The Ultimate WWE Thread

[Jeet]

I've just watched that TNA Jeff/Matt promo for a second time. It might be the best thing I've ever seen.

Can't stop watching EC3's version. His facial expressions are awesome.

[Browning]

The spoofs with Matt playing different tunes on the piano should be shit, but they usually make me laugh. Guess that's mainly because they remind me how bad the original was though.

[Ian]

You're a monster.

[Browning]

That is, of course, except for the table spot. That looked like it was straight out of one of their matches in 2001.

[Ian]

The slow-mo Side Effect through the non-breakable table was so weird. No more so than the rest of it, but still.

[Shindig]

Its the "What the hell is wrong with you!?" that gets me.

[7om]

Saw about the last hour of Raw. The highlight being the homoerotic relationship angle between Fandango and Breeze. Genuinely lolled.

The rest was trash. The 50/50 booking of AJ / 'The Club' is particularly offensive.

[Browning]

RAW has reached a point over the last month or so where even reading the recap online bores me. What a shower of shit it is.

Everything Reigns touches turns to shit. AJ isn't much better, probably because he's been tarred with the Reigns brush.

[wullie]

You can tell a tag team means business when their name and music is just an awkward mesh of two singles wrestlers. I expect Golden Truth and Breezeango to be a feud for the ages.

[Ian]

I guess the AJ turn is working well enough if the fans are playing along and chanting for Cena t come out.

The fuck was all that Teddy Long business all about?

Shane to come back and cause an inadvertent racism storm by taking pity on him and making him the official Smackdown butler.

[Browning]

Why wouldn't they chant for the Don to come out? They should be chanting that non-stop.

I haven't seen the Teddy Long thing (or any of it) but I've heard he made absolutely no sense. Maybe I'll look for that just to see how bad it was.

[Gray Fox]

Are we getting super serious Cena, or light hearted, loves to wind the fans up while grinning Cena?

[Jeet]

Seth's clip just made him more of a babyface -nice going WWE...

Did Becky fell over Nattie's head too? Also please end the feud and the Golden Truth - they are 4-0 down. Trying to beat Rusev's record vs Swagger.

[SvN]

I love the remixed theme, though

[7om]

I was thinking about this on the bog the other day and I still prefer Reigns to Cena. Yeah his promos are boring and shit but at least everything else is in place. He looks the part, better than Cena in the ring and doesn't actively hurt feuds with corny promos, pulling stupid faces all while looking like a cartoon character.

As shit as Reigns is, Cena is still one of the very worst things about WWE.

[Ian]

I'm no huge fan of Cena but he's still better in almost every way than Reigns, other than that Reigns has, relatively, not been forced down everyone's gullets yet.

It's amusing that they've handled Reigns so poorly that they have to minimise his screen time. If he was at least great on the mic or in the ring they could still let him do it. As it is they're doing things like going "Hey, the Usos! That's how we'll improve him!"

[Browning]

I think Reigns is a lot worse. Before Cena got the WWE Title he was super over to the point everyone wanted him to win it, and that was before his superman booking. It's not really his fault that once he got the title the writers stopped trying and gave him a terrible character. There was a point during his title run where he was probably worse than Reigns is but before that and after that he at least showed some signs of being interesting. Reigns literally makes me turn off on the rare occasions I watch, even PPVs. He's that awful.

[five time]

When Cena cuts out the goofy stuff and gets a little heated, he's one of the better talkers on the roster, and his matches are always good. Yes he's shit and annoying a lot of the time, but Reigns by comparison is just a bit dull.

[Browning]

Everyone says Reigns Vs AJ was decent but I couldn't bring myself to watch it. When I saw the hype I checked the results... Saw a clusterfuck and decided to still not bother.

[Ian]

There are better, "classic" matches than Reigns/AJ which have far worse, messier endings. Almost anything during the Attitude era when the McMahons decided they were the reason for people watching WWF, for example.


When Cena cuts out the goofy stuff and gets a little heated, he's one of the better talkers on the roster

Yeah his promo with AJ on Raw was pretty solid.

[wullie]

Jim White's got his yellow spandex trunks on, German international Tim Wiese has signed for WWE.

[Disco]

Cena is great, he gets a lot of stick because of the way he was booked for years and how many promising people got buried under Big Match Face Of The Company John but I think anyone would have suffered the same way if they were pushed that hard for that long. Reigns is fine but he's clearly not ready for the role they want him to perform, he's shit at promos and his ring work isn't good enough to make up for it and large parts of the audience aren't stupid, they can see the strategy and plenty would rather see (in their eyes) more deserving people get pushed.

[Lewis]

The last nine months really ought to have convinced everybody how great Don Cena is, and anybody over the age of fifteen ought to remember that Stone Cold had about three clean defeats ever, and that The Rock used to 'bury' people with his shit jokes every week.

[wullie]

For however long it was, he made the US title seem more important than it ever did and it resulted in the best segment every week.

[7om]

For however long it was, he made the US title seem more important than it ever did and it resulted in the best segment every week.

Was that the Cena Effect, or was it because they decided to give a shit about the title when he had it? Nobody else can make it important if the script doesn't allow it.

[Ian]

Both.

It worked better because it was Cena (as it would have with any properly big name) but he was having decent, even matches with whoever came. It wasn't like if a midcarder came out he just lolled them off with the Five Moves of Doom in two minutes. Again, he's been given time to do it but he wasn't just battering them.

[Pleb]

Teddy Long fucking up his lines immensely is the highlight of the opening promo.

[Browning]

I think that must have been deliberate. It literally made no sense.

[Ian]

Watching a Table For 3 with Patterson, Steamboat and Hillbilly Jim. Until I saw a bit just there about his upcoming autobiography I had no idea that Pat Patterson is gay. Missed that altogether.

[Lewis]

There used to be a video on YouTube of him gyrating during some gimmick match, which JR responds to with 'He's single, fellas'.

[Browning]

Bret had to issue an apology about 3 years ago when they did a Bret Hart appreciation night after some RAW and Pat got down to bow to him and Bret said "When Pat gets on his knees I start getting scared." :D

[Shindig]

Watching a Table For 3 with Patterson, Steamboat and Hillbilly Jim. Until I saw a bit just there about his upcoming autobiography I had no idea that Pat Patterson is gay. Missed that altogether.

Figured you'd have picked that up through the whole sexual harassment suits that hit before the steroid scandal.

[wullie]

Mattel have excelled themselves

http://i2.wp.com/news.mattycollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/DWF99_005_600px-198x300.jpg

[Disco]

If it played Davy Smith saying 'He fell on his arse!' in the background it would be perfect.

[Weaver]

I think that must have been deliberate. It literally made no sense.

There's a video on YouTube of him doing the same thing at a Smackdown taping a few years ago, so I think it was a wink wink at that. It went on forever then as well.

Has anyone watched NXT from last night? Good reviews for Aries/Nakamura so I might check that out tonight.

[7om]

A good show but it says a lot about NXT that this was probably the weakest Takeover to date.

American Alpha vs The Revival was terrific and Nakamura - Aries was also great. Jax - Asuka is also definitely worth a watch. The main event was okay, for me. Skipable.

[five time]

Why are people so excited for Balor to debut?

Out of any of the NXT people it seems like he's failed to develop a character/personality aside from dressing up occasionally.

[7om]

He's good in enough in the ring, but yeah, he makes Reigns look like Stone Cold on the mic.

[wullie]

Hopefully they throw him in with The Club so they can stop calling it that, have him be all mean in his leather jacket and spare the facepaint a little.

[Ian]

Figured you'd have picked that up through the whole sexual harassment suits that hit before the steroid scandal.

Was unaware of that until last night as well. Before I got back into it.

[Dan]

Woman pulls gun on indy wrestler because 'he talked mean to me' (http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0609/612499/woman-pulls-gun-on-wrestler-at-indy-show/)

Good to see kayfabe is still alive for some.

[Ian]

59 year old woman goes to Indy wrestling show, pulls a knife and then a gun.

Where the fuck do you even start picking that one apart?

[Browning]

Reading the NXT results and there's a tag team called TM61.

I like Will-o-wisp as much as the next person but not sure i would name my team after it.

[Ian]

I watched the most recent NXT takeover. I quite like the two tag teams, Nakamura is good but weird and I don't find Balor that interesting to watch.

[Disco]

Nakamura is great, a genuinely exciting wrestler, definitely check out his match with Zayn at Takeover Dallas. I'm going to mark out like a little bitch if he turns up in Plymouth next week.

I also enjoyed Asuka vs Jax, the build up has been pretty strong (Bailey did a really good job of getting torn to bits by Jax the other week) and the match itself was rather good.

[Browning]

The results made Asuka vs Jax sound like it lasted all of thirty seconds.

[Disco]

Shame, with the exception of the tag match it was as good as anything else on the card.

[Jeet]

WWE announcer Jerry Lawler was in attendance at the 38th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. According to a fan in attendance who spoke with Lawler, he said that WWE was planning to have two PPV events monthly after the new brand extension starts. The format would be one PPV event for Raw and one for Smackdown.

The exceptions for this change would be for the months with the big four events: WrestleMania, Summerslam, the Royal Rumble and Surrvivor Series. During the previous brand extension, WWE would alternate months for PPV events for Raw and Smackdown, with the big signature events being a combined show. Eventually, all the events would start combining brands.

[Gray Fox]

If that's true everything could get tedious quite fast.

[Disco]

Alternating them worked well but they will absolutely try and sell 2 PPVs a month if they can get away with it.

[Browning]

Do they even sell PPVs anymore? If they do the people buying them must be fucking idiots. $60 (guessing but I bet it's not far off) compared to 9.99 for the network. With 2 PPVs.... yea.... can't see PPV sales working.

That said 1 PPV per brand per month is way better than alternating. Fuck watching the RAW after a RAW PPV where Cesaro comes out to challenge Reigns for the WWE Title and then seeing some randomly thrown together tag match for 8 weeks waiting for the PPV.

[Shindig]

Yes. Some people don't like using PCs or can't stream because of bandwidth.

[Browning]

Plenty of devices can stream the network, I've never used my PC.

Bandwidth/internet connections might be an issue for some, but surely their PPV market is tiny now.

[Shindig]

You underestimate how massive America is and how spotty their internet infrastructure is from state to state.

[Browning]

Seemingly Mania in 2014 did 690,000 buys and 2015 did 259,000 buys. Assuming that's correct it's the lowest Mania buy rate since 1997 and the 3rd lowest ever. The decline between those 2 years (as the network was available for both) is attributed to cable companies dropping WWE due to the network. So I guess it's not quite dead.... but it's on the way out. Mania is drawing 20% of what it once did.

[Ian]

Tajiri is in the cruiserweight classic. :drool:

Didn't know he was still a thing. Hope he busts out the mist.

[wullie]

Regal to help him win it, please.

[Disco]

The Buzzsaw :cool:

[Gray Fox]

I don't know if anyone follows WhatCultures YouTube channel on here. They started with '10 things they don't want you to know about X' videos and went into 'How WWE should/should have book(ed)' videos. They announced a few weeks ago they were starting their own Newcastle based promotion and announced their first show. I expected it to be a bit shit and fade out but they've signed some pretty big guys to show up.

Jay Lethal is defending his ROH title there. Will Ospreay is showing and they've just announced Sandow is going to be there. I'm actually a little impressed.

[Ian]

I've watched all, I think, of the How WWE Should Book/Should Have Booked videos since Disco mentioned the Invasion ones. I feel like I should hate the guy who does them with every fibre of my being but they're quite good.

Raw was a bit yawn last night but I did actually quite like the Ambrose Asylum for once.

[Disco]

I don't know if anyone follows WhatCultures YouTube channel on here. They started with '10 things they don't want you to know about X' videos and went into 'How WWE should/should have book(ed)' videos. They announced a few weeks ago they were starting their own Newcastle based promotion and announced their first show. I expected it to be a bit shit and fade out but they've signed some pretty big guys to show up.

Jay Lethal is defending his ROH title there. Will Ospreay is showing and they've just announced Sandow is going to be there. I'm actually a little impressed.

I've been watching some of their stuff for a while, I'm quite interested to see how their own promotion turns out.

[Disco]

I've watched all, I think, of the How WWE Should Book/Should Have Booked videos since Disco mentioned the Invasion ones. I feel like I should hate the guy who does them with every fibre of my being but they're quite good.

Raw was a bit yawn last night but I did actually quite like the Ambrose Asylum for once.

They're an exercise in frustration (Invasion and End of The Streak especially) because even with the benefit of hindsight there's some stuff in there which would have been awesome.

[Browning]

Have watched a lot of their stuff but never even heard of the "should have booked" stuff. The Invasion one was great, but the streak one was something I said for ages.

[igor_balis]

Chris Warren the DX BAND guy died at 49 :(

We'll always have the memories.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=entOf3-gbbw

[Shindig]

Those that stayed to watch could only boo.

[Disco]

Have watched a lot of their stuff but never even heard of the "should have booked" stuff. The Invasion one was great, but the streak one was something I said for ages.

Should I make a 'Browning for Creative' sign ready for Friday?

[Ian]

I think the only Should Have Booked/Should Book videos I've not watched are ones I already know basically know nothing about. Like Christian's title reign or the Nexus.

[Disco]

Most of which boil down to not letting them get constantly buried by Cena/HHH (or Orton in the case of Christian).

[Browning]

I've watched almost all of them now and they are very good. The only issue is a lot of them probably conflict with each other but never mind, that can't be helped. Not overly convinced by Jake the Snake as the higher power, but guess it couldn't be any worse.

I would like to see him do the invasion without gifting himself Hogan, Hall, Nash and Sting though.

[igor_balis]

Nah fuck that, they could have gotten them if they'd paid enough money. That's what Meltzer reckons anyway - he said that there wasn't a single WCW guy who the WWE couldn't have nabbed. He also reckons the amount more money they'd have made with a proper WCW invasion roster would have easily made it worth it. Meltzer's word isn't gospel though.

[Ian]

The main gripe with the Invasion is clearly that Vince didn't open his wallet widely enough but I did think myself that it was a bit cheap on that front.

It's a tough one but I'm not sure that there's much "fantasy" booking left to be done once you've left the actual draws out because Vince didn't want to pay them.

[Browning]

It wouldn't be anywhere near as compelling as the one he put together, but I'm sure you could still do a better job than what Vince did with the talent he had. He also had plenty of ex-WCW guys on the roster who could have jumped if you needed to do that, rather than Stone Cold (very little to do with WCW, and made no sense whatsoever) and Kurt Angle (nothing to do with WCW).

[Disco]

Spaffing loads of money buying out contracts was only in there because he was set the task of booking it while sticking to the same schedule, his initial idea was simply to wait until the bigger stars were available.

[Ian]

In a hypothetical scenario where they get all the big stars Sting probably becomes the most interesting character involved given he'd actually have conflicts inside the Alliance as well as inside.

[Browning]

Spaffing loads of money buying out contracts was only in there because he was set the task of booking it while sticking to the same schedule, his initial idea was simply to wait until the bigger stars were available.

Yes, but I'm saying he should do it without those guys at all. Like he's been hired as a writer, but he can't just go "Oi, Vince, spend millions on Hogan for me".

But oh well, it was good for what it was, just not very challenging to book a better invasion if you give yourself all the stars they didn't have.

[Shindig]

You don't go after those contracts when you've put money down the drain on the XFL and a Restaurant. The alternative is to wait a year but, by then, the moment's passed. Still, they could've done better with what they had. Bolster the WCW ranks with the ex-WCW guys and take it from there.

[Disco]

I'm going to be super picky and say he's booking not writing.

I take the point though, the solution is a little cheaty. I suppose you could use the same scenarios but with Tank Abbott and DDP instead of Goldberg and Sting but it makes for a less interesting fantasy. At the end of the day I would take any scenario that didn't amount to Vince shitting on people he still saw as his competition even though they worked for him now.

[Shindig]

I thought the higher power one was good, mind. Jake the Snake's mega mindgames.

[Disco]

The only trouble with that is they'd need to think of new motivation for Steph siding with the guy who kidnapped, drugged, and raped her. Wrestling!

[Lewis]

They would have needed a Higher Power to keep Jake the Snake sober enough to carry a major angle, so what sort of idea is that?

[Shindig]

Nah, cos that doesn't happen in the fantasy booking. That's the whole thing that makes the real version so arse over tit.

[Disco]

They would have needed a Higher Power to keep Jake the Snake sober enough to carry a major angle, so what sort of idea is that?

In a world where they booked God in a tag match anything should be possible.

[Shindig]

He only needs to be sober for one promo on TV for the reveal. Heck, you could record that shit on the Titantron.

[Ian]

I really liked his how to book Goldberg thing too. Basically just have him wrestle five or six matches over a number of months and not say much.

[Browning]

Yea the Goldberg one was great. Not sure how WWE wasted him so much. Still it was better than Steiner.

[7om]

Picked up tickets to NXT Brooklyn last week and they revealed Balor - Nakamura last night on the weekly show.

:drool:

[Disco]

I'm going tomorrow and I cannot fucking wait.

[Lewis]

'It's great to be here in Ply-mouth.'

[Disco]

I'm not sure kayfabe will stretch that far.

[Ian]

I'm not sure kayfabe will stretch that far.

:D

[Disco]

Paul Ellerings' new team look like the love-twins of Taz and D-Lo Brown, which is a concept I'm right behind.

[Ian]

I spotted their D'Lo lookalike too. :D

Bet he's now down with the Brown though, useless rookie.

[Gray Fox]

Who do we fancy for MITB then?

I'll not be looking up the odds this time as the bookies got Ryders win at WM bang on, even a week before. It's an interesting one to me as I reckon anyone bar Jericho could win it. I also think Ambrose has been teased too much for it to be him, I also think they'd save The Shield triple threat for WM next year.
I think it'll be Del Rio. He won the only other one he was in, if memory serves and having him win equals CM Punks 2 wins, which is the type of thing Vince loves to do. It also gives them a heel champ for Smackdown to go with the (lol)face on RAW. It's also possibly the least expected of the entrants.
Everyone will expect an Owens win I think.

[Browning]

I've not seen the odds either but I can't see beyond Ambrose. I'm sure he'll win it and they will at least tease (if not actually do) a Shield Triple Threat main event.

[five time]

I expect it will, but have they confirmed smackdown will be getting a world title? One of the rumours I saw a while back had Cena as the 'face' of smackdown and Reigns for raw which actually sounds pretty decent to me.

Wishful thinking maybe but a 2 hour show with something similar to the US title challenges (Cena vs. the vanilla/cuck/beta/indy midgets) could be pretty watchable.

[Ian]

I'd like one world champ, US and IC on different shows and then build those up on PPVs the champion isn't defending at.

As for MITB I think it'll be Owens or Ambrose. Harder to predict with so much change around the corner though so a sound argument could be made for any winner.

I'd love Cesaro to win but I suspect they'll continue to tease on that front.

[7om]

It'll be Del Rio.
Lewis will probably be the only guy on the planet except Vince who thinks it's a good idea, too.

[Disco]

What a colossal waste of time that would be.

[Lewis]

He's the second best wrestler in the world.

[Gray Fox]

Jerry Lawler has been suspended indefinitely after he was arrested over domestic violence matters.

http://www.wwe.com/article/jerry-lawler-suspended-arrested

[Disco]

Taking the heel persona a step too far.

[Shindig]

Turns out google knows what I was going to ask next. 27.

[wullie]

If Operation Yewtree went international Lawler would be fucked.

[Shindig]

The defence calls Doug Gilbert to the stand.

[Disco]

I failed you all chaps, the Tonga Jeff chants just wouldn't get going.

[Ian]

Was the main event good? The results I read the guy was loving it.

[Lewis]

I failed you all chaps, the Tonga Jeff chants just wouldn't get going.

My friend was there (Navy boy), so I was hoping that one of you would get it started and the other would join in.

[Disco]

The whole card was pretty strong.


Blake put over an uncomfortably ripped English guy called Knox in the opener which was actually really good.

Womens tag match with Bayley/Carmella vs Royce/Bliss was nearly the equal best match of the night, Bayley is ridiculously good at what she does and is going to make a stupid amount of money for WWE (and she has curiously nice bottom).

Booby Roode got a huge reaction but it was all about No Way Jose for me. :cool: Give the man a proper finisher though.

Tye Dillinger did a great promo before his match (which was a bit rubbish but nevermind) in which he called Plymouth a 3/10 and the crowd basically just agreed with him :D .This was after Carmella dubbed herself the 'Princess of Plymouth' and I've never seen so many people wince in my life.

Alpha vs Revival was brilliant, just edged the womens tag for best match of the night.

Asuka vs Jax was decent, quite similar to their Takeover match but that's no bad thing.

The main event was really enjoyable but as a match it was less engaging than some of the others, it was very much a case of letting everyone get their stuff in (including Joe miming jizzing and throwing it into the crowd, which was nice). Finn Balor was about 1000x more charismatic during/after the match than I've seen him before and he made several 'Club' related hints.

Great night overall, I'd recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to go.

[Disco]

My friend was there (Navy boy), so I was hoping that one of you would get it started and the other would join in.

There were three of us having a decent go but we were drowned out by wankers doing the ever inspiring 'Lets Go' rubbish.

In other news Plymouth Pavilions is an absolute dump.

[wullie]

Blake put over an uncomfortably ripped English guy called Knox

Used to be Port Vale's big fat goalie Stuart Tomlinson

http://i.imgur.com/qQQVN6W.jpg

[Shindig]

I like how that's all they're good for. Being put over in a homecoming house show before being shelved for seven years. Tim Weise, take note.

[Ian]

The way they're repeatedly referring to this as the best MITB PPV ever is a bit peculiar.

[Browning]

They are? I don't think I've ever been less excited for MITB. No idea when I'll get round to watching it.

[Ian]

I just turned on Smackdown to see if I could catch the Styles/Woods match and the commentator did it and they definitely did it on Raw as well. It's a bit weird.

As much as I'm sure it'll be entertaining in the way that most matches of that sort are I'm getting a bit bored of 6 man ladder matches now.

[Jeet]

I think with brand split coming up, I can see Ambrose inserting himself in the title match, but to lose and keep Seth and Roman strong. Will surely see a cash-in attempt before or on the opening showing of the live SD.

They've mentioned the tag-title records held by Kendrick and London, so I think New Day will hang onto the belts.

US match, well it is father's day so maybe Titus will win, then lose the next night on RAW.

[SvN]

Hopefully Rusev keeps Titus on the accolade for 10 minutes while Titus' family cries in the front row.

[Ian]

I was looking at the tag title reign length record the other day. Had a :| at London/Kendrick having the record for the WWE tag titles. I take it they don't acknowledge records for the World tag team titles at all? Because Demolition have the record for those and New Day would need another six months or so to break their record.

[wullie]

If Titus gets to control more than 10% of the match something's very wrong. Have Darren Young come out to make the save and get Bob Backlund killed by Rusev while they're at it.

[Jeet]

Changed my mind, I think Rusev will win with Vince giving a big fuck you to Mr Dad of the year on Father's day.

[wullie]

For Father's Day they'll just retcon Luther Reigns to give the main event a feel-good ending.

[Ian]

Incidentally, how recently was it that they acknowledged that The Rock and Reigns are related?

I've been looking at some CM Punk promos and stuff and saw the bit on a 2013(?) Raw when he the Rock was gobbing off to him and The Shield came out and did a three-man powerbomb on him.

[Disco]

Whenever it was they certainly made up for lost time.

[SvN]

Missing 2am until 3am to watch Game of Thrones tonight, hopefully that won't include Cena v Styles.

[Gray Fox]

Styles to win tonight, but then lose every single match thereafter. If their usual booking takes hold. He's still to come out on top in a feud yet and I don't see it changing now.

[Gray Fox]

Styles to win tonight, but then lose every single match thereafter. If their usual booking takes hold. He's still to come out on top in a feud yet and I don't see it changing now.

And so the prophecy foretold.

[Waffdon]

Ambrose!!!! There was always a reason Rollins would have won.

Cool though

[Gray Fox]

To be fair. That was fucking great.

[Browning]

I'm not going to read any of the thread yet as I'm not done with the show, but Cena Vs AJ was fucking shit.

[wullie]

The tag match was a bit of a mess at the end, the way Luke Gallows had to stand still watching Big E wait to slam his partner for about 20 seconds waiting for everyone else to get their cue.

[Browning]

I told you Ambrose would win for that exact reason. I fully expected him to cash in last night too, albeit I was expecting the Triple Threat route. Fair play to WWE for doing it this way instead, which is better, but I'm shocked they jobbed Reigns clean.

Rest of the show was forgettable and as I said, Cena Vs AJ really fucking sucked.

[Waffdon]

Everyone else seems to be praising it

[Browning]

As they were always going to. The last 5-10 minutes picked up but the rest was slow and boring and the ending sucked. Nothing on the KO matches for me.

[Gray Fox]

I thought it was a decent show. The main matches for me were very good, but let down by the rest of the card a little.

Tag match was decent, but always going to end in a clusterfuck. A few missed spots by some people and awkwardness ensued at the end with Gallows getting into position far too early and having to watch his partner go down while waiting for his own bump.

Corbin needs some character, stat. Fans don't seem to be taking to him in any way and the feud with Ziggler has gone on too long. He needs to start pushing towards a US/IC title.

Womens match was a little cringe with obvious heel turn. Charlotte really needs Sasha and Bayley as she only seems as good as the other person in the ring.

Apollo Crews stealing the win by roll up does nothing for me, that'll be another 3 PPVs of feuding.

Rusev crushing Titus needed to happen and lol at Titus' kid really shitly slapping out at Rusev. He'd eat him for breakfast.

Styles v Cena was good for me, once they got past the really slow "I can't believe you'd do that move to me!" opening. Shame about the finish but it was seen coming a mile away.

MITB match was great. KO taking the nasty looking bump on the side of the ladder for the 2nd ladder match running. Personally would have had one of the other 2 faces or KO win it, but given what happened later it's all good.

I'm amazed they let Roman lose clean. That seems to have been lost in all of this. Yet again the slow start like the Styles match, but Seth looked good. Playing on his injury is a bit iffy for me though. That's asking for it. They really did power vs superior skill well here. While watching live I noted them mute a we want Ambrose chant and with the PPV massively overrunning it was coming, but was still great. With the brand split coming up a fast cash in was likely to happen, I just wish they hadn't had Dean tell everyone this would happen only a week ago.

[Browning]

Watch Cena go over Styles clean at the next 2 PPVs, the second by stacking up the club for a triple AA and then making a Club Sandwich joke on RAW.

[Weaver]

Have Darren Young come out

He is who he is!

[Jeet]

New Day were great when they came out - Loads of laughs by me :D

I don't see Ambrose as WWE champ - missing something.

[Disco]

Fucking JBL, absolutely amazed at the prospect of someone learning another language.

He's gonna be speaking the dialect Maggle!

[Disco]

The main thing I'm taking away from this match is that John Cena's haircut is no longer concealing his baldness.

[Lewis]

It's been obvious for about two years, so he's had a good run.

[Jeet]

Dean's value dropped for me after his WM, he promised so much and did shit all to attack Brock.

Paige got arrested after a row with ADR - pics doing the rounds on the net.

[Shindig]

Pfffffffft. Wrestlers. Don't marry other wrestlers.

[SvN]

Total Divas.

[Browning]

The draft has been set for that first live Smackdown.

[Ian]

Was really happy when Rollins won (with the shit Pedigree after a pretty decent reversal-Pedigree.)

I then didn't think Ambrose was going to attack him from behind. I also thought he was going to toy with Rollins more over coming weeks or maybe months but I suppose it makes some sense that he'd come out and get it done with right away,

[igor_balis]

I'm just delighted we didn't get 3-12 months of Dean doing wacky shenanigans with the briefcase. The werestling ~NERDZ on wrestling observer forum are quite unanimous in thinking this is Vince deciding that Roman ain't THE GUY, but I'm still half expecting him to win the big Shield triple threat match when Vince gets buyer's remorse at giving an indie geek the title

[Disco]

Shield triple threat at Wrestlemania I reckon, Roman probably winning.

[Browning]

Or not. Seemingly they are blowing their load and having it at that big event known as Battleground...

[wullie]

Seemed a bit of a rush, I thought the Reigns-Rollins contender match from last night would be at Battleground and set up the triple threat for the main event of Summerslam, but then you shouldn't finish a PPV with a setup for something else I guess. Brock or Triple H will be involved in the Summerslam headliner instead I'd imagine.

[Gray Fox]

If they are having the triple threat at Battleground I'd expect a non-finish. Unless Brock is to come back at SummerSlam.

It does always stand to reason that they see Seth as THE GUY rather than Roman, as THE BIG DOG only seemed to get his big push when Seths knee blew up. Them allowing Ambrose to take the belt is interesting to me. They've seen him as a good worker for a while, hence him being in about 5 title matches in the past year, but he's always been shown to fall short. He's either going to suddenly look stronger or he's going to go full on heel and keep the belt by any means.

[Disco]

Seems mad to waste the triple threat so soon and on such a small stage, unless they want to get it done before the split.

[Browning]

There won't be a non finish in a Triple Threat.

[SvN]

Reigns has been suspended for violating the wellness policy. :D

http://www.wwe.com/article/roman-reigns-suspended?sf29302845=1

[igor_balis]

:D

[Disco]

So that'll be why he lost clean then, and probably why he decided to have a pop at the fans on Raw for the first time. Also lol.

[Shindig]

Heel turn.

[Lewis]

Hasn't Randy Orton had about ten of those (God knows how useless you have to be to get caught)? He'll be alright, and probably better off for the break.

[Browning]

So that'll be why he lost clean then, and probably why he decided to have a pop at the fans on Raw for the first time. Also lol.

They won't have known going into the PPV. If they did, no way they'd set up the Triple Threat. Surely they aren't dumb enough to give him a title shot 3 days after a suspension.

[SvN]

Someone posted about it yesterday on reddit. So they either knew or made an incredibly lucky guess.

[Browning]

If they knew and are giving him a title shot regardless they are fucking idiots. Should have had Rollins beat him clean again and then stick him on the shelf.

Draft night is going to be so fucking awkward. "And with the first pick of the WWE Draft..... RAW selects.... Roman Reigns! See him in 3 weeks time!"

[Shindig]

Hasn't Randy Orton had about ten of those (God knows how useless you have to be to get caught)? He'll be alright, and probably better off for the break.

Apparently it's two but only one remains active after some cooling off period because carnies can't do justice.

[Disco]

Orton is also a massively angry bastard with a penchant for temper tantrums, I don't think that helps either.

[wullie]

If you can test for drug traces in someone's shit, Orton was easier to test than most.

[Gray Fox]

Orton has two on record. He did have a 3rd they aren't really talking about if I remember right, because a 3rd would see him fired.

Lol at Reigns though. They surely had known before the PPV started. I reckon he'll lose the title match and suffer the indignity of having to go and be IC champion for a few weeks/months. To be honest, he could probably use that too. He's still young in wrestling terms at 31. The guys in the mid card now are really quite talented and could probably teach him a thing or two.

[Disco]

If you can test for drug traces in someone's shit, Orton was easier to test than most.

You could have tested Melina and caught four or five different guys.

[Disco]

They won't have known going into the PPV. If they did, no way they'd set up the Triple Threat. Surely they aren't dumb enough to give him a title shot 3 days after a suspension.

They absolutely did know and they booked it anyway, which answers your second point.

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxb5BuecXoc

[SvN]

I was out at a bar last night and the DJ played Sasha Banks' theme at one point. Is it a proper song or is he just a wrestling dweeb?

[Ian]

Watched AJ Styles' Stone Cold Podcast last night. He comes across really well.

[Browning]

I was out at a bar last night and the DJ played Sasha Banks' theme at one point. Is it a proper song or is he just a wrestling dweeb?

It's not, it's produced by WWE.

[Ian]

The CM Punk doc on the Network is really good. He's a bit of a bell-end but while I'm only just getting into his WWE stuff (and have watched some of the promos on Youtube) he seems to be a talented guy.

[wullie]

http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwe-championship

The title's back to the plain old 'WWE Championship' which all but confirms a world title for each brand. Big Gold Belt please.

[7om]

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/uncyclopedia/images/8/8c/Dachamp.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070827161635

Fuck your Del Rio, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan runs with the title. THIS was the pinnacle of the big gold belt.

[Browning]

Still better than when Russo put the belt on himself.

[five time]

Apparently Reigns was busted for fat burners.

No wonder he still wears the vest.

[SvN]

Really? I read it was weed and amphetamines.

[wullie]

I don't think there's a Polynesian wrestler who hasn't ended up tubby (The Rock's black for the purposes of that theory). The Usos are on their way, and I suspect Bo Dallas is from Fiji.

[Shindig]

I watched Wrestling with Shadows the other day. Can't believe I've never watched that until now. I really respect Brett Hart now.

[Gray Fox]

Finally remembered to grab and watch NxT: Takeover Dallas last night. Pretty impressed with it. Don't really think there was a weak/piss break match.

[Ian]

That Murica vs. Filthy Forinners match might be the most pointless main event I've ever seen on Raw.

[Browning]

Particularly as the Lucha Dragons are American and Kane is Spanish.

Sasha's promo was fucking awful. Why did she keep talking about "a bus".

[Jeet]

Least it made for a good WTF episode.

I reckon they can't be arsed now until the draft.

[wullie]

The big intrigue between now and then is whether Eric Bischoff pops up as one of the GMs who gets escorted out.

[Lewis]

I haven't watched Raw for a few weeks, and now I have no idea what is going on. Is it as big a mess as it looks?

[Ian]

This week's was an absolute state but otherwise it's probably what it ever was.

Other than that we're no longer getting reminders of who the good guys, bad guys and, er, The guys are.

[Bob Sacamano]

The Final Deletion looks like the best wrestling related thing in years :drool:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcwfimGPYyY

[Disco]

Has anyone been watching any of this WCPW thing on Youtube? Some of it's been quite good, Martin Kirby is my new favourite wrestler (sorry Jose).

[Browning]

They reckon it's Orton Vs Lesnar at Summerslam, which is fucking laughable.

[Gray Fox]

That's a seriously disappointing use of Lesnar. Unless it's a mega squash match.

[Shindig]

Director's Cut of The Final Deletion is up. Might be the best thing TNA's ever done.

[Bob Sacamano]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0a0IxUd6GU

Swanton out of a tree is all that needs to be said :drool:

[Disco]

It is a lovely violin.

[Disco]

What an utter pile of shit, they did this as a joke right?

[Browning]

The tree spot made literally no sense. Jeff misses and crashes through a ladder yet still goes for a pin on Matt? Fuck off.

[five time]

Complaining about missing a swanton in a match that involved shooting fireworks at each other :D It was entertaining at least. Watched the highlights of the Murica vs the world match from raw and it looked awful, particularly Owens trying to powerbomb Mark Henry. Is he getting fatter every week?

[7om]

That might be one of the most mental things I've seen in wrestling. Having commentary dubbed over it would have made at least feel real whereas this just looked like something out of a cheap sci-fi film. Fair play to TNA, though, at least they're trying something different and giving people a reason to at least try out their program.

[Browning]

It's not the fact he missed, it's the fact Matt was laying there for ages, had enough in the tank to roll out the way, yet still ended up being pinned by a man who just went through a ladder after coming out a fucking tree. The other stuff was obviously shit, but 2 professional wrestlers should at least get that right.

[Ian]

Complaining about missing a swanton in a match that involved shooting fireworks at each other :D It was entertaining at least. Watched the highlights of the Murica vs the world match from raw and it looked awful, particularly Owens trying to powerbomb Mark Henry. Is he getting fatter every week?

He's done it before, hasn't he? or Big Show or somebody? He's definitely done it to somebody massive before.

[Jeet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrkk8u_YaLQ&feature=youtu.be

[Shindig]

I just like the idea of Dixie or someone thinking, "Well, the Hardy's aren't travelling but we need them on TV. Figure some shit out, please."

[Gray Fox]

Brother Nero! I knew you'd come...

[Pleb]

They reckon it's Orton Vs Lesnar at Summerslam, which is fucking laughable.


That's a seriously disappointing use of Lesnar. Unless it's a mega squash match.
It's confirmed for SummerSlam now.

Billed as a dream match which is lol really.

[Gray Fox]

You pay the man millions to turn up for about 4 shows a year and you have him do this?

No wonder ratings are low.

[five time]

What were the other options? People would still moan about a squash match, and people like Cesaro or Owens aren't on that level yet.

Hopefully Orton punts his wife in the head beforehand to make it a bit more interesting.

Whatever they do it can't be worse than three Triple H matches in a row though.

[Lewis]

Do they even need to think about draws/buy rates now we're in the NETWORK ERA? Nobody is going to buy SummerSlam as a one off to watch him flatten Randy Orton, so why even bring him back? Why not build something the night after leading into Survivor Series?

[five time]

They've featured UFC promos on their youtube channel this week (no idea about TV) so I reckon they'll get a Summerslam advert played during UFC 200. Probably just wanted as much 'name value' as they can get into the promo.

If Hunt smacks Lesnar around he should show up on Raw as Roman's uncle or something.

[Waffdon]

Lesnar/Orton would be sensational

[Ian]

I don't think it would necessarily be that exciting a match (though to be fair, with Orton it's hard to tell because he swings wildly between great matches and snoozefests) but it really is one they ought to be having Orton win.

He's returning, he's always built up as being this cerebral, wily veteran type and also I'm just bored of Lesnar making everybody look shit now. For the sake of the WWE booking crew I quite hope he gets mullered in this UFC fight as it would give them a chance to start working their way out of this corner they've booked themselves into.

[igor_balis]

I see ya point but I actually appreciate the booking of Lesnar, if only because he's one of the select few not subject to the misery of 50/50 booking.

[Jeet]

Broke through in 2002 from OVW and have never faced each other -surprised by that

[Lewis]

It will end up being quite good if they book Orton to run him reasonably close, since they can then launch him straight back into the upper card as being BACK TO HIS BEST. If he just gets molested then they might as well have used Big Show again.

[Shindig]

Broke through in 2002 from OVW and have never faced each other -surprised by that

He was too busy fighting Cena twice a week for four years.

[Ian]

I see ya point but I actually appreciate the booking of Lesnar, if only because he's one of the select few not subject to the misery of 50/50 booking.

I like that they've done things differently but they've made him too invincible. I'm no Ambrose mark but that Wrestlemania match, after a decent build-up, was an absolute waste of everybody's time.

[wullie]

Broke through in 2002 from OVW and have never faced each other -surprised by that



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6RNviVBWNA

[Browning]

The problem with Lesnar is he should be the champion given no one can get near him. OK, Rollins stole the title at Mania, I can buy that, but he should have gotten it back by now if he's never going to lose. I don't mind him as the champion who keeps the big belt away from most RAWs so it makes it feel special. I'm not sure what the point is of having him face random people in non-built up matches and crushing them and then vanishing.

[five time]

Especially if Brock wins tonight, you'd feel like they have to put the title on him just because of the extra exposure he's going to have.

You'd have to do something like have him beat Orton earlier in the night and then F5 everyone in the main event to close out the show.

[7om]

I personally like to see the title go on people that need it, really. More like a boost to get them over. Whereas Brock has got the amateur background / suplex city gimmick going on so he really doesn't need the title to get himself any more over.

But yeah, he's been booked pretty horribly since he lost the title at WM31. His match against Ambrose was absolute garbage at Mania and I couldn't give any less of a shit about Orton, so it's not looking good.

[five time]

I personally like to see the title go on people that need it, really. More like a boost to get them over.

You know Vince is all about the dollar signs though.

As for the suplex city thing, I think they're going to give it the 'Fandangoing' treatment by doing it way too much until we're all sick of it. His matches were better beforehand.

[Ian]

Until they stop booking everybody to look weak and crap against him I don't want Lesnar anywhere near the title. They'll probably have Reigns beat him clean at some point.

[Browning]

I don't want Lesnar having the title either but for me there's a logic issue if the title is on anyone other than "the guy who massacres all his opponents without trying and clearly wants the title". If that's how they are going to keep booking Lesnar then he needs to be the champion.

[wullie]

Now he won his UFC fight, Orton can beat him and WWE can officially claim to have tougher fighters. Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock return as a tag team.

[Shindig]

Severn has a book out. What Culture publishing it. What a weird company.

[7om]

Quite enjoyed that 'compound match' between Wyatts and New Day.

It was a blatant rip off of what TNA did but fits much better with the Waytts character than them cutting crap promos in the ring and eating AAs from Cena.

[wullie]

We need something bigger than General Managers, we need Commissioners! Next week Commissioners, pick your General Managers. GMs, pick your directors of operations.

[Disco]

Unearth Jack Tunney.

[Shindig]

Commissioner Angle.

[Jeet]

Bryan Smackdown and Heyman RAW

[Shindig]

Two excellent gimmick names.

[Ian]

Good of them to pretend for ten seconds that Raw isn't the show both of them wanted. Until they laughably then said "Oh but Shane will not ALSO be on Smackdown!!!!1" as if we ever thought one of them would get to do both.

[Disco]

They should have given Raw to Steph with Heyman taking Smackdown then let Shane lead an invasion to get it back.

[Shindig]

I'd just be happy if they binned the McMahons off TV.

[Gray Fox]

They've accidentally spoiled the Smackdown GM already.

Daniel Bryan.

[SvN]

Yeah I saw that on wwe.com. They really are spastics

[Lewis]

That should work, given how great he is at promoh wait a minute he's terrible.

[Gray Fox]

Good way of getting people to watch Smackdown to see what it's all about. Depends how 'active' he gets in it.

[Browning]

I think people know what Smackdown is by now.

[wullie]

It's changing though, it'll be LIVE and have a new look and not turn every argument into a tag team match playa

[Weaver]

Has anyone watched any of the first episode of the Cruiserweight Classic?

Saez vs Metalik was an ok match, but I didn't think much of Daivari/HoHoLun. I fell asleep for Match 3 (French Guy vs Cedric Alexander) and Match 4 (Kota Ibushi vs opponent). The crowd are quiet until someone does a Shooting Star Press, but the presentation of the show is good and Daniel Bryan/Mauro Ranello on commentary complement each other very well.

[Ian]

Just watched it. The presentation is at odds with the main shows but it's good. The commentators get to actually call the match, the matches don't have the director demanding mad zooms constantly throughout and nobody mentions the WWE app once.

I didn't find any of the matches to be THAT exciting but they all had some nice spots and some of the guys had pretty decent chemistry. Was hoping the French lad would win purely because of the Storm connection.

[SvN]

Just watched it, thought it was good. I thought the presentation was great, even if the graphics for the room Corey Graves was standing in were a bit PS2.

One thing I really liked was the fact that they really made it feel like a legitimate, global tournament, with the emphasis on the country they were representing and the hand shakes/arm raises at the end. Felt more UFC than WWE.

The last match was by far the best. Kota Ibushi looks like a real star, I see he's already been signed by the WWE.

[Weaver]

WWE have announced the rules of the draft:



With this Tuesday's WWE Draft on the premiere of SmackDown Live on USA Network fast approaching, WWE.com answers the biggest questions of the WWE Universe with a breakdown of the official rules, regulations and procedures for one of the biggest nights in WWE history — including a major update that will change the face of NXT as well.

The rules for the WWE Draft are as follows:

- Raw has the first overall pick
- Since SmackDown Live is a two-hour show and Raw is three hours, for every two picks SmackDown Live receives, Raw will receive three picks
- Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team​
- Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster​

The list of current WWE Superstars eligible for the WWE Draft will be as follows:
AJ Styles
Alberto Del Rio
Apollo Crews
Baron Corbin
Big Show
Braun Strowman
Bray Wyatt
Brock Lesnar
Cesaro
Chris Jericho
Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund)
Dean Ambrose – WWE Champion
Demon Kane
Dolph Ziggler
Erick Rowan
Jack Swagger
John Cena
Kalisto
Kevin Owens
Mark Henry
Neville
Randy Orton
Roman Reigns
Rusev (w/ Lana) – United States Champion
Sami Zayn
Seth Rollins
Sheamus
Sin Cara
The Miz (w/ Maryse) – Intercontinental Champion
Titus O’Neil
Zack Ryder

Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze)
Enzo and Cass (Enzo Amore and Big Cass)
Gallows and Anderson (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)
Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth)
Shining Stars (Epico and Primo)
Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Heath Slater)
The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley)
The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) – Tag Team Champions
The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso)
The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch)

Alicia Fox
Becky Lynch
Charlotte – WWE Women’s Champion
Dana Brooke
Eva Marie
Naomi
Natalya
Paige
Sasha Banks
Summer Rae

[SvN]

Semi-surprised that The Undertaker isn't listed, given JBL and Cole were talking about drafting him the other night.

[Lewis]

That tag team rule sounds like the perfect way to give Big E a [botched] face push.

[Browning]

Translation- We still don't give a shit about Smackdown.

[Disco]

That tag team rule sounds like the perfect way to give Big E a [botched] face push.

Brother D-Von. :drool:

Why bother with all the undercard guff, later picks are going to be really gripping as we wait to discover the fate of the Shining Stars.

[Browning]

The later picks will probably be done via WWE.com or some shit, I doubt we'll have to sit through them.

[Gray Fox]

Needs more Brother Nero.

[Ian]

Am I being blind or are the Wyatts not being listed as a team?

[Shindig]

They are not. I'm going to take this opportunity to suggest Bailey doesn't get the call-up and it results in an actual heel turn. RAW's logic for more picks only works if that extra hour isn't recaps on stuff that's happened in the first hour.

Hang on. Bully Ray. :drool:

[Baz]

Would be funny if all bar one of the women ended up on one show.

[Disco]

A Bailey heel turn? Not a chance.