Wyld Samurai Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 I think they have to look at it long term. Splitting the roster keeps things fresh. From a sitcom perspective they're able to introduce characters in and out, then bring them back again for a big pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 6 hours ago, Raziel said: Stephanie Levesque is REALLY fucking good at her job. Paul is pretty damn great in his role also. Execs and media people all rave about him and he turned NXT into not only a true minor league system but a 3rd brand that will someday be profitable. And he likes wrestling and he had enough sense to sign a bunch of dudes that would keep the diehards from leaving. If Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, etc. were operating at the super indy level that's some eyes that might not be with WWE anymore and the merchandise is flying off the shelves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Even if NXT isn't profitable, who cares? It's developmental. It's research and development. That shit never makes money itself, but if it can produce (let's say) one or two main event level stars per year, it'll make the money back in the long run in spades. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 We joke about how terrible the actual shows are but they have tons of talent and a lot of dudes who are over.. I don't know if the shows will ever be good but there's enough there for people to keep watching and that's all that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyld Samurai Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Niners Fan in CT said: Paul is pretty damn great in his role also. Execs and media people all rave about him and he turned NXT into not only a true minor league system but a 3rd brand that will someday be profitable. And he likes wrestling and he had enough sense to sign a bunch of dudes that would keep the diehards from leaving. If Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, etc. were operating at the super indy level that's some eyes that might not be with WWE anymore and the merchandise is flying off the shelves. What Papa H did by bringimg im guys tyst are actually interesting and went away from the Johnny Ace model is what brought me back to watching any kind of wrestling in 13 years. HHH with The Network has me over $500 since i heard about it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Angel Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I just want two things. Something close to the "Smackdown six" and for Road Dogg to stop booking SD. Too much to ask? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Do people really believe Road Dogg has any meaningful control over the show? Raw is way worse and nobody gets blamed but Vince. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Raw has been pretty decent for a little bit now, but when it's bad, it's really, really bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 6 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said: We joke about how terrible the actual shows are but they have tons of talent and a lot of dudes who are over.. I don't know if the shows will ever be good but there's enough there for people to keep watching and that's all that matters. It's really interesting that you can just buy a bunch of the best talent, and it doesn't matter how you book them or even if you try to fit them into a mold because they are so charismatic that they keep enough people watching. I haven't seen a WWE show in almost two years, but the autopilot nature of the main shows makes a ton of sense from the perspective that it's just easier to buy talent and have them make the most out of your shitty writing than it is to try and write compelling weekly television for one show a week, much less two shows a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyld Samurai Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 But it would be even so much cheaper to just give them some bullet points and a time limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Talent can overcome anything but not being used. I think the Invasion was the best in ring period the WWF ever had and it is one of the worst booked too. You can't take the best off the WCW, WWE and ECW rosters and not have great matches. Which is more or less how it is now. But I watch wrestling for big characters and stories along with the matches. I don't think we will ever see a truly great angle again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 12 hours ago, Victator said: Talent can overcome anything but not being used. I think the Invasion was the best in ring period the WWF ever had and it is one of the worst booked too. You can't take the best off the WCW, WWE and ECW rosters and not have great matches. Which is more or less how it is now. But I watch wrestling for big characters and stories along with the matches. I don't think we will ever see a truly great angle again. Vic, you're first line is perhaps the truest critique of wrestling ever written. Bravo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I'll go ahead and toss out the old line of "the same people booking the good shit are booking the bad shit". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSC Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 It baffles me when people complain about Smackdown or wax poetically about the "Smackdown 6" when, in the last month, we've gotten/are getting: Rusev/Bryan AJ/Nak Bryan/Jeff Hardy Bryan/Samoa Joe Which, on average, have gotten 15 minutes a piece. If you're not happy with that, you're never going to be happy with anything WWE puts on TV. " 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I've been happy with all of that, but I think some of the complaints come from using Bryan to put over Rusev who creative clearly has no plans for except to stomp out any chance he has to get over and AJ/Nakamura hasn't been the feud it should have been given their history. Nearly each match of theirs has had screwy finishes and the feud has been put on the WWE treadmill where it's dragged out and not in a good way. Again, I've been fine with a lot of it, but even I sat there last night thinking that they killed Nakamura. At first the heel turn seemed like a good idea, but the dude no longer feels special. Some other complaints I've seen have had to do with where Sanity is and how the women's division is booked on SmackDown. Despite that, there's still a lot of positives that go overlooked, like the tag division on SmackDown, the matches you highlighted, the other potential matches we have, and more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Side Tangent (or something to just file away) With FOX completely losing the UFC package - it increases the chances that shows like NXT and 205 Live get put on FS1 Will it actually end up happening - who knows? (Actually probably not but clearly they are afraid to waste money) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSC Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 16 minutes ago, Craig H said: I've been happy with all of that, but I think some of the complaints come from using Bryan to put over Rusev who creative clearly has no plans for except to stomp out any chance he has to get over and AJ/Nakamura hasn't been the feud it should have been given their history. Nearly each match of theirs has had screwy finishes and the feud has been put on the WWE treadmill where it's dragged out and not in a good way. Again, I've been fine with a lot of it, but even I sat there last night thinking that they killed Nakamura. At first the heel turn seemed like a good idea, but the dude no longer feels special. Some other complaints I've seen have had to do with where Sanity is and how the women's division is booked on SmackDown. Despite that, there's still a lot of positives that go overlooked, like the tag division on SmackDown, the matches you highlighted, the other potential matches we have, and more. But here we are a few weeks later and who isn't better off from Bryan losing to Rusev? Bryan came back after the loss with a scary intensity and Rusev is so over that Aidan English and Lana are totally over by proxy. The other stuff I get - Carmella as champ is about the worst option with the current women's division but they're still majorly featured and usually given 2 major matches/segments on a show where there's only ever 5 or 6 total and Sanity is suffering from being way too similar to a Bludgeon Bros feel. And Nak, well yea but I think that comes from our own inflated expectations, where everything past his debut match with Sami has been what it is and it probably isn't changing at this point. At least it's better than Jinder in the title picture for 6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Like I said, I understand all of that and I didn't have a problem with Bryan losing to Rusev. I'm just pointing out why other people may have been annoyed with seeing Bryan lose. Rusev desperately needed a big win like that though and I wouldn't be surprised if he won MitB. Seems like the type of booking WWE would go with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 It's worth noting that the Disney and Comcast offers to Fox are something like $50 billion. $1 billion over five years to deal with one night's programming, every week, seems somewhat more reasonable with that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 3 hours ago, OSJ said: Vic, you're first line is perhaps the truest critique of wrestling ever written. Bravo. Its not mine, but I am not to proud to steal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 For those wondering why tonight - the new WON comes out then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolman Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 3 hours ago, RIPPA said: Side Tangent (or something to just file away) With FOX completely losing the UFC package - it increases the chances that shows like NXT and 205 Live get put on FS1 Will it actually end up happening - who knows? (Actually probably not but clearly they are afraid to waste money) I was thinking about this as well. UFC still is a nice chunk of the programing on FS1 so they'll have plenty of time to fill. I wonder if we'll get SD replays, quarterly specials, or WWE 24 style documentaries on FS1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nofuture Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 It's already been reported that FS1 will have SD replays on Saturdays. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 4 hours ago, Michael Sweetser said: I'll go ahead and toss out the old line of "the same people booking the good shit are booking the bad shit". Yet that ole D O Double G gets no credit for the good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 16 minutes ago, Victator said: Yet that ole D O Double G gets no credit for the good. Yet another quote: Success has many fathers, but failure is a bastard. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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