WWE TV 01/20 - 01/26 Lost 10 pounds in two days AMA

[KawadaSmile]

8 hours ago, Coffey said:

I genuinely don't get what other people see in that guy. I don't know if they relate to him because he's a geek, because of his mental issues or what. He's straight up not a good professional wrestling commentator.

He calls the 619 a Tiger Feint Kick and does all sorts of shoehorned popculture references. He's liked because he's what a geek person would consider hip and cool, and wrestling is full of geeks.

[brocklock]

He's carrying the tradition of Joey Styles of beloved announcer I don't get. He's even worse though and is very bad at basic elements of announcing like getting the story of the match over or having chemistry with other announcers and knowing when to let them talk. To some fans knowing the names of all the moves means you are a great announcer, but there's more to it than yelling and knowing the moves. His fans say that he's the best because he was excited. If that's all wrestling fans want from announcers I'd take Don West any day of the week.

[Blehschmidt]

Dude, Joey Styles was so much better than Mauro in every possible way. While I admit he didn't quite fit in anywhere else, Joey was the perfect voice for ECW and what it represented at that time. Mauro just yells whatever the official Fire Pro name for the move being executed is and tries to shoehorn in whatever dated pop culture reference he can vaguely tie in to whatever nonsense he is going on about.

 

In other things I would like to bitch about today.... It appears that Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne are going to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic next week. While I like both guys, what the fuck is the point of dedicating a tag team tournament to Dusty Rhodes, and then having a thrown together team of singles guys win it?

Seriously, look at the previous winners: Balor and Joe, Authors of Pain, Undisputed Era, Aleister Black and Ricochet, and now most likely Dunne and Riddle.

Three thrown together tag teams, 1 actual tag team, and while Undisputed Era is regularly a team, this was Cole and O'Reilly who don't normally team, and they weren't even in the fucking tournament when it started!

If they want thrown together teams, just bring back Battle Bowl and dedicate it to Dusty already!

[SomethingSavage]

But also, fuck Mauro. Because they could have a Crockett Cup style tournament, dedicate it to Dusty and Murdoch and Eddie Graham and Bill Watts and Gordon Solie and Lance Russell, and I still wouldn't watch if I had to endure endless Drake references and Cardi B lyrics throughout every match.

[DMJ]

I'm not sure if the chain-of-command is just so long that Vince doesn't actually know who is "hot" and when or if he just plain doesn't care.

I know, I know - its all about the 'brand" and its intentional that nobody "breaks out... 

But even if you set the ceiling at a Kane-in-98' level or Mankind-level or Triple H-level or Randy Orton-level (y'know, guys that were over, sold merch, etc. but were never going to abandon wrestling or become mega-stars outside of the company), they don't even let guys reach that level. My eyes roll every time someone says Drew McIntyre could be a bigger star or that Matt Riddle has a huge future or that Gargano or Ciampa or Aleister Black can be difference makers. 

Its far more accurate to say that they've likely peaked and would need a JBL-like repackaging and an insane grassroots support (ala Daniel Bryan) to become permanent main event guys. I mean, for how many years was Ziggler a "future main eventer"? For how many years was Kofi a "future main eventer"? Look at Braun Strowman. Look at Sasha Banks. Look at Balor. The number of "can't miss" prospects they've missed with over the past 5-6 years is insane.

And much of that is because they let guys die on the vine. Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne winning a tag team tournament is "big news"? Its a lateral move at best, a meaningless trophy they can place on the mantle right next to their hamster wheels. Pete Dunne turned heads close to 3 years ago and he's less interesting and less intriguing now. Do more people know his name? Probably...but less people are excited about it. Ditto for Matt Riddle, who came in as a big name and is now...just a name. 

Keith Lee just had a breakout moment at Survivor Series, got tweeted about by THE ROCK, practically became a star overnight, and is now...the NXT North American Champion. Big fucking whoop. The guy got a mega-response at one of the biggest shows of the year and they give him the *secondary* title on their least-watched, least established brand. 

No wonder the company has no momentum going into the friggin' Royal Rumble and all the talk this week was about a taped show on a booze cruise.

[sek69]

34 minutes ago, SomethingSavage said:

But also, fuck Mauro. Because they could have a Crockett Cup style tournament, dedicate it to Dusty and Murdoch and Eddie Graham and Bill Watts and Gordon Solie and Lance Russell, and I still wouldn't watch if I had to endure endless Drake references and Cardi B lyrics throughout every match.

The big problem is Mauro needs produced, and (apparently) there's no one in WWE who has the skills to coach someone with his issues that won't result in him having another episode. Thus he's allowed to run amok and ruin what should be great moments. 

I will confess I haven't watched every event he ever called, but he wasn't nearly this overbearing doing boxing or MMA so clearly there's a way it can be done. 

[C.S.]

Hoping Mauro commentates the Royal Rumble...

He's the best they have and would enhance the event so much! 

[sek69]

It certainly would be something to see him keep up the Mauro-ness for the entire hour plus Rumble match. 

[Matt D]

Literally the worst thing I've ever seen on WWE.com

 

[SomethingSavage]

3 hours ago, DMJ said:

I'm not sure if the chain-of-command is just so long that Vince doesn't actually know who is "hot" and when or if he just plain doesn't care.

I know, I know - its all about the 'brand" and its intentional that nobody "breaks out... 

But even if you set the ceiling at a Kane-in-98' level or Mankind-level or Triple H-level or Randy Orton-level (y'know, guys that were over, sold merch, etc. but were never going to abandon wrestling or become mega-stars outside of the company), they don't even let guys reach that level. My eyes roll every time someone says Drew McIntyre could be a bigger star or that Matt Riddle has a huge future or that Gargano or Ciampa or Aleister Black can be difference makers. 

Its far more accurate to say that they've likely peaked and would need a JBL-like repackaging and an insane grassroots support (ala Daniel Bryan) to become permanent main event guys. I mean, for how many years was Ziggler a "future main eventer"? For how many years was Kofi a "future main eventer"? Look at Braun Strowman. Look at Sasha Banks. Look at Balor. The number of "can't miss" prospects they've missed with over the past 5-6 years is insane.

And much of that is because they let guys die on the vine. Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne winning a tag team tournament is "big news"? Its a lateral move at best, a meaningless trophy they can place on the mantle right next to their hamster wheels. Pete Dunne turned heads close to 3 years ago and he's less interesting and less intriguing now. Do more people know his name? Probably...but less people are excited about it. Ditto for Matt Riddle, who came in as a big name and is now...just a name. 

Keith Lee just had a breakout moment at Survivor Series, got tweeted about by THE ROCK, practically became a star overnight, and is now...the NXT North American Champion. Big fucking whoop. The guy got a mega-response at one of the biggest shows of the year and they give him the *secondary* title on their least-watched, least established brand. 

No wonder the company has no momentum going into the friggin' Royal Rumble and all the talk this week was about a taped show on a booze cruise.

This. Absolutely this.

Braun Strowman, specifically, felt like he was on the verge of becoming a breakout guy for them. He had a catchphrase that sounded cool - something actual living, breathing human beings wouldn't be embarrassed to say. He was presented strongly on television. He won a lot. He was protected without it appearing obvious that he was being "booked" that way. Because he had the aura to seem credible.

Braun's feats of strength were strategies that COULD have easily come across as lame or contrived, but they rarely did. Instead, they carried this almost Marvel movie appeal to them. Sure. You knew they were staged stunts. But it was like watching Vin Diesel crack a concrete rooftop with his Hulk stomp or whatever the fuck. It was just plain FUN watching Braun wreck shop and (let's face it) pummel poor Roman week after week, month after month.

But then they murderized Braun's momentum, sacrificing him at the altar of almighty Brock. And nothing was ever the same for Strowman again. Truth be told, that was the last time I really felt excited about ANYTHING the company was doing. Braun and Samoa Joe both on Raw, coming across as legit ass-kickers, had me interested again.

But when Braun hit the brick wall of Brock, that really felt like the beginning of the end for me. By the time it got so bad that even the smartest of my fellow fans were fantasy booking Seth fucking Rollins to be "THE GUY", I just knew this company wasn't for me anymore.

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

It certainly would be something to see him keep up the Mauro-ness for the entire hour plus Rumble match. 

The safest bet is that he'd have his feelings hurt by a stray comment or chant around the time of the 15th entrant. Mauro would go dark for the remainder of the show. Many heartfelt thoughts & prayers would be Tweeted.

[sek69]

Off topic, but I had someone call in to my work today with a translator because they only spoke Portuguese and all I could think off is "where is good bubba KawadaSmile when I need him".

[KawadaSmile]

8 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Off topic, but I had someone call in to my work today with a translator because they only spoke Portuguese and all I could think off is "where is good bubba KawadaSmile when I need him".

Hell yeah bubba, I remember when I had to solve a problem like that when I was an intern during my exchange program in San Francisco. Was fun!

 (in fact being an interpreter is one of my dream jobs - i do some freelancing translations but doing it live sounds more exciting)

[gordi]

7 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Hell yeah bubba, I remember when I had to solve a problem like that when I was an intern during my exchange program in San Francisco. Was fun!

 (in fact being an interpreter is one of my dream jobs - i do some freelancing translations but doing it live sounds more exciting)

Not to derail this thread, but when I was living in the Czech Republic I dated a woman who was a high-level translator and according to her it is exciting, but also harrowingly difficult. She often got blamed and had to apologize formally when the person she was translating for screwed up. Apparently, "blame it on the translator" is a pretty common diplomatic and business tactic. 

[KawadaSmile]

Oh, I heard some stories like that as well. In fact I got to see the struggles of an interpreter liveon tv: he had to translate a speech of our piece of shit president, and to say he doesn't really use formal language is an understatement, and the words he used to refer to the ethnicity of his father-in-law proved to be quite the challenging translation!

[Dav'oh]

14 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

Dude, Joey Styles was so much better than Mauro in every possible way. While I admit he didn't quite fit in anywhere else, Joey was the perfect voice for ECW and what it represented at that time. Mauro just yells whatever the official Fire Pro name for the move being executed is and tries to shoehorn in whatever dated pop culture reference he can vaguely tie in to whatever nonsense he is going on about.

 

In other things I would like to bitch about today.... It appears that Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne are going to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic next week. While I like both guys, what the fuck is the point of dedicating a tag team tournament to Dusty Rhodes, and then having a thrown together team of singles guys win it?

Seriously, look at the previous winners: Balor and Joe, Authors of Pain, Undisputed Era, Aleister Black and Ricochet, and now most likely Dunne and Riddle.

Three thrown together tag teams, 1 actual tag team, and while Undisputed Era is regularly a team, this was Cole and O'Reilly who don't normally team, and they weren't even in the fucking tournament when it started!

If they want thrown together teams, just bring back Battle Bowl and dedicate it to Dusty already!

I don't know why a tag-team tourney is dedicated to Dusty in the first place - it's not like he was a noted tag-team worker. Though Dusty himself won the Crockett Cup in 1987 in a thrown-together tag-team, so it's not like he'd be against the concept of the Brosers winning.

[MoS]

I echo everything @DMJ and @SomethingSavage said. It's why I basically try not to get excited about any prospect, no matter how talented they are. NXT right now has a bunch of absolute mega-talents, and it's a safe bet that none of them will amount to even half of what they could be.

Speaking of exciting prospects, when is Velveteen Dream coming back from his injury? Do we have any update?

[SirEdger]

Apparently, he could be returning during Rumble weekend - possibly in the Rumble match. Jinder Mahal could also be returning as well.

[MoS]

He'll certainly get a huge pop in the Rumble if he appears, but I hope it remains a one-off experience. I really don't want Vince to get his hands on Dream and his gimmick anytime soon.

[JaymeFuture]

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 6:31 PM, C.S. said:

Hopefully.

BTW, the Pillman book is awesome!

Thank you very much :-)

[DMJ]

Re: Velveteen getting ruined by Vince

 

My point was the opposite - 

I think Velveteen Dream should absolutely leave NXT. There's nothing for him to do there. He should've won the NXT Championship at least 12-15 months ago, had a brief run with the belt, and then called up to the main roster.

And the argument that Dream was "too green" to be an NXT main eventer in 2018 is ridiculous. He was very over and he was great against good opponents (which NXT has a plethora of). At no point has Adam Cole been more over than him despite having more "in-ring skill." Plus, it goes without saying that, If "in-ring skill" meant 20 years ago what it means today, The Rock would've never gotten the big push he did at Survivor Series 98'. That spot as Corporate Champion would've gone to a "good hand" like Al Snow. I know I'm preaching to the choir but putting on 45-minute mega-epic spotfests does not make you a good wrestler or a star.

Will Vince ruin Velveteen Dream? Yeah, most likely. But keeping him in NXT is equally boring. Would the WWE main event picture not look better with Velveteen Dream being built-up as a potential babyface challenger for Brock? For Wyatt? Even for Nakamura? We know the guy is excellent as the foil to other larger-than-life characters (see his feud with Aleister Black). We know his character pops off the screen and that he has natural charisma. We know his gimmick is fresh and different. We know that he can hold his own and put together a good match against arguably more "skilled" opponents. 

But, with his recent injury, it is likely that we've seen the peak of Velveteen Dream already. If he's known for being injury-prone, he won't get "the rocket." Plus, even if he did get "the rocket," would it be a stronger push than what Aleister Black or Ricochet or Andrade got? I mean, they're all just kinda treading water with momentary snippets of being somewhat relevant. 

[Blehschmidt]

4 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

I don't know why a tag-team tourney is dedicated to Dusty in the first place - it's not like he was a noted tag-team worker. Though Dusty himself won the Crockett Cup in 1987 in a thrown-together tag-team, so it's not like he'd be against the concept of the Brosers winning.

It is a good question why Dusty got a tag team tournament. I guess maybe they didn't want to bring back the Bunkhouse Stampede. At least the Dusty/Nikita team had a reason behind it.

[MoS]

2 minutes ago, DMJ said:

Re: Velveteen getting ruined by Vince

 

My point was the opposite - 

I think Velveteen Dream should absolutely leave NXT. There's nothing for him to do there. He should've won the NXT Championship at least 12-15 months ago, had a brief run with the belt, and then called up to the main roster.

I agree with your general point. For Dream though, I specifically want him away from Vince. I don't think Vince gets his gimmick at all. It would be Bayley's first few years on the main roster all over again. And yes, Bayley has been rehabilitated a bit with the heel turn, but she could have been a Mysterio-like babyface and that will now never happen. 

[KawadaSmile]

Dream is so fucking charismatic and smart that I don't really worry about him and Vince. They'll probably get along great!

I'm more worried about him and Heyman

[Log]

Going back a bit to Braun...

When he was wrecking shit against Roman, as a heel, he actually terrified my daughter.  But it was in the good way.  She actually cried when he threw Roman off of a loading dock while he was strapped in a stretcher.  She was scared of him, but she always wanted to see what he'd do next.

Then, they turned him face, and she was really excited.  She felt better about wanting to watch him.  She loved when he'd run around the ring and waste dudes like Owens and Zayne.  

The had a real, larger-than-life, possible mega star on their hands with him.  But like others pointed out, they never pulled the trigger.  

WWE has never been good at having monster faces.  They get over as heels, but when they turn, they make them dance or have kids as tag partners or whatever.  They never have learned that the appeal of face Stone Cold and The Rock wasn't that they suddenly changed characters.  It was just that they kept doing the same "cool" stuff, but now they did it to the heels.

[NintendoLogic]

I can't think of any promotion that was good about having monster faces because monster faces inherently suck, at least as week-in week-out characters. There's a reason guys like Andre the Giant and Haystacks Calhoun were primarily touring special attractions. More to the point, look at Brock Lesnar, who is better than Braun in every way. He's a larger-than-life megastar whose every appearance is treated as a huge deal. He delivers a MOTYC virtually every time he steps in the ring, shows enough vulnerability to get fans into his matches while still retaining his aura as an unstoppable killer, and never sticks around long enough to wear out his welcome. And yet just about everybody seems to be sick of him, including a good chunk of the posters on this board. What do you think the reaction would be if someone far less talented was doing the same shit but was on TV every week?