Smackdown Discussion Thread

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Bryan had the same problem as the McMahons didn’t he? He’s a bigger star than 95% of the roster and, let’s be honest, was a bit of a irritating condescending prick at times there.

[Porkchopcash]

Well, he is a Vegan.....

[Love-Wilcox]

Bryan taking the pinfall to both put Ali over strong and protecting Almas from another loss. What a guy! xxx

[tiger_rick]

Saw a bit of Smackers because it was on the freebie channel again. Was very surprised they did a big title change on a taped show. Didn't expect any development. So chuffed for Rusev, the guy is great.

Daniel Bryan is the best heel in the world. Just a horrible, viscious little bastard. He is so, so brilliant.

Good use of the McMahons on the show. Vince taking a bump is still always meaningful and Shane and Miz continues to be intriguing. I'd love to see them do anything other than Miz turning on Shane yadda yadda.

Raw was also free this week but I'd read the report and it sounded like three hours of nothingness again.

[Supremo]

Jimmy Jacobs can get in the bin. Going off on Twitter about how hard it is to write pro-wrestling television. Get real. Basic, logical stuff like a girl flirting with someone else's man, a horrible prick attacking people backstage, a likeable oaf winning a championship and a cliff-hanger ending where someone punches a pensioner. Thumbs up.

[Egg Shen]

what i take from it is that Jacobs says it very hard to write a show with the current way it's setup. They basically have 25 writers who all have to be on the same page to write a coherent show. Just feels like the whole process is made way harder than it needs to be.

[Fatty Facesitter]

The hardest part of the process might not even necessarily be the writing itself, more the structure of how it gets approved.

I’m purely speculating but I’m guessing the first instance is to present an idea. I’m guessing a writer puts ideas down for his segment/match etc and passes that on to the head writer. Head writer then goes to Vince. He either rejects it outright or asks for several changes. Then it goes backwards and forwards between the writer, the head writer and then Vince a few times before it gets signed off. Then Vince has a last minute change of heart, or suddenly remembers that he’d struck a deal with a sponsor and that they need to shoehorn that in. So you go through the process again and finally gets signed off. And that’s for ONE item of a show. I wouldn’t be surprised if that process was very similar across each item on a show.

Not defending Jacobs as such but I imagine Vince is by far and away the most frustrating person to deal with on that fron and the person who causes the majority of the angst. Although they’re writing five hours of television, it’s going to be significantly more hours in terms of physically collating everything, getting final approval and putting it all together. 

Even with all of that, it’s still amazing that Smackdown can so often get the basics right in terms of booking good matches and simple-yet effective stories and Raw has consistently failed time and time again. If they really have a staff of 25 writers that seems like an insane amount to me too - it’s obviously good to get a mix of opinions and different perspectives but if a head writer has to listen to that many different voices it can cause more confusion than clarity.

Vince should just let me book it all for him myself - I do this easily on EWR without his input anyway, and if I ever get stuck I can just create another fantasy booking competition on here and steal ideas that way. 

[the_mole]

http://wrestling-edge.com/jimmy-jacobs-on-wwe-writing-process-vince-mcmahon/

 

Here's Jimmy Jacobs talking about it to Bryan Alvarez, sounds like a fuckin nightmare, I saw it last week but could only find the transcript on that site googling it. This isn't Russo & Ferrara writing Raw in 99, just seems like 25 guys who are a just writing things they think the boss wants to hear, most of the talent aren't Cena, Heyman, or whoever know what works and what Vince will want but people reading a script, they have zero say in and trying to make it work.

[Supremo]

I didn't know Jacobs had elaborated beyond his initial Twitter remarks. I'll try and catch up on it. It's still crazy how Smackdown manages to nail all the basic stuff, whereas Raw suffers from them overcomplicating everything.

[WyattSheepMask]

Up until I watched this (as it was on Sky Sports Mix) I’d completely forgotten that Nakamura was US Champion, and has been for over 5 months. What an absolute dud he’s been on the main roster. I wouldn’t blame them if they don’t renew his deal (whenever that’s up) unless he shifts a decent amount of merchandise 

[Joe Blog]

Has there been any rumbling of how Nakamura feels about being there? He may well be using this as a nest egg few years to see him happily into retirement. Would explain his less that enthusiastic performances. 

Cannot blame him really. He is over 40 no? 

[DavidB6937]

Last I remember him saying it was a huge move for him so had no real intention of going elsewhere.

[Kamaras-Tash]

55 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Up until I watched this (as it was on Sky Sports Mix) I’d completely forgotten that Nakamura was US Champion, and has been for over 5 months. What an absolute dud he’s been on the main roster. I wouldn’t blame them if they don’t renew his deal (whenever that’s up) unless he shifts a decent amount of merchandise 

 

I wouldnt bother giving him a new contract when ever it comes up he's been fucking shite in WWE and NXT really apart from that match with Zayn

[Supremo]

Trying to figure out Nakamura's main roster career is like trying to figure out whether the chicken or the egg came first.

Did they book him so badly because he'd proven he didn't give a shit and was there to coast, or did he stop caring and start coasting because of how badly he was booked?

[KingofSports]

54 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Up until I watched this (as it was on Sky Sports Mix) I’d completely forgotten that Nakamura was US Champion, and has been for over 5 months. What an absolute dud he’s been on the main roster. I wouldn’t blame them if they don’t renew his deal (whenever that’s up) unless he shifts a decent amount of merchandise 

As it stands, WWE are welcome to him and that's not something I ever anticipated saying. It's been style over substance ever since he got there. Though not being a viewer of S/down, I imagine his better matches were at NXT Takeover events. I saw most if not all of those and wasn't particularly impressed. Nothing got close to touching his best matches in Japan. Granted, he can't work his true style. I guess smashing orbitals and the like wouldn't go down too well & his schedule(s) may be very different now. I loved him from Day 1 in New Japan. The flashier Shinsuke that started to appear around 2011 /12 (or whenever) was fine, but his 'act' had started to wear on me by the final couple of years. It became largely predictable, to the point of being silly, at times. Wrestling by numbers if you like, formulaic. Probably fair to say, given his age and the number of miles on the clock, his best is now behind him. It wouldn't bother me if he never returned to New Japan. He'll have made good money in the U.S and raised his profile, which in the scheme of things is great and I can't blame him. Just a shame it's had to come at a price...and his intro music still pisses me off.