WWE TV 04/22 - 04/26: Institutionalized Insanity

[Loss]

Has anyone reported at all on Daniel Bryan? They were setting up Owens for a babyface run when he returned, so him turning tells me they were out of options and had to do it because Bryan won't be back anytime soon. 

[C.S.]

7 minutes ago, Charles (Loss) said:

Has anyone reported at all on Daniel Bryan? They were setting up Owens for a babyface run when he returned, so him turning tells me they were out of options and had to do it because Bryan won't be back anytime soon. 

I wonder if it's something as crazy as Bryan signed a one-year contract, it expired, and now they're renegotiating. 

That's certainly not something WWE would want to publicize. 

I mean, I doubt it, but that's better than the alternative.

[SomethingSavage]

I understand the reasoning behind the decision if their hand is forced & they're scrambling to cover an unfortunate development preventing Bryan from being their top heel, but fuck me running. Another KO run up top sounds like so much suck.

I'm all in favor of them giving Roman a true ace run for once, but KO as the transition doesn't feel like an ideal way to get there.

I would honestly much rather see Shane fill that spot, and I'm not even joking. That's not an ideal scenario either tbf, but at least it's something new.

Purists may cry foul over the idea of Shane holding the belt, but come on. Vince has had it, and hate the guy all you want, but he brings more credentials to the table than A LOT of active full-time guys who have gotten the belt.

Desperate times/desperate measures & all that...

[Strummer]

Has Bryan been mentioned on TV at all since Mania?  I'm pretty sure he was going to continue feuding with Kofi but they had to turn KO when they realized he(Bryan) wasn't coming back.  Babyface KO could have been pretty great. Oh well...

[Coffey]

Nothing says Main Event World Heavyweight Championship feud like Kofi Kingston Vs. Kevin Owens. 

[TheDuke]

Is Cesaro still a heel? They could have had Cesaro as a transitional champion. 

I think they should not have Bray be a full time wrestler, and instead have him do an interview pipers pit style segment each week where he interviews people from the childrens tv show set.

[SomethingSavage]

The Piper's Pit routine is so tired, and they've forgotten how it works anyway. Prichard on his podcast has talked about how guys like Christian were criticized for doing it wrong and trying to get themselves over. The idea supposedly is to get the guests & their programs over ONLY.

Piper always knew well enough that he had to be over first & foremost to get any segment over. He didn't shrink down and allow it to be ALL about the guests every time.

Furthermore, if they had competent interviewers in place to carry their weight in the vein of Mean Gene, then this role would already be occupied on a weekly basis.

And thus there would be no need for fifty-eleven forgettable Piper's Pit clones.

[sek69]

Imagine someone thinking the point of doing a Piper's Pit clone is to only get the guests over. What to people remember Piper's Pit for? The Snuka coconut incident, Piper clowning Frankie Williams, and giving a midget a mohawk.

[Coffey]

And of course the infamous Andre ripping off Hogan's crucifix & challenging him for the title at Wrestlemania. 

[SomethingSavage]

Yeah. I remember hearing Bruce go on about how the idea was for the host to be a non-factor and seem "small" among the guests. You'd figure a Piper fanatic like Prichard would know better.

But that seems to be the company line. Because that's the role they give everyone. They seem to reward gifted talkers with these Piper's Pit knockoffs and then basically cast them as neutered mediators.

[Alucard]

Yeah turning Owens back to the same old tired character he's been for the past 4 years sucks when at least a face run could've seemed somewhat refreshing. I agree that a Shane title run would be preferable, he's been highly entertaining in this heel run thus far.

[C.S.]

Kofi just won the title and you’re all already scheming to get it off him?!

IMO, the best move would be Reigns vs. Rollins next year for the Universal Title at WrestleMania (plenty of time to shift brands) - Mega Powers Explode II (Freakin’ would be the jealous bitch heel, of course).

[SomethingSavage]

The whole idea of the Kofi title win strikes me as opportunity meeting the demands of the narrative. The stars aligned just right, basically.

I mean, yeah. Kofi has done a tremendous job in the role - exceptional work in terms of commanding the crowd and keeping them with him.

But the story needed a happy ending. Kofi got the call. The groundswell itself wasn't earth-shattering or anything, but it was noticeable & significant enough to warrant a big Kofi win.

I don't think it's at all surprising if they are, in fact, already plotting out avenues to get away from him though. I feel like that was always part of the design. Purely speculation on my part, but I doubt I'm alone in that thinking.

And ANOTHER Roman/Rollins feud? Ugh. No offense, man. But that sounds horrible. It's your worst idea since at least the "money" rematch of yet another Bryan/AJ program.

Shane having an agenda to put the belt around his waist could actually feel like a natural progression of his current character arc anyway. The entitled, resentful, former prodigal son is hell-bent on getting the real top trophy. Makes sense.

He came back and instantly brought noticeable numbers with the Taker match, like him or not. Every single rivalry he engages in is at least memorable, if nothing else - going all the way back to the original X-Pac stuff.

In consecutive years at SummerSlam, he miraculously somehow made both Test and Steve Blackman seem like very over acts for the company. That's remarkable.

Kevin Owens couldn't deliver one single decent match when he was paired with AJ Styles for 8 months. Shane pulled out a damn decent match with AJ in one swing.

Then he turned around and gave Owens a better match than AJ ever did, too. Hell, the KO program was the best thing Owens has done on the main roster that didn't involve him piggybacking on Jericho's 330th career renaissance project.

In between all that, there's the BRUTAL war with Angle, this recent run with Miz, and an assortment of other fun stuff.

Say what you will about Shane, but the guy's got more on his resume than he probably gets credit for.

If Jinder can get a run for dialing in his macros & switching to keto, then surely a Shane reign isn't some outrageous possibility. I practically just thought of it tonight, and I'm convinced it already sounds like a better strategy than 90% of the stuff they've put on TV since at least 2017.

[The Thread Killer]

5 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Another KO heel run because fuck actually doing anything good with him for a long time.

Who knows how many more months of this fucker doing lazy chinlocks and saying "that's why I'm ____" and occasionally putting his "why I'm so violent" face

 

4 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

I understand the reasoning behind the decision if their hand is forced & they're scrambling to cover an unfortunate development preventing Bryan from being their top heel, but fuck me running. Another KO run up top sounds like so much suck.

 

2 hours ago, Alucard said:

Yeah turning Owens back to the same old tired character he's been for the past 4 years sucks when at least a face run could've seemed somewhat refreshing.

Could not agree with you guys more, these are exactly the thoughts I had as soon as I saw him turn.  He wasn't even done with the beatdown on Kofi and I was already rolling my eyes.  I hate Kevin Owens when he tries to pretend he's intense/scary.  If he has to be a heel, let him be a chickenshit heel.  I don't think I can watch another prolonged Kevin Owens heel angle, I really don't.  His feud with AJ Styles almost did me in.

[C.S.]

2 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

 And ANOTHER Roman/Rollins feud? Ugh. No offense, man. But that sounds horrible. It's your worst idea since at least the "money" rematch of yet another Bryan/AJ program.

It keeps Reigns away from the Smackdown WWE Title picture, which is honestly the least interesting thing they could do with him right now. I'm not saying I'd be super-excited for it, but at there's a natural history there and a built-in storyline, which is more than we can say for these forced Kofi-KO and Becky-Lacey pairings (although that's better than yet another forced Becky-Charlotte pairing even though they have years of history), or a forced transition from Kofi to [fill in heel] to Roman.

I'm not against Shane. Sure, why not? But also why? Can't they just run with Kofi and, ya know, give him a chance to actually succeed without planning his successor before his title faceplates have even had a chance to get warm yet?

I agree about "menacing" KO, BTW. It worked in NXT but hasn't worked since and definitely didn't work here.

[KB8]

In my opinion WWE would improve a thousandfold if they taught their talent how to watch a fucking TV screen properly. Every week I get stupidly and irrationally infuriated at those segments where folk are standing there craning their neck to watch a TV monitor and I tell myself it's a four second snippet of a two-three hour show and there's really no reason for me to be getting so annoyed by it and yet here we are, another week, another cloud being yelled at by this here old man. 

Owens is just about my least favourite wrestler in the entire company, and while I never actually considered Shane McMahon a viable candidate for a transitional title run, I'm already sold on that idea much more than Owens. I also get that they might've had to turn him because of something Bryan-related, but in the right circumstance I'd have been a wee bit interested in seeing babyface Owens. I have no use for heel Owens whatsoever while heel Shane has actually been pretty fun from the bits I've watched. If they ran with him v Reigns as a short program to flip the belt onto Reigns I imagine a match built around Shane trying all sorts of horse shit to win only to be inevitably crushed in the end could be sort of enjoyable. I mean, you know he'd bump like a lunatic if nothing else. 

I only saw bits of it but that Charlotte/Bayley match seemed decent. Crowd were into it down the stretch and I quite liked Bayley's sell of the leg (though I missed how the leg work came about, or even if there was any leg work to speak of).

[FMKK]

Maybe it's unlikely but surely there's every chance that Kofi goes over Owens and holds the title? I mean, they have precious few stars so why not hang on a bit longer with this run? Run him to Summerslam, then have him lose to belt to Shane with a ton of fuckery (would tie up his earlier story with Vince too) and then put it on Roman in the main of the first Fox show. 

If they give Kofi a decent run here, he can continue to be a Jericho type upper-midcard figure who can slot in anywhere and be credible with any opponent. 

[Jmare007]

Agreed. It ain't that complicated, there's no good heel to take the belt off Kofi. So basically, don't take the title off Kofi.

 

[NintendoLogic]

Saying that someone wouldn't be any worse than Jinder as champion is looking at it backwards. The goal should be to rebuild the title, not degrade it further. Kofi going over at Wrestlemania was the only sensible outcome given the build, but it was plain as day that he wouldn't have legs as the top guy when Bryan had to virtually exhaust his bag of tricks to make him look credible. Simply put, Kofi doesn't have the aura of a world champion. He doesn't come across as a larger-than-life superstar or a super tough guy, and he's not a good enough worker to compensate for his shortcomings in those areas. It might be different if Smackdown were loaded with top-tier heel workers who could accentuate him and make him look good, but the pickings are pretty slim unless Joe and/or Nakamura discover the fountain of youth. But Owens or Shane as champion would be even worse. There's no reason for the historical top title in the promotion to be a midcard comedy belt, especially with the coming move to Fox.

[Mattsdmf]

I know I’m late to the party but I don’t watch WWE tv but I do read these weekly threads. The Bray Wyatt vignette came across my YouTube feed this morning and I had to watch. I’m not sure if anyone mentioned it but I got a total Channel Zero: Candle Cove/Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared/David Lynch vibe from it. I really like the bizarre “Happy go lucky” look but something severely rotten just under the surface.

[DMJ]

I'm not sure I 100% agree. While Kofi may not have the traditional "aura," he does have a few things going for him that make me see him as a credible champion.

Its not dissimilar to Rey Mysterio, whose championship reigns some people have always frowned upon but I never felt were too cartoonish or unbelievable. Mysterio had pulled plenty of "fluke" victories before and was a veteran so his ability to pull a rabbit out of his hat and outsmart/outwrestle Angle and Orton in a match where the title goes to the first man to get a pinfall made sense to me. Plus, he had the "spirit of Eddie," right? Its pro-wrestling so I don't mind that nonsensical stuff.

Kofi is similar to me. Like Rey, he's over and that's kind of all that matters. Like Rey, its not necessarily clear how long this overness will last or even how much has to do with Kofi singularly as opposed to the popularity of the whole New Day gimmick (much like part of Rey's overness in early 06' was clearly tied to Eddie's death). Like Rey, Kofi has never been a guy who dominated opponents - but Rey had plenty of matches where he either beat or almost beat heavyweight wrestlers like JBL, Angle, Booker T, and Jericho. Over the years, Kofi won multiple IC Titles and, though he may have never dominated an Orton or a Sheamus, there's always been a hint that on his best night, Kofi could hang with anyone. Finally, and this is different from Rey, you have a little bit of a reversal on the classic heel stable vs. lone babyface story. Typically, the lone babyface has to combat the numbers game to get a fair shake at the title. With Kofi, its a twist - Kofi is backed up by New Day, who make sure Kofi's matches are on the level. Without the opportunity to cheat (because Kofi's allies prevent it), Kofi faces every challenger on a level playing field - and, traditionally, a level playing field favors the good guy. 

I know the WWE is reticent to putting Reigns back into a position of getting booed, but I say, feed Owens and whoever else to Kofi all summer. Then, give me a face/face Kofi/Reigns match. I think it would be a "buzz" match. Obviously, many fans would probably boo Reigns, but who knows? Maybe by then part of the audience would want Kofi's run to end. I don't think the WWE would do it, but to me, putting the title on Owens just to get it (eventually) onto Reigns isn't going to entertain (or "fool") anyone. At least Kofi/Reigns is an interesting dynamic. 

[KawadaSmile]

You guys think Aleister Black could be a good heel champion? Andrade still doesn't have the proper presence as a top heel despite being one of the best wrestlers in the world, and Black has the look, can talk, and is already pretty over.

[The Thread Killer]

24 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

You guys think Aleister Black could be a good heel champion? Andrade still doesn't have the proper presence as a top heel despite being one of the best wrestlers in the world, and Black has the look, can talk, and is already pretty over.

I think Aleister Black could be money if he was promoted properly, but this is WWE - so he won't be. 

He's got a fucking killer look and aura, he has an unorthodox ring style and for once they actually gave him a good ring name, music and entrance.  He's exactly the kind of character that kids would get behind. Unfortunately, we all know they're going to force him to regurgitate ridiculous, uninspired, generic, bland, over-written and over-produced promos so after a month he'll just be just like everybody else or "the guy with a lot of tattoos who kicks a lot."  His promos are weak, so he seems like a perfect candidate for a gimmick where some mystique is called for and he speaks very little or not at all...so I am sure they'll have him spouting typical WWE-speak nonsense in no time. 

He's almost unique and we can't have that.  He must conform and blend in with the rest of the unexceptional pack, because this is WWE and the brand is the star, not him.  What he needs is to trade wins with Dolp Ziggler in a meaningless mid-card feud.

[KawadaSmile]

He wasn't a silent guy in NXT either, and his promo style has been left unchanged, basically.

I mean, he will need to talk, at one point or the other. He's more concise than Bray Wyatt (his promo last night did raise some comparisons), who just went into weird tangents all the damn time and had wacky special effects, and having him cut a promo on a dark room while wearing a black shirt, with shadows covering up half his face isn't exactly bad or over-produced.

By contrast, compare his vignette with Mojo's. Dude is there busting his ass to make a promo work, with the twist that he's talking about himself, and in the latest of those vignettes, he has Luna Vachon-like makeup and a broken mirror. Still no payoff to that. They gave him more than they did with Black, yet the crowd reacted way less.

 

I'd say Aleister is set, in all honesty. We need to see if Ricochet is going to have the same fortune, as I don't think he's said a word on the main roster yet.

[sek69]

Once Kevin Dunn hears Ricochet's Kentucky-ass accent we'll be lucky he doesn't get a Hillbilly gimmick.