Negativity Thread.

[BomberPat]

yeah, Yuri (and later his brother Dmitri) debuted in the 2010s, so it wasn't exactly on-the-nose political satire there either. Yuri wanted to rip off Rusev and Lana's bit they used to do of referencing Putin all the time, and I had to explain to him that he should have no idea who Putin even is, because he's very specifically a 1980s Russian baddy.

It came about because we had a guy who wanted to do a gimmick of a 1970s wrestler who had been frozen and revived in the present day; we did a fair bit of work to lay the foundations for it, having his name listed in other wrestler's bios in the programme as one of their favourites growing up, that kind of thing. Yuri was supposed to be brought in as a villain from his past. But he worked two matches under that gimmick, and shat the bed in both of them - in one of them he just burned through every "old" spot he could think of with no rhyme or reason, so doing World of Sport stuff like the Lady Of The Lake right after the Hogan comeback and Leg Drop, and in the other he was coming off the top rope and just not working the gimmick at all, so we sacked it off because he clearly didn't get it. So we were just left with time-displaced Soviet heels for about ten years, with no explanation, and it never mattered.

[air_raid]

I rewatched some of the Women’s Rumble this morning having only had chance to “+10” through it on Sunday, and there are glaring problems with how Michael Cole does commentary for the Rumble. I don’t know if it’s how he’s being produced or just old habits, but it makes it a difficult match to fully enjoy ;

Open entries, Cole insists on telling us how often a participant has entered. I’m sorry, but who cares? Unless it’s (trigger warning) Natalya * carrying on the record of most Rumbles entered (i.e. all of them) it’s really only worth telling us if they’ve won it before or if there’s been a significant gap since the last one, otherwise the soundtrack to each entry sounds the same - tone, cadence and most of the words. It’s boring as fuck. On top of that, there’s frequently statwanking about how well wrestlers have done from certain numbers. Again, unless you want to surprise me by reminiscing about Macho King failing to enter as scheduled from #18 in 1991, I don’t give a fuck. And can we ditch “X has some backup” please? I’d forgotten how annoying it was in previous years. I’ve only got to Trish and I’ve already heard it 3 times.

Also, on the topic of statfuckery, during the match they need to can talking so much about how many wrestlers have won from the low numbers or lasted 45 minutes plus. I know it’s not 1991 any more and we can’t pretend that nobody can win from the first five numbers, or that The Model or Bob Backlund might last 50-60 minutes but they’ll be a virtual corpse by the end and not win, but if you tell me 6 people in the ring have done huge stretches in Rumbles past, it doesn’t impress when 30 minutes from now you tell me #1 is still in there. They have still got a “it’s about the numbers” video variant going on, so leave the waffle there. One record holder for duration, eliminations in a single Rumble and eliminations overall, that will do, thanks. Don’t tell me half the field are iron men/women.

* It did make me laugh at one point when the ring was filling up of midcarders and NXT types, I thought “I wonder who of these will ever be judged worthy to carry one of the world titles.” Then Nattie came down and I realised how much things have changed since her peak when EVERYONE got their turn, even her.

[AshC]

7 hours ago, BomberPat said:

we did a fair bit of work to lay the foundations for it, having his name listed in other wrestler's bios in the programme as one of their favourites growing up, that kind of thing.

Lovely stuff, that. 

[NeverYield]

Tony Khan's booking and really anything to do with AEW right now.

Had a look over on the YouTube, and it's fair to say you can't get to grips with everything from recent YouTube uploads, but its really on a slippery slope to nowhere over there isn't it.

AEW got off on a real good foot for me and then rapidly the wheels fell off and it doesn't look like anyone wants to put them back on yet.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

A Rumble related annoyance. People throwing an opponent over the top and then immediately turning away and not noticing that they’re hanging onto the ropes. Pay attention! Make sure they’re out. If they’re hanging, boot them in the face. And the new trope of the final two (usually in the women’s match) fighting on the apron until one falls out. Has anyone won a Rumble by gorilla pressing someone over the top? 

Certain wrestlers using the same theme song they’ve had for years. The Miz, Randy Orton, Natalya. Yes, we know you came to play, Miz. We know you hear voices, Randall. Give us a new song*. I just looked it up and the Miz one has been in use since 2010 and Randy’s since 2008. 

*Just not a Def Rebel one.

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Certain wrestlers using the same theme song they’ve had for years. The Miz, Randy Orton, Natalya. Yes, we know you came to play, Miz. We know you hear voices, Randall. Give us a new song*. I just looked it up and the Miz one has been in use since 2010 and Randy’s since 2008.

I'll be honest, I disagree with this unless they've changed gimmick and the old theme doesn't fit anymore. I used to love Sasha Banks' theme, then she changed it. It was jarring the first time I heard this. Because the new version wasn't any good.

Probably just my problem, that one.

[Carbomb]

Yeh, I prefer it if wrestlers end up with a signature theme that tells people who it is. But, in fairness, I think it's forgivable to change if it's a wrestler who's never been particularly over or main-event, mainly because nobody cares anyway. I'd imagine it'd be the most interesting thing to happen to Natalya in an age anyway.

[tiger_rick]

This is a retrospective negative because I think it's fixed but I started watching the Vault channel's compilation of the Shield from 2012 and the camera work and direction on every one of their beatdowns has absolutely ruined them for all of time. The camera is shaking, jumping, swinging, zooming in and out. It's absolutely sickening. The group are awesome. It's so annoying that this is the shit that's left of them.

[Arthur B. Funky]

TL;DR: over-saturation of PPVs/PLEs.

Too.
Many.
WWE PPVs.

Storylines are developing on all 'E' brands too quickly, so the weeklies are a pain in the arse.  No time is given to really develop classic feuds & angles anymore.  The old schedule, aka the Big 4, would be better plus two others (King/Queen of the Ring & 2 others).

Run Crown Jewel, per the Riyadh deal, if needs must though as it's a bought-in show it should be treated as such; run it on regular TV like Tuesday Night Titans for example.

If the world was sensible, the WWE would run:

- mid-to-end of January:  Royal Rumble
- end of March/early April:  WrestleMania
- end of May/early June:  King & Queen of the Ring (inc. Hell in a Cell)
- end of August:  SummerSlam (inc. Money in the Bank)
- early-October:  A.N. Other PLE (foreign)
- late-November (Thanksgiving):  Survivor Series (inc. Elimination Chamber)
- between Christmas & New Year:  A.N. Other PLE (US/Canada)

Any stipulation matches (TLC, etc.) should be special attractions for WrestleMania, & not even every year.
 

Edited February 5, 2025 by Arthur B. Funky
Balls-up with BBCode.

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, Carbomb said:

I'd imagine it'd be the most interesting thing to happen to Natalya in an age anyway.

And to think, she’s spent more time as a regular on TV for them than Bret did.

[boshealecta]

The women’s rumble not lowering the ropes. It’s so strange when someone is about to get eliminated as they jump up onto the first rope to make sure they are high enough to go over the top. Surely with all the tech they could have ropes that are moveable inbetween matches 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Shows like this, hosted by people like this. Just 90% dogshit opinions and takes 

 

[Carbomb]

I just don't get why it's got to be a zero-sum game between technically classic matches and pure character-driven stuff in the absence of a combination of the two. I know that the wankraters take a certain position, but the opposite of that isn't hating what they like; it's inclusively liking all the good stuff wrestling has to offer in all its forms, instead of being exclusionist. Why hate the wrestling on a wrestling show? That's like hating a band and its music just because some of their fans are snobbish dicks.

[simonworden]

6 hours ago, Arthur B. Funky said:

TL;DR: over-saturation of PPVs/PLEs.

Too.
Many.
WWE PPVs.

Storylines are developing on all 'E' brands too quickly, so the weeklies are a pain in the arse.  No time is given to really develop classic feuds & angles anymore.  The old schedule, aka the Big 4, would be better plus two others (King/Queen of the Ring & 2 others).

 

I actually disagree with this one. I've always preferred around 10 to 12 PPVs a year. The days where we had 16+ got a little intense with 2 to 3 week gaps even if it was different brands. 

But with my attitude era conditioning I find it really hard when there's more than a 6 week gap to a PPV. For some reason TV promotions seem to often have things fizzle out in their stories too and don't know how to keep different plates spinning at different times to blow off the matches in more of a steady stream on TV anymore. 

Something like SNME works as an alternate to PLE/PPV but there does need to be a special event for big title and blow off bouts. 

37 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

I just don't get why it's got to be a zero-sum game between technically classic matches and pure character-driven stuff in the absence of a combination of the two. I know that the wankraters take a certain position, but the opposite of that isn't hating what they like; it's inclusively liking all the good stuff wrestling has to offer in all its forms, instead of being exclusionist. Why hate the wrestling on a wrestling show? That's like hating a band and its music just because some of their fans are snobbish dicks.

There shouldn't be, a wrestling show works best when it's an absolute buffet of matches and characters. When WCW was most successful it was because they had the story driving muscle men in the main events but underneath a mix of flyers, technical wrestlers and other story driven antics going on. Same to some varying extent with ECW and other promotions. 

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

@Carbomb