Evening Discussion Thread 6/28/17

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:

218 thoughts on “Evening Discussion Thread 6/28/17

    1. I feel like he’s finally pointed in the right direction as a performer the last few months or so. Slowly adding more substance.

      1. 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!)

    2. 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.

      1. 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.

      1. 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.

    1. 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.

          1. 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.”

      1. 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.

          1. Me either. I loved all the bad guys forcing him into the casket. Then the rebirth as well.

          2. Watching it now, the main thing I could live without is the power of the urn stuff.

          3. I never understood that as a kid. Then how did it magically end when Paul Bearer turned on him

      2. 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.

  1. 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.

          1. 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…

          2. That storyline is amazing. As awkward as anything Larry David has ever done.

          1. I’ve been burnt out with Facebook. I don’t even bother to scroll down my feed anymore.

          2. 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

    1. 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!

        1. 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.

      1. 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.

          1. It’s not that Davis was bad that year but I tend to favor starters for the cy more than closers.

          2. 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.

          1. Just checked he is playing for triple a round rock in the rangers system.

          2. Signed with the Rangers, so maybe down in Round Rock or something.

        1. 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

          1. Yeah. I was trying to watch one episode of arrow and then flash. Then I just stopped. Might go back tomorrow haha

    1. 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.

        1. 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.

      1. 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.

        1. 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.

        2. 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…

          1. 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.

    2. 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.

        1. 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.

      1. 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

    3. 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

    4. 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.

  2. 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.

    1. 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.

  3. 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.

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