04-17-2018, 01:14 AM | #841 |
Cranky Kong
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04-17-2018, 01:15 AM | #842 |
Loque Ja
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04-17-2018, 01:20 AM | #843 | ||
Wrestling Marks Rejoice!
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04-17-2018, 01:25 AM | #844 |
Celestia's Left Hand
Posts: 17,359
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[QUOTE=Guru Devendra Banhart;5109358]
[/QUOTE I f****** love Daniel Bryan so much |
04-17-2018, 01:30 AM | #845 |
Posts: 52,478
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Smackdown is totally getting R truth since he was on the raw roster picture and hasn't been seen forever. "Big surprise return"
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04-17-2018, 01:31 AM | #846 |
Cranky Kong
Posts: 78,671
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04-17-2018, 02:02 AM | #847 |
Wrestling Marks Rejoice!
Posts: 10,141
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04-17-2018, 02:02 AM | #848 | |
"Let's-a go!"
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04-17-2018, 02:09 AM | #849 |
Wrestling Marks Rejoice!
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04-17-2018, 02:34 AM | #850 |
Feeling Oof-y
Posts: 17,138
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Oh no, they got some of that Ziggler stank on McIntyre.
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04-17-2018, 02:39 AM | #851 |
Hey Mister!
Posts: 54,947
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04-17-2018, 06:13 AM | #852 | |
Wrestling Marks Rejoice!
Posts: 10,141
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It was something that basically wrote itself and could have AT LEAST lasted to a PPV, but because it had fuck all to do with Cena overcoming any odds, it was wasted in a single segment on a random RAW and it was never mentoned again. They *could* do something about Darria Barranato (I don't know why I remember that mouthful of a name, but can never remember what her name is now and it was ages ago when she fell into the name generator. Weird.), but that would take too much effort when they could just sweep it under the rug and concentrate on Rousey. Hell, another thing that writes itself is Rousey/Bazzler, BUT personally, I believe history will repeat itself, and it will be Shamrock and Severn all over again - where both people are in the same place at the same time, but nothing is EVER done with it when it was the most obvious and easiest road to go down. And the worst thing, to me, is that she likely got that gimmick in the first place to be a "knockoff" of an MMA type girl... then when they got access to the "real deal", they just threw that toy out the window to move to the new shiny instead of helping her not to languish. |
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04-17-2018, 06:56 AM | #853 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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Sonya had barely any legitimate MMA credibility anyway, she's had three regional promotion fights. Even Ronda's 'sub-par' stand up would be miles above her. People seem to forget that Ronda has three knock out wins and Holly Holm is a world champion boxer and kickboxer.
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04-17-2018, 07:05 AM | #854 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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https://www.patreon.com/posts/4-16-18-wwe-raw-18225370
The script got leaked 20 minutes after the show went on the air, although funny enough it still references "Mystery Partner" in the main event. Not sure why they'd be concerned with keeping Bobby Roode under wraps, so I'm thinking they were still deciding whether to move him or Orton as the show went on the air. |
04-17-2018, 07:44 AM | #855 | |
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04-17-2018, 08:01 AM | #856 |
Hey Mister!
Posts: 54,947
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Watched that Eclipse like 50 times now. Might be the best sell of a move since Rock selling the stunner.
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04-17-2018, 08:45 AM | #857 |
I'm all there is
Posts: 31,809
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after watching last nights show and then coming into this thread and seeing all the guys moving to Raw after the show, I feel like the WWE has way too many wrestlers on the roster. half these superstars are worthless.
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04-17-2018, 08:49 AM | #858 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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most of them are worthless lol
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04-17-2018, 08:54 AM | #859 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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The roster definitely is way too bloated. Part of it seems to be that WWE rarely ever releases anyone now. They cut Emma, Darren Young, and Summer Rae in one day last year but it's been about three years since they've done any sort of large scale roster cut letting go 10 or more people. Now they just prefer to let contracts expire, probably for public image.
The end result though is you have a shitload of guys with nothing to do, and no purpose on the show. They're sunk costs. If they suddenly wanted to push Zack Ryder or The Ascension, nobody would give a shit because they've been sitting in catering for years. |
04-17-2018, 09:01 AM | #860 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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I liked how Titus complimented Dolph on his comedy.
Titus has already eclipsed Dolph's comedy with that one line. |
04-17-2018, 09:32 AM | #861 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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The problem is you have about 7 million guys on a roster.... and a 3 hour Monday Night Raw. That should work just fine. But the problem is, the only people who are treated as serious characters are Roman, Brock, HHH, Steph, Braun, and Ronda. Everyone else for the most part is treated as a prop. There's no urgency in any storyline.
There's no reason why the Miztourage can't have their own proper feud--that's actually compelling, while also helping Miz win matches. There's no reason why every single Bar match means literally zilch. Why does Finn Balor have to wrestle Seth Rollins every week? Why does Bayley have to wrestle Sascha every week? You've got a bloated roster, with the potential for serious storylines that could mean something, but 90% of your segments are afterthoughts. I look back to WWF in 2000 where, yes, it wasn't perfect, but you had Too Cool teaming up with the Rock to take on HHH and the Radicalz in one of the hottest RAW main events of all time. You had a red hot tag division taking part in memorable segments--inlcuding TEST AND ALBERT for fuck sake. Wrestling is just depressing now. |
04-17-2018, 09:34 AM | #862 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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The women's division is better than it was (which isn't saying much) but even Trish versus Lita before either could wrestle was better than pretty much all of their women storylines now.
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04-17-2018, 10:13 AM | #863 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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Kai En Tai got massive pops. The Mean Street Posse got huge heat. Literally everyone was over in 2000.
We're never gonna see anything like that ever again. |
04-17-2018, 10:13 AM | #864 | |
I'm all there is
Posts: 31,809
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Yeah exactly this. You get a couple of compelling stories throughout the year. You get some cool moments with new people showing up and new feuds starting. But the rest is just the writers doing as little as possible creatively to get to the next week. and that rest is like 90% of the year unfortunately. To me the most interesting thing from last night was Ziggler and Drew and even that would of been much better had they destroyed guys who haven't been jobbing since the beginning of time. |
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04-17-2018, 10:17 AM | #865 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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But that's because they took pains to get those guys over (to an extent of course). They may not have been considered MAIN EVENT THREATS, but time was taken to flesh them out enough that the audience could connect with them.
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04-17-2018, 10:21 AM | #866 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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Yup. Elias gets one of the biggest reactions every week and he's then immediately used as fodder for whoever interrupts him. The crowd go absolutely gaga for Rusev and he's booked to job all the time.
The crowd actually connects to those guys and it's not gonna amount to anything. |
04-17-2018, 10:24 AM | #867 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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Mind you, there were enough times where someone would start getting over and old BOOGER RED would could out and give them a chokeslam to put them in their place. However, there was enough steam behind the characters that they wouldn't die a death because of it.
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04-17-2018, 10:49 AM | #868 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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Also, most of the current themes are a fucking embarrassment.
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04-17-2018, 11:05 AM | #869 |
President of Freedonia
Posts: 58,209
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I've said this a lot but it annoys me that CFO$ themes are like a 45 second song played on loop 10 times. At least Jim Johnston would make a proper 3-4 minute song out of themes. Actually gave me a reason to want to seek out a full, clean version.
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04-17-2018, 11:09 AM | #870 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,428
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They also just stink.
Johnson when he was in his element could actually find the essence of a character and portray it in a theme. The closest these CFO$ guys gets is really hamfisted bullshit. I like the Nak theme but that's about it. Roode's theme is OKAY, but really just a ripoff of Christian's operatic theme when he turned on Edge. |
04-17-2018, 02:06 PM | #871 | |
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People see roster cuts as a cruel thing, and like people just being employed by the WWE is automatically a good thing, but by slimming down your roster you ensure a few things: 1) The guys and gals getting focus are getting proper focus. When you try and jam everything through the door and make everyone a champion, it's like what Dr. Hibbert called "Three Stooges Syndrome" in The Simpsons. Nothing works. 2) The talent sitting in catering every week can go and get a chance to develop their skills which makes them more appealing talent in the future. I actually really enjoy Bo Dallas. I think he's got a lot of personality in there and just hasn't had a gimmick where he can seriously push it out. In the ring, I think he does basic stuff really well and he's got good "aggression" and uses the ring really well when he's on offense. For whatever that's worth. But what does he really get to do on Raw? He's a heater for The Miz. Maybe on house shows teaming with Curtis Axel has been beneficial to him; but what does Curtis Axel get to do? They're repeating the same basic stuff every week. Going to the indies would allow them to try new things, work on promos their own way, develop their own gimmicks and work different styles. Bo Dallas is 27 years old. Send him away and don't look at him again until he's 30. Maybe he'll have had a run as IWGP United States Champion or something, and he'll come back with some cache. 3) It's good for the industry as a whole. Pushing the talent you aren't using out allows them to take up dates other places and contribute to products that they are currently not. I'm not saying it would change in the industry or anything, but The Colons are such talented guys with lots of experience that could really help younger guys and be good presences in the locker-room. Maybe they could even help a place get a television deal in Puerto Rico or something. Fuck, I dunno -- that's a reach, but if there's enough talent out there in the world and it's not a one-way street to WWE, then you might get other companies trying to invest a bit more, and build a bit more momentum. 4) It's good for WWE. When Cody Rhodes gets back to the WWE, he's going to be fresher, slightly better and have respect with that fan-base you have left. It can be part of the work. If he's just hovering around being Stardust, what are you really getting out of it? What has Zack Ryder really done for you these last seven years? The best developmental system for the WWE in recent years has been TNA. If you don't think Cesaro has a personality, send him there. Sitting on the talent isn't anything but an expenditure on salary. The WWE really needs competition. Not faux-competition in the sense that Kurt Angle and Paige are fighting with each other...grrr. Real competition that backs Vince against a wall and makes him work out the talent that can make him money and the ones that will save him money. If those talents are any good, they will find work somewhere else. And they will get better and more appealing to the point they find their way back. I'm hoping that the WWE loses their USA Network deal and does land the thing with FOX, and that Raw does go back to two hours, and something philosophically in the WWE just changes, and they use the losing of that hour as an excuse to massively downsize. Maybe FOX puts a requisite on them to re-unify the rosters too. I don't know, something that just means a lot of the extras can go elsewhere and make wrestling, in general, more exciting. Maybe then NBC Universal decides that they want their own wrestling for what they think WWE is worth, and creates and exciting #2. Or FOX decides to do that instead of jumping into bed with WWE. Whatever. I don't know. I definitely agree with the statement that wrestling is depressing. |
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04-17-2018, 02:08 PM | #872 |
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I think it would be fitting if they used licensed music more often. I know this has never been their MO, but there's a time and a place. Seth Rollins is supposed to their one of their chosen ones who once sold out. He should have had his own choice in music. Some guys should have their own crafted themes and such, but I think recognizable music goes a long way towards presentation sometimes. Plus, when people hear it, they will talk about it on the YouTube comments, and that can drive people towards the product. I dunno.
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04-17-2018, 03:31 PM | #873 |
I'm all there is
Posts: 31,809
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Fortunately there's enough wrestling from the past on the Network now that it doesn't bother me as much that the current product is not up to par. i don't see any changes being implemented as long as the McMahon's are running things.
thank god a lot of the current roster can put on good matches. |
04-17-2018, 04:39 PM | #874 |
King of Suplexes/Oxy
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04-17-2018, 04:51 PM | #875 | |
Former TPWW Royalty
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Also them having to work on a ton more themes at a time than Johnston needed to do which has hurt the quality. |
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04-17-2018, 05:03 PM | #876 |
Quark is Less Impressed.
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04-17-2018, 06:26 PM | #877 | |
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* Bobby Lashley could just go by "Lashley." * Bobby Roode gets the "Robert" treatment, or something like "Glorious Roode." |
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04-17-2018, 06:29 PM | #878 | |
Celestia's Left Hand
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04-17-2018, 10:50 PM | #879 |
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That's because at the time there was at least one guy on the writing staff (Kreski) who cared enough to keep track of it all, tried to interweave almost everything to a degree without overdoing it, and pushed to emphasize the interwoven relationships and histories between the characters even during the current storylines, and the guy doing play by play (JR) also realized that importance and impact it has on making things interesting, and pushed those details through his play by play and commentary.
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04-17-2018, 11:03 PM | #880 |
Resident drug enabler
Posts: 45,473
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I miss squash matches.
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