WWE TV Megathread

[sek69]

9 hours ago, El-P said:

Meanwhile, "Papa Trip" is going into the WWE Hall of Fame. This is HILARIOUS how everything revolves around this guy jerking off at the screen. Yeah, he really doesn't want any spotlight, ya know... 😂

I don't disagree, but he *did* work some miracles like being able to mend fences with Bruno. Plus he was able to get WWE to pretty seamlessly transition into a post-Vince world, and I'd argue he deserves to be in the HOF just for getting rid of Kevin Dunn's nauseating TV production.

[El-P]

I mean, I don't give a flying fuck about HoF, much less the WWE HoF. But the term "merit" next to Paul Lesveque is the most hilarious one ever. This guy's "merit" in one sentence : "Married the boss' daughter".

Hell, he's *still* living off Vince's last successful projects (people don't want to hear about it for many reasons, but the company's upswing started under Vince) : Cody as champ, Bloodline storyline, Netflix deal under the TKO umbrella.

But that's neither here not there. The truly hilarious thing to me is that all we heard was how Triple H did not want to be in the spotlight, yet he's putting himself in the spotlight all the time, to the point of inducting himself in the HoF one year and a half after being the #1 guy in creative. I can't think of a more Trip thing, ever.

[TheDuke]

18 hours ago, El-P said:

 This is HILARIOUS how everything revolves around this guy jerking off at the screen. 

Reading this has made me wonder if Triple H spewing the bottle water mist in his entrance was supposed to be symbolic of him having an orgasm. He was in DX which had that "sex-is-funny/let's-pretend-to-hump-things" humor.

[Johnny Sorrow]

15 hours ago, TheDuke said:

Reading this has made me wonder if Triple H spewing the bottle water mist in his entrance was supposed to be symbolic of him having an orgasm. He was in DX which had that "sex-is-funny/let's-pretend-to-hump-things" humor.

I'm gonna start spitting up a fountain of beer every open of Mystery Titans Theatre from now on. It'll be just a few dribbles , but it'll be intense. 
And hawt.

Just like Jacob Fatu. 
Holey Moley, Fatu tonight! He's such a star. He's my current favorite wrestler, by FAR. He's real and everything he touches feels real as a result. He's THE best promo in the game, nothing scripted, just REAL PRO WRESTLING and it's awesome.

[strobogo]

TNA has been weeks away from closing down for a solid decade, and has been actively trying to get bought out by AEW/WWE for years. Of course the current regime is aware WWE is going to gut them, and the hope is that WWE just buys them outright. In a way for the library it might be the best option.

[The Thread Killer]

Based on the fan reaction on Raw tonight, sounds like the fans aren’t any more excited about seeing Charlotte again than most people around here were 

How often does somebody come back from a year+ layoff and get booed?

[JHawk]

It's not even booed like New Day after turning on Big E or Logan Paul for being a piece of shit. It's clearly "we didn't miss you at all" which is mind boggling to me.

[The Thread Killer]

21 minutes ago, JHawk said:

It's not even booed like New Day after turning on Big E or Logan Paul for being a piece of shit. It's clearly "we didn't miss you at all" which is mind boggling to me.

It really doesn’t help her that, even when she’s trying to be all sincere and heartfelt, Charlotte comes across as eminently unlikable.

[The Thread Killer]

The Creed Brothers are getting a shot at the War Raiders?  Good. Those guys are awesome, if not a little green. I would very much like to see more of them on TV.

[sek69]

As soon as Scott's kid gets into the biz we need him and Bron vs the Creeds as soon as humanly possible.

[strobogo]

Watched Raw because I figured the show after Rumble with them being as hot as they were would have to be interesting. What I saw was a lot of very sloppy work, lot of real long and not good promos (Seth's was just atrocious), and the crowd not seeming to be very into much of anything after Jey's opening segment, including Punk vs Sami. The reaction to Charlotte seemed indifferent at best, annoyed at worst. The Jey/Charlotte segments being the same thing just inverted seemed very lazy. Sami vs KO 300000 on deck. 

Bunch of stars you'd think would be there just because it was the show after Rumble that weren't: Cena, Cody, Trish, AJ (who is now a Raw talent and still wasn't there), Drew, Roman, any of Jey's family there to hype him up except for Sami in the back.

[DMJ]

I also watched most of Raw for the first time since the Netflix show and, before that, many years. I had the day off work and had f-all to do this morning. I skipped through it a bit, but thought what I saw was mostly okay-to-good.

- I'm not a fan, but Jey has to beat GUNTHER at Mania. I'm a far bigger GUNTHER fan, but it is what it is. GUNTHER will be fine. He's in the best shape of his life, over as a heel (which means, he'll soon be over huge as a face), and works a hard-hitting but manageable style on a relatively lighter schedule than the superstars of 10 years ago. 

Jey is really over with the WWE live audiences, though, and needs to get the W if they see him - and we have every reason to believe they do - as being a top babyface for the next few years. 39 isn't super young, but it isn't super old either. What's kinda crazy is that Seth Rollins is a year younger than him, but has been a main eventer for coming on a decade so he feels like he's from a previous generation.

 

- Speaking of Rollins, much to my surprise, I have found myself enjoying his segments more now that he's separated from the championship picture. It took working with Punk and Zayn and Drew this past year and not appearing on every show, every week for me to actually care about his character. This wasn't his best work, but I disliked it less than others it seems.

 

- Was glad to see they're going heel with Charlotte. It did not take the audience long to react negatively towards her and I'll give her some credit: if this promo was at all going to be a litmus test for how to move forward, she 86'd the compassionate plea for fan acceptance fairly quickly and went right into heeling it up. My question is whether she can really "go" anymore after all the injuries and time off. She looked pretty rusty at the Rumble (which could be expected) and she was never super smooth. That being said, I think she delivers in big matches and am probably a bigger fan than others. Lastly, I know its really wrong to say this but I'm a little worried if her ability to express emotion is going to be hindered a bit by her...uh...cosmetic choices in the face department? I'm probably in the minority, but I thought her expressions used to be awesome, whether it was the obnoxious, arrogant smirks and eye-rolls or when she'd "Hulk Up" and get super-pissed like in the Rousey match. 

- Was Liv vs. IYO the best actual match of Liv's career? I know in terms of audience interest and stakes and all that, Liv's feud with Rhea was much more heated, but I thought they tore the house down and I liked the finish and how it could lead to Rhea/IYO squaring off in the future. I don't expect IYO to win the title or anything, but a Rhea/IYO match sounds like good TV.

- Liked Zayn/Punk a good deal too. Finish never felt like it was really in question, but there were still some cool sequences and the drama was there. Zayn is so, so good at being the underdog and I liked that Punk inserted a little bit of his trademark asshole-ishness at times. If Punk ever does go heel (and I'm not sure he really will or even could as so much of the audience is just dyed-in-the-wool Punk fans), I'd love to see Zayn be the guy he worked with because the chemistry was there and I think the promos would be fire too.

[strobogo]

This idea of the internet fans not being into Jey is wild, because that dude has been the most visibly over guy for like 2-3 years now even if perhaps he doesn't deliver in ring or promo. Crowds absolutely love him in arena and this is the hottest time WWE has ever been. You can't pretend actually he's not good when you can see full arenas and stadiums going hard for him. There's no smark argument to make against him. The crowds love him in the hottest era since Attitude Era and money wise ever. 

I suppose that's just the default internet fan stance since the usenet era. Gotta hate on whoever is pushed hardest. Presumably even pre usenet and still fully actually paper and text Observer era. But you can't deny how over Jey is no matter what.  

You can't do "he is a bad promo/worker" shit when he's getting full stadiums and arenas being 100% into him.

[NintendoLogic]

We've now reached the point where Fandango gets a nostalgia pop.

I'm honestly impressed by how douchey Lexis King's facial hair is. Just looking at him caused me to instinctively clench my fist.

[Dav'oh]

7 hours ago, strobogo said:

You can't do "he is a bad promo/worker" shit when he's getting full stadiums and arenas being 100% into him.

Trained monkeys who can only get up for catchphrases, all drawn by the brand, cheering for you on cue, means I can't point out how comparatively staggeringly woeful your work is?

Yeah, nah.

[strobogo]

55 minutes ago, Dav'oh said:

Trained monkeys who can only get up for catchphrases, all drawn by the brand, cheering for you on cue, means I can't point out how comparatively staggeringly woeful your work is?

Yeah, nah.

Live audiences love him and this is the hottest WWE has ever been. Bringing it down to just responding to cues is nonsense. Dude gets the real over from full arenas and stadiums for quite a while now. Doesn't matter if you think think his work or promos aren't good. Impossible to deny how over he is with giant crowds all over the world. 

I personally am happy for him as a viewer since he debuted and the long Uso run. I don't think he's great at anything, but it is fun to see a true underdog shocker Rumble win and that dude been over as fuck for years now. Internet smarks in 2025 hating on him is nonsense because it is impossible to pretend he isn't mega over watching any show.

[strobogo]

The people yearn for yeet

[sek69]

The entire job of a wrestler is to get over. Some do it by being awesome in the ring, some do it by being a top notch promo, and sometimes a guy just connects to the audience. All are equally valid IMO. Even if someone isn't your cup of tea, if it's over it's over.