Loki Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Stephanie may not write her own material now, but whoever IS writing for her understands that they have to make her look as strong as possible to the detriment of everyone else. It's nWo-era "make Bischoff look cool" stuff. And she's signing off on it, so she's just as responsible. Neither RAW or Smackdown is well written at the moment. A year or so ago it seemed like Smackdown was drifting more towards the NXT model of in-ring action, and encouraging wrestlers to talk for themselves. With this new deal in the offing, Smackdown is only likely to get MORE like Raw, and not next. This has been WWE's bugbear for YEARS now - the writing of the shows. They have decades of footage from successful feds (including their own) to look at for inspiration, and yet it has remained awful barring the odd 6 month period. Something is rotten at the heart of the writing team. And much as I love the old bastard, it's probably Vince. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 What was the purpose of Stephanie clogging up air time on the show? Slagging off Nia and, particularly, Ronda and neither of them punching her in the mouth just made both women look stupid in my opinion. Can you imagine Vince hosting a contract signing with, say, Austin and The Rock [not comparing Rousey or Jax to either of them btw] and both men just sitting there and taking him making fun of them? It seems so straight forward. Why would 'The Baddest Woman on the Planet' just sit there? She knows, in storyline AND reality, that they need her more than she needs them. It just boils my piss and is one of the reasons I skip through most WWE stuff nowadays, sadly. Highlight of the show was Bo and Axel's celebration for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boytoy Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Never mind Stephanie, that Zayn/Lashley segment was one of the worst segments I have ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-Rock Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 The build up for Nia/Rousey is terrible. I know Kayfabe is dead but how do WWE expect us to buy in to Nia being a monster dominant force in the womens division when she is portrayed on Total Divas as a soft spoken genuinely nice person or that she was just last week posing for photos with Ronda on the red carpet like best friends. Unlike Awesome Kong, Nia comes across as big and cuddly. Even her facial expressions during the contract signing ranged from looking confused to looking as dumb as a box of rocks. I'm sure the booking behind this match is to show of Rondas strength against a larger opponent, no doubt she will throw Nia around like a rag doll. While I can't determine who will win I can't see this match doing any favours for Nia in the end. I see a screwy finish were Nia keeps the belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 22, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 22, 2018 6 minutes ago, C-Rock said: I know Kayfabe is dead Fucking spoilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 34 minutes ago, boytoy said: Never mind Stephanie, that Zayn/Lashley segment was one of the worst segments I have ever seen. Yeah I fast forwarded that as soon as the 'sisters' appeared.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambulance Chaser Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Finn vs Braun is the best TV match i have seen in ages, what a great story. "Look at his smile. Isn't it pretty"😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted May 22, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 22, 2018 I don't remember Bobby Lashley looking or acting so creepy. He genuinely looks like he has Numskulls for a brain. Completely hollow behind the eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted May 22, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 22, 2018 10 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said: Steph getting involved in the Ronda/Nia setup for me was the correct call. I said last week the dynamic was totally off in terms of how they should present both characters so it's pleasing to see they're back on what I'd call the right track. You honestly think what they did last night was back on the right track?! Ronda Rousey, arguably their biggest star, former UFC champion, proven PPV draw and mainstream darling, in her first ever singles match, going for the Women's Championship, and they're promoting it by having Stephanie McMahon berate her for being a sore loser who fucks off when she loses and her opponent for being lazy and too fat to be arm barred? The whole thing was shit. The entire segment, much like the opener, was geared entirely towards positioning Steph as the all-powerful Puppet Master, with everyone else playing the part of stupid pawns. If the plan is genuinely to turn Ronda vs. Steph into the new Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon, then they're fucking it up beyond belief. Imagine if Vince tried to rile up Austin and The Rock like this. He'd have been Stunnered and Rock Bottomed in an instant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 I've just accepted that WWE as a whole isn't for me anymore. I'll check out a PPV of it looks good or if I have fuck all else to do, but I just can't be arsed with the TV anymore. Only keeping the network for classic content. Thankfully wrestling content has never been so easy to access so there is plenty to fill the hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted May 23, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 23, 2018 40 minutes ago, Supremo said: You honestly think what they did last night was back on the right track?! Ronda Rousey, arguably their biggest star, former UFC champion, proven PPV draw and mainstream darling, in her first ever singles match, going for the Women's Championship, and they're promoting it by having Stephanie McMahon berate her for being a sore loser who fucks off when she loses and her opponent for being lazy and too fat to be arm barred? The whole thing was shit. The entire segment, much like the opener, was geared entirely towards positioning Steph as the all-powerful Puppet Master, with everyone else playing the part of stupid pawns. If the plan is genuinely to turn Ronda vs. Steph into the new Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon, then they're fucking it up beyond belief. Imagine if Vince tried to rile up Austin and The Rock like this. He'd have been Stunnered and Rock Bottomed in an instant. Last week you had Nia, Ronda and Charlotte licking each other's arses in one of the most cringeworthy segments I've ever seen. THAT was a shit way to book/present Ronda Rousey. This week she's back to being presented the way she should be - threatening to take titles and break people's arms. THAT is how she should be booked. I hadn't really looked at it as a continuation of the Ronda/Steph feud, but in terms of them 'fucking that up beyond belief' as you said: Ronda tapped her out at Wrestlemania, destroyed her arm and wrote her off television for two months in her very first match, how is that fucking it up beyond belief? The Steph dynamic isn't perfect but in terms of where the Ronda/Nia feud is heading now compared to last week, it's night and fucking day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 23, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 23, 2018 I just realized today... between Rumbles, Chambers and MITB, even other situations like multi man title matches, they've fallen into using the second/last chance gimmick WAY too much. It's like they stumbled upon a device to artificially add drama and stakes and instead of using it sparingly, they wheel it out far too often and dilute it. Shock value of people who DON'T qualify for the deal in question is not present half the time because you know they'll reverse it, such have they overdone it. Funny that. The only time they've gone all in recently was when Seth and Zayn had their Rumble qualifier and Seth stayed out. Although that was still bollocks booking because the crowd didn't want to see either guy lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted May 23, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 23, 2018 (edited) 22 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said: I hadn't really looked at it as a continuation of the Ronda/Steph feud, but in terms of them 'fucking that up beyond belief' as you said: Ronda tapped her out at Wrestlemania, destroyed her arm and wrote her off television for two months in her very first match, how is that fucking it up beyond belief? They're fucking it up beyond belief because, as good as WrestleMania was, they clearly had no plan for Ronda beyond that. The very reason she felt like such a big deal earlier this year was because they had a clear, focused direction for her and they were willing to portray her differently than everyone else in regards to Steph. Unlike the rest of the roster, who are forever booked as subservient and inferior to Stephanie, Ronda was allowed to be on Steph's level. For the first time in ages, they had someone Stephanie was willing to play straight heel and show arse for, and it worked a treat. Honestly, that mixed tag is still my match of the year. Ronda felt like their biggest star in years. Since then though? The booking of her has fallen into the same lazy patterns that makes everyone else on the roster so meaningless. She's just aimlessly meandered without any substantial storyline, losing momentum by the week. It looked like they were starting something with Mickie James, but that went nowhere, then they sort of did this thing where Natalya is going to eventually turn on her, but it's been so lazily done that it hasn't felt like it's clicking at all, and now the awful "we're all mates, really!" Title match challenge that came out of nowhere. Imagine if they had Austin flounder like this after Wrestlemania 14. It'd have killed his momentum dead, just like it has Ronda's. If this is all they could come up with, they'd have been far better off just taking her off TV after Wrestlemania. At least she would've still felt like a big deal when she returned. Then, to top it off, you had this week's bullshit. Steph is back in full smug-tweener-who's-above-it-all mode, shrugging off the arm injury, being portrayed as the grand manipulator playing with her puppets and getting snide, shooty~! remarks in at Ronda about quitting the UFC when things got tough. I was blown away that they scripted Ronda to just take that on the chin. If you really want to book Ronda properly then the moment Steph mentioned that she should have knocked her out. And then as a receipt for calling her lazy, Nia should've given Steph a leg drop or something, before doing the eventual staredown with Ronda. At least that way they both would've looked like more than goofs who Steph was riling up for her own amusement. That she was left standing in the background, grinning like a dickhead, with no comeuppance for what she'd said to both Champion and Challenger, the whole thing made it clear who the real star is, and that's Stephanie. Don't get me wrong, I know that heels need to get heat on babyfaces and it can't just be Ronda breaking Stephanie's arm every week, but this isn't a heel getting heat. This is the same shit we've seen scripted for Stephanie's character for years. She's above it all. She gets to talk down to both babyfaces and heels and everyone has to be portrayed as a notch below her. There was hope this wouldn't be the case for Ronda, but this week seems to indicate that it's business as usual now. She'll be just another roster member in six months and they'll wonder why. 22 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said: The Steph dynamic isn't perfect but in terms of where the Ronda/Nia feud is heading now compared to last week, it's night and fucking day. "Night and fucking day," is a bit much. They were both complete shit, just in different ways. Edited May 24, 2018 by Supremo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 3 hours ago, Supremo said: I was blown away that they scripted Ronda to just take that on the chin Especially how Holly Holm made her live off of soup for months when she took that on the chin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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