Niners Fan in CT Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Itami vs. Lorcan was another highlight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Samoa "Savage" Joe from the past with the Dean Ambrose news: 0:47 mark. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MORELOCK Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 6 hours ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said: The idea that injuries alone did Itami in is silly. He's had many chances to get over and never really did at any level. Best for everyone involved to move on. The crowd never gave a fuck about him. Part of that is definitely due to NXT/WWE's (understandable) hesitance to give him a consistent push, but even the NXT die-hards that hijack main roster crowds seemed to be sitting on their hands whenever Itami did anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 I'm probably as blinded by KENTA fandom as anyone, but there's no case to be made that WWE wasted Itami. It was always going to be an odd fit, since most of his charisma has always been transmitted by somewhat recklessly stiffing people, and then the injuries happened. Still, Itami/Strong is one of the best matches I've ever seen in person, so I'm glad for that, and excited to see where he lands. New Japan's junior ranks just lost KUSHIDA and Ospreay; NOAH has new ownership and could certainly use his name; or he could just freelance for a while, kicking people from Nomura to Miyahara to Ashino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Wait wait does anyone here think that Renee/Graves thing is a shoot? Come on, my dudes. Just like with every pre-written promo, they're talking in a way that real people never talk. And their delivery, especially Renee's, is more wooden than an 18th century dildo. 4 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hand-Drawn Sprite Man Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Technico Support said: more wooden than an 18th century dildo. It's probably going to take me a while to get that image out of my head. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Graves and Renee are best buds behind the scenes anyway. It's kinda funny that a lot of people on this board want to see a shoot when it's a work (here) and a work when it's a shoot (Ambrose) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Not to get all Vince McMahon-y here but I was somewhat shocked at how - for lack of a better term - soft Itami looked in that pre-Rumble match. I don’t see 205 Live but you look at guys like Murphy who are completely cut, the guys like Ali, Tozawa and Kalisto who are in great shape and standing next to them Itami looked like a guy who used to play high school football but doesn’t have time to get to the gym with his full time job and family life getting in the way. I’m not saying it affected his performance but when you’re working for a company where the top people (Vince, HHH, Stephanie) have all done shoots for muscle mags, you’re not going to get very far when you look like Itami did. I’m guessing he’s been mentally checked out for a while with the injuries and 205 slot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Regarding that Graves/Renee thing, I think I was one of the ones hoping Deans heel turn was gonna be Renee’s idea. Like, she’s in his ear about him being shoved aside for Seth and he takes Seth apart as a result. If the rumor that Dean didn’t want to do the heel turn was true, I can see why he’s been sleepwalking. Also, it’s gotta be tough seeing guys who can’t promo their way out of a piss-soaked paper bag getting chance after chance while he’s coming to the ring in a fucking gas mask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 9 hours ago, Phil4126 said: Itami should have been so much bigger then he was, but injury after injury deep sixed that poor bastard. While he looked good at the rumble, if there was ever a textbook example of a guy on auto pilot, it would be him. Hopefully he can regain some traction in Japan because the guy still can go. Best of luck to him. A big problem is that he already had some bad injuries before he even was signed and was already somewhat broken down and he probably just is not a guy who adapted that well to physical limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 2 hours ago, Hand-Drawn Sprite Man said: It's probably going to take me a while to get that image out of my head. Better or worse than the Victorian steam-powered ones? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitzkrieg Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Just kinda a random thing that I noticed, WWE is posting episodes of Raw and Smackdown to their YouTube channel. The Raw episodes look to be the Hulu cut as their run time is just slightly longer than the Smackdown ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godfrey Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 KENTA never recovered from debuting Balor as his partner in NXT. Finn came in with way more steam and immediately overshadowed him and injuries kept him from getting on a roll again. And yes, he definitely LOOKS like he hasn't cared in a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 4 hours ago, Technico Support said: Just like with every pre-written promo, they're talking in a way that real people never talk. Just thinking about what I wrote there...what is the consensus on how WWE writing works? I know that everything comes down to Vince in the end, but does he get down to the level of rewriting every single interaction on the show? Or are the writers just that bad? Or are they just so beaten down and good at knowing his tastes that they write in the exact way he would? The dialogue in that YouTube video comes off as speechifying at best and, at worst, like an alien trying to approximate human interaction. The delivery (essentially it's acting by people who are not actors) does it no favors, but this writing is Star Wars Prequels level bad. :18 seconds in is just cringeworthy. "Obviously I'm in a bit of a precarious situation with this...listen, no one is entitled to know what goes on behind closed doors between an husband and wife!" Who would say that, as opposed to, "it's none of your business?" Nobody, fired up and having a confrontation, speaks like this and it's fucking awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorceressKnight Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 5 hours ago, MORELOCK said: The crowd never gave a fuck about him. Part of that is definitely due to NXT/WWE's (understandable) hesitance to give him a consistent push, but even the NXT die-hards that hijack main roster crowds seemed to be sitting on their hands whenever Itami did anything. Even then, that just ties to the same problem- casual fans were never going to GET Hideo Itami, and hardcore fans are more casual than they think. Hardcore fans knew "Daniel Bryan stole the Busaiku Knee Kick and CM Punk stole the Go 2 Sleep from him", but in WWE kayfabe, those moves were seen first by CM Punk and Daniel Bryan...and as a result, even if we knew he did them first, all you get in WWE storylines is "kind of charismaless-but-talented Japanese guy who does CM Punk and Daniel Bryan's moves." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 He's a guy with hard strikes and quiet swagger but he tends not to work a style that gets people off their asses like a lot of his peers do. That's been true of him at both the NXT and 205 level. He's been in a lot high-profile feuds and matches on both brands but nothing seemed to move that WWE audience for long. I enjoyed his work last year against Ali, Strong, and Alexander. I liked his last NXT run as a dick heel against KO. But during both runs, you could sense the brands moving on without him and him never catching up. This separation has been a long time coming. As was said earlier, it was always going to be an odd fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 4 hours ago, Hand-Drawn Sprite Man said: It's probably going to take me a while to get that image out of my head. The profile pic of Jim Duggan sells the whole thing. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Technico Support said: :18 seconds in is just cringeworthy. "Obviously I'm in a bit of a precarious situation with this...listen, no one is entitled to know what goes on behind closed doors between an husband and wife!" Who would say that, as opposed to, "it's none of your business?" Nobody, fired up and having a confrontation, speaks like this and it's fucking awful. A slight counterpoint, that I'll preface with the admission that I don't buy the outrage from Renee. But I do know from personal experiences that, when you have tempers flare at the workplace, you have to be extremely careful what you say or any verbal misfire - no matter how minor - can be used in an HR case. Often, you find yourself trying to find as many gender-neutral, non-insulting, in no way condescending words and phrases as you can to avoid getting your ass chewed out. And it gets worse if the argument isn't quickly resolved and emotions continue to flare. I got the sense that Renee was trying to convey "professional trying to express her mounting frustration, getting the sense that this asshole isn't listening to her". I give her a 4.5/10. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 If you've ever had any interaction with any proper aristocratic, blue blooded upper upper class people, they get really theatrical when they're angry. It's extremely amusing. No, I'm not telling you how I know that. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 2 minutes ago, AxB said: If you've ever had any interaction with any proper aristocratic, blue blooded upper upper class people, they get really theatrical when they're angry. It's extremely amusing. No, I'm not telling you how I know that. How do they eat candy bars? Fork and knife? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 You know what really sucks now that KENTA is probably going back to Japan? It reminds you that Takayama is in a wheelchair painting pictures with his mouth. Those two had the best matches. EDIT: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 5 hours ago, Swiftian said: Graves and Renee are best buds behind the scenes anyway. You can even hear the two reconcile in mumbled voices after one of their "heated" exchanges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorceressKnight Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, nate said: A slight counterpoint, that I'll preface with the admission that I don't buy the outrage from Renee. But I do know from personal experiences that, when you have tempers flare at the workplace, you have to be extremely careful what you say or any verbal misfire - no matter how minor - can be used in an HR case. Often, you find yourself trying to find as many gender-neutral, non-insulting, in no way condescending words and phrases as you can to avoid getting your ass chewed out. And it gets worse if the argument isn't quickly resolved and emotions continue to flare. I got the sense that Renee was trying to convey "professional trying to express her mounting frustration, getting the sense that this asshole isn't listening to her". I give her a 4.5/10. At the same time, though, the problem is that in that storyline, Corey Graves was...kind of right to do what he was doing there. By definition, we're supposed to assume the announcers are broadcast journalists. The whole storyline with this was "Why did Dean Ambrose do this? Why did he turn his back on his brothers in the Shield, the same night Roman Reigns announced his leukemia diagnosis?", and Ambrose was refusing to give anyone any answers to that question. Meanwhile, at the same announce table with you, one of your colleagues on the table is known to be Dean Ambrose's wife...aka, the ONE PERSON ON EARTH who would absolutely, unequivocally know EXACTLY what was going on with Dean Ambrose at that time and would be able to shed some light on the situation when Ambrose refused to do so...and hell, EVEN IF RENEE REACTED DIFFERENTLY, that would still explain SO MUCH about the Dean Ambrose situation ("...is Dean Ambrose so far lost that even his own wife can't reach him? Is Dean telling Renee to keep quiet about this? Are...are there problems at home, and he's FORCING her to remain silent?") And yet, she was shutting it down in the worst possible way, by saying "Even if this is my job, I'm not telling you because I don't think you need to know this answer"...heck, by that argument, Renee was probably the heel in this instance and Corey was the face. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 8 minutes ago, SorceressKnight said: And yet, she was shutting it down in the worst possible way, by saying "Even if this is my job, I'm not telling you because I don't think you need to know this answer"...heck, by that argument, Renee was probably the heel in this instance and Corey was the face. It's obvious Renee's non-answer is because they have no clue how to reconcile a heel character who is IRL married to a babyface announcer, and no interest in dealing with it in any creative way. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 This discussion about Renee also makes me wonder if commentary during Dean's matches being driven to discuss Dean and Renee is another reason he wants to leave. I can't recall one instance where I thought it was cool or anything and it always comes off as really fucking lame. If I'm Dean and announcing is such an important part of a production, then I would be thinking that shit is just never going to change and rather than call the match, Vince is just going to have Corey and Renee argue about Dean every time. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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