SDL - 7/26/2016

[RIPPA]

I am also only half joking when I say Vince is rewarding Dolph for being the most vocal conservative on the roster

[MORELOCK]

6 hours ago, caley said:

I thought the best result for the Battle Royal would have been Erik Rowan winning, followed by a mid-Smackdown moment where Bray runs across Rowan and tells him The Wyatt Family will dominate only for Rowan to say he's his own man now.  Plus, then you have Rowan eat the pin.

 

Yeah, that Rowan singles push really worked out the last time...

[AxB]

It could have been worse.

They could have had Lawler.

[piranesi]

They did a few things wrong with Rowan the first time.  Like there were a number of conflicting and half-hearted ideas:

 

1) He was a giant demented swamp-billy but was suddenly being described as a "genius" (remember that!) but still never spoke and wrestled like a giant demented swamp-billy

2) They decided he needed to be immediately branded as "Big Red" a sly and clever reference to his physical size and skin/hair pallor. Which meant that entire matches were a game of telephone with Vince screaming BIG RED I LOVE BIG RED EVERYONE LOVES BIG RED into our faces via JBL's face for like hours at a time. As far as I can tell this was the totality of his character.

3) They gave him the same music that Edgar Froese uses when he's trying to distract you from the roofie he's putting in your drink.

4) His push was as follows:

    - joining Team Cena and being eliminated 2nd after Ryback on that team

    - jobbing to Big Show

    - getting fired

    - jobbing in his his "win and get rehired" match

    - jobbing in a six-man to Rollins, Big Show, Kane

    - being eliminated in the Andre Battle Royal by The Big Show

 

That's four straight jobs to The Big Show or Big Show-based teams.

 

And they gave him the same music that the two white Thompson Twins play when they're sandwiching the one black Thompson Twin.

[Matt D]

Gable is really, really tiny. He's billed at 5'8". I've got my doubts about that. It was really telling seeing him standing next to Orton last night. No wonder they're pushing Corbin. It doesn't generally bother me in ring, but when they're all just standing around, it's striking. 

EDIT: http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/BE/Chas-Betts.aspx

That says he's 5'8" so I guess he is.

[RIPPA]

I really tried not to laugh at Kalisto standing in between Eva Marie and Becky Lynch and both of them towering over him

[blitzkrieg]

7 hours ago, jstout said:

Not country enough. Wrestling needs country, dammit, and not that "spooky" Sister Abigail backward-crab-walk Wyatt crap. I'm talkin' Bunkhouse Buck/Col. Robert Parker/Jamie Noble/Dick Murdoch funny charismatic country. Not that Godwinns shit, the real deal. Comin' to Smackdown: Dem Boys. Retcon them as from North Georgia, have Unknown Hinson do their theme song, boom.

So wait not this country?

 

[Brysynner]

10 hours ago, J.T. said:

Becky / Nattie was a very solid match. 

It just had the hard luck to be on a mildly entertaining yet pedestrian show following a fucking epic RAW with one of the best womens matches ever shown on television which just happens to be an instant classic and legit MOTY contender. 

Which has been the story of Becky's NXT/WWE career

[Thunder Down Under]

The last couple of minutes of the show appeared planned and didn't seem like they were wasting time to me. It was messy but you can make out that Ziggler was asking Shane what he was doing out there and playing up his displeasure about his presence, which I highly doubt would be a shoot, and would also play into his earlier promo about the show not being about authority figures anymore. They are clearly going somewhere with this and it wouldn't shock me if this a trigger for a Dolph turn (possibly aided by HHH, because you know, the show isn't about Authority figures anymore) and not an Ambrose turn. For some reason it appears they are still not quite ready to give up on him and a heel turn may freshen him up a bit. How that works with his HBK tribute gimmick I don't know 

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

I didn't think the show was that bad.  If they get Tajiri and Eva Marie then I'll watch every week.  

[Matt D]

Becky frustrates me with her attempts at crowd interaction. I don't know if it's just that they're unfocused or what. Whatever it is, it's not working. The announcing didn't help. JBL saying that she's having a fit and the other ones then suggesting that it was a jig instead instead of defending her. That was just painful. She portrays enthusiasm, but I don't think she does it in a way that the crowd can entirely latch on to. There's something to be said for ritual and expectations. There's something to be said for Ric Flair knowing he'd be disappointed if Ray Stevens didn't do something he expected him to do in a match. It has to be counterbalanced, to some degree, by being organic and through shifting things around situationally, but I'm not sure what people are supposed to expect Becky to do. It all comes off as unfocused, like she knows who she is now, relative to when she first got to NXT, but she's still trying to figure out what she is.

Does that make sense?

[(BP)]

Maybe they'll rethink where the Cruiserweights are going. The division's not even here yet and it's clear which show needs it and which one doesn't. 

[jstout]

Ziggler turning heel would turn his reactions from a bored "yay" to a bored "boo." No matter what his role, he'll be getting those "this guy again?" reactions.

And I'd forgotten about Jeff Jarrett as a Southern Stable Staple. He could be the group's MMA instructor, teaching them Jeff Kwon Do in his dojo.

[Kyuubi]

11 hours ago, El Dragon said:

Poor Alexa Bliss getting no credit.

I never thought Bliss should have left NXT. She is the same as Apollo. They both need more time.

Plus, I know 5 Joshi Wrestlers that can do what she does better and Naomi is criminally under-appreciated.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

7 hours ago, Phantom Lord said:

Well, we all can't grow up to become a champion sumo wrestler or America's favorite tv game show host.

Nobody is still sure whatever became of Waldo after graduation. 

[Spritenaut 32]

God, this company frustrates me.  I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I'm really surprised the first show was underwhelming.  It seems like they needed to launch SD strong out of the gate, if for no other reason than to satisfy USA.  So what do they do?  Give SD a weak roster, take most of the belts to RAW, and produce a lackluster first show.  I like Ziggler, but making him Dean's SummerSlam opponent is mind-boggling.  That could be a pre-show match on a strong PPV.  I assume he'll turn heel, so that should help somewhat, but his lengthy babyface run has really hurt him.  And the HBK tribute act is just weird.  Anyone know what the reasoning behind that is?

Last night's show was just dull.  I'm hoping they call up the bigger NXT names in the fall, and push them to the forefront, but they could have put some of the rising acts on SD to begin with and they largely chose not to.  Enzo and Cass feel like they maybe should be on SD.  Cesaro, Owens, Zayn too.

I can see Joe being called up to Smackdown.  I'd put the odds of Nakamura joining SD instead of RAW at something like 20 percent.  What I think will happen is that Smackdown ratings will be meh by September and Vince will load up Raw some more to try to combat football.

The SD women's division looks brutal aside from Becky. 

[caley]

4 hours ago, MORELOCK said:

 

Yeah, that Rowan singles push really worked out the last time...

And the alternative was better?! A half-hearted Apollo push that felt like a shrugging "Well Balor did it on Monday, what if we do the same thing with a guy who's been around for 3 months, but not even go nearly as all the way as we did with Balor?"  I guarantee you have a moment in the 6-pack where Rowan stops Bray from winning and they stand nose-to-nose and it would have gotten a bigger pop than anything Crews did in the match.  Plus it elevates Rowan, even if he eats the pinfall, so you have one extra guy who can show up as a Kane-level guy, who seldom wins but still gets that crowd recognition because he won one big match.  The Battle Royal win and participation in the 6-pack match did nothing for Crews that couldn't have been done by having him beat Konnor in a semi-squash.  He is on the exact same level now as he was when the night began.  If Rowan gets the win, then loses in the 6-pack match, he's on a higher level than he was when the night began.  With a roster that thin, you have to elevate some people.

[odessasteps]

12 hours ago, zev said:

Is the guy doing Eva Marie's intro voiced over work the same guy from the Superfriends?

Granted, I'm dealing with a double ear infection this week, but I couldn't help but hear, "Meanwhile, back at the Legion of Doom" during that entrance.

 

If people did not know, that was Ted Knight (mary tyler moore, too close for comfort).

[Craig H]

20 minutes ago, Vader does my taxes! said:

God, this company frustrates me.  I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I'm really surprised the first show was underwhelming.  It seems like they needed to launch SD strong out of the gate, if for no other reason than to satisfy USA.  So what do they do?  Give SD a weak roster, take most of the belts to RAW, and produce a lackluster first show.  I like Ziggler, but making him Dean's SummerSlam opponent is mind-boggling.  That could be a pre-show match on a strong PPV.  I assume he'll turn heel, so that should help somewhat, but his lengthy babyface run has really hurt him.  And the HBK tribute act is just weird.  Anyone know what the reasoning behind that is?

Last night's show was just dull.  I'm hoping they call up the bigger NXT names in the fall, and push them to the forefront, but they could have put some of the rising acts on SD to begin with and they largely chose not to.  Enzo and Cass feel like they maybe should be on SD.  Cesaro, Owens, Zayn too.

I can see Joe being called up to Smackdown.  I'd put the odds of Nakamura joining SD instead of RAW at something like 20 percent.  What I think will happen is that Smackdown ratings will be meh by September and Vince will load up Raw some more to try to combat football.

The SD women's division looks brutal aside from Becky. 

I'm right there with you. I made the mistake of thinking about SD even more because it was so frustrating to watch. I mean, look, it's my fault for feeling this way. I should have already had the bar set incredibly low after the rumors came out that Vince would be hands on with SD, after seeing SD get shafted in the draft, and after seeing how much different Ram was. It was obvious that SD would just become the new Raw.

As for Ziggler, I think Bray was the better choice, but at least it wasn't Kane. I was almost positive Ambrose would get the dreaded Kane feud. 

And then that Eva Marie entrance. Is...is Eva aware of reality? Every time I see her, she looks like a robot made for Vince. She moves with the stiffness of a Showbiz Pizza/Chuck E Cheese animatronic animal and has the personality of the girl from Small Wonder. She's the last and WORST of the bygone era of models as womens wrestlers.

[Just Dave]

I still think the "Ziggler isn't any good" talking point is amongst the dumbest I've ever heard. Glad to see him getting another chance. 

Ryder covered that botch pretty well, I thought. Announcers helped him out, too.

This women's "division" is pretty brutal. 

Why would they go to all the trouble of building the Wyatts back up to break them up again? Makes no sense...

[HumanChessgame]

13 hours ago, Zartan said:

Do I get to be the first person to mention Viperville?? 

Does cobra commander know about this shit? 

If they replaced Orton's godawful music with "Cold Slither" I would hate him slightly less.

7 minutes ago, Craig H said:

And then that Eva Marie entrance. Is...is Eva aware of reality? Every time I see her, she looks like a robot made for Vince. She moves with the stiffness of a Showbiz Pizza/Chuck E Cheese animatronic animal and has the personality of the girl from Small Wonder. She's the last and WORST of the bygone era of models as womens wrestlers.

She looked completely dead inside when she walked out.  All the other women cut mini promos and she just stood there which only added to her awkwardness.

That entire segment was just off though.  I figured Becky getting her win back would lead to a rubber match at the ppv with an I Quit stipulation or something.  Then Eva comes out all dead-eyed and then it just ends with no kind of follow up from management?

 

As far as the show ending a bit early, I'd rather have them end 3 minutes before the end of the hour than run over 15 minutes after the show has been going for 3 hours already.

[JCM]

2 hours ago, Brysynner said:

Which has been the story of Becky's NXT/WWE career

Becky/Sasha is the second best women's match in WWE/NXT history. Becky more than held up her end at Mania, and the great 4 way the Horsewomen had. She's capable of great stuff with the right opponents. They were trying to answer what Sasha and Charlotte did on Raw, but Nattie was in the match so there was only so far it could go.

1 hour ago, Kyuubi said:

I never thought Bliss should have left NXT. She is the same as Apollo. They both need more time.

Plus, I know 5 Joshi Wrestlers that can do what she does better and Naomi is criminally under-appreciated.

Bliss has much more charisma than Crews, and her brief promo was better than anything Crews is capable of. They do have similar ring styles where backflips make up 50% of their moveset. I would hope there's 5 Joshi wrestlers better than a relatively green worker with only a few years of experience. The question is can anyone in that division work around her besides Becky? I think they desperately need Bayley on SDL, but HHH will probably talk his way into getting her on Raw.

[Charlie M.]

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

Becky frustrates me with her attempts at crowd interaction. I don't know if it's just that they're unfocused or what. Whatever it is, it's not working. The announcing didn't help. JBL saying that she's having a fit and the other ones then suggesting that it was a jig instead instead of defending her. That was just painful. She portrays enthusiasm, but I don't think she does it in a way that the crowd can entirely latch on to. There's something to be said for ritual and expectations. There's something to be said for Ric Flair knowing he'd be disappointed if Ray Stevens didn't do something he expected him to do in a match. It has to be counterbalanced, to some degree, by being organic and through shifting things around situationally, but I'm not sure what people are supposed to expect Becky to do. It all comes off as unfocused, like she knows who she is now, relative to when she first got to NXT, but she's still trying to figure out what she is.

Does that make sense?

The newest little dance thing is no good. The straight fire one is ok but also kinda lame. I think WWE probably wanted her to come up with some signature taunts and that doesn't really play to her strengths so they come off as awkward.

[nate]

12 hours ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Is it me or are Nattie matches paced way too fast? Or is this just wrestling in 2016?

I don't know if "fast paced" is the phrase I'd use for that painful swim thru the wading pool Natty for that hot tag to Becky in that one match.

[JRGoldman]

Eva Marie missed her calling in wrestling, which is as one of the edecanes in CMLL. Her dead eyes would fit right in as she pretends to have a good time dancing with Zacharias on a random Puebla show. 

I assume the world title feud will be over which is more business exposing: Ziggler's promo work or Ambrose's offense.