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SDL is NXT Too - 2/19/2019


Dolfan in NYC

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7 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

I’m only skimming, but who’s saying they don’t want Kofi? The suggestion that NOBODY but Kofi will be acceptable is what’s being contested. Rightly so. 

Yeah, this. Am I okay with Fastlane and potentially WrestleMania having Bryan/Kofi for the title? Yeah, of course. It'll be a good match and the story is there now. Is it my first choice (or second, or third)? Nope. But what I'm arguing is that this idea that the fans will lose their fuckin' minds if Kofi doesn't get that WrestleMania match is absurd. Yeah, so, I know Kurt Angle is broken down as all hell, but you're telling me nobody is going to care about Angle/Bryan, Title vs Career at WrestleMania? Get the fuck outta here.

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Why are you being so hostile? Do I need to pull quotes from years ago to "prove" my fandom? And no one said they were responsible for anything, but you're coming off like an angry dick for whatever reason. 

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15 minutes ago, DreamBroken said:

why do these random nxt callups automatically go over everyone while they do nothing significant with the ones they promoted for a month with those vignettes like ec3, lacey, & cross.

I get it in the sense that these are four of NXT's biggest stars while the previous callups were midcard acts. But to your point, they're not integrating any of the recent callups/showcases well. Even with all four doing well tonight with a more responsive crowd, the new guys still feel detached. Maybe that's on me in trying to figure out where all the new people will fit. There's no point in that, since the Shakeup will turn over both rosters. Still, there are untied threads all around with these new acts being introduced so close together (not counting Lars, since we don't know his status).

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12 minutes ago, DreamBroken said:

why do these random nxt callups automatically go over everyone while they do nothing significant with the ones they promoted for a month with those vignettes like ec3, lacey, & cross.

I'm hoping they use it with Asuka beating Mandy at fastLane to transition into Asuka/Sonya for WM. Thought with Asuka bringing up beating Charlotte and Becky that she'd keep that momentum going so it did feel a bit ridiculous for the once unbeatable to get pinned by Mandy just like that but oh well.

While I'm happy #DIY, Ricochet, and Aleister all went over in their debuts on both shows, I can't think of a good reason why the previous crop of call-up's are pretty much an afterthought already.

Lacey was called up way to soon. 

Nikki Cross is lost in the shuffle on Raw. She could be reunited with Sanity, who I feel are really lacking without her. She adds so much to the group. I would love to see Asuka and Nikki's rivalry renewed over the SD women's title.

EC3 has already traded wins with Ambrose and doesn't get to say word when the segment with Alexa could have been used to introduce him to those unfamiliar with him, explain his motivations, and perhaps set up a feud. Instead, he looks like a mute idiot.

Heavy Machinery has already dropped falls on both shows, lost their last names, and doing the Bushwhacker walk. 

I can accept Asuka being pinned by Mandy because of shenanigans, but Asuka should steamroll her at the ppv en route to a more competitve feud with Sonya Deville.

 

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26 minutes ago, Casey said:

 Is it my first choice (or second, or third)? Nope. 

Okay, so what is your first choice?  What is your second choice?  Or third?  Also,  I didn't say it was unacceptable that anyone but Kofi get the title match at Mania. I said that whatever the plan is or will be that does not include Kofi will not be as over as Kofi is right now.  That's more of a prediction than anything and I would bet on myself being correct about that. The Kofi story is right there as is the payoff. 

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Speaking just for me, if they are going to do Kofi/Bryan at Mania (which I kinda doubt right now, but let's see if the crowd is still this hot on the Fastlane go home show) I'd rather they give Kofi the belt at Fastlane and leave it open for him to drop it back at Mania if this thing doesn't have legs. It makes what is traditionally the most boring stopgap show of the year more important, and gets Kofi the full spotlight for his big win, instead of it being overshadowed by Becky.

Think Eddy over Brock at No Way Out except not nearly as cool because it's just Kofi Kingston.

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WrestleManias have been ass for last few years. Lots of promising matches die in these bloated stadium shows. And sustaining momentum all the way till Mania would be challenging with Kofi as the challenger. And that could potentially tip their hand on a Mania title change. Kofi winning at Fastlane would also be my choice if they were going to switch the title. It’ll be hottest there. 

Barring that, I’m sure they’ll find some other Bryan match I’ll also enjoy. 

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Wait is it the consensus that Seville is better/should be pushed more than Rose? Seville is okay but Rose can be a star and had a damn good match with Asuma. If anything, Fire and Desire being used as heaters for Lacey is more egregious.

Re: Kofi - yeah I think a one week push that clicked is a little too soon to say it’s time to take it to Mania. I mean, Rollins got over with the same push last year and similar, if not bigger, crowd responses and no one is enthused about his ‘main event.’ There’s a very real chance that this is a Rusev thing that ends up being a quick burst of popularity but when put in a title match it doesnt really click.

Shockingly, wrestling fans have an odd habit of demanding a guy get pushed and the second he does they stop caring as much and turn their attention to another random midcarder and demand HE be pushed

On the other hand, the WWE does the underdog underpushed babyface making an improbable title run very well. It worked with Jeff, with Christian, Bryan, even Punk to an extent. They know how to tell the story. It’s the only one they can still tell well.

So, hey, glad Kofi is getting this run but I mean, I’m not exactly scrapping plans based on a seven day sample size. As always it depends on the story and there is a compelling story they can tell but with the comedic nature of The New Day and Bryan’s gimmick dancing that line this is a 5th from the top Mania match.

What is more interesting than Kofi getting a golden watch ‘you deserve it’ title run (one of the dumbest things in the world) is that this feels like the story that can lead the breakup and money feud. E and Xavier laying out Kofi to build to a Mania match or doing it the night after Mania is a money angle now.

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I think it'd be better to let New Day celebrate with Kofi for a while and let the jealousy fester afterwards. Or never break them up. 

Anyway, there's some revisionist history going on here the last couple nights that I'd like to discuss.  Kofi Kingston wasn't viewed as a top tier in-ring performer back when he was a singles wrestler billed from Jamaica. However,  he wasn't some bum either. I remember him being liked enough around the boards but more than that,  he was very over with the live audiences especially the younger demographic.  He was over and his short-lived main event push with Orton was over. Fans were IN on Kofi.  So for now people to come in here and downplay that and pretend that he was always enhancement talent until New Day came along...  not true. 

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26 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

I do think it’s unfair to describe Kofi’s potential reign as a “golden watch.” The New Day is damn over and more than up to the spot. 

They are over as a midcard comedy tag. Kofi has always gotten nice pops from the crowd but his window was ten years ago. Dolph goes through phases where fans remember they like him, too, and then it doesn’t click when he’s actually put in the main event spot.

I mean, they gave Jinder Mahal this belt so I’m not gonna die on a hill debating who ‘deserves’ it and maybe Kofi has this huge explosion where he becomes the hottest babyface star on the roster in the next two months but...yeah...it feels a little gold watchty. I mean, he’s the third most essential member of his own stable, actually. Aside from the last seven days where the company slotted him as the ultimate underdog babyface what has he done in the last few years to indicate this is a guy who needed the rocketship? The argument was always it was Big E being squandered. 

It’s not like SD is bursting with babyfaces so if this is hot enough to take to Mania then go for it but it feels a little quick to make the call and calling for a hotshot title change IS just ‘you deserve it’ nonsense. The company is at least better than that these days.

There’s a good story tell with Kingston and this is a story they can run through the year but the ‘gotta belt him up now’ talk is hyperbolic. We’re literally telling an underdog babyface persevers story with Lynch. Let’s at least get through that first.

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1 hour ago, Hagan said:

There’s a very real chance that this is a Rusev thing that ends up being a quick burst of popularity but when put in a title match it doesnt really click.

Huh? Rusev's only main event match he was over as hell getting 50/50 crowd reactions against AJ. It didn't just click, it was a hit.

They just didn't care.

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6 minutes ago, Hagan said:

They are over as a midcard comedy tag. 

They have comedy leanings but they’ve been in major, serious situations often enough that this criticism doesn’t really hold water. Actual midcard comedy tag guys aren’t throwing down in high-quality Hell in a Cell matches. 

If being a comedy tag act were prohibitive to main event ambitions, the Young Bucks wouldn’t have a big money mark and massive viral following caught in their web. 

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Regardless of what the right way to go is or should be, good job on the WWE finding a way to replace an injured worker into an interesting storyline. The whole 11 year bit and how he performed in that Gauntlet (and then EC) really got a lot of people excited. I don't feel any of this would have worked if he was a previous champion/ regular main eventer. Midcard lovable goof that through the power of storyline and people knowing how to play their roles is now a legitimate title contender for an upcoming show. 

As for what they should or shouldn't do, I don't know. I would be cool with him getting that title match at Mania. It's more than likely going to be mid-card to upper mid-card position anyway. But honestly, I didn't predict the Kofi stuff getting over as well as it did. Maybe people start going nuts for R-Truth. Who knows what will capture everyone's imagination or what the best fit against Daniel Bryan is. After all, we're all fickle. 

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4 hours ago, Greggulator said:

Fun show. 

I really liked Mandy/Asuka. Mandy is a great cheapshot artist heel. That was a really great carry job by Asuka. I think that could be a really fun feud. 

DIY/The Bar was also good. But DIY are not going to click on the main roster. I have such a weird relationship with DIY. DIY/Revival is one of my handful of all-time favorite matches. Gargano and Ciampa have both been in so many great singles matches. But man they overall do not do it for me. 

One of my favorite parts about the show: No Becky and just a little bit of Charlotte. That's just the perfect amount of breathing room. They gave us a great Ronda match last night. Charlotte cut a great jerk heel promo to keep the main event on everyone's mind. But they're giving it breathing room this week after Elimination Chamber. 

The Kofi Fairytale is just such an amazing thing they stumbled onto. I got legit scared when he was talking about his brothers that Big E and Xavier were going to turn on him. It's just a great "right person, right place, right time" angle. Daniel Bryan is doing some of the best heel work in years. That's keeping the heels on the roster away from getting a title push against him. They just ran DB vs. Styles. Jeff Hardy sucks. Ali got hurt. Kofi just did what he has done for a really long time -- and that's take his shot. And I love that collectively everyone at once sort of realized that he's sorta really awesome. 

 

It was definitely nice pacing on the main event story, especially as you know things are going down at Ric's 70th Birthday Celebration, including Charlotte being a jerk to her dad about his never main-eventing Mania, Becky invading, or quite possibly both. I thought Charlotte's promo nicely showed her range in that it was fairly soft-spoken (as if response to that Becky tweet the other day alleging she "shouts into the microphone") but still projected her ego and an air of menace.

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I know several of us have been clamoring for the New Day main event title run for years. Feels like every Rumble prediction thread every year is half this and it’s universally seen as “a good idea” that will “never happen”.

Well they’ve stumbled upon it in an ass backward way and it’s Kofi and not E (the name most use when talking about this), but here we are and it’s over as shit! They have to run with this, I think. Do the obvious thing, have Harper cost Kofi the match at the PPV, have a bunch of big ass six mans in the lead up, and let New Day do this.

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It's absolutely true that people on this board have been clamoring for a singles main event run out of the New Day for a long time - but the general consensus was definitely that E was the one that deserved the push. I have no memory of anyone pushing that hard for Kofi. (Not saying you didn't, Craig, I just remember hearing it the other way much more frequently.)
 

6 hours ago, Hagan said:

What is more interesting than Kofi getting a golden watch ‘you deserve it’ title run (one of the dumbest things in the world) is that this feels like the story that can lead the breakup and money feud. E and Xavier laying out Kofi to build to a Mania match or doing it the night after Mania is a money angle now.


What the fuck?
Why the fuck?
The ONLY angle that has EVER gotten these three truly over and you want to run it through your stupid bullshit McMahon breakup angle?
And why? So E and X can change their characters completely and cut stereotypical jealous heel promos? Flying in the face of years of them fighting for Kofi to get a World Title shot? And Kofi can go back to being a generic babyface by himself, cutting the legs out from under the biggest run of his career?

I've literally never heard anyone on this board call for a New Day breakup angle, and I think it's because literally everyone else seems to understand what a terrible, terrible idea this is - it is most certainly not "money."

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Also, I pictured Kofi grinding for over a decade to get over, gets given an opportunity and knocks it out of the park, and rides a groundswell of support to finally get his Mania moment and win the title only to hold that silly hemp belt above his head. For some reason that visual makes me laugh. It’s so beige I can’t see anyone but DB holding it.

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I am sorta hoping that Seamus dragging out those hope spots by taunting Gargano was done deliberately to give Ciampa time to recover.

You'd like to think that workers are smart enough to improv that sort of thing, but you never can tell.

Is there anyone working on the Smackdown roster that is not over?

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18 minutes ago, J.T. said:

I am sorta hoping that Seamus dragging out those hope spots by taunting Gargano was done deliberately to give Ciampa time to recover.

You'd like to think that workers are smart enough to improv that sort of thing, but you never can tell.

Is there anyone working on the Smackdown roster that is not over?

Apparently Tye Dillinger...

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36 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Another benefit to Kofi winning the title...More episodes of Ride Along with the New Day traveling around and getting burritos or whatever while they all exchange who holds the title.

The New Day should absolutely treat the WWE title like The Stanley Cup, yes yes yes

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