WWE TV 17/12 - 23/12 WWE stands for Women's Wrestling Entertainment

[SirEdger]

She's been training at the WWE PC as of a few weeks ago. She was spotted with guest trainer Mike Quackenbush.

[Dad]

Outside of the standard opening, SD killed RAW this week. I just don’t know how much more I can stomach RAW. 

[FMKK]

15 hours ago, Strummer said:

going further I think Bryan's mania opponent has to be Rey or Jeff Hardy.  Unless they bring over another babyface from Raw or call someone else up

The fact that they out Rey over Orton on Sunday (when it seemed like they were building up to push him again) makes me think they're going in that direction. Rey vs Bryan is something I've been dying to see for a while and it would be incredible if they did a mask vs hair/beard match to cap of the feud when they get to it.

 

I'd love to know how much of Bryan's stuff is coming from him because the promos all seem like his own words but also the way he's working the matches and the fact that he's putting over Ali makes it seem like he's got a lot of control over his own booking.

[fakeplastictrees]

It was reported that Bryan had a lawyer for this round of contract negotiations. Everything he has done seems to have come from the Hogan Hulk like creative control he has. Since coming back Bryan has worked with his wife, been world champion, and essentially working matches and programs he wants and doing it the way he wants (Styles, Almas, Ali, etc.). Obviously money was a factor, but I think for Bryan it came down to not wanting to be another cog in the WWE machine and actually do something as a lot of WWE contracts aren't about keeping talent to better WWE, but rather preventing talent from going elsewhere and potentially bettering another company.

Bryan vs. Mysterio in a hair vs. mask match at Mania would be awesome! Bald Danielson would be the ultimate dick we need in 2019! Now that I wrote that out, I don't want to see anything else. #BaldBryan 

[DMJ]

I'd be immensely surprised if Bryan has "Hogan-like" creative control. I just don't see Vince ever agreeing to that for Bryan. 

I'm gonna go "Occam's Razor" here and guess that Bryan, someone fairly universally liked by most accounts I've read, may have fans and supporters in top Creative positions on SmackDown and he's pitching them the ideas that he thinks will make the show better.  They're trusting him because, well, his ideas do seem to be good for the show and are somewhat low risk (its not like he's booking himself as the next Goldberg, just destroying people left and right). He wasn't setting the world afire as a babyface anymore, so, he probably requested a heel turn and ran down a slew of guys he'd like to work with - from AJ to Rey to Ali to (I wouldn't be surprised) even The New Day. 

Bryan strikes me as a creative guy, like a Jericho, who has enough pull to say, "Hey, I want to work with ____. We're gonna tear the house down. Just give us 12 minutes." And then, when the live reaction is strong and it works, the producers are more likely to hear his ideas and collaborate. Maybe even the same writers/agents/producers who helped make him a mega-star 2-3 years ago are still around and have even more clout and, justifiably, believe that if they continue to collaborate and take in his ideas, they can strike gold again.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think its a simple as Bryan exercising Creative Control to make his (and only his) storylines good. The fact that the rest of SmackDown has also been pretty good and interesting while RAW has been objectively terrible makes me think that there are teams of writers/agents/producers attached to each show and one team is just more open-minded, organized, and willing to play to wrestlers' strengths (rather than Vince's personal tastes) more.

[sek69]

So after announcing Asuka vs Becky for the Rumble on Main Event (which was an odd place to do it), WWE decided nah to that. 

[Strummer]

man this is really turning into late 2013/early 2014 DB with Becky here.  John Pollock says the original plan for Rumble was Becky v Asuka but plans changed due to Becky's rise presumably.

 

Obviously the original plan was for Charlotte to win the Rumble and face Ronda at mania.  Now they are having to re think things obviously

[Jmare007]

After TLC it seemed they were going for a Ronda vs Charlotte vs Becky main event for Mania. I understood the "concern" about Asuka/Becky pointing into another direction (that's just how WWE has trained fans to think), but considering they have 2 more PPVs before WM, they have more than enough time to book around Lynch doing other things in January.

 

[Blehschmidt]

If they don't want another replay of the Batista/Daniel Bryan Rumble situation in Pittsburgh, they better have Becky Lynch winning that thing.

[Jmare007]

They should just re air this on Tuesday. Fantastic 10 minutes and character building.

[SmartMark15]

42 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

They should just re air this on Tuesday. Fantastic 10 minutes and character building.

The best part about this whole gimmick is that none of it feels too distant from what the man himself might think or say. It adds a layer of legitimacy to Bryan that is truly what many, many people are lacking in this day and age.

Miles away from Bob Roo screaming GLORIOUS all the time, for example.

[artDDP]

On 12/17/2018 at 9:15 PM, Strummer said:

Reports that people left in droves before they started taping the Christmas Eve Raw tonight 

I was there and this is true. They only announced it to the crowd once that I remember--15 minutes before the show began and the arena wasn't nearly full by that point.

The taping lasted two full hours and more and more people were leaving the longer it went. It will be interesting how they hide this on TV since they really didn't dim the lights.

There were no McMahon segments during the taping, backstage or otherwise. Something might be edited in during the broadcast.

[SomethingSavage]

Bryan's heel act has been incredible thus far. He feels like a total breath of fresh air. It's the person using his voice to convey his thoughts & present his personality - only in fictionalized settings. That's it. That's why it stands a chance to resonate and strike real, raw nerves. It isn't robotic, monotonous verbiage or white noise wrestling nonsense. I'm honestly loving it.

And I'd love to see Bryan zero in on a specific target. It feels like he would greatly benefit from having a counterbalance - a Steve Austin to his Bret Hart, basically. As great as the matches are with him, AJ isn't that guy (strictly from a character standpoint).

Maybe it's Rey? I mean, yeah. I realize that sounds like fan service fantasy booking that's already on the minds of people, but that could absolutely work. Rey & his masks representing the sort of consumerism that triggers Bryan to then set out on a relentless mission to remove said mask (and legacy, and heritage, etc.) from Rey permanently? I'm on board with that.

I'm sure there are other candidates. Jeff Hardy is actually pretty exceptional in getting angles over also, and he has a proven track record in similar situations - with Punk in 2009 obviously, and later in an underrated program (with a fun premise) against Kurt Angle in TNA. I'm not even kidding. I could see Jeff being the popular contrast to Bryan, if necessary.

Bryan's character is so ripe with potential that it basically enriches the turf all around him. It's amazing. And, just like with Becky, I truly hope they don't squander it for the sake of proving some goofy point or keeping 50/50 booking intact or whateverthefuck.

[DMJ]

1 hour ago, SomethingSavage said:

I'm sure there are other candidates. Jeff Hardy is actually pretty exceptional in getting angles over also, and he has a proven track record in similar situations - with Punk in 2009 obviously, and later in an underrated program (with a fun premise) against Kurt Angle in TNA. I'm not even kidding. I could see Jeff being the popular contrast to Bryan, if necessary.

 

I'd have no problem with Jeff Hardy getting that spot. I'm not a huge fan or anything, but in terms of star power, he's often (unfairly) kept out of the conversation of Most Popular of the past 20 years when I think one could argue he's in the top 10 for babyfaces. I can't relate to it personally because to me he always struck me as a Hot Topic goth, but guy was considered somewhat of a heartthrob in the early 00s, the crazy stunts he did endeared him to a lot of fans, and he's been able to maintain that fan connection for 20 years now. 

If I was fantasy booking things, though, I'd like to see Bryan feud with Big E. New Day are walking billboard ads for useless crap (sugar-loaded cereal, cheap tee-shirts, etc.) and Big E just needs a "serious feud" or two to breakout. Plus, they already had a pretty good bout a few months back. I think it could happen, but I'm not sure if they're confident enough to do it at Mania.

[Strummer]

I didn't buy the creative control stuff when Bryan re-signed this past summer but with this character and these promos I'm starting to believe it's valid.  I can't believe this is something Vince would come up with or even green light if he had the option

[Captain Redneck]

5 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

Bryan's heel act has been incredible thus far. He feels like a total breath of fresh air. It's the person using his voice to convey his thoughts & present his personality - only in fictionalized settings. That's it. That's why it stands a chance to resonate and strike real, raw nerves. It isn't robotic, monotonous verbiage or white noise wrestling nonsense. I'm honestly loving it.

And I'd love to see Bryan zero in on a specific target. It feels like he would greatly benefit from having a counterbalance - a Steve Austin to his Bret Hart, basically. As great as the matches are with him, AJ isn't that guy (strictly from a character standpoint).

Maybe it's Rey? I mean, yeah. I realize that sounds like fan service fantasy booking that's already on the minds of people, but that could absolutely work. Rey & his masks representing the sort of consumerism that triggers Bryan to then set out on a relentless mission to remove said mask (and legacy, and heritage, etc.) from Rey permanently? I'm on board with that.

I'm sure there are other candidates. Jeff Hardy is actually pretty exceptional in getting angles over also, and he has a proven track record in similar situations - with Punk in 2009 obviously, and later in an underrated program (with a fun premise) against Kurt Angle in TNA. I'm not even kidding. I could see Jeff being the popular contrast to Bryan, if necessary.

Bryan's character is so ripe with potential that it basically enriches the turf all around him. It's amazing. And, just like with Becky, I truly hope they don't squander it for the sake of proving some goofy point or keeping 50/50 booking intact or whateverthefuck.

What about a babyface Miz? He's all about being a star & Hollywood, which is the complete opposite of Bryan.

[Badlittlekitten]

1 hour ago, Strummer said:

I didn't buy the creative control stuff when Bryan re-signed this past summer but with this character and these promos I'm starting to believe it's valid.  I can't believe this is something Vince would come up with or even green light if he had the option

Maybe he’s just been given leeway to come up with some of his material. You know, just like Becky Lynch is.

[Jmare007]

54 minutes ago, Captain Redneck said:

What about a babyface Miz? He's all about being a star & Hollywood, which is the complete opposite of Bryan.

Miz should never be a babyface. I loved their interaction after Bryan's turn though, Miz constantly wanting to hear D-Bry admit he was right all along and DB trying to move along the conversation was awesome. Those two are gold no matter what, but a face Miz after a Bryan feud would probably die a death fast.

[SomethingSavage]

Big E is a good shout and a fun option, but it seems like the sort of program that would be required to level up Big E first & foremost. Nothing wrong with that per se, but it's the sort of program that occurs between the big shows mostly - rather than being featured as a pillar.

That being said, I *did* use the Austin/Bret comparison, and that's precisely how their program was designed. So there ya go.

But I feel like the money feud would be with Cena. There's a laundry list of reasons, but if Bryan wanted to lean into his disdain for cheap merch, bright shirts, and commercialism? Then yeah. There's no bigger target (and possible top-tier rival) than Big Match John himself.

[TheDuke]

Did anybody here end up watching Tribute to the Troops? How was it?

[Alucard]

On 12/30/2018 at 5:11 PM, TheDuke said:

Did anybody here end up watching Tribute to the Troops? How was it?

Decent, just four basic tag matches with the first three being 6 minutes or less and the main going 10 but nothing really standout.

Ronda/Natalya vs Nia/Tamina vs Riott Squad (this was the most fun match of the show I thought)
Balor/Elias vs. Lashley/McIntyre
Becky/Charlotte vs. Sonya/Mandy
Styles/Rollins vs. Bryan/Ambrose