WWE Clash in Paris 2025 Discussion

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Hugely entertaining show, Reed/Roman, the Donnybrook and Cena/Paul were the stand outs

I think the Seth/Becky pair up will work better this time because 1) the old bastard isn’t booking it, 2) Becky’s worked well since her turn, 3) it might dim down the fans singing Rollins theme (scrap that it still won’t, the crowds are dumb as shit)

[d-d-d-dAz]

7 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

I think the Seth/Becky pair up will work better this time because 1) the old bastard isn’t booking it, 

I'm not sure this is the guarantor of quality it might have seemed a few years ago.

I didn't watch, as I'm still sulking about Lesnar, but the Instagram reel of Becky's interference alone was enough to make me to sigh so much it sounded like I was deflating.

I have no idea how Seth and Punk are still feuding. There can't be anyone left on earth still excited by this stuff.

[RedTwoster]

I remember last year @LaGoosh watching WWE to see what many of us - myself included - were raving about. I remember telling him what he should catch up on, and what he was missing out on by not watching WWE. 2024 was a great year for the company, and that makes how I feel about it now all the more surprising.

I thought this PPV was a slog to watch live. The pace was terrible - long gaps in between matches, and angles that seemed to go on forever. Most matches felt like they went on too long, even the good ones. WWE has either forgotten or stopped caring about what the experience is like to watch these things as a fan.

I actually gave up during the main event. I had the show on in the background for most of the night, but when I started to pay full attention to it, I wasn’t having fun. I didn’t think Rollins would lose the belt, but even if he did, I didn’t care if he lost it to any of the wrestlers in that match. And I wasn’t enjoying the match itself. I want to like what they’re doing, I want to feel positively about the company again. I just don’t. I found the bulk of that show tedious. 

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

I remember last year @LaGoosh watching WWE to see what many of us - myself included - were raving about. I remember telling him what he should catch up on, and what he was missing out on by not watching WWE. 2024 was a great year

I still maintain you were all suffering from some kind of temporary group psychosis. Those shows were terrible!

[TheScarlettChad]

27 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I still maintain you were all suffering from some kind of temporary group psychosis. Those shows were terrible!

The boom period did exist but it didn't last year. It was done by early 2024. Late 2022-2023 was a really solid time. 

[DavidB6937]

It was alright. I'm pretty happy just mostly dipping in to the PLEs. Didn't have particularly high expectations so it was fine for what it was. I managed to eat, wash up and sort some other stuff out during the show too.

Roman/Bronson was pretty decent but by the time all that stuff had finished we'd gone past 50 minutes just on them alone. Definitely could've been trimmed and tightened up. The live crowd were decent for all of it but yeah if you're watching live at home it's a bit much. Even if I was there I could've gone for a wee and come back and it still would've been going.

Street Profits/Wyatts was there. No one really cares. Profits matches only exist as a reminder that Montez is probably up there with the biggest wasted opportunities they've had.

I can't allow myself to drown in the shite of whatever happened to Cena up until this point so I'm trying to just enjoy what's happening now. Crowd were great for him and as someone who enjoyed his US title stuff this felt like a fun callback to those matches. I spent the whole damn match thinking about that stupid Best Wrestler topic though. Fucks sake.

Nikki Bella completely missed a jump kick. That was the highlight of her match with Becky and the only thing I remember.

Rusev/Sheamus was a lot of fun but you can't help but wonder how much better it'd be if anyone gave a shit about Rusev.

4 way was fine but they've definitely had better ones. It's usually a guarantee for a decent match but this one fell short of what it could've been.

Overall the crowd were good and I didn't feel like they distracted too much from anything. I do feel like they're a better crowd in terms of actually enjoying themselves and not being too ridiculous with their chants. The enthusiasm is good and they bring a decent energy but still allow the show to flow pretty well.

[RedTwoster]

10 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

The boom period did exist but it didn't last year. It was done by early 2024. Late 2022-2023 was a really solid time. 

Nah, last year was still good - Wrestlemania was their Avengers Endgame for sure, in that they got a bit lost after the over-arching plot of The Bloodline wrapped up, but there was still a lot of good stuff.

Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan were two of the best heels in wrestling, Solo Sikoa building up his own Bloodline resulting in the original Bloodline was great, you had the emergence of Jacob Fatu, their women’s division was very strong indeed (largely thanks to Liv Morgan) and McIntyre/Punk - which went on a bit longer than it maybe should have - was excellent for the most part. Then you had Damien Priest’s run with the World title - arguably the best run of anyone with that belt, although the competition is admittedly low. Things only really started to dip at the turn of the year.

[theringmaster]

36 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

 

Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan were two of the best heels in wrestling

The Dom/Rhea/Liv storyline is one of my favourite things in wrestling post covid, it was so much fun. Their Summerslam match was low key one of the biggest matches of last year, it had a fun build and genuinely had a 'big match feel' on the night with one of the most memorable finishes of the year. 

[FUM]

57 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Nikki Bella completely missed a jump kick. That was the highlight of her match with Becky and the only thing I remember.

Nikki seems to be taking some online stick generally about the match when I thought Becky was terrible. The missed kick she stumbles too far away, that’s on her. The head banging into the table spot she was a nonsense, just slapping her hands and head was going nowhere near it.

[DavidB6937]

8 minutes ago, FUM said:

Nikki seems to be taking some online stick generally about the match when I thought Becky was terrible. The missed kick she stumbles too far away, that’s on her. The head banging into the table spot she was a nonsense, just slapping her hands and head was going nowhere near it.

Ah yes, forgot that - that was horrific. There's quite a few people on the roster who make those head banging table spots look absolutely terrible.

[Callum1993]

It does feel as if it’s taken a massive down turn over the last 18 months or so. Hunter seems reliant on booking tropes that he can’t get out of:

Every show needs a heel faction at the top of the card whether it’s The Bloodline, MFT, Judgement Day and now The Vision. The weekly shows seem to end with a heel beat down on a group of Faces most weeks. The PPV’s end with a heel run in(normally in a hoody or a mask) to cost the face. 
 

Despite having a massive roster the majority of PLE’s only have 5/6 matches. AEW have far too many whereas WWE doesn’t have enough. Far too much focus on outside things whether it’s the documentaries, the various sponsorships etc. The sweet spot to me is 8 matches. 
 

The desire to create ‘Moments’ instead of well written stories whether it’s Cena’s heel turn, The Rock’s return that led nowhere, Lesnar’s return etc. All about that social media buzz with poor or no follow up. 
 

WWE is now an entertainment company that does wrestling. I know it’s been that way for years and that was Vince’s goal but it feels truer than ever now with Netflix, Matches being sponsored, Sponsors on the mat/tables, Showing celebrities in the crowd on every show etc. 

[LEGIT]

8 minutes ago, FUM said:

Nikki seems to be taking some online stick generally about the match when I thought Becky was terrible. The missed kick she stumbles too far away, that’s on her. The head banging into the table spot she was a nonsense, just slapping her hands and head was going nowhere near it.

I agree with this. Never liked the Bella's and the match was poor, but Becky deserves her share of the blame. Especially as one would expect more from her. The head banging into the table spot was about as realistic and serious as Basil Fawlty banging Manuel's head into the builders wall in Fawlty Towers.

[RedTwoster]

16 minutes ago, Callum1993 said:

WWE is now an entertainment company that does wrestling. I know it’s been that way for years and that was Vince’s goal but it feels truer than ever now with Netflix, Matches being sponsored, Sponsors on the mat/tables, Showing celebrities in the crowd on every show etc.

I don’t mean to pick on you, but what does that even mean? Wrestling is a form of entertainment. Do you mean that it’s increasingly commercialised, and booked towards sponsors? Because that’s totally different than being ‘an entertainment company’. 

 

18 minutes ago, Callum1993 said:

Every show needs a heel faction at the top of the card whether it’s The Bloodline, MFT, Judgement Day and now The Vision. The weekly shows seem to end with a heel beat down on a group of Faces most weeks. The PPV’s end with a heel run in(normally in a hoody or a mask) to cost the face. 

You could apply this to AEW too - the Death Riders, The Pinnacle, The Inner Circle, The JAS, The Elite etc - I don’t think it matters so much providing the chemistry is there and the faction in question is actually adding something to the show rather than taking away from it. 

[Callum1993]

1 minute ago, RedTwoster said:

I don’t mean to pick on you, but what does that even mean? Wrestling is a form of entertainment. Do you mean that it’s increasingly commercialised, and booked towards sponsors? Because that’s totally different than being ‘an entertainment company’. 

 

You could apply this to AEW too - the Death Riders, The Pinnacle, The Inner Circle, The JAS, The Elite etc - I don’t think it matters so much providing the chemistry is there and the faction in question is actually adding something to the show rather than taking away from it. 

Yes in that wrestling isn’t the main priority anymore. It’s all about being mainstream, bringing in celebrities and making ‘moments’. The actual in-ring part has never been less important to them. 

[Supremo]

Highlight of the show was definitely John Cena turning it up a gear and returning to his US Title Open Challenge form. Man is still mostly washed, but at least he’s going out having fun, daft matches, filled with funny spots stolen from PWG DVDs. It obviously helped being carried by the Best Wrestler in the World, too.

Edited September 1, 2025 by Supremo