Daniel Bryan to Mick Foley: "You Quit and Went to TNA!"

Last night’s Network special, the State of the WWE Universe address, was an absolute disaster. Much like the political debates it was emulating, it featured a bickering roster of angry talking heads who couldn’t stick to their points. It was fantastic television. It was that incredible combination of “work” and “shoot” that’s been making Talking Smack so good, with a whole lot of added pettiness and anger.

At one point, Mick Foley accused Daniel Bryan of not “wanting” the job as GM. Bryan replied that’s true, but he’s happy to be doing it–he just wishes he could wrestle. Bryan also said that Foley couldn’t hold that against him, because Foley quit his own GM position to go to TNA and compete.

Yes, folks, Daniel Bryan said “TNA” out loud on WWE programming.

He also called out Raw on failing to improve the positions of many of its wrestlers, said that Triple H’s involvement made the Universal Championship illegitimate, and said stars like Cesaro–referring to him with a slip of the tongue by his real name of Claudio–would rather be working on SmackDown.

Mick seemed to have a rough time staying on track, responding to the half-real criticisms with rambling stories that barely seemed relevant to the conversations at hand. Meanwhile, Shane was still high on adrenaline from his earlier brawl with the Raw roster, peppering the show with angry, twitchy comments.

Meanwhile, Stephanie kept trying to keep it kayfabe, punctuating each exchange by saying “Raw’s the best and we’re going to beat you on Sunday!”

WWE has understandably avoided publishing many of the highlights, but the full show is still up on the WWE Network. If you like watching ridiculous train wrecks, check it out.