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WWE TV 5/11 - 5/17/15


goodhelmet

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They advertised Steph and Hunter being back on the show and.......No Steph

 

I thought they'd open the show with Ambrose......but I was 10 minutes late tuning in and shock of all shocks I missed nothing because it was another boring HHH & The Authority talking segment.....

 

There was good stuff on the show. Cesaro and Big E was good. Neville and Cena had a pretty damn good match. No divas on the show, but I missed a couple segments stepping away to do stuff, maybe I missed a diva match?

 

The Bryan stuff was really good and respectful, but sad. Sad truth is it's time for the guy to hang em up.

 

when Wyatt came out to cut another shitty boring promo I changed the channel to basketball and never looked back. I like Orton and Seth and they have good matches, but that is far from a must see RAW main event right now. It's paint by numbers that you know they'll have a match, the authority will run in, Roman runs in, Ambrose runs in.....and it's a schmozz "hot sell" for the PPV. yawn

 

apparently, from what I read on another board, Ambrose had a hot run in and the show ended with him standing tall with the crowd going nuts. He's obviously doing the job on Sunday, so kudos to WWE for putting him over strong like this leading up to the match. Will they keep him hot and strong and keep the momentum going after the PPV (I can't even remember the name of it, which is how little I care about the show. Payback?).......past results say no.....shuffled back into the midcard of death

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No divas on the show, but I missed a couple segments stepping away to do stuff, maybe I missed a diva match?

 

Brie Bella and Tamina Snuka got a couple minutes. Wonder if the Bryan announcement weighed heavy on Brie as she seemed more lost than usual. And there was a cringeworthy line by Booker T "Tamina's definitely gained 5-6lbs. ... of muscle" that felt like one of those cruel digs McMahon pumps through the headsets and makes his announce team espouse like the line last week about Sami being injury prone.

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They were incredibly vague about what Daniel Bryan's injury is and his "I may not be able to wrestle again" line really just makes me believe even more that he is out right now due to concussions. Which could very well mean that his career is over. There is no surgery he can get to fix this.

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They've never really talked about it being a neck issue. Even the original injury was always his shoulder and the problem with him not being able to return was nerve related. He received the same treatment that Carson Palmer did (and his injury was never referred to as a neck injury) and then that nerve woke up and he was able to return. I get where people would conflate "nerve issue" with neck problems but I don't think it's ever been the case.

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Connecting the dots, it seems everything happened after the match with Sheamus when he got busted open hardway. Dave and Bryan made several cryptic comments about Sheamus' habit of hurting people (with Dave straight up saying Daniel was the latest), so I'm thinking it was another concussion and with his history he might be in Mick Foley territory where he can't pass the tests to be cleared.

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I know some people find it predictable and repetitive, but I've really enjoyed the hell out of Cena's US Open Challenge series so far. No. It's not likely that any of these guys are going to beat Cena out of the blue or anything, but it's produced some fun stuff & interesting match-ups at the very least.

 

Neville's attempt this week might have been the best of the bunch. Cena ate his offense like a pro, and the crowd really seemed to come alive for most of it. I've seen the criticisms concerning Neville's (lack of) character work, and I'd agree. Guy needs SOMETHING to spark a connection. But there's still time for that.

 

Right now, I like his entrance. I think they've done a neat job with the presentation of it all. The Prodigy ripoff theme is a nice touch, too.

 

I don't get the criticism of Neville's offense though. He's a thick, muscular guy. While it's certainly true that his aerial assault doesn't look as devastating or brutal as - say a 2 Cold Scorpio or a Kid Kash heavy hitter type - he still connects with enough force & impact for it to look like it's effective & harmful. He doesn't look like he's tumbling and landing as lightly as possible, in other words.

 

I guess I can understand why they seem so hesitant to keep him from speaking, but I don't know. I dug his sit-down and backstage interviews in NXT. His interview about having his front teeth knocked out instantly springs to mind as one of the best they've done. If they protect him & present him in THAT light, then there's very little to lose. It's better than trotting him out there with talkers like Barrett, Sheamus, and Dolph every week - only to have him stand there & look like a mute.

 

Oh. And the "Man That Gravity Forgot, the New Sensation" Neville is a terrible freaking moniker. Combine that with the way Cole is made to hammer it home in EVERY one of his segments, and yeah. It's just terrible. The "Gravity" tagline is okay, I guess. It's clever if it's new to you, but for anyone that's followed PAC, it's old & worn by this point.

 

I think it was Alex Riley that tried calling him "Air Devil" Adrian Neville for awhile there in NXT. Might have been Corey Graves, but I'm almost sure it was Riley. Anyway, I think that stands a better chance of helping him stand out. It's (at least slightly) clever, and it certainly stands a chance of being more marketable for merchandise & whatnot than the terrible run-together train of words that Michael Cole is choking on every week.

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The "Gravity" tagline is okay, I guess. It's clever if it's new to you, but for anyone that's followed PAC, it's old & worn by this point.

I doubt they're too concerned with 2% of their audience thinking a tagline is old & worn out when Kane is being wheeled out for opening and closing segments week after week.

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My only beef with the Cena Open Challenge, an idea I love in theory, is that Cena has been positioned sooooooooo far above the guys he's facing it strains credibility. When you have guys at the level of Barrett or Stardust kicking out of his finishers, it makes it look like they're trying way too hard to make these matches "epic." It feels very forced because these guys aren't portrayed like that in any of their other matches, it's like they're hitting you over the head with the fact that these guys are equal to Cena.

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Why? If you were a guy stuck with no direction and you had the opportunity to win a championship off the long time "The Man", wouldn't you wrestle it like it was your Wrestlemania main event match?

It's a wider issue. I have no problem with these guys being competitive. I feel they can create a competitive match without resorting to the lowest common denominator stuff. When guys are kicking out of your finisher every week it makes the finisher look weak. Its something I wish they would only do a couple times a year, Mania, SummerSlam. Its also inconsistent with how they portray these guys when they're losing clean and simple to a Bull Hammer or a Brogue Kick the next week.

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I guess I would agree with the larger point but honestly Cena's finisher is already done with as a protected finisher and has been for a while. As long as they aren't kicking out of that springboard stunner/AA combo or the top rope AA, I am fine with them kicking out of the regular AA.

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They're also pushing it like Cena is wearing himself down with the open challenge against hungry talent every week, while also dealing with and taking regular shitkickings from Rusev.....so there's a bigger story to lower guys hanging with him and pushing him to the limit. They're really positioning Cena as an old dog vet with his never quit, never give up schtick

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Macho Mandow might be the most amateur hour, bush league, Indy gimmick WWE has ever run. The fact Jay Lethal and TNA did this gimmick like 7 years ago and 100x better is all that needs to be said.

I have seen a lot of people giving him praise for it and I don't get it. I think it's by far the worst thing on WWE TV right now. I mean I get that there was real sense of "ok wtf do they do with this guy now that he can't play fake Miz anymore" but THIS is what they came up with?

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Lana's apology from SD for doing the Fandango dance was so much fun.

 

I know everyone likes to hate on Kane now but there is really nothing I am enjoying more in WWE than Kane & Seth Rollins hating on each other. Kane vs. Roman Reigns was a pretty fun brawl too.

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It's pretty much Cena vs Rusev in an "Everyone Knows Lana's Going to Cost Rusev the Win" I Quit match, and New Day vs Kidd and Cesaro 2 out of 3 falls. The title match has been playing second fiddle to the Kane stuff and everything else comes off as filler.

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It's pretty much Cena vs Rusev in an "Everyone Knows Lana's Going to Cost Rusev the Win" I Quit match, and New Day vs Kidd and Cesaro 2 out of 3 falls.

 

Well, at least that's two match I can watch, although I fear Rusev vs Cena could be infuriating (but nowhere as bad as the chain match though).

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The more I think about what WWE is going to do going forward with the WWE Title the more I think they should have just had Reigns win at WrestleMania. If they were worried about the backlash they could have just had Rollins run out immediately after the 3 count and hit Reigns with the Curb Stomp before he even gets up and touches the belt.

 

It would have given Roman way more motivation post WM and I think it would have helped Rollins also if the guy he actually screwed out of the belt was chasing him instead of sitting at home. Brock could have still done his awesome rampage in response to not getting a Raw rematch. I think it would make the inevitable SummerSlam Triple Threat that much more interesting.

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