WWE TV April 6th through...

[NintendoLogic]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a high-profile Roman match from the past couple of years that wasn't either an overbooked clusterfuck or a clash of the titans finisher spam match. Those match types both lend themselves to spending a lot of time laying around and taking a breather, which leads me to suspect that his physical condition is even worse than he's letting on. Even if it isn't, the ship has long since sailed on him being The Guy. The current era is just a holding pattern until Adam Cole is ready to take the reins.

[FMKK]

1 minute ago, NintendoLogic said:

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a high-profile Roman match from the past couple of years that wasn't either an overbooked clusterfuck or a clash of the titans finisher spam match. Those match types both lend themselves to spending a lot of time laying around and taking a breather, which leads me to suspect that his physical condition is even worse than he's letting on. Even if it isn't, the ship has long since sailed on him being The Guy. The current era is just a holding pattern until Adam Cole is ready to take the reins.

Adam Cole? Christ almighty.

Tbf, he was stuck to Corbin and Shane for the last year and then in the everlasting feud with Lesnar both of which lend themselves to the shortcuts or the spam. And up until Reigns pulled out of Mania, they'd clearly been planning on running with him as the champion going through a good portion of this year. I do think his work has fallen off from the relative highs of 2015-16 or so. Obviously his cancer diagnosis put him out for months and there was the ring rust element upon his return but when is the last time he's been in a truly great match? Summerslam 2017?

[Jmare007]

When was the AJ match?

[NintendoLogic]

Their PPV title matches were both in May of 2016 (Payback on May 1 and Extreme Rules on May 22).

[Burgundy LaRue]

The match with Buddy Murphy, second match with McIntyre, along with the tags with Taker and Bryan were all good to great, and happened in the last year.

And no to Adam Cole. For all the talk about finding a needle mover in wrestling, a 5-foot-8, 190 lb. guy who looks like a middle school vice principal ain't going to cut it.

[FMKK]

40 minutes ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

The match with Buddy Murphy, second match with McIntyre, along with the tags with Taker and Bryan were all good to great, and happened in the last year.

And no to Adam Cole. For all the talk about finding a needle mover in wrestling, a 5-foot-8, 190 lb. guy who looks like a middle school vice principal ain't going to cut it.

To me, all those matches were fun 3.5 star affairs. Which is good but not top end.

I know there's talk of him attracting heat but if they had sense, they'd get Riddle up to the main roster and push him hard. Keith Lee as well. I guess this Drew experiment should be given time to play out considering he can't exactly hit the ground running right now. He might end up getting a long title reign by default if they can't keep taping shows.

[Slasher]

Also wanted to add to my earlier point about Reigns pulling out, Vince is a guy who expects his TOP GUY to be something of an alpha dog/male of the locker room. So now he's looking at Reigns allowing the Usos talk him out of the show. They were absolutely right to help Reigns get the proper perspective on his life, but to Vince, thats not a leader, but a follower.

 

Also I find it amusing the Usos were so mad that Miz was sick and riled up Reigns, and in the end, one of the Usos performed at the show. Nothing about this situation is good for Reigns, as far as Vince would be concerned.

[NintendoLogic]

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from a Cole fan. But he does appear to be HHH's latest pet project. Although Vince is apparently losing faith in Hunter, so who knows.

[FMKK]

Reigns can happily tell Vince to fuck off if he wants to, get some good press for doing so then call up Tony Khan, Gedo or The Rock depending on what he wants to do next in his life. Even if Vince is privately pissed, I don't think he'll do much about it. They're throwing buckets of money at people he doesn't even give a fuck about like The Revival just because they don't want anyone to jump.

[sek69]

Roman's a guy who seems to be aware of his situation and won't care if he pisses off Vince, and Vince for all his....quirks.....knows Roman has options and he can't go full punishment mode on him. Even if he thinks Roman would never go to another wrestling company,  all he has to do is call the Rock and be at worst the Hollywood equivalent of an upper midcarder.

[Slasher]

Vince can punish people without it looking it looking like punishment. It's a secret skill of his. 

 

Plus, as far as Reigns's "options" go, I don't know what kind of contract Reigns has and how much time is left on it, but I have to figure them taking him off the road in 2018, they'd extend his contract due to time lost. 

[FMKK]

I'd love for someone like him to get out of there just because it would be so fascinating to see what they can do outside of the overproduced world of WWE television. It's been a revelation for Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Cody Rhodes. WWE is like a safety blanket and a glass ceiling at the same time.

[Burgundy LaRue]

1 hour ago, Slasher said:

Also I find it amusing the Usos were so mad that Miz was sick and riled up Reigns, and in the end, one of the Usos performed at the show. Nothing about this situation is good for Reigns, as far as Vince would be concerned.

It's possible Roman came to the choice on his own. There is so much we don't know about the situation, other than Roman saying he was thinking about his family, which I took to be whoever is living under his roof. 

Roman signed a new contract around last Summer Slam. Have to figure it's a multi-year deal, but there's nothing stopping him from sitting at home for however long it takes to get the pandemic under some kind of control. Then taking more acting roles if Vince is being unreasonable.

@sek69makes a good point: Roman knows what he can and can't get away with. Using his leverage to protect his and his family's health is a no-brainer.

[Slasher]

8 minutes ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

It's possible Roman came to the choice on his own. There is so much we don't know about the situation, other than Roman saying he was thinking about his family, which I took to be whoever is living under his roof. 

Roman signed a new contract around last Summer Slam. Have to figure it's a multi-year deal, but there's nothing stopping him from sitting at home for however long it takes to get the pandemic under some kind of control. Then taking more acting roles if Vince is being unreasonable.

@sek69makes a good point: Roman knows what he can and can't get away with. Using his leverage to protect his and his family's health is a no-brainer.

Well I wasn't there so obviously I am only offering a guess here, but assuming the reports are true, it was the Usos bitching about the Miz when Reigns came to work. Then Reigns realized that the WWE wasn't on top of things in terms of safety so he bailed out. Of course the decision was made by Reigns alone. But its just funny to me the Usos ended up working the show, considering they also have kids of their own (IIRC), and would be as wise as Reigns to step away, and they didn't. I know the leukemia situation makes it extra sensitive of an issue with Reigns that the Usos don't have to deal with, but still.

 

And I'm all for Roman showing Vince he doesn't give a fuck what he thinks.

[SirEdger]

To my knowledge, only Jimmy has kids from a previous relationship, not Jey, unless I'm mistaken. But no doubt that Roman's situation had to weigh in heavily in their concerns.

[Slasher]

Furthermore, since the WWE is apparently proceeding with taping more episodes of their shows soon, does this mean Reigns is coming back under the same circumstances that existed before? Does he stay home for months and months and months until it passes over? What is he gonna do now?

[Slasher]

2 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

To my knowledge, only Jimmy has kids from a previous relationship, not Jey, unless I'm mistaken. But no doubt that Roman's situation had to weigh in heavily in their concerns.

Thanks for the clarification. But isn't Jimmy the one who worked the match? Interesting.

[Burgundy LaRue]

They're apparently changing ropes, mats and canvas after every match, along with sanitizing the PC regularly. But doesn't keep a wrestler or crew member from walking in with asymptomatic COVID-19. I don't think we see Roman before Summer Slam, if it happens as scheduled. He lives in Florida and it hasn't peaked there yet. 

[Slasher]

14 minutes ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

They're apparently changing ropes, mats and canvas after every match, along with sanitizing the PC regularly. But doesn't keep a wrestler or crew member from walking in with asymptomatic COVID-19. I don't think we see Roman before Summer Slam, if it happens as scheduled. He lives in Florida and it hasn't peaked there yet. 

Yeah, and as the Miz situation illustrated, the WWE aren't even stopping people who are symptomatic either.

[rovert]

3 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a high-profile Roman match from the past couple of years that wasn't either an overbooked clusterfuck or a clash of the titans finisher spam match. Those match types both lend themselves to spending a lot of time laying around and taking a breather, which leads me to suspect that his physical condition is even worse than he's letting on. Even if it isn't, the ship has long since sailed on him being The Guy. The current era is just a holding pattern until Adam Cole is ready to take the reins.

WWE has MANY questions to answer over the next while even parking Corna aside if I can. Their roster is really ageing out especially at a top-level. It is a bunch of mid to late 30-year-olds and way beyond. And NXT is no different. NXT has spent for forever pushing Gargano (32) and Ciampa (34) whose bodies are completely thrashed and can't handle the main roster road schedule. Matt Riddle is 34 and Keith Lee is 35 so their individual windows as main roster stars are closing. Austin Theory (22) better get good fast basically.

But yeah like the replies I don't think Cole will pass the Vince sniff test on the main roster due to his height. Cole's 3 year deal with NXT is up in August if he didn't sign a renewal in the interim. Triple H and Shawn are BIG fans of Cole but they can't protect anyone on the main roster. He has a lot of friends in AEW management, a better fit there as a talent and Britt Baker works there.

[SirEdger]

Great point. And in reality, the chances for Adam Cole to be THE top draw in a promotion is better in AEW than in WWE. Chris Jericho won't be there forever. And I can see MJF & Cole coexist as top draws on the heel side in AEW.

[rovert]

2 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

Great point. And in reality, the chances for Adam Cole to be THE top draw in a promotion is better in AEW than in WWE. Chris Jericho won't be there forever. And I can see MJF & Cole coexist as top draws on the heel side in AEW.

I forgot to list Cole is 31 in July. Jericho was 28 when he made the WCW to WWF jump.

[Slasher]

I have a feeling Cole won't go anywhere without his Undisputed Era mates. So AEW would have to fork over a considerable sum of money to get them all, and while AEW is doing pretty well, they are not in good position to spend money.

[FMKK]

24 minutes ago, rovert said:

WWE has MANY questions to answer over the next while even parking Corna aside if I can. Their roster is really ageing out especially at a top-level. It is a bunch of mid to late 30-year-olds and way beyond. And NXT is no different. NXT has spent for forever pushing Gargano (32) and Ciampa (34) whose bodies are completely thrashed and can't handle the main roster road schedule. Matt Riddle is 34 and Keith Lee is 35 so their individual windows as main roster stars are closing. Austin Theory (22) better get good fast basically.

But yeah like the replies I don't think Cole will pass the Vince sniff test on the main roster due to his height. Cole's 3 year deal with NXT is up in August if he didn't sign a renewal in the interim. Triple H and Shawn are BIG fans of Cole but they can't protect anyone on the main roster. He has a lot of friends in AEW management, a better fit there as a talent and Britt Baker works there.

I'm sort of fascinated by the political manoeuvring in WWE between the HHH/Shawn/NXT camp and Heyman's crew. Courtiers trying to catch the ear of the mad king.  

[rovert]

12 minutes ago, Slasher said:

I have a feeling Cole won't go anywhere without his Undisputed Era mates. So AEW would have to fork over a considerable sum of money to get them all, and while AEW is doing pretty well, they are not in good position to spend money.

How tight the TUE is a really good point.

In general, I just want to convey the WWE Performance Center will be open 7 years in July and the biggest male star it has produced per Sunday is Strowman (36).

WWE was paying OVW $100-150k per year (fact check me) and the class of 2002 produced Lesnar, Orton, Cena and Batista. A legacy WWE is living off 18 years later.