The Smackers Thread

[Loki]

18 minutes ago, FUM said:

I mean to be fair he attacked them with a chair backstage, told Maxxine to stop calling him that name because he’s not going to be someone or something he isn’t anymore all to a great crowd reaction. I don’t disagree with your general point but the changeover to LA Knight was done fine and not a very good example.

 

Yeah, it was well done and he was completely changing character too, back to one he'd used successfully before.

The actual issue is the initial decisions to spend years building characters up in NXT and then dumping them as soon as the wrestler arrives on the main roster.  Something that I think we'll see a lot less of.  These rather brutal reversions are necessary in many cases (Butch being an instance where I agree it's NOT though).

What will be interesting is how HHH handles guys like Bron Breakker.  Do we really think there's any upside in NOT having him take on the Steiner name?  Especially as Scotty and HHH seem to have buried their hatchet.  Scott managing Bron Steiner gets my juices going more than Breakker.

Edited January 15 by Loki

[tiger_rick]

19 minutes ago, Loki said:

Do we really think there's any upside in NOT having him take on the Steiner name?

Yeah, it'll stop people googling his Dad. Surely, the last thing you want is to encourage people to look into that family connection and find out that Rick was... you know

...killing WCW in 1999.

[TheScarlettChad]

The only thing is, Brekker is shite and his dad is a twat so I don't want them to do anything with him and I certantly don't think they should give him The Steiner name, for one, he doesn't deserve it, and for two, His dad again is a twat. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Maybe if he went back to being Max Dupri he might be somewhat tolerable.

[Snitsky's back acne]

23 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

The only thing is, Brekker is shite and his dad is a twat so I don't want them to do anything with him and I certantly don't think they should give him The Steiner name, for one, he doesn't deserve it, and for two, His dad again is a twat. 

His Dad being a twat should not be something used against him. 

[TheScarlettChad]

4 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

His Dad being a twat should not be something used against him. 

No, but it will be.

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, TheScarlettChad said:

No, but it will be.

Would it really? Charlotte Flair doesn't seem to have been affected by that. Obviously she'd already built her reputation when her dad's fell down the toilet; but I don't think anyone would punish him for his dad's actions. Sadly, given the vitriolic narrative surrounding being trans at the moment, there are many who wouldn't even view his actions as controversial. If he changes his name to 'Rick Steiner Jr' or something, that would be different. 

Having said that, I don't think there's any benefit to changing his name at this point. Those who are aware of the Steiners are likely aware of the connection. Some who are not aware will already know who Bron Breakker is; to those who are unaware of him, the name "Bron Steiner" or "Rex Steiner" (as some have suggested) probably sounds equally fake or goofy. Bron Breakker is just fine. While I don't think changing his name would hurt him, it would feel a bit pointless. 

[Loki]

5 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

While I don't think changing his name would hurt him, it would feel a bit pointless. 

I guess it would just avoid this odd situation where they will mention "his father, Rick Steiner" or "his uncle Scott Steiner" as if Bron's mother's maiden name was Breakker and he's chosen to keep that name instead.  They have already, and will continue to use his legacy as part of his WWE story, so why complicate it?

How would Randy Orton's career have gone if he was known as Randy Ogre but was still accompanied to the ring by his Dad, Bob Orton?

[BomberPat]

when I worked in a garage, my manager used to spend his shift fantasy booking the most tedious shit, and they almost always came down to one of two things - a wrestler sheds their gimmick to go back to an old name, regardless of whether they ever used it on TV, and become A Serious Technical Wrestler, or a stable made up of all the second and third generation wrestlers; usually it was both - when Jesse & Festus were around, he always wanted Jesse to do a "I'm Ray Gordy" promo, as if it would have meant anything to 99% of the people watching.

I think about that a lot whenever stuff about changing names comes up, and especially when it comes to second/third/etc. generation wrestlers. For some, it might be beneficial to not draw attention to who a wrestler's family are, because there's the risk of them being stuck in the shadow of their parent. For others, it's a quick route to recognition and a stepping stone to better things. Dustin Rhodes is an interesting one because he effectively managed both - as Dustin Rhodes he was able to ride the recognition and goodwill of being Dusty's kid, but as Goldust he was able to expand beyond that.

The weird ones are where they do acknowledge a wrestler's family, but don't use the name - why is Michael McGillicutty called that, rather than Hennig, in kayfabe? At least when he became Curtis Axel, it was explicitly a reference to his father and grandfather, even though a more sensible reference would have been just using their surname. Bron Breaker falls into that category - everyone knows he's a Steiner, they acknowledge it on-screen, yet that's not his surname? 

Charlotte was a good one, in that the name "Charlotte" was already a reference to Ric Flair's billed hometown, but she had a bit of wiggle room to grow outside of the Flair name if that's the direction they wanted to take, and it wasn't until she was on the main roster, if I remember correctly, that she was given the surname Flair, by which point she was largely established as her own thing. Similarly, Randy Orton was always billed as third-generation, but after the initial Rocky Maivia smiling babyface run, it was rarely a defining factor of his character, and by the time they brought in Bob Orton Jr. to manage him, Randy was already well established in his own right, so it didn't feel like he was just riding on the family name.

I suppose the question is, as a slight variance on what @Loki said, would Randy Orton's career have gone any different if they just never acknowledged him as third-gen, given how infrequently it mattered to how he was presented? But on the flipside, would a David Flair or a David Sammartino have got any better at wrestling if they weren't thrown straight in to the mix as the son of a legend, and allowed more time to grow on their own merits, or would they have always just ended up where they ended up?

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Bo and Bray Schyster would have been one hell of a tag team. 

[Devon Malcolm]

12 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Bo and Bray Schyster would have been one hell of a tag team. 

*Howard Finkel voice* Otherwise known as.... B.B.S.

[Supremo]

Looking forward to, “Butch turns back into Pete Dunne,” being as successful as, “Nikki Cross turns crazy again,” was.

Utterly convinced that the reason Triple H and Stephanie got divorced is because Stephanie got sick of Hunter banging on about how amazing NXT Black and Gold was. Get over it, Trips.

[Daaaaaad!]

4 hours ago, Supremo said:

Triple H and Stephanie got divorced

Wait, what?!

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

4 hours ago, Supremo said:

Triple H and Stephanie got divorced

 

[air_raid]

I actually watched the whole show this morning, and I can’t remember the last time I did that with any WWE broadcast. It was a good mix of matches and storyline progression.

The contract signing was very well executed, with one obvious flaw which I’ll get to. What I liked especially was how the babyfaces dressed - Styles and Knight looked dressed as they would upon arrival at the arena, Orton wore a T-shirt and shorts as though not match ready, but preparing for his match later which we already knew was announced. It was a jarring difference to TV from other eras where regardless of what’s going the wrestlers were always walking around in their match gear like video game characters rather than as actual human beings that own other clothes and would only dress for a match when they’re having a match. The Styles/Knight exchange was good in terms of explaining the animosity and I liked that Orton, wise old owl, just let them talk and didn’t interject himself, not even when they came to blows, because why should he? Aldis conducted himself well and I can see why he’s getting plaudits, and I liked that when Heyman was left alone with Orton, Randy did his talking with err, talking rather than just give him an RKO as they’d lazily have had him do in the past. At this point and following on from Reigns’ arrival, I could see why they’d make the show about him, if not particularly why his run has had to go so long uninterrupted.

LWO shirts vs LWO skins was decent enough. I’d forgotten Carlito was getting another run, I’d not forgotten Zelina Vega. It felt very much “middle of the feud” which it was but the finish was decent. British Strong Style vs Legolas Hardy and his brunette mate was OK, it’s surreal hearing “Dudley” announced on WWE TV. Tyler hasn’t changed much apart from his odd haircut, though “big strong boy” sounds naff in WWE where he doesn’t look very big. Dunne back to being himself doesn’t faze me as I didn’t see any of “Butch” but it still bothers me how much fast paced flashy kicky offence he does for someone who carries himself like a vicious fighter. Reminds me of shit Indy “do all styles” guys. Women’s tag title match was ok although it made my brain itch that they’re just “Unholy Union” rather than The Unholy Union according to over excited announcer. Bit overkill that they needed to do their tag finish after what amounted to a Canadian Destroyer, and “Kayden Carter & Katana Chance” sounds more like a Brazzers : Hot And Mean episode than a wrestling tag team, but it achieved what it needed to and it was fun hearing Bayley slag off Michael Cole even in his absence.

On 12/20/2023 at 6:51 AM, air_raid said:

Yeah, I could see Damage CTRL murdering them pair given the chance.

This is happening next week then!

Last Testament seems to be a waste of Scarlett to me although Ellering was giving off real “Ben Kingsley in Shutter Island” vibes in that vignette. Also was my first chance to see the bump between Carmelo and Theory - I know it’s a dangerous sport but a springboard Shiranui Kai is surely a flawed concept to begin with?? Jesus wept. The Logan Paul/KO stuff was also good, tying into the past as a reason for a fight as I’ve often thought they don’t do enough. Big fan of how quickly Paul reacted to “Logan Sucks” by raising his belt - he gets it.

Really decent last two matches, the Solo & The Bad Uso interfering in Knight vs Styles made obvious sense and lead into Solo vs Orton well. At the point the three babyfaces foiled the two heels, I wondered given that Reigns hadn’t turned up for the contract signing and wasn’t looking like dirtying his hands in front of the live crowd, if he was actually there at all. His top may have said “Atlanta Acknowledge Me” but it could have been filmed in Spokane or Moline easily. Sure enough he picked his spot and showed his face at the death like a great villain, and the RKO counter to the spear, while obviously not the first time we’ve seen it, was really smooth. The start to finish presentation of the issues surrounding the title made me look forward to the four way and could easily have made me forget that the other title even exists.

Overall the presentation was good - the on screen graphics still look stupid but otherwise I enjoyed it. Great to hear what’s lined up for next week. Fun to hear Irish lad say “it’s all kicking off” and “let’s be having you” but I draw the line at “tekkers.” And Michael Cole wasn’t there but “for the win” still was.

Decent show, much better fare than the last time I watched anything more than one match or promo in isolation.

Edited January 20 by air_raid