Can't argue with either of those points.

NXT-related but I consider this basically the WM thread now:

Pole-dancing female Shinsuke Nakamura cosplayer

LOL

WWE ‏@WWE 59m
BREAKING: Due to overwhelming social media support, @shanemcmahon will once again be in control of #RAW TONIGHT!

Good thing Shane won the HiaC match.

What was the purpose of WM32?

Shane lost and is still in control of Raw.

AJ lost and is the #1 contender.

LoN won and kicked out a member.

Lesnar wins and disappears.

Ambrose loses and squashes Breeze in 1 minute.

Charlotte wins in a way that sets up two feuds (Becky because of the black eye, Sasha because of Ric's interference) and is in a feud with Natty instead, with Becky feuding with Emma, and Sasha floating around doing nothing.

If they are having Shane "control" RAW again tonight, I wonder if that means Shane was supposed to win at Mania and they changed it last minute for some reason. Or something else was supposed to happen that didn't for whatever reason, and this is their clunky way of getting around it.

Also:

Zack Ryder won the IC title and lost it + rematch on the very next Raw and Smackdown.

Kalisto retains the US title, and is immediately thrown back into tag action as fodder for a debuting team on Smackdown.

The Usos beat The Dudleyz, but lost the rematch and now The Dudleyz have a relatively high profile feud and The Usos don't.

The only important thing that made any sense was Baron Corbin debuting.

Don't forget Reigns winning as at least making some kind of sense

I think the AJ Styles loss at Mania and subsequent #1 contenders win is pretty easy to explain. They give Jericho the win at Mania to keep him strong enough to have the credibility to feud with someone they are looking to bump up the card later on. He needs a prominent win or two or else he just becomes another old guy on the roster and his star power is gone.

Yeah AJ took the loss at Mania, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter all that much since they propped him right back up the next night. Look no further than WM 31 for an example of this. Seth Rollins lost to Orton that night, but came back to cash in and win the title. The loss earlier in the night didn't hurt him one bit, but it kept Orton strong enough to make him a credible opponent for Rollins at the next PPV.

The one that baffles me is how they booked Ambrose at Mania. It's one thing to have him lose to Lesnar, that's understandable, but to have him lose in what was pretty much a glorified squash is befuddling. He also was booked more as the heel in that match, because of his reliance on weapons. Lesnar was the one acting for face-ish because he wouldn't use them, but Ambrose was more that happy to and also wasn't shy with the low blow either. That was very odd, and they really have done much since to address it.

Did UFC make McGregor the #1 contender in the 170 pound class after he lost? Did the Cardinals go to the Super Bowl after losing the NFC Championship.

Your explanation is the real reason he lost. But in kayfabe, losing a high profile match should not lead to being the #1 contender.

Totally agree AJD. Dean was basically squashed. Dunno why they'd go the route of "nobody comes out of this match looking better" but they certainly did.

Could say the same about LoN vs New Day. They both look pretty weak after their match.

Well your two comparisons really aren't close, but to be fair, they are giving McGregor a rematch for his title, so I guess that does make him the #1 contender. And before you say "automatic rematch" they don't do that in UFC. Yeah, they will give the losing champ a rematch most of the time, but it isn't automatic. Just ask Jose Aldo. And as for the Cardinals, this doesn't work, because first they lost in a single elimination tournament AJ did no such thing. Also, they just didn't hand him the #1 contendership, he won it in a fatal four way. The Cardinals were and are certainly eligible to try and go to the Super Bowl the next year.

Wait, what?

McGregor lost to Diaz at welterweight. He's fighting Diaz again at welterweight. No titles on the line for either fight.

McGregor is the 145 pound champ. He lost to Diaz at 170. His rematch with Diaz is at 170 and is non-title (because neither competitor has a 170 pound title).

They handed him a spot in a #1 contender match in the direct wake of a clean loss. It was ridiculous. If you're at least pushing AJ as a red-hot undefeated challenger on a hot streak then it makes a title shot at Roman more interesting. Instead they do this "LOL n/m results, those don't matter" hotshot ****.

It's mind-blowing to me how many people are willing to hand-wave away what a ridiculous booking decision that was, in service of absolutely nothing. Keep Jericho strong? Really? They're not ever giving him the title again, and his credibility is basically static forevermore, and hardly needed protecting in that spot.

Obviously it's easy to explain what WWE's mindset is on this, but to say "well this is how they do things" basically condones a completely ****ing broken booking model.

Worst 4:30 video ever. She didn't even get naked.

Shows you how much I have been paying attention to UFC lately. I thought he lost the title to Diaz, so I guess that holds no water. My apologies.

Tbf, I watched the fight between Connor and Diaz and thought Diaz was the champ until this very moment.

That makes me feel a little better

Wait Diaz isn't the champ? Wtf?

Neither McGregor nor Diaz are even ranked at 170 pounds. McGregor is the 145 pound champ. Diaz is ranked #5 at 155.

http://www.ufc.com/rankings

I think I figured out the reason we are all confused. Diaz, a lightweight, was a replacement for Rafael Dos Anjos who is a welterweight. They kept the fight at the 170 lb weight because there wasn't enough time to cut weight. At least I know I wasn't alone

No.

Conor (the 145 champ) was supposed to face Dos Anjos (the 155 champ) at 155 for the 155 title. Dos Anjos pulled out of the fight because he broke his foot 2 weeks before the bout. Diaz (a well-regarded fighter at 155 who has also fought at 170) agreed to take on Conor at 170 with about 1.5 weeks notice. Since neither person had the 170 title, the fight was non-title. There is a rematch between the two (also not for any titles) later this year.

Shane running Raw again this week is just so lol. Maybe HHH and Steph come back and start feuding with Shane and Vince. I really have no idea what they're doing, and I don't think they know either.

Nothing confusing about that. Thanks for clearing that up.