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Official Match/DVD/Show Discussion Thread (And Stairs)

269K views 3K replies 131 participants last post by  Brad Boyd 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Section got all screwy, here's the latest edition of the thread.

and STAIRS
 
#338 ·
Should have just put it as a triple threat match from the start, tbf. Then again, next month that was the plan, they switched out Trips for Angle, and it ended up being excellent. So yay? Weird KOTR got the terrible main when Vengeance, a filler show, got the successful one. W/the championship change at that. 2002 was wild, but I dug it a lot.

The Little Naich angle w/Robinson was AWESOME. Dude legit has a hell of a match w/Gorgeous George at Slamboree 99.
 
#340 ·
2002 has been super fun so far. There's a lot of stuff I forgot about from when I was a kid. Even the same feuds like Mark Henry and Test were fun. Henry doing a bunch of feats of strength and Test constantly doubting him and attacking him after. I'm actually shocked how they've booked Test. He has a win over Triple H and went toe to toe with Lesnar and lasted longer than a lot his previous opponents did.

I'll have to check that out. I've never seen either of them actually wrestle haha.
 
#341 ·
And he got a singles match vs Undertaker at SummerSlam during the height of the UnAmericans angle too. Then by November he was babyface & w/Stacy doing lower card stuff. :wtf2 (as I say this while you're only post KOTR...but I'm sure you remembered.)

Test was that guy they kept always wanting to "utilize his potential" and never followed up w/for whatever reasons that came up. The rumor that he was supposed to win the WWF Championship at Survivor Series 99, but they opted for the Big Show run instead. Kept happening during his career till he eventually died. :mj2

More positive note: did you see the Trips vs Lance Storm match from Smackdown yet? That's a good time.
 
#342 ·
That HHH/Storm match is the tits. If Brye's past the halfway point of 2002 he's nearly at where the Goldust/Booker v. Jericho/Christian matches are. Whether you've watched them once or five hundred times, they are the tittiest of all tits. There's a reallllly fun 8-man tag somewhere in there too. I remember being super impressed with Test's bumping in it. Maybe b/c I've never been high on him at all.



I got one match to go before I post full thoughts of Mania 2013. Note that I said "one match" not one _anything else_, because it could very well take me another five months to watch it.
 
#345 ·
I watched Raw like I do every so often when there's a few things on there that pique my attention and as always it just reminded me why I don't suffer through it. You can add all the talent you want but no talent in the world is saving how horrible and turn-offy the presentation of the show is. In pretty much every segment you have either Steph or Cole/JBL/Saxton and they're just massive turn offs and they ARE the show. There's no I can't be doing with them so I'll skip that part of go make a drink and come back after they're done. If Steph is a turn off then you skip the entire show. And if I was half thinking about watching again next week as an actual viewer and not a "someone said check this match out so here I am 3 months later" then Steph and Shane and the commentary drove me right away. It's probably why no matter who they have on the show ratings are where they are because stars won't drive ratings when the problems are at the very core. I'm actually really interested in what the numbers are for both shows this week because Raw should theoretically do a big number. GMs announced, Bryan and Foley returned, go-home show for Battleground, Raw before the Draft. Oh and Rollins vs Ambrose in a Title match. But I bet at best they have a decent spike that soon returns to the new norm. And if SD doesn't at least do Raw average numbers tonight then it may as well be called a lost cause already because this should really be the highest rated show of the year.

The fuck was up with Shane? Poor guy looked ready to melt. Him and Steph were super annoying. Actually that's not strong enough. A backstage skit with Bryan and Kane with no audio is annoying. They were just abhorrent. Abhorrent is my new favourtie word btw and I just found out that I've spelled it wrong twice in a row here. Just so unlikeable. Steph just would not shut up and is basically begging for a slappin but of course nobody can so you just turn the TV off and go watch someone else somewhere else that doesn't wind you up like that because fuck, our lives are tough enough as is without coming home and winding the day down with 3 hours of Stephanie McMahon acting like that. And it's not a who wants to see bad guys thing. Seth Rollins is a heel and I want to see him get his (well I don't because I don't care but say I is 9 year old Billy from Tampa) but I enjoy watching him be an annoying bad guy. I don't know how anyone can enjoy watching Steph. I've never watched anyone and felt such go away heat before. Shane was horrible too. Just so stupid and unlikeable and front of attention-y. Foley with Steph is beyond daft. I'd say character killer but thankfully Foley is untouchable and anything they do will just be forgotten. But yeah, moronic pairing. First off why would Steph pick Foley when he represents everything she represents the opposite of. And vice versa. I mean they had some weird explanation from Foley and it was just nonsense. And then poor Mick gets completely overshadowed and trumped by Bryan and it's like why on earth did you take this role Mick? Also he came off like a massive dumbass during that main event just shadowing Stephanie while yet again she made herself centre stage and Mick ended up as a deadbeat character who is just Stephanie's shadow and soon to be bitch. Also where is Mean Gene to ask her why she didn't pick Hunter as her GM. Or where the fuck Hunter even is. Part of me thinks this is just a short term angle to replace Foley with a heel GM but then part of me says look at their track record they do dumb things because Vince just tells the writers don't worry about it the audience won't care.

The idea that Raw vs SD is this big rivalry now is daft too. Like Bryan was on about SD beating Raw in the ratings and as fans I spose we want Bryan to succeed because he's Bryan but that's also telling viewers to watch SD and not Raw so Shane and Bryan can stick it to Steph who we all hate. They're literally telling their viewers to stop watching one of their shows so the heel gets hers. The mind boggles. Oh and the idea of Steph and Shane having a GM is also nonsense because they're going to constantly overshadow and undermine them and make Bryan and Foley look like their subordinate bitches.

Zayn/Owens tag was ok but holy shit they've managed to just totally kill Zayn/Owens dry. That's impressive. I was thinking about the Battleground card last night about what I'm interested in on it and I legit forgot all about their match. It's also apparently a normal rules match because okay then. Oh and the new wwe website is absolutely abhorrent. It's like a puzzle finding a show and then finding the matches for the card.

I didn't watch Young/ADR but howling at them paying Del Rio so much to be an enhancement talent for guys like Darren Young.

The whole 12 man tag portion of the show I liked. See not all bad. Enzo has absolutely abhorrent dialogue but manages to make it work which is about as big of a put over as I can think of. Their act is awesome, yada yada yada. I loved Cena of all people playing the straight man during all this and asking them if they can get serious. Howling I was. New Day come out and I'm sitting in the living room on the couch and gyrating along with Big E and I don't feel at all like a mong. Their act is so awesome and the only thing stopping me from saying they should stay together for life is that I really want a good Big E singles run at some point. But that can wait a long long time. Cole said I wonder if New Day will be the same after what happened last week as they came out and did the shtick they do every week, therefore acting exactly the same as they were before. Good observation Cole. I'm being too positive here, time for another rant. The commentary team are so out of touch and uncool. The recently divorced Dad who's hitting on girls half his age trying to drink cocktails and shot at the bar that was the cool hangout 20 years ago isn't even close to the level they're at. Cole said something at some point along the lines "I bet that'll be all over Social Media" and it's like just ugh. Does anyone watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver? Coooooool *thumbs up*. Exactly that. And again like Steph they ARE the show and there's no getting away from them and no amount of in ring talent are making up for it. Match was good. You just know how they look at Cass and you just know that Roman Reigns: Reloaded is on the cards in 2017/18. Which is a shame because Cass is over in this role and getting better and better and wait that was Roman Reigns in The Shield wasn't it. For all the supposed next level production WWE has Kevin Dunn is really bad at his job. Small sample but also large enough. Cena got a cut off spot and was crawling towards a hot tag and they go to a break. Like what in the hell? They did the same in the main event. The action finally picks up pace and Rollins does the big frog splash for a big near fall and they just go to a break. And then the abhorrent camera effects during the AJ turn on Cena. Holy cow, that legit made me feel queasy.

So wwe.com as I'm scrolling through the results, next to the Baron Corbin write up they have a video of The Lucha Dragons splitting up. As in literally alongside "but when The Lone Wolf attempted to further punish The International Sensation, Kalisto came Sin Cara’s rescue." And no I didn't cause that typo myself, that's legit the quality control and proofreading that exists on wwe.com.

So on Battleground they hype Charlotte/Dana vs Sasha/X and follow that up with Charlotte/Dana vs Sasha/Becky? Um, okay. So Sasha got herself a partner here but now she needs to get another one? I spose Becky already has a match on the PPV but why do something that makes you look dumb and thoughtless to the fans. Because I bet stuff like this happening every hour of every show has driven many fans away because people don't want to watch TV and think they're smarter than the writers of what they're watching. Unless it's "so bad it's good" viewing but Raw is not that. I tried to start watching the match because Sasha but it was bad so I started forwarding and then it ended just as soon as I started doing that anyway. This time next week including the Natalya run in, this will have featured the entire Womens roster for one show. Very potentially. Her partner has to be Bayley right? So that will come across as her playing second fiddle for the next few months no doubt then. Or babyface Nia Jax :mark:

Nothing at all on the tag match. Lana dresses like a skank rather than a business woman now I spose.

I saw the main event starting and checked how long was left and my planner said 45 minutes and I died a little inside. Very nearly just skipped through to the finish and I so wish that I had done. Dull and not a good match. Ambrose is abhorrently bad right now. Just everything about him. Never been huge on him but I just don't see how people can look at his matches right now and think that's someone who is good at his job. Farcical is an apt adjective. If you thought this was getting a clean decisive finish then lol you're a moron and I'm pretty sure I type that after like every PPV. Why the hell do people get invested in these matches when there's such a low chance of a satisfying ending? I mean the actual finish if you go in this direction was decent but non-finish is the norm so it's just groan groan groan. This became all about Steph and Shane again because duh they're more important than you're top heel and the surrogate top babyface champion. Like I said earlier Foley looked like a total bitch as Steph's shadow.

I never knew this but they actually carried this angle over onto the Network and I only realised when there was some file on XWT called Ambrose/Rollins controversy continues and I was like huh? BECAUSE NOBODY TOLD YOU AS RAW WENT OFF TO TUNE INTO THE NETWORK TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Words fail me. Anyway they gave the belt back to Ambrose and called it a Draw and I spose this is how they get 2 Champions and Rollins is the Raw Champ and has to be the #1 pick after tonight. I spose Ambrose has to be the #2 pick for Shane too. Lel. I mean it's better than Bischoff just giving Hunter the Title but it's not far off. Doesn't this also make the Battleground main event seem very redundant now too?

:cal2
 
#346 · (Edited)
I really enjoyed Ambrose vs. Rollins, but more so for Rollins. As usual, Rollins brings the best out of Ambrose - when Ambrose is working with someone else, he's just lazy as hell and he almost did the same in this match for me. I used to be a big Ambrose mark, but this Ambrose is a far cry from the 2014 post-split Dean Ambrose. He's just so incredibly lazy in the ring, and he's not as good as Randy Orton to go through the motions and still put on great matches.

They're having a rematch to open Smackdown as well.

Also from Raw, I enjoyed the Jericho/Owens vs. Cesaro/Zayn match and the 12-man tag (the whole segment was great).
 
#347 · (Edited)
Only now did I watch Maluta/Ibushi, and godDAMN that was some good shit. ***1/4

That Ibushi rules the fuckin' world is well-known already, and he sold like a motherfucker for Maluta, but this kid more than held his own here. Going for a splash so early seemed weird, but Bryan sold it nicely on commentary making it seem like something out of inexperience, so it actually fit well into the story.

Then Maluta went for some weird-ass dive to the outside and it looked like it REALLY might've hurt, but the guy actually had the wherewhithal to flip once more the moment he felt the tip of his feet touching the apron and managed to (sort of) hit Ibushi and save himself from a nasty landing; didn't look pretty, but he still managed to (sort of) hit his target and keep himself safe, so kudos to him :lol

Cool match. Should Maluta sign with WWE right now, he'd instantly become my favourite Samoan there (which isn't saying much, but still) :D
 
#349 ·
Thought the draft lacked a whole lot of excitement. Nothing too interesting in the picks other than Balor being drafted to RAW, American Alpha to Smackdown, and a cruiserweight division returning despite there being literally no one other than Neville & Sin Cara. Looking at the rosters, there's just not that many fresh matchups in store for the future. On RAW we're hopefully getting Lesnar vs. Owens at some point along with Rollins vs. Balor and the eventual Lesnar/Reigns rematch.

I'm fine with Cena and Orton going to Smackdown, but damn could yo give them some different foes? Do not wanna see Cena/Wyatt again and Ziggler can fuck off. At least we've got Orton/AJ to look forward to but idk how that's gonna turn out with Randy as the face. Seems backwards. I do like the idea of separating AJ from Gallows & Anderson, but I'm interested to see how the Club are booked on RAW. Next tag champs? Who knows.

Strowman by himself on RAW sounds GOD awful. I really wish they would've separated Owens & Zayn. They could really use a break from each other after this Battleground match... but I guess not. I really wish Cesaro would've went to Smackdown too.

Nia Jax, Carmella, Eva Marie, and Alexa Bliss all called up at the same time? My god what women are left in NXT?
 
#350 ·
That division is going to be made up of Asuka, Bayley, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Liv Morgan, whatever the heck Athena's name is, and some possible others who have been enhancement that may or may not be signed. There's bodies down there to still work under the simple format. Some just have to be made into credible names now. That is, if they don't just keep Carmella, Bliss, and Nia all down there for tapings every so often too. Which wouldn't surprise me if they did.

The Cruiserweight bit for RAW is something that I say is obviously going to be added on. Like the roster atm doesn't have much (I don't think Sin Cara is even eligible; may be too heavy) but they'll clearly bring people undrafted into the fold. (Ibushi/Dorada just signed, lets see how they choose to use them) A lot of it goes w/o saying on assumptions, although the problem here is WWE SHOULDN'T have people like me assume all of this. It should be told to us so we have a decent understanding of things. Of course that doesn't happen b/c all of this reeks of short term hogwash.
 
#351 ·
So this was a massive mistake by the looks of things. I don't watch anyway besides the PPVs and the odd matches but jesus I came out of this with literally no desire to watch either show after this. The show itself was abhorrent and the rosters now look laughable. Stephanie. Oh my sweet jesus Stephanie. She was somehow even worse than the night before. She's treating this like she's the massive demon child and everyone else is locked inside her little dollhouse but Kevin Dunn is actually a genius and scales her down to the size of all her subjects in the dollhouse. ABHORRENT I TELL THE. When she's imitating these cool acts like Sasha and New Day and I'm just like aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh. And her and Mick are best friends and I'm just dead.

Quickie thoughts. I didn't watch any of the matches btw because matches are unimportant at the best of times but especially so here. I actually watched Cesaro/Jericho though because Cesaro like always has good matches but this was actually bad and holy cow Chris Jericho might be the worst worker in the world now because he had a match with Cesaro that I thought was bad. I guess they had another show airing alongside SD and I'm like wtf I can only watch one show at a time.

The top 2 picks were duh and killed a little of the excitement but at least Rollins can brag forever about being the #1 draft pick.

These are pretty cool visuals off pwtorch.com. Some of the allignments are a bit okay then mate but still



I mean the depth is just laughable. I remember doing a mock draft a couple of years ago for a TDL debate and I'm confident I managed to come up with two rosters that had plenty of depth and choice of opponents and that was when they had even less talent to pick from.

They put Zayn and Owens on the same show because obviously. So if Zayn is kept away from Owens then he basically has Rollins, Rusev, Sheamus and Strowman to feud with. Assuming Jericho is going and even then they've run that down already. Incredible.

Picking Balor so high was good but I don't give a shit about Finn Balor.

The NXT call ups were as phony as I figured they'd be. None of the Champions drafted because if you're a Champion in NXT you're developmental for life which sucks for you. Try not to beat Joe I guess Shinsuke. I don't even know what to say about Daniel Bryan not drafting Shinsuke Nakamura. At least come up with a reason for it. I mean it was only 6 picks so you may as well have just debuted them over the coming weeks and kept them out of the draft. They called up a bunch of Women because they had to and still managed to leave Bayley down there. I think it's just incredible how Triple H has created a promotion as a vanity project for himself that does so much damage to the main roster where the money is made that he's created this vanity project for to help him inherit.

The splitting of the Tag and Womens divisions. Oh baby. Look at the tag teams that American Alpha have to work with. Talk about doomed from the very start. I can't even make a heel team for them to work with. Corbin & Kane? Miz and Del Rio? Yikes. Turn The Usos and you get one feud. Then what? THE ASCENSION? God they're paying the price now for burying so many acts. You can't just make acts like The Ascension and Zack Ryder credible again now because the damage is done and perceptions are set. I've also just noticed that Mojo Rawley got drafted. Words. Befail. Me.

They split AJ and The Club up. Because nats. Maybe they switch AJ for Balor but Raw needs faces. Mind you they need heels too. No idea who New Day work with. Club. Done. Dudleys. Done and buried. Enzo & Cass? Odd.

Charlotte/Sasha has to last like forever now. What else? Charlotte vs Paige again? Sasha with Nia and Dana? RIP being a Sasha Banks fan. The Womens split may rival drafting Mojo Rawley over Shinsuke Nakamura for dumbest thing done on this draft. Just why would you create two nothing rosters with a 6 month shelf life before literally everything of interest is done.

They have a Cruiserweight Division on Raw now apparently. I'm hoping they do weekly skits where Neville is like fuck yeah Cruiserweight Wrestling and then goes around the locker room trying to find another Cruiserweight to wrestler and they do comedy skits with him trying to get Braun Strowman to cut weight so he can challenge him for his belt. I know they're coming in from the CWC but yikes. Also duh they put Kallisto on SD because why would we want him anywhere near the Cruiserweight Division.

Carmella didn't even get on the same show as Enzo & Cass. Okaaaaaaaaay.

GIANT BRAUN STROWMAN PUSH INCOMING. BROCK VS BRAUN AT MANIA.

Bray/Cena and Bray/Ambrose have been done to death so Bray/Orton incoming. And then what? Look out Zack Ryder!!!

Cena has AJ to work with and then he honestly may as well just go away until Mania. Cena vs Miz/Corbin/ADR/Rowan? HAHAHAHA. At least they gave SD Orton and Ambrose to carry the house shows in Cena's absence.

Ok lets look at the roster and guys who they can build as up bigger stars than they are before. Cesaro? Not happening. Had infinite chances and did you see how low he got drafted on the show he lost to Chris Jericho? Crews? They've done nothing with him and didn't even draft him on the show. I have a hard time buying anyone not drafted on the show going far. That said Strowman didn't go on the show either. Big Show & Kane pushes incoming for sure. Oh god I forgot the Zayn/Owens burial by Kane. I could make a top 10 dumbest things WWE did this week and that might not even crack the top 5. Ziggler push I spose but who still even likes Dolph Ziggler? Sheamus? Titus? Darren Young? Oh lord.

Heath Slater didn't even get drafted. This has amazing skit potential.

The Ascension got drafted ahead of Apollo Crews.

They're gonna need to bring in A LOT of talent over the next few months otherwise they're gonna have literally nothing left for anyone after Mania bar another Draft.
 
#352 · (Edited)
Both of the rosters look like ass. fpalm I can't believe they looked at their rosters and thought "yeah, I think we can split 'em up!"

At least Ambrose and Rollins was better on SD than on Raw, but fuck, I am not looking forward to watching both these shows moving forward...

I know it's scripted, but the whole draft was so illogical. I won't even mention Nakamura, Aries, Joe in NXT, but you take Baron Corbin before someone like Cesaro? Natalya before someone like Sheamus? Why even split the women up?

The only thing I can look forward to is Harper's return and hopefully seeing Harper & Rowan vs. American Alpha on Smackdown. And I guess Wyatt actually has a chance to hold a title now...
 
#353 ·
The fixation on assuming Joe, Nakamura, or Aries would be drafted as got to stop. Just makes you look like WWE's puppet in assuming only the TOP names would come over, when that was clearly not the case. Mojo Rawley coming over was the least surprising thing of the entire show. I'll go full hyperbolic machine on you guys, b/c really, HOW did nobody see that coming? Hardly laughable when it's just how WWE does business. You can't garner any emotion other than apathy. I don't disagree that some reasoning should have been issued as to "why" some weren't chosen in kayfabe, b/c it absolutely doesn't make sense. But say Regal made a lockdown for certain names that were actually exempt or whatever. (champions, recent big names like Nakamura, Aries, & stalwarts like a Bayley) It could have been somewhat feasible given the situation.

The rest of it is just as terrible as everyone else has stated. And it's all thanks to their own booking. Doesn't matter who's actually "good" or "bad" these days, when perception/interest is all that actually tends to matter. Finn Balor drafted is obviously a big deal, but I don't care currently until he starts to change my mind otherwise. Meanwhile I'm someone who actually does enjoy The Ascension, but while they're on Smackdown I know they still won't matter worth a damn. Or even if WWE attempts to save them after their main roster burial, how many are going to truly buy it on the heels of what would no doubt be a short term rebuild just to probably face American Alpha and lose? (not to mention the fact that these two teams already worked in NXT for a one off, which Alpha won) Alpha vs Vaudevillains is all I got there for that brand off the top of my head for a few shows. Unless Bray & Rowan start working as a duo semi regularly. But Bray is clearly patterned for the upper card. (or so you hope) Usos working them as babyfaces would be hilarious b/c those guys have a track record of already getting heat from marks as it is. Then turning em heel just for one program. Oh my. The fuckery. They're shitheads so I kind of hope this actually happens b/c I GROAN and hope they get buried anytime they appear anyways.

and Cena is on this brand too. :lmao That alone is just...you're not fooling anyone, WWE.

yay for someone realizing the Slater not being drafted thing has a world of potential for moments following this. I pitched that he tries to find an way into the buildings for both RAW and Smackdown next week, Heenan style. Imagine him outside picketing w/signs. Or sneaking into locker rooms, interrupting matches. If this ends up being something, I'm honestly the most excited about this.
 
#354 ·
Would it really have taken anything of real value from that draft if WWE had just bundled the Women and established tag teams into two separate bundles, each counting as one pick? The selection process fell completely flat after the few top names had been picked anyway.

Even if it would have its not like WWE couldn't have done a billion things to make up for those losses, on what turned out to be a horrifically low effort, run of the mill, bore de force. Yeah to hell with having storylines or angles running throughout the night that thread together the theme of the show and create genuine tension or suspense, let's have some awkwardly poor :keys and sprint through the picks in each individual draft segment.

Think of the simple but effective angles they could have run, such as; heated debates between GM and commissioner over picks, Steph undermining/preventing Foley from making a pick before Shane/Bryan take that pick next causing tension on Raw (play up that heel/face dynamic properly), tactics/bluffing from each side to try and encourage certain picks from the opposition to ensure they get their own picks, portrayals of devastation and plans being ruined after losing certain out on certain choices, etc. You know, make the whole process feel like it's a HUGE moment in deciding the future direction of each show, rather than blase reactions and lowkey pats on the back at best.

Even with the actual wrestlers you could have; kayfabe politicking and negotiating for roster spots, babyfaces begging to be on the same show as their hated rivals, vice versa for cowardly heels, a smug heel being embarrassed as a lower pick after boasting he would be a top 10 pick, firey promos campaigning for selection, etc. Nah lets pass on all of those little details that make up the bigger picture for the same repeated ad nauseum cold pointless tv matches that are the norm. I mean, if they HAD to split up a tag team or faction, why not run a match at the start of the show where the winners are immune from being split up and the losers are forced to go seperate ways? You know, a tv match with actual stakes with a guarantee of enforcement (remember them?). That's so easy to book that even a bum scratching simpleton such as myself could muster up the concept, but WWE's creative is so low energy these days that that seems like a great idea by comparison.

I mean, the whole point of this brand split was to boost Smackdown's ratings short and long term, due to pressure from the USA Network. You wouldn't think it after watching that drivel. There was really no reason to watch the show. Google the draft results and there's your show in a minute. If that's a case of start as you mean to go on then there's even less reason to watch either show, especially now that both have ridiculously diminished rosters in terms of depth in quite a few vital areas due to absolutely moronic planning.

On a brighter note, the Heath Slater thing angle coming out if this is perfect material for him if he's allowed to run with it properly. A situation like that was absolutely tailor made for him. That's how awful WWE is now. They make you cling on to the hope of tomfoolery from a geek (albeit GREAT) heel jobber, because there's not much else going on.
 
#355 · (Edited)
@seabs , just wanted to say that I love your writing style. Even if I disagree with 50% of what you say, I always look forward to and enjoy your posts.

Something about them is just so easily digestible. Just breezy and covers every base, and I get exactly what you mean & where you're coming from even with a drive-by style of approaching the specifics. That's very hard to pull off.

Haven't been in here for forever, but you just reminded me that I've been wanting to say this to you for forever.
 
#357 ·
I look forward to reliving the magic of The Wyatts vs. The Usos and living the magic (for the first night) of The Wyatts vs. American Alpha on the Smackdown brand.
 
#358 ·


WWE Cruiserweight Classic Episode 2


After the terribly disappointing and dull draft, I can only hope the CWC can give me the same kind of enjoyment as it did last week, because I need it.


Tajiri Vs Damien Slater

TAJIRI :mark:.

KICKS :mark:.

TAJIRI WINS :mark:.

ALL THE STARS :mark:.

Ok, I'll talk about the match for real. Tajiri looked fantastic. He's the veteran here and is out to show Slater that he's still as good as ever, and he does such a wonderful job of countering Slater who is supposed to be a "technical" wrestler at every turn. Tajiri works over the arm and produces a couple of real slick counters from it any time Slater tries to gain control.

Slater tries to KICK Tajiri to get him away from the arm... which is never a good idea because Tajiri will kick the FUCK out of you and you will get hurt.

While Slater might not be a master of kicking like Tajiri, but he does use some nice kicks of his own, especially to the leg of Tajiri in hopes of preventing getting kicked some more.

Sadly, Tajiri's leg is not damaged nearly enough and the BUZZSAW KICK to the head puts Slater away and TAJIRI ADVANCES :mark:.

Very fun match, and Slater looked great too. Tajiri is still the man.

Rating: ***1/4


Tajiri will face Grand Metalik in the next round. I hope Tajiri kicks his face off :).


T.J. Perkins Vs Da Mack

Was about to say "what kind of name is Da Mack?" and then I noticed he was German.

THE URBAN GERMAN :lmao.

Alex Wright name dropped :lmao.

Lots of counters and flipping around to counter things, and TJP applies a bunch of different submissions.

Da Mack is apparently too cool to sell a fucking KICK TO THE HEAD. Try doing that shit with Tajiri...

Perkins wins with a submission. Was mainly a Perkins showcase here. Da Mack didn't do much for me. Though tbf to him, I'm not entirely sure if he wasn't selling a lot of stuff because he's shit, or if a lot of TJP's stuff requires not being sold so he can pull together a sequence of moves... either way I wasn't overly impressed with either man.

Rating: **



Mustafa Ali Vs Lince Dorado

Mustafa Ali? Someone clearly likes Disney and boxing...

Dorado's mask looks stupid as hell with those teeth.

So is Ali's main form of offence a forward roll? Cos like, he does a billion of them here.

Damn, Ali just went head first into the mat. He might have gotten hurt there, but seemingly he's ok to continue so that's good.

SPRINGBOARD C4? Yeah ok, that was awesome.

Kick out? Fuck you.

Match ends with a Shooting Star Press from Dorado. I mean yeah it was probably the best looking SSP I've seen but that won the match over a Springboard C4? GTFO.

Didn't care for much here.

Rating: *



Akira Tozawa Vs Kenneth Johnson

Heard the name Tozawa before. That's about it. Kenneth Johnson has the name and look of a generic CAW.

Johnson was trained by MR HUGHES :lmao.

Meanwhile, Tozawa trained with FUNAKI.

First good part of this match takes about 5 minutes to get to, and happens during a back and forth chop battle. Tozawa looks to be losing the battle, so he fakes a chop and then decks Johnson in the side of the head :lmao.

TOZAWA STRETCHING JOHNSON~!

Big rolling elbow to the face and... Johnson ignores it completely to hit a dropkick. No selling big strikes is a big theme this week apparently... except in the first match.

STOP NO SELLING ELBOWS TO THE FACE. Please.

Couple of big German suplexes and Tozawa wins.

More here for me to like than the previous match... but only just. Far too much no selling shit so they can come back and hit a move of their own. Fuck off with that shit please.

Rating: *1/2


Sadly, not nearly as fun as last week. Last week had 2 standout matches and 1 fun match. This week has 1 standout match and 3 "meh" matches.


 
#360 ·
I personally didn't care for any of the Joe/Zayn matches. I thought they were extremely slow and clunky. NXT had a problem in the first few months of the year where ALL of their big matches started out at a snail-like pace with a large use of rest holds, whether it was Balor/Crews, Joe/Zayn, Neville/Balor, etc. I didn't like the 3 way with Joe/Zayn/Corbin either. It's a shame.
 
#366 ·
CWC Episode 2 was fun, again, but NOWHERE near as good as the 1st episode. Shame, but still fun. RATINGZ~:

Tajiri/HeathSandow - ***1/4
Perkins/Mack - **
Ali/Dorado - **
Tozawa/Johnson - *1/2

Tajiri/Slater was really good. Didn't like it as much as Ibushi/Maluta or even Petiot/Alexander, since I think those told their respective stories in a more fluid way, but overall, I loved the smart approach that both men brought, w/veteran Tajiri outsmarting underdog Slater and working the arm like a champ, while Slater would go for Tajiri's legs. Lots of KICKZ. KICKZ BABY. KICKZ. Tajiri/Metalik should be awesome.

Perkins/Mack was basically the Hoho/Daivari of TJ Perkins, only that, for once, the guy that's supposed to look good actually did. The story was about how Perkins was too fast and would constantly mess Mack's game, so Mack's questionable selling makes sense in a way, but it still doesn't excuse it. That being said, Perkins looked good for what he was supposed to look like, so it's mostly all fine.

Ali/Dorado was a glorified spotfest that served to put over Lince Dorado. Not as good a spotfest as Metalik/Saez last week, since that one went just about the right lenght for that type of match, and impressed me more as a whole (and Saez looked better than Ali imo). Ali was a bit clunky besides the more high octane offense. Lince did look pretty good, though. The Springboard Inverted Rana was the highlight of the night imo (not the big C4, unlike some people will say... the C4 is just a dumb move anyway). I didn't really care much for this, but at the end of the day, it served its purpose. Stupid FS fans chanting "This is awesome" was grating, though.

Tozawa/Johnson was, sadly, the worst MOTN, I felt. It was going in a pretty good direction at 1st, w/the idea of Johnson being a fighter and playing Tozawa's game to try to surprise everywhere and upset the much more famous DGUSA vet, and I have to say that the chop sequence was awesome, but beyond that, it was just a dumb no-sell festival, not even one that was visually impressive like the few other acceptable spotfests we've seen in the CWC so far (like Metalik/Saez or even Ali/Dorado, that was far more visually impressive). I've heard good things about Tozawa, which only made this 1st impression of his for me even suckier. Ugh.

Oh well, next week I get ZSJ and Kendrick to enjoy.







Oh, there was a Draft too. WHO FUCKING CARES.
 
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