WWE TV 5/25 - 5/31/15

[goodhelmet]

So... anything newsworthy from RAW so far?

[Parties]

The Rusev-Lana split is starting to feel like a ruse that ends in them getting back together and Rusev winning the IC title in the Chamber. Which makes no sense, but still makes more sense than that terrible segment where she dispassionately watched Ziggler get destroyed at close range.

[The Chief]

Is there any chance that Harper and Rowan jump The Matadores or Dragons and take their spot in the chamber? They seem like a perfect fit for that match.

[Strummer]

Tamina is so terrible in the ring. She was out of position for every spot in that match. Her selling is also awful. Wow is she bad

[Strummer]

that last segment was straight out of 1998

[hammerva]

I know I shouldn't give a crap about details on this crappy angle but seriously they did a contract signing on Smackdown for the last show so why does it ONLY have to be done on RAW for this show

 

Michael Cole's explanation for the awful Daniel Bryan commentary during his NXT days on this First Look of the DVD is just delusional. Just watching the promo video on the DVD is like a blueprint of how to not book a super star

[Johnny Sorrow]

So... anything newsworthy from RAW so far?

Well, I can't comment until I see the show on Hulu tomorrow, but over at DVDVR all the right people who are shitting on it tells me it was probably a good show.

[topropepodcast]

I feel like, story-telling wise, John Cena just gave way too much to Ryder tonight, given how he's presented when he's on TV. He's constantly been portrayed as the worst guy on the roster, only on the show to lose in 30 seconds to heel du jour.

[Russellmania]

I feel like, story-telling wise, John Cena just gave way too much to Ryder tonight, given how he's presented when he's on TV. He's constantly been portrayed as the worst guy on the roster, only on the show to lose in 30 seconds to heel du jour.

yeah it's almost as if he was throwing him a bone because it was a special night in his home town.

 

of course the kayfabe explanation is simply that guys are rising to the occasion every week because of their desire to win the US title.

[goc]

I miss Santino. No one else is even close to his level of making stupid WWE "comedy" actually funny.

[Parties]

I really don't mean this as a trolling question, but were there people in the 80s who got mad at Flair for making opponents look too good?

[Wade Garrett]

For me it depended on who Flair was making look good. I didn't see the Cena match but isn't Ryder off the radar completely? As in a Jobber?

[Matt D]

I think Italian Stallion would be a good Crockett comparison.

[goc]

I think Italian Stallion would be a good Crockett comparison.

Hahaha. I hope Zach Ryder secretly reads this forum.

[Wade Garrett]

I have a question for those who may know. Why did they stop the Bad News Barrett gimmick? Only to award him with the dated (always shitty in my opinion) KOTR gimmick? The guy is frozen once again from where I sit.

 

Another question I have. I was lurking over at Wrestling Classics and a poster made the comment that Rollins isn't believable as WHC because he's to small. I find that interesting considering he isn't small from what I can see. I'm still a pretty big guy at my age. I can suspend my disbelief pretty damn good with Rollins and his tactics.

 

Then again in the 60's, 70's, and 80's this point wasn't made as much by us fans back then. If you can fight you can fight. I worked as a bartender and bouncer for years and I've seen smaller guys whoop the piss outta bigger guys. Mostly because they were in better shape, quicker to the punch, and/or had some athletic/fighting ability/training. Rollins isn't a favorite of mine but I can buy him as a well conditioned and trained wrestler although he's playing chicken shit bad boy.

 

There were a lot of guys I saw live in the 70's and 80's who weren't what I would call all around big guys who were believable as ass kickers and skilled wrestlers/fighters.

[sek69]

I really don't mean this as a trolling question, but were there people in the 80s who got mad at Flair for making opponents look too good?

 

 

It was definitely something that was mentioned often, that the World Champion shouldn't be having competitive matches with jobbers. Well maybe competitive is too strong a word, but it did seem they'd get more offense in against him than they would most weeks.

[Matt D]

I have a question for those who may know. Why did they stop the Bad News Barrett gimmick? Only to award him with the dated (always shitty in my opinion) KOTR gimmick? The guy is frozen once again from where I sit.

 

 

I know I heard somewhere that they thought he was getting too over as a face so they stopped it. Same with the Cesaro swing before their turn.

[The Chief]

Even though it would make no sense, I would love an "I need to talk to Dolph" style swerve/beat down on Ziggler.

[(BP)]

I feel like, story-telling wise, John Cena just gave way too much to Ryder tonight, given how he's presented when he's on TV. He's constantly been portrayed as the worst guy on the roster, only on the show to lose in 30 seconds to heel du jour.

I like the story they're telling with Cena right now. He got destroyed by Brock, then Rusev got to him by pointing out that he's at the back end of his career. He's trying to prove that he hasn't slowed down or lost a step with the open challenge, but there's hungry new talent taking him to the limit (Neville, Zayn) and guys he used to beat handily aren't going down so easily anymore (Stardust, Ryder). How the story progresses or if it's just dropped so he can go back to the main event remains to be seen.

[goc]

I hadn't really thought about it like that, but they did clearly want to position Cena in a "Is he still as good as he used to be?" kind of way during the Rusev feud. I felt they were too heavy handed with it at first with him being referred to as an "old man" and the crowd totally not going for that narrative. As with all things WWE, a good commentary team would help further that story if that's really what they are going for.

[Seej]

So, either Dean or Roman is turning soon.....right?

[goc]

I really don't want them to turn Roman although it seems like every other person on the internet is screaming for it.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I just watched this week's NXT show. Man, it was a really great hour of wrestling TV. Everything was placed perfectly to be what a one hour studio show should be. It flew by, had matches that either advanced stories or were showcases against "job" guys, backstage stuff that made sense, recaps of the last big show, a special highlight peice about someone, and a good main event between the Champ and a lower rung guy who was stepping up against the bad guy. And then ends with another teaser for the big fight we want to see. It felt very Memphisy/ Mid South.

Oh and I'm digging Joe's music. It's fucking funky.

[Matt D]

One thing that's I saw on the newz sites today is that the WWE writers really like this PPV every two weeks format as they can set up a feud and go home with it without having to write four weeks of TV and basically go through the same motions every month.

 

At face value, this is nuts, because the conventional wisdom has been that a big problem of WWE PPVs is that there are too many and they don't have the months to build to things like they did in the 80s.

 

Having seen so much in the way of territorial wrestling, I'm wondering if this wouldn't actually be so bad. It'd be like building to the Monday night Memphis shows or Tuesdays in Portland. That said, they can't cycle talent in and out like in those days.

[Bierschwale]

They can't cycle talent, but they can use the shorter runs to minimize overexposure. Reigns doesn't have a match at EC and Orton hasn't been on TV since Payback.