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NOC 2013


rzombie1988

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Axel is in an impossible position right now.  Feuding him with Punk is terrible for both of them

 

While I don't fully disagree with that (he IS in an impossible position) I don't full agree with it either simply because I think Punk will do everything he can for him, more than most would.

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Weird show with most of the matches just kinda there. Loved the traditional RAW/SD HHH opening promo continuing onto PPV, really enjoyed Axel/Kofi as one of my favorite matches of the night too. Glad they kept with tradition of having all titles defended after all. Liked RVD/Alberto, loved the Van Terminator being brought back and also liked Punk vs Heyman & Axel, I think Ryback's a good choice. Orton/Bryan was pretty great with an out of nowhere ending. Felt like it could've gone longer if they had more time on the PPV. Definitely surprised to see Bryan win just like that, almost was the first NOC with no titles changing hands.

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Pretty dull show overall, mostly because there was too much pro-heel booking which is guaranteed to kill any crowd. The matches were mostly fine, but I'm wondering what kind of reactions they were expecting with that show layout, which seemed really poor. A long dueling heel promo to open a ppv? Putting the Shield matches back to back when no one buys the challengers at all right before the main? They couldn't have saved Ryback attacking Punk until tomorrow to break up the monotony of heel wins? The only complete face victory on the show was Miz over Fandango for god sake. Bryan/Orton was a solid match but even the ending felt a bit flat due to the crowd being taken out of it all night and the fact that everybody knows the ref fast counting for no discernible reason will lead to the title being held up if not outright handed back to Orton.

 

I understand that big-picture wise, this show was in a bad spot. You can't have AJ or The Shield lose their belts under any circumstances right now, and as much as I hate everything about Curtis Axel, there's no good reason to take his belt either.  That gives you a minimum of 4 heel wins when the show's gimmick is every title being defended, so bad timing there. The other problem is that it's the first of 3 ppvs in 7 weeks, so there has to be a lot of rematch-oriented booking for the main event angles, which means more heel wins/cheap finishes at the top. The only place they could've made a positive difference was letting Punk beat Heyman, then going after him again on Raw where Ryback can get in and start that angle. They could've let Show kill someone too I guess. The rest of the matches were booked like they had to be, but it didn't make for a compelling show at all. The ppv calendar, the NoC gimmick, and the current angles really just couldn't have lined up any worse.

 

I get why it had to be this way, but it was still probably the worst ppv of the year. 

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Putting the Shield matches back to back when no one buys the challengers at all right before the main?

 

I understand that big-picture wise, this show was in a bad spot. You can't have AJ or The Shield lose their belts under any circumstances right now, and as much as I hate everything about Curtis Axel, there's no good reason to take his belt either.  That gives you a minimum of 4 heel wins when the show's gimmick is every title being defended, so bad timing there. The other problem is that it's the first of 3 ppvs in 7 weeks, so there has to be a lot of rematch-oriented booking for the main event angles, which means more heel wins/cheap finishes at the top.

 

I get why it had to be this way, but it was still probably the worst ppv of the year. 

 

I think you raise a lot of valid points. "I get why it had to be this way," is a much better take on the situation than some have. 

RE: Shield, I think you're right and I think they knew that - thus put those matches on late where they can shave time off them if need be. As you pointed out, they were both slam dunk wins for the Shield anyway so who really cares if they go 10 minutes or 6 or 4. Hence Van Dam and Punk going before them because they were both more intriguing and thus running zero risk of being rushed for time because they have the Shield matches as a buffer.

 

The 3 PPV's in 7 weeks in what REALLY sucks. The Night of Champions booking last year was pretty crummy too, with the German suplex finish in Punk/Cena especially. Under the circumstances I think they did things about as well as they could though. It seems to me like you get Punk vs. Ryback at Battleground and Heyman vs. Punk 1 on 1 presumably at Hell in a Cell, maybe even inside the Cell so Heyman has nowhere to run and no one to save him. And in the other major angle, Bryan "winning clean" tonight makes it easier to screw him at Battleground and force a 3rd match with Orton for Hell in a Cell. That booking strategy also gives you two matches with long builds that could conceivably be HIAC matches which is great considering the past several years they've had mostly thrown together matches that didnt really *deserve* the Cell gimmick.

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For the record I'd do 60:00 Iron Man with D Bry vs Orton for the next PPV. It seems like that show needs a hook or a gimmick and DB vs the Corporation is way, way hotter than anything else the company is offering right now. I say go all in on it and give them a 70 minute segment.

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It seems to me like you get Punk vs. Ryback at Battleground and Heyman vs. Punk 1 on 1 presumably at Hell in a Cell, maybe even inside the Cell so Heyman has nowhere to run and no one to save him.

 

You want to build to a Punk vs Heyman match?

 

I think a great storyline would be to build to Punk vs Ryback HIAC II, with Heyman in Ryback's corner this time.  You can even have Brad Maddox be the ref again, stressing how HHH hates Heyman so much that he might just tell Maddox to screw Heyman.

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For the record I'd do 60:00 Iron Man with D Bry vs Orton for the next PPV. It seems like that show needs a hook or a gimmick and DB vs the Corporation is way, way hotter than anything else the company is offering right now. I say go all in on it and give them a 70 minute segment.

 

What if they set up a 60:00 Iron Man match but at the PPV or the Raw going in Trip or Steph announces that instead of it being the normal most pin falls/submissions wins Bryan has to pin/submit each member of The Shield, The Rhodes Clan, AND Orton. So basically a 60 minute gauntlet match.

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It seems to me like you get Punk vs. Ryback at Battleground and Heyman vs. Punk 1 on 1 presumably at Hell in a Cell, maybe even inside the Cell so Heyman has nowhere to run and no one to save him.

 

You want to build to a Punk vs Heyman match?

 

It's less of a match and more Heyman's public execution. The entire television build - every promo, every angle, every match, including the match they just had last night - has been built around Punk vowing to beat the shit ouf of Heyman in the end. I say it comes down to him and Punk in a cage and you sell the "match" on the promise that no one and nothing can save him after he has narrowly survived a couple of close calls.

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For the record I'd do 60:00 Iron Man with D Bry vs Orton for the next PPV. It seems like that show needs a hook or a gimmick and DB vs the Corporation is way, way hotter than anything else the company is offering right now. I say go all in on it and give them a 70 minute segment.

And as the corp are wailing down on D-Bry while the ref is down, the time is ticking away, and then...DONG...Can't fire that guy.(EDIT: don't give me that GONG crap. Ain't no gong motherfucker. It's totally a dong.)
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To be completely honest, I was rocking the split windows, Johnny. I did have the WWE one muted so I could heard Andre's beautiful grunts and king kong bellows though. There may have been some bitching commentary I missed. I probably could have been paying more attention to Kofi too. Sorry Kofi.

 

Then I was watching this fun Shark vs Giant match instead of the RVD vs ADR match, though it was on in the background and I was half watching it, but namely, a bunch of people whose opinion I trust a heck said that the first half of the PPV wasn't good, including the Divas match which I thought at least had good effort from how little I was watching. So yeah, I'm happy with my comment after all now that I think about it and don't see you actually disputing it, just sniping at the edges instead.

 

If you want me to amend my comment, how about I go with "it's rare in this day and age for WWE to put together so shitty a card that I'd rather watch Andre on youtube, which I could watch anytime."

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I was at the show last night and had a great time. I always get distracted by the live atmosphere and all the production and things like that to fully pay attention to every detail of the matches when I'm at a live event, so as far as actual match quality I can't really say, but I can tell you I wasn't bored all night. I'm looking forward to watching the broadcast of the show later tonight when I get home from work.

 

Seeing reports of a dead crowd is strange as it was very lively in my section. DB definitely got the pop of the night with his entrance and then his title win. It's amazing being in an arena of 15 thousand and seeing 98% of them all doing the YES finger points in the air. It's quite amazing how over that and Bryan has gotten. Punk and RVD were also very over, as were the Prime Time Players. What suprised me the most was how over the Real Americans were during the Tag Team Turmoil match.

 

During the CM Punk/Axel video package being shown on the screen, the arena was dark and I saw 15-20 guys come down to ringside, walk around it slowly, then leave. I knew somebody went under the ring at that point and that the match was going to end with interference and Heyman getting the win. I was suprised it was Ryback, though.

 

Overall, I did have a great time at the show last night. Everybody knew the count was fast and was talking about how they're sure DB will be stripped of the title tonight on RAW, but didn't care. We were all basking in the glow if the title win and they sent us all home happy.

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Thought the whole card felt a little off. It was out of sync with the major storyline leading up to the ppv. We just sat through a whole month of programming where the entire roster had to just stand and watch as HHH laid down the law. The faces on the roster were routinely beat down for simply questioning HHH's authority. But this vibe did not exist at night of champions. There was no outside interference. No fear. Some of the matches (Miz v. Fandango, Kofi v. Axel, ADR v. RVD) felt like they were taking place in a different federation.

 

It reminded me of the WCW days when you'd have three-quarters of the mid-carders and main-eventers in the WCW v. NWO storyline and two random wrestlers facing off outside of the main storyline as if it wasn't happening.

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When he strips Bryan of the title or holds it up, HHH should spin a ridiculous conspiracy theory that Dusty Rhodes used his history with the Armstrong family to convince Scott to do the fast count as retribution for Cody's firing, while Dusty and Armstrong just stare at him incredulously.

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Everyone's expecting him to be stripped, so I'd play with that. Triple H confronts Bryan tonight, tells him to hand the belt over, reaches out his arms to accept it, and BOOM, Jumping Knee Strike. It could be the closest thing to the "Austin gives the stunner to McMahon for the first time" moment we get. It's when Bryan finally says enough is enough, he's earned the title twice, and it's time to throw hands with Triple H.

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Man, remember when Kofi was something special?

Nope, I don't. He's always been bland. He's good for one or two spots a year in gimmick matches, like the Royal Rumble or anything involving a ladder, other than that, nope. I mean, he's not offensive or anything, he's just boring & forgettable. The solution is not something simple, like a heel turn, it's something impossible, like a charisma/personality transplant.

 

Which, really, that's the entirety of the WWE midcard for the most part. Boring & forgettable. None of their matches have heat for a reason. You re-do that match & replace Kofi Kingston with some other midcard face, like a Christian, Kane, Sin Cara or RVD & you get the same thing: a match that no one cares about, talks about, or remembers come RAW time barring a freak accident like an injury.

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I ask this with all due earnestness.

 

Would putting Axel in a head to toe lucha-inspired outfit make him more interesting? Something like LA Park? I think he is damn solid in the ring, but he is, as everyone has mentioned, just SO uninteresting.

 

I think we know what Stephanie's business proposition for Dustin is now.

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