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1 hour ago, dopper said:

I don't think his involvement with Marvel has made or would make any difference.

Absolute madness Dopper, you surely don't believe this. WWE and Marvel's fanbases overlap a bit- the IGN/Comic-Con fan if you will. Whatever you want to call it. But being widely received as a good (nay, excellent) addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done wonders for his popularity with the WWE Universe.

Also, your example isn't perhaps the best one. Bear in mind that years ago he was originally scheduled to be the babyface against a heel Randy Orton that the fans despised at WrestleMania- and nobody wanted it. It wasn't so much to do with how he was booked, but rather it wasn't what the fans wanted. I don't think they could have done anything differently with the way they booked HIM to change the reception he received.

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What I meant about 2014 was that Batista was in the position the crowds wanted Daniel Bryan to be in.

 

My example was a scenario in which Bryan won the Rumble and went on to face Orton at WM30, and separately Batista paired off with Triple H in a mid-card match. I believe the fans would have cheered him and got behind him. The massively negative reaction he got wasn't anything to do with whether the crowds liked Batista or hated Batista - it was because he was in the position those crowds wanted Bryan to be in. Same reason they turned on Rey Mysterio that night, they didn't suddenly hate him. They wanted Bryan.

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They were cheering Roman Reigns against him in the Rumble as well, though. I certainly think it was a bit of both- people wanting Bryan to headline and also not wanting to see Batista. At the next PPV, they were cheering Del Rio against him and chanting 'Bootista'. Fucking Del Rio!

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2 hours ago, dopper said:

I don't think his involvement with Marvel has made or would make any difference.

Of course it has. It has helped make him a major movie star, the visibility through which has shown a side to him that we didn't see during his WWE run. He's been shown to be a really likeable and nice guy, not to mention politically palatable. That wasn't happening when he was doing DTV shit with fucking RVD. 

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I agree with all that.

But if Spectre & Guardians Of The Galaxy had come out a few years earlier (between him leaving in 2010 and coming back in 2014) and this evolution into a bona-fide worldwide movie star had happened sooner, I still believe he would have got the same reception that he did get at the Royal Rumble due to the incredible popularity of Daniel Bryan at that time.

 

He was one of the most over people in the company when he left that first time, the heat he got with that farewell promo in the wheelchair was insane.

So fans caring about Batista was never an issue in my eyes. That's why I'm downplaying the difference in how he is received now as a Marvel Superhero, he was already massively over in the first place.

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If Batista had come back for Summerslam instead of Wrestlemania, so after Guardians of the Galaxy was released, he'd have been a beloved babyface. He's picked up so much goodwill after that - would it have been enough to get around the "not Daniel Bryan" heat? Perhaps not, but it would have made a huge difference all the same. 

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6 minutes ago, dopper said:

I agree with all that.

But if Spectre & Guardians Of The Galaxy had come out a few years earlier (between him leaving in 2010 and coming back in 2014) and this evolution into a bona-fide worldwide movie star had happened sooner, I still believe he would have got the same reception that he did get at the Royal Rumble due to the incredible popularity of Daniel Bryan at that time.

He absolutely would not. I'm not saying him winning the Rumble would have been popular but he certainly wouldn't have been shat on to the extent that he was. Also, the situation and booking would have been handled far differently if you were dealing with a near A-list Hollywood star.

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3 hours ago, PunkStep said:

They were cheering Roman Reigns against him in the Rumble as well, though. I certainly think it was a bit of both- people wanting Bryan to headline and also not wanting to see Batista.

That was peak Roman too. The Shield had been cheered heels for most of 2013 and Roman had virtually gone through an entire babyface team himself at Survivors, people were ready for THAT version of Reigns to get a go. Batter fuck out of people in short bursts, spear them and go home. Ace.

Still bitter about him being made to work Orton's lethargic chinlock match at SummerSlam.

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16 hours ago, Supremo said:

Yes! I love it! Exactly the type of thing they should be doing. Smackers is the best.

image.thumb.png.82f3714d37f0b562b9a3b96ad0218eec.png

This is pure NXT though - on social media, at the PC.  Hell it's even posted on the NXT account!

I'm starting to get excited by the possibility that Fox's vision for Smackdown might align with HHH's NXT template.  Simple stories, sports format presentation, old school booking, clever use of social media.  Could be amazing!

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https://mobile.twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1054053137051475968

I don’t like that reply.

‘Dopes?’ 

X-Files?

That is so out of date, I have a hard time believing she wrote that herself. Just awful.

I'm starting to get excited by the possibility that Fox's vision for Smackdown might align with HHH's NXT template.  Simple stories, sports format presentation, old school booking, clever use of social media.  Could be amazing!

The word is that Fox expect a more pure sporting ‘experience’, and for it to be presented as legitimate contests amongst elite athletes.

Sounds awful. Like Raw, but with even more long matches between equals trading victories

Bullshit.

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Calling someone a dope is commonplace in Ireland (as Spurs will attest to) so I don't see the problem there.  Like calling a male of any age "Boy",  it's part of the everyday vernacular.  Fuck knows on the X Files though.

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2 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

The word is that Fox expect a more pure sporting ‘experience’, and for it to be presented as legitimate contests amongst elite athletes.

Sounds awful. Like Raw, but with even more long matches between equals trading victories

Bullshit.

Since when has Raw been "presented as legitimate contests amongst elite athletes." ? That's the exact opposite of Raw which is all about the entertainment aspect that Vince loves so much.  Trading victories is also the opposite of a legit sports presentation where people earn title shots and wins and losses matter.

That's why I think the NXT format might be more what they have in mind.  NXT has tournaments, and definite career progressions towards main event opportunities.  Matches are scheduled weeks in advance.  Backstage bits are legit interviews or filmed-earlier material from wrestlers training in the PC.  Or social media beefs ala boxing and MMA.

As I've said before, Raw (and Smackdown) is a reality tv show about people putting on a wrestling show.  It's Total Divas with long pointless matches added in.  Invisible, never referenced cameras follow wrestlers around during the 3 hours that is all the time they apparently spend together and therefore is when all beefs must be aired, and despite this none of them seem to watch the live feed so are shocked later on.   Politics, relationships, friends becoming enemies... this is what Raw is about.  The South Park wrestling episode parodied it brilliantly by having the wrestlers never actually wrestle, just occasionally hit each other with chairs.

If Fox wants something that forefronts the competitive nature, the in-ring drama, the constant tussle for supremacy in an elite sport, then NXT shows that can be done without being boring, or naff.  They've made compelling athletically based tv shows out of Johnny Gargano, Ciampa, Nikki Cross, Aleister Black.   With the greatest of respect to those performers, imagine what the NXT writers and agents could do with Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Nakamura, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Charlotte Flair and Stone Cold Becky Lynch?

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