Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[[Q]]

In the hype video before this, Miz was talking shit saying he was "unbeatable" and Miz didn't even know how to block. Hard to believe he's any good if he doesn't block a simple attack. To be fair, Miz did say "Championship Edition" and this was the Turbo version, but it's close enough.

But seriously though, they have Neville being called his former ring name Pac playing with Woods, and Cesaro was on there.... even Rusev breaking kayfabe.

[formx]

Kayfabe is essentially dead these days.

[[Q]]

It is, but the WWE is strangely very protective in some cases (Undertaker, the whole Lana/Rusev situation)
and ridiculously lax in another?

[JaoSming]

I mentally exempt UpUpDownDown, grouping it with other social media stuff....

...the issue I have is more with Table for 3 and Breaking Ground on the Network. Very interesting and well done shows, but kayfabe gets slaughtered.

I dunno, it's weird, I like the behind the scenes and not having my intelligence insulted by overly protecting the business, but I much prefer Lucha Underground's storytelling to WWE's "this isn't my character talking, country music suuuuuuucks"

[[Q]]

I do like Lucha's cinematic style as well. Different from what we're used to. I mean, if they're gonna script the show & promos, why not go all out instead of pretending that it's not scripted?

[Andrew]

I'm fine with the Network's mix of the kayfabe product, and behind the scenes features where they pull back the curtain. The backstage anger over Lana and Rusev's engagement was hypocritical, though.

[JaoSming]

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

Well, that's different.

[bigh0rt]

Well, that's different.

Almost as different as this...

[Andrew]

WNW posted that the other day. With Vince's sense of humour, we'd probably see that in WWE, if it wasn't for PG.

[bigh0rt]

The WWE did a great job last night of taking four separate foursomes, and somehow making them all look weak and bad. Kudos.

What's crazy is, each of them could individually find a nice niche somewhere and be productive and entertaining, I think. Get 'Team Extreme' going in the undercard and tag team divisions, maybe even a fun tag team match of the Dudleys vs Rhyno and Dreamer, where they kill each other but doesn't end up dividing them. I like pairing the Usos up with Reigns. They are entertaining ring workers who can be nice secondary pieces to help Reigns when he gets the deck stacked up against him, so on and so forth. The Wyatts... please just stop making them be tremendous draws of heat and then just squash them at every possible turn, killing any sense of momentum they could possibly build. Let them go on an actual tear. Destruction and mayhem. Actually make their face adversaries look bad, and put them over. A novel idea. The League of Nations... I dunno. I do miss the stables of my hay day of wrestling, though, and think that having them gives you great opportunities. The booking week in and week out is just so poor, though. It's very disheartening.

[JaoSming]

Saw on Reddit that the last segment was bad, the "tater tot" promo....

Watched the first part of it until the first "tater tot" and thought it wasn't to bad...

and then he kept calling him it...and the fans chanted it less, and he just kept saying it..... how bad is this guy at promos? Even if they are scripted for him, it's just, bad... Just because he's Rock's cousin doesn't mean he can get away with that stuff out of the blue. Not saying Fruity Pebbles was the best thing ever, but in comparison to this it was.

Just, ew.

[[Q]]

I was thinking spike dudley would eventually join team extreme, then was hoping for rvd when Bubba teased a raw appearance. Was severely disappointed with rhyno, as he has been in nxt for a while

Hate to repeat myself but new day continues to be the only ones capable of doing the time-filler promos without boring you to death. Hell they are actually quite funny at times. I hope they continue to be a staple on these shows because the rest of it isn't very good. Tired of watching the same mid carders fight each other over and over again

[Andrew]

Can't help but feel that these teams would've been great to have before Survivor Series, so they actually could've been utilised at the event. There was talk of scrapping Survivor Series a few years ago because the concept no longer gets over, but that's kind of a self-fulfilling assertion as it's rarely been used in the past decade or so, outside an obligatory "traditional Survivor Series match" each year. Hard for the concept to get over when it's not being used in the first place.

[bigh0rt]

Totally forgot about the TLC PPV until about 10:00, so I caught the Divas Title match and the Main Event. I thought the Main Event was more entertaining than I would've thought, even though for most of it the crowd did not seem into it at all. Those spots are really built for smaller, high flying guys than bruising hulks like Sheamus and Reigns. The crowd did seem to eat up the end, though, so it may be wise to turn Reigns into more of a Goldberg-esque destroying machine, rather than superman Cena who cuts promos, etc. Whatever they do, they gotta keep Reigns off the mic, because he's just awful. I could buy somewhat into having him be a wrecking ball, though, and just physically destroy things. As I said, the crowd really ate that up, and got him the loudest pops of the entire match, so maybe they'll take notice and try and keep that train rolling. I really hope this doesn't carry all the way through WrestleMania, though, because I certainly don't want to see Sheamus in the Main Event.

Also, I still miss Evening Gown Matches. RIP.

[[Q]]

I thought it was a big waste to have KO drop the title last night but now that Reigns is champion, I hope it leads to a feud between the two

[JaoSming]

Fuck it, those were two really fun nights of wrestling back to back. Spotfest and a bit incoherent, but fun. Obviously there is no way they can maintain this for now on, but I'm optimistic.

They got Philly to mark out for Reigns winning the title tonight. Right there speaks volumes that they finally got something right with him.

I don't care for Owens losing the IC title, but if we get 'insane' Owens because of it, it will be worth it. Love the cockiness and playing to the crowd, but KO can be scary when serious like he was in NXT and throughout his career.

And shit, a couple of hardcore matches? idc if they're all old and they did do the rematch the next night on raw, shits fun.


So props to WWE for making good moves. Lucha Underground season 2 trailer is hype (and fucking Rey!), and NXT Takeover is Wednesday.

[[Q]]

I dig Lucha Underground's style. Unlike TNA, they just did their own thing and didn't try to beat them at their own game because that's not happening. I also like that Sexy Star and Ivelisse aren't Divas or women's wrestlers, but just wrestlers. I'd like to see Katrina get into the ring too, but that doesn't really fit her character.

I found it interesting that WWE held off on giving the belt to Reigns, desperately trying to garner sympathy for him and to not get him booed and it actually seemed to work. I was a little surprised, but I'm glad it worked out for them

I know Sasha's getting the crowd chants and belongs at the top, but i also hope WWE tries to capitalize on the UFC, as they try to do with other sports, and push Becky Lynch as the other Irish wrestlers are champions in the company. I've had enough of Paige, the Bellas, Fox & Tamina taking up TV time

[Andrew]

I think this is the right way to push Reigns...so long as they don't immediately have him drop the title. The corny stuff wasn't going to get him over as a face; the mixed reactions to John Cena should've taught them that. Having him be a badass who kicks ass and shows off an aggressive streak instead of spouting nursery rhymes? Much better move.

[bigh0rt]

Was watching MNF last night, so I missed RAW, but having the championship change hands on RAW, legitimizes it as worth watching so you don't miss something. It used to happen all the time, but from everything I've read, it's been an incredibly long time, and I, for one, welcome the change.

[[Q]]

Yeah in the 90s they had to compete with WCW so they were more willing to give it away for free but within competition anymore, they're more than happy to take your ppv money now

[Andrew]

Actually, with the WWE Network, PPV buys are less important than they used to be. WWF/WWE were always careful about not giving away too much on TV back in the Attitude Era, because they needed to sell PPVs. One of the mistakes WCW made under Bischoff was giving away too much on Nitro, which allowed them to stay ahead in the ratings - and then as the tide began to turn, beat RAW in the ratings on occasion, until the WWF pulled ahead for good - but led to lacklustre PPV buys. They bled money, a problem which only got worse and worse, and then Vince McMahon ended up buying them for pocket change.

That said, title changes did happen on TV a bit more often back in the day (and even house shows, on occasion), and I think it's a good thing to mix it up a little. It helps keep things a little unpredictable.

[[Q]]

Yeah the network has definitely replaced the traditional ppv model and ppv buy emphasis has gone to a focus on getting paid subscribers (for NINE NINETY NINE), which is interesting because they started giving away ppvs in the form of free months to lure subscribers

[Andrew]

At last count, they've got their million plus to make it viable, so that's good news. The historical content alone makes the Network worth the monthly fee for me.

[koberulz]

They got Philly to mark out for Reigns winning the title tonight. Right there speaks volumes that they finally got something right with him.

No, they just found someone they'd got even more wrong with, so Reigns was over by comparison.