Coffey Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 If Rusev is booked strong, he can just be a juggernaut for a few months that gets toppled on a B-show PPV by a top babyface. Not every worker has to be destined to be a long-term main eventer, ya know? Rusev will probably just be another Ryback...but is that so bad? A roster needs guys like that. And he's a fresh new guy that still has the new car smell for awhile, he's not damaged good yet. After getting toppled, he can "snap" & injure some mid-carder to look like a threat again for a few more months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 If Rusev is booked strong, he can just be a juggernaut for a few months that gets toppled on a B-show PPV by a top babyface. Not every worker has to be destined to be a long-term main eventer, ya know? Rusev will probably just be another Ryback...but is that so bad? A roster needs guys like that. And he's a fresh new guy that still has the new car smell for awhile, he's not damaged good yet. After getting toppled, he can "snap" & injure some mid-carder to look like a threat again for a few more months. Rusev looks a potential Cena summer opponent to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Rusev looks like a pretty terrible worker with no charisma to me, not sure why they're wasting so much time on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Yeah, Cena's going to need something to do after the Bray program and before he's reinserted into the title picture. Might as well be Rusev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Titus O'Neill is pretty underrated, he would make at least a great monster heel to feed to face champions or to elevate people. Yeah, I totally agree with this. He has a ton of charisma and a great look; there’s definitely potential to do much more with him that they currently are. While watching the six-man tag on Raw earlier I was struck with the thought that I‘d love to see Sheamus and Rowan get five to ten minutes to batter the hell out of each other one on one at some point in the next few weeks. While he’s far from polished, I think Rowan has made an extraordinary leap in ability over the last few months and really grown into his role. He looks much less cartoonish in his actions than he did when the Wyatt’s were first called up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Yeah, Cena's going to need something to do after the Bray program and before he's reinserted into the title picture. Might as well be Rusev. I was hoping for Cesaro/Heyman, but we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Not sure John Cena should be doing the Undertaker role of elevating debuting monsters just yet. He is still looked upon as the ace, and shouldn't be enhancing any talent they don't expect to stick with for the long haul. Rusev isn't anywhere near ready to be involved in a Cena feud, especially given the apathy of fans towards him the other night. Back on the Titus O'Neill discussion, and sort of contradicting what I just said, Cena vs Titus would be a fantastic pairing. Visually it would be amazing, and if they gave Titus reign to talk trash on the mic without segueing into WWE cliche the feud could be great as well. Other than that there are potential feuds with Cesaro, Bad News Barrett, Jack Swagger and others that would work as placeholders, as well as face vs face rematches with Daniel Bryan and RVD. I wouldn't mind the Cena/Wyatt's feud to drag on for a few months so long as they worked in a lot of tag matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I think they made a huge mistake turning Titus heel. They shouldn't have given the green light to the Titus/Darren breakup and actually elevated the team since I think neither guy is a great singles wrestler but they were a fun tag team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I think they made a huge mistake turning Titus heel. They shouldn't have given the green light to the Titus/Darren breakup and actually elevated the team since I think neither guy is a great singles wrestler but they were a fun tag team. The sad thing is it's barely been two months and it's pretty safe to say both guys have been written off. They've done this to so many teams over the past decade and it never really worked. Cryme Tyme and Hart Dynasty immediately come to mind. If we really are entering a new era of wrestling, I hope we can look back at breaking up tag teams for no reason as a thing of the past and PTP being the last of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeplastictrees Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Not trying to jump on the Rusev hate, but I am just not seeing anything special in the guy right now. The fact that he has been saddled with a terrible finisher that hasn't been over in a very long time is also a bad sign for the guy. I think Hassan was the last one with the Camel Clutch as his finisher and despite how over he was, even he could not get that finisher over. Rusev needs some work. I am not sure if he can do any awesome suplexs, but he should learn how and start doing it. Rusev running a Taz gimmick in 2014 could really work. Hell, bite Taz completely and allow him to use The Tazmission. It will look good on both small and big guys. Titus is definitely a star, but I feel he is going to get lost in the shuffle as we approach summer. It's amazing that WWE has so many guys on fire right now. Bryan, Wyatts, Shield, Cesaro, and The Usos are all hot. I feel that second tier of Barrett, Titus, Sandow, Ziggler, and Ryder could really benefit from a brand split ( I know) with those 5 running on top against Christian, Del Rio, Big Show, Mysterio, and RVD on Smackdown. I would love to see a Titus IC run. Get the title off of that charisma vacuum Big E. and put it on Titus and watch Titus become a huge star in less than 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I'm hoping they don't do Bryan/HHH at the PPV in a gimmick match but I think that's where they go. I want the mania match to stand alone. Plus Kane has done so many clean jobs lately that him teaming with Batista and Orton against the Shield takes some of the shine of that match Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 PERSONAL WRONG THREAD ALERT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Rusev looks like a pretty terrible worker with no charisma to me, not sure why they're wasting so much time on him. This is how I feel as well. The "silent foreign menace" gimmick is far out of touch with the culture today. He just seems like a boring performer. I don't watch NXT so I've seen nothing of him there, maybe I'll be proved wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the streak of awesome TV WWE's been on and increased TV time for Renee Young are somehow connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Renee's superb. She's a huge fan of the business, knows how to keep things fresh, I really like her as an interviewer. http://regressing.deadspin.com/wrestlemania-xxx-box-score-every-suplex-chair-hit-an-1560958251/+kylenw So Mookie might find this interesting. It's really basic, but this is actually some of the stuff I'm interested in from a statistical standpoint, where you actually look at the content of everything from ring entrance to final bell. Gives you a good idea of what to think about when you see matches and how they like to be built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 12, 2014 Report Share Posted April 12, 2014 Smackdown was excellent. Cesaro & Big Show delivered a fun opener, the main event was enjoyable if short, everything else was pretty engaging or at least short, except for the Rybaxel tag and the Santino Marella match. WWE promos have been on an upward trajectory lately, and John Cena continued the trend. He seemed a lot more relaxed and natural, as if he was just off the cuff, rather than going on the script like he probably was. He did a good job of summarizing the last week and there were none of the lame jokes, company buzz words and overly stylistic phrases that plagued most segments a couple of years back. Hogan seems to have got his aura back as well, and the segment with Daniel Bryan was very well done. Didn't come off as too congratulatory like it could have, and did a good job of putting DB amongst the superstars of history and keeping him elevated. The Pet Shop Boys once described an ‘imperial phase’ in their career, when they were totally in tune with their audience, and totally in tune with what pop music was at the time. I feel this is starting to be a kind of imperial phase for WWE, in that they know exactly what to give to their audience, how to work them, how to troll them and more importantly how to please them. They are giving the fans what they want at the same time as not appearing to be overly led by public opinion when it comes to their artistic vision. Surely the best promotion in the world right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RazorbladeKiss87 Posted April 12, 2014 Report Share Posted April 12, 2014 The Bryan doc on the network blew me away. One of the best things they've ever produced. I'd go so far as to say they'd be well served dedicating an hour of Raw to it. Doing something this great once or at most twice a year for someone on the roster is how you lock them in at a certain level. My wife couldn't care less about wrestling and she found the entire thing riveting. This type of work needs a bigger stage. Totally agree with this. I was totally taken with this. I think it would have been/be a good idea to find a way to show this on USA and hype the hell out of it. I think that anyone not already on board with Bryan would be swayed. Now, I say this as someone who has been a big fan since his indie/foreign runs. When I first discovered indie wrestling via the internet I was almost instantly hooked by his work. Edit: Brie's talking head segments were really good too and I could see her bringing even more female support to Bryan, in a way, if WWE decides to put her onscreen with him more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlk23 Posted April 12, 2014 Report Share Posted April 12, 2014 TMZ reports that WWE is working on two tributes to the Ultimate Warrior. As previously reported, one of those specials is a tribute episode of RAW which will have more than the standard RIP notice given to most wrestlers that pass away. Producers are working on details but it will likely present Warrior's most memorable moments and his final appearance in the ring last week in New Orleans. The company is also putting together a special that will air on the WWE Network next Wednesday called Warrior: The Ultimate Legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 12, 2014 Report Share Posted April 12, 2014 A bit selfish but I hope Raw isn't just filled with exhibition matches and Ultimate Warrior tributes. The product is so hot that we need a continuation of all the feuds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted April 12, 2014 Report Share Posted April 12, 2014 Surely the best promotion in the world right now? Of my top 10 matches of the year right now, 8 are from WWE and the top 4 are all WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 There's not much competition from other promotions. You'd be better off comparing the WWE with other periods in its past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 A bit selfish but I hope Raw isn't just filled with exhibition matches and Ultimate Warrior tributes. The product is so hot that we need a continuation of all the feuds. I thought that the best idea would be to announce a mini-tournament for that night and SmackDown (if they choose to acknowledge its existence) to determine the participants for a match at Extreme Rules unifying the IC and US titles, evoking Warrior's most famous moment (being the first man to hold the World and IC titles at the same time). A singles match for both titles and a four-way for a wild card spot in the ER match on each show. Gives you two good, weighty matches on Raw between the tribute stuff, 12 guys a legit match in the week, and a strong mid-card storyline that wouldn't get stale between now and the PPV. (Might as well make it a ladder match, too. For a company that used to find any excuse for a ladder gimmick, they've only had one since last year's MITB show.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 the Shield v Hunter/Steph promos should be interesting. These three guys are super quick witted and given the chance could probably one up them in talking segments. Well depending on how much ass Hunter and Steph are willing to show (probably a good deal) This isn't Bryan where he's going to stand there smiling and just take it. I could see this getting them even more over as babyfaces till a point where they still won't be able to break them up. Really looking forward to this stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southofheavy Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 ^ This. It looks to me like Ambrose is just waiting to cut loose. Reigns and Rollins have really been the breakthrough guys in this group, but this fued, along with the stuff with Wyatt's, have given Ambrose something to work with in a big way. That dude needs feuds and people to hate and flip out on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 I would guess HHH sees Daniel Bryan as one of his guys now since he's put him over so convincingly, but The Shield have been an HHH project from day one. I suspect he's going to go overboard putting them over too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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