Dear SCW diary

Man, what a great Mania weekend. We had so much good stuff I am still reeling. And I plan on watching a bunch of it over again tonight which is saying a lot. How cool. I love when wrestling is good. I love being excited about it. And I love how we always post a ton around mania. In 2012 we had 122 posts! That is crazy! Last year saw only 20 posts. That is sad. But this year is looking pretty good so far with 7 (not including this one). This is all getting me excited. So much that I am thinking about wrestling all the time.

Usually when I bum out I stay away from wrestling. Not sure why exactly. Maybe it is because I can't five it my full attention, or my full suspension of disbelief. But for some reason lately I have been using it as my escape. And I am positive you guys can relate. Things have been rough lately. Family stuff. It is nothing to worry about, just super shitty at times. But it is one of those things that will get better eventually. For now it sucks tho, and I am really looking forward to the time where things get better. 

My last post was so grumpy. I wasn't doing well at the time. So here are a few good things to make up for it...

GOOD THING 1 - The night of Takeover was also the first time my 5 1/2 year old niece (Emily) spent the night here (my parents house) on her own. She was so excited the whole night. Just a dorky kid. My sister and I were watching Takeover and Emily wanted to hang with us. It was so annoying. She kept getting in front of the tv and touching all my shit and talking. Annoying in the best way. She was just super funny. She was a little weirded out by people fighting so I had to smarten her up a bit. She still doesn't get it but it helped her not be freaked out. I told her they all were really friends and she liked that. She eventually realized that it was ok to boo and cheer the people. And from then on she got really into it. I even drew up her own Gargano sign that she would hold up and yell with endlessly. It was amazing. That is why I moved here, to be an uncle. My uncles all sucked and didn't give a shit about me at all. I am not going to be like that. So that night was kinda a dream for me.

GOOD THING 2 - I am not sure if I have told you guys about this, probably have, but my mom was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. It hasn't gotten to the chemo part yet but it has still been incredibly shitty. Well, on my mom's birthday last February she came back cancer free. And her checkup this past week was the same. How fucking cool. We all went nuts with those phone calls. No matter how bitchy or grumpy I get this always reminds me that life is pretty good.

GOOD THING 3 - I started seeing someone here. I didn't want to date, but I did anyway. I used tinder because it sucked having no friends and it is kinda fun. I like feeling uncomfortable. And tinder didn't disappoint. I went on the most weird, bizarre and bad first/last date ever. So that was cool. But lucky for me a few days later I had a great first date. And it has been nothing but great ever since then. She is cool and fun and has a sunny personality. And she has a positive disposition. I am pretty exited about it while trying to hold my horse(cock)s and not get ahead of myself. But she did watch the entirety of Mania with me so that says something right? I am happy, that is weird.

So there you go guys, a SCW post almost completely not about wrestling. How are you two doing? Let me know.

Rusty 

SCW Fantasy Draft 2018 Results

       Quarter Marshall                           Poncho Man                             Rusty Nickles         

1.    Daniel Bryan                                 Kevin Owens                            Johnny Gargano

2.    Shinsuke Nakamura                      AJ Styles                                   Aleister Black

3.    The Undisputed Era                      Alexa Bliss                                Rhonda Rousey

4.    Charlotte Flair                              The New Day                             No Way Jose

5.    Asuka                                            Brock Lesnar                             Bayley

6.    Samoa Joe                                     Kassius Ohno                            Authors of Pain

7.    The Usos                                       Balor Club                                 Elias

8.    Sami Zayn                                     The Broken Universe                Seth Rollins

9.    John Cena                                     Shayna Baszler                          Roman Reigns

10.  The Bar                                         Drew Gulak                               Tomasso Ciampa

11.  Rusev                                            The Iconics                                The Miztourage

12.  Triple H                                        Drake Younger                           Sasha Banks

13.  Benjamin/Gable                           Shawn Michaels                         Breezango

14.  Nicholas                                       Steve Corino                              Jinder Mahal

15.  William Regal                              Sarah Amato                              Mojo Rawley

16.  War Raiders                                  Mickie James                            Randy Orton

17.  Nikki Cross                                  Ricochet                                     Naomi

18.  Undertaker                                    EC3                                            Lars Sullivan

19.  Becky Lynch                                 Kairi Sane                                  Nia Jax

20.  Pete Dunne                                    Luke Harper                              Velveteen Dream

21.  Booker T                                       Braun Strowman                        Renee Young

22.  holograms                                     Mauro Renallo                           Tye Dillinger

23.  Nigel McGuinness                        Chris Jericho                              Ruby Riott

24.  Toni Storm                                    Paul Heyman                              Shane McMahon

25.  Neville                                          Absolution                                  Ember Moon

26.  Hideo Itami                                   Akira Tozawa                             Bobby Roode

27.  The Four Horsemen                      Titus Worldwide                        Dean Ambrose

28.  Cedric Alexander                          Michael PS Hayes                     Stephanie McMahon

29.  Alicia Fox                                      Goldust                                     Bobby Lashley

30.  Vince McMahon                            Tino Sabatelli w/Cane Hill       TM61

I thought it would take us a few days to get to 75, but we did 90 in two hours.  So fun.  The good Mania vibes are still flowin.  Who wants metrics?  Poncho has the deepest women's roster with 11, followed by Rusty at 9 (counting Renee), while I trail with 6.  I came out with the most men's tag teams with 5, Rusty's got 4, and Poncho 3.  Poncho has the most non-wrestlers by far with 7 plus Senor Benjamin, King Maxel, and a numetal band.  So maybe 14 total.  I got 6 and Rusty got 2.  I chose 18 babyfaces, 6 heels, and 6 neutrals.  Poncho chose 11 babyfaces, 14 heels, and 5 neutrals.  Rusty chose 20 babyfaces, 9 heels, and 1 neutral.  Rusty has the entire Shield.  Poncho has the most NXT talent with 7, although Rusty could've had 8 if 3 of his picks hadn't debuted on Raw this week.  I had the only non-human pick, unless the Broken Universe comes with a zoo of reincarnated generals and presidents.  Just like last time, nobody picked Dolph Ziggler or Baron Corbin.  There are a lot of great names we left on the table.  Carmella and Erick Rowan are the only current WWE title holders to not be chosen.  Poncho has 3.5 belts: both world champions, half of Smackdown tag team champions and the NXT women's champ.  Rusty has 4 belts: both midcard champions, the Raw women's champion, and the NXT champ.  I've got 4 belts: Cruiserweight, NXT North American, NXT tag team, and UK Champion.  (Raw tag titles are currently vacant.)  205 Live seems criminally under-utilized with only Gulak, Alexander, Tozawa and Neville on the board.  Feuds we could recreate... I've got Danielson and McGuinness.  Rusty has Gargano-Ciampa and Bayley-Sasha.  Poncho has Owens and Jericho (and seeing Owens and Corino on the same roster makes me warm inside).  Clearly, our promotions will all draw big dollars.  Pats on the back for everyone.

SCW Fantasy Draft 2018 Proposal

With all the Mania events behind us, and the Superstar Shakeup (tm) looming, I propose we do a fantasy draft.  Poncho and I did it in May 2016, right before the brand split, and it was really fun.  I remember Rusty bowed out because he was way behind.  No excuses this time buddy!  Here are the general guidelines:

We take turns picking.  Somebody goes first, then the next person, then the next, then the first person goes again, etc.  I don't know who should go first.  Actually, I have a die.  This will be totally fair.  I roll a... 6!  Poncho rolls a... 5!  Rusty rolls a... 3!  I swear that was legit.

Tag teams are a single pick, as long as they have a collective name.  For example, you couldn't pick the team of Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong, even though they were tagging for a little while.  Actually, Shelton and Gable don't have a name, but they tag together all the time, so that would be fine.  You guys get it.  3-Person factions also count as a single pick.  I don't think there are any 4-Person groups.  Managers count as a separate pick, so Rusev doesn't come with Aiden English, and Lesnar doesn't come with Heyman.

Anyone currently under contract with WWE is fair game.  Everyone in NXT, the main roster, or backstage people like Road Dogg and Poncho's friend Billy Kidman.

In 2016 we got to 34 picks each before we couldn't get any further- a total of 68 picks, which I'm pretty sure we did without looking up the rosters online.  There's a much bigger roster now, so I think we could each pick 25 for a total of 75.

We can use the Instagram chat thing to keep track, using the format like if I write "1 Fandango", Poncho would then post "1 Tyler Breeze" and Rusty "1 Naked Mideon".  Then I'd go "2 Street Profits", Poncho "2 Lars Sullivan", and Rusty "2 Viscera".  And on down the line, until Nick can't think of any more Corporate Ministry members.

Ya'll down?  I'm gonna shoot a "updated" text out now, and my first pick will be on Insta before ya know it.  Let's try to get it done before Raw on Monday, to see if Vince's picks are as interesting as ours are!

Welcome to Wrestlemania!!!!!!

Shit guys. We are here again. It is crazy to think it has been a year since Matt and Jeff came back and flippy guy and facial hair quitter had the match of the night in the pre show. Time flies!

I am pretty excited for Mania this year. It looks like it is going to be tons of fun. It is too bad that we can't all watch together, but I expect lots of texting. Maybe we can use the chat thing in gmail so we can talk easier? let me know if you have any ideas.

PRE SHOW MATCHES

ATG battle royal

Womans battle royal

205 live snoozefest

I don't really give a shit about any of these matches at all. That is why I will have so much fun watching them. The ATGBR is always fun to see all them dudes in the ring together. I am rooting for Jack Swagger big time. The women's BR should be cool. I just hope they give them more than 5 minutes. And the 205 Live match will hopefully rule hard. I have low hopes so they will all probably be great.

Brock vs Roman

oh man. so much to say about this, so little desire to type it. I'll bet we all feel the same about this match pretty much. Then again I never know what you guys are thinking sometimes. I am rooting for brock. The build was kinda stupid. We all know that Brock isn't there usually. That is how it has been for like 6 years. So why do they act like it is new? Lame shit. Well, Brock is finally going to lose the belt and get a vacation from his grueling wwe schedule. It won't be so bad I guess. Roman will become a monster face-heal and who cares. It is time to get it over with. I am just not looking forward to Brock losing to a spear and a jumping punch to the face.

(side note. I don't really care if Brock goes away for a while. His matches have been pretty lazy lately. But I will be sorry to see hayman go. I wish he would team up with someone else. But alas! or l-ass! or however you spell that!)

Styles vs Nakamura

I don't think you will like what I have to say about this. Sure, it is going to be awesome and  probably match of the night. Duh. But I don't really want it. What are the consequences?  Styles loses the belt to Nakamura, who does jack shit in WWE (not his fault at all). That sucks. But on the other hand Styles wins and it doesn't matter? Boring. I will eat this match up as a fan. But it feels like a reunion album by a once classic band. It is like that new pixies album. I am sure it is great, but I should just go listen to the old ones instead.

Miz vs Rollins vs Finn

 Oh man. I dunno what to say. I feel like the roster right now has so many great people that they just throw shit together. It is just a bummer. Also this may be a good time to say that I don't wanna see every wrestler wrestle every fucking week. It tkes the mystique away sometimes. Why do I have to see Finn and Rollins wrestle right before a match they are going to have? UGHHHHHHHHH (this match will be awesome)

Orton, Roode, Jinder, Rusev

oh god

I am in a bad mood

lets get this out of the way. Shit has been hard here in Idaho. Family stuff. And it got really bad yesterday and is still bad. I just realized while typing this that I am not feeling the best and the mad part of me is seeping out. So I am sorry about that. 

Alexa vs Naya

This feud is fucking stupid. It all blew up when Alexa was talking shit to Mickie James about Naya. All while a camera was just recording and broadcasting it live. That sucks on so many levels. First off, the wwe acts like all women just wanna hug and talk about their best friends. secondly why are  Alexa and Mickie James friends? Last summer they had a big feud. Fuck the WWE. I am not an idiot.

Charlotte VS Asuka

This is going to be so fucking shitty. Just kidding. I think it will be great. And I think they will go out there to kick ass. Go Asuka

The Bar VS Braun and secret guy

I was offended by the fucking Brain Strowman thing. How dumb. I feel like the audience thought it was dumb too. Yet again wwe goes against the character that they made up. Braun would never do that. UGHHHHH. This will be dumb and a bathroom break even tho the Bar is awesome. The only way this will be awesome is if LARS is the secret tag partner. It will probably be someone dumb that doesn't wrestle often anymore like the Hurricane (no offense Poncho).

The Uso's VS New Day vs zzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (this will be fun probably)

Kurt and Rockin' Rhonda VS The white trash neighbors who never stay out of everyone's business

I am excited for this one just for the hype. It should be fun. I wish Rhonda had someone to talk for her like Brock does. It will probably be HHH and Kurt 90% of the match with RRR pinning steph. Oh well. Still cool.

Cena VS Taker

This is CCR at TB. SO COOL!

Boy was the build up to this lame. Oh man. Shut up Cena. We know Taker isn't there. He never is. Why is it a problem now. That is like going to school on a Saturday and screaming "Oh so the principal isn't here?! You must not care at all! Everyone look! They are a bad principal now!!!!"

Fucking shut up WWE. dfahkladfhklasfklbasbjlasrbj,asf (I will mark out hard when I hear Taker's Taco Bell DONGGGGGGG)

DBD and Shane VS The best part of Smackdown

Ok so this will be awesome. 

I am sorry guys. I promise I am super excited for Mania. I should have planned to watch it with you. NEXT YEARRRRRRRR!!!!

Oh by the way, Takeover is tomorrow and it is going to be sooooo good. I love you guys and really miss you a ton. I hope you have a great wrestling weekend!!!!!

SCN: Obligatory April Post

I don't remember the last time I watched any wrestling in real-time, but this Saturday I'll be watching NXT Takeover, and on Sunday Wrestlemania Thirtysomething in Eugene courtesy of Poncho Man's Network subscription.  It will be fun to share the live Mania experience for (I think maybe) the first time, and I hope we'll be constantly texting with Rusty.  Afterward, as we'll have expounded our various opinions on every match, I'm sure I won't be motivated to do my usual post-Mania MMS, so I feel like I need to do a rare preview as substitution.  After Poncho's post yesterday, he texted that he thought his insights maybe weren't that insightful.  I will report in advance that this post will not serve to elevate the overall intellectual content of our blogsite.  (No offense though, I did sincerely enjoy and appreciate yesterday's post, and for my taste, Poncho's unsurety was undue.)

NXT Takeover New Orleans

I follow along with their highlights (read: Ultimate Deletion), but I haven't watched an entire episode of Raw or Smackdown in many months.  I will however tune into NXT once a month or so, and I always like the show overall.  As with Takeovers past, this show is primed to steal the spotlight from Mania with its great and precisely-programmed (5 match) card.  Gargano and Ciampa have Styles/Nakamura level hype.  The match for the new belt has outrageous starpower.  The tag match will be baDAss.  (That was an attempt at a reDRagon reference.)  I've never been that into either Ember Moon or Shayna Baszler, but the NXT women's division rarely disappoints, so I'm game.  I'll also be looking for big things out of the main event, following Almas' great defense against McIntyre, and Black's undeniable rise to being a main event player.  This is going to fun, and when we're watching Mania we will miss the energy of the NXT crowd.

Cue the Kid Rock song...

It's Wrestlemania Fleur-de-lis!

 Ali-Alexander: Cruiserweight Title
 Like NXT, every time I tune into 205 Live I enjoy it, but I'm less motivated to turn it on in the first place.  Roddy vs Itami was great, and I'm sure Cedric has been killing it, though I wouldn't know first-hand.

Battle Royals: Ladies' and Gentlemen's
These will be fun, and have some standout moments for some deserving talents, and then someone will win, which will be meaningful for a week or two.  Good clean entertainment.  Two thumbs up...  my ass.

Bliss-Jax: Raw Women
If Bliss wins I riot.

New Day-Usos-Bludgeoners: Smackdown Tags
Poncho will have to talk me into this one, it sounds like potty break time to me.

Roode-Orton-Rusev-Mahal: US Title
I'm into this, I want to see it.  As Poncho said, Rusev is super over, and that alone will make the match interesting.  Mahal and Orton bring a campy bad quality, and Roode's solid.

Asuka-Charlotte: Smackdown Women
Show-stopper.  I'll be in Asuka's corner 100%, but either way I'll be happy if they get enough time.

Bar-Strowman/?: Raw Tags
I was thinking Hulk Hogan could be the mystery partner, but then I heard someone say that on a podcast and thought it sounded ridiculous.  I don't think they'd keep it for the last-minute surprise unless they were trying to mark us out though, so I have unreasonably high hopes.  My highest hope is for it to indeed be Hogan, and for him to be booed roundly out of the building.

Miz-Rollins-Balor: IC Title
Like the US Title match, I'm looking forward to watching this, but in a much different way.  I don't see a weak link here, but I'll be rooting heavily for Balor.

HHH/Steph-Angle/Rousey: Grudge?
Boy howdy do I not give a wild shit.  I want to see the HHH/Steph entrance because in recent years they have absolutely killed it.  I want to see Rousey because despite the internet nit-picking (maybe it helps that I haven't been watching Raw) I think she's a mega star in a way that could easily translate to wrestling.  I think she's cool.  Angle, dizzying heights of past glory aside, would best be put to pasture.

Zayn/Owens-Shane/DBD: Grudge!
Not how I'd fantasy-book the DBD comeback, but whatever.  It's not a bad stepping stone to re-enter the main roster.  Also, after watching the Kevin Owens 365 special, I was feeling bad for him that he might again feel like his stock in this year's Mania was lower than it was the previous year.  But being in a spot to heel on DBD is one of the best spots on the card, and one I can see him taking full advantage of.

Cena-Undertaker
I would like it if Undertaker came out to his music in street clothes.  Walked briskly down the ramp, arms swaying.  "Talk to the hand, John Cena.  I'm here to chokeslam Elias."

Lesnar-Reigns: Universal Title
Please let this match be short.  I will cheer Roman Reigns if he can beat, or lose to Lesnar in as much time as either Lesnar-Goldberg match.

Styles-Nakamura: World Title
The real main event.  I can see this being as good or better than their WrestleKingdom match, but this time there's little chance of them being upstaged.  Asuka-Charlotte is the probably the only other match that might compare.  I am looking forward to relaxing back into the easy chair during this one, knowing that my fandom will be duly serviced, and all will be well from bell to bell.  I don't care who wins, but I'm mostly rooting for Nakamura so that they'll have to wrestle again soon.

Yay wrasslin!  SCW number one forever!  Forever!  Forever!  Forever!  Forever! Forever!  Forever!  Forever!  Ichiban! Thank you!  I love you!  Good night!

WrestleManja Preview 2018 Edition

I think I'm gonna try to do this whole preview by memory and not look at the card on Wikipedia. Think I can do it? If I do...does that mean I'm stoked for Mania celebrations?

Mustafa Ali vs Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Championship 

Not the match I wanted to see, but I'm sure it will be entertaining. 205 Live has been enjoyable lately (and I even kinda liked the era of that one guy who has been scrubbed). Last year Neville and Aries basically had match of the night so....yeah.

The Bar vs Braun Strowman...and Hypothetically Brain Strowman

Kinda disappointed Braun doesn't have a bigger spot...but maybe whomever his partner is will make it a huge spot. Nice to see Cesaro on a good spot on the card. 

The Fabulo.....err Women's Battle Royale

Basically headlined by the Sasha Banks/Bayley feud. Good excuse to get a lot of Women on the card? I hope the Iconic Duo debut.

Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax for the RAW Women's Championship 

Is this an actual match? Oddly kinda feel like it's not. I'll cover my bases and include it. It's been "quite" the feud. Alexa is the best.

The Andre The Giant Battle Royale

If it was me booking...Curt Hawkins accidently wins and is disappointed that the steak is over.

The Usos vs The New Day vs The Bludgeon Brothers for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship 

Weird spot for your most over Tag Team...who continue to evolve and create gold/cook pancakes. I see those hammer guys winning.

Bobby Roode vs Randy Orton vs Jindar Mahal vs Rusev for the United States Championship 

While not quite the Yes! Movement...Rusev Day continues to be the most over thing on tv. Good job on Aidan English being the new Sandow. 

The Miz vs Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship 

I really enjoy Finn on social media with all his "over" jokes. This could end up being a really fun match. 

The Obligatory Elias Song probably featuring The Rock

Nuff Said

Charlotte Flair vs Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship

So the Lakers just beat the Spurs. First time they've  gone 3-0 vs the Spurs since 06 apparently. I would guess this match will be very good. 

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs DBD and Shane McMahon

Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy.                   Oh boy. Little Daniel in little trunks. Doing little Daniel things. Oh boy. Fucking stoked. So happy. Oh boy. It's gonna be great.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon vs Rowdy Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle

Think about like 3 years ago. Not even remotely imaginable. This is decent fun stuff to be shown on ESPN. That's what Mania is all about.

John Cena vs the Hypothetical Undertaker

This will be a something. If the build hadn't been so weird I might have been tempted to do a "Book This Challenge" like that last important Cena match. It would be really entertaining if Cena just drank people's beer in the crowd. 

Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship 

All hail the greatest babyface in WWE History. I bow down to the Beast.

AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship 

This is like a coming out party. A match based on competition that is as or more intriguing than anything else on the card. Go us for being able to watch this (again....but in a different place).

Okay. What did I miss? I'm gonna go look now. Holy shit...according to Wikipedia I did them all. And more! Fuck yeah. Now I'm only 3ish? Events from catching up with NJPW.

Woo. Yes! That Shawn cutting his hair thing is still upsetting me. Woo.