2020-2021 WWE Highs/Lows

[Chili]

I thought from the bits that I saw that Drew really did work hard and looked great. I'd never seen Bianca Belair and she's brilliant too. MVP, Lashley, The New Day and some of the NXT lot I like. Obvs Tribal Chief Roman, what a solid boss. 

Lows. Loads really, Rey losing his fucking eye, zombies becoming canon, Eva Marie who is genuinely bad and liked in a semi-meta ironic way being back. Babyfaces with no spine. 

Also definitely Alexa Bliss and whoever gave her the creepy nonce bait thing she's currently doing. 

[Perry]

Makes me laugh when they bang on about being family friendly, but yet they yank some fuckers eye out and set some twat on fire.  Although to be fair on both occasions it still came across like a joke on TV.

[Matthew]

11 minutes ago, Perry said:

Although to be fair on both occasions it still came across like a joke on TV.

The sad thing is, that I don’t think this was intentional

[theringmaster]

Bayley was a high point for me, she embraced the odd situation fully and used it to her advantage. I can't even remember her as a face anymore.

Reigns actually being booked like a badass.

NXT has generally managed to be 'service as normal', especially in 2021.

The Hurt Business , particularly MVP who stepped up when needed to have the run of his career, when in theory he is supposed to be retired.

 

Low points, well so many to pick from.

When they had the nxt trainees as the crowd was particularly bad, the banging on the plastic to create atmosphere, the awkward 'This is awesome' chants etc.

The Gronk, my god was there ever an more annoying person? And he was a face???

Just how every raw/sd/ppv felt the same because the same arena (aew had similar issues), completely sucked the soul out the show every time.

 

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Shy Dad said:

Wyatt and Strowman was officially the point where I wanted it to end, but things like Stadium Stampede, Boneyard, Money In the Bank, to a degree you could put the Best Friends vs Santana and Ortiz street fight in there too were all great.

Said before but Stadium Stampede isn't a cinematic match. It's a pre-recorded match with one cinematic element. And that part is absolutely shite. The Street Fight is nowhere near this argument.

I've not seen MITB but we can add that to the utter shit pile for the last year for someone getting thrown off the roof of a building.

Boneyard match is what it is. Some love it. I think it's meh. That Cena/Wyatt match Cleetus mentioned helps the Boneyard by showing how much shitter it could have been.

Away from cinematic matches, I haven't watched much of anything so can't comment too much but I think breaking up the Hurt Business when they seemed the highlight of Raw was insane and Big E's big push never materialising was disappointing. I could stomach that if they wanted to do it with fans but it just seems they don't want to do it.

Highlight from a WWE POV was Mania. That's probably cheating though.

[WyattSheepMask]

Highs: Roman Reigns becoming the star we all knew he was and Drew giving it his best despite being made to look like a right plonker at times

Lows: Too many to mention, but whoever decided to market this this way, especially after they had a fucking snoozer at Wrestlemania 

[DavidB6937]

High points:

Roman - and by proxy Heyman (although he's been fantastic by himself on Talking Smack etc) and Main Event Jimmy Uso.

Sasha and Bayley were the ones who really made the no-crowd stuff work. Shame to see Bayley injured as I really need that match vs Michael Cole.

Pat McAfee - awesome performances in NXT and then an unexpected joy on commentary on SmackDown.

Bad Bunny - have to give him props for his efforts at 'Mania.

The Hurt Business - really looked like bad asses stepping up to Retribution. Low point would be breaking them up really.

Low points.. I don't have all night.

Basically the same as we all moan about:

Terrible camera editing

Fake noises worse than ever

3 hour RAWs where nothing happens at all

Too many rematches all over the place

Incredibly inconsistent booking - obviously not just a pandemic era thing

[Joe Blog]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

Jimmy Uso

Was it not Jay who was wrestling Roman etc and having crackers? 

[DavidB6937]

42 minutes ago, Joe Blog said:

Was it not Jay who was wrestling Roman etc and having crackers? 

Yeah terrible attempt at a joke.

[Joe Blog]

Consider me whooshed. 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Roman Reigns, Roman vs Kevin Owens feud, Daniel Bryan's promos, Bayley, Riddle, Sheamus and Finn Balor having bangers, Pre-Fiend Randy Orton and Cameron Grimes new character all largely managed to transcend the constant shit tide. 

The destruction/deconstruction of Keith Lee, The Hurt Business, Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley, and Drew "Tricky Icky" McIntyre were easily the lows.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Mr Butternut Squash

[theringmaster]

22 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Highs: Roman Reigns becoming the star we all knew he was and Drew giving it his best despite being made to look like a right plonker at times

Lows: Too many to mention, but whoever decided to market this this way, especially after they had a fucking snoozer at Wrestlemania 

The funny thing about this match was I really enjoyed it, I thought it was marketed cleverly and I felt it delivered.

 

then I completely forgot about it.

Probably the best example of what this era was like, even if stuff was good it was instantly forgotten, there p[probably were good matches hidden amongst the dreggs but we have completely forgot them.

[Accident Prone]

Low point:

The 2020 Money In The Bank was a fucking disaster, and made me embarrassed to even waste my bandwidth on the dodgy site I was using to watch it. I've wrote about it extensively on my (soon to be gone) website, and I've whinged about it on Twitter a fair bit, but it's honestly the worst piece of media that WWE has ever constructed and released. I question the tastes of anyone who even remotely enjoyed it, and it'll forever be a stain on WWE's creative legacy.

High point:

The 2020 Stadium Stampede was a fucking triumph, and made me delightfully happy that I didn't chuck wrestling in the bin after MITB. I can't put into words how much I enjoyed this firing shot by AEW at WWE's unmitigated cinematic shitpiece earlier in the month, although I tried to express it on Twitter a fair bit, but it's honestly the best piece of non-traditional in-ring wrestling of the pandemic era (possibly of all time). I align with the tastes of anyone who even remotely enjoyed it, and it'll forever be a sign of AEW's creative integrity.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Highlights for me were seeing a lot of WWE talents getting regular TV time that maybe wouldn't have done pre pandemic because of restrictions and AEW giving TV/Web time to indie talents who, in some cases, went on to sign full deals

The negatives were PPVs and TV having no atmosphere, from early shows like last year's Mania playing out in an empty Performance Centre to every Thunderdome show, something AEW realised was missing and began integrating from the talent sitting ringside to gradually allowing fans into Daily's Place