WWE TV 06/21 - 06/27 The Philadelphia 76ers lost 3 home court games against the Hawks, including game 7, after Joel Embiid was introduced by Triple H.

[NotJayTabb]

I think the word was that Bray asked for time off due to some mental health issues, hence the loss at Mania and subsequently being AWOL

[Edwin]

I guess he's paid by WWE to take the bullet as well?

It's always boggled my mind how many folks dislike WWE, yet still decide to spend 3 hours on a Monday, 2 hours on Tuesday and 2 hours on Friday to watch their programming. I'm sure there's other things you would find more pleasure in doing during that time span than watching a TV show you actively dislike.

[DMJ]

Good on Nikki Cross for having an idea, pitching it, and seeing it through.

But I do think there's a quality control issue here too. Unfortunately, the idea of a superhero wrestler has already been done in the WWE and wrestling fans have long memories, which is why when Hurricane Helms comes out every now and again, he still gets a reaction. Plus, as we saw with Hurricane Helms, the superhero wrestler gimmick has a low ceiling.

If this gets Nikki on TV, that's fine. As a fan of hers, I'd like to see her stay in the picture. 

But also as a fan of hers, this is the least interesting thing that she's done in her time with the WWE/NXT. She was the bright spot of SaNity and it wasn't even close. Her segments with Regal showed that she could hang with "authority figures" in a way reminiscent of Foley at his goofiest (pairing her with Corbin, for example, during his atrocious run as an Authority might've at least been a cherry on a shit sundae). The tag team with Alexa Bliss was, to me, really good for what it was as they had natural chemistry and, in a fantasy world where the Women's Tag Titles mean something, could have continuously been grounded in that division. Hell, I'm not even sure they got everything out of the Nikki/Bliss split considering Nikki once had a gimmick of being crazy and then was somewhat de-programmed by Bliss. It would've been fun to see them work the opposite roles. 

This gimmick just seems so one-note when the thing I've liked most about Nikki Cross is that, for awhile there, she was continuously revealing layers to her character, personality, and in-ring style that made me take notice. I'd never rank her as a particularly great worker or anything but as a character? When it comes to having unique presence? I think she's easily in the top 8-10 of the entire roster. On some days, if I was playing fantasy GM and I had 5 picks from the whole women's division, I might take her over Rhea Ripley.

 

[Strummer]

3 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

At the end of the day, the buck stops with Vince McMahon. It's his company, and he owns whatever shows up on his TV. It makes no difference whether a terrible idea comes from Vince's brain worms, one of the 800 writers, or the wrestlers themselves (see also Wyatt, Bray). Speaking of Bray, it's kind of hilarious how quickly he got sidelined once WWE realized the Fiend bullshit can just as easily be done by a pretty blonde girl.

Loss has alluded to this in the past. A lot of people will criticize Hunter, writers, etc. but never Vince. Don't really get that

[NintendoLogic]

It's a weird dual dynamic. Within the company, Vince is the benevolent all-father and underlings like Johnny Ace and Bruce Prichard are the bad cops. To hardcore fans, Vince is the devil and guys like HHH and Paul Heyman are internal dissidents trying to save real wrestling from his malign influence.

[Strummer]

But there's also the "Vince always wins" crowd fans who worship Vince and criticize everyone else in the company

[sek69]

2 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

It's a weird dual dynamic. Within the company, Vince is the benevolent all-father and underlings like Johnny Ace and Bruce Prichard are the bad cops. To hardcore fans, Vince is the devil and guys like HHH and Paul Heyman are internal dissidents trying to save real wrestling from his malign influence.

I think the last few years of NXT have kind of killed the "HHH will save wrestling" dynamic. 

It is interesting how putting someone as dynamic and versatile as Nikki in a one note, potentially career damaging gimmick (even if it was her idea) is bringing out the WWE defenders though. As if when a talent brings an idea to Vince he has no choice but to put it on TV. 

It's also key to remember that the Hurricane/Mighty Molly gimmicks this is clearly based on were actually "normal person is deluded into thinking they are actually super heroes"  like when Hurricane would try to chokeslam someone twice his size. The joke was that they were clearly not who they thought they were, but Shane and Molly were so darn likeable you went along with it anyway. Plus it helped the Rock put the Hurricane over to give him a bit of credibility. Nikki clearly has the goofy charm to make this work, but I doubt WWE is going to make the effort needed to really make it work.  If that makes me a "hurr durr Fed Bad" person, then so be it. 

[cm funk]

I'm a Nikki Cross fan as well.  She got over immediately on the main roster doing a version of her Sanity character, and I felt that stable was likely DOA when they didn't pair her with them as she was a big part of the act.  Definitely underutilized.  I'm not a fan of the superhero gimmick, but it could get over.  She's talented enough to make it work if given a chance and the writing isn't terrible.

Those last two qualifiers give me little hope.

[Coffey]

I'll say this about the Nikki Cross gimmick: it's been apparent for awhile now that Nikki has gotten herself into a lot better shape lately & the new outfit really accentuates that. It's night & day difference from her Sanity days. She's definitely lost some weight.

[Flyin' Brian]

5 hours ago, Edwin said:

I guess he's paid by WWE to take the bullet as well?

It's always boggled my mind how many folks dislike WWE, yet still decide to spend 3 hours on a Monday, 2 hours on Tuesday and 2 hours on Friday to watch their programming. I'm sure there's other things you would find more pleasure in doing during that time span than watching a TV show you actively dislike.

I used to be this way about comics, buying them out of habit and hoping for things to get better but nothing ever really changing. So I dropped the habit about 12 years ago. I still read older stuff, pick up thing I hear are good, but I don't worry about continuity or feeling like I have to keep up with everything anymore. I'm in the same place with WWE. I stopped watching regularly, but I keep up with it, mostly online. I check out things I hear are good, and I watch the older stuff. I was never a hate watcher/reader, I just wanted it to be good. Once I gave up hope of it being good, it was time to let go. 

[sek69]

Smackdown has been consistently good  most of the year, as has NXT. Not everything has been my cup of tea but overall I find both shows a worthy watch every week. Pointing out Raw has been mostly not good during this same period doesn't make someone a hate watcher, at last I wouldn't think so. 

 

[NintendoLogic]

1 hour ago, Flyin' Brian said:

I used to be this way about comics, buying them out of habit and hoping for things to get better but nothing ever really changing. So I dropped the habit about 12 years ago. I still read older stuff, pick up thing I hear are good, but I don't worry about continuity or feeling like I have to keep up with everything anymore. I'm in the same place with WWE. I stopped watching regularly, but I keep up with it, mostly online. I check out things I hear are good, and I watch the older stuff. I was never a hate watcher/reader, I just wanted it to be good. Once I gave up hope of it being good, it was time to let go. 

But you see, the flip side of "If you hate it so much, why do you even watch?" is "How can you criticize it when you don't even watch?" The goal is to shut down criticism entirely by ensuring no one has standing to criticize.

[MoS]

Yeah, the trend lately has been to blame fans for being "negative" and "entitled" for complaining, because how dare they not automatically like what they see? It has led to some laughably stupid takes on Twitter, like the idea that online fan criticism is a recent, Twitter-led phenomenon, or that, incredibly, wrestlers like Steve Austin and Mick Foley wouldn't have got over if there was Twitter around, because everyone would complain and chant smarky shit at them. 

[sek69]

Indeed, WWE wants their fans to just shut up and take what they are being fed, while at the same time not having any motivation to improve their product because they are financially set. 

It really was an amazing display of projection as grumpy Hunter at the press conference was every bit as negative and entitled as the fans they blame for their problems. "Watch it or don't" should be chiseled on his tombstone. 

[Edwin]

Roderick Strong, Tyler Rust and Hideki Suzuki with Malcom Bivens as their manager are Diamond Mine. Excited to see Suzuki.

[KawadaSmile]

Bubba @Edwin ninja'd me, but yeah. Diamond Mine is some good shit

[El Dragon]

Man, just let that stable with with Ciampa, Thatcher, and Lorcan and I’m there.

[Flyin' Brian]

18 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

But you see, the flip side of "If you hate it so much, why do you even watch?" is "How can you criticize it when you don't even watch?" The goal is to shut down criticism entirely by ensuring no one has standing to criticize.

Good point. 

[KawadaSmile]

 

lol lord help him

without scarlett he's basically a third-rate mojo

[SirEdger]

Looks like Eva Marie has been already put on the Alumni section again.

That was fast.

[NintendoLogic]

15 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

Looks like Eva Marie has been already put on the Alumni section again.

That was fast.

Where did you hear that? WWE.com has her as part of the Raw roster.

https://www.wwe.com/superstars/eva-marie

[sek69]

37 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

 

lol lord help him

without scarlett he's basically a third-rate mojo

No matter your feelings about Kross, it's so typical WWE to take everything away from someone that helped  them get over. Word was this was set up so WWE higher ups (I'm guessing Vince, Bruce, and Dunn) could see him in action so of course they make sure he looks as bland as possible.

[NintendoLogic]

If only WWE had some kind of developmental system where wrestlers could work on their craft and be evaluated on how good they look without the aid of smoke and mirrors.

[sek69]

I know, right? And if they had one, it certainly wouldn't be NXT since Uncle Paul told his repeatedly that they aren't developmental.

[Strummer]

Apparently Eva Marie was accidentally put in the alumni section but quickly put back on the Raw roster