The Smackers Thread

[Statto]

On 5/20/2023 at 9:09 AM, Supremo said:

Yes Boy! Instant favourites. No idea why I was never too fussed when they were in NXT.

It's funny, when they were in NXT UK (a show I kept watching WAY longer than most) I thought they were amongst the least remarkable acts even there, and I was surprised when they got a go in proper NXT.

I gave up being a regular NXT watcher around the time they showed up there so didn't see too much of them in Florida, but what I did see made me think "actually, these guys aren't so bad".

Then they show up on Smackdown and they're fucking great. Trying to figure out if it's my perception that's changed or if they have got that much better.

[CavemanLynn]

1 hour ago, Statto said:

It's funny, when they were in NXT UK (a show I kept watching WAY longer than most) I thought they were amongst the least remarkable acts even there, and I was surprised when they got a go in proper NXT.

I gave up being a regular NXT watcher around the time they showed up there so didn't see too much of them in Florida, but what I did see made me think "actually, these guys aren't so bad".

Then they show up on Smackdown and they're fucking great. Trying to figure out if it's my perception that's changed or if they have got that much better.

I think certain acts just work in certain environments. WWE seem to acknowledge this too, with the example I always go to being Elias getting the call up super early because they knew he was a main roster guy who'd get lost in the higher-workrate NXT at the time. I still think Pretty Deadly are lacking technically - they're curled up all the time, that butt bounce lungblower move is fxxxing stupid, and for an athletic-looking guy, I haven't seen Elton get anywhere near high enough for the neck breaker on the tag finish they do every match - but character wise, as personalities for TV and for the smart in-ring angles and spots like that one, they're top notch. 

[The Dart]

2 hours ago, CavemanLynn said:

I think certain acts just work in certain environments. WWE seem to acknowledge this too, with the example I always go to being Elias getting the call up super early because they knew he was a main roster guy who'd get lost in the higher-workrate NXT at the time. I still think Pretty Deadly are lacking technically - they're curled up all the time, that butt bounce lungblower move is fxxxing stupid, and for an athletic-looking guy, I haven't seen Elton get anywhere near high enough for the neck breaker on the tag finish they do every match - but character wise, as personalities for TV and for the smart in-ring angles and spots like that one, they're top notch. 

He was in NXT for 3 years.  I wouldn't call that super early.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Finally caught up with the shows at the weekend/at the end of last week after a drunken wedding sojourn on the Isle of Wight. 

Smackers 19/5

👍 Bloodline Business - Still the most gripping overall arc in the business at the moment. The increasingly erratic Roman, bumping into Solo to tease dissension there, all of the squabbling with Jimmy and Jey, Heyman’s scheming, it’s all just such good shit. KO/Sami had a good night at the office too with their respective shenanigans. The tag title match could go either way - personally I’d have the champions retain to give KO/Sami a huge victory, partly over Roman as payback for all the times they’ve put him over, but it’s also a vehicle to send Reigns further into a meltdown and it could finally signal the end of the Bloodline as we know it. It also means he can lose on a PPV and still retain his primary title/titles. Then again, Roman/Solo vs the Usos would also be excellent. Tantalising possibilities!

👍 LWO/Usos - Great main event and nice to see young Santos get the fall too - the LWO is absolutely cooking at the moment as I fully expected them too in the long run. Rey continues to drink from the fountain of youth and is arguably the company’s most consistent performer presently - a real stalwart. The finish also kept the Bloodline saga bubbling nicely. Lovely stuff. 

👍 Pretty Deadly vs Brawling Brutes - YES BOY! Great debut for PD and a good contest to kick off the in-ring element of the show. They’ve got the character work down to a tee and they are getting batter and better with their ring work - I’m really excited about them and I think there’s some serious potential there if they can keep the lads on the straight and narrow and book them appropriately. Also, it was nice to see four UK acts sharing the ring together in general. 

👍 Asuka vs Zelina Vega - Fine as a sprint for Asuka heading into Saudi. Bianca’s cameo was a good addition too. 

👍 Street Profits/Boogy Knights - Didn’t mind this at all. Some fun chemistry between the respective personnel and I actually think LA Knight and Boogs could  have some good chemistry together on screen, so I’m interested to see where it goes as a feud. I’d have been interested to see them role with it for a bit as a partnership to be honest. 

👍 Austin Theory/Sheamus business - Nothing wrong with this either - I liked Sheamus choosing to knock his block off. Has the makings of a good undercard match at the PLE. 

👎 Grayson Waller Effect - As much as I love Grayson’s overly gratuitous heel intro, I don’t think this quite landed, largely because I don’t think we scratched the surface of Grayson’s full dickheaded-ness and AJ isn’t the most inspiring ‘serious’ promo. A bit of a subjective one - but I didn’t quite get a sense of the chemistry they had together during their previous skirmish in NXT. Still, a match down the line should be a corker and it’s great to see Waller already rolling with ‘high society’ in terms of potential opponents. 

👎 Dawn/Fyre squash - I’m not crazy about new acts squashing local talent - it doesn’t do anything for them and unless you have something unique to showcase the audience won’t get invested. This did its job in terms of putting them over, but ultimately it’s going to take eye-catching matches against established acts that will really get the audiences invested.

Overall - Smackers is in really fine fettle at the moment. Another smashing show with a good in-ring product and strong angle advancement. Lots to like about this week once again and some great build to the PLE. 

[Supremo]

The magic is back with the Bloodline. That closing segment was solid gold. Genuine tension watching Roman lose his rag and Jimmy refuse to give him the belts. Amazing. Your day’s coming, Roman. My boys are gonna knock your head clean off.

Forget Cody. Summerslam main event needs to be Roman and Solo vs. The Usos for the belts.

[FUM]

Whoever edited the crowd noise in should be on the chopping block. It was a taped show so always going to happen that they piped a good few sounds in but how do you get so bad at doing something you were doing fine with worse technology 20 years ago?

Edited May 27, 2023 by FUM

[Fatty Facesitter]

Overall - Not a vintage Smackers from an in-ring perspective in truth, but the Bloodline content is worth a watch and there were some other good bits and pieces throughout. Probably one to digest via YouTube highlights rather than seeking out the full episode. 

👍 Bloodline Business - Fantastic tele yet again. The backstage interaction earlier in the show followed on nicely from the previous show, then everything on the KO show to close was fantastically fine too. A number of different ways this can go in Saudi and I can’t wait to see which direction they go in. The Bloodline is crumbling and it’s glorious to watch. 

👍 Theory vs Sheamus - Good, physical opener for the US strap. Even if the title perhaps never quite felt it was in jeopardy, we had some good action from bell to bell and the finish made sense. A six-man tag between Theory, Pretty Deadly and the Brawling Brutes will be fun to watch when it happens. 

👍 Cameron Grimes vs Ashante Thee Adonis - Another great showcase for Grimes. After last week’s flash win over Corbin, this week he had time to showcase more of his athleticism before once again finishing off an opponent with his ace finisher. Two for two in terms of good build for this call up. 

👍 Bianca/Asuka build - Fine and dandy. Could be another cracker between them at the PLE. 

👎 AJ Styles/Karrion Kross - Nothing terrible but in truth it never felt like it escalated to a seriously excitable point. Perhaps the commercial break hurt it slightly, but generally speaking you never felt a true sense of anticipation or jeopardy. Maybe they just didn’t click. 

👎 Racquel/Shotzi vs Bayley/Sky - Unspectacular and some iffy execution at times. Finish was billed as a Damage CTRL miscommunication but it seemed a bit off and perhaps not executed in the way they were hoping for - whenever something like that looks like a genuine botch as opposed to a deliberate attempt to make an angle of something, you’re in trouble. 

👎 LA Knight vs Boogs - Match wasn’t electric. Perhaps a good heater if you’re LA Knight, but a rough presentation over the last couple of weeks if you’re Boogs and I think he’ll be released soon judging by this. Some fun interactions at the commentary table with Cole/Barrett and the Street Profits, otherwise not much to crow about here. 

👎 EDIT - Totally agree with @FUM  with the crowd noise assessment. Sounded terrible. 

Edited May 27, 2023 by Fatty Facesitter

[LaGoosh]

Had a spare few hours yesterday morning so watched Smackdown for the first time since I'm going to say 2019.

The Bloodline angle to close the show was tremendous. So good that I actually watched the tag match from Night of Champions this morning because it instantly hooked me. 

Rest of the show was filled with bad wrestling, horrendous commentary and goofy as fuck cheesy characters and gimmicks. Simply awful. Is it like this every week...just soulless cringe with a great Roman Reigns segment to keep you hanging on?

[Winston]

Bloodline story keeping going and Smackers continues to be the A show.

Can definitely get behind Roman & Solo against the Uso's for a while, plenty legs in that.

Will that one new championship be replacing Roman's 2 current championships? 

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, Winston said:

Bloodline story keeping going and Smackers continues to be the A show.

Can definitely get behind Roman & Solo against the Uso's for a while, plenty legs in that.

Will that one new championship be replacing Roman's 2 current championships? 

I hope not. I hope he’s just a prick that keeps all three, as that’s definitely what his character would do.

But, yeah, I suspect he’ll just end up with the new yellow one (it’s yellow, not gold).

I think for the rest of time, if ever I’m stuck in a discussion with people questioning whether Succession or The Wire or Breaking Bad are the best written TV shows of all time, I’ll be thinking in my head “but, did you see the Bloodline angle?”

[TheScarlettChad]

Great stuff by Roman again. 

 

That belt is just atrocious 

[The King of Old School]

A tag match would be good but would much prefer Roman vs Jimmy at MITB with Jey and Solo in there corners.

[Loki]

Montez Ford getting booed because he’s wrestling LA Knight.

 Even if you don’t like Knight, you have to admit he’s incredibly over.

 Over, he can talk, he’s got the look, he can wrestle - I wonder why they don’t push him into the main event?  He seems designed for WWE.  Unless it’s his age, I can only assume someone in management has a personal thing with him.

[TheScarlettChad]

50 minutes ago, Loki said:

Montez Ford getting booed because he’s wrestling LA Knight.

 Even if you don’t like Knight, you have to admit he’s incredibly over.

 Over, he can talk, he’s got the look, he can wrestle - I wonder why they don’t push him into the main event?  He seems designed for WWE.  Unless it’s his age, I can only assume someone in management has a personal thing with him.

He's my pick for MITB. 

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I hope they put Grayson Waller in the ring soon, or at least make him more of the focus in his Grayson Waller Effect segments. That's two segments he's had now, first the one with AJ, where he was just kinda there while AJ gave a half-hearted promo about his world championship match, and now this week where he served as a vehicle for all the ladies to have a brawl to promote MITB.

I don't think Grayson's looked particularly good or added much of anything in his two Effect segments. He's shown very small flashes of the charismatic dick he was in NXT- his little quip of "I love America" while the girls were fighting was decent. But either use it to future a Grayson feud or put the boy in a match where he can show that he's got something about him. The crowds will give up on him quick if he's just window dressing to prop up other things on the show.