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Summer Slam

From the NAI Archive – August 25, 2015 – DC’s Diaries – #SummerSlamTaughtMe part 2

From the NAI Archive – August 25, 2015 – DC’s Diaries – #SummerSlamTaughtMe part 2

First and foremost, #SummerSlamTaughtMe that match order matters. After a totally enjoyable experience last night writing the first part of this series, today’s Summer Slam viewing dragggggedddd onnnnnnnnn. I got through the first 45 minutes yesterday and took four pages of notes. I watched an hour tonight (four matches, as opposed to the 2 from yesterday) and barely wrote three pages of comments. Yikes.

While I was very vocal about Orton and Sheamus being a bad choice for match opener, it certainly was a far better option than the two or three matches that followed. AmbReigns and the Wyatts may have worked, but probably only as well as RKO and “The Hawk”. I guess being a veteran dependable hand is another thing that

#SummerSlamTaughtMe – Part 2

From the NAI Archive – August 24, 2015 – DC’s Diaries – What #SummerSlamTaughtMe – Part 1

From the NAI Archive – August 24, 2015 – DC’s Diaries – What #SummerSlamTaughtMe – Part 1

If there was a word to describe Summer Slam, “Polarizing” might be a good one. A whole lot of people had a WHOLE LOT of strong opinions on the show. So much so, in fact, that I found myself so busy thinking about the opinions of others that it was hard for me to remember my own – The show got lost in the reaction.

So, to remedy that, I sat down with a pen and a notebook and decided to actually watch the show, jotting down my thoughts along the way. As tends to happen when I do something like that, the theme came along as I went, and since this is the Twitter-world, I gave it a hashtag.

What #SummerSlamTaughtMe

From the NAI Archive – December 23, 2014 – DC’s Network Diaries: Summer Slam 1990

From the NAI Archive – December 23, 2014 – DC’s Network Diaries: Summer Slam 1990

Funny how random things don’t wind up seemingly random, isn’t it?

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned a time or seven, I’m a bit of a nerd. And I like making lists. So, I spent some time updating my list of all the content on WWE Network. . . Because I use my time wisely.

After making sure my dork-OCD levels were topped off for the day, I went to my good friend Random.org in order to decide what I’d watch. . . Isn’t that how everyone watches WWE Network? Pull a random number off a website, look up what Network event that refers to on your spreadsheet, then watch it?

. . . I really should keep these things to myself, I think.

Anyway, the number I picked took me to Summer Slam from 1990. Conveniently enough, I had just finished the Rumble from that same year this morning. Isn’t that a weird coincidence?

. . . Let’s just get to the card.

From the N2C Archive – August 17, 2014 – The Teacher’s Book: What could happen post-Summer Slam?

Promotional Poster for WWE's 2014 Night of Champions Pay Per View

There are days where it is hard to be a wrestling fan. If you read the Summer Slam preview Doc Manson and I had late last night, you could tell that for both of us (though Doc is suffering far worse than I), there is a definite vein of pessimism in how we feel about the WWE product. In our minds, too much has been mis-managed, too many worthy superstars are being ignored, and there is way, way, WAY too much being shoved down our throats.

Yet, despite the negativity that can drag me down at times, I have hope. Perhaps its, as @NewAgeInsiders says, just because the relationship I have with WWE is an abusive one. Or perhaps its because, as an actual classroom teacher, hope is sometimes all you can hold on to in order to maintain your sanity. But I think there are opportunities abound here for WWE to start heading in a positive direction.

From the N2C Archive – August 17, 2014 – Number Two Contenders Summer Slam Preview!

Logo for WWE's 2014 Summer Slam Pay Per View

Summer Slam is less than 24 hours away, and the Number Two Contenders have you covered. Doc Manson and The Teacher are here to discuss matches, angles, predictions and more!

The Teacher: Doc, does it feel to you like this PPV has taken forever to get here? It seems like these feuds have been building (or in some cases, not building) for months!

Doc Manson: Yeah, the build has been pretty slow for almost the entire card. I’m starting to feel like a broken record, always talking about the same stories and wrestlers. Although, a few of those wrestlers I talk about aren’t even on the SummerSlam card.

From the N2C Archive – August 14, 2014 – The Teacher’s Lounge: If all Summer Slams had Twitter

Promotional poster for WWE's 2014 Summer Slam, featuring John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and more!

As almost every single pair of eyes who reads this knows, I, The Teacher, have been pretty addicted to Twitter since the birth of the Number Two Contenders. One thing I’ve been fascinated with is how the social media age allows everyone to share their feeling right as things happen. This gives us a primal sense of how people are feeling, since from the looks of it, most people don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about their tweets before sending them into the Inter-ether.

Which got me thinking. . . With Summer Slam around the corner, what would the history of this huge WWE event look like if Twitter had existed since its inception. . . Quite the thought experiment. . . I humbly submit some of what I believe we’d have seen in the last 20 years.

From the N2C Archive – August 1, 2014 – State of the WWE: A very early Summer Slam preview

The promotional poster for Summer Slam 2014, featuring John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar in an epic WWE showdown.

The Teacher: Doc Manson and I are back once again, friends, only this time, we’re actually going to discuss the art of wrestling, and not just the business of it.

Summer Slam is just a few weeks away, Doc. Are you excited yet?

Doc Manson: Yes. Absolutely, sort of. What’s on the card again? Aside from Cena v. Lesnar?

T: Frankly, I don’t think there’s all that much else that’s been decided, besides our main event.

From the N2C Archives – July 15, 2014 – The Teacher’s Lounge: He is The Miz, and right now, he is Awesome!

On July 14, 2014, The Miz returned to WWE's Monday Night RAW

My first independent column as DC Matthews. Well, technically I was “The Teacher”, but. . . You get the idea.

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In addition to the conversations Doc and I will be having about most things wrestling each week, we will also be sharing some more independent thoughts on the segments, matches or storylines that caught our attention. This week, I’d like to talk about a wrestler that I have recently begun to enjoy a lot, even though I’m incredibly ashamed to admit it. However, they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, so here goes.

Hi. I am The Teacher and I. . . . Man, this is hard. I like. . .

*deep breath*

I like The Miz.