Loss Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 Everything about this was Classic HHH (And not in the best way). A promo that goes too long without a retort from the other guy, an elaborate ruse that is unnecessary, and then a beatdown at the end that went way, way, way too long. Stephanie tapping into 2000 Bitch Stephanie was probably the best part of the whole thing, and then of course, when her big moment comes, Bryan yells at her for not slapping him hard enough. Absolutely hilarious. Supposedly, Bryan did a stretcher job for this thing afterwards, which is about par for the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 If you look at how Daniel Bryan got over, it was by losing big matches that he should have won where the perception was that the machine was working against him. It was by getting beat down all the time. So I don't have a problem with this on principle. I think Wrestlemania will work best if fans are down on their luck and think they are just being strung along, with HHH probably winning the match. Bryan is an impossible guy to bury in the sense that pointing out his flaws and jobbing him out only works to get him more over. However, pushing him too strong and the company giving off the appearance of backing the Yes Movement is what hurts him more than anything. It's a weird dichotomy when a guy benefits more from being buried than being pushed. It shows the amount of resentment so many fans have for WWE Creative. I sort of look at HHH vs Bryan as not just HHH vs Bryan, but the blowoff to a feud between hardcore fans and the creative team that has been brewing since at least the WCW invasion, if not slightly sooner when the start-stop pushes of midcarders became a staple of WWE booking. People are projecting over a decade of letdowns onto this feud, and to WWE's credit, they have been able to channel that frustration into something that works for them. Now all of that said, this segment went far, far too long. Yes, Stephanie was excellent but I think they could have made all the same points in three minutes. Plus, HHH was obviously trying to protect Bryan since there isn't anything he can really do to protect himself on spots if he's handcuffed. Add in what was probably the worst crowd WWE has done TV in front of in 2014 and the end result is a disappointing segment, even if it was probably effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 I thought the segment was great & liked the length. It felt very old school & I'm a big fan of that. Triple H is really good, I don't care what other people say. He's great. So is Bryan but for different reasons. The beginning of the show opening with Triple H adding himself to the triple-thread if he beats Bryan was a nice touch. The backstage vignette between Triple H & Stephanie McMahon did a good job of building up the man-to-man segment. For a second, I really thought Triple H was going to turn this into some scwag "respect" match. I liked HHH explaining that yeah, he was a prick, but he had to be & Bryan has earned his respect because he was still standing. You could hear the crowd audibly groan! Then Stephanie came out playing Queen B & it went up another notch. The "cops" were a great touch too. Daniel Bryan with the whole "Yes Movement!" and 1% thing from last week, then this week the cops assaulting him when he didn't do anything wrong. Not really subtle but I thought it was good. Then Hunter showed his true colors & beat the holy living hell out of Bryan, whom was already down from the police assault, with Steph screaming & cheering him on while berating Daniel Bryan the whole time. Triple H dunking Bryan in the ice water with Steph yelling "drown him!" was gold. The chairshot to the post was vicious. The handcuffed Pedigree to end it all. Great, great stuff. Also Stephanie having the handcuff keys on a necklace the whole time was also awesome. All that on top of the underlying Hardcore Fans Vs. Creative that Loss mentioned too. Just really well executed segment on a good show that built to the end. I liked it a lot. Best beatdown that I have seen since the Nexus debut. You could say that The Authority asserted their authority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheGreatPuma Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 Very scary and excellent though not perfect way to end Raw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilclown Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 Triple H was obviously looking to get some juice on Bryan but he's no Harley Race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 Let's not forget that in 2014, angles lacking crowd heat can easily be fixed through editing. They'll pick-and-choose the best moments, dub over some music, louden (is that a word?) the announcing, and boom, it looks like an effective angle when they do video packaging. He who controls the present controls the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 If you look at how Daniel Bryan got over, it was by losing big matches that he should have won where the perception was that the machine was working against him. I'm not sure about this. I don't know that Daniel Bryan's gotten any more over since Night of Champions, not that he's gotten any less over. He got super around the stretch of after Wrestlemania to Summerslam and what really got him over was just kicking ass, being intense and winning (or at least performing VERY strongly in) big matches against top guys. I don't know that the constant screw-overs have done him any particular favors; I don't know if they've done any damage either though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 I wasn't watching from Wrestlemania to Summerslam, but were people turning on segments that didn't involve him during that time and booing other people in top spots over perceived resentment for taking Bryan's spot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 The nature of how he is over has changed, definitely. It doesn't change any of your other points in that post, I just wanted to point out that when Bryan GOT over it wasn't really in the role of smark hero who is being held down. There was some stuff with Vince during the build to Summerslam but it felt very minor and tacked on really. What got Bryan over was being super intense and looking unstoppable in the ring. Even with the fans hijacking segments I'm not sure that's a sign of him being any more over than he was, just a crowd reacting to different circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted March 19, 2014 Report Share Posted March 19, 2014 Bryan before Summerslam is the story of Bryan (and co.) vs The Shield. He couldn't really get too many wins feuding with The Shield at that time, but he was portrayed strongly as the "weak link" who really wasn't, the guy going off on those incredible hot tags that were the highlight of every match (not in a "best work of the match" way, but a "the match is booked and built to highlight Bryan" way). Then HE was the guy who finally beat The Shield after six months. Then he had a mini-feud with Orton in which he got unfairly stopped, won by countout and then won the blow off by making Orton submit. It was Bryan's crazy character, the weak link stuff and his perceived momentum that got him over before Summerslam, not any kind of meta/smark/burying stuff. He wasn't being buried, it was all in kayfabe and he was being pushed. But I agree that most everything after Summerslam, especially the major events like Seattle, Rumble, EC, the cage, etc. have been about the fans being unhappy about his treatment. And that now we are where we are with this, Bryan being perceived to be pushed well or not held down will probably cool off his heat to some extent. Which is the problem with meta booking. At some point you have to put him over, and then what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted March 19, 2014 Report Share Posted March 19, 2014 I liked the segment based on it's own merit, but I think I like it because it'll be a touchstone for a generation of young fans that are mostly used to lighter fare. This will be their Andre ripping Hogan's shirt segment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Triple H was obviously looking to get some juice on Bryan but he's no Harley Race.Nah, he was protecting him big time. I'm sure both guys would have loved some blood but HHH wasn't about to try and "accidentally " hardway Bryan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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