Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Andrew]

Take that, fourth wall! (And Triple H).

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[[Q]]

They did one with AJ dancing around "that other company he worked for"

People are idiots. With the New Day's face turn, they're basically doing what the WWE wanted to do in the first place: cheer The New Day. Does that show how good those 3 (or Xavier) are talent-wise?

[Andrew]

It does. It also shows the value of turning characters heel, or bringing them in as heels, and letting the crowd warm up them with natural face reactions. Exactly what they refuse to do with Cena and Reigns, despite the fact both started getting over at faces (at one point) after early heel runs.

[bigh0rt]

Was last night the most forgettable 3 hours of RAW in the last year? Aside from some good work from Styles/Owens, there wasn't a minute worth watching. Sheesh.

[Andrew]

It's hard to say, there have been so many forgettable episodes. Going to three hours has made the show a marathon, and while the ad revenue is probably nice, it does little for the quality of the product.

[koberulz]

It's hard to say, there have been so many forgettable episodes.

You sure? I don't remember any.

[Andrew]

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So I'll admit, I am interested to see what the fallout from Taker/Shane is now that Vince has added the stipulation that if Taker loses, it's his last Wrestlemania. There's no guarantee Shane is sticking around with the company long-term, so that suggests Taker wins, and Shane's gone, at least temporarily. On the other hand, it's a retirement scenario for Undertaker...and if Shane gets control due to winning, he can obviously just reinstate Taker. Then there's rumours of Taker/Cena at Summerslam, which suggests he's not hanging it up yet, and raises the possibility of Cena interfering in the match at Wrestlemania.

The match itself, and the angle in general, aside from seeing Shane back? Yeah, definitely a mess. But as an Undertaker fan, I'm at least curious to see whether this is the end of the road, the last ride if you will, of The Deadman.

[[Q]]

Does the interestingly specific speculation of winning "control of Monday Night Raw" leave it open for the return of a brand split? I hope not. I'd hate to have to skip through two shows to find the people I want to watch instead of one.

[Andrew]

Agreed. I know there are fans in favour of the brand split and two world titles, but I think it ran for way too long, and stopped making sense once the number of bona fide/solidified main eventers started to thin. Besides, it's a bit silly to have two #1 championships within the one company.

[bigh0rt]

I don't think I'd mind some Shane vs Vince on-air stuff, with Shane booking RAW (on-air) to have the younger guys have shots, put on shows, give the faces their matches, etc. while having Vince/Steph/HHH get their retribution on SmackDown, booking in favor of the heels, etc.

I don't see any light at the end of any of these tunnels, unfortunately.

[Andrew]

We're overdue for a face authority figure, as heel GMs and whatnot have really been done to death at this point.

[[Q]]

Agreed. I know there are fans in favour of the brand split and two world titles, but I think it ran for way too long, and stopped making sense once the number of bona fide/solidified main eventers started to thin. Besides, it's a bit silly to have two #1 championships within the one company.

They also split up very successful tag teams, which i felt set tag team wrestling back 5-10 years.

I think they've done a good job lifting up the prestige of the IC & US titles, so I think it's doable with the WWE Champ maybe appearing on both shows. But again, 3 hours of Raw is already bad, no need to have to watch 3 hours of Raw minus half of the top stars

[Andrew]

The other argument I've seen is that it'll help build new main eventers. Well, it certainly didn't work for people like Ziggler, or Alberto Del Rio. Having two world titles just devalues the meaning of those belts, because it offers top level talent twice the chances of being world champion, a distinction they have to share with another worker. Unifying the belts was one of the best things they've done in the past decade or so.

[Andrew]

When the best build up has been in the feud between the guy in his mid 40s who was never a full-time wrestler, and the guy who just turned 51 who is a bona fide legend but obviously in the final stages of his illustrious career - and that build hasn't been without its problems - it's not a good sign for your biggest show of the year. Still, I thought this was a good segment. Makes me wonder what they've saved for Wrestlemania, though.

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[koberulz]

If there's anything you can point to to demonstrate how utterly lost WWE is, it's teasing Steen-Generico for 'Mania only to deliver a 7-man clusterfuck ladder match.

While Kalisto gets Ryback 1-on-1.

I mean, I'll probably still watch 'Mania, as I'll be getting the Network for Takeover anyway, but c'mon.

[JaoSming]

If there's anything you can point to to demonstrate how utterly lost WWE is, it's teasing Steen-Generico for 'Mania only to deliver a 7-man clusterfuck ladder match.

Nope, evidently they expected Eva Marie coming back on Raw to get a babyface reaction.... if this is true, this is the best marker

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... _spoilers/

It's like, you can never predict the audience, no matter how smart you are. And WWE.. you know, sometimes they can and sometimes they can't, especially now. But this one? This one was a no-brainer. And the idea that they didn't figure it out.. This was one where I was really surprised how they didn't figure this out. This was an easy one. It is the typical WWE, they're trying to go right, but they can't help themselves from going left. They think that she (Eva) is so hot that everyone is going to like her. It didn't work in NXT and it obviously didn't work tonight. People have so much access to photos of hot women, that being a hot woman who can't wrestle, it doesn't mean shit anymore. There was a time when it did with Tammy Sytch and Sable. But times change. If Braun Strowman showed up in the Hogan era, they could have done Wrestlemania with him and match would have sucked, but they would have drawn big money.

[koberulz]

In fairness, I haven't watched this week's Raw yet.

And by 'watched', I mean 'read the recap of'.

[JaoSming]

well spoilers on that massive return then

[koberulz]

I think I'm probably bothered more by Andrew's post in that regard, and even that I don't care about.

Which is pretty sad given it's the go-home for WrestleMania.

[[Q]]

Holy shit I couldn't wait til the end to post about this. Shinsuke nakamura will be a star, and let's hope WWE doesn't drop the ball with him.
I'm not a fan of sami but given great competition wil put on 5 star matches. It was just a pleasure to watch and will be the best match I will see for a very long time

[JaoSming]

That might have been my favorite PPV/event ever. That entire show, even the shitshow of a main event,

[[Q]]

Yeah best show I have seen in a long time. Did lose a bit of interest late in the Aries match, but after that, I was on the edge of my seat. Just got done rewatching Nakamura/Zayn... I've never rewatched a match right after I got done watching it. Simply incredible.

[koberulz]

The "Fuck PG" chants were glorious.

[JaoSming]

Owens is alive, right? Holy fucking shit Zayn & Owens are amazing. Still, and always.

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also


Amazing move




Y2AJ & this faction match.... things getting sloppy.....




The setting is definitely special, crowd's fine and all, but aside from the ladder match the in-ring stuff (so far) hasn't been anything different than a Raw or other PPV.



Fantastic match by the women. Great entrances too and winner gets pyro!

[shadowgrin]

SHANE-O-MAC TO WIN THIS.

TAKES OVER RAW.

BRINGS IN THE BULLET CLUB LED BY BALOR.

BALOR SCARES KIDS WITH HIS ENTRANCE.

END OF PG ERA IS UPON US!

MONEY MAN SHANE TO BRINGING REAL CHANGE THAN OBAMA!