FUM

6 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Still do. Him and Jinder Mahal remain two of the worst choices for champion they’ve ever made.

I think it’s easier to support a “not a main eventer” champion when they’re a babyface. With Sami, like Eddie Guerrero, you like him and you want him to win. Everybody should want their favourite to be the champ - that’s not a wrong reaction to have.

Have to disagree on JBL and I say that as someone who was never really a fan. He went to another level is more my point, he appeared to belong when he got there and had some great feuds. He got beyond being Bradshaw. Jinder is a different story though. It was probably a poor example to use a heel though, Eddie is the better example as you say.

I mean I love the story but for me it’s looking like it’s going to be just another example of not following through on something that is right in front of them and it’s put a bit of a dampener on it for me.

I feel people are closing their eyes to that because Cody has built some brownie points up. I keep saying it but it’s just not his time for me while there’s something hotter and I like Cody but his time could have came later.

I don’t get all the arguments of Sami not feeling Champion material or a star - nobody has ever really been until you see how their moment goes down and then how they do with the job of top guy. Many would have baulked at the suggestion of Eddie Guerrero or JBL being the top champion at one time.

That aside, what bus did Jimmy and Solo go to for sushi? They arrived in a car.

7 hours ago, Sheffbag said:

Jay to turn on Sami at the end "It was a set up all along!!!" KO to come down and save Sami then Raw after challenge Usos for tag belts at Mania

You really came up with something nobody had thought of there, fair play.

I’m still not getting some of the suggestions on how winning the tag titles and The Usos still helping Roman at EC or some guy who hasn’t had any involvement in this two year storyline taking his title is justice. I get folk want this crowning a new star moment but I feel much more rewarded in my wrestling and TV with logical conclusions to storylines. I don’t just mean Sami/Bloodline, Romans reign as a whole is an over two year arc. I feel Roman needs entirely brought down with EVERYONE walking out on him with the exception of Heyman who is a weasel anyway and the final punch/pin should be someone who has links to the story. This is more than the title now for me - this is essentially Tony Soprano needing a fade to black for this handsome entertaining nasty bastard.

Maybe they’ll change my mind. I know I’m harping on about this and appear to be in the minority but no harm to Cody, it’s just not his job to finish this.

I just can’t get on board with the train of thought above around it being a problem they have had making popular people champion - won’t let me quote. We’ve had the same champion for two years. Historically, the people who got over away from being champion is who they made champion to see if they could become a big star. It was always the formula, the big problem for me is they STOPPED doing that and instead went with their own trusted hands rather than the wrestler who became popular.

5 hours ago, Rockbus2 said:

I'm not quite sure why everyone is desperate for this to come to an "end" straight away. Its rhe hottest thing in wrestling in years so why can't Sami and KO have a tag title reign on the way to Reigns being dethroned by Sami?

There’s good long term storytelling and there’s ripping the arse out it till people are fed up waiting.

Crazy how many fantasy bookers are working themselves into acting like Sami/KO v The Usos is a deserved ending for this story because they don’t want the disappointment of the proper logical ending where Romans head gets taken off by Sami or Jey not happening.

Lesnar last year was the first ever to lose his Championship that night then win the Rumble so I don’t see how it can be compared to others either if it is literally a “first time” whether it feels samey or not.

For what it’s worth, I think I, and many others, would have been right behind the Cody story if The Bloodline/Sami story wasn’t so hot.

It was obvious from his return that Cody had to be the guy to dethrone Roman until, you know, someone else came along. 

Unfortunately absence hasn’t been kind and there’s now two people I want to see dethrone Reigns more than Cody which makes his story far less interesting.

Is there anything to be said for the man who made The Tribal Chief ending him in Jey Uso? 

A long one but forgive me, it’s the Royal Rumble after all and I’ve stayed up the full show for the first time in a long time.

Mens Royal Rumble Match - a bit of a letdown. Felt like they really hinted at surprises, maybe not directly but certainly the way leaked reports were going. I think one said they were “more than happy” with the surprises planned. I’m not actually sure anyone was a surprise. Even Booker T was one if you could predict a WWE surprise he’d be one of the first names. 

Cody coming in number 30 took away a bit from the pop as fans knew who was coming and there was no drama in the slot.

Lots of wrestlers standing about looking for their spot caught on camera, especially when we were to forget Logan Paul was still in despite his face continually peeking up on the hard cam.

Gunther is an absolute star though and the Logan Paul/Ricochet spot was outstanding.

Pitch Black Match was the most colourful match in WWE history. Bray Wyatt eh? This fucking guy. As per every other run, turns to crap when he has to have a match. Rubbish, the less said the better. Especially about how Uncle Howdy missed his jump by about a mile.

Alexa/Bianca was a waste of time that the crowd had been killed for. Positioning on the card made no sense if they were gonna show an Uncle Howdy video afterwards considering we just seen him kill himself.

Womens Royal Rumble Match - Liv begged for number 1 so they gave her number 2 for a laugh. This match seems to highlight each year how little female stars they have. Rhea is an absolute boss though and the finish was excellent. Probably enjoyed this more than the mens.

Would have liked to have known who the huge pop was for when Asuka entered but seems they had the same guy on the camera as when Edge first returned and hit that spear on Ziggler. Camera work across both Rumbles was shocking and made it hard to keep up with what had been happening. Oh yeah, and they blew the number 30 entrant before the countdown in classic Nia Jax botch fashion. Some production people need to go, this nonsense is happening too often.

Hardy? Never thought I’d say it but jeezy peeps man, bring back Kid Rock. A suck it at the end - that’s 5 on this show by my count. 

Short memories in Texas - KO buried this place and everyone from it last year multiple times. It wouldn’t have been forgotten back in the day. Add a suck it on to the running tally for the night early in this one.

This story was never really about Sami and KO’s friendship for me so I’m not wholly satisfied with the route it’s going but it’s not necessarily bad storytelling, just not what I wanted from it personally. The story for me was always about Sami trying to fit in and being used so I just always thought the route should have been them breaking Sami’s heart more so than Sami taking the first shot. God bless Jey Uso though and it was still an incredible segment.

I’ve been a huge fan of Triple H era WWE but yeah, this was very much the sort of show Vince took stick for although it’s one others less miserable and probably less tired might enjoy. It certainly went on too late that’s for sure.
 

Match order reported by Fightful who are a more reliable source than I discussed earlier.

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Our very own @NEWM has a son with Down's Syndrome and here are his extremely well articulated thoughts on the Lacey Evans incident.

 

I thought it was real shitty then read this and now I’m not arsed. An excellent view on the situation from someone who has the experience to make a fair assessment as opposed to me who has zero life experience of Downs Syndrome casting judgement.

Seen rumours the Mens Rumble may open the show which if so means Sami isn’t winning and that would be an attempt to dodge the show ending in a boo-fest. It is just a rumour from an unreliable dirtsheet right enough.

29 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Sami attempts to climb over the top rope to eliminate himself as per Roman's want.

Why would Roman’s want be to face Cody over Sami lying down to him?

Roman needs to lose both those belts in one match and one fall for the reign to have as big a rub as possible, it’s as simple as that in my opinion.

Just find another plan for Cody and stop worrying about him, you still have a ready made story for him when his time comes; his story doesn’t need to be complete against Roman. They have had zero interaction.

If you get The Rock then of course you want to do the Rock/Roman match but I really think they won’t have him. If they do then have Roman beat him Night 1 or if you want the winner to be less pre-empted then it doesn’t need to be for the belts though Roman wins either way.

5 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

"We need music for our key TV show's anniversary video package, who's primary brand colour has always been red."

"What about Blue?"

"Perfect."

To be fair this post has you as more out of touch than it does WWE.

That first hour was incredible TV with the exception of Hogan. I am invested to the point I think my heart will break like Ralph once a finger gets laid on Sami - I really hope he takes the spoils at Mania after The Bloodline walk out on that manipulating bastard Roman.

They had me a few times on falls in that tag title match - first time in a long time I’ve actively celebrated kick outs. 

42 minutes ago, CAREBEAR LUVVA said:

The Icon Edition will be available for £104.99

My word - anyone paying that for a console game needs their head checking.

2 hours ago, Sphinx said:

.

Off-topic but possibly not your phone but the board itself. Getting a lot of errors including a message that I’m banned due to a rate limit every so often. This is first time I’ve been able to quote a post in a bit too.

Must have been very sudden, he was tweeting pictures just 6 hours ago. I was never really into the Briscoes or ROH but a bit of a shock as he is a big name in the industry for a lot of fans. RIP.

1 minute ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

You might be misremembering people misremembering. The year Batista won was the year Bryan wasn't even in the match - he'd faced Wyatt earlier in the night. Rey Mysterio got booed to hell for coming out at #30 instead of him (even though Bryan had never been announced).

Ah apologies you’re right. But also people had gotten over that by the time it came down to Batista v Reigns.

Surprised there was any love for the Becky/Bayley segment. I thought it was a decent advert for going back to verbatim scripts - just dreadful how awkward they were thinking of what to say next. I mean they eventually got in a flow but Bayley in particular had not a clue what she was meant to say and there was a huge awkward silence.

I think people misremember Daniel Bryan in the Rumble. Daniel Bryan was massively popular and the peoples choice for sure but people in that arena were angry Batista won, they had gotten over Bryan not being in and were fully backing Roman. The place would have exploded had they given Roman that win. Ironic given that the following year the anger was about Roman being forced down their throats.

I’ve said before but I think it’s a terrible idea that Roman loses any of the belts before WrestleMania. It’s a 2 and a half year title reign that should end with a bang at the big show. He shouldn’t be getting eliminated or taken out of the equation to lose a belt in a match before that.

Just now, WyattSheepMask said:

Apparently they’re in the middle of another right now

 

Think Sapp said it’s just to hit the same points with the rest of the roster.

Where’s the talk of Vince back in creative? Genuinely feel I’ve missed this story. Last I read they held a talent meeting and Trips was explicit that the creative process won’t be changing.

1 minute ago, Sheffbag said:

My feelings on the Zayn situation is for him not win Rumble or headline WM. Give him the win at MITB then have the bloodline keep at him to give it them so he can be a lifetime member of the line and have KO and others keep chirping away at him to cash it in on Roman leading to Summerslam and Sami finally "seeing the light" after the main event and cashing in ona worn down Roman to protect Reigns too

The promos you could do with the Usos and Heyman been overly nice to him in build up would be great

It’s been great long term storyline but there is no chance Sami is kept hot for another 6 months in this story. Anything after Mania is too late and interest will start to go.

14 minutes ago, Loki said:

CNBC are saying it was all bollocks.  When will we learn - wrestling journalists are not real journalists.

To be fair, most of the respected journalists were saying they hadn’t heard much and couldn’t get an answer from WWE. It was fans who ran with it on the back of one tweet.