Extreme Rules 2019

[Strummer]

According to Dave on WOR the Raw reunion show was USA's idea in response to the low ratings 

[SirEdger]

Historically, are those reunion shows pulling great ratings for USA?

[sek69]

4 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Historically, are those reunion shows pulling great ratings for USA?

I seem to recall that they were, but it's short sighted. They can't bring back legends every week since it's been proven nostalgia quickly has diminishing returns, and very few fans that come back for those shows end up sticking around past that week.  Basically they get one decent rating then it's back to normal. Plus they're about a month and a half away from football coming back and murdering their ratings.

[DMJ]

Just finished the show this morning so I thought I'd add some notes/thoughts...

- What happened to Philly? I really expected a more lively crowd, the kind of audience that takes a "so-so" show and pushes it into being something special. Instead, it felt like the audience just didn't care about anything, totally indifferent to the positives and the negatives. I was expecting them to really shit on the main event and the crowd certainly wasn't into it...but they weren't into much of anything. Even Lesnar's cash-in, after the initial pop, got a somewhat muted response (despite loud "We Want Lesnar" chants during the two main events).

- Black/Cesaro was a great match - - with no story behind it aside from Cesaro being on a 3-week hot streak and Black wanting someone to "knock on his door." Could you imagine if Cesaro had been on a roll for 2-3 months? If Black had been dispatching fools left and right? If this was actually a "collision course" type match between two guys that had been built up to the point where people actually wondered who would win/lose? I really love Cesaro and like Black and liked this match...but this was a "Good Match For Good Match's Sake" match and that is never going to be my favorite version of pro-wrestling.

- The Usos unexplained, lazy face turn hasn't yielded anything fresh out of them and The Revival, as good as they are/might be, are currently enjoying one of the all-time worst tag title reigns in company history. Like, if you listed all the WWE Tag Team Champions over the years, where would they rank? Surely they'd be above teams like Cade & Murdoch and The Bashams...but if you ignore the excellence of their NXT run, have they even surpassed a team like Kendrick & London? Or, in terms of overness, La Resistance? A Cold Babyface Team vs. Neutered Heel Team can kill themselves delivering a great match, but the result is still going to be a nothing match.

- I'd care about Joe and "bite" more on his matches if he actually had a history of ever winning the big one. But he doesn't. So I don't. Imagine if they'd actually let him beat AJ for the title a few years back or, even crazier thought, put Lesnar to sleep. He has no credibility.

- Last month, Ziggler was challenging for the WWE Championship. This month he gets squashed in under 30 seconds. I'm not saying Ziggler deserves better - but is it too much to ask for some consistency? The quality control aspect of Vince's booking has absolutely never been worse. I know its a different era, but could you imagine Triple H or Kurt Angle failing to beat The Rock or Austin for the WWE Championship on a PPV in 99' and then, a month later, doing a 5-second job to Val Venis? Owens is a world-beater now? How? When did that happen? Dude just lost to Kofi clean a few months ago. Ziggler jobbing to Braun makes sense. Ziggler jobbing to Brock after 1 F5 would make sense. Even Reigns catching him with a spear and a quick pin would make sense. But Owens is gonna start squashing people now? With a tired old neckbreaker? FFS. 

On the positive side, I actually dug the SmackDown Tag Match, the SmackDown Women's Title Match, AJ/Ricochet, and Braun/Lashley a good deal, so its not like I just watched the show to "hate watch" it. There are things I did enjoy.

[NotJayTabb]

I think comparing KO to Val is downplaying Owens a bit. He's a former world champion and has been an upper card player for his entire run. Yes he lost to Kofi, but Kofi is the world champion and is getting a good run with the belt. Plus KO has just turned face, and the pushed face always outsmarts the heel. Here, Dolph was caught unawares by a Stunner, which is a death move in WWE canon  - and the pushed face won.