Jimmy Redman Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 It's giving me flashbacks to my fantasy booked original NXT where the Pros voted on the Rookies and I had Miz organising a posse of heels to deliberately sandbag Bryan in the vote to try to eliminate him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 Strong/Itami was awesome and made 205 worth watching. It will be interesting to see how Smackdown works this top ten thing when they barely have ten acts that regularly appear on television. Agreed considering they start it off with friggin Tye Dillinger at #10, who lost to Baron Corbin just last week, while Corbin is not ranked. And the fact that Tye has barely been on TV for months.. But you see he is The Perfect 10, and just like the past two years at the Royal Rumble where he randomly drew #10, he had to be ranked #10!! This is a joke, and it's obviously hilarious!!! This is why they have a writing team!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 PWI says Vince no longer produces or puts together 205 live. Now 100% HHH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 What's the noticeable uptick on 205 Live recently, and how far back does it go? Considering giving it a look, but there's no way I'd track back to the beginning or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seabs Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 Like 2/3 weeks since Enzo got fired and they switched back to a format more like the CWC and away from all the bad soap opera arcs. The platform isn't going to make any of them stars, especially when they're isolated on their own island away from all the actual stars so they may as well just let them go out and have great matches with a little promo time here and there. There's definitely been a switch to a more wrestling focused product post Enzo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 Spud giving the 205 crew the "Ric Flair yelling at Carlito" treatment was very telling in light of the change in creative. Edit: to expand for those who don't watch the show: Spud (who is basically playing the role of HHH's avatar) is telling guys they're too talented to be wasting time doing comedy stuff and he wants them to knock it off and be the stars they are capable of being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 What's the noticeable uptick on 205 Live recently, and how far back does it go? Considering giving it a look, but there's no way I'd track back to the beginning or anything. Two weeks. Is when the new GM showed up and the tournament started. Three weeks back was when Enzo was fired and it was just a solid show, but it was really the next two weeks it took the new format of the CWC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted February 7, 2018 Report Share Posted February 7, 2018 I don't always buy everything I read online for obvious reasons, but this story about a change of control and a in direction is making sense, especially if you watch the show. I tuned into 205 Live the week Enzo was fired, and was very surprised about the quality of the matches. It was a marked improvement over the last time I had seen the show. The matches (with the exception of Itami/Gallagher) seemed different somehow. Faster paced and more action, I couldn't figure it out. Now they are saying that there has been a change in creative and the CW's are being told to just go out and do their thing unencumbered - the timing lines up and it makes sense. If you don't believe the theory, go back and watch an older episode of 205 Live (if you dare) and then watch one from the past couple of weeks, and you tell me if you don't notice a significant difference. My complaint with 205 Live was always that it existed because of the CWC but seemed nothing like the CWC. That first show after Enzo and the shows since seem much more in the spirit and style of the CWC. If it really is true, thank goodness. I will see that there have been more high quality "must see" matches on 205 Live in the past three weeks than I can remember in the entire run of the show so far. Maybe it will finally end up being the wrestling focused alternative I always hoped it would be, rather than bland generic matches with plenty of restholds, and pointless backstage skits. I'd love to see this brand succeed. I don't know if there is a big enough audience for it, but I hope there is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 No one should sell for the IT Kicks. They are supposed to be Miz' way of taunting Bryan but in kayfabe it would make sense that he isn't as good at them and if people no sell them it will garner a major reaction. You can explain Miz going back to them even though they don't work as hubris. Of course the real benefit is no one ever had to sell those shitty shitty kicks ever again. But i think no selling makes sense in a kayfabe way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZThomas Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 PWI says Vince no longer produces or puts together 205 live. Now 100% HHHWhy didn't he let HHH run it from the jump, this show would've had a better change of getting over if HHH had the book from the jump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Previously anything on the main roster (and obvious jokes aside 205 Live is the main roster) was Vince's domain. HHH getting control of anything beyond NXT seems like one of those things that you look back on and realize was the start of a major change. For Vince to allow someone else creative control like that is kind of unheard of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 205 Live has had a lot of really good to great TV matches since it started, even during the Enzo regime. Let's not forget the tear that Neville was on for months. Mustafa Ali is always good. Kendrick and Tozawa had some really intense brawls. Ditto Gallagher. Guys like Daivari and Nese are just warm bodies, but thats only two guys on a roster where everything else usually delivers. The show hasn't changed THAT much. We'll see how much interest wanes when the tournament is over. A successful cruiserweight division is one of those things that fans always ask for but when it's given to them, they don't support it. These guys aren't out there getting squashed by Braun Strowman in handicap matches every week. They're not restricted to 90 second Raw matches. Any criticisms to how they previously treated cruiserweights hasn't really applied since they launched 205. They put up with a year of great matches in front of dead crowds before hitting the panic button with the Enzo experiment. The same quality from the CWC is there, but nobody watches or cares. Does performing in front of a burnt out crowd that just sat through a Smackdown taping help? Of course not. But let's not forget that Raw crowds are dead for most of these matches too. They always have a 205 match on Main Event and it's no different there. The easy solution would be to move it to Full Sail, but they already have NXT... I've watched 205 every week since the beginning and I hope they can turn this project into a success. I just wonder exactly what fans want when they're asking for change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 I disagree with your opinion that the show hasn't changed, and I disagree that 205 Live was as good as the CWC, but I concede your point regarding Neville. His reign was not only a high point for 205 Live and the Cruiserweight Division, it was a high point for all of WWE. I agree his matches with Gallagher and Aries were outstanding, but I guess I kind of lumped them in as WWE PPV matches in my mind, not 205 Live. One of my issues with 205 Live was Gran Metalik's pointless banishment, and the overuse of Noam Dar, Tony Nese and the other Daivari. The division did badly need an influx of new blood, and it appears to be getting it - starting with Itami, and it appears to be growing on a weekly business with this tournament. If Gargano ends up here, he could easily carry this show on his back like Neville and Enzo did. I do wish they'd tape the show at Full Sail or somewhere else, but I understand why they do it after Smackdown logistically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Shane just announced the winner of Ziggler v Corbin next week gets added to the world title match Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted February 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Shane just announced the winner of Ziggler v Corbin next week gets added to the world title match Are they actively trying to sabotage SmackDown? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Ziggler to win the belt to get everyone into a tiz about not getting Styles/Nakamura until Styles wins it back on TV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted February 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Does Ziggler have dirt on Road Dogg? My God, I cannot understand why they insist on giving this many title shots to a guy that really is not shining in any aspect of pro wrestling, nor giving the extra effort. There were rumors of him winning the Rumble, and when he got #30, the crowd was nearly silent. He got eliminated to crickets, too. It's pretty clear he doesn't incite any reaction from fans other than apathy, which is awful. That's not mentioning that the pairing of him and Corbin, who's also dead in the water, is not good. Bad chemistry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Smackdown is a terrible, terrible programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Was there a shakeup on the SmackDown creative team at some stage or something? I mean, it's almost unfathomable to even imagine that this team of minds is the same crew behind that awesome run of weekly TV stretching back from summer '16 through spring '17. I get that there was a talent trade, but the shit we're seeing now seems so drastically different from everything we were getting week to week back then. Just feels devoid of any concentrated effort regarding characters or stories at this point. Everybody's sleepwalking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 I think they may have switched the Raw team and Smackdown team over at around the time of the shakeup? I feel like Ive heard that somewhere anyway. Imagine telling smarks 4-5 years ago that there would be a WWE title main event between Styles, Owens, Zayn and Ziggler and that it would be met with derision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Smackdown isn't the worst show I've ever seen or anything close, but there's no potential end game for Bryan-Shane that they can actually pull off, so I'm expecting this dissension stuff to just go on and on and on and on until they get bored with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 I think Ryan Ward was writing SD before when it was good. Road Dogg is in charge now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 From what I've seen written Road Dogg was always in charge, he just got a change in title to make it official. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Enthusiast Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 I just finished this weeks show. Other than Usos and Rusev Day, its a generally unwatchable show week-to-week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 Smackdown isn't the worst show I've ever seen or anything close, but there's no potential end game for Bryan-Shane that they can actually pull off, so I'm expecting this dissension stuff to just go on and on and on and on until they get bored with it. I feel like it's a pretty damn bad run considering what talent they have on the roster. It's not just the bad booking on screen, but the fact that people like Naomi, Becky Lynch and even Jinder can just not appear or have anything to do for weeks. A year ago they managed to book people like Natalya, Heath Slater, Rhyno and James Ellsworth into good angles and now there's just nothing going on. Charlotte was presented as possibly their biggest acquisition in the Shakeup and she's done a grand total of nothing story-wise in the 9 months or so since. Imagine having AJ Styles as your ace champion and having him bogged down as the fifth most important act in a GM plot instead of having him out there working Rusev or Mojo or Chad Gable or Kofi or any of the other acts that would benefit from having a great match with him. Imagine booking Owens and Zayn as a channel changing top heel duo when Raw last year was bogged down with the exact same boring shit on top. It may not be as bad as like, 1994 Raw but there are so many potential upsides that go unutilised and the drop off in quality in a 12 month period has been so drastic as to make it seem even worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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