Jazzy G

It sounds like a Hardys knockoff who should be wrestling against a fat lad in a tiedye t-shirt calling himself Dudley 3D or something equally phoned in and derivative on a card from a leisure centre sports hall headlined by the UK Undertaker.

Sasha's going to need somebody passable to feud with once she's finally out of the title picture, so it's obviously easier to try and make Emma look like something of a big deal than to force us to watch Nia Jax (she's the Rock's cousin, you know) stumbling around, trying to decide whether she should sell or not week in week out.

I'm secretly hoping Charlotte wins, sees Sasha off then right after she says "There's nobody can challenge me" Asuka strolls out and kicks her head clean off her shoulders.

Given what we know of Rex Banner's detective work I don't think they'd have discovered much if he had been on the case.

Why can't somebody just retain to bring the feud to a logical conclusion rather than it looking like Charlotte can't be arsed making the effort on Raw or that Sasha is a PPV bottler?

Is the Fox thing so they can try and create another feud for the women's division to stick Bayley on the show for when this Sasha/Charlotte thing is put to bed so she can transition into a crack at the gold for Bayley? Although if this iron person match is supposed to be the final time this happens what happens if Charlotte wins? Does Sasha call in her rematch clause yet again?

It's the entire autopsy for Dick Dastardly after Muttley's attempts to earn a medal went awry.

Despite Klunk's best efforts to try and put him back together afterwards.

I was surprised Austin didn't try and pull some strings for Page as I hear they go way back. I suppose it's a moot point given Vince's attitude towards WCW AND having Taker in his ear, though.

It's not necessarily about turning face, it's getting over the wrestler's passion. Crying with delight at a title win gets over what a big deal the title win is. Flair may have had a tear in his eye, but he wasn't talking about celebrating the title win with his mother. The only person who could have gotten away with that as Shelton Benjamin during that whole "Mama Benjamin" run.

By all means celebrate your title win, cry with delight, just leave out the bit about your mum being ringside. Kurt Angle always cried when he won a title, it gets over how much he wanted it, but if super-heel Kurt Angle then goes and celebrates with his wife/girlfriend/mum and tells us about it, he's no longer that badass he's trying to establish himself as. Maybe goofy heel Angle would have pulled it off, but Alexa Bliss doesn't come across as that kind of character. If you're doing that kind of show either kayfabe the whole thing or have the whole thing out of character.

I can't help but feel like they've screwed the pooch with Cesaro and Sheamus now. Seeing them all pally and team-matey just doesn't entertain me the same as when they were acting like dicks, but still kicking loads of ass. That segment with Charlotte & Naitch at the end was pretty awesome, though. The iron (wo)man match could be good, but how long are they going to drag the feud out? We've had Hell In A Cell, which didn't end the feud, then we had falls count anywhere, and now the iron man match? How many more gimmick matches do we burn through while the other women in the division are treading water? At least on Smackdown a couple of the other women in the division are feuding while Becky and Alexa tussle over the title.

Corbin's character is great. They've got some real heels on Smackdown that people want to boo for their heelishness, at least I hope that's the case.

Holy moley, they just did a vignette for Jack Gallagher on Raw.

Gotta say, James Ellsworth is more confident and competent on the mic that a lot of people on the main roster.

 

He was brought in as a joke and has gotten over like rover. He sold that ladder push brilliantly. It'd be quite amusing to see him with Goldberg and/or Lesnar at some point during the Rumble. You can tell he's having a whale of a time and making the most of this opportunity that's come his way.

Well I really enjoyed that. Kinda sums up Smackdown solid with ever being special.

 

Main was better than expected even with the dodgy ending.

 

Watching last night and for a split second I thought Ellsworth was going to climb the ladder.

 

Only real complaint is that the camera work is shit.

 

Replays of fan reactions. Fuck off with that shit.

Are they working these? Seems like they're planted people to react

 

Ellsworth climbing the ladder himself and stealing the title would have been interesting going forward. I'm surprised we've not had a MITB cash-in during a ladder match yet. Trot out, fresh as a daisy, push them both off before cashing in then climbing up to grab the belt. The heat for that could be ridiculous.

Do we get Ellsworth Vs Styles this week on Smackdown, or does it go down the week of what Raw should have called Starrcade? Whenever it happens I see one of two things happening: Either Styles absolutely destroys Ellsworth to prove that without Ambrose's help he's nothing or Ambrose gets involved and costs Ellsworth the belt, dare I say setting up a triple threat for the Royal Rumble?

Edit: We get it this week on Smackdown. Daniel Bryan is great bollocking Ellsworth on Talking Smack. Was a bit weird watching Alexa Bliss break character and then snap back into it, though. Why have I never watched Talking Smack before? It's great fun.

 

I missed the tag match but read about it, what was with them putting the title belts around Harper? Is it a New Day/Freebird tag setup, or were they just too tired to hold them...?

Not quite sure. Bray did it as a sort of "That was a nice moment but I don't need this trophy" gesture. Orton's was possibly a sign of thanks after Harper took a bullet (well a gore) for him outside the ring.

 

Always thought is Bray had a singles title, he'd just have his disciples defend it for him half the time anyway. They might go with that here. An Orton/Harper team could be ace. Pity there aren't many decent opponents.

 

There's the inevitable rematch, American Alpha, Dare I suggest the Brothers Hype? A series against the Usos would be interesting.

I genuinely believe if you turned him heel, after a while he would get the face reactions WWE are looking for.

That's the problem, the dicks in the crowd would start cheering for him because he'd be the badass he's supposed to be. He came across that way on Monday because he wasn't making knob/balls jokes like he did during his feud with Sheamus. Yes, there was a massive boo when he said he was "The guy", but even I can't stand that. I find it quite upsetting that he sounds like he comes to the ring to absolute silence, but you can tell he's trying to justify his spot there now. I couldn't help but feel like he was on cruise control a little once he'd realised where his career trajectory was taking him, but wonder whether somebody's had words with him, or he's seen some of the "heat" he's been getting from the "smarks".

EDIT: FUM Something like that would be akin to when the producer trotted out during that Impact taping and bollocked the crowd for doing the exact same thing. People are entitled to cheer or boo for whoever they want to, but I get the feeling after that particular Raw after Mania things got a bit out of hand and now some of the crowds are hoping to make a name for themselves, but that night's crowd went with everything on the show. Still, at least he is getting a reaction as opposed to coming out to complete apathy.

Corbin is growing on me, maybe it's because he reminds me a little bit of Barry Windham for some reason. Plus he's actually trying to be a heel, rather than a cool dude who opposes faces, It looks like a decent card, though, I'm hoping they don't do one of those hokey finishes where Becky falls through a table and loses the title by accident and still anticipating Ellsworth costs Ambrose the title so he can have his shot at AJ based off the fact that he's beaten him 3 times, then gets absolutely destroyed because Ambrose leaves him to it,

Reigns as the great equaliser coming out last would have been the shit. People would have loved that. I really hope they're not teasing the Shield reunion just to try and get Reigns over more. He was good this week on Raw. I think people are starting to warm to him again.

Pfft. Chairs Match. Few years back we had a fucking STAIRS MATCH.

Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Stairs was pretty dire in terms of creativity.

Does this need bumping up again ahead of TLC tomorrow night?

I'm a little disappointed they haven't done a women's TLC match between Becky & Alexa at TLC. I'm also wondering whether they'll do a "Last woman standing" match at some point.

After a massively contrived period where almost every show featured a ref bump I'd imagine they're going through a phase of none of them so if a ref bump does happen it has more impact. I remember seeing the Trav Vs Masters last man standing match a few years ago and it ended with a single chairshot to the head which stunned everybody in the room, probably because they couldn't remember the last time a match had involved one.

I can't think of the guys to do a Smackdown Elimination chamber without having to stick Miz and Ziggler in there as well? Styles, Cena (if he's around) and Ambrose are likely locked in, for want of a better term. Do you use Corbin? Swagger? Kalisto? Undertaker? Kane? I guess you could stick Orton & Bray in there, depending on what's going on with their storyline, but it surely leaves the rest of the show a little light. You'd think they'd give it to Raw on the basis of the roster being a bit bigger. On the other hand it's a touch unfair that Raw would get Hell In A Cell AND Elimination Chamber, but then Smackdown get TLC tomorrow night. Give Raw Money In The Bank? Drop that PPV completely and return the MITB match to 'Mania as a cross brand thing? Doing that then negates your "Survivor Series is the only place you'll see Raw & Smackdown superstars competing" caveat then though, as if the Rumble doesn't do that enough. 

I guess you could stick Orton & BRay in there, depending on what's going on with their storyline.