WWE Evolution

[Otto Dem Wanz]

Decent show that picked up the longer it went on and definitely peaked with the Smackdown women’s title match.

I liked the stripped down nature of the set and overall production too, something different with the presentation is always welcome with me. 

I know he’s done it for ages but it really stood out (and annoyed me) how Cole could not stop telling us what was being chanted in the venue. “The let’s go Charlotte chants”, “the this is awesome chant”, “the women’s wrestling” chant - FUCK OFF WE CAN HEAR IT YOU DICKHEAD.

[Grecian]

I watched last night and didnt have any expectations going into it. Didn't really take much notice of the first match, but giving all the entrants in the battle royal their own entrance was a good way of eating up the running time. Torrie still looks spectacular, thought McCool had another good outing and it's a shame Ember Moon didn't win, the crowd was right behind her.

From there, I reall enjoyed it. I've not watched any of the MYC so it was the first time I've seen Io Shirai or Toni Storm - thought they were both great. The Baszyler / Sane match was slightly ruined for me by the ref doing her best acting face when checking if Sane was still conscious, it made it seem a little too cheesy for my liking.

Rousey was being very heelish in the early match, I thought. I can't help thinking she'll be booed out of the building once she goes up against a Sasha or a Bayley. Had to be Nikki Bella's greatest match ever though.

I was a bit surprised Paige was barely acknowledged, apart from a promo for Total Divas. Surely she's a huge part of the whole Women's Revolution too? Even if it was introducing Charlotte and Becky, she just wasn't mentioned - or did I miss something?

[simonworden]

Watched the rest of it last night, only skipped the six man tag as I wanted to speed the process up a bit. Enjoyed the main event more than I thought I would, Becky Vs Charlotte was enjoyable too although perhaps due to me reading about it before hand I didn't get into it as expected. Favorite match was probably Kairi Vs Shayna, haven't had time this year to watch any NXT even the takeovers except chicago so this was one of the first times watching both women, I thought Shayna's character really stood out.

The biggest stand out was how different this show looked to me. Now i'd say it might have been a tad too low key in the end and did look a lot closer to some of the higher production independent promotions but if you added in perhaps the scrolling banners on the arenas and brought the lighting up a tad it would be much more enjoyable. Really liked not having the overinflated set and screens absolutely everywhere and I thought the metal barriers with covers on looked a lot better than the type they've been using for years. 

[TildeGuy~!]

I’d assume the lighting was way down as Michael Cole kept claiming they were sold out when clearly they weren’t. 

[Accident Prone]

Live reports were that it looked to be 90% sold out. Probably nothing to do with them wanting to hide empty seats (they've had the lights on Smackdown all this time and usually half the venue is just tarp and chairs), and more to do with aesthetics and the NXT production crew being at the helm.

Besides, what's more important to me is how loud the crowd are and they were into most of the action, so the presentation gets a pass.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Just watched Becky/Charlotte. Read a lot of mixed reports about the quality of it - I thought it as excellent. The first table spot where it didn't break isn't something I think hurts the match much, and I was too sucked in to notice the inconsistencies of Charlotte not standing for the ten count etc - it's not as bad as I'd previously read. You have to take your hats off to both of them for the effort that went into this. Great match. 

[King Pitcos]

I really liked the use of the ringposts in the main event. A couple of smart, well-executed spots with them. I've not been that impressed with ringpost moves since Bret started doing the figure-four around them.

[Supremo]

For all the talk about the crowd supposedly being great, they still couldn't help themselves in terms of the smarky, pavlovian, shitty chants.

"You've Still Got It!' aimed at a clumsy, sloppy, apprehensive Lita looking completely lost out there and a "You Deserve It!" chant aimed at Nia Jax, who couldn't deserve it less. She's a terrible wrestler with a badly written character, having turned so much recently that she's veering into Big Show territory in terms of how much it's become impossible to give a fuck about her. Jog on, lads.

Still, that Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte match was fantastic. Easily the best main roster women's match of all time. The way Becky Lynch's career has turned around this year will forever amaze me. She was a complete nobody this time last year. Now she's probably the best performer in the company and easily the most interesting character with the most momentum going for her. She has to win most improved this year. I never ever thought she had this in her.

Ronda's gonna get booed to fuck at Survivor Series and I honestly don't think they realise yet.

[Fatty Facesitter]

I hadn’t even taken Rousey getting boo’ed into account, blimey. How will they get around that I wonder? By doing fuck all most probably. 

[Loki]

I reckon it might be a 50/50 reaction actually.  If you've been to a WWE show this year you'll know how big a fanbase Rousey has - her t-shirts are EVERYWHERE and on blokes as well as girls.

I reckon the two appeal to slightly different demographics as well - Becky is more beloved of smart fans who watch NXT, whereas Rousey is a huge hit with casual audiences and people indeed only watching for her.

I tell you what though, it'll be a cracking match.  We're all taking it for granted now, but Rousey's had maybe half a dozen matches on tv and yet is capable of holding up her end of a main event.  It's extraordinary, I can't think of someone with so little experience getting it so quickly - maybe Angle, but he had way longer in development.  Rousey's selling is genuinely brilliant, she needs to start teaching the rest of the roster how to look like you're actually in pain.

[AndyUK]

It was certainly better than Crown Jewel last night, put it that way. Got a bit of nostalgia with Trish and Lita in the battle royal, a fantastic match with Becky and Charlotte that was only hurt slightly by a couple of timing issues and Ronda and Nikki had a fun one in the main event too. 

[WyattSheepMask]

I’m really looking forward to Ronda v Becky and they can tell a great story with both looking for arm based submissions

[Mr Butternut Squash]

They had the opportunity to do an angle here if the plan was always Becky/Ronda for survivor series. It’s time too move on from self congratulatory ‘curtain call’ stuff and there was a chance there at the end. I hope they go back this feud down the line, it really could be a true ppv headline level feud for the women’s division.

 

[Supremo]

Remember when Pete Dunne smashed that lad in the face on the first night of the first U.K. Tournament? Imagine if Becky had punched Ronda in a similar fashion during that curtain call. Would’ve been absolutely perfect. Completely unexpected but brilliantly sets up and builds for the next big women’s match. 

[Surf Digby]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Remember when Pete Dunne smashed that lad in the face on the first night of the first U.K. Tournament? Imagine if Becky had punched Ronda in a similar fashion during that curtain call. Would’ve been absolutely perfect. Completely unexpected but brilliantly sets up and builds for the next big women’s match. 

I was hoping that at least one of them would have fucked off all the congratulating each other stuff and just said "Bollocks to you all, I don't give a shit. I'm only in this for the gold and the money that comes with it. Why should I be harping on about how much I respect you, when all you did was prove you weren't in my league".

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 10:11 AM, simonworden said:

The biggest stand out was how different this show looked to me. Now i'd say it might have been a tad too low key in the end and did look a lot closer to some of the higher production independent promotions but if you added in perhaps the scrolling banners on the arenas and brought the lighting up a tad it would be much more enjoyable. Really liked not having the overinflated set and screens absolutely everywhere and I thought the metal barriers with covers on looked a lot better than the type they've been using for years. 

I actually really liked the toned down look and "standard def" lighting. Coupled with Becky and Charlotte brawling through the crowd it had a real "Attitude Era" feel to it.