WWE TV 8/28-9/4

[sek69]

Fashion Files seems like a classic case of "plans change" since they were clearly building to something with the reveal of who was attacking them. The David Lynch spoofs came off as hand waving to distract from them no longer paying off the original concept, and now it's becoming "Fandango does wacky stuff" with no clear purpose.

 

I'm betting we'll find out one day from some shoot interview or ex writer podcast what the real idea was supposed to be.

[Loss]

One of my greatest moments as a fan was being live at the 2001 Unforgiven PPV. Not only did I get to see Angle and Austin brawl right in front of me, I got to see the Undertaker nearly have a full blown tantrum at how bad his and Kane's match was against Kronik. Even when everyone came out to celebrate Kurt winning the title, he was off in the corner the whole time boo-boo facing.

 

They were his friends, and he was the one who suggested hiring them. He was already at kind of a not-very-good point working with DDP and being tossed aside before the end of his program with Austin in favor of Benoit and Jericho. He was working through some rough injuries and also getting some criticism for not selling for anyone. So yeah, having this bad of a match with guys he recommended didn't come at a good time, even if all was forgotten pretty quickly.

[Strummer]

I can remember there being a to-do about Undertaker and Kane squashing Edge and Christian for the tag titles in early 2001 or so. Dave was pretty peeved about that IIRC. Undertaker was kind of annoying in 2001

[El-P]

Undertaker was kind of annoying in 2001

 

He was fucking awful both as a character and as a worker. The American Badass is the worst Taker era ever, even worst than Corporate Ministry. Taker gets a pass for a whole lot of shit, really, because of how cool the gimmick had been before and was again when he became the Mania Vintage^tm Undertaker again.

[The Thread Killer]

I liked the Biker character, as a concept. Taker was beyond stale at that point, and needed to change things up. I just think that it was poorly executed at times, and like his previous incarnation, he outstayed his welcome. I don't think it should have lasted nearly as long as it did. But I don't think Taker would have had the run he did throughout his career, without taking that break from the traditional "Dead Man" version of the character, and breaking things up.

 

Let's be honest, a lot of the annoying shit the Undertaker did, he was going to do regardless of how he was dressed up. At least the Biker gimmick gave him a lot more freedom on the microphone, and he didn't have to rely so heavily on all the gimmicky language, etc.

[The Thread Killer]

When the Brand Split first happened, I really enjoyed Smackdown. They seemed to make use of everyone on the roster well and the feuds all seemed personal and real without devolving into the whole 'worked shoot' territory, but this year the shows seems to have progressively fall off a cliff. I know it's not exactly a hot take, but moves like taking the title off AJ at the beginning of the year, losing The Miz who had a great run in 2016/early 2017 and then the awful Wyatt/Orton feud have slowly eroded what was previously a really fun show every week.

 

This week was really poor in my eyes. There were some small bright spots - I always laugh at the Fashion Files segments, even though I think they are running out of steam, and I liked the re-debut of Shelton as Gable's tag partner in a WGTT v2.0 and I thought the delivery in the Shane/Owens segment was good, even if it's building to a match I don't really want to see, but the rest of the show was really boring and uninspired. The idea of AJ doing an open challenge every week should be fun, but he beat Tye Dillinger in less than a minute when that could've been a good match. While I liked the Jinder push in that it was elevating someone new, i do find him pretty dull in the ring and he has essentially cut the same promo on every Smackdown for the past four months. Orton in the main event scene also seems to suck the life out of everything around him as well.

 

When Smackdown went live it initially was doing a lot of different things with the presentation that made it a really good show but it seems to have got stuck in a creative rut at the moment.

 

Good post. You have encapsulated everything that once was right and seems to slowly gone wrong for Smackdown since the draft. It's pretty infuriating, since there is no good reason for it. The talent and resources are all there, as are guys (coughLukeHarpercough) who are being criminally underutilized. Very frustrating to be a fan right now, more often than not.

[The Thread Killer]

I caught 205 Live this week, and it was actually a pretty good show. The No DQ/Street Fight/Hardcore Match with Kendrick and Gallaher was excellent, which you would expect from those two. I didn't much care about the whole Swann match and TJP angle, I don't even get what they're going for there, nor do I care. But the backstage segments about and featuring Enzo were actually entertaining (to me) and the Main Event was a fun 6 Man Tag. I am happy whenever I get to see Gran Metalik who I think is awesome and terribly underused. Judging by the crowd reaction, moving Enzo to the Cruiserweight Division was right choice. Of course, he's glaringly bad in the ring and noticeably less skilled at even the fundamentals than his teammates and competitors, but he will probably get more eyeballs on the product.

 

And yeah...I laughed out loud when he called Drew Gulak "Captain Underpants."

[Mad Dog]

I can remember there being a to-do about Undertaker and Kane squashing Edge and Christian for the tag titles in early 2001 or so. Dave was pretty peeved about that IIRC. Undertaker was kind of annoying in 2001

 

For as bad as he was in 2001, he was fucking awful in 2002.

[goc]

 

Is Mike Bennett the fastest they've ever given up on someone?

 

Bringing back Curt Hawkins, giving him a decade old "Chuck Norris Facts" gimmick and debuting him in a loss on Main Event was a pretty weird one.

 

 

I'm pretty sure Curt Hawkins was brought back just to be a jobber though. I'm not sure how much of a push they were ever really planning to give Mike Bennett but I definitely don't think anyone ever planned to actually do anything more with Curt than have him lose matches.

 

It's better to have your own in house jobbers under contract than rely on local indie dudes especially when you have situations like a guy getting used for a squash match in NXT while he's got a GoFundMe page up asking for donations for medical treatment for his seizures caused by concussions.

[C.S.]

It's better to have your own in house jobbers under contract than rely on local indie dudes especially when you have situations like a guy getting used for a squash match in NXT while he's got a GoFundMe page up asking for donations for medical treatment for his seizures caused by concussions.

Who was this?

 

I get the feeling that NXT is very backward and bush league when it comes to certain expected standards of quality backstage. For example, I heard Tyson Kidd's injury was handled very poorly. I can't remember where I heard that though - maybe a bitter Bret rant? But still.

[Strummer]

Braun v Big Show in a cage announced for Raw

[...TG]

 

It's better to have your own in house jobbers under contract than rely on local indie dudes especially when you have situations like a guy getting used for a squash match in NXT while he's got a GoFundMe page up asking for donations for medical treatment for his seizures caused by concussions.

Who was this?

 

I get the feeling that NXT is very backward and bush league when it comes to certain expected standards of quality backstage. For example, I heard Tyson Kidd's injury was handled very poorly. I can't remember where I heard that though - maybe a bitter Bret rant? But still.

 

Kidd's injury happened during a dark match before Raw.

[sek69]

Depending on who you ask, Mr. 450 went in hurt prior to his match on WWE TV in the hopes of getting them to pay for his medical bills since they cover anyone who gets injured in their ring.

 

 

Rick Steamboat Jr. was alleged to have suffered his career ending injury due to DeMott related shenanigans in NXT. That's really the only issue I've heard about them.

[The Thread Killer]

 

It's better to have your own in house jobbers under contract than rely on local indie dudes especially when you have situations like a guy getting used for a squash match in NXT while he's got a GoFundMe page up asking for donations for medical treatment for his seizures caused by concussions.

Who was this?

 

I get the feeling that NXT is very backward and bush league when it comes to certain expected standards of quality backstage. For example, I heard Tyson Kidd's injury was handled very poorly. I can't remember where I heard that though - maybe a bitter Bret rant? But still.

 

 

Consider the source and treat this with the credibility it deserves - but Ryback claimed that Kidd had an undeserved reputation backstage for being a complainer, so when he got injured Mark Carrano (the current head of Talent Relations) thought Kidd was either faking or exaggerating it. Kidd apparently got the whole "be a man, take a salt tablet and walk it off" treatment until somebody finally realized how serious the injury was. At that point, they realized that they were legally liable, so they started taking Kidd a lot more seriously.

 

Ryback also went on to say that after WWE found out that Kidd almost died from the injury (reportedly it was a small miracle that he wasn't paralyzed) they went into full damage control mode, circled the wagons, got out the checkbook, and now you'll never hear Kidd complain about it, because he has money and a job for life. If Kidd ever tells the whole story of what happened in that situation, it's safe to assume his medical coverage, salary and new job goes bye-bye.

 

But this is all from Ryback, who is notoriously full of shit.

 

You really never hear anything remotely good said about this Mark Carrano guy. Then again, JR, Bruce Prichard, Johnny Ace and others have claimed that whoever is in charge of talent relations is always going to be hated because you're always put in the position of being the bad guy and delivering the news nobody ever wants to hear. On the flip side of that - WWE always seems to pick people with prickly personalities or who are already unpopular for that job, so who knows.

[The Thread Killer]

Rick Steamboat Jr. was alleged to have suffered his career ending injury due to DeMott related shenanigans in NXT. That's really the only issue I've heard about them.

 

That whole situation was really sad. I once saw a clip of an interview with Ric Flair where he was talking about how he and Ricky Steamboat had discussed the dream of one day seeing Reid Flair vs. Ritchie Steamboat, with their fathers in their respective corners. Now Reid is gone and Ritchie is injured for life and will never wrestle again.

[C.S.]

What happened exactly with Richie Steamboat exactly? What a shame. If this is true, you think dumbass DeMott would've known better than to bully a wrestler's kid.

Ryback is the dumbest oaf and meathead on the planet. He blocked me on Twitter for...I don't know what? I never tweeted anything bad to or about the guy. That's not why he's a meathead and oaf - I'm just adding new evidence to support what we all already know.

 

Mark Carrano seems like kind of a smirking dick on Total Divas, but that doesn't really mean anything. When Janes Geddes was still in the picture, he seemed like her harmless errand boy on the show, so I think those roles change on depending on what's needed.

[Mad Dog]

My favorite Ryback line ever "I'm dumb as fuck, sorry."

[goc]

 

It's better to have your own in house jobbers under contract than rely on local indie dudes especially when you have situations like a guy getting used for a squash match in NXT while he's got a GoFundMe page up asking for donations for medical treatment for his seizures caused by concussions.

Who was this?

 

I get the feeling that NXT is very backward and bush league when it comes to certain expected standards of quality backstage. For example, I heard Tyson Kidd's injury was handled very poorly. I can't remember where I heard that though - maybe a bitter Bret rant? But still.

 

I don't watch NXT but I saw it on twitter. This dude was on the taping in a 3 on 1 squash match with that huge guy who keeps turning on his partners. No idea if the match has aired yet. https://t.co/LsiO4l9GHU

[iamthedoctor]

It was great that Cena pulled out the "I don't bury people, the fans decide" against the guy the fans have been pushing back on for years.

 

If the fans really do decide then Im sure Triple H would have dropped the belt during the Attitude Era and not go it back. Its one thing for fans to cheer and boo wrestlers but they sure as hell don't book outcomes.

 

Cena just raped Roman Reigns verbally with that promo. It was like Reigns just got desperate and went the Miz route which is a HORRIBLE idea

 

Oh and RIP Evil Emma's entrance music

 

Why do I get the feeling WWE just trawled a bunch of message boards, looked up what online fans dont like about Cena & Reigns and just used it in a promo.

[Mr. Lacelle]

It's 2017, they just read tweets.

[cm funk]

Chalk me up as a big Emma fan, and I don't understand what they're doing with her. The music change is bad. The Emmalina stuff was retarded. Her heel character was good as is. She's a good worker. I don't get it. It has to be some backstage heat or something, because they keep fucking around with her in what seems like an attempt to bury her. Why?

 

It's annoying to me because I like her, and if they're trying to run her out of the company, why not just cut her? The petty burials are so childish, but it's not the first time, and won't be the last, that we see WWE do this crap

[El-P]

Emma's music was boss. Of course they have to get rid of that.

 

Funny that people seem to be all excited by the Mae Young (burp) Classic when in fact the women's division(s) have been booked like shit for seemingly forever now. Killing off Bayley. Fucking up Sasha at every corner. Making Charlotte a useless babyface for no good reason. The Lana debacle (and don't get me wrong, I liked Lana as Iron Mike Sharpe). I only like the fact they're pushing Bliss, because she's really cool. The less said about Jaxx the better. I kinda dread Asuka's main roster stint too, considering they did such a great job with Nak...

[iamthedoctor]

Emma's music was boss. Of course they have to get rid of that.

 

Funny that people seem to be all excited by the Mae Young (burp) Classic when in fact the women's division(s) have been booked like shit for seemingly forever now. Killing off Bayley. Fucking up Sasha at every corner. Making Charlotte a useless babyface for no good reason. The Lana debacle (and don't get me wrong, I liked Lana as Iron Mike Sharpe). I only like the fact they're pushing Bliss, because she's really cool. The less said about Jaxx the better. I kinda dread Asuka's main roster stint too, considering they did such a great job with Nak...

 

They really don't have a clue on what to do with the womens division. If Sasha was going to drop the belt on raw what really was the point in her winning it in the first place. They need to stop these 2 week title reigns. As for Emma they made us wait weeks and weeks for this new character only to last it a week then change her back that made no sense. Then you have Charlotte who was so dominant on Raw beating everyone and then she goes to Smackdown as a babyface and constantly loses?

 

Then they decided that Lana should be a wrestler instead of a manager so in every match she has they give her a title shot just so she can lose.

 

Asuka they will ruin on the main roster if they go the same way, Im suprised they didnt go anywhere with Dana. They could have made a great storyline with her finally having enough of Charlotte and having a strong push but she got royally squashed. I suppose this is how Virgil/Dibiase would have gone in 2017.

[Jimmy Redman]

Emma's music was boss. Of course they have to get rid of that.

 

Like seriously what in the FUCK.

 

Nothing has made me want to just throw my hands up and say fuck WWE more than this. It is my favourite theme song.

 

All that bullshit about "she started the women's revolution" *snicker* seems really mean spirited and personal, which is bullshit because the Paige vs Emma final literally was like the first match in the women's revolution.

[sek69]

It seems like it's partly because they don't like it when talent goes into business for themselves on Twitter and partly because she's reminding everyone the official WWE Narrative is wrong.