Night of Champions happened

[Project Nim]

My God, they booked McIntyre to look as convincing as Grandpa Flump. Three people interfere on his behalf and he only just sneaks a win. Yikes. 

[Yakashi]

3 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Leaving aside from the sheer fucking madness of finally turning THE chosen babyface star for the first time in nearly 20 years when there are no crowds, what do we think finally caused them to do it? Is it the ratings sinking so low that they're desperate for any buzz on Fox? Did Roman refusing to work during a pandemic cause Vince to fall out of love with him? What do you reckon?

I think it was reported that Roman himself requested to turn heel before agreeing to come back. He obviously had an idea for what he wanted to do.

[Chasingamymatt]

I thought Roman for the 1st time in god knows how long looked great. But whats the endgame? no way in a billion years does Rock face him, Movie Career,Insurance for incoming projects ect NO WAY so whos the babyface to slay him? Dont get me wrong this is a great Roman but whos the Babyface to overcome? 

[DJM]

3 minutes ago, Chasingamymatt said:

I thought Roman for the 1st time in god knows how long looked great. But whats the endgame? no way in a billion years does Rock face him, Movie Career,Insurance for incoming projects ect NO WAY so whos the babyface to slay him? Dont get me wrong this is a great Roman but whos the Babyface to overcome? 

The general consensus seems to be Big E.

[seph]

9 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

About time Hacksaw got the belt(s). Should have gone over Shawn in 93.

"Hacksaw Sam Zane" is the type of postmodern cool indie name that would go over.

[DavidB6937]

Really been into Smackdown lately so the two most anticipated matches for me were the IC title and Universal title matches. Such great build ups for both in very different ways and I had high hopes.

Both delivered. Obviously the first was a ladder match with three guys more than willing to risk everything. I liked the psychology of Zayn's win and I'm just a big fan of the character. Considering how good a pure babyface the guy is, this heel version is fantastic and by far his best main roster work. Same goes for Bayley obviously.

And then there was the main event. Fuck me. That was better than I'd even hoped for. As soon as Roman came out topless looking like a bad ass motherfucker I knew we'd be in for a treat. It played out how I wanted it to - not just Roman running through Jey but some plucky underdog moments pushing him to breaking point. Did I ever think he'd lose? No, but that wasn't the story here. It wasn't about how he'd lose but about how dark he'd go to get the win.

That was about as perfect as they could've played that end. Best thing this year in WWE by far.

The rest of the show was okay. I didn't mind the Ambulance match. There's always hokey shit going on and no one is really going to think Drew is weak for having some mates get revenge. It was just a bit of fun and Drew has settled well into the champ role. Interested to see where he goes next.

[Hannibal Scorch]

35 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

 

The rest of the show was okay. I didn't mind the Ambulance match. There's always hokey shit going on and no one is really going to think Drew is weak for having some mates get revenge. It was just a bit of fun and Drew has settled well into the champ role. Interested to see where he goes next.

He had 3 legends assist him and barely won the match with all that assistance. His worst match since becoming champ in terms of character development 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Heel Roman is the best thing in donkeys years. Anyone with a brain knew that he's the best main event wrestler in the world. Now, finally, he's been given a chance to work to his strengths and shine like a star. It's bloody great to see it, and it takes him back to the heights of the early Shield days. It's unfortunate the rest of the roster feels nowhere near to what is was back then to match up to him.

Melodramatic guff like Roman/Jey is death in most peoples hands but Roman's massive presence lets him get away with it. When Roman tells Jey he's not in his league, you buy every word of it and you can tell he believes it himself. And if you ever feel like cheering for the cool fucker he'll do something scummy, like the sliest shot in the balls you've ever seen. Brilliant, scary, slimy, prick. Every fucker knew this was in him all along. Of course there's that voice that keeps saying, "if only these idiots did this back when it might've mattered", but I try my best to ignore it.

If Roman is the best Main Event heel in wrestling then Sammy Zayn must be the best mid card one. I can't get enough Sammy and I'm chuffed to see him get the title back, if only because it gives him more TV time. Ladder matches are well overdone but Sammy with the handcuffs, outsmarting everyone was hilarious.

Are they ever gonna get it right? If you're authentic, cool, and have some purpose, chances are you're being booked to get booed. And the guys you're supposed to like? Just dumbed-down and smiley. Even Drew McIntyre is being swallowed up by it. Drew vs Orton was cool at points - I popped at Flair in the ambulance - and I get the story they're telling with run-ins and stuff. But it didn't portray Drew and Orton particularly well. In fact, if crowds never left, I 100% guarantee Drew's getting some boos by now.

Oh well. Poor guy never really got off the ground and now Roman is back, completely overshadowing him

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Roman vs. Jey was obviously brilliant. Loved the storytelling, the beatdown, the constant trash talk from Reigns. But there's one bit that I want to draw attention to. When The Big Dog kept demanding that his cousin call him "the tribal chief", Heyman jumped in to placate him, yelling "you're my tribal chief!" Whenever Paul E would kiss ass like that with Brock, Brock would smirk, hop around and look pleased about it. Roman Reigns was a different story, barking back, "I don't need you to say it! I need him to say it!"

To me, that was an underrated piece of the puzzle that was really effective. Reigns in this heel role with Heyman isn't doing Brock 2.0 at all. Completely different character and dynamic between Reigns and Heyman.

[Chasingamymatt]

12 hours ago, DJM said:

The general consensus seems to be Big E.

A killer Big E would be great. Just hope he ditches his whackyyness

[BomberPat]

That was a pretty great show. When I got home last night, I figured I'd skip through a couple of matches and just watch what jumped out at me, but ended up watching the whole thing and it was only Bayley/Asuka and Orton/McIntyre that I found myself only half-watching.

The ladder match didn't do a lot for me - I can't get into these multi-man ladder matches with no crowd, and it feels like we've had 5 or 6 since Wrestlemania. I don't know how anyone works up the adrenaline to make it worthwhile without a live crowd, and given that we've seen people injured even in matches with re-takes and stunt gimmicks, it just makes me question the point of it all. I'm glad Sami Zayn won, though, and it was good to see some innovative stuff that wasn't just your average spotfest - though much of the match still was.

Asuka vs. Zelina Vega was a great little match that didn't outstay its welcome.

Lashley vs. Apollo Crews was perfectly fine. MVP is a superb manager.

Street Profits vs. Andrade & Angel Garza was a good tag match, but didn't feel like it told the story it was supposed to. Samoa Joe kept talking about Andrade & Garza were showing really good teamwork for a team who hadn't been getting on lately, which really just felt like the wrestlers had decided to fuck off the story and just have a normal tag match. Odd.

Asuka vs. Bayley was blink and you'll miss it, but Sasha's attack on Bayley, and Bayley's heel work, was all pretty good. Not sure why it needed to be Asuka, though - not a fan of double duty for the sake of it. But maybe they're keeping to limited numbers and they genuinely didn't have any other female wrestlers backstage?

McIntyre vs. Orton was a pretty standard Orton match and a standard WWE plunder brawl. I don't think there's ever been a good Ambulance match because the stipulation lacks any real tension - you don't buy into anything happening in the ring because there's no risk of the match ending until they get to the ambulance, and even then you don't get anything as dramatic as a near fall, because of the awkward nature of trying to force the other bloke into the back of an ambulance.
McIntyre getting revenge on Orton is a story worth telling, and the legends giving Orton his comeuppance is a story worth telling, but not both in the same match - and especially not if this feud is going to continue.

Now then. Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns was match of the night, and maybe my favourite WWE match all year. I've not been keeping up with TV, so had heard mixed reviews of the story to date, but that hype package was superb. My favourite WWE stories ever were largely all variants of Hart Family Drama, and to see them finally doing that with the Anoais is dream booking for me. The extended Hart family were one of the reasons that everything around Bret just felt that bit more real than anyone else, and helped add additional layers to so many stories involving any of them, whereas with Reigns and the Usos it was always just picking and choosing when WWE decided their relationship mattered.
Getting promos from Rikishi and Afa is exactly what I wanted from this - when you have a huge extended family of wrestlers, most of them keen to work, and most of them with TV experience and credibility, why would you not involve them in as many stories as possible? Surely this needs to end with The Rock.

The dynamic of the match is great - Reigns and Uso being more or less the same age and grew up together as close as brothers, meaning that they've probably been wrestling each other and play-fighting since they were infants, with Jey still more or less wanting to keep things on that level while Reigns has risen above it and none of the family connection matters any more, and he's just trying to convince himself that it does. Brilliant, simple stuff.
At one point Corey Graves slipped up - maybe intentionally - and called Jey "Jimmy", then used it to illustrate exactly what Jey has fought against his whole life, having to put up with 30-something years of "which twin are you?"; as a twin myself, I just thought that was a fantastic call and added so much to Jey's drive in this match.

The maybe accidental low blow from a kick-out was a fantastic spot, that felt so old school, like it was out of a Briscos/Funk match, or even a cheap finish to a fall in World of Sport. So simple, yet so effective, and gave Reigns the plausible deniability as to whether he really intended to take such a cheap shot against his own family or not.

My only criticism was the amount of talking. There were times you could hear horrendous static because they'd clearly cranked up the ringside mics. On one hand, it's refreshing to see them playing to the strengths of not having a live audience rather than pretending they still have one, but on the other, the match was doing a good job of telling the story without having Roman Reigns spell out every detail to us like we wouldn't get it otherwise. It was real post-"I'm Sorry, I Love You" "tell, don't show" storytelling, rather than trusting the match to do its job. That's a relatively minor gripe in this instance, though, as it was still fantastic.

[Joe Blog]

1 hour ago, Chasingamymatt said:

A killer Big E would be great. Just hope he ditches his whackyyness

This may be the worst post of the year. Have Big E ditch one of the most popular aspects of his character? 

[DavidB6937]

6 minutes ago, Joe Blog said:

This may be the worst post of the year. Have Big E ditch one of the most popular aspects of his character? 

Completely agree. And the guys in New Day seem to agree too. They don't need to ditch what they are at the moment. They just need to add layers to it.

Keep the positivity. Keep the crowd interaction. Keep the dynamic between them. But when it's time to go to work, you damn well know Big E is going to kick some serious arse.

[Hannibal Scorch]

That ladder match was lots of fun, but Jeff should really slow down. He's doing the same spots he did 20 years ago. I still say the 3 men's championship matches were too long. I guess that is what happens when people are pulled because of Covid tests. However, at least with the Roman one it was there to build the new persona. It's the most invested I have been in him since The Shield split. Going in I was just hoping for a quick squash, but he definetly benefited from the match needing to be dragged out and am looking forward to Smackdown to see the fall out with Heyman. 

[Chasingamymatt]

4 hours ago, Joe Blog said:

This may be the worst post of the year. Have Big E ditch one of the most popular aspects of his character? 

sorry I get he likes the goofy but its just not to my taste for a main event player. Personally I cant stand the new day but each to there own