Dolfan in NYC Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Well, tonight is the final Raw under the current roster and this Friday is THE DRAFT~! But we ALSO have a big NXT title match... and with the news that Trick Williams is *not* being considered for drafting, this match up becomes a lot more... Enjoy your week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Rooting for Roxy to lose tomorrow feels weird, but she's better than half the women on the touring rosters and probably should have been called up before any of last year's call-ups save Zoey and maybe Alba (who has been badly underused). Do we know anything about how Wes Lee's recovery is going? He was my favorite last year in spite of his terrible booking (which, in retrospect, was partly to cover his injuries) and I want him to be able to come back strong almost as much as I want him to be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 NXT Battleground 2024 will be taking place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 The Fired Festival continues, and Von Wagner is out. I never loved the wacky man-child gimmick, but I'm surprised nonetheless. With his size and comic timing, I figured he'd have a spot locked up in the comedy tier if nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 A pity about Von, but I'm not sure there was much else to do with him in NXT and he didn't offer much for a main roster run. He is solid so I hope he finds something good to do on the indie scene or maybe try to hit up Japan. 7 hours ago, Cliff Hanger said: Rooting for Roxy to lose tomorrow feels weird, but she's better than half the women on the touring rosters and probably should have been called up before any of last year's call-ups save Zoey and maybe Alba (who has been badly underused). I somewhat disagree with this. I don't think there would have been anything for Roxanne to do had she been called up last year. All you have to do is see how all of those callups went to figure out where Roxanne would be. She might be better off this year with Rhea out, but I still think she will end up not doing much if she is called up with the Draft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Moose Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 (edited) 2 hours ago, Eivion said: A pity about Von, but I'm not sure there was much else to do with him in NXT and he didn't offer much for a main roster run. He is solid so I hope he finds something good to do on the indie scene or maybe try to hit up Japan. I somewhat disagree with this. I don't think there would have been anything for Roxanne to do had she been called up last year. All you have to do is see how all of those callups went to figure out where Roxanne would be. She might be better off this year with Rhea out, but I still think she will end up not doing much if she is called up with the Draft. Roxanne, through no fault of her own, strikes me as a real challenge to pull up to the main roster. I think another few months in NXT to figure out a synthesis of her current edge with faceness would help her a lot. I think the struggle is in finding a balance between regressing her character to be easier for a big audience to get to like and follow, versus bringing her up with her current, snarkier outlook. Witness the main roster struggles of KC2, Candice and Indi and Team Kick - a big part of why I think they've had trouble connecting is that a lot of their character development (that situates their current personas in opposition to their previous selves) happened years ago, effectively offscreen. Edited April 22 by Iron Moose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 I do think you could present Roxy with the same video package she had in her early NXT days (About her watching TV and dreaming of WWE), make her slightly less naive than she was then, get Booker T and talking about her, and have her upset some big stars early on to play up the underdog persona and people would get behind her pretty fast. That is easier to do now that Vince McMahon is out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Sad news Liv was robbed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Better insult: this or McIntyre’ “burgers” line to Sheamus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Liv is the one who injured Rhea. It would have made sense to give Liv the title and have her talking shit. But instead, another Becky Lynch run. No thank you. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Hopefully it at least gets people to stop wondering if she’s leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 I think Liv will beat Becky either at Backlash or the Saudi show so I'm fine with her not getting it tonight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 The Priest/Jey segment was alright. I liked mostly for the nding and the general build towards a Judgement Day implosion its continuing. Awesome Truth vs. DIY was good. Curious to see where things go as the post match showed Ciampa overly frustrated with the loss. The Gunther promo was solid. As the New Day vs. Imperium match it led to. Not sure how I feel about the post match with poor Vinci getting beaten and ousted by Kaiser. Mostly I just think Vinci is the better wrestler of the team with Kaiser so I hope this doesn't mean he is gone from WWE though I also don't see him doing much on his own. Hopefully we get a Wolfe return or maybe another Ringkampf member joins Imperium. That Drew/Sheamus segment was good. The digs were perfect, and I liked Sheamus's reactions. Sheamus/Nakamura right after was another solid match. That Gable promo was cold. Hopefully Gable can keep that up as the heel turn continues. Still, I really want him to switch out Otis, Tozawa, and Maxxine for the Creeds. Just feels like a perfect heel stable. Ivy can stay with Maxxine as a face. Andrade/Ricochet vs. Santos/JD built into something good. JD and Santos were a far better team than expected. The Priest attack post match and trash talk to Dom and JD was neat. Dug the backstage segment with all the women that led into the battle royal. Was a nice face moment for Becky and solid build to giving Maxxine a chance to impress in the match. The match itself was pretty solid. I dug a lot of eliminations and thought they did a good job showcasing most of the women involved at some point. The finale with Liv, Becky, and Nia was expected but done well enough. I do wish Liv won, but I assume much of this is to set up a full heel turn for Liv when she finally does take the belt. Right now she doesn't quote have the reasons or ammo for it. Beating Becky down bad for the title will give it to her. I have to admit I would have rather seen Liv win straight up here, but I do think there is a noticeable drop off in how the crowd views the women after Rhea and Becky. This is probably necessary to help Liv step to the next level. No stand out match, but everything here was pretty solid and enjoyable. weakest segment was probably the opening, but everything else did well. Solid show overall though it still suffers from the usual long Raw length. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Pretty good episode of RAW tonight. Sheamus looked like he lost some weight between now and last week. Personally my problem with his return last week was those boxer type shorts he wore. They just weren't him. But the segment with Drew was pretty good. So was the match with Nakamura. It's a shame Shinske is now a jobber to the stars. Maybe he'll get drafted to back to Smackdown. I thought he fit in better there. The segment with Gable and the Alpha Academy was amazing. No more screwing around. I still have hope that Otis will be a killer for Gable, but the way the crowd cheered for him they could easily have Otis turn on Gable to a huge response. The women's battle royal was really good. I'm glad Nia didn't win. Sad that Liv didn't win either. I guess Becky gets a run as a thanks for not taking time off/resigning. But yeah a good episode 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 I was wanting Liv Morgan to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 "From banger after banger to burger after burger." Drew McIntyre is a savage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Sheamus/Drew is sort of like Sami/KO. It’s never a wrong answer. I think Drew might be a the peak of his powers more than any other wrestler in the game right now. I didn’t have a clue that his all around ceiling was this high. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamal Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 The battle royal was probably one of the better ones they've done. Lots of nice spots, especially Chelsea's initial fake out lol Becky winning was no surprise, but why do I have this vision of Liv eventually beating her, aligning with Dom, and then having to deal with a returning face Rhea? lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 "Have some candy, Book." Man, I'm used to Booker wilding out but I think this is the first time I've seen Vic get this cranky as a result. Fun show. Probably the right choices on both title matches. I hope Corbin goes back on the road after this and that he's able to be as good as he has been during his year of being sent down. NQCC needs a new fourth member; make it a woman if you want to bounce them off OTM and the Family for a while or pick another dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 (edited) Women's title match was great. All three busted out some nice action with Roxanne and Tatum having some good character moments along the way. Lyra being pissed trying to take on both was kind of neat to see though once again it felt like she was the one the crowd was least interested in. Glad Roxanne retained. I'm curious to see where things with Tatum go after this. She is a face as far as the crowd is concerned so it would be interesting to see her pushed more for the belt or the incoming NA title. The Family vs. NQCC was good. I especially dug that first third that was pretty rough and felt like guys really trying to beat the crap out of each other. Hopefully we get Tony vs. Dempsey for the Cup soon. Fallon/Jaida was surprising solid and probably Jaida's best showing so far though I'm not sure how much of that is on her vs. Fallon. The Nattie/Lola contract signing was better than expected. Dug the trash talk, and I like Shayna as Lola's training partner. I really hope after the Draft Nattie sticks around NXT. She is far more over here than the main roster and could be valuable as a player/coach. Sol/Blair was a solid plunder match with some neats moments. Disappointed Blair lost, but it was also probably the right decision with how fast Sol is growing. Sol should either be the first NA Women's champ or challenging for the main women's title by the end of Fall. Corbin/King was fine but felt rather tacked on. Probably could have waited until next week. Trick/Ilja was damn good as expected though admittedly not the war they had back in February. Dug how they built the matchup over the night, including having so many former NXT talent show up. It sold it all the more as such a big moment. Not the best special but still good with some solid segments and standout matches in the 6-man tag and both title matches. Will be interesting to see how well Part 2 can hold up next week. Edited April 24 by Eivion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Becky winning is to build Liv up as the next challenger as Liv fully turns heel. They have been building up to Liv via the Revenge Tour already, and Liv was already moving into a tweener status by sneak attacking Rhea. They also just teased something brewing with Liv and Dom, which makes it possible for Liv to steal Rhea’s boytoy or to worm her way into the Judgment Day or what have you. Either way, Liv’s in the Chad Gable spot where we’re understanding her motivations and seeing the seeds planted. We’re a Becky Lynch making a cocksure remark to Liv away from the heel turn fully happening and Liv willing to do anything to show she is no longer second place. Heel champion Liv timing out with a returning Rhea writes itself. (Yes, I did listen to Busted Radio but it is a pretty easy path to see unfolding.) They could have gotten to the championship with Liv winning the battle royale. But Liv becoming an underhanded sneak to overcome Becky (the ace of the WWE’s women’s division) gives Liv a story and if/when they pull the trigger she now has more equity as a character to cast doubt about Rhea being able to get her own revenge. And if Dom ends up as Liv’s manservant or something along those lines? That is a really strong storyline. I think Liv does need the underhanded conniving role to really pull off being a champion. She really has an organic connection with the audience and clearly works hard. I think she’s pretty good at knowing how to tell a story. Her brawling recently looks really good. But her size and being a step down in athleticism from Becky or Rhea limits her as a face in having a quality PPV match. But if she’s a cunning heel? I can easily see her pulling that off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 12 minutes ago, Greggulator said: But her size and being a step down in athleticism from Becky Huh? Liv is significantly more athletic than Becky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Draft 2024 rules are out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 Why cut a promo when someone's already done all the work for you? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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