WWE TV 5/4 - 5/10/15

[Parties]

One other bright spot this week:

 

Rowan turned heel on SD, seemingly reuniting with Harper. If this leads to Ex-Wyatts vs. Cesaro/Kidd, then all is well.

 

[Strummer]

Chris Jericho will host Tough Enough with Hulk Hogan, Paige and Daniel Bryan as panel judges. Booker T, Billy Gunn and Lita will be the trainers

[Parties]

If you had to use those six people, wouldn't you reverse the roles of those two trios? Even if Hogan's immobile, dude knows how to put a match together, and could actually be excellent at teaching rookies how to develop shtick and gimmicks. Paige and Bryan are ideal trainers. Lita is an adequate facsimile of Gwen or Christina on The Voice, Booker's better at talking than wrestling (and I wouldn't even say he's good at talking), and Billy Gunn can still collect his bimonthly DX 401K check as a judge. These assignments feel like learning how to write jokes from Prince, and how to play guitar from Dave Chappelle.

[Ricky Jackson]

The panel will be the focus like on American Idol and other shows, so of course you want Hogan on it. And Bryan and Paige get the rub by association

[Johnny Sorrow]

Billy Gunn has been a trainer for them for some time and by accounts he's a good one.

[SomethingSavage]

Not sure whether he knows exactly how to articulate it or phrase things into words, but I'm pretty confident that Hogan knows a truckload about playing to a crowd, letting big moments breathe, and not rushing too quickly from one step to another. Not gonna lie though. Part of me hopes at least one of the contestants goes into this with a "smarky online insider" attitude towards Hulk - just to get ripped to shreds for it.

 

And Sorrow's right. I wish I could remember specifically what podcast it was, but I recall somebody talking up Billy's work as a trainer in Florida & how he's a guy similar to Bobby Eaton - in that he is the type of trainer that's more about the hands-on approach. The discussion was about how some trainers - Billy being the example there - will show you how to do things, versus others that can break it down & explain why you do those things.

[Parties]

Swagger-Harper from Superstars is a reminder that Swagger still works for the company. Without Dutch, the babyface Tea Party thing is that much stranger, but We the People is still over. Swagger also has that undercard physique where WWE jobbers stop working out. Weird match in that Swagger's offense is all about throwing guys around, which didn't look right on someone who's both bigger and more agile. Harper's lariats and dropkicks are fantastic. Not a must-see, but a reminder that I'd rather see Swagger in midcard losses on RAW than most of the guys they have in that role now.

[Grimmas]

Dream tough enough casting time (all within reason)

 

Host: Steve Austin (he was awesome on the first one)

 

Judges: Jake Roberts, Trish Stratus & Bubba Ray Dudley

 

Trainers: Daniel Bryan, William Regal & Natalya

[SomethingSavage]

Sorry, Steven. But your list fails for lack of Booker T.

 

His infectious energy, off-the-wall "not sure if he's kidding" remarks, and Whoopi dreads make him a lock for ANY future panels in my opinion.

 

In fact, I think a hyped Booker would make a tremendous counterpart for a dead-serious Jake Roberts... or even a frumpy, almost apathetic Tommy Dreamer there.

[Grimmas]

Sorry, Steven. But your list fails for lack of Booker T.

 

His infectious energy, off-the-wall "not sure if he's kidding" remarks, and Whoopi dreads make him a lock for ANY future panels in my opinion.

 

In fact, I think a hyped Booker would make a tremendous counterpart for a dead-serious Jake Roberts... or even a frumpy, almost apathetic Tommy Dreamer there.

Imagine how awesome Booker T and Honky Tonk Man working together would be?

[EricR]

This was my first time paying attention to commentary in awhile, and while I know the commentary has ranged from all-time worst to woeful over the last several years, Byron Saxton working unassuming heel is fucking terrible.

[RocketCrypt]

They may as well have Ron Burgundy and Alan Partridge sitting next to Michael Cole at this point.

[EricR]

While on the announcers topic, it was bizarre hearing Michael Cole call a Koji Clutch and Blue Thunder Bomb during the Zayn/Cena match.

[Badlittlekitten]

Yeah, what was up with that? Are moves called like that on NXT? It struck me as them filtering the commentary through HHH and/or them playing around with announcing ideas.

[sek69]

My impression is that since the goal was to get Sami over strong to the Raw crowd, they had Cole actually call the moves to make him sound even more impressive (which actually works since they never do that it made what he was doing stand out).

[SomethingSavage]

It's a regular thing for Zayn's matches in NXT.

 

And Cole's referred to Cena's Proto-Plex as a "Blue Thunder Bomb" on commentary just recently. I wanna say one of the Rusev matches, but I might be wrong about the specific instance.

 

Going back to the Honky Tonk Man for a second though - when listening to the WM13 Rewind podcast from P2BNation recently, it reminded how much I dug Ferris on commentary for that short stint back in the day. Can't see them ever plugging him back in, but the guy definitely keeps up with the business & always seems to have an interest in the modern product - even when he disagrees with damn near everything that happens.