When I started watching hockey in the late 80’s, I obviously gravitated to rooting for the Pittsburgh Penguins since I rooted for everything else from Pittsburgh. I did however love to follow another team in the opposite conference in every sport. In football, it was the San Francisco 49ers because Joe Montana was an idol. (It didn’t hurt that the Steelers blew during my youth.) I love the Milwaukee Brewers in baseball because of the mitt and ball emblem. In hockey, I gravitated to the Vancouver Canucks. I absolutely loved Pavel Bure. His coach happened to be Pat Quinn. Yesterday, he met his demise at the age of 71 after a lengthy illness. He led the Canucks to the greatest Stanley Cup Finals that I have watched even if the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in that 1994 Series. He will certainly be missed by others more than me but I had to commemorate his death in some way. Best wishes to his family in a time of need.

Stephanie McMahon is a leader even though they lost. HHH tells her to pour on the tears. No HHH, I don’t love this. You’re still taking up entirely too much of my TV time. HHH doesn’t know about supply and demand either. He doesn’t have enough of a supply of wrestlers to demand the amount of TV the WWE has. HHH saying this place only has two or three weeks until the place comes crashing down. You built a shitty company if it comes crumbling down that quickly after you leave. Apple didn’t come down after Steve Jobs died. HHH, I’d be watching the Penguins instead of taping them if you weren’t on the TV. (Next Day Note: Nice of Marc Andre-Fleury to get his 300th win and for Geno Malkin to make it happen.) They are really hammering this “You’re going to beg for us to come back” and even announced an unlikely stipulation to put them back into power. Why do I get the odd feeling that reason is already in motion or has been talked about? Daniel Bryan taunting HHH & Stephanie is priceless and completely needed.

Daniel Bryan is in charge tonight. He calls out Team Authority. He is going to put Seth Rollins in a handicapped match. It is going to be against John Cena & Dolph Ziggler. We can a fan poll for who Seth Rollins team mates will be. Naturally, Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury is option C. Bryan then addresses Kane. This segment is already too long. Bryan puts Kane in charge of concessions. So is this supposed to be a joke that Bryan had to do something similar in NXT? Bryan gives Rusev the option of having a battle royal with everyone in the company for the US Title or he has to do the Pledge of Allegiance of America. Luke Harper is not being helped by his place in the order. He puts him in a match with Dean Ambrose. At least we’re going to get one good match out of this segment. Mark Henry is getting a match with Ryback tonight. Henry goes to attack Bryan when Ryback shows up. Henry has jobbed to everyone else except Ryback so he may as well get it over with.

They start the match after the break. Jerry Lawler points out the inherent problem in people turning after doing something to help what turns out to be the opposition. You knocked out Mark Henry! That is vital in an elimination match. Meat Hook Clothesline for the win. Vince gives Steph & HHH a dressing down. Vince tells them to fix it. Vince has never been sorry. I dig HHH not being too happy while Steph bawls. (Next Day Note: It also makes me feel more strongly that the Authority will come back in some manner. I’m not amused.)

Luke Harper is defending his Intercontinental Championship against Dean Ambrose. Too bad this match is coming this early. The plus side is it’ll almost certainly wrap 9 PM. Nice. I got a kick out of Ambrose having to work for the drop toe hold. Only makes sense for the size discrepancy between the two. Harper is wearing down Ambrose. Dean finally fires back with a clothes line on the floor. They both roll back in. Ambrose has the advantage but isn’t getting in much offense. The tied up drop kick on Luke Harper is pretty cool. Ambrose hits a leg drop for a two. I’m probably not supposed to remember that Ambrose’s reign as US Champ was pretty hollow. (Next Day Note: JBL railed against it his whole reign but didn’t say anything during this segment.) Harper comes back in the corner with clubbing blows. Ambrose eats a super kick but kicks out at two. Slingshot Clothesline by Ambrose gets two. Ambrose hits a suicide dive as Harper tries to bail. Harper tosses Ambrose into the referee who calls for the DQ on Harper. Michael Cole is the only one in the arena who didn’t think Bray Wyatt would attack. Never mind that Harper and him were family, Ambrose beat the tar out of Wyatt last night. How poor is your memory Cole? (Next Day Note: That’s why the WWE doesn’t think we’ll remember anything. Their terrible announcers can’t remember things that happened yesterday.)

Big E Langston is part of the New Day still. For some reason, Larry The Cable Guy is dressed like John Cena met Rey Mysterio and doing a skit with Santino Marella. They are interrupted by the Dust Brothers. Thank goodness. I know Larry The Cable Guy can be funny so I’m blaming this on the WWE writers, again.

The Miz & Damien Mizdow are defending their newly won Tag Team Titles against the Dust Brothers. The Miz takes advantage of a Mizdow distraction. Stardust knocks Mizdow off the apron. Stardust dumps The Miz outside for a break. The Miz got dropped onto the stairs outside the ring face first. Mizdow is taking the beat down. Mizdow knocks Goldust off the apron. He knocks down Stardust. Mizdow slaps on the Figure Four. Goldust makes the save. Stardust connects with the Disaster Kick on Mizdow but after the Miz tagged him. The Miz comes in and gives Stardust the Skull Crushing Finale for the win.

For some reason, a little girl runs down Kane. He’s the head of food and beverage, not a concessions worker. Get your own story correct. Lana doesn’t think their option is fair. Sargent Slaughter is in charge of making Rusev say the Pledge of Allegiance. Sarge can’t get him to say it. Rusev backs him down. Jack Swagger makes the save. We got neither pay off. (Next Day Note: Swagger already lost to him. Why is he making the save? Because he’s the only guy to lose to Rusev that isn’t a heel now?)

Santino, Kane & Larry the Cable Guy have a skit. Santino has mustard squirted on him. We all laughed. Except we didn’t. Justin Gabriel is on Raw to job to someone. Fandango as it turns out. Good on Gabriel for doing well enough to get it moved to TV. Rosa as a valet is much better than Rosa as a wrestler. Gabriel does AJ Styles move set. Fandango hits some sort of neck breaker suplex. Top Rope Leg Drop for the win by Fandango. Looked like the same guy to me. They are really pushing him from the announce table.

The Big Show makes the “I made a mistake” defense while acting smug. No one is reacting. No one should because he’s just been in the WWE for a while. He has flipped and flopped in the past three years at least. No traction, injuries, just kind of floating in the WWE as an attraction that isn’t an attraction. People finally boo. Someone make this end. I expected it to be John Cena. Big Show wants a mulligan. I hope the WWE hears the barely anything coming from the crowd. Erick Rowan shows up. He is a new opponent who can match up physically. Big Show mocks Rowan. The crowd is sort of behind Rowan. Erick doesn’t like bullies. Spin kick to Big Show. Big Show has wrestled well recently. Dolph Ziggler told his Twitter followers to vote for J & J Security because he believes in them. (Next Day Note: I know some of Dolph’s Twitter followers are bots, but it just dawned on me that he has more followers than TNA has viewers. Ouch.)

AJ Lee tells us that Brie Bella is a bigger skank than Nikki for her actions. AJ knocks down Nikki outside. Brie gets the drop on AJ. The announcers act like no reason has been said for Brie’s turn in action. I’ve got a solution for that, give them TV time to talk. Crazy thought, huh? Maybe talk for thirty seconds before AJ comes out? I’m asking too much right? I don’t know how it really is back there? Yep, you don’t have a spare 30 seconds on a three hour plus show. Nikki distracts AJ. Brie pins AJ. Lee grabs the mic and runs down the Bellas. It’s the first time she’s actually been a baby face. (Next Day Note: Brie Bella still had time to explain herself instead of being run down by AJ again after the match. But I don’t know how things work in the back because I just type on my computer.)

Adam Rose & The Bunny are taking on Tyson Kidd & Natalya. Seems unfair to Kidd. The Bunny gets the upper hand early. Spinning side kick lands for Kidd. Natalya tags in but acts concerned for the Bunny. He should tag back in if Natalya is not going to take the Bunny out. Wrestle the damn match, Natalya. Adam Rose spine busters Kidd. The Bunny grabs Rose’s leg by accident. Kidd rolls him up for the win. The Bunny acts apologetic. Renee Young congratulates Ryback on his win earlier. Ryback is asking where a good concession stand is. Glad he’s still a bit of a dick.

The Blaxtion is officially back when Xavier Woods debuts in a New Day video. The Big Guy gets in a food fight with Kane. He forgot his nuts. Dolph Ziggler needed to Show Off more than be the humble victor guy. (Next Day Note: This is still killing me. Ziggler eliminated four of the five member of Team Authority. One can make the argument that Rusev eliminated himself, which is perfectly valid, but if Ziggler doesn’t move, he’s the one to take the count out. So the Show Off, doesn’t how do I put this delicately, show off?)

John Cena and Dolph Ziggler come out. Daniel Bryan joins them to announce Seth Rollins tag team partners. I do like Seth Rollins being defiant now. 93% is only the second highest percentage. Why didn’t Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury suit up? I guess you can’t be a Stooge if you prepare.  Noble starts against John Cena. Him and Mercury have a funny spot so I can catch up. Rollins keeps on being the cog that helps J & J to beat up Cena then Ziggler. Jaw jacker by Ziggler leads to him crashing and burning in the corner. Drop kick by Ziggler gets him another opening. Cena gets to take out Joey Mercury. Zig Zag & AA for a double pin on  J & J Security. JBL trying to sell this as chaos is absolute rubbish. Nothing different happened. That’s the problem. The Authority can not be there and Raw can still be the same product. It definitely is if they’re going to rehash the Anonymous GM Bull Shit. Is this HHH showing us things could be worse? You’re hilarious Haitch. Hilarious. Go with a new damn idea. Say it with me, neutral party like the head of every other sport or fighting organization. It’s not hard. (Next Day Note: Was that supposed to be a cliffhanger with Michael Cole returning to the podium and a bunch of beeps going off? I don’t give a care. The WWE is actively trying to get people to stop watching wrestling. How does that make sense as a business model. I’d be more than happy to stop covering your dumpster fire of a product and only write about beer. Or a well written show which are many and backed up on my DVR.) – Kevin