The Smackers Thread

[WyattSheepMask]

9 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

*my old man yelling at clouds moment*

I fucking hate this "cook" bollocks. Yes language evolves and that's fine of course, but I can't stand all this "Nah let him cook" palaver. 

Unfortunately I can only give one upvote for this.

Edited March 23 by WyattSheepMask

[Supremo]

Good show.

Fun opener. I don’t know what physical rehab Rey did whilst out injured but he looked in great shape here. Five to ten years younger. Dirty Dom getting involved was a nice twist. Hopefully Santos goes full Christian Cage and becomes Dirty Dom’s new Dad.

You assume this means they’ll do a crazy Lucha multi-man at Wrestlemania. Could make for a great opener. Might finally give Andrade something to do. Remember the crazy chemistry he used to have with Rey? I’d be up for more of that. It’s got to be preferable to the whole lot of nothing Andrade’s done since the Rumble. Crazy that he went from doing fuck all, mumbling nonsense backstage on Rampage and Collision, to doing fuck all, mumbling nonsense backstage on Raw. Tony Khan should Tweet about this blatant plagiarism. I wonder if that was the pitch Matt Hardy gave on Monday. “If you think Andrade is good at mumbling nonsense backstage on his own, wait until you get us together! Wait until you get us in a stairwell! Wait until you get us negotiating contracts! We’ll take mumbling nonsense to a whole other level! We can fill hours of TV time with this shit! Months and months of it!”

Someone found Gallows and Anderson! Probably hiding under a table in catering. You assume whoever found them and booked them in this match also gave them a bollocking about being a complete waste of time, space and money because Anderson in particular was out there running and bumping like his job depended on it! Fucking Kenny Omega pace! I particularly liked when he massively over-committed to a somersault dive, completely overshot his opponents, and essentially gave the guard rail a 450 headbutt. Even Gallows looked shocked at how much Karl was suddenly trying. Fucking hell, mate. Who put 20p in you?

Kevin Owens did another Double Punch! Yes! I laughed out loud. Arguably even funnier than when he did it last time. Pretty Deadly sold it perfectly and I was howling at the way you could hear him gleefully running off like an excited kid, shouting, “Randy I did it! Randy I did it!” Brilliant, brilliant stuff. Pretty Deadly getting on the Wrestlemania card deserves the hijack treatment. Justice needs to be served. They rule. Get these (yes!) boys their flowers.

Fun home invasion angle with LA Knight. Superstar behaviour still shouting his catchphrase as he’s being thrown in a police car, handcuffed. “YUEAAH!” AJ was lucky the police left the scene so quickly though. Dodged a huge bullet. If they’d gone into his house they’d have probably found more steroids than they found in Chris Benoit’s gaff. Man looks like he’s going to explode.

Have we ever done a topic about the coldest acts in the hottest time periods? The Final Testament have got to have that sewn up. There is nothing there whatsoever. Ice cold. Nice to see The Street Profits back to wrestling as babyfaces. Montez Ford is the man. The future of this entire company.

I only realised watching this show that Raw and Smackdown were handling the ladder match qualifiers differently, with Raw just doing singular matches whereas Smackdown is holding a much deeper tournament. Never has it been clearer what a different era we’re in. They never would have done that five to ten years ago. Would’ve been scared of confusing their dumb-as-fuck fanbase. Nice to see them finally giving their audience a bit of credit. Treating their audience like seven year olds rather than four year olds.

The one positive about the main event segment was it at least ended with Cody looking smart. For a split second I thought the final nail in the coffin was going to be him looking like a moron for walking into a trap, coming alone. Again, five to ten years ago that’s exactly what a top babyface would have done, like an idiot. Glad we didn’t get that here. For what it’s worth, confidently sneaking in wearing that hoodie and shades was also the coolest Seth Rollins has looked in about a decade. Shame it won’t last. Least cool man alive. Nice little stand off at the end though. There’s a quality Backlash six-man tag to be made with this lot.

Other than that though, I thought the final segment massively underdelivered. Weird, understated promo that never got out of first gear. With a week off from The Rock, I was hoping for a wild, electric segment that elevated Roman and Cody, refocusing their rivalry and getting the magic back. It didn’t really happen. Cody in particular was lifeless out there. That female fan slagging off Roman had more babyface fire than the Wrestlemania Main Event Title Challenger!  Bonus negative points for how badly the Bullet Club reference died too. Give this stuff up already! Hopefully just an off night. Worst case scenario is that Cody’s been told he’s losing again, so his heart isn’t in it. Might have to get the rubber chicken out of storage.

But yeah. I’m sure when Kevin Owens retires he’ll list being in the main event of Wrestlemania with Stone Cold Steve Austin as his top moment. Second to that has got to be the Double Punches. So, so great. Long may they continue. This is art.

Edited March 23 by Supremo

[FUM]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

You assume this means they’ll do a crazy Lucha multi-man at Wrestlemania.

Surely more likely that Dom has been growing his hair for a good reason and Wrestlemania will see a mask v hair match?

[The King of Old School]

Get The Rock back ASAP.

That last segment was boring as fuck.

[d-d-d-dAz]

30 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Get The Rock back ASAP.

That last segment was boring as fuck.

Like moving the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, then wanting to put it back because the T-Rex's all look a bit dead.

Edited March 24 by d-d-d-dAz

[RedRooster]

11 hours ago, Supremo said:

Other than that though, I thought the final segment massively underdelivered. Weird, understated promo that never got out of first gear. With a week off from The Rock, I was hoping for a wild, electric segment that elevated Roman and Cody, refocusing their rivalry and getting the magic back. It didn’t really happen. Cody in particular was lifeless out there. That female fan slagging off Roman had more babyface fire than the Wrestlemania Main Event Title Challenger! 

I didn’t m think it was bad, but I can’t disagree with your assessment. It didn’t feel like anything that hadn’t already been done by them both, and I can’t help but feel the best of the build-up has been for the night one main event. It’ll still be one hell of a moment when Cody beats Roman, but the build-up to that portion of the event has been underwhelming so far. 

In spite of that it does feel like Wrestlemania season, and the overall build-up has been excellent from my perspective. They’ve done a great job of building up compelling characters who are in matches I want to see - Zayn and Gunther and McIntyre challenging for a title, Rhea/Becky (which absolutely should main event night one). They’ve even won me over for Knight/Styles. 

As far as my tastes go, this is the best run of wrestling and booking I’ve seen since becoming a fan. WWE has been remarkably consistent ever since they stopped booking to satisfy the tastes of an aging predator. 

[air_raid]

22 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Rhea/Becky (which absolutely should main event night one)

Careful. Some people didn’t want to accept Cody on top instead of The Rock, they’ll never entertain the idea the women could eclipse him.

[Chili]

Cody can wait another year. Her time is now!

 

[The Gaffer]

I'm probably overthinking it, but viewing that clip from its original angle doesn't she sound extraordinarily close to the camera from ten feet away? They've certainly put a plant in for less, and it makes total sense to do since viral clips are where it's at. 

Back and to the left etc. 

[Chili]

8 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

I'm probably overthinking it, but viewing that clip from its original angle doesn't she sound extraordinarily close to the camera from ten feet away? They've certainly put a plant in for less, and it makes total sense to do since viral clips are where it's at. 

Back and to the left etc. 

I think the mic or a mic has just picked her up to be honest, but I do spot a puff of blue hair behind the knoll. 

[SuperBacon]

30 minutes ago, Chili said:

Cody can wait another year. Her time is now!

 

Posted on the previous page by Supremo FYI.

[Supremo]

Acknowledge her.

[Devon Malcolm]

Can't even escape that Drainmaker prick on here.

[Hannibal Scorch]

The worst thing about Roman/Cody’s trap, isn’t they both lied to each other, it’s that they came through the crowd and rather than get into the ring, they just walked around it so they could look silly standing with Roman to stare at Cody. I didn’t get that at all.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Just now, Hannibal Scorch said:

The worst thing about Roman/Cody’s trap, isn’t they both lied to each other, it’s that they came through the crowd and rather than get into the ring, they just walked around it so they could look silly standing with Roman to stare at Cody. I didn’t get that at all.

That's an odd way to look at it. How about you say that every other babyface since the dawn of time has been a gullible idiot because they believed what the heel said and that Cody knew Roman was untrustworthy so brought the backup that he knew he'd need. Cody looks smart, Roman looks out maneuvered and we roll on to Mania. It's showing Roman that someone might finally be on his level. To just think "Well they are both liars" is an odd take to me.