The Smackers Thread

[HarmonicGenerator]

5 hours ago, Supremo said:

Fair play to The Rock though. Monster pop.

Watched it on YouTube and that was incredible. I don’t even care if they’ve boosted the crowd noise or added some production tricks, imagine being there for that! Amazing moment.

[Daaaaaad!]

The most electrifying man in all of entertainment made his return! And wasn’t it great when he introduced The Rock too?

[Matthew]

Surely it makes sense for Rock to come back and not interact with the Bloodline, unless they’re 100% doing something long term. Otherwise he’s inserting himself into a storyline, that people have wanted for years, that may not necessarily go anywhere at this moment in time.

 

[The King of Old School]

I reckon we get Roman/Knight at the Saudi show by the looks of things.

Then hopefully Roman/Rock at Mania to headline night 2.

Give Cody Cena or something on night 1 if they don't want him to have Seth's title.

[SuperBacon]

It's a funny one with The Rock. I don't really have any want to see him wrestle ever again, but I do like him popping up every so often. He's always fun.

Him and Cena back. Blimey, there really is a writers strike on in Hollywood eh?

[d-d-d-dAz]

Just watched the full show.

That opening segment was perfect WWE TV. That pop and reaction for The Rock was monstrous. Say what you like, he’s still miles ahead of pretty much anyone on the planet in terms of aura and star power.

I thought Austin Theory hung in well and came across like a star, until he was down cold from a spine buster for three quarters of an hour before the people’s elbow. 

Poor Cody. He’s never going to finish the story.

Still, a WrestleMania of Rhea/Jade, Cody/One Bil Phil and Roman/Rock would both be massive and hilarious.

I enjoyed the Ragin’ Gaijin Grudge Match between Bullet Club’s AJ Styles and Bullet Club’s Finn Balor, even if it does depress me that they’re 10 and 6 years older than me respectively and look younger and better than I did at 26. Shame.

AJ Styles is so, so good. Effortlessly fluid yet snug. Just a brilliant pro-wrestler. It’s amazing that at one point the narrative was that he’d never go to WWE, wouldn’t suit their style and would fail if he tried. He’s probably the best practitioner of the WWE style in the world currently. I hope he sees another World Title before exiting the stage, but it seems unlikely.

Jimmy Uso, man. The worst character on Smackdown. He’s ice cold, pointless and illogical. We’ve already got Main Event Jey Uso… and now we’ve got Velocity Jim.

I’ve got no interest in Santos Escobar.

It was really impressive that LA Knight remained so over with a crowd that had seen McAfee and Rock live and Cena backstage. They had every right to have a higher bar. He comes across like such a star, and the fact they put him at the top of the hour suggests they’re now properly behind him. I still think there’s a hint of clumsiness with his in-ring, but not enough to hamper him really, and his post-match promo oozed star power.

”I’m easily top two and I ain’t number two” is such a great line.

Put the belt on him. We don’t need the title going down with the Bloodline.

I don’t know why, but because they both feel like they’re part of the furniture, Asuka v Bayley feels almost Kofi v Ziggles-like in terms of the amount of times we’ve seen it.

Cena’s great. Seeing him and The Rock on the same show just reminds me how perfect a match they were for a feud; they represent such completely opposite visions of what a top star is, looks like and how they behave. Two different eras of WWE crashing up against one another. Screw it. Run it back. Thrice in a Lifetime.

It was a shame Velocity Jim came back. I hoped they’d have something bespoke and specific for John coming back, but he’s just been sucked into the Bloodline icy vortex. Not arsed with whatever Solo/Jimmy vs Cena/Styles vs Waller/Theory vs Judgment Day nonsense they’ve got cooking.

It was a brilliant episode of WWE TV though, one of the best in recent memory, and I couldn’t help but think how good value those tickets were for that live crowd. The Rock opening the show, LA Knight on the hour and Cena closing? It’s not bad, is it?

Edited September 16, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[Supremo]

The Rock interacting with LA Knight is the money right now. Can’t believe they didn’t give into temptation here. It’d be the first thing I’d book.

Hunter must have been embarrassed. They’ve been trying to bring Rock in for years, even building an entire pay per view around his anniversary, and he just sent them a fucking egg. Endeavor buy the company and he’s there on their very first show. Levels, Trips.

I’d love to know why pro-wrestling doesn’t count when it comes to the actor’s strike. As I understand it, they aren’t even allowed to do press or promote their work whilst the strike is on, so why can they go and perform a role that’s scripted and broadcast on national TV? Is wrestling just considered so low rent that nobody cares? Can Vin Diesel join Cena and The Rock and just carry on the Fast and Furious universe on Smackdown?

[SuperBacon]

9 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I’d love to know why pro-wrestling doesn’t count when it comes to the actor’s strike. As I understand it, they aren’t even allowed to do press or promote their work whilst the strike is on, so why can they go and perform a role that’s scripted and broadcast on national TV? Is wrestling just considered so low rent that nobody cares? Can Vin Diesel join Cena and The Rock and just carry on the Fast and Furious universe on Smackdown?

Surely it has to do with the writers and what unions they belong to no? 

I'm assuming no WWE writer belongs to one of the unions striking.

Edit: apologies, I forgot about the SAG-AFTA strike as well. So yeah, I guess wrestling falls under sports and not "acting" maybe?

Edited September 16, 2023 by SuperBacon

[FUM]

6 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I’d love to know why pro-wrestling doesn’t count when it comes to the actor’s strike. As I understand it, they aren’t even allowed to do press or promote their work whilst the strike is on, so why can they go and perform a role that’s scripted and broadcast on national TV? Is wrestling just considered so low rent that nobody cares? Can Vin Diesel join Cena and The Rock and just carry on the Fast and Furious universe on Smackdown?

Wrestlers rather famously aren’t unionised I guess is the reason.

I’m so glad they allowed this a proper surprise moment, they’re a rarity today as stuff is always announced for the ratings pop. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

6 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Surely it has to do with the writers and what unions they belong to no? 

I'm assuming no WWE writer belongs to one of the unions striking.

It’s the Screen Actors Guild of America, which actors and possibly production crew are all signed up to?

Most entertainment in America is in the grasp of SAG when it comes to talent. US companies regularly shoot commercials or shows or whatever in Mexico and dress it to look like America, just to avoid paying SAG rates to extras and any other union rates for production staff. 

But, yeah, WWE aren’t a Union company. They have contracted full time employees, rather than unionised contractors.

Edited September 16, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[Supremo]

Are Fox one of the broadcasters at the negotiating table with the strikers? They must be chuffed to bits. Shove your demands up your arse! We’ve got John Cena and The Rock back on Friday nights! You couldn’t dream of a better pair of scabs!

Just for the madness of seeing him there, I want The Rock to show up on NXT to save his daughter from the cult she’s in.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Just now, Supremo said:

Are Fox one of the broadcasters at the negotiating table with the strikers? They must be chuffed to bits. Shove your demands up your arse! We’ve got John Cena and The Rock back on Friday nights! You couldn’t dream of a better pair of scabs!

Just for the madness of seeing him there, I want The Rock to show up on NXT to save his daughter from the cult she’s in.

Wait till Batista turns up in a SAG-AFTRA shirt, shouting “GIVE ME WHAT I WANT” until someone turns the camera off.

[Infinity Land]

31 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I’d love to know why pro-wrestling doesn’t count when it comes to the actor’s strike. As I understand it, they aren’t even allowed to do press or promote their work whilst the strike is on, so why can they go and perform a role that’s scripted and broadcast on national TV? Is wrestling just considered so low rent that nobody cares? Can Vin Diesel join Cena and The Rock and just carry on the Fast and Furious universe on Smackdown?

SAG has different bargaining units. Even if WWE wrestlers were in SAG the type of work probably wouldn't fall under the current strike action anyway.

Where there would have been an issue is if the WWE writing staff were WGA. Their strike action would be covered. See the controversy over shows by Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher's returning to work without writers. Nothing stops it from a SAG perspective, but ultimately those shows will have content otherwise performed by WGA members and it becomes a case of crossing the WGA picket line.

[Tsurutagun]

The Rock is the The Rock. He's rather good at this wrestling thing. McAfee isn't too shoddy either even if I can't take him seriously after Mike Ryan's impression of him on the LeBatard Show. 

The fact there was crowd sweetening tells how addicted WWE is to it. Dwayne could have given a 15 minute summary to why All Out was great and they would have been eating out of his hand. 

Austin Theory is the Lidl Grayson Waller. Just nothing happening 

As for the potential "picket line crossing"  It's whenever it suits them best when they can claim to be sports or cinema. Right now they are sports. 

I'm actually surprised that they're not getting hostility from the WGA. Nick Khan claiming that no union members wrote for them was, making for a protest from the WGA outside a show and with WWE being so eager to be "cinema" I would have thought they had writers from movies and TV there which means they are WGA badge holders. 

[Infinity Land]

11 minutes ago, Tsurutagun said:

I'm actually surprised that they're not getting hostility from the WGA. Nick Khan claiming that no union members wrote for them was, making for a protest from the WGA outside a show and with WWE being so eager to be "cinema" I would have thought they had writers from movies and TV there which means they are WGA badge holders. 

Someone writing for the WWE isn't likely to have the credits for a current membership. The job in WWE itself probably could end up being categorised to qualify, but then that would require the writing staff to unionise to pursue it.