Post-Summerslam Raw & Smackdown

[El-P]

I don't really see anyone on the roster to fill that role when they're gone either. WWE has a lot of great wrestlers & young, athletic guys but who is going to be the next King Kong Bundy mold of wrestler for the guys like Finn Balòr, Sami Zayn & Seth Rollins to work with? I don't feel like Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe or Bray Wyatt exactly fit the mold. Not with their styles. I've always been a fan of those sort of feuds, even if they didn't always produce the best matches, because it's such an age old story. I can see that they're gearing up for a Braun Strowman push on RAW but he's not really a monster fat dude, he's just a big monster.

 

I think "big fat guy" doesn't get in their current scheme at all in term of presentation. Kevin Owens is actually a rather decent looking guy with hipster beard and who does tons of cool shit. Samoa Joe is FAT! as Scott Steiner would say, but not that kind of fat. Braun is just a a poor version of Kurrgan.

 

But when I see Bad Luck Fale in the G1, well, yes, there are still big fat guys who can work in today's wrestling landscape. And yes, it should never go away. Pro-wrestling needs his OMG, Tenta, Bundy's and such.

[cpst]

I think there's a point to be made about the language people use. Johnny is right in so far as we don't often hear about Hunter or Vince or any other male domineering GM/boss figure "emasculating" the wrestlers. They use other non-gendered words like "burying", even though they are basically playing the same role and treating the wrestlers the same way. So clearly - at least in this specific context of wrestling power struggles - emasculating is something that a woman does to a man.

There is no example of a male domineering figure who acts the same as Stephanie. Even though the entire concept of the heel authority figure is played out at this point, both HHH and Vince have consistently been willing to create tension that is resolved by violence. Geriatric Vince was even willing to take bumps to put Reigns over a year ago. Stephanie creates conflict and introduces unilateral violence (slapping wrestlers around, slapping interviewers around, etc.) with no feasible path towards reciprocation. In the (politically incorrect) world of wrestling where one's manhood is determined by the ability to use violence to gain an upper hand in conflicts, this is emasculating.

 

Stephanie may not have real control over whether she appears on TV (the sheets have always talked about how USA wants more McMahons), but she has control over her character in a way that very few other people on the roster do, so it's more difficult to separate her skills as a performer from the tortured wrestling logic of her storylines. In the one case (the Brie Bella match) where there could have been a traditional wrestling resolution, she didn't actually go through with it. They could even combine their love of heel authority figures with the Diva's Revolution™ and create a main-event female storyline by having Stephanie antagonize Sasha Banks. I have no desire to see intergender violence, especially on WWE TV, so I'd rather they just change her character or have her character create conflicts with other women.

 

One isolated example where I remember people making similar comments about emasculation etc. was when The Rock came and embarrassed Rusev, for no real storyline purpose. In that situation it was theoretically possible that they would have a match in the future, but I don't think anyone legitimately believed that they would waste one of his matches on Rusev.

[cpst]

Kevin Owens is actually a rather decent looking guy with hipster beard and who does tons of cool shit.

Owens has an "I'm a hiding a double chin" beard rather than a hipster beard. A hipster beard would be way less sloppy.

[Johnny Sorrow]

So, Jericho is the best Professional Wrestler alive right now.

[artDDP]

I just don't like Stephanie because whenever anyone shows any potential for getting over she's booked in a segment with them where she basically walks all over the character and in some way reminds them they'd be homeless without WWE's generosity.

 

Okay, Johnny is right about one thing: Chris Jericho is the best professional wrestler alive right now. Jericho gets it in an old-school way. While Kevin Owens is witty and you can't help but laugh at his quips Jericho is trying to be as obnoxious as possible and seems completely natural.

[WingedEagle]

Call me a man-hater then, because I've got little use for Jericho once the bell rings. The character has definitely grown on me as he's adjusted his look recently, but still waiting for him to add to a match on this latest run.

[Loss]

So, Jericho is the best Professional Wrestler alive right now.

 

I love his character work right now and thought he did more to get the right reaction against Roman Reigns than anyone has been able to do in a very long time, although it was admittedly something that couldn't sustain. Still, that's an accomplishment in the current climate. I also noticed how he didn't do very much at all and was incorporating lots of schtick, at least by his usual standards of action. It may be bullshit, but Jericho would probably say he doesn't want to have a great match right now because fans appreciate great matches now and he doesn't want to be appreciated.

[Jimmy Redman]

The change in position and purpose (hey!) makes all the difference with me as far as appreciating Jericho.

 

Earlier in the year when he was supposed to be doing things like "AJ and I had these classic face vs face matches" to start it off and then even after the turn where he counters AJ at every turn and they're portrayed as equals or mirror images in the ring, having "great matches" was part of the story they were telling, and so Jericho being noticeably not very good in the ring was dragging the whole thing down. AJ looked like an idiot when he had to slow down for him, or when Jericho botched all of the moves he was supposed to be showing off, or when being pinned clean by him at Mania. His character work was fine even then, it was always fine. He just couldn't deliver on what it was promising when it came to the matches.

 

Now that he's fully positioned as an old sleaze in a tag team and it's not important for him to be keeping up in the ring with the best guys on the roster, it works a million times better and yes, he's doing great work right now.

[Strummer]

Lesnar v Orton rematch announced for the Sept 24 House Show in Chicago. Dave says it will be announced on Raw tonight

[Loss]

Announcement of a house show match on TV!

[Matt D]

If that doesn't do well, then we know Brock isn't a draw.

[Loss]

And if it does do well, we won't know if it's just hot town for WWE and "the brand".

[PhilTLL]

Night before an existing special. Could they be making another weekend out of it?

[Coffey]

We get a new champion on RAW tonight. I thought it was a tournament, not just a Fatal Four-Way match. Anyway, either Reigns, Rollins, Owens or random Cass is walking out with the belt tonight. I assume Cass is at less than 1% chance. I could see them trying Owens for awhile though. I want to see a double-turn with Roman & Seth.