Talk show segments

[Mr Butternut Squash]

I can’t stand them. I’m totally gonna rip a post from (the increasingly abysmal) pwo board where the subject recently come up that puts it fairly well

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The talk show segments have become problematic on so many levels. I mean, yeah. They're overdone and exhausted, but that's the least of it.

WWE has adopted the idea that the segment is not a vehicle intended for the host to "get themselves over." It's baffling to hear someone like Bruce Prichard bash a guy like Christian for attempting to "get himself over" when hosting the Peep Show.

Somebody go watch a classic, MEMORABLE Piper's Pit and tell me that wasn't the exact design & purpose of the whole thing. It was a platform used to get the host over, first & foremost. Otherwise, why make such a big deal out of selecting a skilled talker to steer the thing in the first place?

Instead, they've created a scenario where the host is now effectively just a mic stand. Since it isn't the host's place to get over, they're basically trotted out there like neutered mediators. And they usually come off looking pretty stupid as a result.

The guests aren't protected any better either. Because this talk show style segment only further highlights the AWFUL pro wrestling trope of two hated rivals standing directly across from each other - and just talking to one another. Slowly, deliberately speaking their dialogue. And happily waiting their turn in line to do so, too. It's the shits.

And so everyone - host & guests included - often come out of these things looking worse. There are rare occurrences where the Miz can elevate a scene or two on MizTV, but he's also smart enough to make sure he's getting himself over there as well.

Outside of those instances though, there's nothing there. Name the last great Peep Show segment. Or Cutting Edge segment. Or Carlito's Cabana. Or whateverthefuck.

What was the last memorable angle launched on one of these things? The Jericho turn on Shawn? I mean, if there's no big angle to shoot or some PURPOSE in doing these things, I just don't get it. Bringing Alexa Bliss out to get all catty & bitchy with two women who happen to be feuding this month is really just any other segment on any other week of Raw, right?

I just wish they put more thought & care into how they present their performers. I realize that's a pipedream in a world where sheer content output comes first, but Christ. Everything they do feels like it's filling time to get them onto the next week. It's practically all placeholders holding together more placeholders at this point.

 

 

[BomberPat]

Love them when they're a separate set, hate them in-ring. There's not enough to distinguish them from show opening McMahon monologues, dualing promos, contract signings, or any of the other interminable talky bits in modern WWE.

If people were allowed a little more freedom in their promos, they'd be perfect to allow an established name as host to drag some personality out of someone who hadn't yet been given the opportunity to show any, or lend a bit of credibility to a programme that hadn't really got any heat built up yet. 

 

This was the last great talk show moment, from around the 7 minute mark;

It was building to Wade Barrett/Randy Orton, with Cena as the special referee - the Nexus were still taken seriously, but no one was buying the "Cena is in the Nexus or he's fired" angle at all, and the build to this match had been atrocious. While Cena and Orton's part in this was fairly bland, and weighed down by the need to over-explain the stipulations of the match, and Wade Barrett does okay, Piper absolutely kills it - in the space of a few minutes, he puts over the angle, the championship, and the ordeal Cena is supposed to be going through better than anything anyone actually involved in the story had managed in weeks. "Don't you spit in my face, John Cena!" sold the PPV better than anything else WWE came up with, and he comes across as so real compared to the perfectly delivered, scripted, WWE style promo Cena does in return. That's what this sort of thing should be for, and the best way to use "legends".

[The King Of Swing]

They've all been shit, since Piper's Pit.

[iMPACt!]

1 hour ago, Edgehead said:

The last great talk show segment was the Abraham Washington show

Worth it just for Tony Atlas fake laughing at everything. 

What ever happened to Abraham Washington. Did he actually wrestle? 

[HarmonicGenerator]

8 minutes ago, iMPACt! said:

Worth it just for Tony Atlas fake laughing at everything. 

What ever happened to Abraham Washington. Did he actually wrestle? 

He was managing (I think) the Primetime Players, or maybe The Colons, and made (I think) a reference to Kobe Bryant which resulted in an almost instant release.

edit: Here we are. He said “Titus O'Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado - HE'S UNSTOPPABLE!” on commentary and WWE had to do an on-air apology after the next commercial break. They fired him about 2 weeks after that.

[iMPACt!]

Ah yeah that rings a bell now. 

It's amazing how you forget about certain wrestlers. I would have never thought of Abraham and his laughing Tony Atlas until he was mentioned on here. 

I'm sure this great show also took place on the hard-core ECW brand also. Perfect fit. 

[Fatty Facesitter]

It’s been a little oversaturated today, but used effectively they could still be very viable tools for storyline development and the overall presentation of a character.

Miz TV as a premise has so much more potential than what they’re doing with it presently. As others have stated, it’s effectively a random carpet and a couple of high chairs for a set. More than any character on the WWE roster, The Miz deserves a lot more razmatazz behind him in terms of his presentation. He’s already a snappy dresser and carries himself well on the mic but they really should be tarting up that set, have him arrive in limousines, line up celebrity guests for him, etc. He makes it work with what he has and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with it, but there’s a lot of creative potential there with the right brains behind it.

The Highlight Reel was great - a brilliant tool for Chris Jericho and his various rivalries, helping to further drive storylines and become a segment people looked forward to the possibility of seeing. It’s the closest anything has come to matching Piper’s Pit. 

[BomberPat]

The best thing about the Highlight Reel, outside of the stuff with Shawn Michaels, was that it facilitated a long-running feud with Roddy Piper that went absolutely nowhere.

[The Dart]

Never liked them.  There's been the occasional one where it happening has led to something, recently for example the Owens/Jericho split, but generally they're just like any other in ring promo.

[Sheffbag]

i remember back when i worked in a club and used to record the Superstars/Challenge shows there (been the dj meant i controlled the tv's as well, little bonus at the time) and then watched them at home the day after, trying to explain to the parents who they guy screaming with the red face was could be slightly embarrassing but they just let me get on with it.

 

[WeeAl]

I hate them these days. They so rarely, if ever, result in anything memorable anymore, nor are they distinguishable from the 1000's of other types of in ring talky bits. Without a set design, or memorable angles that take part on the talk show, I don't see the point in it. A way of looking at it could be that you shouldn't ever have the talk show segment unless it is going to lead to an angle during it's course, or a pivotal promo in a feud. A throwaway MIZ TV serves little to no purpose if it doesn't lead to something, and so often they don't. 

[Factotum]

Christian's 'Peep Show' was brilliant for him going on about The Rock being his friend and loving him. That whole angle was so odd but funny. I loved Christian around that period.

[Porkchopcash]

The Flower Shop wernt to bad for what it was.

The Snake Pit was notable for HTM “literally” smashing Jakes pickle in.

The Body Shop should have been better, much like the snake pit.

Generally Pipers Pit is the only one worth shit. Had the greatest angle in wrestling history unfold on it.....

[air_raid]

I know its been mentioned already but if you want to see examples of misguided segments of this nature where neither host nor interviewees seem to have a clue what the point is, go watch the couple of episodes of Missys Manor on YouTube. I happened to love "The Walking Riot" when the role was right for her, but the WWF clearly didn't know what her strengths were.