WWE Extreme Rules 2016 Spoilers and Predictions

[boytoy]

At this point I think we just have to accept that face and heels don't exist in WWE anymore. You can pick who you want for better or for worse. At the end of the day as long as the crowd reacts in some way it is better than crickets. If your after face/heel stories it is pretty much impossible to enjoy modern day WWE. Might be because of my break since Mania but coming round to split reactions for everyone being a good thing.

[Love-Wilcox]

It's starting to sound a bit like a broken record in this thread but damn that main event really was fantastic! Between the ropes AJ is probably the best storyteller going today. Reigns more than did his part and he's quickly become a favourite of mine.

[Tamura]

yeah he can do the spots but why don't WWE showcase his actual wrestling ability and have him trade holds and chain wrestle and build a match correctly, instead of 5 mins in going for your first big spot

https://youtu.be/G4-XhdW8R_s?t=6m31s

 

I really enjoy the start of that 5* match where they trade holds and chain wrestle and build the match "correctly"   

 

There's lots of bad wrestling around these days, mostly because  people think a 10 minute match with 5 minutes of trading holds and chain wrestling actually makes sense. If a particular wrestler's style is that they are like Dean Malenko with 1000 holds then by all means go for it, but I suspect 99% of fans don't see the logic in a big brawler using a wrist-lock as a wear-down hold so in a few minutes his opponent will be weak enough to be suplexed or similar.

[tiger_rick]

The timing is completely different. Cena was hated as he represented the face of a new PG-Era of WWE which was unwelcomed by fans of the previous 'Attitude' era. They were marketing directly at kids, Cena was popular with kids. Simple.

 

The current model isn't aimed at kids. It's back pushing the product to 16-35 year olds, people who'll subscribe to the network & be interested in watching 20 year old RAW, Nitro's, round table shoots and all the other network content.

 

Reigns is failing with the current target demographic. Cena succeeded with his.

This just isn't true. Cena started getting big boos in 2005. Long before PG-sux became a thing.

[Dead Mike]

This just isn't true. Cena started getting big boos in 2005. Long before PG-sux became a thing.

 

 

OK, timings aside, surely you agree that Cena got booed because fans of the 'Attitude era' didn't like his childish schtick?

[Guest]

I genuinely think it was just the white boy rapper shtick annoyed people who listen to Drowning Pool

 

he also debuted the spinny belt and released his album that year, he was asking for it

[King Pitcos]

As I said in theory it's not too much to ask that your good guy is liked by most of everyone.

In theory, yeah. In execution, it's impossible. The training for years online has been "if you're a REAL wrestling fan you hate the guy with muscles who Vince likes and realise they should push the unmarketable guys they bury, the fools." And WWE have encouraged that mindset because it worked so well with Cena and somewhat well with Bryan and Punk. So now they've got themselves into a position where they either go with it, or try to convince us that Vince and Hunter hate the bloke who looks like a superhero and never worked ROH. They tried the latter and it didn't work too well. So the former is the better option, as post-WrestleMania has shown.

 

It was always going to be a case of Cena is dead, long live Cena. They were never going to replace Cena with a random indie weed, so whoever got the job was always going to get the same reactions. Even when they caved in to Internet tears and bottled it on Reigns for a year and kept Cena as top boy, the tears flooded in about JC beating Owens and Rollins.

 

Top WWE babyface upsetting dem is ingrained now. It'll only change when someone comes along who has enough internet points AND face of the company points, but there's quite a bit of mutual exclusivity there so it'd take some doing.

[The Gaffer]

I genuinely think it was just the white boy rapper shtick annoyed people who listen to Drowning Pool

 

he also debuted the spinny belt and released his album that year, he was asking for it

I remember thinking that at the time. It felt like most people that stuck with the product after the invasion were still trapped in that post grunge, nu metal world and you're basically going to come along and try and sell them 'rasslin 8 Mile. People lapped it up when he was making jokes about syphillis on Smackdown but then he came to Raw and he was wearing the home towns jersey and shilling a dodgy rap album during the same hot summer the crowds decided "Carlito, Christian and Angle are brilliant and we're going to cheer them no matter what".

[tiger_rick]

 

This just isn't true. Cena started getting big boos in 2005. Long before PG-sux became a thing.

 

OK, timings aside, surely you agree that Cena got booed because fans of the 'Attitude era' didn't like his childish schtick?

 

There was certainly something in the character or his ring work (or both) that smart fans took a disliking to, initially. Perhaps just the concept of a white-meat "chosen one" babyface. It wouldn't be the first time, although it was on a different scale. Hogan, Michaels and The Rock all infamously suffered backlash at times.

 

I know there were mistakes made with Reigns at the end of 2014 but I think that by and large, he's been booked well for a long time. As well as they are capable of. And he's clearly a very good worker. But I really think he's suffering because (the most vocal) fans want to choose their guy, not be told who it is. They had it temporarily with Daniel Bryan and they want it again. In that sense, WWE's insistence on having ONE guy doesn't help the situation and it does no favours to Reigns who I think is really good. It's clear a lot of people do too.

[Wrasslin]

 

I genuinely think it was just the white boy rapper shtick annoyed people who listen to Drowning Pool

 

he also debuted the spinny belt and released his album that year, he was asking for it

I remember thinking that at the time. It felt like most people that stuck with the product after the invasion were still trapped in that post grunge, nu metal world and you're basically going to come along and try and sell them 'rasslin 8 Mile. People lapped it up when he was making jokes about syphillis on Smackdown but then he came to Raw and he was wearing the home towns jersey and shilling a dodgy rap album during the same hot summer the crowds decided "Carlito, Christian and Angle are brilliant and we're going to cheer them no matter what".

 

 

To be fair Christian was brilliantly hilarious at that time. 

[the_mole]

Cena was massively over doing his rao stuff before he won the belt, just look at his match with The Big Show at Wrestlemania 20, he then was starting to tone it down a bit before he won the big belt at 21.

 

Cena is a great wrestler but he does look really clumsy performing certain moves and I guess that's why certain fans Think he can't wrestle, when he's carried guys like Great Khali to good match or two, something nobody else was able to do.

 

Roman Reigns is less clumsy but his personality isn't massive like Cena's he could probably turn heel or play a tweener and not have it effect a baby face turn, Cena probably couldn't do that, he turns he lets his massive fan base down.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I wish Dad Tits Jericho would fuck off for good.

[Big Benny HG]

Too many of the live audience try to be seen cheering/booing/reacting to the performer (as in the real-life person playing the character) and the booking these days, rather than cheering/booing/reacting to the character and the story.

 

It's all rather 'meta', but that's unfortunately the way of things now. They're reacting to it as a performance, rather than reacting to it as the drama/story/entertainment that performance is trying to present. Hence "Fight Forever (clap clap clapclapclap)", "Match of the Year", "This is Awesome (clap clap clapclapclap)", "BOTH THESE GUYS", "Women's Wrestling (clap clap clapclapclap)" and all that bollocks.

 

I'm not bemoaning the death of kayfabe or anything, and it's certainly not how I like to enjoy my wrestling (especially in a live sense), but it's just reflective of modern times of open social media and people thinking they have the right to have their opinions heard.

[PowerButchi]

Cena's AWESOME album only solidified him as a babyface for me in 05. This tune is hard as fuck -

 

[WeeAl]

That was proper stuff that main event. Loved it. Reigns and Styles have had me hooked this whole time and their match was a belter. I thought it was the better match of the night, but that could have been due to watching the first half of the show at 5am and the second half at tea time this evening. Two belting matches either way, the midcard are all desperate to have the IC title, the way it should be, and the guys in the main really sold me on Aj having a chance to win the belt when he really doesn't so they have done a great fucking job there these past two months.

 

The Vaudevillains need to vanish pronto in my book. I lose all interest as soon as they appear.

 

Skipped the divas match again, and like last month, I don't imagine I missed anything.

 

Rusev back to killing folks, the way he should have been post Mania 31, is great news. Delighted with him getting a bit of focus again.

 

Fair play to Jericho for making himself relevant again on this run, taking that bump on those pins and wearing jeans to what was meant to be a proper fight. But jesus that match was the bloody pits. I hated it. I'm not an Ambrose fan either so its getting no leeway from me, Jericho's bump saved it from the total scrap heap, it just seemed to go on for about 3 days.

 

Overall I enjoyed the show for the IC and World title bouts being fantastic and Rusev being great again, plus a bonus of getting a return at the end.