uklaw

None or the shows under Triple H have been home runs, but there has been enough to show development, promise and a concerted effort to try something different. It takes time take to essentially re-route something that big organically.

However, the online reaction to this week’s RAW in particular has been pretty hilarious, as if it was the result of Vince’s  name being called out 3 times.

One thing this new approach is doing is creating renewed daylight between NXT and the main roster. But in reverse.

Just over a year ago, the stylistic difference between NXT and RAW/Smackdown was stark. The former molded in Triple H’s image and the latter in Vince’s image.

NXT 2.0 is in Vince’s image and the main roster is slowly mixing in what Triple H envisioned.
 

With Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai joining Bayley, Ciampa ‘breaking out’ in one night, Ricochet winning, Shayna Baszler winning and Kross/Scarlett coming back with their previous presentation, it shows how faithful Triple H is to his version of NXT and to his guys.

It will be interesting to see how NXT and the main roster are married going forward, especially with people like Breakker, who people have been calling to be moved.

I didn’t know what to expect in the main event match… but it certainly wasn’t that.

Insane spectacle!

As I said in the Triple H news thread, I wouldn’t be surprised if the (loose) creative framework is in place until the Cardiff show, at which point they draw a line, have a HUGE creative conference and map everything out until Wrestlemania, with 2 set cards.

Then again, I said they wouldn’t announce a new Head Or Creative until Summerslam weekend.

Shows what I know 🤣

I hadn’t even thought about how this could translate to other personnel, such as Jeremy Borash. 
 

I wasn’t going to bite on the Kevin Nash mentions, but might as well. How much do we think he has learned as a booker? I don’t believe he has done it since WCW… and the November 1998-Summer 1999 period he was Head Booker, WCW wasn’t exactly a great product. And I mean even by the inconsistent WCW standards.

My guess is Summerslam stays largely in tact, possibly even the basic creative up to Clash at the Castle. Creative from that point up to Wrestlemania will likely change. I think whatever the executive creative team looks like at that point will have a massive meeting/conference, where the Wrestlemania 39 cards will be set out with a very clear path in place. In a way it hasn’t in a number of years. 

I also think Raw and Smackdown won’t start to explicitly resemble NXT (Black and Gold), as that brand was very much serving it’s audience. In my opinion, Raw and Smackdown serves a wider audience, some of whom are, either through preference or conditioning, quite receptive to Vince’s creative.

Risking that loyal/habitual base when those who have already walked away aren’t guaranteed to return would be very brave.

Plus, I think Triple H said previously that if he ever headed up creative, he wouldn’t book the 2 main shows like he ran NXT.
 

I can’t remember where I mentioned this before, but 2 things that always stood out for me with Tim White when I was a kid.

The first was that he would hit the mat so hard, that sometimes it would be mistaken for a 1 count. The only thing that prevented crowds from popping for a finish early more often was:

Him verbalising his count. He was the only WWF referee who did. Whilst the WCW referees noticeably verbalised their pin fall counts, the WWF referees, by and large, did not. But Tim White almost always did, all the way back to the 80’s (see Jake Roberts vs Hercules at Summerslam 88). 

And of course the videos with Josh Matthews in 2004 (I think) could never be conceived these days. 

All of the above helped paint the picture of one of the more memorable referees and characters in my wrestling viewing journey.

RIP Tim White.

Rebellion is on tonight, and I am personally looking forward to it. I’ve said that Impact is consistently a better storylined promotion than WWE and AEW. It’s a shame they finally got their act together when they are essentially a husk of themselves. The product deserves bigger buildings and better production values, in my view.

Take a look at Moose vs Josh Alexander. Maybe extended by Alexander’s visa issues but an excellent 6 month storyline that finally gave Moose the world title and continued the build of Alexander, when he was probably title-ready at Bound For Glory. I don’t know if its time to have Moose lose the title yet, but I’m fine if he does.

Very little looks like it just appeared in the ether across the roster.

Something as simple as W Morrissey putting Brian Myers through a table is going to get such a reaction when it happens.

The Cody push is interesting. As said, he’s being pushed hard and the live crowds appear to be playing along for now.

But we know how a section of the audiences can be. Whether there are any creative missteps or not, some will start seeing a hard push as him being ‘forced down their throats’ (a la Cena and Reigns) and do their best to ‘ruin’ his perception, thus forcing the live crowd sweetening to be even more overbearing than it is now.

2 hours ago, Weezenal said:

Doesn't the Dynamite intro have all paint splatters?

Yes. Yes it does 🤣

Wale posted the following, retweeted by both Triple H and NXT themselves:

At this rate, I’m (jokingly) expecting the theme tune coming out of Takeover to be ‘Welcome Home’ by Coheed and Cambria.

Plus, I was already expecting Odyssey Jones to win the Breakout Tournament, so unless his opponent is Duke Hudson, I’ll be more convinced ever.

He’s the epitome of what Vince, Ace and Bruce want to be pushed in NXT.

There are going to be grown adults in tears when he eventually wins, aren’t there? 🤭🥲

1 hour ago, Louch said:

Can someone summarise that candy floss statement, as I have read it a few times last night and today and it’s just not making sense to me. Not sure if she is accused or the victim, or if the claims are true or false from her side? Mental block here 

From what I can gather, concerns were raised about her relationship with another wrestler, with her being a victim of him. A safeguarding report was ordered, I think by Progress, which found no issues within their relationship.

She seems to suggest that it has made no difference and her partner has pretty much been blackballed and she (by association) is being ‘side-eyed’ by promotions and a prominent figure within the SO movement has perpetuated a whispering campaign on other forums (such as Discord) regarding her and her relationship. 

That she has been granted leave by NXT due to the effects this has had on both her and her partner, and that though states the importance of the movement (hence the safeguarding action by Progress in the first place), intimates that the movement ‘believes women’ until a woman says there’s no issue.

I sped read it, so forgive me if I’ve misinterpreted anything.

50 minutes ago, Chili said:

I just found out Jungle Boy is dating Anna Jay because of course he is, the absolute champ of a man.

He’s got great hair and is extremely handsome. Of course he’s winning. Good for them.

Maybe they can help each other with their promos… 🤔

From what I recall, I believe Adnan Virk (and the new backstage announcer on Smackdown, I think) came under a directive from the new ‘power broker’ Nick Khan to appeal to an ever broader base than WWE already tries to and court Hollywood money.

3 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

Wait, wait, wait El Jefe is back? Where can I watch this over here?

Free on YouTube (for now). Unsure what will become of Fusion when the company returns with the new stuff taped in Philadelphia, which I believe will be shown primarily on Vice TV.

Unless she’s leaving the business altogether, I would think she will be subject to fair bit of interest….

It may ultimately end up meaning nothing to AEW’s existing TV slot, but...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2021/04/26/nbc-done-with-nhl-as-tnt-joins-espn-as-new-tv-partner/amp/

Nothing yet announced officially but the pre-emptive responses from the interweb range from calm (as NHL could end up on TBS on a different night) to panic that other nights could place AEW against Raw or Smackdown or a dodgy weekend slot.

A news item to keep tabs on, me thinks.

So who do we have as most enthusiastic/cringe superstar parent when they appear on screen? 
 

Miz’s dad? Zack Ryder’s dad? Or new contender, Bianca Belair’s dad?

Let’s not forget that Michael Cole spectacularly blew the call at the end of the main event.

For the last few years (at least) WWE has been of the opinion that Wrestlemania itself is the selling point, as opposed to a collection of hugely important matches. 

This year, it seems like they are relying on that as well as the visual of a live crowd of real people inside of a stadium to get them over the line.

That being said, there is little excuse for this year’s build. Easily the worst I’ve seen. Not helped by Vince altering a lot of the card 4-6 days before Fastlane, just under 4 weeks before Wrestlemania. That’s if you believe what has been reported.

A couple of things to consider:

Both times Ryan Ward was NXT Head Writer, the show thrived week-to-week (or certainly enough to make you excited about a Takeover show).

When he was Lead Writer of Smackdown (draft 2016-roughly Royal Rumble 2017) the show got more plaudits than RAW.

It does somewhat suggest he isn’t an overwhelming part of RAW’s problems but I don’t believe anyone was suggesting he bears no responsibility.

I’m fairly sure that shorter guy is Ryan Ward, one the lead writers of RAW. He’s constantly used in scenes in the back, usually being intimidated, mainly because of his height. Strowman, Hurt Business a few months ago and now Rhea Ripley.

For anyone interested, this week’s ‘83 Weeks’ podcast is specifically about ‘The Big Bang’ show that never happened, which deals with the attempted (and subsequently failed) acquisition by Fusient Media Ventures, and a bit on the plans for WCW had it gone as planned. 
 

It would have been a really great listen had a lot of it not already been covered in the WCW Sin, Superbrawl Revenge and Greed podcasts, but still fascinating nonetheless.