MonteCarl Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 40 minutes ago, Hagan said: Even Strowman who they did pretty good with was dumped unceremoniously Just have to disagree with this point. Strowman took big moves from three top tier guys: Ambrose hit him with a clothesline in the corner, followed up by Sami hitting him with his finisher, with Corbin finishing him off with a huge clothesline over the top. That's anything other than "unceremoniously". 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 That clothesline was the best part of the match. Strowman has improved a ton since last year. Or just the last few months. Before he looked really tentative and was too concerned with selling for guys hitting him. Now he seems to have a good grasp of when to sell and when not to. At this rate he should be genuinely good by August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Oh, that reminds me... Roman's head came really close to bouncing off that monitor on that chokeslam, jeez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Oh man. That bit where Cena just kept wrecking AJ with clotheslines until AJ could counter was so great. Came to mind with the clothesline talk. Regarding a Roman heel turn, you run into the same issue as Cena: What can you possibly do with them that will get them more heat and sell more? Like...they're the #1 and 2 merch dudes because kids drive sales and kids are behind them. Meanwhile you know these smark ass crowds would start cheering them as soon as they full turned. Honestly? Asking for a heel turn is basically saying "I want it to fit the trends to cheer these guys." Mostly their work is good and if the results make you mad...congrats, you're being worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Reigns can do what Bret Hart or Diesel did, Turn on the fans booing them but invite existing fans to continue cheering. I really doubt Reigns merch sells are anywhere near Cena. The whole idea of making Reigns the top face was already counter intuitive. Of the Shield guys, Reigns was the most natural heel. I know in my area Reigns is not nearly the draw Cena is. The house show in Huntsville he headlined, was half full compared to Cena two years before. Though to be fair, the fans there did love him. But he is not some established figure. At this point turning Cena would be like resurrecting Barry Allen, a sign of desperation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Probably a decent indicator... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Its also important to point out that is with the company putting all of its energy behind him for two plus years. They could possibly do that with any full timer, 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I think there's still some potential here on both sides of the fence. I'd like to see Orton give his title shot to Bray Wyatt tomorrow night. Makes Elimination Chamber just a little bit less predictable, go to Mania with the intrigue being what Orton's end-game is. Give Wyatt more lackeys (Sanity?). Continue to have Harper as the guy trying to warn Bray of what's coming. Bray beats....lets say AJ, he/Orton/other guys controls Smackdown. Pride cometh before a fall, doesn't see Orton's eventual turn coming. Orton beats Bray at his own game on the Biggest Stage Of Them All TM. Braun destroying Owens on RAW tonight for the title after Jericho is too cowardly to save his friend gives more options than the status quo too I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Sorry, I'm not buying that Kalisto and Kane are ahead of The New Day. I've been to 4-5 RAWs/SDs over the past year and I've seen a few Lucha shirts/masks sure but not much from Kane. Meanwhile, I have personally seen literally hundreds and hundreds of New Day shirts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 That is going only off of searches so its not necessarily anywhere near accurate. I recall New Day being mentioned as big merchandise sellers several times. Pretty sure Styles mentioned it in that FB video posted right before he was fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I really liked John Cena bringing back the roll into an Attitude Adjustment on AJ Styles. First time Cena's done this since the great match against Cesaro on RAW in February 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Big Undertaker fan but felt sad watching him in the Royal Rumble match, how he looked and way he moved. 'Taker could have retired after losing The Streak to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX, the great two matches with Brock at SummerSlam 2005/Hell in a Cell 2015 or at Survivor Series 2005 celebrating The Undertaker's 25 years in the WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 55 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said: Sorry, I'm not buying that Kalisto and Kane are ahead of The New Day. I've been to 4-5 RAWs/SDs over the past year and I've seen a few Lucha shirts/masks sure but not much from Kane. Meanwhile, I have personally seen literally hundreds and hundreds of New Day shirts. I wouldn't underestimate the drawing power of Kalisto as the major Latino face for the company, especially with him getting a solid push at a few points last year. Kane is an aberration though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 4 minutes ago, The Unholy Dragon said: I wouldn't underestimate the drawing power of Kalisto as the major Latino face for the company, especially with him getting a solid push at a few points last year. Kane is an aberration though. Make...make...a good...a good...lucha thing...grrrr. ; ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Kane is still way over with the more casual fans that remember him from the Attitude era. Never discount the importance of a distinctive look and gimmick. I saw a TON of Kane merch at the MSG show I went to last year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I'm convinced that "Filthy" Tom Lawlor is buying tons of Kane merch since he's a mega fan of him. I haven't checked gif thread yet, but I'm really hoping somebody got a gif of Gallagher going over the top rope with the umbrella. I laughed way, way too hard at that and I'm mostly not ashamed about it. His whole time in the match was tremendous actually. I was very upset about Roman being in the Rumble instead of Joe. But considering Raw it was definitely the right call to keep him out. And Balor coming back wasn't that realistic since it would risk rushing him back from rehab. That said I wished there were better entrants than the "surprises" we got. Rest of the show was pretty good. I'm not a big fan of epic finisher kickout fests, and AJ/Cena went into that territory. Great match, but not MOTY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iron Yuppie Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 This was my first real "Wrestling Weekend," doing the double-dip of NXT and a WWE super-card event. Everything I've read from those watching on the Network jibes with the live experience as far as the Rumble Match. The stretch from Braun's exit until the "names" came out was mostly just deflating. Taker looked awful. I've been thinking this since XXX, but 33 really NEEDS to be his last Mania. The reaction for Reigns at 30 was amazing. There was a boy of about 8 sitting front of me, and a woman in her 30s behind me cheering for Roman. Other than that, it was the most visceral heel reaction I've heard at a live show since seeing JBL in Tucson during the Eddie Guerrero feud. I attribute Orton's win getting the reaction it did to Roman 100%. The lack of interest in the cruiserweights bummed me out, because they put on a helluva match. Swann in particular worked his ass off, but the shitty booking of the cruisers on Raw has made that division the de facto replacements for the Divas as Concession Stand Time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRR Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I really am just baffled by Brock/Goldberg. I mean Brock comes in and kills people and then Goldberg comes in and treats him like Braun did Enzo. I was expecting Goldberg to hit a pose next and all the guys just fly out of the ring from the sheer magnitude of his power. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APO Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 19 hours ago, steve said: Oh, that reminds me... Roman's head came really close to bouncing off that monitor on that chokeslam, jeez. If you look in the background, Cole clearly notices it and tries to nudge Byron to go grab it before trying to do so himself only to do since Braun was already doing the chokeslam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 @Zartan My guess is they're setting up Brock/Goldberg at Mania as a Career vs Career match. Brock challenged Goldberg on Monday, saying 'one last time', I'm guessing Goldberg is going to ask for Brock's career as a stip. Trick is getting Bill to give up his career as a stip after losing to KO at Fastlane. (Or making it Title vs Career if Goldberg wins) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 20 hours ago, Hagan said: I like Orton but he didn't need the win. They used to do a pretty good job of elevating guys with a Rumble win. Our last six winners have been Sheamus (who was already a main event guy), Cena (though he had to win for the Rock match), Batista (remember that?), Reigns (which was an attempt to elevate someone but you know...), Hunter, and now Orton. Go back even further. Excepting ADR winning during his first few months of the company, who are the rest of your Rumble winners over the last decade? From 2007 to 2010 you've got Taker, Cena, Orton, and Edge, all established headliners when they won. It's been a good long while since the Rumble's been used to elevate guys. Heck, I'm convinced more Rumbles (all-time) have been used on established guys than elevation. We idealize the concept of using it to elevate someone, but we're only really fooling ourselves because they've done plenty to suggest that's not how they see things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteCarl Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Imagine if they did what they did with Goldberg with one of their own fresh, young guys. Imagine if they set up Brock/Strowman or Brock/Corbin at Survivor Series and they beat Brock in 90 seconds. And then did the same in the Rumble. Boom. New Star. Instead, let's do that for a 50 year old guy from the Attitude Era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 To be fair, it was Brock that changed the booking on that himself. If it were a one-off thing, I think Goldberg would have lost in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Makes sense to have Brock goad Goldberg into the match, and then cost Owens the title at Fastlane. Have Goldberg put him over having given everything he got, unhappy with screwy finish, rematch definitely - Owens face turn, carries the load of the Goldberg/Lesnar part timer appearances en route to Mania. Jericho accuses him of being replaced as Owens' BF by Greenberg. Eventual Mania match there. Plant seeds for Owens/Lesnar, Prizefighter vs Prizefighter at some point down the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 For those that absolutely need these in their life Meltzer ratings KO/Reigns - 4 1/2 Cena/Styles - 4 3/4 The Rumble itself - 3 3/4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now