I still don’t have a clue what Stratton and Bianca are up to. As good as the Rick stuff has been, it’s ruined a few people’s feuds/story build up to Wrestlemania as 2 hours isn’t enough. Raw folk are alright as there’s plenty time on that as no Bloodline shenanigans.
Yeah Rick taking up a third of Smackdown in the Mania build isn't ideal for the other stuff, last couple of weeks you can just see which matches would and should have had a few extra minutes.
Agree it’s not great foresight to have a two hour show dedicated to Rick and a three hour show constantly stalling for time because it’s impossible to book that length on a weekly basis. They should have done a mass migration around Rumble time to even it out.
Meanwhile in AEW I hoped Okada and Ospreay would make up for a lack of MJF and Kenny Omega, but it just doesn’t.
I'm a twit
At the risk of incurring phonics' wrath, I'll tell you why I think they don't fill the void.
THE BOOKING.
Ospreay debuted first and immediately was thrown into a match with his fucking stablemate Takeshita. Makes absolutely no sense. Callis is saying he wants to give the audience "the best match possible" but what fucking heel ever has ever said anything like that? Heels want to win by any means and that is that. So the match is pointless. Yeah it was nice but so what, they might have just done it at the local indie considering the lack of story. So Tony pigeon-holed Ospreay in the heel stable but realises he needs to be a face. The crowd want to get behind him but aren't really sure if they should. If Tony really wanted to burn that Takeshita match straight away, why didn't he have Ospreay get beat down at the end to really cement a face turn? But God forbid this clown knows how to get his heels any sort of heat.
And Okada, oh my God what a fuck up already. He's come in as the supposed best in the world but to a lot of Americans watching on prime time television, probably don't really know who he is, so all this wink-wink-nod-nod referencing with the Bucks goes straight over their heads. Excalibur (lol) has been saying how Okada is incredible and the best there is blah blah blah, but the booking has presented him in goofy backstage segments with the Bucks and a couple of undercard six-man tags. If you want the crowd to believe he's the best, have him come in and destroy a top babyface in his first segment. They've fucked it already, to the casual fan he's just that Japanese guy standing behind Matt Jackson doing shit acting.
Ospreay already fucked off home for a break, didn’t he? What a life
To be fair, he pretty much flat out said he signed with AEW over WWE because Tony will let him fuck off home for long periods.
Worked a treat with PAC.
The creeds in that ladder match would have been insane.
Sadge
They were scared they'd do a Brutus Bomb from the top of a ladder.
The ripped one would have done Shelton Benjamin esque madness. Hope they get on the pre show or something at least
I saw Alpha Academy lost their qualifying thing but it wasn't Gable so hopefully there are plans for him to do something as well.
From the YouTube and Twitter clips I’ve seen from Raw, the production really is looking magnificent. So many small
Improvements
Yeah it's pretty exceptional.
They're going to put him into Gunther / Zayn just for Ben.Originally Posted by wullie
This smackdown has been a very easy watch. I normally just watch YouTube and Twitter clips but fuck me they’ve come a long way. So many little touches that make such a difference
Loved the vignette for Breakker with all the NFL combine like stats. The sports feel is great and they’re going to push this guy hard post-Mania.
Helps that he has the best spear going too.
Proper Goldberg when he was good vibes about it. Just tries to cut everyone clean in half as fast as possible.
Bill Goldberg was never good [/Bret]
His spears were.
I can't believe I'm saying this but I am jealous of Nia Jax.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/...g_is_not_fake/
Apologies for it being a Reddit link (or if it's been posted before, I don't keep up with this thread), I tried downloading it and uploading it to youtube but it automatically gets turned into a short which I can't embed.
But anyway,
The infinity stunner
That's some chikara shit.
SGW! SGW! SGW!
That Ugandan guy sold more in that clip than you see in a whole episode of Dynamite.
The "BUMBASH" poster in the background.
Still kicked out though.That Ugandan guy sold more in that clip than you see in a whole episode of Dynamite.
The "BUMBASH" poster in the background.
Even SGW needs 10 finishers in a big time match to end it.
Don’t look at her last tweet or you’ll be barking the house down
Horny fans are usually cringe as fuck but for Rhea, I am one of them.
I think I'll blow my load in her match against Becky at Mania.
What are the matches involving the rock / Cody / Roman reigns then? And what night(s)?
I'm a twit
Night 1 is Reigns and Rock vs. Rollins and Cody. If Bloodline win it's "Bloodline rules" (no DQ) on might 2, so Rollins will be taking the pin there.
Night 2 Cody vs. Reigns for the belt.
Just to balance out (overcorrect) for the Rhea filth, here's a picture of Missy Hyatt with Terri Runnels. It's spoilered for a reason.
Toggle Spoiler
I know the lapsed fan podcast is something of an acquired taste, and even I was getting a bit sick of the co-chairmen recently, but their recent Virgil double header is absolutely fantastic. First part mostly chronicles the time host jack conspired with other host JP's father to book big Virge for JP's bachelor party, and other guests from the party sharing their memories of a truly insane evening, and part two is Jack's usual meticulous research on the life and times of the guy. It includes a particularly juicy revelation about Virgil's early life, that surprisingly doesn't seem to have been picked up by any of the dirt sheets.Toggle Spoiler
Highly recommend both episodes. Maybe just be prepared to fast forward some of the bantz, it can get a bit much.
Thought I was watching AEW with that Ricochet/JD match. Give them a PPV match, they’re both fun as fuck.
McIntyre, Punk and Rollins is tv gold
I'm sure the nerds in here will find a way to hate it, but that final segment with The Rock battering Cody in the rain was pure entertainment.
Well Raw was hype as fuck wasn’t it.
Drew again
Rollins is turning heel. Probably after Mania when he loses, but he's turning.
And speaking of the better Rollins:
So many good segments.
Reigns is utterly useless. Rick is selling this far better than he has and ever could.
Genuinely cannot wait for the clusterfuck finish. Something that I would normally hate but this is an exception. Cena putting Solo through the tables. Yes pls
I'm just about finished watching the whole episode in its entirety. First time I've done that in about 10 years. Possibly the best episode in 20+.
I hope they’ve not blown their load and the go home show is even better.
Rick is going to take up about 75% of smackdowns go home show. They’ll need to make is add free to get anyone some airtime
The actual wrestling matches can sometimes get in the way of the TV show for WWE at the moment, but still, as I said it was an all-time episode. The hype for WrestleMania is off the charts.
Cody starts the show and again referenced "keeping his promise" which is to win the title. Babyfaces don't do that if they aren't winning so we're definitely on baby. A little dig at Rick and then here he comes! That Hollywood theme is so good and even though he did fuck all, it was a complete surprise and the whole thing is so over that they can get away with it here.
Ricochet and JD, the large-headed guy from JD, had a really nice match. The camera work these days in outstanding. It's amazing how much better TV matches are when they don't have to play to the hard camera all the time. That "steady cam" or whatever at ringside is magic.
There's not a lot of downside to Triple H's booking at the moment but Judgment Day is possibly one of them. Ripley is over like Rover, Dom is such a great shithead heel, Priest is a boss, but the actual faction is crap now with all these shit backstage segments.
Two girls had a match. Shit but short.
Then we get Punk. What a fucking segment. He's so good on the mic, then Drew comes out and he's just hitting zingers all over the place, what a guy. My reaction to Rollins coming out was the same as Punk's but give him credit, when he's serious on the mic he's good. Looks like we are getting Punk on commentary which will be classic stuff. Segment finishes with Rollins superkicking Drew; crowd loved it but it was a cheap shot and a hint at a future heel turn I reckon. Clearly these top guys are now being trusted to not have all their promos fully scripted and it's showing.
I generally hate comedy because it's usually done bad and finds its way too high up the card but R-Truth is incredible at it. Nice little Easter egg of Drew and Heyman chatting in the background to further Drew's hypocrite gimmick. He's going to get involved on the Bloodline's side at Mania then.
In my determination to watch the whole episode without skipping, I was subjected to both New Day and DIY in the same match. I like Ciampa but he can't keep my loathing at bay here. Thankfully Judgment Day come down to end it early in a good ol' sports entertainment finish. Give Awesome Truth the titles.
Hey, a wild Andrade appears! I don't know what to think with him. The guy looks great and can clearly wrestle (having Vinci bump around for him was a good choice) but I doubt I'll ever be able to get behind him in a hot storyline.
Rhea and Becky promos were pretty average. I am disappoint. However, the Becky punch on Dom was tremendous and the title match will be amazing. Becky did well to get cheers with Rhea standing opposite her but fuck knows how either of them get a boo out of Philadelphia.
There were a few bits through the show to promote Gunther getting in Zayn's head and Reed thusly won their match but let's face it, Sami has no heat anymore and although the match at Mania will be good, the story is flat. Shame.
Jey Uso vs. Nakamura in the main event. Jey is a fucking bad wrestler and Nakamura is a jobber now. Hoping for shenanigans to get me through. And oh boy do we. Chaos all over with Cody, Seth and the Bloodline. Here's Drew to pay off the Heyman bit earlier. Then we get some iconic shit with Rick beating the piss out of Cody in the rain. A strategically placed production truck highlights Cena and Austin. The Cody-Reigns match is going to have so much interference and normally I'd hate that but this story is so hot and so packed with stars that I think I'll love every second. The visual of Cody getting juice with the blonde hair and the rain was perfect. Blood is such an elevator when used correctly (Moxley take note).
Pretty great episode all around. We're nearly at Mania and it's all starting to peak at the right time. I had my doubts they'd keep the momentum going post-Elimination Chamber but they're just stepping it up every week with the big matches, which is really what we're here for. Night 2 is stacked as fuck.
Having said that, there's three more shows left until Mania. Surely they've got to tease something massive between Rick and Reigns. No way do they put all this effort into such a great story and have Reigns going into it looking like an absolute whopper. Reigns doesn't get aggressive with his adversaries so it wouldn't have made much sense to have him give Cody that beatdown, so surely they've got to have him stand up and make Final Boss Rick second guess himself. At the moment it feels like the title match will be shenanigans with Rick and Cena and Austin and Seth and fucking Ultimate Warrior or whatever, with Reigns being a total non-entity until Cody gets the three count on him. Triple H won't let it end like that surely. He's not let me down on this so far, so I'll not be a Negative Nigel in anticipation.
Oh and by the way, when Triple H finally confronts Rick live in the arena the roof will come off.
Last edited by Ben; 26-03-2024 at 11:05 AM.
What a belter. That and Takamichinokus themes live in my head 24/7.
I'm liking this steady move away from PG. I hope it's here to stay.
Funny how two companies have both been affected by a CM Punk injury.
For one it sent them into a spiral that they haven't fully come out of. For the other it might be perhaps the best thing that could have happened.
Punk (along with many others) was more of a symptom, not a cause. A disruptive symptom yes, but the problems were there long before he arrived.
It started as All Friends Wrestling financed by a money mark (which is fine), but as soon as Tony got in bed with WBD he had to pivot in order to reach the next level that the TV company demanded. The likes of Punk were needed but the Friends didn't like it (again, fine) and it's plain as day that the backstage is just a complete clusterfuck of nobody knowing what they're meant to be doing until 30 minutes before the shows. Then Tony goes and signs Okada to $4.5m/year and immediately pairs him with the proven ratings death that is the Young Bucks. He might as well just set that money on fire.
The spiral is all Tony Khan's fault. He's not a booker, he makes cool matches. Of course it's fine for AEW to not want to be WWE v2 but you look at Raw last night and see all the anticipation it's built, Tony couldn't dream of being able to do anything that hot. The sooner he realises and signs someone with experience to run things, then it won't turn around. He can't even go back to just Friends because he's made them look absolutely worthless on TV for at least two years now.
I am sensing Ben may not be the biggest fan of AEW.
Not many people are these days.
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