FUM

2 hours ago, The Dart said:

If KO vs. Reigns is to happen at Rumble - KO loses, Sami wins the Rumble.    Reigns convinces Sami to use his title shot at EC in his hometown, but then at the show he tells Sami he has to lay down.   Sami refuses to, KO helps Sami win.   Then KO turns on Sami just like he did when Sami won the NXT title - jealous that he couldn't beat Reigns.  KO turning on Sami in Montreal would also be a mega moment, the crowd would go crazy.   Then KO vs. Sami at Mania for the title - how cool would that be given their history.    And then just Reigns vs. Rock somehow, no title involved.

If it is Rock v Reigns at Mania and if it is for the title - how are they going to get to that without having Rock in the Rumble.   The only way I can think is having Sami win the Rumble, but Reigns convinces him to use the shot at EC - but then Sami loses and Rock just comes out the next show and challenges Reigns.   Boring.

Some on here think there is no chance of seeing Sami v Roman as the main event of Mania for the title and you’re trying to sell Sami v KO?

3 hours ago, Nick James said:

I have no issues with more women being brought in. It's long been a complaint that there aren't enough women to have two women's divisions and a tag division. Along with repetitive matches and feuds, some fresh people to give some variety isn't really a negative.

I draw the line at Eric fucking Young coming back, though.

I don’t think anyone is necessarily complaining at the people being brought back. It’s the assumption that we all have a clue who these folk are. NXT wasn’t a third brand no matter how much they want to pretend it was, it was a development league that a massive percentage of viewers won’t have seen. This isn’t AJ’s or Samoa Joe’s they’re trying to get fan reactions for - it’s wrestlers who we don’t have the first idea about and wouldn’t have recognised them if we walked by them in the street.

12 hours ago, air_raid said:

All the people saying War Games as a concept is bad, make me very sad indeed. War Games 92 is one of my favourite matches ever and I loved the storylines around the nWo driven ones in 96 and 97. But it’s a match that needs a proper build, heels you’re dying to see killed, and proper selling of no frills violence, not people jumping off platforms.

However, the argument of “it can’t end until everyone is in so it’s pointless and you should just skip to the end” - guessing none of you watch the Royal Rumble start to finish then?

I’m not personally saying War Games is shit or that but just to play devils advocate I think the argument there is that there are stakes in the Rumble match throughout as anyone who goes out can no longer win.

1 hour ago, Louch said:

How’s it dangerous? Fans will still watch regardless. 

Halving their viewers since then says otherwise. Fans switch off if they’re not getting satisfaction from the product. Satisfaction tends to come in the form of their favourites being booked strongly.

The smile on my face when Jey Uso accepted Sami was something else. The love I have for Sami right now,  when he was a guy who I always thought was good but never really got the hype as a big star over, is wild. 

It has to be Sami v Roman at WrestleMania now. They can’t make the same mistake they did last time they had The Rock.

I don’t think I’ve sent a PM in years. I thought that went out of fashion at the same time forums in general did and wanted to maintain some cool points.

I’m not criticising it because for me it’s always the camera and mic folks fault but I love little inside moments that we shouldn’t hear like Drew stomping the shit out of Sikoa while shouting, “Is he out yet?”

On 11/5/2022 at 6:57 PM, Doog said:

Everyone 😂 a few Saudis maybe, wasn't some sort of uprising like with Daniel Bryan. The Sami thing is over yeah, to an extent, but let's not confuse what we want with what is actually happening 

“A few Saudis” chanting for a man who refuses to enter their country and who the country does not want to enter their land is a pretty big deal.

1 hour ago, Tsurutagun said:

Dancing Emma was only ever a small arena gimmick. Once she did that in a bigger arena, half the fans were thinking "what's that weird thing she's doing with her arms. 

 

Well, sure, if you just treat it as “she dances”. In NXT she was far more layered where you knew she was a bit of a klutz and a bit daft, it was never just a dancing gimmick alone. The dance got over because people liked her entire character as a fun, innocent, non-corrupt personality not just because it was a fun dance.

Not that it matters but seen it pointed out on Twitter that Uncle Howdy had an earring in that Bo Dallas used to wear so more likely him that was under the mask than Bray. It was still shit either way right enough.

I think Emma would be a good return if anyone actually liked the gimmick she came back with. I don’t know if it was Emma herself wanting to be more serious or if it was WWE struggling to book her character but it was the innocence and fun side of her that got her over in the first place in NXT as opposed to the pound shop female Boss Man look and crap theme tune.

Just now, Doog said:

As much as I like the Bloodline stuff, the "breaking character laughing" every week is clearly part of the script, it all works too well and WWE are playing into it with how they show it. If WWE didn't want them laughing then they wouldn't be, not every week, it quite clearly played into the segment this week. Every time Roman looks like he's going to lose it, Sami makes everyone laugh and it calms down for a bit. Until the next time.

It's still good like but to think it's all off script and not planned is clearly not the case

“It’s a work, brother.”

Fucking cheer up.

Watched Seinfeld through for the first time at the start of the year and it’s started a run of watching shows full of horrible bastards that I absolutely love.

Moved straight on to Curb Your Enthusiasm just to see if Larry David was a key factor in how good Seinfeld was and that’s fantastic too. Then moved on to Always Sunny.

All great shows and it’s mad how relatable Seinfeld is.

8 minutes ago, Louch said:

Making claims he needs a year after he wins isn’t addressing the point, point is Zayn as champ isn’t going to raise any business so why bother? He can be a glorious loser and get a moment. So yeah I’d rather titles and Reigns modern record run are left on a star until the next star appears than give it to someone who is never gonna be. But if everyone who watches is happy with a moment and then short run then hope you enjoy it, to me it’s a massive waste on a mid carder for life character 

The whole point of the “crowning” so to speak is to see if they raise any business. Hart, HBK, Austin, Rock, Foley, Cena etc. weren’t given the ball because it was a guarantee they could draw. It’s always been a case that the fans put you into the position to be crowned and you’re then judged on whether you draw as the Champion.

Otherwise you just create a toxic fan atmosphere like what happened with Bryan which started to ruin major events.

There is literally nobody on the roster I’d like to see beat Reigns for the title more than Sami Zayn as I’m sure is the case for a lot of people. In fact not even more, there is nobody else I’d want to beat Reigns. That is the sort of thing it should come down to. How they book him afterwards to keep him popular is on them to figure out.

I’m in no way comparing Zayn to Austin but at no point did “how do we book him afterwards” come into the argument and it never has when someone gets over with the fans.

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

It'll be interesting to see if he's capable of actually building a new star on the level of a Reigns or a Cena, because NXT's track record hasn't been great in that respect.

I have to say I disagree with this aspect of your comments as a reference to Triple H’s booking. He created many who people thought would go on to be huge stars that then failed miserably on the main roster under a different booker so I’m not sure them not becoming huge stars can be pinned at Trips door. It’s fair enough to say nobody has really graduated from NXT to huge star but I don’t think it’s fair to say many weren’t primed to. I’m not going to say convincingly that booking is what messed these guys up because they probably just weren’t as good as they’d been made to look in NXT but hypothetically could they have done better had Trips had the entire WWE book then?

Under NXT booking guys like Enzo Amore and Jonny Gargano were being talked about as the next huge stars.

3 hours ago, simonworden said:

I can't believe they won't pull the trigger on the Sami story earlier than Feb to be honest. My guess would be right after Wargames they have The Bloodline turn on him. I was predicting Sami Vs Roman at the rumble but you could have Sami out "injured" with Owens/Roman at the Rumble. Sami wins that leading to Sami/Roman at the chamber 1 on 1 and freeing Roman up for Rock potentially at Mania and Usos Vs Sami/Owens on the undercard. 

Not sure what you do with the Men's chamber winner though at this point. 

Judging by the previous booker you would be right but Triple H has always been willing to play the long game with storylines and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s started to accept Sami as the back up option should The Rock not agree to turn up at WrestleMania. I just don’t see how they get The Rock at this stage to be honest, he’s probably the busiest guy in the world that isn’t a world leader.

Loved the episode this week, everything had some sort of meaning.

I don’t like Bray as it goes to shit in the ring but if he acts more like a normal guy then maybe it won’t - interested to see who this Uncle Howdy guy is and what role he plays.

Not buying Liv’s act but at least they’re trying something with her.

Sami/Jey stuff is just top notch storytelling every single week - even Logan Paul getting the “one lucky punch” in on Jey helps build him as a challenger to Roman too.

I love segments like LDF’s so hopefully more of the same from them, they seem a good addition to the roster.

I know Damage CTRL are getting some stick saying it isn’t working but I really feel Dakota Kai has stood out which is surprising as everyone seemed to act like Iyo Sky would be the act who blows people away.

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

It's the "don't call your opponent a piece of shit, because when you win, who cares that you beat a piece of shit?" principle. If Dolph Ziggler (and, by extension, most of the current roster) aren't stars and couldn't have made it in the past, why do we care about the guy who's taking 10-12 minutes to beat him?

Wrestlings biggest boom period was everyone calling each other pieces of shit.

Not sure how I feel about the above post. It makes some good points but it’s just a classic heel tactic to say “you couldn’t hang with the guys I had to hang with” really and I didn’t think much deeper into it than that.

Probably the first passable RAW of the Triple H era, I doubt him having COVID had much to do with that to be honest as he would still have been in charge to an extent.

I could do without seeing guys like Otis and Gable as extras holding Lashley back. Use actual extras, there is no need to use guys who have been a main part of your show over the last month and their character wouldn’t care less if Lashley and Lesnar were scrapping away.

I don’t and never have gotten Mustafa Ali to be honest outside when they had a Cruiserweight Championship. He doesn’t fit in elsewhere except a division that is only about putting a decent match on rather than having storylines.

I get what the goal is but I also hate the assumption that everyone knows the NXT people. I haven’t watched it in a good while so I didn’t have a clue who Cora Jade was and they realised the audience didn’t either as they clearly rushed to put a quick graphic up with her name.

Interested to see where the JBL/Corbin stuff goes. Never been a fan of Corbin outside as a bum but with JBL as a mouthpiece it might just work.

Not looking forward to him entering the Rumble 6 times as different versions of himself.

6 hours ago, Chris B said:

I love the idea of a show putting out something with the intent of letting people know they can safely stop watching.

It’s the future when networks are refusing to cut the parts of the show you want rid of. 

All joking aside and a genuine question, did Heyman not do something like this with one of the ECW slots after falling out with the network?

8 minutes ago, mim731 said:

When there was all those discussions a few years ago about how it could be positioned to a more sports-like presentation, I always liked the idea of the first hour being a pre-game show. Not like the terrible kick-off shows they do now, but an actual in-studio pundit-based talk show idea as you'd see before a big sporting event on US TV.

Use it for video packages and have pundits actually analysing footage to show strengths and weakness of certain key players in the previous weeks shows, breaking down the big moments from the week before. Have a presenter and an ex-pro showing how devastating a particular move is, and why it's so effective in order to hype the ability and threat posed by certain performers. 

If done right, and it's a massive "if" that I'm not sure WWE has the ability to steer into, I can't help but feel there's proper mileage in something like that to make RAW seem like a massive deal without losing the extra hour entirely and free the show itself up to be something more streamlined. Never happening mind, but I have no idea how you fix the three-hour issue otherwise. 

 

I don’t think USA would be willing to lose the first two hours as part of anything just time slot wise. The third hour is where the ratings dip and that happens regardless how good a show is ongoing. I don’t know how much say USA has in it but I would just fire ECW style/WM when it was raining style interview promos and video packages in that third hour if possible. Something that is at least original but that viewers know we can switch off as nothing show related is gonna happen except a great promo we might miss if we don’t watch.

It’s not really 1PW if Jonny Storm isn’t wrestling Jody Fleisch for me.

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

No. Who wants to watch wrestling in standard definition almost 48 hours late? Not to go all 2019 about it, but ITV promised the works, and couldn’t get the shows on when they had promised (remember ITV Hub was supposed to air them first) and they closed their PPV service down after a single AEW PPV was shown. Show it live with a repeat on Saturday afternoons after Movies, Games and Videos and before The Munsters Today. Fucking cowards.

ITV4 has a HD channel. Friday night at 9pm is a poor time slot though, you can’t be going up against Gogglebox. Then 11pm is just too damn late.