Dolfan in NYC Posted March 2 Posted March 2  A little past suppertime, I'm still out on the porch step sitting on my behind, waiting for you. Last weekend... It's the most evil debut of the year!  Wondering if everything is alright. Momma said, "Come in boy, don't waste your time." I said, "I've got time. Well, he'll be here soon." Over on the ladies side... Jessica Carr continues her despicable feud against your favorite wrestler, Becky Lynch Horrible. I guess AJ Lee can take some solace in being handed the title.   Five years old and talking to myself. Where were you? Where'd you go? Daddy, can't you tell? And tonight on Raw... we begin THE ROAD~ to Wrestlemania! Here's Pearce to tell you what to expect: Never great when non-wrestlers insert themselves into the feuds. But enough about Roman!  (Fun fact, that video was directed by a little known director at the time. His name? Michael Bay.) Enjoy the week!
Eivion Posted March 3 Posted March 3 Opening segment was decent, but I can only care so much about a Vision with either of the Brons. Dragon/Gunther was damn good with Dragon Lee getting in plenty of awesome and neat moments despite Gunther being a beast putting him down so hard and often. The finish was a good asshole moment for Gunther. Curious to see where things go from here. Would love to see Rey try to gain some vengeance for Dragon Lee. OG El Grande Americano vs. Rayo was fun. Everyone involved in this angle plays their roles well. I just wish this was playing out more in AAA than Raw. Hopefully we get a proper mascara contra mascara match in AAA. The Rusev/Oba segment was short and a nice heating up moment for them. Jimmy/Theory was fine but more of an angle with a non-finish after Logan Paul attacked and Jey made the save. Feels like the walls are closing in on the Vision. Dom/Penta built into a nice match by the end though that Destroyer could have looked better. Presumably we are finally starting the build to Finn's exit from the Judgement Day. The final segment with Roman & Punk was going well until Punk's final words which felt a little weak and then ended on a WTF moment. Â Not enough matches at 4 as usual though I quite enjoyed the 3 matches that properly played out. Dragon/Gunther was the standout and well worth going out of one's way to catch though I don't think time is wasted catching Dom/Penta or EGA/Rayo. Story wise the show wasn't bad though it also wasn't anything exceptional with the only obvious match building beyond the big 4 title matches for Wrestlemania being Seth/Logan. I do like that they are trying to turn the IC title into more of a hot commodity with AJ Lee as a champ right now and Mania around the corner. Ok episode though they've had stronger. 1
southofheavy Posted March 3 Posted March 3 LOVED that song when I was a kid. Didn't get the tape cuz it hit way too close to home. Don't have Netflix, but caught a couple highlights on YouTube. Glad to see the CURSE! still works. 1
hammerva Posted March 3 Posted March 3 Does anyone have a cliff notes version of this Jade Cargill/Rhea Ripley stuff on social media because it is getting confusing as hell with people I don't even know why they are involved
Casey Posted March 3 Posted March 3 Jade said Rhea goes to the writers to politic to win matches, and then the entire women's locker room basically came at her on Twitter. Triple H clearly likes Vince Russo's work because he's doing worked shoots all over the place, and it'll probably be some shit featured on the Unreal show. 1
Pete Posted March 3 Posted March 3 I like that they didn't banana-peel Dom losing the title to Penta. A) Penta should've (and did) go over strong, and B) there should be some plausible deniability for Dom losing after Danhausen cursed him. They have all sorts of ways for him to go on a losing streak before putting 2+2 together and realizing it wuz Danhausen wot did it.
hammerva Posted March 3 Posted March 3 If you are actually planning on having Danhausen wrestling on the main roster so soon, Dominik wouldn't be a bad first opponent. He should lose but the match will be perfectly fine maybe even good I assume that LA Knight driving the ambulance is their way to start the eventual slaughter that is going to happen to him at WM.  I also assume that the Usos/Logan Paul & Austin Theory thing is just another smokescreen unless they have found something else for Rollins to doÂ
Pete Posted March 3 Posted March 3 24 minutes ago, hammerva said: If you are actually planning on having Danhausen wrestling on the main roster so soon, Dominik wouldn't be a bad first opponent. He should lose but the match will be perfectly fine maybe even good I assume you mean Danhausen should lose, but honestly Dom is one of those guys who can lose and still keep his heat because he's a sniveling dirtbag when the cameras roll. People want to see his character get embarrassed, even though he's an amazing babyface when he's off the clock. 2
hammerva Posted March 3 Posted March 3 I think that kind of depends on what brand we are talking about. If it is RAW then I can see that and a Dominik loss isn't bad. But if this is under the brand of AAA, I am not sure on that
Swift Posted March 3 Posted March 3 Again really enjoyed the chaotic opening to this, hopefully that's something they keep doing every now and then. Here you had the Vision come out, get run off by Rollins and masked men, Heyman getting injured and loaded into an ambulance, Uso arriving for a beatdown, Knight driving the ambulance off, then Gunther coming out for his match only to be ambushed immediately by Dragon Lee and right into a very good match. Loved when Attitude era WWE would just bleed from segment to segment like that. If they do have a mascara contra mascara match (agreed it needs to be in AAA) hopefully it's Gable losing the mask. He kinda sucks in the role, or moreso Ludwig is excellent at it. Love how much Spanish he has (did he learn it for the role or already spoke it?) and even his little English buddies throw in some decent Spanish phrases that they probably picked up in Magaluf or Alicante over the years. Gable on the other hand has never even attempted to play it as an actual lucha character (although I guess that's maybe the joke) 2
Pete Posted March 3 Posted March 3 2 hours ago, Swift said: If they do have a mascara contra mascara match (agreed it needs to be in AAA) hopefully it's Gable losing the mask. He kinda sucks in the role, or moreso Ludwig is excellent at it. Love how much Spanish he has (did he learn it for the role or already spoke it?) and even his little English buddies throw in some decent Spanish phrases that they probably picked up in Magaluf or Alicante over the years. Gable on the other hand has never even attempted to play it as an actual lucha character (although I guess that's maybe the joke) Agreed that Gable should lose it, preferably in such a way that they flip the script to Ludvig being a face in both groups. And yeah, Gable being an insincere fake Mexican was the point all along. If they have Gable drop it in Mexico, Ludwig would absolutely blow up like a nuclear bomb... but they'll almost certainly do it Stateside and treat it as a joke. 1
peterien Posted March 3 Posted March 3 Something felt off about that Punk/Roman segment like one of them forgot a touch point or they were rushed for time. Punks closing line felt like something he stole from an MJF promo. Am I supposed to find this version of Punk insufferable? Because if so great job.Â
Pete Posted March 3 Posted March 3 4 hours ago, Swift said: If they do have a mascara contra mascara match (agreed it needs to be in AAA) hopefully it's Gable losing the mask. He kinda sucks in the role, or moreso Ludwig is excellent at it. Love how much Spanish he has (did he learn it for the role or already spoke it?) and even his little English buddies throw in some decent Spanish phrases that they probably picked up in Magaluf or Alicante over the years. Gable on the other hand has never even attempted to play it as an actual lucha character (although I guess that's maybe the joke) Apparently Ludwig is fluent in English, German and Spanish, conversational in French and Italian. Completely nuts, but it tracks for a guy who bounced around European indies for 10+ years before coming to the States. 2
Niners Fan in CT Posted March 3 Posted March 3 I don't mind some worked/shoot shit from time to time but is that all Roman and Punk have to offer?  Don't get me wrong, it was a solid segment and I enjoyed it. I just feel like there ain't much there. Â
Eivion Posted March 3 Posted March 3 (edited) 43 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said: I don't mind some worked/shoot shit from time to time but is that all Roman and Punk have to offer?  Don't get me wrong, it was a solid segment and I enjoyed it. I just feel like there ain't much there.  It feels like an issue with neither really playing a full blown heel. Both are great when able to play into amazing assholes, but I suspect they don't to actually turn either guy. Edited March 3 by Eivion
odessasteps Posted March 3 Posted March 3 They could be feuding over Zootopia, so it could be worse. 2
username Posted March 4 Posted March 4 I think Roman has been a really tricky person to book since he's dropped the title as he's basically a theoretical face in that he's been booked against heels but he hasn't shown a shred of remorse for what he's done and really acts no differently. I think at Summerslam he took a bullet for Jey and it stunned me as it was legit the first and so far only selfless thing he's done in these two years. He's very over so it works but it just makes everything odd. Add in that Punk for better or worse as a character (and likely a person) is someone who will respond to dickishness with trying to top it and you sorta get what we've gotten so far.
odessasteps Posted March 4 Posted March 4 I mean, I don’t know how to book the character as a babyface when most of your audience knows what a heel Phil is in real life,  I guess it’s true in the acting world too. But as we so often discuss, it’s not easy separating the art from the artist in wrestling where you often are just playing yourself to some level. 1
Niners Fan in CT Posted March 4 Posted March 4 Why not just turn Punk heel? I feel like that's probably what he'd prefer and the "merch" likely wouldn't take a hit at all. I don't think anyone really wants to see Punk and AJ Lee as this babyface "power couple" or whatever. I feel like both are over but work better if they are separate. Â
odessasteps Posted March 4 Posted March 4 Â Maybe do a quadruple switch and have Punk/AJ as heels and Seth/Becky as faces. That would hopefully also rid us of her gimmick of acting like the Prez.
Eivion Posted March 4 Posted March 4 Enjoyed Myles's promo leading to an impromptu title match with Page. People wrestling a normal match in suits is always an amusing thing to me, and I dug Myles making good on his earlier promise to not hold back doing whatever he can to win. The Blake/Jaida segment was alright. Dug how it ended on the slap. The later promo from Blake and further brawling frankly felt a bit unnecessary though i guess they wanted more of a justifiable street fight with the heat between the two. Wren/Lyons was a decent Speed match. Shiloh, Hank & Tank vs. Vanity Project was good. Loved the pre-match brawl, and the action in the ring was pretty solid all around. Vanity Project continue to impress, and the finish was impressive with its timing and setup. Jacy/Zaria was pretty good up until the non-finish with Sol's attack on everyone. Have mixed feelings on that as I quite liked Sol not interrupting at the very beginning like both women were expecting. It worked and made sense, but I would have liked it more if Sol attacked post match. I assume a triple threat is coming at Stand & Deliver. I dislike that as I would much rather see Sol take on either woman in a singles though I also kind of get it. Sol/Zaria is the bigger match, but Jacy has kind of earned the spot with the work she put in this past year. Skipped some of the Saints concert though I kind of enjoyed it for the setup with Saints being so actively bad but arrogant not seeing the obvious in Joe Hendry as the stagehand helping him out. Â Its feels weird to have only four matches on a non-Special episode of NXT though I enjoyed what we got here. The six-man tag and Jacy/Zaria were both good and worth catch even with a non-finish for the latter. Story wise, I thought the final builds for Vengeance Day came together well for the most part here and left me looking forward to the show. Solid go home show tonight. 2
For Great Justice Posted March 4 Posted March 4 One of my favorite tropes in fiction is the goofy, almost-always useless glass cannon character who, oh by the way, has the single most destructive ability in the world That’s how I’ve always wanted Danhausen’s curse to be in AEW, and they sort of did it for awhile, but didn’t fully go for it. If WWE does it and goes full Mr Mxyzptlk I’ll be a fan. 2
Pete Posted March 4 Posted March 4 2 hours ago, For Great Justice said: One of my favorite tropes in fiction is the goofy, almost-always useless glass cannon character who, oh by the way, has the single most destructive ability in the world That’s how I’ve always wanted Danhausen’s curse to be in AEW, and they sort of did it for awhile, but didn’t fully go for it. If WWE does it and goes full Mr Mxyzptlk I’ll be a fan. Only if it ends with someone tricking him into saying his name backwards and vanishing to TNA for 90 days.  2
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