Go2Sleep
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Posts posted by Go2Sleep
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Double post
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On 2/25/2021 at 10:56 PM, The Natural said:
This match is so fucking good. True MOTDC in an absolutely loaded decade where so much more wrestling had become widely available. Perfect chemistry between all 4 guys as the match smoothly drifts between "plucky upstarts trying to make a name on the big stage," "surly veterans battling for pride following their epic singles match," and the best parts: "surly vets getting irritated when the upstarts try to cut in on their time." Super hot crowd for a NOAH show too.
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Xia Li's new act is so awesome, very Lucha Underground like. She didn't interest me at all as a blue-chipper babyface, but she's got some fire as a super-powered heel. I hope there's more for the Kacy/Kayden team after Xia kills them, though. Maybe it's just the lime green attire, but they really remind me of a women's version of MSK.
Feel like Escobar/Kross match went too long. Full on babyface Kross doesn't work, but this match does bode well for Escobar's prospects beyond CW champ. He didn't look out of place hanging with Kross, even with all the interference.
I am disappointed with the direction they're going with the title picture. Looks like they're setting up a fatal 4-way, which usually aren't good to begin with, and the whole UE imploding angle is falling so flat. Like you can't do a super-emotional brotherhood break-up with a heel group. These guys have spent the last 3 years using every underhanded trick to get ahead and screw everyone else over. I mean Roddy himself is only in the group because he stabbed Pete Dunne in the back, so him crying about brotherhood seemed especially hollow. Bobby Fish, the guy with most emotional connection to KoR, is nowhere to be found. If these guys all turned on each other because they were all jealous and insecure like Cole, they might have something. As is, it's not working, then they're wasting the champ who's been on a mega-roll lately by just throwing him in the middle of it for no reason on top of it.
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Dolph's brother is a good jobber. I dug Moxley using the guillotine choke to set up the paradigm shift. Great transition to a move that doesn't usually look good when he tries to hit it quickly.
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Fun thought experiment: What if when Hogan went to WCW, he booked himself like Cody Rhodes in AEW?
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Depends if you count his post-invasion win against the Rock/Undisputed tournament win. Technically it's the same belt, but I think the company doing the booking is more important than the name of the belt for the spirit of this argument.
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11 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:
Holy shit, listening to TK on WOL finally, and I cannot overstate how bizarre it is to have him referencing actual threads and arguments I completely remember from my lurking days here in HS/college.
More or less bizarre than reading Bix posts in an actual published book (the Benoit one)?
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4 hours ago, A_K said:
Is there any precedent for having a commentator who is sizeably more imposing than the rest of the entire roster? Not sure that’s a good idea at all
Not in terms of size, but a lot of the ex-wrestler announcers (Ventura, Piper, Savage, Booker T, Wade Barrett to name a few) had enough size and/or presence that they wouldn't be pushed around by most of the active roster at their respective times. The most egregious example might be Coach, who played a dopey character, but was a legit big dude/athlete. He looked like an small dweeb next to Dwayne Johnson, but he towered over guys he feuded with like Lawler and Tajiri.
Whoever said Wight should be used like late-career Andre was dead on. It'd be a hilarious full-circle for his career too.
Also I hope we get at least one match with Wight and Taz on commentary together.
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This is one of the better main roster ppvs lately since at least the in-ring action was good, even if the writing was shit.
I really liked the SD chamber, probably the best one I've seen in 7 (?) years. The key was Baron Corbin being used appropriately and not overstaying his welcome. Jey Uso also played his part nicely, and his elimination of KO was vicious. Cesaro winning would've been slightly better, but nothing wrong with Bryan. There was something wrong with him getting squashed immediately after, though. Given how the show ended, I don't see how a competitive Bryan/Roman match with Edge challenging Roman after wouldn't have been a better close.
The US 3-way was good too. Lashley was a monster and Riddle/Morrison filled in the roles of guys who can bump, but still end up getting credible offense with their athleticism. The crutch kept Lashley strong and him vs. Drew at Mania would be great.
The women's tag seemed a little disjointed, mostly because of Nia. I'd like to see Shayna/Sasha at some point. Bianca still doesn't do much for me, but at least it's a fresh face in the picture. Reginald's involvement foreshadowing more Carmella can't be good, though.
The Raw chamber was more of the usual forgettable kind of chamber we've become accustomed to the last 10+ years. Considering I only watch ppvs, I forgot Miz still had the case. I would probably be even more annoyed if I learned how he got the case back after TLC. Luckily, there's an easy path to Drew/Lashley, but it still doesn't make me want to see another Miz main event.
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On 2/17/2021 at 8:12 AM, WholeFnMachine said:
Two questions:
1. How in the hell does Pete Dunne not destroy your fingers when he does that?
Same way your face doesn't get destroyed taking multiple bare-knuckle punches.
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I wouldn't worry too much about Cole being in the title picture. The ending felt more like Cole vs. KoR with Roddy in the middle, and they've been planting seeds for Balor to face Kross. UE breaking up is also long overdue.
I really like the way Finn has been working since he won the belt. He wrestles like a true ace and makes getting any offense on him look like a struggle. Night and day from his first run. Feels like the whole "demon" thing is completely unnecessary now.
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NXT is as good now as it's been for most of its existence, it's just that its niche as the "big budget Indy" doesn't look as good against AEW's big-time modern wrestling as it did when lame-ass Raw/SD were the only other games in town.
I was pleasantly surprised they went all-in with GYV out-teamworking Thatcher/Ciampa in decisive fashion. Probably the only time a true midcard team has done that against two top singles stars in the last 25 years of WWE (at least without the singles guys turning on each other). Low-key one of the biggest swerves WWE has pulled off in a while.
Also Grimes doing a meme-stock twist on the rich-man gimmick is the most contemporary angle I've seen from WWE in a while too. Good to see someone other than New Day aware of pop culture.
I'm very ready for King Cuerno vs. White Rabbit next week. I hope Santos gets a good showing because he's pulling off the entitled Mexican royalty act way better than Almas. Not quite as well as Del Rio, but I think ADR was unfairly aided by being a genuine piece of shit.
Gargano is pretty great as a stoogy heel.
Nice video package for Balor/Dunne. Obvious filler match before Balor/Kross, but it felt like a big deal.
Is "2 teams trash-talking in front of the Dusty Cup" the new "pointing at the WM sign?" Seemed super forced, but overall a great show.
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Catching up on multiple weeks of NXT, I have to say how funny it was that Edge had to say that he would have shrugged off advice "10" years ago, so as not to sound too old, when 21 years would be far more accurate for his character. Like, dude, 10 years ago you were 3 months from retiring.
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Roman/KO would've been really great if the Pillmanizer actually took Jey out. Or use the apron powerbomb which has lost some effectiveness since its NXT use, but I think is still good enough to keep someone out for the remainder of a show. KO is exactly the guy Roman should be beating on his own at this point in his heel run. The work between them was great, though. That fisherman suplex into the chair looked like an
SvRWWE2k glitch where your regular move hits a stray weapon and the opponent just kind of freezes before doing the max sell on a random body part.Despite my general lack of engagement with WWE, seeing Sasha get a proper title run with multiple ppv wins in a row still warms my heart.
I thought the inferno match was the most interesting either guy has been in years. Hopefully the finish marks the end of the god-awful fiend, and honestly, the Bray Wyatt character in general. That gimmick has run its course and the idea that it can be some sort of Taker-like mainstay was laughable 5 years ago and just completely detached from reality now. Let Windham Rotundo try something different. Of course, I am writing this well over a week after airing and haven't watched a WWE weekly show in a couple years now, so feel free to laugh if he has already done a lights-out surprise attack on some upper midcard face for no reason.
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Thatcher/Ciampa was real nice, same spirit as Balor/KoR from a couple months back. Unfortunately the rest of the show was back to overkill city. The women's match was good in that regard, but the other three were worse off for it. They all had good finishes, but kept sputtering in the middle, and no one came out looking as good as they should have.
On 12/7/2020 at 6:14 PM, RunningFromAmerica said:Thatcher is losing a lot, but I don't think it matters *that* much because he delivers that 'shit is on' feeling and that's bigger than wins or losses..
Really nailing that modern day Regal/Finlay vibe he's going for.
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Seemed like there were a lot of obvious whiffs on this show. Not sure if the main roster wrestlers are working lighter now or it was just a bad night for them/the camera crew.
Matt Riddle losing half his name might be worse than "Tucker" and that men's elimination match was the worst of its kind in some time.
New Day/Street Profits was a solid midcard tag and worked around Angelo Dawkins not being nearly as good as the other 3 nicely.
Lashley/Sami was there.
Good to see Sasha getting back to back ppv title match wins, 4 years overdue.
Women's tag wasn't much better than the men's. Lana is still a terrible actress. The whole angle fell super flat and the "I'm a survivor" bit was major cringe.
Drew/Roman was fine. Overkill formula makes sense in a champ vs. champ match and it was justified to protect Drew anyway.
The Taker farewell was underwhelming minus the Paul Bearer hologram, but this was something that had no chance to feel as big as it should in a crowd-less show. The Thunderdome helps the matches feel more right, but it's not there for a moment like this.
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10 hours ago, The Natural said:
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan. WWE Smackdown Live, 6th June.
Roman Reigns vs. Jimmy Uso. WWE Clash of Champions, 27th September.
Hope that helps.
Thanks, I'll make sure to check those out. I am interested to see heel Roman in full swing, so I'm glad that match is recommended.
Edit: After watching, I'll have to do a hard disagree on both, and it's pretty easy to do direct comparisons. The dueling body part work in KoR/Finn was better than Bryan and AJ playing their greatest hits, and the underdog drama played out more consistently than in Jey/Roman. Felt like the latter would've been twice as effective with half the time (and some juice) because the finishing run was intense. Reminded me of Bret/Backlund in the sense that it was a decent match that could've been an all-timer with some tweaks to the writing.
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So, is this the first time WWE just completely overhauled their entire face/heel dynamic and match structure formula, or has this been going on for a while? It was super refreshing and the most fun I've had watching a WWE show in years. The virtual audience got the noise level up to Full Sail level at least, and was the first post-pandemic show I've seen that wasn't overly disengaging due to lack of crowd noise.
The Gargano/Priest match was something I wasn't excited about going in, but they pulled off a nice back and forth match that didn't go into super overkill. Seeing a Gargano match end off the opponent's first finisher was a welcome sight.
Kushida/Dream was an even bigger surprise and a legit great match. Dream is at his best as an overmatched heel, and Kushida came across as a real killer instead of a foreigner happy to be here and squeak out unconvincing wins. Kushida didn't seem heelish at all to me, even at the end. More of a badass face vibe that wasn't gonna get pushed around or let sneak attacks go unanswered. If he keeps working like that, he'd replace Riddle as a guy that makes every match feel like a war.
Santos/Swerve was probably the worst match of the night, but it was still pretty decent and I enjoyed the Lucha Underground success story. The complaints I have were the early sequence where Santos was lazily walking into and staring at Swerve's dives coming from a mile away (which was odd for a guy who's normally super smooth), and Mendoza/Wilde as the new Singh Brothers (which seemed to be the last vestige of lazy WWE tropes on the show). The 450 nearfall was the biggest one of the show and it stood out when no other matches went to such extremes. The finish with Swerve spiking the back of his head on the turnbuckle bolt was a good way to end the match after escalating the action so high.
For whatever reason, it hit me during the women's match that Candace reminds me of CM Punk stylistically. She obviously has a great wrestling mind and lots of charisma, but she doesn't quite have the natural athleticism to pull off everything she sees in her head. It was noticeable against Io, because she effortlessly moves through the strike exchanges and never has any trouble setting up her spots, while Candace is always taking an extra second to make sure she's in perfect position and she's moving just right. Her positives still have kept her matches enjoyable over her career though, and this was no exception. I won't be hyperbolic and say stooging second Johnny is better than wrestling Johnny, but it was a welcome change of pace. His "Are you fucking kidding me" made the whole sequence. The returns after the match were overkill, but I liked Io being nonplussed by the whole thing.
I haven't watched much WWE this year, but if there was a better match than Balor/O'Reilly, please point it out. It was a match full of surprises but never left the ring. Balor looked dominant as champ, and Kyle looked strong even without getting close to winning. Every time it looked Kyle was gonna get control, Finn cut him off with something. The quick abdominal stretch counter and sharpshooter counter were very surprising after the last several years of WWE style. Finn's offense never looked better and it was easily his best WWE match, if not overall. Low-key Finn is the best Finn.
I'm so glad I watched this. First show since March that reminded me why I liked wrestling.
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Show was decent enough, but nothing could've been a bigger neon sign that said "quit watching crowdless wrestling" than Kross' fucking amazing entrance being followed by like 3 people golf clapping. That shit deserved 15,000 people chanting "fall and pray."
Adam Cole is probably pretty glad there was no crowd, though, because a 2020 audience would've absolutely eaten up McAfee's Jeff Jarrett/Shelton Benjamin crossover act.
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I still think of gimmick ppvs as a new concept, but not that long ago, I realized Hell in a Cell and Money in the Bank are longer running ppvs than King of the Ring.
WWECW feels like a flash in the pan now, but it ran on tv for almost 4 years.
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So this is like the first WWE I've watched since Mania.
Tag title match was pretty good. Surprised WWE let Kofi go out there with the "Breonna" armband, but good for him. Cesaro's still pretty great, I see.
Bayley's entrance where she pelvic thrusts her belt at each individual "fan" is some quality heeling. Always knew she had a good heel run in her, and the 2-woman power trip makes me feel bad that crowdless wrestling is so unwatchable, because Bayley and Sasha as a heel team with all the belts is totally my jam.
So does Apollo have the 'rona? MVP using his same music from 13 years ago was pretty jarring.
The Eye for an Eye match might have worked in Lucha Underground, but it didn't have a chance in WWE. Both guys did pretty well trying to work the psychology of the match given the circumstances. The fake eye and Droz puking was bad enough, but the worst part was totally retconning the whole thing later in the show. It went from "One of these men's lives will be altered forever" to "Well, it looks like Rey is gonna be back to 100% in no time" real quick.
Sasha/Asuka was decent, although the story would seem to call for less Sasha offense. Asuka was the one hitting all the counters despite Sasha being hyped as the counter wrestler. Then of course the finish was terrible, not just because of what it was, but because there were a million simpler ways to get to the same spot. The ref could've just counted the three in a state of panic, or (if you wanted to do something goofy) pound the mat in pain three times while Sasha is in a pinning position.
The main event brought a whole new meaning to "main event promo." That thing was like 75% talking. Leave it to WWE to ruin the cinematic concept in a few months time.
Not a completely terrible show, but not anything that makes me want to watch more either.
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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:
So, here's something super unrelated... How great was Konnan? Looked cool, had the sickest moveset, great talker, got southerners to chant "viva la raza" en masse, got gassed on the way to the ring to the point he was dangerously throwing/dropping guys on their domes. I think I kind of love Konnan only semi-ironically.
The problem is he never had all of these things going at the same time. His WCW debut look with the multicolor singlet and the K shaved into his head was definitely not cool and his babyface work looked real bad especially when Eddie Guerrero was working the "Mexican blue chipper" gimmick concurrently. He did have a nice in-house theme, though. His Dungeon of Doom run was his best stretch in the ring mainly because he could take liberties with all the AAA guys he was getting in the door, and the cholo look was a good precursor to the attitude era, a bit ahead of its time. If you ignore how little sense all of this happening in the DoD made, it was pretty good. Then he went to NWO bottom-feeder and couldn't even have good matches with Rey. His wolfpac run had him mega over, and he somehow got to keep saying "toss my salad" as part of his pre-match routine. He was pretty bad in the ring, though. He was always limited, but babyface really didn't suit him in the ring. He was great as the mouthpiece for LAX and serviceable as Prince Puma's mentor before getting killed off by Mil Muertes. Turns out he's a lot better when he had prime Homicide and Ricochet taking care of the "then the bell rang" stuff for him.
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Who's the likeliest candidate to be even up the teams for Bryan/Gulak vs. Sami/Cesaro/Nak? In a normal timeline, this would be the ideal spot for an NXT call up. It would probably be Gargano or Ciampa. It would be the perfect spot for Riddle or Dunne if they weren't tag champs. Roddy or Oney would be cool too.
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3 hours ago, Casey said:
Yeah I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that NXT is getting their lunch ate by AEW every week.
1. Charlotte wouldn't move that needle in the slightest in normal times.
2. Who thinks a ratings war *right now* of all times is remotely legitimate or worth anything?
They just want Charlotte to get to 16+ title reigns and this is their way to keep it somewhat fresh.
NXT - 2021
in WWE PROGRAMMING
Posted
I don't know how Indi Hartwell fits in, but Johnny and Candace as Austin Theory's parents is pretty damn funny.
The main event angle is lame, but the NXT midcard is on fire right now.