Paid Members WeeAl Posted March 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2019 I think they cut the legs off of this whole thing in the last five minutes of SmackDown there. The peak for Kofi was to win against Orton and be in. A baby-face overcoming the odds, that at the minute, the crowd are madly behind, with very little time left before 'Mania for it to go cold. Promos over the next week or two and we're set. Kofi beating Orton also would have left it slightly open for whether or not he was going to win at 'Mania. Once Bryan came out, I expected Kofi to beat him, but that it would seal his fate that he was losing at 'Mania. Which is fine, it's just easier to see coming at that point. However then Bryan goes and beats Kofi and now everybody cares that little bit less, as the road to get there has been completely overdone, and I'm already less invested about whether he wins or not. I don't think the gauntlet match was even the right idea to begin with, but once it was booked Kofi had to win it somehow. Book the money promos and the go-home VT next week and all is golden. It's all going to feel extremely cramped, rushed and overdone now. Dare I say it as well, even if Kofi wins at 'Mania there's a chance the crowd will think it's a swerve and that Vince will come out and re-start the match. Five members of the heel roster lost some shine last night, with the idea of Kofi getting the rub but in the end I'm not really sure what Kofi gained once his shoulders were pinned when it mattered most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted March 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2019 "People like us..." Christ, I hope they keep the race stuff Twitter-exclusive and only let the guys themselves allude to it. I've got absolutely no faith whatsoever in the writing team being able to sensitively touch on such a subject. I mean, seriously... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Interesting to see the different opinions on how Smackdown ended. Personally I'm even more invested in Kofi after that screwjob rather than losing interest. Looking forward to seeing where it goes next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 The thing I don't like about the Kofi angle is that it removes any element of doubt. I was well into Bryan/Kofi because is felt like either guy could win. Bryan crushing Kofi's dreams felt as viable as Kofi getting his Mania moment. Now with Bryan pinning Kofi again a Kingston victory is pretty much nailed on, especially if they're introducing a racial element to this. I mean beating the held down Kofi again at Mania is harsh enough, but with the extra HHH/Booker T layer to it . . . nah I don't see it even with their love of heat. Ronda, Lynch and to a lesser extent Charlotte are doing gods work with this angle but the women's match still hasn't dragged itself from the mud. You have Ronda Rousey shooting on the wrestling business, running down her opponents and everyone on the roster as as a joke, because she's Ronda Rousey the real fighter. And yet again her opponents have fuck all to say about any of this. Instead they're party of a goofy midcard talk show segment that says nothing new and goes nowhere. I get that they're filling time yadda yadda, but if it wasn't for Becky using twitter to cut all her promos you'd think that she exists in a different universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted March 21, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 21, 2019 39 minutes ago, Mr Butternut Squash said: The thing I don't like about the Kofi angle is that it removes any element of doubt. I was well into Bryan/Kofi because is felt like either guy could win. Bryan crushing Kofi's dreams felt as viable as Kofi getting his Mania moment. Now with Bryan pinning Kofi again a Kingston victory is pretty much nailed on, especially if they're introducing a racial element to this. I mean beating the held down Kofi again at Mania is harsh enough, but with the extra HHH/Booker T layer to it . . . nah I don't see it even with their love of heat. If anything, WrestleMania should be predicable and have a bucket load of feel-good endings. Predictability never hurt the emotion of Bryan's victory(ies) at WrestleMania 30 and it won't hurt Kofi's either. People tend to blabber on about how wrestling needs to be more unpredictable, but right now it needs the exact opposite. The only thing Kofi/Bryan have to worry about is their placement on a really long show and the chances of the crowd being tired by the time they're up. Send them out first followed by McMahon vs Miz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Yeah I have to agree. I don't really have any issues with any of the storylines or matches delivering at Mania but the run time always burns out the crowd which is really unfortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 24 minutes ago, Accident Prone said: If anything, WrestleMania should be predicable and have a bucket load of feel-good endings. Predictability never hurt the emotion of Bryan's victory(ies) at WrestleMania 30 and it won't hurt Kofi's either. People tend to blabber on about how wrestling needs to be more unpredictable, but right now it needs the exact opposite. The only thing Kofi/Bryan have to worry about is their placement on a really long show and the chances of the crowd being tired by the time they're up. Send them out first followed by McMahon vs Miz. Yeah I have no problem with predictability in general, Bryan's victory is a great example. It's just for my tastes the match was more interesting a week ago. Kofi achieving his dream after eleven years will be awesome I'm sure, but the very real possibility of Bryan crushing all that added a unique dimension to the usual underdog story and now that's gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I don’t have much of a problem with the booking of the Kofi stuff here, apart from the gauntlet being a repeat of the other week so much less exciting. The problem I did have with it was Kofi seemed fair shite in the match, like he kept forgetting or mistiming moves. He’s been my favourite for a decade, but it felt a bit like the shitty fuck-up performances that got his original main event push stopped. Hopefully it was just a bad night and it wasn’t the worst performance in the world, but it was nowhere near his best. And he should be delivering every time at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 He wasn’t great. Seth and Bryan come out of their gauntlet matches looking like world beaters. Nodody came out of this looking good at all, even without the added twist at the end. Kofi doesn’t really have the aresnal for it to work. He just kinda falls on people. No offence, I like Kofi as an act but there’s a reason he’s been stuck in the midcard his entire career, even in the era where everyone gets a title run. Bryan is a good oppentent for him though, perfect size to sell his stuff and work a story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCW Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 He's as small and untreathaning looking as he's ever been too. Bryan was / is obviously small too, but looks like he at least trains a bit and has his technical/submission stuff to get around his size. See the match with Brock a few months back. Kofi is lanky looking, slower than ever and bland as feck in every way possible. Fair play to him that he's managed to squeeze a Mania pay day out of his career at this late stage, but can't see him having any sort of decent or memorable title run if he does win at Mania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoote Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 If they'd ended SD after Kofi's win. Perfect. But typical booking/Vince, just doesn't know when to stop. I wonder with the New Day alluding to quitting, is that in reference to maybe splitting them and having Big E and X go to Raw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King of Old School Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 12 hours ago, bigfoote said: I wonder with the New Day alluding to quitting, is that in reference to maybe splitting them and having Big E and X go to Raw? In storyline sense though them quitting and going to Raw is going to change nothing as the McMahons run everything now without GM's, so they would be in the same position as they are now. I think a Big E/Woods heel turn might be coming though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieranjennings Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Could the turn not be Kofi turning on Woods/Big Eif he doesn't win the belt? Perhaps there is interference that backfires etc. and then he blames them for ruining his chance or something and then they could follow up with a BigE/Kofi programme to try and break Big E out as a future face star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonworden Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 To be honest while I can see the need not to have the twist, I see it as a decent part of the story. If we look objectively its clear Kofi vs Bryan will happen at Mania. Is it arguable that people are more interested in Kofi securing the actual match spot than building up the match. By having the twist people are talking about it and fans still have emotion. I'm not sure WWE have the capability to not ruin it if it was set up and announced even 3 weeks before, another week or even 2 leaving 1 week for a big tag match with New Day vs Bryan Rowan and whoever right before Mania would probably be enough. I know for sure i'd switch off from the story now if it was all set in stone but this little fuck you from Vince has me wondering about what comes next. Even if Kofi wins I doubt he'll hold the belt more than a few weeks, it's simply a feel good moment and I don't see anything wrong with a short title reign here and there. If it gives WWE a chance to release a pancake belt as someone said before then that's a few extra pennies in the pot. He certainly doesn't have the body as was said before but people believe he could win the belt and it's all really about believeability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourtyTwo Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Quick question that may have already been covered, but is it assumed that the whole Kofi storyline is not what they originally had planned for Bryan at WM? If it wasn't meant to be this, do we know what the plan was meant to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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