WWE TV from November 2nd to 7th of 2015

[Grimmas]

Have fun.

[Timbo Slice]

Figured I'd get this started ahead of RAW. No Nikki, who is injured, depriving us of Queen's Road. Stoked for NXT this week, but that's about it. RAW's gonna have to come out of nowhere again.

[hammerva]

Nice to know that someone is still using the shitty Wrestling Society X special effects. Really going out of the way to put over a one time match. Unless the horror is that we are getting Taker vs Bray in some way at Wrestlemania is happening

[Parties]

• Increased video packages: interesting. Not as fun as inset promos, but not the worst idea either.
• Wyatt segment had me regretting going sans beer.
• Dragons vs. European Connection (oof) was very good. Pinning Barrett isn't a triumph, but they built it up, match had some heat, and they even seemed to be trying some new things in production with the match (camera angles, having the announcers go quiet for stretches). Crowd liked the faces.

[Coffey]

I'm paying very little attention to the show tonight. I find myself being more entertained browsing images on Imgur.

[Parties]

Divas match was solid if entirely predictable. Paige interview afterwards was a decent effort at getting them to boo her, but kind of one of those deals where today's workers aren't taught to read the crowd and work with the reaction they're getting. The heels who get cheered get the same flop sweat that the unpopular faces have.

 

Also: Ric Flair's offspring may be the worst promo they've had in years. Her segment with Renee was almost baffling.

[Blehschmidt]

I am wondering If we are having a "Traditional Survivor Series match" 2 weeks before Survivor Series, just so that we don't have to have any "Traditional Survivor Series Matches" at Survivor Series. You know, because there won't be time on the PPV.

[Woof]

Nice to have the Usos back. Weird that they'd introduce them second, ahead of Ryback and Dean, who were predictable allies of Roman. Of course they were probably hedging their bets that the Usos wouldn't be seen as a big deal by the live crowd.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I'm paying very little attention to the show tonight. I find myself being more entertained browsing images on Imgur.

Well, thank fucking Christ you let us know. Phew!!!

[Ready_Willing_Gable]

Good episode I thought. Loved the Wyatt stuff, fuck y'all. Hokey shit >>>

Fun main event

New Day rocking out to Seth's theme is The greatest thing of all time

Good womens match

Cesaro got one of his best reactions

v. little to complain about really. 'MexAmericans' is terrible though, though it was nice to see Swagger in a segment as it felt fresh

[sek69]

Watched episode two of Breaking Ground, and overall it wasn't bad but it's going to be hard to buy this storyline they are starting that Dana Brooke is plateauing in the ring when she's been improving leaps and bounds on NXT TV. Considering the show started with Devin's shoot firing it's not like we're supposed to believe this is stuff taped a long time ago.

 

Also the tryouts promo class with William Regal of all people supposedly impressed by the fat guy doing the Worm must have lost some context in editing. It looked like the guy just froze and decided to bust out a dance move. Points for thinking on his feet I guess, but they just showed Regal losing his shit because people weren't doing roll drills to his liking and we're supposed to believe this impressed him?

[Loss]

Swagger has shown that he can get over with the right booking, is pretty solid in the ring and has the type of background that would have made him a star at one time. I'm with Dave that he should try to get fired so he can go to New Japan.

 

I think last week and this week were better and more focused shows than I've seen in a while, even if they weren't great or anything. Charlotte was mentioned above, but I think Becky Lynch is one of the worst promos I've ever seen. Plus, she did a terrible job conveying the idea that she wanted revenge on Paige in that four-way match -- everything was just so forced because her acting is so bad. I do think Paige is tremendous though, and she's in a role that suits her well. Paige and Sasha, that's your future.

[The Chief]

Swagger has shown that he can get over with the right booking, is pretty solid in the ring and has the type of background that would have made him a star at one time. I'm with Dave that he should try to get fired so he can go to New Japan.

 

 

I always thought pairing Swagger up with Brock would have done wonders for Swagger's career. Too bad using their true stars in a productive manner is such a laughable idea to them.

 

Didn't Becky take acting classes when she spent time away from wrestling?

[Ready_Willing_Gable]

I have noticed, being a heel to Paige mostly involves sticking tongue out every 10 seconds.

[Coffey]

Swagger has shown that he can get over with the right booking, is pretty solid in the ring and has the type of background that would have made him a star at one time. I'm with Dave that he should try to get fired so he can go to New Japan.

 

His backstage segment last night with Zeb was pretty good. He was speaking better too, the lisp wasn't as bad. Honestly, I barely even noticed it at all. Maybe he's been taking speech therapy? He's a lot more enjoyable in the calm, collected manner, that's for sure.

[fakeplastictrees]

I am not going to re-write history and pretend Swagger was entertaining at any point during his career. However, he has always been a good hand in the ring and if he character was tweaked (more of what we saw on Raw) and the hokiness removed...he could be a stand out. I am not saying the man should be headlining WM or fighting for a WHC soon, but a legit showdown against Reigns, Rollins, and Brock would be good. Swagger can definitely go in the ring and has busted out stuff that legit made me say 'WOW!'. There are some people who need the corny stuff and others who should play it a bit more straight forward. Jack Swagger "The Bad Ass", I can buy into that.

[goc]

Actually Swagger WAS pretty entertaining before he won the MITB. I enjoyed fake Kurt Angle era Swagger quite a bit it was when they stripped him of his red, white & blue gear and wanted him to be super serious Chris Jericho clone that he went down the tubes. The tag team with Cesaro was a pretty good use of him too even if Cesaro was the clear star of the team.

[Wade Garrett]

I have a question for Johnny Sorrow. Are you a helicopter Mom?

[donsem43]

Didn't Becky take acting classes when she spent time away from wrestling?

 

 

She must have skipped those Dusty/Regal promo classes.

[Loss]

On the flip side, it's very possible she was actually coached by Vince to act like that.

[Parties]

Swagger is always about three to five Cesaro-level matches away from being over. He's someone who the crowd buys into when he's pushed and give up on when he isn't. WWE no longer views him as anything more than a midcarder used to elevate heels: I don't know if it was his weed bust or the idea that he failed as champ? Considering Vince's pet peeves, I'd think the lisp is what really hurt him long-term.

 

They clearly love Paige and view her as a pro who they can count on. The Tough Enough gig was the first thing that made me realize that they think of her as the lead woman going forward. HHH has sort of an Anglophile streak in him that will be interesting to see play out going forward. I wonder if maybe she sells a lot of merch? Or does well on Social and other measures of fandom? There are a lot of goths who love wrestling (hence Taker and Kane), and I can see her scratching that itch and being young enough that they see her as a long-term project.

[C.S.]

I hated Swagger at first, but he had two great periods IMO:

- His re-emergence with Zeb Colter as the xenophobic "We the People" heel. (Of course, he fucked that up with a DUI or being busted with weed, or whatever it was - I can't remember now.)

 

- His feud with Rusev where he more than delivered his end of it in the ring and got over as a proud American patriot (which even Lex Luger couldn't do).

 

My thoughts on Episode 2 of Breaking Ground:

 

- Does anyone else get the impression that ZZ was only brought back to fall on his face and fail for the sake of this show? After all, they keep harping on the theme that "not everyone will make it." That sucks if true, because he's just a kid and it seems unfair and almost malicious to set him up that way. Robbie Brookside is awesome though. I can tell he really cares about these kids.

 

- Josh (the other idiot from Tough Enough who somehow won) looked like a complete dick when he was shown outside the ring openly laughing at ZZ. It made me hate him instantly, and not in a money-drawing "heel" way. What makes this moron think his shit doesn't stink? If ZZ can get it together, he has a far bigger upside as a character than Josh ever will. (After all, as Ziggler recently said, wrestling is the least important part of the wrestling business - and that's mostly true, at least in WWE, which has always emphasized characters, storylines, and being larger-than-life.)

 

- The kid getting praised because he could do the Worm...WTF? If that's all it takes to get a key to the door of the Performance Center, I can do that too! Yeah, something was obviously lost in translation there. Bad editing? Not sure what happened, but that made no sense to me. Regal losing his shit over the roll and stance issue was funny though.

[sek69]

I love how people were pointing at ZZ getting a developmental deal as proof Dave was wrong about WWE not liking him, but they are clearly setting him up as the lazy fat kid who doesn't take THA BUSINESS seriously enough.

 

Also the repeated "It's not a job, it's a lifestyle" comments are coming off as really creepy and almost cult-like. Can you imagine what people who know nothing about wrestling must think when they hear everyone in power at the PC saying it?

[funkdoc]

that's no less cult-like than a lot of silicon valley these days, fwiw

 

witness the recent new york times story on amazon

[Log]

Yeah, the news business does that crap a lot, too. It's a great way to condition people to accept shitty pay, bad hours, bad conditions, etc. as okay since you're part of "something bigger".