hammerva Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 To be fair, has there ever been a situation in the modern era where 2 superstars pass away at the very same time? I dont even mean a wrestler dying on a Wednesday and then dying on a Saturday so you could have even thought of doing a tribute on Smackdown and Raw separately. Now that doesn't mean that the Terry Funk tribute would have been greater if Bray didn't pass away. I think we got about what we would have. The negative I would have would be showing the crowd after the Terry video and looked to be the most bored group of people possible. But what can you do. And if you want to be petty, WWE has done a much better tribute to Funk than AEW so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 Fox probably knew that this particular show will likely be a ratings bump, given Brays noticeable fanbase who may have stopped watching during his absence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 Being there live was weird. Tons of down time. I wasn’t sure what approach they’d take, but it did seem to be a good mix of tribute and “normal” show. My friend and I that went both haven’t watched a ton of WWE in a while. The thing that really struck us was that there were only four matches in two hours of Smackdown. There were long periods where we just sat there with the Smackdown logo up on the screen. They did two dark matches after the show went off the air (Riddle vs Solo and Cody vs Theory) and they were both over by 10:15. The tribute aspects were nice to see. The rest of the show just reminded me why I stopped watching. So many video packages with like TMZ, trending, influencer-type stuff that is just not my thing (end old man yelling at cloud). There were a lot of kids there who were really into everything, and that just makes it so much more fun. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 (edited) Spoiler A couple pics of the end of the show that I grabbed. We got to move down pretty close for the last 45 minutes or so of Smackdown. Edited August 26, 2023 by Log 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 There seemed to be a lot of silence during Cody. Terry is ancient history to a lot of the young fanbase, hell so is ECW and the Attitude Era. They seem to know enough to chant for tables and that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 4 hours ago, Log said: Being there live was weird. Tons of down time. I wasn’t sure what approach they’d take, but it did seem to be a good mix of tribute and “normal” show. My friend and I that went both haven’t watched a ton of WWE in a while. The thing that really struck us was that there were only four matches in two hours of Smackdown. There were long periods where we just sat there with the Smackdown logo up on the screen. They did two dark matches after the show went off the air (Riddle vs Solo and Cody vs Theory) and they were both over by 10:15. The tribute aspects were nice to see. The rest of the show just reminded me why I stopped watching. So many video packages with like TMZ, trending, influencer-type stuff that is just not my thing (end old man yelling at cloud). There were a lot of kids there who were really into everything, and that just makes it so much more fun. Thanks for your report. I've read before that's a problem attending WWE TV tapings. Sounds like you're better off going to a house show. 4 hours ago, Log said: Hide contents A couple pics of the end of the show that I grabbed. We got to move down pretty close for the last 45 minutes or so of Smackdown. Great pictures. Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Hero Morganti Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 House shows are much better than TV tapings. Can confirm. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoFistsJustFlips Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 20 hours ago, username said: I am uncomfortable with the notion of like... rating tribute episodes and such. I think with the advent of social media there isn't really the same need to get his friends and coworkers to sit in the back and pour their heart out to a camera if they want to, which is basically what WWE generally did. Like I said my perception might be off. But where I am coming from isn't about ratings or the quality of what was shown. I just felt bummed and like Bray and his contributions were minimized compared to other wrestlers that have passed way too young. It was extremely jarring for me to see Grayson Waller coming out to his bright goofy tron dancing around doing his shtick and them pushing the Payback storylines so hard. Nothing I attribute to malice or blame WWE for. As was said either way you go with it there will be detractors. Damned if you do. I understand AEW and WWE are different companies so not apples to apples, but to me Brodie Lee's tribute show was the most moving of all. They let his friends say goodbye. They let his friends go out and do matches in his honor. You could feel the love for him. The entire episode was a celebration to his life, his friends, and his family. Social media was certainly around in 2020 so I don't see that as much of a factor. I'm just really sad. And could be misplacing those feelings. I feel like Bray deserved more but it's just one guy's opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 47 minutes ago, DJ Hero Morganti said: House shows are much better than TV tapings. Can confirm. Yeah, over the last year and a half we went to a RAW and a house show in Denver, and the house show was way better. They do a full production just like a TV taping, but without backstage segments or commercial breaks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefanie Sparkleface Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 I don't think anyone is obligated to publicly air their sorrows any more than they already do, and if they decide they want to go about their business, that's okay, if they decide they want to pour their hearts out for two hours, that's okay too. Not everyone copes with loss the same, and I don't think we should be looking at whether what one deserves more or less in death any more than acknowledging that they were loved and will be missed. How much people want to say that is their choice, not ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoFistsJustFlips Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 14 minutes ago, Sparkleface said: I don't think anyone is obligated to publicly air their sorrows any more than they already do, and if they decide they want to go about their business, that's okay, if they decide they want to pour their hearts out for two hours, that's okay too. Not everyone copes with loss the same, and I don't think we should be looking at whether what one deserves more or less in death any more than acknowledging that they were loved and will be missed. How much people want to say that is their choice, not ours. Maybe people did want to sit down and express their love for him. Maybe less people actually wanted to in previous instances as well. I say it that way because it's kind of unfair to place the power of it at the talent's hands in either scenario. It's not like the office goes around backstage asking who would like to speak before they set the structure of the script. The talent don't have much say either way the office decides to go with it. I believe in the past they just filmed anyone that wanted to do it and they would insert as many as they could / wanted to. They made the conscious decision to not do any this time. We all have opinions on if that feels right to us or wrong. But they weren't giving the option this time due to the creative of the script. I feel confident going out on a ledge saying at least some friends and colleagues would have very much wanted to share their feelings and thoughts about a man they loved, if given the choice. Hope this doesn't read as my trying to challenge your thoughts on this one. This is one of those delicate subjects where there's no set in stone right way to think about it. I'm just speaking from how it feels to me and I realize that the way everyone else feels about it is just as valid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 13 hours ago, hammerva said: has there ever been a situation in the modern era where 2 superstars pass away at the very same time? looking at the Wikipedia list and the list of two wrestler deaths within a week are mostly guys with no overlap or different levels of national experience Black Warrior and Jay Briscoe Mickie Henson, Super Muneco and Candi Devine Ryan Sakoda, Steve Lawler, and Daffney Bobby Eaton and Hideki Hosaka The Patriot and Chris Youngblood Hana Kimura and Shad Gaspard Jim Neidhart and Doc Dean Brian Christopher and Brickhouse Brown I think the previous situation with wrestlers who had recently worked in the same place dying in quick succession would be something like Dino Bravo, Kerry Von Erich, and Andre dying within 6 weeks. Since Big Dick Dudley and Davey Boy Smith were likely never in the same place at the same time. Unless we're going to Lucha where two wrestlers were murdered at the same time in 2009 (Espectrito II and La Parkita) or Kung Fu/Villano I died within days of each other in 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefanie Sparkleface Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 18 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said: Maybe people did want to sit down and express their love for him. Maybe less people actually wanted to in previous instances as well. I say it that way because it's kind of unfair to place the power of it at the talent's hands in either scenario. It's not like the office goes around backstage asking who would like to speak before they set the structure of the script. The talent don't have much say either way the office decides to go with it. I believe in the past they just filmed anyone that wanted to do it and they would insert as many as they could / wanted to. They made the conscious decision to not do any this time. We all have opinions on if that feels right to us or wrong. But they weren't giving the option this time due to the creative of the script. I feel confident going out on a ledge saying at least some friends and colleagues would have very much wanted to share their feelings and thoughts about a man they loved, if given the choice. Hope this doesn't read as my trying to challenge your thoughts on this one. This is one of those delicate subjects where there's no set in stone right way to think about it. I'm just speaking from how it feels to me and I realize that the way everyone else feels about it is just as valid. It definitely does read that way, for the record. I have no interest in telling someone they aren't mourning someone's loss suitably, and that will be the last I say about this subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 I think the difference in the Brodie show, and this one, was that they had a few days in between Brodie passing away and Dynamite so the emotions weren’t quite as raw as they would have been in this instance, where the death happened a day before (and maybe not even a full day). And the fact that it was a double tribute show, which probably hasn’t ever been done before to my knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 Imagine if the Benoit tribute show had also been for Nancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HumanChessgame Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 Was Bray still technically with the company? His last match was at the Rumble in January. I had assumed he'd been let go in the interim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 Yes, he was still with WWE. They initially were running with the story of Bray challenging whoever won the Brock/Lashley match at Elimination Chamber but it was dropped not too long after that. Presumably because of his health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 6 hours ago, odessasteps said: Imagine if the Benoit tribute show had also been for Nancy. My dark comedy gene just activated. Thanks, man. It's nothing I'll share here but you just gave me a gift to file away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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