d-d-d-dAz Posted April 18 Posted April 18 (edited) 16 minutes ago, The King of Old School said: That last segment with Cody and Punk. Good grief. What a pair of losers. They are. But not just for what they've said in that segment, but for how between them they've not found one way of resisting this nonsense, or a decent idea that might make sense of it. Or, if you accept that in 2026 even the biggest stars don't have that sort of power; losers because that's what Uncle H and TKO repeatedly tell us that's what they are, and make them behave like they are. Both main events have, again, completely collapsed under the weight of whatever power struggle is going on behind the scenes. It's exhausting. I don't think you can simultaneously be a product that serves the existing fans of a very niche, specialised, nerdy product on one hand, whilst on the other chasing the 'sports adjacent' casual fan so aggressively. I think they're two very different masters, and one group doesn't like any of the same things that the other group likes. I actually think its a big and growing problem for them, and they have to decide what they are; are they a wrestling company with a mission to grow the wrestling fanbase and monetise wrestling fans with wrestling (and is there enough potential scale and money in that to satisfy their ambition) , or are they a company that just caters to casual, male sports adjacent people - almost operating as a late night entertainment show where you have your regular 'cast', and then a rotating crew of celebrity guests and a highly transient, casual audience (and will that audience pay to go to things and wear shirts). Probably an issue we should have seen coming too. They've gone from a private business owned by a mad wrestling family (where success can be measured in 'did we make money?'), to a public company ran by entertainment execs who need to deliver constant aggressive growth to appease shareholders. Maybe they've decided there just isn't enough wrestling fans or potential fans to get them where they want to be. Either way, I doubt they'll replace us with enough new fans quick enough; and this period of transition is fucking shit whilst we wait for them to work it out. Edited April 18 by d-d-d-dAz Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 That Smackdown was the equivalent of throwing in the towel, they clearly know they arsed up the build and there was no turning it around, so they flung a show out there simply to fill the gap. Danhausen is close to jumping the shark for me. He’s firmly moved into the territory of ‘WWE comedy’, and that’s not something anyone should aspire for. The Sami Zayn/Gingerbread Man stuff was also woeful. A few weeks ago so I was genuinely excited for Wrestlemania - the card was interesting and the build at that point was good. The fact they managed to nosedive this sharply when the skies were looking bright is pretty remarkable. Quote
The King of Old School Posted April 18 Posted April 18 The R-Truth/Damien Priest interactions are really shite too. Quote
Merzbow Posted April 18 Posted April 18 I'm only watching the Cody/Punk segment and that might be the deadest crowd I've ever heard, a bunch of rich fans that don't really give a fuck in a town that's dying (there's a lot of analysis on Vegas being purposefully killed off recently, but that's for another thread) sitting down and watching a couple of storylines that are already long dead. Punk actually looked good in the suit and trainers though. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 The final segment before Wrestlemania with your two World Champions. Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted April 18 Posted April 18 Couldn't be more obvious they're losing. Absolute whoppers. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 1 hour ago, The King of Old School said: The R-Truth/Damien Priest interactions are really shite too. 90% of R-Truth's stuff is terrible, it baffles me so many people think he's some kind of comedic genius. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: 90% of R-Truth's stuff is terrible, it baffles me so many people think he's some kind of comedic genius. He has his moments (perhaps accounted for by that 10%…). There’s definitely a reality in which he’s a bigger deal though, he’s pretty good at cutting a serious promo and coming across as menacing. If he was a bit younger, I could see him having a Dean Ambrose to Jon Mosley transformation if he jumped to another company. Although he’s had a very successful career playing the character he plays, I think the company has really underrated his potential. Edited April 18 by RedTwoster Quote
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 2 hours ago, RedTwoster said: The Sami Zayn/Gingerbread Man stuff was also woeful. Apart from the spinning around of the gingerbread man's head so he was laying on his back but also face down. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 10 minutes ago, RedTwoster said: He has his moments (perhaps accounted for by that 10%…). There’s definitely a reality in which he’s a bigger deal though, he’s pretty good at cutting a serious promo and coming across as menacing. Never saw any of his Ron Killings stuff in TNA, I will do though. Im out of the loop but did they ever explain why he was Ron Killings briefly when he returned to the WWE recently? Or did they just switch back to comedy with no explanation. Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted April 18 Posted April 18 Remember when they brought back his Ron Killings name and then did absolutely nothing with him? Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 9 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: Never saw any of his Ron Killings stuff in TNA, I will do though. Im out of the loop but did they ever explain why he was Ron Killings briefly when he returned to the WWE recently? Or did they just switch back to comedy with no explanation. His original heel turn in WWE was decent, you could see that there was something there - but McMahon found him amusing, and he quickly reverted to a comedy character. As for the Ron Killings stuff, I think they might have had him deliver a throwaway line saying something like ‘the real John Cena is back, so R-Truth can come back too’ and that was that. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 Saw an interview with Nick Khan where he was saying they aren’t worried about ticket sales, actually, claiming they were only down a couple of percent. Seems pretty fucking stupid to flush away your two Mania Main event builds to make it all about ticket sales, if you’re not actually bothered. I’d love to see the WhatsApp chats between Hunter, Punk and Cody. When even onscreen you’ve got your two World Champions essentially saying, “game’s gone,” I can only imagine what they’re saying in private. Roman’s the smart one. Fuck the whole thing off. Show up six times a year. Spend the rest of the time auditioning to transition into Hollywood. Did they do a live re-make of The Lion King? I reckon he’d be a shoe-in for, “Scar,” with those new gnashers. Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted April 18 Posted April 18 I can't see Roman going Hollywood. He's a pretty shite actor. Not that it stopped Cena or Batista when they first started out but he's not really been in much. Apart from Hobbs and Shaw and zootopia 2 Quote
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