WWE Payback

[shoryukens]

I was pleasantly surprised by the show, granted I did come into this with zero expectations.

 

Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens was better than their Wrestlemania match in my opinion. The pace was a little slow but I really loved the last few spots with Jericho just going nuts on the Owens' finger. 3.5.

 

I didn't watch the Wrestlemania pre show so I can't say if this Aries vs Neville was better or worse in comparison. I can say, however, is that this was a really good match. I love heel Neville to death and I wish I could grow his beard. The intensity of both competitors from the start made a nice contrast to the slower pace of the first match. That sunset flip powerbomb into the last chancery is sick, but the finish kinda soured the match for me even if I do understand the logic behind it. 3.75.

 

I fell asleep for the Hardys vs Cesaro/Shaemus match and I don't really have the intention of going back to watch it. Sorry.

 

I was surprised by how good Alexa Bliss vs Bayley was. I know Bayley can go, but Alexa was having trouble getting results in terms of match quality on Smackdown. Alexa's facial expressions and mocking of the ref's counting was gold. The kick out into the post spot was pretty clever actually, and I'll always appreciate an old school DDT being used as the finish. Alexa's best match in my opinion. 3.75.

 

House of Horrors... I don't know how I feel about this match to be completely honest. My feelings are mixed to an extent, but theres negative than positive as I would never willing see this again. That said it wasn't completely horrendous and this feud has certainly done worse ( Wrestlemania 33). House itself was certainly spooky and I liked the cinematography. The second half was hot garbage though, really hurt Bray's character. He can't even win in a match he set up without the help of 3 guys! 2 stars.

 

Seth Rollins vs Samoa Joe was good albeit a little bland. It seems like Seth's character has been dissolved into nothing except his knee. The match itself was psychologically sound but pretty the same as the HHH match, maybe a little better. I really hated the finish too; Joe just had to let go of Seth he would of easily broken up the pin. For a 15+ year veteran, Samoa Joe really shouldn't be making those rookie mistakes. 3.25.

 

Braun Strowman vs Roman was awesome; match of the night for me. Roman was selling everything Braun was giving him like death. The finish was really great in particular. Roman kicking out of the first powerslam ever so weakly really brought home the message of just how strong Braun really was. Braun doing 12 minutes in a main event match without getting gased or the need of rest holds shows how much he's improving. I was warming up to Braun since their match in February but I held off on actually liking the guy until he produced a great match. Needless to say, this was Braun's first great match. 4.

[Slasher]

I think Bray being the new Kane is exactly the point. The WWE treats him the same way they do Kane (and Big Show) where he is presented very strongly as a mythological level person yet he is never going to be a guy who is carrying the world title belt for more than 1 or 2 months...much like Kane and Show. I don't think his position will improve if he stays in that gimmick. The WWE just doesn't really like obvious characters being ace level main eventers. Taker was probably the only exception and in his case it was really because he was so established in the WWE when they turned to a reality tv based approach that him coming out of nowhere dressed like Mark Calloway would have killed him dead. And even then in the mid 2000s to now Taker was rarely ever champion. He had title matches sure but that isn't the same thing. Too bad for Bray because I don't see him ever looking as big a "star" without the gimmick. The one silver lining is that if WWE ever changed their attitude about what they like to do with "sideshow attraction" type characters, his character is one of the easiest ones in the WWE to rebuild if necessary. Obviously all you need to do is make his opponents sell for his mere presence like when Mankind revealed that Triple H would have to deal with Cactus Jack and Triple H shat his trunks or like all those times where a guy like Taker sends everyone in the ring running by appearing. Do that for Bray and I think it would help a lot. They also shouldn't let the aces like Cena and Orton treat him like a gum on the bottom of their shoes. I know Cena the character is part never die type super babyface who doesn't back down from people but they did not need to book that segment where Cena dressed up in the family jumpsuit and the goat mask. You can clown on normal heels like that but not a stable that is supposed to be creepy and scary. You'd never see someone do that to the Shield.

[BBscout]

The horrors match was booked for kids. End of story.

 

Did nobody see Joe had a shoulder up the entire three count

[sek69]

Booked for kids? Just because something was dumb doesn't mean it was intended for children. I've seen kids programming that was significantly better than that heap.

[Jimmy James]

Ditch Bray and bring back Husky Harris, modern wrestling can always use more fat guys on the roster.

[fakeplastictrees]

Reading this thread has got me curious to check out the BRB again. Looking it up, apparently there have been 4 in WWE history.

 

Re: HOH

 

This didn't work for a ton of reasons and the main reason this didn't work for me is WWE's over-use of American horror tropes while blatantly ignoring subtlety and ramping up on eye-rolling ridiculousness. Randy Orton pulling up in a limo while wearing no shirt and COMPLETELY oiled up was the moment I knew the HOH was going to win the 2017 pro wrestling equivalent of a Razzie.

[Gutenberger]

To be fair though, Bray "won" the part of the match in his HOH by putting Randy under that fridge and getting out without being followed.

He fucked up in the ring, which is only the lace where he earns his money and is supposed to be in a match...

[stro]

He didn't put Randy under a refrigerator. It clearly slid off and was flat on the floor before Bray even walked out of the frame. Regardless, the idea that a 6'5", 250lb pro athlete wouldn't be able to get out from under an empty refrigerator is lolz.

[The Thread Killer]

I'm not getting the hate I'm seeing for Rollins vs. Joe. I don't think it was a 5 star classic or anything (I'm not entirely convinced Seth Rollins is capable of that feat) but as far as I was concerned, it held my interest and was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Not great, not bad. Fair to good.

[Cap]

I'm not getting the hate I'm seeing for Rollins vs. Joe. I don't think it was a 5 star classic or anything (I'm not entirely convinced Seth Rollins is capable of that feat) but as far as I was concerned, it held my interest and was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Not great, not bad. Fair to good.

I agree. I get the criticism of Rollins, but I thought Joe worked pretty hard to keep the match together. It was a solid, unoffensive match.

[stro]

I'm not getting the hate I'm seeing for Rollins vs. Joe. I don't think it was a 5 star classic or anything (I'm not entirely convinced Seth Rollins is capable of that feat) but as far as I was concerned, it held my interest and was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Not great, not bad. Fair to good.

It's because Joe/Seth featured two well credentialed indie guys (well, I never liked Tyler Black so well credentialed is in the eye of the beholder I suppose) working a match that essentially had the same story as Roman/Braun, yet Roman/Braun did it magnitudes better that it's a little hard to believe someone could watch those on the same show and think the Joe/Seth match was better performed or executed. Especially someone who has been watching wrestling for 700 years like Meltzer.

 

Seth/Joe was a random match you'd see around 9:45 on Raw.

[El-P]

Who are we kidding ? This ain't Mania, so I'm cherry picking.

 

No interest in Owens vs Jericho, Seth or the Hardies when they aren't in TNA doing the Broken gimmick.

 

So.

 

Alexa Bliss vs Bailey. I liked this quite a bit. Love the bitchiness of tiny Alexa. That elbow too. Nice selling by Bailey as always. Once it got going, they did turned it into a nice sprint to a finish that would have worked. Anywhere else. Way to kill your crowd WWE. This is sociopathic level of dumbfuckery. Match was really good I thought though. Me enjoy bitch heel Alexa a lot. Good work from both.

 

House of Horrors. Well, I said I was cherry picking. I didn't say I was gonna pick the tasty ones only. Ok, so from the get go it's even worse than I imagined. Is Randy Orton doing some WWE movies ? He shouldn't. I've seen better acting in Brazzers videos. Hell, with this production and camera angle and "spooky" music, I was half-expecting to see some parody porn. Can't we insert some sextape leaks in the middle of this ? Ok, so the House of Horrors is actually some regular white trash house waiting to get repossessed because of Trump being elected. Orton looks around, Bray jumps him from behind then runs away. In EVERY room. Who designed this game ? Wait, a creepy doll room ? Am I watching some episode of Fort Boyard (a very famous TV game show in France) ? To almost quote Hulk Hogan in the Dungeon "It's not fun !". Buried under the fridge. Fuck, that old Police Quest IV final was waaaaaay more scary than this shit.

 

Orton vs Bray. Hey, Orton is doing a Sabu. I wish he could work like Sabu too, but he's just Randy Orton. That Indian Guy runs in ! The right ethnicity + a needle up your ass = push for a brand new market. Well, I wish Tiger Ali Singh was still around. This is a debacle. WCW circa 2000 level of unfun suckitude.

 

Roman Reigns vs Braun Strauman. Hey, Selling ! I won't be accused of being a Roman Reigns mark, but he's doing the best performance I've seen him give at least since that Lesnar match eons ago. Really good beating, really good selling. Basic and to the point. Very nice run to the finish. Great sell job, really. Terrific job of making Strauman a monster, who would have guessed when he debuted. I guess getting him away from that new black hole of suck that is Wyatt was the best move possible. Fuck, Wyatt really is the new Kane. Terrific post-match beating. They should really give the belt to Braun, make a bunch of challengers crash against the wall until Roman climbs the mountain and gets the belts off him at Mania next year. Superb main event match capped off by a great angle.

 

Cherry picking, people.

[WingedEagle]

Hardys vs. Cesaro & Sheamus is worth your time, especially with the post-match.

[cowboy hats]

Police Quest reference~!