TimLivingston Posted June 22 Posted June 22 Jacob Fatu gave me my greatest wrestling related compliment a few years back when a match I called with him and Boyce LeGrande was so good he passed it on to Booker T ahead of an appearance on his podcast because he thought it was a great showcase for him and my commentary really made it pop. And now the dude just took out the WWE champ and two top babyfaces on his first night in the company in dominant fashion. I couldn’t be happier for him. Strap the rocket to him. 9
Infinit Posted June 22 Posted June 22 I love Jacob Fatu. His MLW run was fantastic. But I fear that his aura will be hurt just like Mike Awesome's when he came to WCW. Awesome was a monster in ECW, with alot of that based on the size of his opponents. Then he came to WCW and he was smaller than Kevin Nash. Monster aura killed. And now Jacob Fatu debuts and looks about the same size as everyone else in the ring. Being in The Bloodline will help, but he's not going to be seen as a "monster" against Randy Orton, or standing beside a Strowman, Priest, or Dijak. They can try to book him like an unstoppable beast, but he's not built like Umaga. But time will tell, I guess
Cobra Commander Posted June 22 Posted June 22 I guess Fatu losing some weight might also be a factor if his aura is hurt but they also managed to have Gunther lose some weight without really losing much as a result. But I figure that his size and the offense he can hit might help him out. Like the hook for Fatu isn't that he's a monster, it's that he's a monster that can hit offense that a guy his size doesn't usually hit. Like if Umaga was a bulldozer, Jacob Fatu is a Samoan Wrecking Ball (free nickname idea, WWE!). Also it's offense that he can hit on anybody as opposed to the monsters who are at a disadvantage because they can't hit half their offense on taller guys.
Raziel Posted June 22 Posted June 22 Jacob came in and immediately looked like a bigger dear with a bigger aura than the rest of his stable.
Dolfan in NYC Posted June 22 Author Posted June 22 This is the full segment that closed the show. One absolutely lovely little touch that sells Jacob like a million bucks and a gigantic problem is the way the Tongans both look at each other right before they throw up the 1's. It's "oh fuck, what have we gotten ourselves into?" It will be one of those moments that when, not if, this all blows up in Solo's face, you'll definitely remember. 5
The Great ML Posted June 22 Posted June 22 Those little touches are Heyman’s fingerprints, like so many others in this saga, mate. 1
EVA Posted June 22 Posted June 22 Slimmer Jacob definitely loses some of his wow factor of being a thick boi doing high spots and making big splats, but he’s got a lot of fire and more big time presence than anybody else in that crew, so he’ll be fine, I think. Thick boi high spots aren’t even something that WWE values that much, as evidenced by signing Keith Lee and never letting him do that stuff on the main roster.
Cobra Commander Posted June 22 Posted June 22 In the scheme of things, I’d guess that Jacob Fatu will put some of his weight back on in time to be even more of a menace.
blitzkrieg Posted June 22 Posted June 22 I know Jacob Fatu has dominated the Smackdown talk but I gotta give some love to the no-cut tracking shot of Drew carrying Punk's carcass: The fact that all the Wyatts talk makes the viewer's mind go there first and everyone being jumpy because of it and then slowly panning up from Punk being laid out to reveal Drew. Not showing what Drew did to Punk so that it's up to the viewer's imagination and then just having Drew silently walk through the entire Smackdown roster before he just dumps Punk unceremoniously on the floor. They took the super obvious idea of "Drew getting revenge by attacking Punk in his hometown" and really over-delivered on it. 2
NoFistsJustFlips Posted June 22 Posted June 22 Wargames has to be Solo, Fatu, & GoD vs Roman, Usos & Sami. Don't add in Hikeleu. Don't add in The Rock. 4 on 4. Bloodline 1.0 vs Bloodline 2.0. The original Bloodline is going to be so fucking over as faces especially if Sami joins back in to even the odds. 4
Ziggy Posted June 22 Posted June 22 17 hours ago, Infinit said: I love Jacob Fatu. His MLW run was fantastic. But I fear that his aura will be hurt just like Mike Awesome's when he came to WCW. Awesome was a monster in ECW, with alot of that based on the size of his opponents. Then he came to WCW and he was smaller than Kevin Nash. Monster aura killed. And now Jacob Fatu debuts and looks about the same size as everyone else in the ring. Being in The Bloodline will help, but he's not going to be seen as a "monster" against Randy Orton, or standing beside a Strowman, Priest, or Dijak. They can try to book him like an unstoppable beast, but he's not built like Umaga. But time will tell, I guess That's going to be upto people like Orton deciding on whether they want to sell for him or not. Bret talked about how when they brought in Hakushi, he was the only person selling for him when he came in. Despite how good of a worker he was nobody wanted to sell for Hakushi because he wasn't as big as most guys he was facing and it really sabotaged him. That mindset probably still exists among people from Ortons era that's still around. Unless Roman himself starts to feel threatened by Jacob Fatu getting more over than him, I don't think he's going to have an issue with mostly anyone wanting to make him look like a threat. WWE isn't as big on workrate as AEW or New Japan but WWE very highly regards workrate and I think people are going to want to tare down the house with him. That's something he's more capable of than any in that family besides Roman. Uso as a team have been able to put on bangers as a team but people peg them as the worst as singles acts. Jacob is going to stand out so much in the new Bloodline that he's going to carry that whole group and they'll have to turn him face. I hope he doesn't turn face anytime soon but we'll see. I really don't see why AEW didn't make a play for him years ago but honestly even if he got signed years ago in WWE he would've been just another guy in the previous regime because of what you mentioned
Curt McGirt Posted June 23 Posted June 23 (edited) Couple things. 1. Poor Nikki. She is a good worker (and one of the most attractive on the roster IMO. It's probably the teeth) but she always gets slotted into this Daffney role. Couldn't they have just hired Max the Impaler for the spot and let Nikki get back in the regular mix? Plus, we already have Valhalla. I guess Ivar really needs a heater. 2. Can we have them all just take the crap off when they wrestle and it's just them? No paint or masks? 3. I'm not sure that making it look like somebody blew their brains out was a good idea. Nor bringing back another giant plastic hammer (errr, box-like structure. Wait, that was something else...). 4. Did the crowd know that was Gacy and actively boo only him? EDIT: Yeah Fatu showing up was awesome, the low camera angle on the splash was perfect, the look of worry on the other guys' faces too. I wish we could have had Josef Samael there to throw fire but you can't always get what you want. Edited June 23 by Curt McGirt
DragonZombie Posted June 23 Posted June 23 New lead writer for Smackdown https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/report-wwe-promotes-creative-team-member-to-smackdown-head-writer/ Its goodbye to Ryan Callahan, who started writing for WWE starting with 2014, but getting fired in 2019 and then rehired and now gone again. He used to be the RAW lead writer from 12/2016 – 5/2019.
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