Go2Sleep
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Posts posted by Go2Sleep
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Didn't Tajiri try to make Torrie Wilson his geisha and have a yakuza stable at one point?
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Asuka, just because there's a lot more working against the women than the men. On the men's side, if you're not in the title feud, there are still plenty of talented guys to have matches and angles with lower on the card. Owens, Zayn, Enzo/Cass etc. are doing fine. They even find room for Tyler Breeze on Raw most weeks. Let's ask last year's NXT-breakout woman Sasha Banks what happens when you're not in the the women's title picture.
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Not sure what was more awkward: Shane basically admitting SD is a waste of time currently, Lana forgetting her accent for her first couple of lines, or JBL saying "glory hole" on tv.
Pretty much a throwaway show, other than AJ's turn. After the awesome shades-of-gray Roman/AJ feud, it's pretty disappointing to see the direction go back to forcing crowd reactions against the grain with AJ and Seth.
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There could also be a promo segment from HHH, Regal, or Shane/Steph about NXT's role in the upcoming draft if it has one.
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Hopefully they don't turn Graves into an annoying dipshit when he gets to the main roster. It's embarrassing how much better he is than Lawler and JBL even though he just started announcing like a year and a half ago.
I'd actually like to see them mix up the teams. Cole and Graves on SD, see if Mauro can make JBL tolerable on Raw since he isn't going anywhere unfortunately. Just keep Phillips as the backstage interviewer on whatever show New Day is on.
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31 minutes ago, Rev Ray said:
If they draft announcers, there is your last draft. Byron.
Surely no one would willingly take Lawler.
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It didn't feel that way because the brands had been merging closer and closer since 2007 when they eliminated single brand ppvs. They didn't make a big deal about ending the split all at once, they just got softer and softer with the rules until it disappeared.
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In the "totally forgotten great shows" department: Vengeance 2002
Other than the absurdly long HHH segment where he was choosing whether to go to Raw or SD, everything on this show is worth watching. The main event is really the only match that has any drag-age, and it still has more than enough good moments to make up for it. Everything else is really tight, and all the undercard matches have a tremendous pace and fill whatever time they have very well. You also get some very early Cena and Lesnar matches, who both look great considering their experience. Lesnar/RVD is quite good, actually. If you just watch one match, I highly recommend the Benoit/Eddie vs. Bubba/Spike tables match that opens the show. Even with the stupid tag formula in use for about half of it, it still manages to probably be the second best tables match in WWE history. Benoit and Eddie are relentless, and Spike and Bubba are both fighting for their lives throughout the match. You expect Spike to be the underdog, but Bubba was really up to task here too. It was super stiff throughout, and despite being one of the longer matches on the show, there wasn't any part of it that felt like filler.
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13 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:
So RAW selects Eva Marie, SD! takes a risk on No Way Jose, RAW takes Billie Kay and SD! still ends up with The Drifter. RAW with their 2nd pick takes a guy who won't be there 85% of the time. They also took Wyatt Family way too high when Cesaro and Sasha were both still on the board and SD! ends up with both of them.
I gotta say whoever the GM is on RAW is making the Chip Kelly look like Bill Belichick.
Gotta reach for Brock, and Bray Wyatt still has a lot of value. Plus they get Harper in a few months.
I do agree that a good way to balance the talent a little more would be to switch Cesaro and Miz. I could just assume that Cesaro wins the IC belt at some point the draft. Matches Cesaro up with people he hasn't fought as much and gives SD an annoying "last generation" guy to beat up on.
And The Drifter being the last pick just felt right.
12 hours ago, Wyld Samurai said:Why would split up Rollins and Reigns when thays the money shot? Separate Ambrose from Reigns of anything.
Their feud will be mostly over by the time of the draft. They might have a second match at Battleground a week after, but a couple screwy finishes between them is likely to be the catalyst to getting SD its own champion.
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Since I was bored, I made up this somewhat realistic 30-round mock draft.
Assumptions:
- Raw gets the first pick
- Only used current WWE/NXT rosters from wikipedia
- Each brand has a main singles, secondary singles, tag, and women's division
- Taker, Kane, Show, Henry and anyone out for a while can come back wherever (except Harper, he stays with the Wyatts)
- Nia Jax follows Eva Marie
Spoiler
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5 minutes ago, Marty Sugar said:
Do the Dudleys get split up again so Bully Ray can finally show up?
You might as well release D-Von if you're gonna do that.
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- Cena
- Bayley
- Sasha
- New Day
- Owens
That's my money-making lineup, if it were personal preference, I'd take Zayn over Cena. I'd definitely reach for KO in a real draft, though, and make him my next every-man superstar.
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After the disappointing show last week, this week LU comes back firing on all cylinders. Every segment and match clicked perfectly.
Ryan and Mascarita had a nice comedy match, with Famous B nailing his role as a sleazy conman. The part where he distracted the ref by handing him a card was great. The failed press slam spot and the spot where they incorporated Joey's dick strength were funny too. Easily Joey's best work in LU since comedy's his forte, and it's probably the best use for Mascarita too.
Cage and Chavo had a solid match too that played to both guys' strengths. Cage is awesome as a no-selling wrecking ball, and Chavo got enough crafty counters in to make Cage look like a beast. Probably Chavo's best match in LU, but Cage is probably the most underrated guy on the roster. Every time he gets a chance, he knocks it out of the park. I'm very interested to see how he meshes with Matanza next week.
The backstage segment with Mundo, Evans, and PJ was vintage LU. Loved it, especially with the ridiculous air guitar stuff at the end. Mundo and Evans is such a natural pairing. Been waiting for those two to join up since last season.
Also good to see the Cortez/Joey UC angle finally going somewhere. I was a little sad for Cisco at the end there.
The main event was excellent and one of the top matches of the season. LU definitely has lots of "shades of grey" characters, so this pure babyface vs. pure heel match stuck out in a good way, and boy did they hammer that dynamic home with the finish. Lots of nice, smooth, and creative move sequences as you'd expect. That 'Rana-into-a-'rana spot Evans, Puma, and PJ did was nuts. Also loved the psychology of Mundo countering moves with his core strength since they always make a big deal about his abs and his workouts. The finishing stretch was really good, starting with the psych-out of the ref-pull on the face team's usual finishing sequence. Then the absurd amount ball shots and eye pokes mixed with the over-the-top high-impact in quick succession was an incredible sequence. Yeah, it probably should've ended on the Starship Pain, but there was huge pop for the babyface final hope spot, only to be cutoff by more over-the-top cheating, so it still worked pretty well. Really good work from all 6 guys.
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7 minutes ago, JCM said:
Was it just me or did Carmella set her finish up wrong? She did an STO instead of the usual flatliner, and it was pretty awkward.
I think Alexa bumped wrong. Those two had a few noticeable miscommunication spots in the match. The match layout sucked too with Nia looking less dominant than she should against those two, and all of them really abusing the "2 in 1 out" formula. Seemed like Alexa disappeared for the last 5 minutes. Triple threats are hard matches to pull off, and it's never a good idea to put green wrestlers in them. Each woman showed some flashes of good character work, but the match really highlighted how far behind the horsewomen + Asuka they are.
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22 hours ago, Cyanide said:
Anyone have thoughts on who some of top targets might actually be (aside from the top TNA guys Rippa listed, and presumably the Roode/Ibushi/Ricochet 'matter of time' category guys)?
I have to imagine they're looking to raid Shimmer to bolster the women's division(s). I saw a rumor around Mania that were interested in Nicole Savoy who seems like a good fit. I'm also surprised Nicole Matthews or the Kimber Bombs haven't turned up in NXT at all. Matthews specifically has impressed me each time I've seen her.
On the men's side, I think the CWC will give a lot of insight. Zack Sabre Jr and Drew Gulak are likely targets and deservedly so. I think they should also give Will Osperay and Matt Riddle a look.
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I haven't seen it addressed yet, but I assume each brand would get its own B-show too. Another way to address the time dilemma would be to make one show a mix and give SD one show exclusively (although that would further entrench them as the second-tier brand).
For the women, I still think the best approach is putting them all on Raw. It's the show that's still gonna get the most exposure if you're looking to attract new demos, and since they won't have any overlap with the men, spacing 3-4 segments throughout Raw will quietly eliminate the time differential which no one wants to admit is a gigantic problem. Also, splitting the division means you need a second singles title, whereas I think you'd get more value from adding women's tag titles to get a little more diversity in storylines.
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With the brand split looming, I could see most of the current roster getting sent to Raw or SD. It'll probably be presented as all NXT wrestlers are eligible for the draft, which would mean just about anyone who gets regular tv time is getting the call. If they do end up putting a women's division and tag team division on each show, it really is all hands on deck at this point. NXT could revert back to more of a true developmental with a couple of ace-level wrestlers that haven't debuted yet (Almas, Athena, etc).
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It's probably more of a short-term/near-future plan to boost SD's value on USA.
Once the pressure for joint-shows and "special appearances" by big names starts to mount, it'll fall apart just like the last one.
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Bossman in 2000 for dick-punching everyone in sight.
Also, Pete Gas gets a "worst appearance" nod for botching a slide into the ring.
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18 minutes ago, caley said:
Eh makes sense to have your two best big-match workers on different shows.
I didn't see anything about which shows Zayn and Nakamura would be on... #kiddingnotkidding (edit, come on JCM!!)
On a more serious note, I'm not being obtuse, I get why they're doing it. Cena is the ultimate safety valve, and they see Roman as a future Cena-level guy. It's just disappointing since they work exactly the same and are booked exactly the same. The only real appeal to a brand split is uniqueness between the shows, but if both aces are essentially the same guy, it undermines that a lot.
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1 hour ago, RIPPA said:
- Almost virtual lock that Cena and Reigns will be the top two guys split between the show
This is the most discouraging note, imo.
I mean I know it's probably going to be the case anyway, but this just really hammers home the fact that it's going to be 2 current Raws, not current Raw plus a more flexible, experimental product.
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I'm not crazy about a brand split, especially with Raw having 3 hours and SD only having 2. I can't see SD not becoming ECW-level over time since more things will need to be put on Raw to fill time.
In theory, that could be mitigated by putting the entire women's division on Raw with more call-ups and a women's tag division so that they end up getting approximately 1 hour of tv time (40 minutes of content) per week. This would be unprecedented levels of exposure for women's wrestling in WWE, and would keep the talent and exposure levels more equal between the men on both shows. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't see this happening.
I'm kind of torn on the floating champion. If it means women's title and CW title matches can main-event single-brand shows, I'd be down. If it just means one brand is in stall mode for a few weeks between major shows, forget it.
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Del Rio in MITB? Woof.
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Making Rollins a heel instead of a tweener is so stupid. Despite the stupid catchphrase, Roman has settled into that ace tweener role pretty nicely. It would've been super easy to recreate the same dynamic Roman and AJ had with Roman and Seth. Plus a Rollins face turn is long overdue, hopefully the sudden coldness between him and Steph is a step in that direction.
Didn't mind Jericho beating Crews too much. Again, that's the level of guy Jericho should be beating before he loses to an Ambrose/AJ level guy. I'm not sure I dig the Sheamus/Crews feud developing. Maybe if it was Sheamus in 2010, but the current version is not only heatless but is approaching peak apathy every time he's on camera. On paper it might seem like a good idea, but I don't think it's likely to help Crews in practice.
The Charlotte segment was good booking even if it went too long. Ric needed to be put back on the shelf for a while. His walk of shame was cheesy-funny.
One thing that seems to be getting overlooked is that AJ and Owens had a really great match. It was about as good of Raw-style match as you could have, which is impressive because every match being laid out the same on Raw for the last couple of years has really limited the number of great matches that happen on the show. They spaced out their moves well, hit all their complex sequences cleanly, and went a little above and beyond to protect AJ with the powerbomb on the steps.
The writing team didn't do AJ any favors by making him do the Daniel Bryan "Hey hardcore fans, I'm one of your favorites and I like Roman Reigns, so you should too" promo then making him sound like an asshole to Gallows and Anderson. It makes sense for people to be disappointed with that, but the silver lining is he's probably got a series of matches with Finn Balor on the horizon.
I like the MITB in lineup a lot thus far. Jericho's the only whatever participant, and he'll just be eating everyone's big moves primarily. You already have two realistic winners with Owens and Ambrose that would make for good storylines eventually. My guess is the last two spots go to Neville, then either AJ in a second-chance multi-man match or Finn.
Raw is... Ah hell Game 7 is on who cares
in WWE PROGRAMMING
Posted
If Cena vs. The Club plays out any differently than Cena vs. The Wyatts, I'll be stunned (and happy).