Alucard Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 1 hour ago, Rocco said: I don't get the appeal of the Street Profits at all. Seem super annoying to me. Agreed, can't stand them. I'll watch AEW when their match is on nxt. Thought Lawler was carrying things on commentary early on when there were moments of dead air and there were some awkward moments throughout. Not terrible, not great, but I'm a Cole fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallmike Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 55 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: What did you guys think of the annoucing team? Thought it was a breath of fresh air, and I for one am glad Lawler is old as fuck because his lack of energy spared us of some really bad comments. The bickering being gone was a big improvement, but man, Dio Maddin was just a frickin BLOB out there. I'm sure a lot of it was nerves, but he added fuck-all to the show, save the LARPing stuff, which wasn't exactly a positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 5 hours ago, C.S. said: Bobby Lashley is someone I could've gone without ever seeing again. He's shit. This cuck angle with Lana is shit. Cuck angles = #creativegenius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Rusev really ought to get out of there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Wolfe Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 The cuck angle is pretty awful and has probably given us an unhealthy insight in Heymans taste in porn, but I do think Rusev Lashley could be a decent hoss brawl if they give them enough time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 - I don't get people that think Brock Lesnar being at the top of the card is bad in 2019. If there were even one other guy on the main roster that had his aura and cred, I'd be fine with him not being the top guy...but because they ruined Braun, Seth sucks, Cena's retired, and Reigns, Bryan and AJ have all already been fed to Lesnar, well, Brock Lesnar remains the company's biggest top-of-the-card act. His destruction of Rey and Dominic on tonight's show felt like a big angle and got great heat and Lesnar's 6 minutes of screen time felt more "must see" than anything Rollins has done since the last time he was in the ring with Lesnar. - I dug the Lashley/Balor sprint at Mania this year and I also liked the Lashley/Strowman LMS match they had some months back, so I'm not anti-Lashley as much as I'm anti-repetitive "Lana is a Cheater" angles. They've done this gimmick at least once before with Ziggler and it flopped then too. Lana and Rusev as a package deal worked as heels. I'm not sure the act would get as over when both were babyfaces, but hey, they didn't run with "Rusev Day" anyway so its not even clear Vince himself knows if he wants Rusev to be a menacing foreign heel or a somewhat comedic fan favorite. As someone else said, though, if Lashley's string of big matches in 2019 is any indication (save for the forgettable Reigns match), I actually agree with the poster who said Lashley/Rusev is going to steal a show (not that its too hard to do in this landscape of samey matches). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Rusev has all the tools to be a star. Good look, good work, great charisma and offers something different to most of the people they push. The fact he has a hot wife who works well as a manager should be an asset to his career, not something they keep using against him. Still, if they get out of their own way, Lashley vs Rusev could be great. And I guess they can explain away the angle by making out like Lana thought Rusev got Maria pregnant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 The bait and switch on the Rollins vs. Misterio match is a perfect example of why I don't give them chances anymore. I'm not a Rollins fan but that match was interesting enough to make me tune in and they had zero intention of ever doing it. I also think a lot of people owe Stephanie an apology for blaming her for the Al Wilson shit back in 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 What's the story here? Is it just a botch? It would have had to go through several channels to make it on the air, so that would indicate an impressive level of incompetence if that was the case. Maybe John Cena did something to piss them off and they don't want him to share the fake world title record anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted October 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Rey beats Lesnar for the title at the Rumble but loses it on the way to Wrestlemania. Wouldn't be so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 10 hours ago, Strummer said: Vince has really given full control to Heyman hasn't he? This show seems all him now Very, very much so. I'd imagine Vince wants Raw to be taken off his hands so he can deal with Smackdown and XFL in 2020. Heyman is climbing while Triple H has to for arguably for the first time prove himself. I think Triple H has done a solid job with NXT BUT he has been playing on "easy" mode or in a sandbox the last 5 years. The indie/quick fix signing well has largely run dry it is time to put what he has signed together to be greater than the sum of its parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 11 minutes ago, rovert said: Very, very much so. I'd imagine Vince wants Raw to be taken off his hands so he can deal with Smackdown and XFL in 2020. Heyman is climbing while Triple H has to for arguably for the first time prove himself. I think Triple H has done a solid job with NXT BUT he has been playing on "easy" mode or in a sandbox the last 5 years. The indie/quick fix signing well has largely run dry it is time to put what he has signed together to be greater than the sum of its parts. I would kind of argue we have largely seen that HHH isn't as smart of as good as hyped since the New York show. The last couple of Takeovers have been mediocre, they ruined Gargano and people have been begging them to mercy kill Baszler's never ending title run. It feels like he ran out of ideas and is just repeating everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 NXT has been a magic trick. It's relatively easy to play "great booker" when all you have to do is play around with indy guys with reps and put together a bunch of dream matches and program who don't have to draw anyway and when you have access to deep pockets which you don't have to answer for. Basically, Trip has been playing with a toy-WCW for years now. Meanwhile, NXT hasn't really developed much during that time. Corny & Davis running OVW in the early 00's was a successful developmental territory. NXT has been a playground for rich kid. TNA, ROH and in a wider sense the indies have been developing talent for the current WWE in the last 10-15 years. So yeah, it will be really interesting to see if NXT doesn't work quite as well what it means for Triple H in the long run. Can you picture Paul Heyman taking over WWE in five years ! (EDIT : considering what I saw of yesterday's show while browsing through it today, probably not. That Rusev/Lana/Lashley angle was hot garbage straight out of Russo 1998 aka Val/Terri/Dustin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 The last time NXT was truly compelling to me in terms of actual storytelling was Sami Zayn's rise and Kevin Owens' debut and turn from 2013-14. The women's stuff with Bayley's rise was great too, but not as much as Zayn for me. Did Dusty still have power then? Since then, it was bland superindy with Balor, Joe, Roode and Nakamura on top and nothing happening angle wise. That's when they really lost me. The storyline stuff since has been way too melodramatic and I'm 100% willing to blame Shawn for Emo Gargano and staring at his hands. I don't really care for Gargano and Cole doing overblown PWG matches either. I'm not sure if HHH is a good or bad booker but really, if my comments on Dusty's and Shawn's influence are correct, his stuff just doesn't have that much of an identity of its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 I think Zayn on top is when NXT was at it's peak and worked as it's own brand. I think it largely lost its identity when Roode got the belt and has struggled since then. The current problems with NXT is that they have spent the last 6 months breaking the formula that worked. Cole got a rematch he didn't earn, War Raiders went out on a win, Baszler and Undisputed Era have hung around longer than they should have. I also am not an Adam Cole fan and can't understand why they have him on top and not Dream. Dream is the real star of the promotion and they have done a poor job of communicating that so far on the weekly TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Like Vince, I'd say HHH has gotten into the very nasty habit of letting guys die on the vine for whatever reason - whether its "longterm booking marred by unforseen injuries" or "making a young talent prove they can get over and stay over after a loss." One could argue that Gargano should've won the title back when he faced Andrade and, with that timeline, that Velveteen Dream should either be NXT Champion today or been NXT Champion by now. I guess because its now a weekly brand and not a developmental league (and, presumably, they've been making that shift for 9+ months), they no longer want to simply hotshot guys to the NXT Championship after a couple months - the way they did Owens and Nakamura - but it sure seems like things were fresher and more exciting when that was the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 It really does feel to me like the old story of NXT was that guys told their story and moved on while now it feels like Gargano, Ciampa, Undisputed Era etc. have all been done to death without being called up and making space for the next wave. And now that they're on TV and in a war, those guys are going to be kept around as the established stars and the logjam issue isn't going to be resolved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted October 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Finn Balor killed the territory. His reign of terror sucked ass and his never ending feud with Joe is still hyped by some which to me is absurd. Not a single good match between them, and he had the balls to drop the title on a house show. Sure, we had Bayley vs Sasha and the tag team division was stacked, but the fact that the dude still has the longest NXT Title reign is ridiculous. Afterwards we had lots of shitty reigns until Andrade came along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dragon Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 My view on NXT was my reason to be excited for NXT changed as time went on. It was originally the Sami Zayn show. Then as Zayn got hurt, and Owens, Balor and Joe struggled to maintain the top end stuff, the Horsewomen became NXT’s must see act, up until the final Bayley/Sasha match. That also took place as my next reason to watch NXT formed: The Revival year and a half as the best tag team on the planet, with good contributions from American Alpha and DIY. After that stretch with the women’s division kinda middling (Neither Asuka or Shayna’s Reigns have done much for me in spite of there talent), the main event finally gets going again with Andrade being a fucking machine with Zelina. But after that... yeah, not much. Black winning the title was not a bad decision, but the Gargano/Ciampa stuff sucked the life out of the fed to me, and the tag division wasn’t in any shape to recover it, and the women’s division hasn’t had a legit challenger I buy against Shayna since Sane. I also hate the Gargano/Cole series more then words can properly describe. Velveteen is good but not “forces me to tune in” good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Willing to hear every and all account of NXT. But I think the most stripped-down and simple microcosm of how 2014-19 era NXT can be tracked by completely dated and samey is the music choice. The can compose the next Takeover theme in your head. Just by the composition of the roster, NXT has to change and move on from the white dudes with beards era. A photo from February: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 So apparently the Brock/Rey stuff was a backdoor angle if they are able to sign Cain. Beating up the Mexican legend so he can be the hero defending his honor, and also the promo Paul did later where he said there were a lot of fake tough guys in MMA was another part of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 Roode/Nakamura was by far my favorite NXT title match series, peak stuff. With last year then being rock bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted October 1, 2019 Report Share Posted October 1, 2019 I may have missed it but was that limo before the main event for Lashley/Lana? Or a tease for something on Friday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallmike Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 My guess would be Lashley/Lana. They didn't play off the limo at all after he came out, although it wasn't explicit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 By far the biggest thing NXT had going for it was the studio feel/style/pacing. It was an hour a week with big shows four or five times a year. They could tape a bunch of shows at once. They had squash matches. Characters were built. They were kept fresh and interesting. They occasionally put on matches where both guys really needed to win and sometimes it hurt a talent but those were usually not the guys who were long for the company anyway (Corbin vs Bull James comes to mind). In general, people were more protected by the sheer fact that they didn't need to draw and they didn't need to show success. There was no pressure to deliver immediately and manage the wear and tear of weekly live multi-hour TV and that let them actually develop a product and wrestlers that were worth something. Those first few tours felt absolutely special, in part because you'd get something at the live show that you couldn't get on TV, whether it be a unique version of a match-up that had only aired once or twice on TV ever or something special like Finn and Bayley singing. You saw something like that and it felt like you were part of a special club. It could have likely lasted but they didn't continue to offer that and capitalize on it and they, not unlike OVW all those years ago, got fleeced by the main roster again and again over time. There were still special things like getting to actually see Nak or Asuka or getting to sing GLORIOUS along with the rest of the crowd, but the returns began to diminish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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