WWE TV - 3/13 - 3/19/2023

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Jey's face when Sami said "you wanted to hit Roman" that 'this fucker is right but I'm still mad about it' face was perfect.  Holy shit this story is so fuckin fun and good and everything that a story told through the lens of pro wrestling should be.

[The Natural]

The Usos vs. Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens 100% for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship has to main event WrestleMania XXXIX Night 1. Biggest match after Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship/WWE Universal Championship which you'd think will conclude WrestleMania XXXIX with Night 2. This Bloodline angle is one of the best stories ever.

Predicted the possibility of a triple threat between GUNTHER vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre and it's come to pass for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

Edited March 18, 2023 by The Natural

[DragonZombie]

Rumors have Charlotte vs Rhea main eventing one of the nights.

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Red King said:

Rumors have Charlotte vs Rhea main eventing one of the nights.

I can see that for parity but it's not the time. The build just hadn't clicked. You go with the bigger match regardless of gender and it's the Usos vs. Zayn/Owens. I think if Flair/Ripley headline, you get Triple H/Jericho 2.0 and Triple H/Orton 2.0 when the crowd don't care. Women do need to headline a WrestleMania again for sure but not this year. Usos vs. Zayn/Owens headlines Night 1 and Reigns/Rhodes Night 2.

Edited March 18, 2023 by The Natural

[Niners Fan in CT]

I think the main events should simply be the two biggest matches.  Now obviously there's always one or two showcase type matches that are perfect for the middle of the card, a lot of those used to be The Undertaker's streak or Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin was another (that should have just main evented). 

But ideally, you'd want your two hottest matches to be the main events.  

Ronda vs. Charlotte vs. Becky made a lot of sense to main event WrestleMania 35.  I wasn't thrilled that they added Charlotte to it but the build was pretty good and the parking lot brawl was very memorable.  You could easily argue that "Kofimania" should have main evented though as well.  I can vouch for that because I was there and I witnessed everyone crying when Kofi beat Danielson. 

Bianca vs. Sasha was another no brainer. It was the other biggest match at that WrestleMania.  

Last year, Stone Cold's comeback was THE biggest thing about the whole event so of course you have him and Owens main event and then you are also going to have Roman vs. Lesnar main event with both belts at stake.  I don't remember anyone saying that was an issue. 

I just feel that The Bloodline story has been the entire focal point of WWE damn near these past couple years and this past year it really kicked into high gear.  The tag titles should be the other main event. 

[Eivion]

The mixed tag was more fun than expected. Dug the post match segment with Rey and Dom even more. So damn curious what will finally be the breaking point that forces Rey to accept a match.

Raquel/Liv vs. Tegan/Emma was decent while it lasted. Wish they got a few more minutes. The random men and women's 4-way tags being made for Wrestlemania is odd. I assume they are for tag title shots, but I really wish they bothered to mention that. 

The Charlotte/Rhea brawl was good and easily the highlight of this feud so far. It was good to see things finally explode as this is what it felt like their previous segments were leading to. Was nice to see the crowd completely behind it as well. If not for the Bloodline story I actually think this would have worked as the main event for night 1. 

Woods/Knight was another match building into something decent that was cut super short. 

Sheamus/Drew was pretty damn good up until the finish with Imperium fucking things up. It made sense as a set up for the triple threat but was still disappointing to see. 

The opening segment with Cody, Sami, and KO and how it built into the main event segment was all great. Sami doing a tag tiles mach may be a consolation prize after his Bloodline run, but they have done a fine job building this on tv and making it feel important. 

Weird episode with the matches all cut short, but the segments surprisingly delivered and did well building to Rhea/Charlotte, Dom/Rey, and Sami/KO vs. Usos for Wrestlemania. Kind of mixed on the episode as much as I want good tv I do still want good matches as well. NXT is the only show in WWE that seems to find the right balance. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Eivion

[Hamhock]

1 hour ago, Eivion said:

So damn curious what will finally be the breaking point that forces Rey to accept a match.

I assume it’ll be if Rey’s wife gets threatened/attacked; similar to when Flair wouldn’t fight Undertaker until David (and Arn) got attacked.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Hamhock

[Hail Sabin]

I think Prison Dom does something at the Hall of Fame Ceremony to make Rey accept the match. 

[peterien]

KO/Sami payoff was worth it.

Tag titles have to be the main event of night one. 

[Steventon]

It may be buried under the main event segment, but was that the best promo Rey has ever cut? He's never been a great talker but man he really sold this angle and made me want to see this match in that segment. Him finally snapping and kicking Dom's ass will ne nuclear.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Steventon

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

7 hours ago, Red King said:

Rumors have Charlotte vs Rhea main eventing one of the nights.

You and your rumors. Plus just say Night One. They’re not ending night two with anything other than Cody. Plus your rumor is something I posted weeks ago. 

[Greggulator]

“Truly great friends are hard to find. They are hard to leave. They are impossible to forget.” Michael Cole, yearbook quote artist.

[Matt D]

27 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

“Truly great friends are hard to find. They are hard to leave. They are impossible to forget.” Michael Cole, yearbook quote artist.

It’s a cry for help now that Vince is back in his ear sometimes.

[EVA]

I seemed to rub some people the wrong way with some really mild criticism of the Sami situation last week, so in the interest of equal play, I’d like to say that last night’s episode of Smackdown was really good on that front. They did a great job of threading that storyline throughout the night in order to prime the live crowd to feel like they really, really needed to see that hug.

I still think the overall story is sliding towards a “solid B” conclusion, but it was an A episode.

Only thing I could’ve lived without was that quick cutaway to smug Cody beaming at the monitor. That was laying it on a layer too thick, I think. Unintentional comedy.

[DragonZombie]

4 hours ago, LF2 said:

You and your rumors. Plus just say Night One. They’re not ending night two with anything other than Cody. Plus your rumor is something I posted weeks ago. 

You ever gonna stop trolling?

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

1 hour ago, Red King said:

You ever gonna stop trolling?

I don’t troll or post “rumors” without a source. I can’t afford to steal your gimmick. But I will ignore you from here on so I don’t get moderated.

[DragonZombie]

2 minutes ago, LF2 said:

I don’t troll or post “rumors” without a source. I can’t afford to steal your gimmick. But I will ignore you from here on so I don’t get moderated.

 Bye bye evildoer.

 

[Hamhock]

14 hours ago, Hail Sabin said:

I think Prison Dom does something at the Hall of Fame Ceremony to make Rey accept the match. 

How I’d book it:

• Dom does some truly-awful thing to make Rey furious
• Rey finally agrees to fight him
• Dom then refuses to fight and gets Rey to put his career and mask on the line in order to agree
• Rey dominates the majority of the match; ref bump; Dom grabs a chair and does the Eddy “smack the mat, toss the chair to your opponent, pretend you’re KO’d”
• Rey loses his career and mask via DQ to his shitty, terrible son
• Dom appears the next night on Raw and does the Eddy-style wordless promo where he just holds the mask up as the boos rain down

[HarryArchieGus]

Most weeks Raw makes a strong case to leave the WWE TV alone, and then Smackdown suggests maybe one more week. Few could pull off what Owens and Zayn did on this Smackdown show. What a pop! Kudos to Mysterio and Dom for a nice segment. So too Charlotte and Rhea. It's neat seeing LA Knight find himself on a path towards getting over despite his lack of in-ring success. The wrestling didn't amount to a whole lot on this show, but the talk segments mostly succeeded where they often fail for me. Gunther rules. Too bad it's a three way, but I'm still interested. 'Only slightly, only slightly less than I use to, my love'. That backstage Cody shot during the Zayn-Owens embrace would have created at least 10 pages in an AEW thread. Long Live the American Nightmare. And long live ffwding past his once-amusing-now-just-rotten-entrance-music. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

I wonder how much of the Dom stuff is true.  I’m assuming he and Rey have a close relationship in real life, but Rey probably was on the road for most major events in Dom’s life

[DEAN]

ADORABLE!