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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 20, 2018 12:01:46 GMT -5
Wow. That was a very good episode of NXT. Great to see Io Shirai & Dakota Kai get the win. Good interaction between Heavy Machinery & Undisputed Era. #DIY reunion?! Very intrigued to see if we get heel #DIY down the line, and how Gargano will be involved with the NXT Championship match at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix. Next week's NXT looks very interesting, with the women's battle royal and Tag Team titles match.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 20, 2018 11:54:48 GMT -5
I’ve literally had the complete opposite reaction. I’ve found his heel stuff to be wildly entertaining and his change in style and gear makes total sense given the change in attitude. Same. Just about every last word of that critique left me saying to myself "Yeah? Kinda the point, isn't it?" The point of sports entertainment is to be boring? I just find this heel version of Daniel Bryan to be incredibly boring. My interpretation of the point of heels is to get the audience to hate them. Not to make the audience bored. And bored is just how I've felt when watching any of Daniel Bryan's promos or matches since the gimmick change. Not a surprise. That's what happens when you suck all of the entertainment factor out of a superstar. Since his heel turn, I've found him to be the most boring superstar to be heavily featured on WWE programming. He's slowed down a lot in-ring, his promos are all about the environment and cheap heel heat, his gear is the blandest you could imagine. There's nothing left of him to engage me as a viewer. I find myself increasingly disinterested in his matches and segments. Why would I buy merchandise for someone that bores me? What are you talking about? Bryan's been an awesome heel. I'm talking about my personal opinion. You can enjoy the gimmick all you want, and good for you for doing so. I just don't share the same opinion. You know you don't have to try to argue with everyone who doesn't share your exact opinion, right? |
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 20, 2018 7:08:15 GMT -5
Not a surprise. That's what happens when you suck all of the entertainment factor out of a superstar. Since his heel turn, I've found him to be the most boring superstar to be heavily featured on WWE programming. He's slowed down a lot in-ring, his promos are all about the environment and cheap heel heat, his gear is the blandest you could imagine. There's nothing left of him to engage me as a viewer. I find myself increasingly disinterested in his matches and segments. Why would I buy merchandise for someone that bores me?
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 19, 2018 12:37:15 GMT -5
Just like with RAW, I found SmackDown Live to be a significant improvement. It's not like SDL was a consistently poor show like RAW was, but SDL felt fresh, just like RAW.
First off, I'm really disappointed that they removed Paige as General Manager. I'd honestly say that she was my favourite GM of all-time. I can see why they'd remove her though. If they're not bothering with a GM for RAW, then why would they for SDL? Thankfully, they did say that she wasn't going anywhere, so that's a relief. I can't wait to see what she moves on to do next.
I am absolutely thrilled that they've done away with the automatic rematch clause. It just slows down stories and drags them out unnecessarily. I'm really interested in seeing what they do with Becky/Charlotte/Asuka now that Becky has to earn her way back into contendership. Feels very unpredictable right now, and that's great!
Miz/Mandy VS Fabulous Truth was entirely unexpected, and I felt the duo of Miz/Mandy worked quite well. I wouldn't be amiss to seeing these two team up on a regular basis.
They finally did something with SAnitY! They made the whole tag team division look strong by having four different teams battling it out.
In conclusion, they kept the momentum flowing with SDL. I hope they manage to keep it going. This week has given me faith that they are committed to doing so.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 18, 2018 16:45:19 GMT -5
Up until the ending, I absolutely loved last night's RAW. When it started, I did something I've never done before, and followed WWE's Twitter feed live. I liked what I was seeing so much, that I decided to watch the full episode today, something that I have not done in months.
The point is: last night's RAW felt fresh, and I honestly truly enjoyed watching it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched Stephanie admit that they've been putting out a poor product. Sure, I know it was all a promo, not a company statement. But they would have not have felt it was necessary to cut that promo, were it not for the repeatedly record low ratings and consistently overwhelmingly negative feedback from critics and fans alike. You knew at some point Vince would have to realise that he's not putting out a good product, and it feels like we finally reached that point.
The NXT call-ups and Owens/Zayn return promos really caught me off-guard. I did not expect any of those at all! I am thoroughly excited for every single one them! They're all excellent talents, and the product will definitely benefit from fresh faces. Of course there is the danger of them being booked poorly, as WWE has a track record for doing so with every single NXT call-up in the past couple of years at least. Call me naive, but I think they're finally realising their mistakes, and hopefully will not repeat the same mistakes yet again.
I'm sorry, but the structure of the gauntlet match was just pathetic. At this point in her career, I believe that Natalya should be used purely to put over younger talent, and nothing else. Perhaps I'm being too critical, but as good a person Natalya appears to be outside of the ring, I've just never been engaged by anything she has done throughout her career. There is no way Ember Moon should have lost so easily to Natalya. She already got the PPV win over Ruby Riott, so there was no need to have Natalya beat her again the next night. And in my opinion, Sasha Banks is simply far too good to be losing to Natalya clean, even if both superstars were fresh, let alone after Natalya has competed in 2 consecutive matches. I'm not too bothered by this, given that she won a title opportunity on a throwaway holiday edition of RAW, rather than a PPV. But I just think that if they were going to have Natalya win, they should have structured it far better to make it more credible.
But in conclusion, last night's RAW gave me a lot of optimism for the future.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 18, 2018 15:35:06 GMT -5
they are literally trolling us lmao Well thanks for spoiling the winner of the gauntlet match for those of us international fans who have not had time to watch all of RAW yet. I didn't realise when opening this thread that someone would post something that has literally nothing to do with the thread in it! If I wanted to know the results of last night's RAW, I'd go to the RAW thread. I should not have to expect to find them in here. Thank you for your total lack of consideration. |
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 17, 2018 14:05:45 GMT -5
I thought it was a solid show. The main event really did save the show.
- The crowd sounded really quiet throughout.
- Corbin VS Strowman was a nice little segment. I'm really disappointed that they didn't have Rhyno return to Gore Corbin. I think that was a missed opportunity there.
- Natalya VS Riott was a solid match. Probably the only time in recent memory I've felt invested in a match starring Natalya.
- Balor VS McIntyre was okay.
- Rousey VS Jax was a solid match, though I think Nia tapped too quickly.
- The backstage interaction between Nia and Becky was fantastic, and was exactly what the fans needed.
- Bryan VS Styles was too boring for me to sit through, I just skipped it after the first few minutes. I don't know who on earth thought turning Daniel Bryan heel was a good idea. He's been unspeakably dull since doing so.
- Ambrose VS Rollins was mostly dull too. They made the right call with having Ambrose win, but I expected much more from those two.
- The Women's Triple Threat match was incredible! Some really creative and visually exciting spots. Becky landing with all her weight on Charlotte's chest from the top of a ladder looked bad. I hope it didn't cause an injury. Ronda interfering to stop Becky and Charlotte was a twist I did not see coming. I don't know if it's just me, but I think instead of setting up for Becky VS Ronda at WrestleMania, they're setting up for that Four Horsewomen match. If it was just Becky VS Ronda they were setting up for, I think they'd have Ronda interfere to stop just Becky, instead of both Becky and Charlotte.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 16, 2018 6:21:48 GMT -5
As plenty of other people have already said, turning the quality of the product around for WrestleMania season is something that happens every single year. They always put effort in from January - April. This is just a typical journalist throwing anything they can at a wall and seeing what sticks.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 14, 2018 6:47:51 GMT -5
Despite how unlikely most of them are, I'll say them anyway.
For the mens:
Aleister Black
Alex Riley
Chris Jericho
CM Punk
Cody Rhodes
EC3
Johnny Gargano
John Cena
John Morrison
Kevin Owens
Rob Van Dam
Roman Reigns
Sami Zayn
Tommaso Ciampa
Velveteen Dream
For the women:
AJ Lee
Bianca Belair
Dakota Kai
Deonna Purrazzo
Io Shirai
Kairi Sane
Kaitlyn
Kharma
Lacey Evans
Layla
Mia Yim
Toni Storm
Viper
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 13, 2018 8:50:46 GMT -5
It was great to see Tyler Breeze make a surprise appearance as Ricochet's opponent, even if I did have it spoiled for me by reading the tweet replies to the official announcement of the open challenge last week (shame on those who thought spoiling for others is a good idea). They really should have main roster superstars show up on NXT more often. Not as frequently as they did from 2012-2014 of course, but every now and again. Especially when you have so many former NXT stars on the main roster being absolutely wasted, like the Ascension, Bayley, Bo, No Way Jose, the Revival, Sasha, Tye, etc.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 11, 2018 10:47:19 GMT -5
Although I love both ideas, I'm far more interested in Vince's idea. The sooner they take the title off of Brock, the better. I absolutely want Drew McIntyre on top of the division, and giving Braun his first title would be great as well, even if it was just transitional.
I do also really like Seth though, and would make a better story.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 9, 2018 17:02:23 GMT -5
Nah. I think the biggest positive to the brand split is that it creates twice the opportunities. Taking away that opportunity would make the brand split pointless. I like the brand split.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 4, 2018 11:28:51 GMT -5
So not a good RAW, after watching the highlights:
- I wonder how long they're gonna have Alexa keep going with the "I'm nice now!" act. Was surprised that nobody came to attack Sasha/Bayley after they won. I don't know where they're going with Bliss feigning kindness, given that both of her associates just lost, and she did nothing to help them.
- YES to McIntyre FINALLY dropping Ziggler. I've felt that ever since McIntyre made it back to the main roster, his tag team with Ziggler has been holding him back, when I think he should have been one of RAW's top singles stars the whole time. Hopefully that happens now, and he is the Universal Champion in the near future.
- I really cannot get interested in Rollins/Ambrose with how they've handled Dean. Heel Dean should have been psychotic, unpredictable, chaotic, merciless. Instead he just walks around every week and goes "you people stink!". It's honestly just pathetic what they've done with Ambrose. Awful writing.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 3, 2018 12:20:29 GMT -5
Yeah, a patch is definitely long overdue. The last patch introduced a couple of game-breaking bugs, that I'm shocked haven't been fixed yet:
- The game refusing to allow you to reverse at random points in a match. No reversal indicators show up, and the game won't allow you to reverse any attacks, even if timed perfectly.
- Sideplates on custom championships causing infinite loading screens. Sure, the fix right now is to remove champions' sideplates and to put them on the custom championship design itself, but we shouldn't have to do this workaround, and have to keep editing the title with every new champion.
- The game refusing to allow you to land any moves after dragging a grounded opponent. Very annoying, forcing you to drop the AI in a perfect position and quickly land a ground sig/finisher before they get up, without the ability to drag them into place (previously mentioned on this page).
- Although not game-breaking, it's also annoying that the AI just stops after dragging you around on the ground. Sure, makes it easier to take advantage, but slows down the match.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Dec 2, 2018 10:23:10 GMT -5
As a purely sit at home viewer, I don't know what difference this makes at all. But okay.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Nov 28, 2018 10:21:53 GMT -5
While I think this RAW had a lot of problems, and most of it didn't really work, I wouldn't consider it to be one of the worst RAWs of this year alone, let alone of all time.
What worked:
- Baron Corbin/Braun Strowman/Lashley/Elias promo was solid. Elias continued to be a solid comedy act.
- Alexa Bliss being put in charge of the Women's Division. While in the past I have been very critical of Alexa Bliss' booking as champion, now that she's no longer champion I've finally been able to start enjoying her work. Having her in charge of the division while on the sidelines opens up a lot of possibilities.
- Dean Ambrose segment was okay.
- Ember Moon picking up a win was good. Having Curt Hawkins celebrating her win like the B-Team was actually pretty funny.
- No Way Jose finally showed up again. I feel like I haven't seen him on RAW in months.
What didn't work:
- I'll say that I honestly didn't have a problem with the way Nia Jax performed her promo. Granted I didn't watch the full thing, given that I watch RAW/SDL clips on YouTube rather than the full show. But what I do have a problem with is the way that she's being written. Mark Henry put forth a really good argument recently, I think. He said that Nia should not written to be smiling and singing like she has been doing for the past week. She should be intimidating and not behaving like a goofy idiot. Essentially, she should be presented the way she was for the majority of 2017, but better.
- That Sasha/Bayley/Alexa promo was going well, until Bayley's closing line. That line was not only poorly written, but poorly performed by Bayley. They need to either announce the women's tag team titles soon, or give Sasha/Bayley some good material to work with. They've not done anything noteworthy in months in terms of storylines, and they're so much better than that.
- Dolph Ziggler answering Seth Rollins' Open Challenge was a big letdown in multiple ways. Firstly, Dolph Ziggler has not been interesting in a good couple of years now. Secondly, they had a lengthy feud over the title just a matter of months ago.
- Finn Balor deserves so much better. He should be in the main event, but just like Bobby Roode, he's fallen so far. I can't see him making his way back up to the position he used to be in.
- The entire tag team division is a joke.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Nov 28, 2018 9:54:07 GMT -5
I really thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the clips that WWE uploaded to YouTube. Everything worked, from Becky's return, to New Day's backstage mockery of Miz, to the Hardy/Joe segment, to the women's battle royal. A stark contrast to RAW.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Nov 27, 2018 14:09:44 GMT -5
I always wanted Alex Riley to return to WWE and have a solid run.
After seeing those posts and his utter lack of comprehension when it comes to grammar...not so much.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Nov 26, 2018 18:44:25 GMT -5
I am very surprised that they're already doing the first NXT UK: Takeover in January, mere months after introducing NXT UK as a weekly brand. I really did not expect them to start doing Takeovers this early. NXT UK continues to get better every week, but it's still very much getting established, and nowhere near the level of NXT in my opinion. I'm still getting to know the NXT UK roster, and I didn't think they'd start doing Takeovers until 1-2 years into the brand.
Either way, I'm still shocked and pleased with the fact that they were able to sell out the first Takeover in under 3 hours. I'm looking forward to a future NXT UK: Takeover near me.
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Post by ahunter8056 on Nov 26, 2018 9:11:49 GMT -5
Huh, these are actually true. I saw these headlines and posts on a wrestling meme page, and assumed they were just made up for comedic effect. But they're actually real...yikes.
If Lars Sullivan was indeed the person behind the accounts, then I can only hope that he's grown up since then (mentally, because of course he's done enough growing physically). Everyone makes incredibly stupid comments in their teens, especially on internet forums. Although even going by those standards, these are still some disgusting comments. I think it's been well documented that if a Performance Centre recruit has a poor attitude or personality, they don't stick around. The fact that Lars has stuck around not only to make it onto NXT TV, but stay there for a year and a half, and is in the process of being called up to the main roster, tells me that if he did make those comments once upon a time, he likely doesn't still hold those views now, if he indeed ever held them seriously.
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