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The Official UKFF RAW Thread...


d-d-d-dAz

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Playing with "shoot" elements can be fine - after all, on some level, you're supposed to be convincing the audience that it's all real - but they need to be consistent, and not just lazy put-downs.

The Bellas only turned heel in the last couple of weeks - for months earlier, we were being told that the Bellas were at the forefront of the Women's Revolution. But now, because they've turned, we're expected to think, "wait, no they weren't!" and cheer Ronda Rousey for calling them out. It's just lazy, and if they can't be consistent, there's no reason to get emotionally invested.

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That, “LOL, John Cena doesn’t shag you anymore,” thing just felt unnecessarily cruel, too. I dunno, maybe it’s becasue I’ve caught loads of Total Bellas because my wife watches it, but Nikki is presented as 100% sympathetic on that show. To then have the supposed top babyface mocking her about it felt super jarring. 

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It's because the men who write the show have no idea how to write women other than through this weird MRA "they all secretly hate each other, and use sex to advance their careers" lens, and because I'm convinced that Vince McMahon sees friendship as a sign of weakness, so anything other than fighting your way to the top single-handed is to be booed, and anyone presenting themselves as "best friends" are almost invariably heels, or signalling an incoming heel turn.

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2 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

It's because the men who write the show have no idea how to write women other than through this weird MRA "they all secretly hate each other, and use sex to advance their careers" lens, and because I'm convinced that Vince McMahon sees friendship as a sign of weakness, so anything other than fighting your way to the top single-handed is to be booed, and anyone presenting themselves as "best friends" are almost invariably heels, or signalling an incoming heel turn.

I’d never really thought about that before but you’re spot on. It explains why it’s been such a blast starting to follow New Japan this year. There are loads of guys portrayed to have genuine friendships and loyalty. One of my favourite moments of the year was when Kenny Omega won the Title and it was shown to be more important to him that he’d patched things up with the Young Bucks than it was for him to celebrate with the belt, deciding to hug them first. We’d never see something like that on WWE television.

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5 hours ago, Supremo said:

The Ronda promo was even worse than it sounded on paper. As bad as the bitchiness was, the actual verbiage was far worse.

“...plagiarised and diluted move sets.”

“...a relic that needs to be eviscerated like smallpox.“

”...make the name Bella into a four letter word that will be remembered as the societal sore it always has been.”

WHO THE FUCK TALKS LIKE THIS?!

John Cena.

 

 

Edited by dopper
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39 minutes ago, Supremo said:

maybe it’s becasue I’ve caught loads of Total Bellas because my wife watches it

It's 2018, I think it's ok to admit to watching Total Bellas if you want ;)

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Haha. I’d happily admit it if I enjoyed Total Bellas. It’s mostly rubbish. I will say this though - Total Bellas is far superior to Total Divas for the simple fact that it features loads more Daniel Bryan. I can never tell if it’s by design or not, but Bryan exists on these shows as a figure similar to Jim in The Office, where he spends all of his time amazed at how fucking stupid everyone and everything is. Forever  amusing himself and making everyone look thick without them realising, Bryan always feels one moment away from doing one of those knowing glances towards the camera. 

9D2256C3-5843-4B0D-AED3-C831AA953FD9.thumb.jpeg.08368b5cc4b3471d9f835ec86a81bc25.jpeg

 

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1 hour ago, Supremo said:

One of my favourite moments of the year was when Kenny Omega won the Title and it was shown to be more important to him that he’d patched things up with the Young Bucks than it was for him to celebrate with the belt, deciding to hug them first. We’d never see something like that on WWE television.

It would bring a tear to a glass eye, so it would. Enduring friendship of the type only found in a Budweiser commercial.

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On 10/17/2018 at 11:09 AM, Supremo said:

The Ronda promo was even worse than it sounded on paper. As bad as the bitchiness was, the actual verbiage was far worse.

“...plagiarised and diluted move sets.”

“...a relic that needs to be eviscerated like smallpox.“

”...make the name Bella into a four letter word that will be remembered as the societal sore it always has been.”

WHO THE FUCK TALKS LIKE THIS?!

So it turns out that, if Alvarez is to be believed, Ronda is a proper weirdo in real life.

310CBA04-BFE8-4DD9-972E-5CAABCD5AC30.thumb.jpeg.dc82c47e172b448e0952c5ccdbdd5852.jpeg

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised considering all the, “truther,” stuff. Still though, I’m astonished to discover both Meltzer and Alvarez praised that promo. Incredible. For as good as the delivery was, the actual content was as bad as it gets.

Edited by Supremo
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8 hours ago, Supremo said:

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised considering all the, “truther,” stuff. Still though, I’m astonished to discover both Meltzer and Alvarez praised that promo. Incredible. For as good as the delivery was, the actual content was as bad as it gets.

Some of it was weird but I just can't disagree. She delivered it great and people were into it. And the fact that it was actually her is a massive bonus and probably explains why it came across far better than her wooden stuff has previously. So yeah, almost all positive for me.

Like it or not, the narrative of "This is a women's revolution where we're all real athletes and the divas generation were all slags sleeping their way to the top" does go over to this audience. Agree on the general shitness of the shooty stuff but this has at least been consistent over the past five years.

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Rajah pulled this from the Observer ;

-- With continually declining ratings for Total Divas, one of the ideas being tossed around by WWE officials is to approach Ronda Rousey and ask her to become a regular cast member on the show. As of this week though, she hasn't been approached but it's being considered seriously enough that those discussions could take place at any time.

-- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter suggests that if this were to happen, several aspects of the show may have to be changed as much of the theme of Total Divas is still to feature "bikini shots" to promote upcoming episodes which isn't consistent with Rousey's on-screen Raw role. However, it should be noted that WWE may see Total Divas and Raw/Smackdown as completely separate worlds - one example is Lana and how she is supposed to be Russian on Smackdown but not on Total Divas.

It's a bad joke, isn't it? Ronda doing something so Diva-like would come across as so inauthentic and come across even more false, despite being "reality tv", than her persona in the fake wrestling.

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I don’t watch the show but from clips that I’ve seen of it, it’s just Lana constantly tarting it up and Paige looking for a new fella, every couple of weeks.

WWE’s response to bad ratings is putting “the baddest woman on the planet” on there? 

Its basically their version of The Only Way is Essex right?

Edited by TildeGuy~!
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Catching up on all the news, hearing that ticket sales increased when they announced Ronda vs. Nikki, suggesting it's a bigger match than I ever would've expected, I'd really love it if they used this platform to do a hard reset with Ronda. The last thing she needs to be doing is going fifteen or twenty minutes with Nikki. I'd love it if they started selling this match as Ronda being more focused and more pissed off than she's ever been in WWE so far, with Ronda suggesting that she might destroy Nikki in record time.

I know it's not their style, but they've got something truly special with Ronda. It saddens me that they seem to be doing everything in their power to make her like every other woman on the roster. I wish they'd replicate that feeling you used to get watching her UFC fights when she was at her peak. You were holding your breath. The crowd wouldn't even sit down. There was this insane level of tension and anticipation. The fight would start and she'd just fucking wreck girls. Fourteen seconds, sixteen seconds, thirty four seconds. I wish they'd have a go at recapturing that magic. Imagine if they build it up as this big thing where Ronda's so furious that she's looking to kill Nikki as quickly as possible, the bell rings and then we see something like this.

Her UFC run proved there's millions to be made with this formula of Ronda destroying everyone quickly. The only difference between WWE and UFC is that with WWE they can control that outcome and prolong it for as long as it works, without real life and Ronda's inability to take a legitimate punch ever getting in the way. Do you think Dana White ever had sleepless nights wishing that Ronda's fights would go longer in order to be give the fans more value for their money, or to be more, "entertaining"? I doubt it.

Edited by Supremo
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How do you quantify it working, though? If it's crowd reactions and Internet complaints, she could get away with it with Nikki Bella but it comes crashing down the moment she quickly squashes one of the women who has a lot of Internet points. I'm not sure who on the main roster even has a lot of Internet points now, other than Becky Lynch - but if Survivor Series is Raw vs SmackDown, then Becky is likely Ronda's next opponent. And there would be much gnashing of teeth and wailing if that match was a fifteen-second battering.

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