WWE TV 2nd - 8th April 2018 (Wrestlemania Go Home Shows)

[sek69]

Shane's pretty much been the heel this whole program. He's gone out of his way to fuck over KO and Sami at every opportunity.

[El Dragon]

Meanwhile, 205 put on the best go home show the company had this year. Kalisto vs. Murphy was amazing stuff.

[EricR]

Charlotte/Natalya had a great fight over an abdominal stretch, awesome struggle, elbows being driven into body parts to force a reversal, necks getting shoved at a painful angle, cool attention paid to a usual time killer.

[Alucard]

Shane's pretty much been the heel this whole program. He's gone out of his way to fuck over KO and Sami at every opportunity.

 

Only in response to KO trying to kill his father and Sami causing him to potentially cripple himself.

[C.S.]

Hulu sucks - or rather, the WWE intern who edits Raw for Hulu sucks. The Hulu version of Raw cut out an entire portion of the supposed MOTY candidate between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. While I doubt I would have rated it as highly because I don't rate the mechanical, bland Balor very highly, I did like what I saw.

 

On a side note, Miz's commentary - "Balor Club? I'm in the Dad Club" - was amazing.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

I love this Sami/KO promo. Nothing that special about it, just them being shitheads and riling folks up. Heel Sami is such a treat.

 

I thought this was the best part of the show really. For two people that were 'fired', I would've liked them to at least keep up the illusion a bit more by having security come out sooner but appreciate you actually need to have had the mics not shut off instantly for them to get the promo out. I liked the delivery - especially from Sami - and the words felt so much more authentic than for example listening to Bobby Roode on commentary for the Rusev/Jinder match.

[WingedEagle]

Hulu sucks - or rather, the WWE intern who edits Raw for Hulu sucks. The Hulu version of Raw cut out an entire portion of the supposed MOTY candidate between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. While I doubt I would have rated it as highly because I don't rate the mechanical, bland Balor very highly, I did like what I saw.

 

On a side note, Miz's commentary - "Balor Club? I'm in the Dad Club" - was amazing.

 

Don't lose too much sleep over this one. Rollins/Balor was definitely good and probably the best TV match in some time, but MOTYC is a bit of a stretch. If you had Monday off, you'd be hard pressed to call it match of the weekend. Can certainly check it out in full on YT or the Network when its up.

 

It probably didn't matter much by the end, but it didn't help that they went split screen and muted the match to air a WM hype video before even going to a commercial. I get it, but we've got 2 hours of previews & videos coming on Sunday. But I guess those are the priorities these days.

[Loss]

Caught Smackdown highlights later in the evening last night. Sami Zayn was on fire!

[SomethingSavage]

What's worth checking out from Smackdown? I'm considering catching the whole show for a change, which is something I haven't done since the superstar shakeup or whatever last Spring. But, if I can just cherry pick as usual, then I'll likely do that due to time constraints.

 

And yeah. Maybe the work just all bleeds together for me lately, but I didn't find the Balor/Seth bout to be must-see or anything. The finishing stretch was fun, but the rest felt like business as usual.

 

I'll gladly label myself as disconnected from much of the current product though - and that's ESPECIALLY evident in the case of both Balor and Rollins. I feel like there's absolutely no reason to invest in these characters. Who are they supposed to be? What are their voices? What's their identities? They're so devoid of any personalities or individual traits at this rate. It's reached an all-time low for me lately. Slapping a handful of nicknames on these guys just doesn't equate to anything tangible or meaningful enough for me.

 

I'd prefer a mid-nineties style match - with less near-falls or close calls - if it meant getting a pinch of personality from these guys. I don't know why it's become the preferred industry standard to do things this way now, but it really drains the life out of the product for me. The only gimmicks left are "athlete" or "childhood dream come true", and it's all such sleep-inducing stuff. I get that the work is enough for some people, but it's the age of prestige TV. There's just too much other quality television out there for me to spend thirty minutes watching guys go through the motions, just for the sake of showing that they can. It's "time-killing wrestling" that ultimately leads nowhere and serves no larger purpose - other than padding out the length of a match, because critics call for great matches to be a certain length.

 

Ultimately, that's why I'm grateful for the Goldberg run from last year. I'm holding out hope that it leads to some more big fight sprints. Unfortunately, I think it's just a service being paid to Brock and Goldberg - and it's highly likely that matches just keep being twenty minutes of time-killing wrestling, followed by the finishing stretch that actually matters to the direction and course of the story.

[KawadaSmile]

What's worth checking out from Smackdown? I'm considering catching the whole show for a change, which is something I haven't done since the superstar shakeup or whatever last Spring. But, if I can just cherry pick as usual, then I'll likely do that due to time constraints.

Bryan putting out his best promos ever and the tag team division being absolutely amazing. Usos, New Day and Bludgeon Brothers are going to give us some amazing stuff. Gable/Benjamin and Rusev/English also were good tags.

 

Other than that... not much. AJ/Nak had a nice and different build, but neither of them did a lot of interesting things. The same applies to the majority of the roster, which is criminal when you think about the fact that they have Becky Lynch and Naomi doing NOTHING.

[Grimmas]

I don't see how you don't have Sami/KO lose and have El Generico show up in the company with KO doing some masked interrupter for him gimmick maybe make him the new Friday?

[peachchaos]

Oh, Shane was cleared to work Mania? That's highly disappointing.

 

I was really looking forward to Kane for some reason.

[SomethingSavage]

Who's considered the favorite to win the Andre battle royal this year? Anyone? I realize it's not highly regarded or anything, but Christ. It's almost become a career jinx to win the thing.

[DMJ]

Maybe the work just all bleeds together for me lately, but I didn't find the Balor/Seth bout to be must-see or anything. The finishing stretch was fun, but the rest felt like business as usual.

 

...

 

It's "time-killing wrestling" that ultimately leads nowhere and serves no larger purpose - other than padding out the length of a match, because critics call for great matches to be a certain length.

 

Completely agree about Balor/Rollins. The best part of that match was The Miz on commentary and even he struggled to add any color to these bland, vanilla performers. His best lines were mostly about his newborn. I'm hoping The Miz retains the title on Sunday.

 

I also think Balor/Rollins benefitted from a "Stockholm Syndrome" audience response where you have a captive live crowd that wants to see a "great match" and wants to get a "This is Awesome" chant going and then gets two guys with big reps that know how to pace a 20-minute match for the crowd in attendance. It might have been awesome in-person, but on TV, I found it tedious.

[FMKK]

 

Maybe the work just all bleeds together for me lately, but I didn't find the Balor/Seth bout to be must-see or anything. The finishing stretch was fun, but the rest felt like business as usual.

 

...

 

It's "time-killing wrestling" that ultimately leads nowhere and serves no larger purpose - other than padding out the length of a match, because critics call for great matches to be a certain length.

 

Completely agree about Balor/Rollins. The best part of that match was The Miz on commentary and even he struggled to add any color to these bland, vanilla performers. His best lines were mostly about his newborn. I'm hoping The Miz retains the title on Sunday.

 

I also think Balor/Rollins benefitted from a "Stockholm Syndrome" audience response where you have a captive live crowd that wants to see a "great match" and wants to get a "This is Awesome" chant going and then gets two guys with big reps that know how to pace a 20-minute match for the crowd in attendance. It might have been awesome in-person, but on TV, I found it tedious.

It was an entertaining match but both are them are PlayStation wrestlers to me for the most part.

[Blehschmidt]

Who's considered the favorite to win the Andre battle royal this year? Anyone? I realize it's not highly regarded or anything, but Christ. It's almost become a career jinx to win the thing.

 

I think Elias is the favorite at the moment, but since they like to have big dudes win it and this is about the time he was supposed to return from injury, my money is on a Big Cass return for the win.

[Matt D]

 

Who's considered the favorite to win the Andre battle royal this year? Anyone? I realize it's not highly regarded or anything, but Christ. It's almost become a career jinx to win the thing.

 

I think Elias is the favorite at the moment, but since they like to have big dudes win it and this is about the time he was supposed to return from injury, my money is on a Big Cass return for the win.

 

Joe has to be up there too.

[Loss]

Was Balor-Rollins an all-time classic? No. But it says a lot about how high the standards are when that match isn't considered must-see.

[C.S.]

I think I've found a kindred spirit in SomethingSavage. What he posted above is exactly how I feel about wrestling.

 

Edit: This post, not the Andre question.

[WingedEagle]

Was Balor-Rollins an all-time classic? No. But it says a lot about how high the standards are when that match isn't considered must-see.

 

Standards or volume?

[Loss]

Perhaps a combination of both. To me, a 3* match is must-see.

[Matt D]

I fully believe that there are probably easily two dozen 3* matches globally every month right now, even in styles (or with flourishes) I don't personally care for. That may even be low. There's a lot of wrestling.

[WingedEagle]

Perhaps a combination of both. To me, a 3* match is must-see.

 

I'd agree, and went even higher on Balor/Rollins. But when WWE puts out 7+ of weekly TV (when factoring in NXT and 205) along with relatively easy access to a host of other promotions, I wonder where even the type of hardcore, compulsive fan who makes his or her way here draws the line. I'm current on WWE and NJPW, but quite behind on Stardom and have a list of recent matches from other promotions I hope to get through, and that's before even mentioning older footage.

 

This is indeed a first world wrestling problem, but a problem nonetheless.

[SomethingSavage]

Perhaps it's more of a personal tastes issue among the fan base. I really don't know. But I find it hard to rate a match too highly if I'm so disconnected from the participants involved. If it's just some guys out there performing acrobatic spots without much sense of a struggle or story, then I'm not going to feel dialed in or deeply invested. For me, that's every bit as much of the problem (maybe more so) than the super saturated scene or overabundance of quality wrestling that's so easily accessible and so readily available these days.

 

The bar has been raised. There's no denying that. But there's also this issue that the workers are putting more and more emphasis on memorizing their spots, on getting their shit in, and on wowing the crowd than ever before. They're all out there working for a rating or a review, and it feels so blatant and so transparent in just about every little motion they make. Call me crazy or out of touch or whatever, but I greatly prefer the less is more approach.

 

I feel like these guys would greatly benefit from fine-turning their characters and sharpening the edges on their gimmicks first and foremost. That's what gets you over - REALLY over. Guys like Balor and Rollins will NEVER strike a raw nerve or pull on any emotional strings in their current incarnations. There's just NOTHING to them as characters. There's zero reason to care. So, although these guys are willing to kill themselves for your entertainment, there's no reason for the people to actually give a shit whether they crash and burn or succeed or whatever. It's all so hollow. Their fate means nothing. Their struggle means nothing. Their wins or losses mean nothing. Because, not only will they just do it all again next week, but their motivations are never clear or pronounced or anything.

 

Basically, to bottom line it - everyone's working harder instead of smarter. Maybe these guys wouldn't need to break their backs on this never ending treadmill of rematches - hoping and praying to get a response, ANY kind of response - if they actually took the time and the care to polish their characters first and foremost. *THEN* do the work. It's like they've all bought into this mentality that it's lazy or a sign of a poor worker to go that route when, in fact, it makes the current crop look like a bunch of try-hards. They're so eager to please the reviewers and the critics.

 

It's true. The actual work throughout much of the Attitude Era outright stunk. But the stories and the characters reached people and resonated on a personal level. Now the pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction. It's a case of overcompensating, and now we're stuck with these guys performing incredible athletic feats and exchanges - but it's absolutely devoid of any story or character or purpose. It's just matches for the sake of matches. And hey. If you're into wrestling for that sort of thing, then this is the peak of what it can be for you.

 

But it's masturbatory, time-killing wrestling. It's a bunch of motion for the sake of movement. But it's leading nowhere. It's not about making the most out of anything. It's not about demonstrating personalities or rivalries anymore. It's just trading and exchanging and "performing." I don't know. Like I said, I'm really removed from most of it. And I've got no problem admitting that.

[Loss]

I don't disagree with any of that.