY!
It’s you!
Good to see ya.
I feel like he might be exaggerating a bit.
https://twitter.com/WrestlingSheet/status/880216885299695617
That’s an average of 41 a day. Every day. For 365 days.
It had to have been in 2003. That’s why he was so gassed for the HHH matches!
I just hope he had observers from the Guinness Book of Records on hand to verify this amazing achievement.
I was hoping that drafting Mark Trumbo for the fantasy team would be a no-brainer.
Also, Jonathan Lucroy. I’m starting to doubt my drafting skills.
Interesting article by former WCW announcer Chris Cruise on whether or not America is falling out of love with pro wrestling
https://thegorillaposition.com/2017/06/27/is-america-falling-out-of-love-with-professional-wrestling/
Big first career hit Andujar!
Pretty excited for this
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5673c043239425989a09749f0a1da680552ff96ba4baaddec85384f6bae4dce4.png
Came awesome!
Nice! Who made that?
Jeff Jarvis (check his eBook work for us on the right column)
Say Brad, when does the site staff get those swank jackets? I’ll be waiting by the mailbox.
Just finalizing our color options. That orange rules.
**enters a la Niles going inside Fraser’s apartment**
Oh that Maris is driving me crazy!
Real good chance that Frasier is my favorite show ever.
Its up there with me. With it comes to dating lives, me and Frasier are blood brothers. It’s freakishly accurate.
Btw I literally haven’t used disqus since 2011 hence the goofy hat in the pic. 2011 me still didn’t have his shit together yet
Any of you watch Shameless?
I’m like 4 seasons back but I do quite love it.
We are on S3… really fun watch.
Yeah really great writing and performances. And Emmy Rossum…
Yeah she is a big net positive. Just watched the one where Kev has the mom/daughter threesome to try to have the baby. Fiona just found out Frank called DFS…
That storyline is amazing. As awkward as anything Larry David has ever done.
I watch Shameless JT, the fiancee and I are almost finished with season 6, pretty good show i think
We are halfway into S3 and definitely fully invested… been a fun ride so far.
The Gallaghers are the most dysfunctional loving family.
Sean! How the fuck are you!
Just got home from Mania 29 traffic was a bitch leaving MetLife.
Fantastic.
As someone who doesn’t use Facebook love the new format for the site.
Glad you are here for sure.
I’ve been burnt out with Facebook. I don’t even bother to scroll down my feed anymore.
I mostly use Facebook for promotion. And to see pics of my niece and nephew, otherwise my sister would never send us anything.
I mostly use it for news& keeping in touch with friends & family. The ones that use it as a popularly contest or to just get likes for the sake of it are what irks me
Yeah, good show. I’m trying to think of another sitcom since …what,
Roseanne? that sincerely examines the American class divide without
laughing AT the characters for being poor. I watched pretty dutifully
through like the 5th season, then fell off. Need to get caught up now
that it’s on Netflix!
The Middle
Oh that’s a good one. And the show I hastily thought of it being a rip-off of when it first started, Malcolm in the Middle. Certainly more lighthearted and easy to overlook due to their settings in what seem to be decent enough suburbs, but they definitely qualify.
Anyone watch the latest NXT, the Last Woman Standing match was pretty cool
In the middle of it now. The car angle was tremendous.
Last year’s AL Cy Young Award Winner is on the verge of going 4-10.
He has to be one of the worst CYA winners ever right?
I’m still not sure how he pulled that off last year based on the 2015 and this season. Seems to be a fluke for sure.
I still would have voted for Porcello over Verlander, however.
There’s some bad closer winners from the 80s like Mark Davis.
It’s not that Davis was bad that year but I tend to favor starters for the cy more than closers.
Davis followed up a Cy Young season with a multi-million dollar deal with the Royals and then never reached double digits in saves ever again.
Yes, no doubt.
Mark Davis is probably the worst but Porcello has been dogshit this season
Tanaka driving me crazy.
As always this year…
June just seemed to have sapped all the energy out of the team. It’s nuts.
Way overachieved … good to see the kids up, just have to calibrate expectations.
Red Sox need a third baseman.
Heard Travis Shaw isn’t bad.
Another Dombrowski special
Too soon to call Devers up?
Sandoval is a lost cause and Marrero can’t hit.
They’ll probably trade for someone like Todd Frazier
Ew.
That 2015 Home Run derby mesed him up.
Too bad Will Middlebrooks never panned out.
At least he has Jenny Dell.
Is he in SD still or he out of the league?
Brewers last year not sure where he is now.
Just checked he is playing for triple a round rock in the rangers system.
Kicking around in triple a somewhere
Signed with the Rangers, so maybe down in Round Rock or something.
He’s batting .250 with 14 home runs
Half expecting a Tom appearance.
(If ya know, ya know.)
That would be pretty amazing.
Will Middlebrooks with AAA Round Rock (Rangers)
.250 BA 14 HR 33 RBI .921 OPS
That team also has flame outs like Drew Stubbs, Travis Snider, and Dillon Gee
AAA Champs 2017
Those guys would have been exciting to have in your farm system in 2009
How does Middlebrooks’ numbers compare to Sox 3B this year?
An improvement.
Well, he can hit the weight of an adult so he has that going for him.
Can’t wait for July 15th when I see the Sox vs. Yankees at Fenway.
Nice! I’ve always wanted to go see a game at Fenway. I was at the park when I visited Boston in February.
I refuse to ever go back…
Bought a four pack for Christmas. My dad and I are going to this and against Houston in September.
Gave the other two games away for gifts
I’ve never been to yankee stadium either. Both are on the bucket list for Sure.
Haven’t been to Fenway since 2004. I’m fine if I never go again.
This September, it will be 20 years since I last saw a game at Fenway. It was a Yankees-Sox game, too. I was a freshman in college, and the game was part of an orientation program.
Back when they sucked
No, the Yankees were just starting their dynasty…
Wasn’t talking about them
Oh. I mean… why not?
I’m watching Arrow and Flash on Netflix, does this qualify me for tonight’s discussion?
Your existence qualifies you!
What season?
5 for areow, 3 for flash on Netflix. Up to episode 10
You are way ahead of me haha.
I try to bing before the new seasons start, never works lmao
Yeah. I was trying to watch one episode of arrow and then flash. Then I just stopped. Might go back tomorrow haha
And now, legends of tomorrow and supergirl are tied in, too.
Asuka is my only god now. In her all things are possible.
(For perspective, previously my only god was Jason Pierre-Paul. I’m not sure all things are possible in him any more.)
Anyone watch NXT? Curious how Mauro did.
My best guess? He said MAMMA MIA! so much that ABBA is looking to sue for infringement.
If they do, he can just move to another Abba song.
“Hideo Itami is finally facing his Waterloo!!”
It would be fantastic if he just rotated different ABBA songs into his commentary. Weirdest wrestling gimmick ever. And that’s saying something.
“Oh my goodness Percy! Asuka laid out an open challenge and Peyton Royce said, take a chance on me!”
He did really well. Got right back into the swing of things, had a good fit with Nigel.
Usually watch it on Thursday’s but Glenn anointing Asuka as his only god makes me want to watch that match now.
Anyone still play Pokémon go? If so what do you think of the raids?
I think Wille and Duncan still do…
If anyone has listened to Go Home in a Box, I would appreciate any feedback you might have.
Anyone have a strong idea of their top 5 for GWWE yet?
I’m leaning toward Hogan, Cena, Bruno, Rock and HBK but not necessarily in that order.
Top five is the least dramatic part of the list IMO.
1. Hogan
2. Cena
3-5 – some combo of Austin/HBK/Savage/Rey/maybe Bruno once I see more matches. Possibly I’m forgetting some deserving folks.
Rey is a sneaky one… he certainly belongs in the conversation. Curious how high he finishes.
Yeah, he gets super high marks for match quality and high marks for longevity despite injuries. Forcing himself into ever-higher positions on the card through being incredibly over & having great matches points to intangibles. His promos don’t boost him a lot, but don’t detract either. Could really move high up when considering small tie-breaking qualities.
Will is selling me on Rey. I’ve got some blind spots that are being filled in and his debut PPV match with Kurt Angle is incredible.
Glenn, I understand why Hogan is a huge hit as the number 1 guy. I don’t knock anyone for having him up there, but I feel booking gave him a huge advantage over some other stars that didn’t get the run he did. He is high on my list, but I’m looking at guys who drew their own heat, like an Eddie Guerrero or a CM Punk or even Mr. “Oh Yeah” Macho Man Randy Savage.
Cena is another that has an advantage of booking, but he was ten times the worker that Hogan was. He also cares about his in ring performance. I have Cena decently high as well.
I get the point about booking, and that’s a large part of his being the MVP of wrestling history, but you can play what-if games with any number of people. Theoretically, the company could’ve gone national on someone else’s back; I might be skeptical of this, but hey. I’m sure other people could’ve had some of the tremendous matches and put on the tremendous angles he did during that time. Ultimately, though, the history that happened is the history we’re judging, and it’s up to each of us to decide how to weigh different aspects of people’s careers. For me, the highlight matches and week-in week-out promos in the boom era loom large, and those qualities combined with overall historical importance put him above anyone else.
Of course, a lot of people from that era have incredible highlights too…often from when they were fighting and/or teaming with the Hulkster.
Cena is a great worker but he also had to be to hang with this era of wrestler and be considered great.
Hogan did what he had to do in the 1980s to make it work.
Drop John Cena in 1987 and he isn’t doing indy dream matches… he would be selling for ten minutes, popping up and hitting his finisher to massive pops…
Hulk Hogan does not have an athletic background behind him that some of the others did. Sure, he was big and strong and developed a style that worked in the wrestling ring in the 80s. I’m not knocking him at all. He made the wrestling business a household name more than any other wrestler ever, but I think John Cena is the better athlete of the two and could have put on better matches than Hulk Hogan.
i still have to explore and revisit some people
I was thinking about where someone like Brock would finish… Very polarizing since his return and exemplifies so many rare positives in the business, but also suffers from public perception. Interested to see where he lands.
Yeah he is a unique case too. I mean he is a tremendous pro wrestler… in every aspect.
What interests me most in the project is seeing what aspect of a performer ends up carrying the most weight. For instance, I would place someone like Kurt Angle over Jake Roberts in most categories, but Hake had such a superiority on the mike that I could see the race closer than most would think.
I like Brock around 20-25. He has some stinkers, which hurts him, but every match has a big fight feel to them since his match with CM Punk at Summerslam
As of this moment, Savage is my number 1.
Will, Johnny Sorrow and I briefly discussed ours in the latest episode of For Your Consideration; the Rock and Wrestling Era, which will be out in a few days.
My rough draft is as follows:
5. CM Punk
4. Bruno Sammartino
3. Stone Cold Steve Austin
2. John Cena
1. Randy Savage
Will change every day until submission
After my initial ratings, I have a 5 way tie between Hogan, Savage, Hart, Michaels, and Austin right now. I might replace one or two of them in the top 5, but they’ll all certainly be in my top 7 or 8.
Travis Shaw just hit his 17th home run.
Damn you, Tyler Thornburg.
Tanaka in the soup
Big Brother got off to a good start this season. I actually like the theme and am happy Paul is back
I agree definitely excited to see what this season has in store.
Who are your early favorties Trent?
Here’s this week’s CWF if you’re new to the promotion and possibly heard Chad’s pod blast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guP6Z0ZtkrE&feature=youtu.be&a
Oh sweet you all got a comment section now.
Welcome Facts.
But are your facts…right?
Hello
Watching 205 now. Neville is officially the best at saying “Great Balls of Fire” of anyone who’s done a promo about it thus far. He totally commits to the name (doesn’t hedge by saying “the GBOF pay per view” or wev), and the accent plus his confident tone serves it well.
Kevin Owens was so great on Talking Smack this week.
The man is a gift.
I was dying when he came back on screen after Renee called him out for how he said “Bruins”
At this point I am hoping the Yankees win by rain out.
This crowd is cooked and ready to leave.
Incidentally I’ve been in this ballpark. Nice place, sweet Frank Thomas statue.
Joe West does not care about your rain out.
You have one umpire saving a suicidal woman’s life today, and another no-selling a monsoon.
This game makes me want to drive an extra hour and a half to Chicago on Saturday to get a White Sox Hawaiian shirt.
Fucking Joe West, what a clown.
Hey, yo.
NJPWWorld now has the three big title matches from ROH Best in the World up…including Best Friends~
Now somebody hit my music!
No geolocks? Fantastic!
Asuka vs Cross was a helluva match. Best nxt women’s match since Sasha vs Bayley iron woman match
Brand Split War – Week 49 Winner: RAW
Smackdown 26 RAW 23
MOTW: Women’s Money in the Bank – although if we’re including NXT then Asuka vs Nikki Cross wins that award.
Since the beginning of the year, RAW was finally doing something that Smackdown was simply a lot better at for the most part which is building the show from week to week. I think back to hyping up Festival of Friendship, or that first Big Show vs Braun Strowman match, or more recently, the Ambrose-Miz match. This is something that Smackdown was doing really well initially after the split. RAW has closed the gap since WrestleMania because they’ve built to better PPVs and then subsequently had better PPVs. Smackdown is still right there with them and overall has been the better show, but RAW is finally doing some of the things that Smackdown was doing really well. It also helps that I watch the Hulu version of RAW. I am not sure I would have the same opinion if I had to sit through the 90 minutes that’s on the Hulu cutting room floor. I know we aren’t supposed to use the 3 hour thing as an excuse but it is the elephant in the room that isn’t going away.