Royal Rumble 2019

[KB8]

5 minutes ago, FMKK said:

This sloppiness thing doesn't bother me at all. To me, it just makes the matches look more like fights and gives them a sense of struggle that I think are absent in some of the top men's stuff. Yeah, sometimes shit looks bad but to me it works in their favour more often than it works to their detriment. And considering Ronda hasn't even been a wrestler for a year, I'm happy enough to overlook some rougher points in execution, something that can improve in time, for the aura that she brings that can't be taught.

I think that raggedness often actively offsets the fact that a lot of Rousey's matches are pretty heavily micromanaged as well. She's already incredibly good at adding cool little touches to matches and her selling is outrageously on point not even a year in, but I'm usually impressed by how her matches seem to communicate that struggle and grit even when they're apparently laid out to a tee. 

I thought Sasha/Rousey was MOTN pretty handily and that's the best Sasha's looked in aaaaaages. Asuka looked really good against Becky and Brock was incredible against a guy I have absolutely no use for whatsoever. Bryan/AJ felt like a match that might've been good but I really didn't care too much about it and I wound up thinking it was like, the fifth best match on the show. Women's rumble was rough for the first third, then there was a middle third that picked up a bit, and the final third brought it home really well. I haven't watched a lot of Tamina but she does not seem...good. Rhea Ripley looked pretty awesome and the Kacy Catanzaro stuff was fun, especially the spot where she slithered her way up the ring post back into the ring (even if those spots are sort of tired at this point. I mean, "both feet must touch the floor" is being taken more literally than ever and if your whole ass body is chucked out you should probably be eliminated). Becky shouting "put me in, Fit!" and Finlay being all fuck it then go on and the pop ruled. I still figured Charlotte was winning so it was a cool moment when Becky actually pulled it off. 

[Mad Dog]

Tamina is a danger to everyone and has no business in a wrestling ring. She's also been a wrestler for like a decade. 

[El-P]

8 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

Tamina is a danger to everyone and has no business in a wrestling ring. She's also been a wrestler for like a decade. 

She hasn't killed any of her boyfriends at least. That's one over her father.

[KawadaSmile]

Tamina is cool, dawgs. I mean, she isn't good, but at the same time I find her latest run to be mostly harmless. Can't say she's made progress like Dana, either, but she's not "ruining" anything.

[Mad Dog]

I'm sure she's a nice person. Accounting might just be a better career goal. Though I think she's pushing 40.

[NintendoLogic]

7 hours ago, FMKK said:

This sloppiness thing doesn't bother me at all. To me, it just makes the matches look more like fights and gives them a sense of struggle that I think are absent in some of the top men's stuff. Yeah, sometimes shit looks bad but to me it works in their favour more often than it works to their detriment. And considering Ronda hasn't even been a wrestler for a year, I'm happy enough to overlook some rougher points in execution, something that can improve in time, for the aura that she brings that can't be taught.

There's a difference between sloppiness that conveys a sense of struggle and sloppiness that exposes the business. Sasha's quarter-speed armdrags are an example of the latter. And while we're at it, let's admit that Ronda's punches are Shane McMahon tier.

[Mad Dog]

5 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

There's a difference between sloppiness that conveys a sense of struggle and sloppiness that exposes the business. Sasha's quarter-speed armdrags are an example of the latter. And while we're at it, let's admit that Ronda's punches are Shane McMahon tier.

Her body punches are good. Them having her throw punches in general is dumb as her lack of boxing skills is what ended her MMA career. 

[Mad Dog]

There was just too much shit on this show. If I was booking this show this is what I would have done:

1. Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

2. Men's Rumble

3. Ronda Rousey vs. Sasha Banks

4. Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor

5. Women's Rumble

[DMJ]

^ Eesh. No Bryan/AJ? That was my favorite match.

As someone else said, I think AJ/Bryan suffered from a deadish crowd - but really, I've seen deader. Like, a whole lot deader. It also may have been more of the stadium's fault than the crowd actually not being into it. Not dissimilar to the previous night's Takeover where, to me, it felt like the crowd was dead from beginning to end. Also, just to shit on Rollins a bit, a key difference between the reception AJ/Bryan got and what Rollins/Ambrose and Rollins/Ziggler got on their big PPV matches a few months ago is that, during AJ/Bryan, the crowd (in a baseball stadium) seemed to only pop for the big spots and were arguably burnt out after Lynch's victory...but with Rollins/Ambrose and Rollins/Ziggler, it wasn't a volume issue, it wasn't that they had some big cathartic moment before their match, it was fans actively doing smart-ass "countdowns" and "boring" chants. 

Also, just to add this - even if you watch a show in chunks, a good match is a good match. I watched the show in chunks. Bryan/AJ was great. Ronda/Banks was great. Becky/Asuka was great (though, I don't understand the booking there). Balor/Brock was great.

I was fresh for the Women's Rumble and the first half was not great. I was plenty fresh for the Men's Royal Rumble and I found it tedious and, at times, very poor. Didn't Ziggler tweet that he wasn't working it? The final four being four guys that are so cold (or a relatively new heel like Andrade) and the crowd doesn't even bother to get behind any of them? The poor taste of the Nia segment? I don't care how fresh you are going into watching that Rumble, it wasn't one I'd consider good. 

[Mad Dog]

I originally had that instead of Asuka/Becky but that was essentially to the women's Rumble so I went with it instead.

[NintendoLogic]

The more I think about it, the more Lesnar destroying Balor after their match bothers me. The main issue for me isn't that it made Balor look like a geek who didn't belong in the ring with the real stars, although WWE doesn't exactly have a surfeit of genuine top guys. It's that it completely negated the story of the match. Lesnar not being able to hit the F5 due to the injury to his abdomen and having to win with the kimura was a fantastic story, and it went right down the drain when he started tossing Balor around with no ill effects.

[FMKK]

5 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

The more I think about it, the more Lesnar destroying Balor after their match bothers me. The main issue for me isn't that it made Balor look like a geek who didn't belong in the ring with the real stars, although WWE doesn't exactly have a surfeit of genuine top guys. It's that it completely negated the story of the match. Lesnar not being able to hit the F5 due to the injury to his abdomen and having to win with the kimura was a fantastic story, and it went right down the drain when he started tossing Balor around with no ill effects.

That would work as a finish if it was the first match in a longer feud where Balor eventually gets his win but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen...