WWE Breaking Ground

[AxB]

I think showing the coaches as being supportive, positive people is to try and rehabilitate their image after the Bill DeMott scandal.

 

Billy Gunn is edited out of the show to the point that he's just a guy who sat in staff meetings and didn't talk, and then taught a bunch of guys how to do his old One and Only finisher. 

[Cristobal]

Billy Gunn is just a guy who sat in staff meetings and didn't talk, and then taught a bunch of guys how to do his old One and Only finisher.

FTFY

[turk128]

Loved it when they had the wrestlers do ghosthunting trip last time, wish there was more than just the heavily edited down stuff this time around. I'm finding that I enjoy it when the talent do non-wrestling stuff just as much as their behind the scenes wrestling related stuff.

 

Carmella's such a great baby face outside the ring... yet none of that translates to her in ring. Such a conundrum.

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

Carmella's such a great baby face outside the ring... yet none of that translates to her in ring. Such a conundrum.

 

Surely, most of that is down to her character.  Enzo and Cass can get over as babyfaces by being funny, but did they ever try them as heels?  Carmella comes out saying she's the princess of Staten Island which isn't a good start for getting babyface reactions.  Plus, she started her career by clowning Enzo.  But she's been much better the last few months working as a babyface.

[GodzillaPerez]

Enzo and Cass started as heels on TV feuding with Mason Ryan and Enzo's mic work before getting destroyed got them over.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I could see Carmella being an awesome face-in-peril.  I want a women's tag division.

[AxB]

 

Billy Gunn is just a guy who sat in staff meetings and didn't talk, and then taught a bunch of guys how to do his old One and Only finisher.

FTFY

 

 

Does it seem odd to anyone else that they had Robbie Brookside running raw recruits through conditioning drills, whilst Billy Gunn was helping the advanced class with their execution of difficult moves? Not exactly playing to their respective strengths, is it? Robbie Brookside, great wrestler, versatile ring general, never really a physique guy. Billy Gunn, always in great shape... yeah.

 

The lad who got fired for having a shoulder injury, was he just a performance centre trainee, or was he a fully trained NXT wrestler? Because if he hits the indy scene doing a gimmick of a guy who intentionally injures people, to take their dreams away (the way his dream was taken) that's a decent gimmick. Nail people with a shoulderbreaker to set up a Wakigatame finish, don't break on the ropes. Lovely bit of stuff.

[turk128]

 

Carmella's such a great baby face outside the ring... yet none of that translates to her in ring. Such a conundrum.

 

Surely, most of that is down to her character.  Enzo and Cass can get over as babyfaces by being funny, but did they ever try them as heels?  Carmella comes out saying she's the princess of Staten Island which isn't a good start for getting babyface reactions.  Plus, she started her career by clowning Enzo.  But she's been much better the last few months working as a babyface.

 

For sure, the character/gimmick is a big culprit. At the very least it needs a major re-haul ASAP, she doesn't have the mic skill to overcome it (and she really doesn't have her heart in it either).

 

She really does need a Bullfit level of rehabilitation.

[Godfrey]

I think folks like Del Ray, Albert and Brookside are legitimately compassionate people and really want all of these people to be successful.

Man, you can't fool me like that. For a second, I thought Jimmy Graffiti was teaching the youngsters how to grind from beyond the grave.

[Cristobal]

Billy Gunn is just a guy who sat in staff meetings and didn't talk, and then taught a bunch of guys how to do his old One and Only finisher.

FTFY

 

Does it seem odd to anyone else that they had Robbie Brookside running raw recruits through conditioning drills, whilst Billy Gunn was helping the advanced class with their execution of difficult moves? Not exactly playing to their respective strengths, is it? Robbie Brookside, great wrestler, versatile ring general, never really a physique guy. Billy Gunn, always in great shape... yeah.

Billy may have had a WWE-friendly physique, but I'd bet a fair amount of money that Robbie's wrestled far more 20+ minute singles matches in his career.

[Bustronaut]

Brookside handles the basics because Regal knows he can spot who will make it and who won't just by doing the newbie conditioning drills.

[Curt McGirt]

The lad who got fired for having a shoulder injury, was he just a performance centre trainee, or was he a fully trained NXT wrestler? Because if he hits the indy scene doing a gimmick of a guy who intentionally injures people, to take their dreams away (the way his dream was taken) that's a decent gimmick. Nail people with a shoulderbreaker to set up a Wakigatame finish, don't break on the ropes. Lovely bit of stuff.

 

 

 

 

This guy says hello. Also, he isn't very happy with your suggestion...

[AxB]

I don't know who that is, Lucha Underground doesn't have TV in the UK. I was hoping TNA would go under so Challenge would pick up LU as a fill-in, but they didn't. We do get a bit of AAA on Fighting Spirit Wrestling, but you have to watch it with the volume off.

[Phantom Lord]

I caught up on the last two episodes earlier tonight. Sucks for that guy with the bad shoulder. I remember back in the late 90's Bret Saberhagen blew out his shoulder pitching. He came back and blew it out again and they told him he can go through the surgery and rehab again, but the chances are super likely that if you come back again it will happen again. So you have two options. Either convert to throwing left handed or retire. He didn't. Attempted one last comback and retired with not much fanfare. While watching this guy I was like "why doesn't he just try switching to his left side". If he suffers the same kind of injury than at least you know hes dealing with something like Orton. Sad that they cut him like that. Hopefully he can prove them wrong.

 

ZZ once again is a guy who shows that they need managers. He would be a perfect manager for a group of low card guys. He can probably take the beating from the big monster. Nobody needs him to wrestle 20 minutes.

 

After watching the piece on Nia Jax and them throwing the whole thing about The Rock into it, they really should have her change her character into this entitled generational star. I mean you see how far she's rocketed up from her debut (got that raise, potentially about to win the women's title) how can we not say it's because she's The Rock's cousin. They want us to think that after seeing that clip.

[Curt McGirt]

I don't know who that is, Lucha Underground doesn't have TV in the UK. I was hoping TNA would go under so Challenge would pick up LU as a fill-in, but they didn't. We do get a bit of AAA on Fighting Spirit Wrestling, but you have to watch it with the volume off.

 

They have plenty of matches up on Youtube, go check 'em out. It's definitely worth your time. Pentagon Jr. demands you do that, matter of fact, so I would listen to him before you end up with a broken wing

[Charro!]

We do get a bit of AAA on Fighting Spirit Wrestling, but you have to watch it with the volume off.

 

Oh yeah, definitely. Saying the commentary is terrible is actually an understatement. You've got Alex Shane trying to be funny and doing I don't know if it's a pale imitation of Jesse Ventura or Jerry Lawler or what (more like how Mark Madden was in WCW) but he's trying to get himself over as like a jock type making fun of the lisping guy (who also gets on my nerves too when he calls the high spots he tries to be JR) and doing references to 80s songs, trying to sing(!), pretending to be hitting on any women who appears on screen among other wackiness. If it wasn't so get on your nerves unfunny it would probably be kinda funny really but it doesn't really fit the matches you're watching, more so a product where there's a comedic element to it. Like there was a really good Nakamura vs Tenzan match and their commentary spoilt it. Maybe get JR or an old WCW/WWE announcer (not Mark Madden though) do play-by-play instead.

 

I'd rather they kept the original commentary from the original show/PPV broadcasts. Shame it's not like the old Eurosport where you could choose a different audio feed or you could overdub their announcing somehow with white noise since that would be more entertaining. 

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

I guess we're gonna find out pretty soon why Dana Brooke hasn't been working in the ring lately.  DAMMIT, ASUKA!  (Although, maybe not this week)

[RIPPA]

Why am I not surprised ZZ was driving a corvette?

 

Cass seems like the quietest dude

 

And it was really noticeable this week the forced conversations that they make people have

[Red is Dead]

That Aaliyah stuff was embarrassing to watch...everyone just felt bad for her.

 

Lovepreet seems like a genuine dude, hope he doesnt get saddled with a "look at me, I'm dark skinned and talk with a foreign accent" heel persona. 

 

And yer man Tino - Tye Dillinger gave him some decent advice - he could do a young chris masters type persona...

[EVA]

Sweet Lord, the Apollo/Tino match they teased for next week looked BRUTAL.

Carmella is definitely looking like the Winner of Breaking Ground. I liked her well enough and thought she was showing signs of catching on beforehand, but I think that seeing her awesome attitude and enthusiasm for the business would melt the defenses of even her most cynical detractor.

Plus, she clearly has Bayley's seal of approval since she's her road beef.

[Cristobal]

So, I get that whoever's making this likes to end it on a twist and/or cliffhanger, but trying to make a cliffhanger when approximately 100% of your audience knows perfectly well what Hunter is going to talk to Sasha and Bayley about seems kinda tone deaf.

[HumanChessgame]

So, I get that whoever's making this likes to end it on a twist and/or cliffhanger, but trying to make a cliffhanger when approximately 100% of your audience knows perfectly well what Hunter is going to talk to Sasha and Bayley about seems kinda tone deaf.

 

It's the same thing with Total Divas where trying to have a cliffhanger is pointless as these people are public figures and everything is taped several months beforehand, so trying to keep any "big news" secret is pointless as it's all come out by then.  At least with Total Divas there was the chance that a portion of the fanbase aren't wrestling fans and might not be as in the know.

 

Aaliyah's segments were just plain awful.  I get she's still a kid, but everything she did was sub-backyard.

 

Carmella comes of great and she, Cass, and Enzo definitely deserve to make it bigger.

 

Lovepreet also came off very well.  Out of all the newer people on there, he looks the most able to transition from his previous sport to wrestling.  I just hope they don't stick he and those other Middle Eastern guy with some overly stereotypical gimmick (fat chance).

 

So far Tino seems like a good looking, in shape guy who completely doesn't have it in a wrestling capacity.  He's the type of guy the powers that be would have been all about 10 years or so ago who would go on to completely stink it up in the ring (think La Resistance).

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

That Aaliyah stuff was embarrassing to watch...everyone just felt bad for her.

 

 

So, hopefully she got over those allergies that she's been dealing with every episode or else she's gonna have to work even harder on the mic stuff.

[nofuture]

So, I get that whoever's making this likes to end it on a twist and/or cliffhanger, but trying to make a cliffhanger when approximately 100% of your audience knows perfectly well what Hunter is going to talk to Sasha and Bayley about seems kinda tone deaf.

 

But when you make a show, you have to assume that your audience has no idea about the subject and no idea what happens next.  On a side note, it'd be interesting to see what percentage of Network viewers watch NXT regularly.  Does WWE release those numbers?

[Cristobal]

We may be in the IWC bubble, but I have to imagine the percentage of people watching the WWE Network's docu-reality series about NXT that don't actually watch NXT are approximately zero.