Smackdown Discussion Thread

[TheBurningRed]

46 minutes ago, Briefcase said:

Although that would set up the obvious Braun/Harper vs Bray/Matt until Christmas.

Matt is taking some time off

[King Pitcos]

As bored as I am of Wyatt Family reunions, they could do worse than the Shield vs Braun, Bray and Harper.

[Briefcase]

I think there could be some milage in Harper, Braun and Elias.

[air_raid]

While I'm happy to defend the Becky heel turn, this made me laugh from our favourite toer-of-the-line ;

 

[Supremo]

Ultimately, I think a heel run’ll be the best thing to ever happen to Becky; that promo this week made me want to see a Ronda vs. Becky feud way more than the rumoured Charlotte vs. Ronda program. But yeah, Road Dogg’s a moron. He reminds me of Ken Kennedy, trying to defend the company but talking himself into corners. I mean, considering that Summerslam main event, could he have picked a sillier week to say this?

 

[Wrasslin]

15 hours ago, Loki said:

Smackdown is light years ahead of Raw at this point.

I know everyone's shitting on the idea of Becky as a heel, but I'm willing to give this a chance, particularly after that fiery promo.  I get that, from a marketing/promotional point of view, they want Charlotte Flair as face.  So I'd rather see Becky as a heel than as an afterthought on Velocity or whatever.

I have loved the Bludgeon Brothers - best brawling tag team since, I dunno, the Dudleys or someone.  But if you could find the right gimmick for Harper (ala Undertaker) he'd be a fucking huge star.  Him throwing that chair was boss, I could watch these two beat up the New Day forever.

Everyone knows I love Joe, so I won't belabour the point, but he's always been capable of this, and now he has the stage - he's delivering.  They should have signed him in 2006.  

I can't be the only one who gets Velocity nostalgia every time it's mentioned.

I don't really know how to book a Harper singles run at this point. Do you just out him back in the jeans and vest? Actually dress him like a wrestler? 

Fantasy booking - Bodyguard role for the Miz who neatens him up a bit. Can even have him cost Bryan and Bella the tag match at Hell in a cell to kick it off. Gives Bryan a feud close to but not with the Miz whilst the Miz continues to dodge him. Make it competitive but Bryan has to to win. 

Eventually have Harper turn on the Miz. Boom Harper babyface. Feuds with Samoa Joe . . . we orgasm.

[Ricc1PW]

I can't see the Becky heel turning working as the WWE want it to. not because she can't do heel - but because WWE have made a right mess of telling the story (despite what Road Dogg says) and they can't book babyfaces, and Becky is 100% correct in what shes saying and is the wronged party.

[Supremo]

Do you think WWE brass look at Samoa Joe and AJ Styles now and regret not signing them sooner? Or do you think they manage to convince themselves that they needed that time to mature as talents? 

[Devon Malcolm]

The Becky heel turn is one of the stupidest things I've seen in wrestling, which is amazing when you think about it.

She's absolutely in the right in every way. She had legitimate reasons to be pissed off with Charlotte. Everything in her promo is spot on. Crowbarring in a "you people!" in a desperate attempt to make her more heelish is probably the stupidest thing of all when the entire bloody crowd is cheering you.

This is a rare occasion where it's not a modern WWE crowd being deliberately twatty. They like Becky, she had deserved her chance and then she lost it to a supposed best mate who wouldn't let her have her moment.

I mean, yeah, it could be fun seeing her as a heel but if they had any sense at all they should reverse these two as soon as possible and nothing would be lost. Road Dogg is a fucking idiot.

[Loki]

21 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Do you think WWE brass look at Samoa Joe and AJ Styles now and regret not signing them sooner? Or do you think they manage to convince themselves that they needed that time to mature as talents? 

If you mean Vince, he'll never admit to being wrong about anything!

Age has slowed both of them down, and arguably made them better wrestlers.  But I supposed fitting into mid-00s WWE style would have slowed them down as well.  I also pretty much guarantee that neither of them would have got the push they're getting now if they were signed in say 2008.  They'd have knocked around the mid card with MVP and Mark Henry.  Bear in mind the top guys at the time were Taker/Edge/HHH/Punk.

Daniel Bryan broke the mould for who WWE considered they could make money off.  And Styles has opened the door for ex-TNA types to get a fair shake.  So all in all this is probably the best time for them to be hitting the top of the pile in WWE, when they are so light on top guys.

[Briefcase]

28 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Do you think WWE brass look at Samoa Joe and AJ Styles now and regret not signing them sooner? Or do you think they manage to convince themselves that they needed that time to mature as talents? 

WWE (well Road Dogg) would make you believe that had it not been for NXT Samoa Joe wouldn't have made it. 

As for Styles as amazing talent as he is I do think he may have been stuck trading wins with Ziggler had he arrived sooner (recent years). As with Cena/Roman/Orton/Bryan/Seth as your headliners I'm not sure he would have been given a run at the top, not in the same way he has been now that Cena has slowed down & Orton is part time. Personally he would go right into the top bracket but this is WWE we are talking about. 

I'm delighted for him though that he has made it work, when he first came in I wasn't convinced if his character would get over with the fans but he earned his right to be where he is.

[HarmonicGenerator]

3 hours ago, Wrasslin said:

I can't be the only one who gets Velocity nostalgia every time it's mentioned.

I don't really know how to book a Harper singles run at this point. Do you just out him back in the jeans and vest? Actually dress him like a wrestler? 

Fantasy booking - Bodyguard role for the Miz who neatens him up a bit. Can even have him cost Bryan and Bella the tag match at Hell in a cell to kick it off. Gives Bryan a feud close to but not with the Miz whilst the Miz continues to dodge him. Make it competitive but Bryan has to to win. 

Eventually have Harper turn on the Miz. Boom Harper babyface. Feuds with Samoa Joe . . . we orgasm.

There was chat recently about who on the main roster you'd move back to NXT for a bit, and I'd argue Harper would be a good candidate for this. Pop him down there, away from the main TV, to work out a new character or gimmick, then bring him back up.

Or stick him in purgatory with Sanity.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Do you think WWE brass look at Samoa Joe and AJ Styles now and regret not signing them sooner? Or do you think they manage to convince themselves that they needed that time to mature as talents? 

Joe I'm not sure about but AJ I'm 100% convinced only represented value to them once he had shaken off "TNA stink" completely and proven he was a guy that a big company was happy to put their belt on, trust to go on last in decent sized buildings and draw the house. Plus, timing wise of people they already had brought in and made into stars telling the right people "this guy is the best." Of course, timing wise, the family situation prevented him seriously considering it for a long time by his own admission. His kids being young and his wife's work situation meant he never wanted to be far from home for long periods for most of his run in TNA. Timing wise, being able to go to Japan when he did and establish "AJ Styles, proven commodity" ... the stars all lined up for him, I don't think it could have happened any earlier and if so, not by much.

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I mean, yeah, it could be fun seeing her as a heel but if they had any sense at all they should reverse these two as soon as possible and nothing would be lost.

In their heads they'd lose something. Charlotte has to overcome as many challenges as possible to make her look indomitable so they can forge ahead with the plan for Charlotte vs Ronda. Which for some reason needs to be babyface vs babyface, obviously, as Charlotte vs Asuka was. Which I think is cobblers, and part of the reason I wanted Asuka vs Alexa instead. Unless you're at the Hogan vs Warrior or Rock vs Austin level, the most engaging stuff the company puts out is where you know who you're supposed to support.

[Supremo]

I can't even tell anymore if they've admitted defeat and changed course or not.

But what I do know for sure is that Stone Cold Becky Lynch is the best babyface in ages, even if they don't know or want to admit it.

Jeff Hardy in a Hell In a Cell match, eh? That should be nice and safe.

[Joe Blog]

Have her pass out in the figure 8 to really cement her as the next big star. 

On another tangent, just watched the highlights. What a difference it makes to Luke Gallows overall look now that he is tucking his pants into his boots. It is such a shame that Gallows and Anderson failed to deliver on the hype following their debut. 

I watched their debut back this morning and they really looked the business coming in and leathering the Uso’s. Gallows in particular had shades of Big Sexy in the way he held himself. 

People talk about the ‘good in Japan’ factor a lot when it comes to these two but being objective their in ring work was the same their as it is in the WWE. Japan allowed them significant more freedom however in terms of their characters. 

Granted they were hardly going to be able to come in and tell people to suck their dicks or rough up the interviewers etc. It’s a tricky situation for WWE as they have two very charasmatic guys in Gallows and Anderson but cannot seem to tap into it. The less said about ‘NERD’ the better. 

Again it goes back to the lack of creativity that WWE allows it’s performers. Take Gallows for instance, he has been reffered to as ‘the suntan biker man’, ok great so what is a ‘suntan biker man’.

Is he a man that rides a bike and has a good comlexion? Flesh it out, show some videos. Gallows cruising down Sunset Blvd on a chopper, dressed in his bike gear as he narrates “I spend my life on the road, but this; this is freedom right here” etc. Would go a long way to explaining who he is as a person. 

Morning musings indeed.