WWE TV 7/30-8/5

[SomethingSavage]

Well, if any of us are looking to wrestling Twitter for intelligent, argument-deciding discussion - we should all really aim a bit higher with our aspirations anyhow.

The Roman push is both fascinating and frustrating to me. Yes. It feels ridiculously tired and exhausting already. But I am a fan of the guy, his work, and especially his potential as an overall performer. But that's simply not enough to sustain my interest throughout long periods of time.

The push has seen so many missteps and restarts. The idea that I see some people putting out there - this idea that there's some long-term, epic story arc at play - I just hilarious. It's pretend. It's play time. It's an imaginary story. It's a fake narrative they've created in their own mind to - I don't know? - ease the suffering of sitting through these illogical, death march shows week after week or something.

But it doesn't exist. The epic journey is not really there. It wasn't there when people were imagining it for the Mania buildup, and it's not there now. It just isn't rooted in reality to any degree whatsoever.

Obviously, there are larger issues with contemporary booking at work as well. This trend of meta booking everything by trying to trick fans or manipulate them is just awful. Whatever happened to letting guys, ya know, BEAT people? I refuse to believe wrestlers can't still get over by simply beating guys.

Yes. It takes selecting specific guys for specific spots & roles, but it still works. It's still a simple, successful formula.

Instead, they're obsessed with nobody getting over enough to become a star without them, so everything is 50/50. Nobody really stands out much.

Sometime after Brock up & left them in 2004, Vince made the deliberate decision to stop building stars and start emphasizing the brand instead. What that has done is actually given the few true stars more leverage than ever. Rock is in a stratosphere all his own, but the likes of Lesnar, Taker, Cena, and even Jericho now have more power than ever - because none of the new batch is allowed to meet them at their level.

It has essentially created an environment where few guys ever really experience progress or momentum of any significance. They're breeding a stagnant, sterile turf where everyone on the active roster feels like they're fighting for scraps. They're all fighting over each others crumbs, because the real stars are off TV.

But the real stars are also more over, BECAUSE they're only on TV so often. They aren't falling victim to the terrible booking as often as the full-timers.

So there's a situation wherein the part-timers are the true stars, and the full-timers are the leftovers. The only way the full-timers ever feel like big deals are if/when they're allowed to interact or mix it up with the part-timers, but that rarely ever happens. And when it does, the part-timers go over anyway. And it's justified because, hey. They're more over anyway.

[DMJ]

- I thought they were chanting for Strowman at the end there? Because of the cash-in possibility? I don't know, my ears are not great, so I could be wrong.

- I also thought that the Reigns build/epic storyline existed up until WrestleMania this year. I don't think the story was as clear as it could've been/should've been, but if you look at the  broadest, biggest moments, I think it makes sense. Reigns almost beats Lesnar at WrestleMania 31. He spends the next year fighting to get one of two things - the title or another shot at Brock. It just so happens he gets sidetracked by The Authority, who have lost confidence at him being "The Guy," so, at 32, he beats Triple H for the title. Was it a good angle/storyline? No, it was a stupid, but I think there was still an idea that he had unfinished business with Brock. At 33, Reigns defeats the Undertaker and a few months later he beats Cena at No Mercy. Those two wins were supposed to make it even more clear that he was the "uncrowned"/"real" top guy in the WWE, the guy poised to beat Brock Lesnar. Then at WrestleMania 34, they shit on that concept. Was that concept just my imagination? I don't think it was. I think there were hiccups with Reigns (a Wellness Violation? The steroid scandal?) and moments where they opted to cool him a little in favor of giving some momentum to others (Balor, Strowman, etc.), but up until WrestleMania 34, the general theme of Lesnar being Reigns' last hill to climb seemed like the intention (even if it was poorly executed). Everything since April, though, tells me that that is no longer the narrative and it will be interesting in the future to debate when exactly Vince decided to turn Reigns into the next Lex Luger and not the next John Cena.

[KawadaSmile]

It all comes back to Charlotte.

[sek69]

Yeah, building up Becky to finally get her shot only to have it be a set up for Charlotte is going to be quite the sour note if it doesn't lead to someone turning. 

[WingedEagle]

The Usos & Cesaro/Sheamus just had quite the little tag team match.  Really fun TV outing.

[KawadaSmile]

Well, no surprise. Their minutes against each other at Survivor Series 2016 was absolutely magestic. 

[Jmare007]

Another amazing promo by Miz, Bryan was good too. This match is gonna be heated as fuck, can't wait.

[Strummer]

Pretty damn good promo exchange between Miz and Bryan.  The fact that Bryan can hang with him is a testament to how much he has improved as a talker.

 

and they mention Bryan's contract expiring.   Hmm...

[Jmare007]

Wasn't it reported Bryan signed for 2 years? Or did that never went further than "twitter sources"?

[hammerva]

Of course they add Charlotte to the women's title match.  Because you can't have a big match without making Becky look like a moron

 

 

[sek69]

26 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

Wasn't it reported Bryan signed for 2 years? Or did that never went further than "twitter sources"?

Twitter sources apparently. Dave said he hasn't signed anything yet but expects him to at some point.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Just as I was getting fully invested in Becky's chase for the title... as ever, shoved to the side once again.

For all those that complain about Roman Reigns being shoved down people's throats, Roman wishes he was booked as strong as Charlotte. 

[Jimmy Redman]

If Becky loses and then turns on Charlotte I am going to shoot the Road Dogg in the face.

[NotJayTabb]

You'd have to be nuts to take such a natural babyface and have her turn heel on such a natural heel...

...oh fuck, that's obviously what they're going to do.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

And then have Bayley turn heel on Sasha too.

[KawadaSmile]

Charlotte is Poochy. There is no way around that. 

I get that she is talented and works hard, but after her mind blowing feud with Sasha her matches mostly revolve around her doing silly faces and doing horrendous chops. There are some exceptions like the matches against Ruby Riot and Asuka, but the rest is "bow down to Flair" booking, pretty much.

It doesn't help ANYONE. She is not very good as face and focusing on her as the face of the division makes everyone look like a tool. It's the Charlotte and Friends show.

[Coffey]

Didn't Becky go like 7-0 to get the title shot against Carmella in the first place? Meanwhile, Charlotte was gone for like two months, and has lost to Carmella. But she randomly gets a chance to get added to the match anyway & wins it. So now Becky, after going 7-0, doesn't get her 1v1 match that she earned?

From a kayfabe standpoint, GM standpoint & babyface standpoint that's fucked up. If Paige was a heel GM it would make some more sense but right now, it just feels like bad booking. Even if it's leading to a heel turn, it doesn't make sense.

[Alucard]

1 hour ago, Coffey said:

Didn't Becky go like 7-0 to get the title shot against Carmella in the first place? Meanwhile, Charlotte was gone for like two months, and has lost to Carmella. But she randomly gets a chance to get added to the match anyway & wins it. So now Becky, after going 7-0, doesn't get her 1v1 match that she earned?

From a kayfabe standpoint, GM standpoint & babyface standpoint that's fucked up. If Paige was a heel GM it would make some more sense but right now, it just feels like bad booking. Even if it's leading to a heel turn, it doesn't make sense.

Agreed. Worst of all, that 7-0 streak included submitting Charlotte clean back in June. Charlotte just beats Carmella, which Becky just did last week too.

[Log]

I'm actually hoping that Charlotte takes the belt at Summerslam and Becky turns heel.  Then they have a match at Evolution and Becky wins it.  It'd be a pretty big deal to win the title on the first all-woman PPV.