Payback III

[Niners Fan in CT]

 

 

 

Actually Vic has a point. Rusev WAS a strong heel challenger. They built him up as part of the classic formula and then beat him as a part of the classic formula.

 

And nobody watched. RAW's ratings of late have been dreadful. Maybe it would serve them well if they mixed things up.

 

Well they shot right back up with Rusev losing at Payback so maybe people were just refusing to watch Raw until American Hero John Cena finally concluded the feud.

 

 

More likely the ratings went up because Triple H and Steph were there.

[goc]

So then it's also likely the ratings going down had absolutely nothing to do with Rusev's booking?

[Victator]

Its all a crap shoot.

[Cristobal]

But enough about Jericho's podcasts...

[Brian Fowler]

I said it way back before Mania, on one hand Rusev is great and I would like to see him get a shot at being a top guy, but on the other, building up an unbeatable foreign heel who runs through all the mid-card and upper mid-card babyfaces and then puts over the company ace is pretty much the most fundamental booking strategy in all of pro wrestling.  I mean, that's what foreign monster heels exist for.

 

And in the meantime we got two great matches (at Fast Lane and Mania) one match utterly destroyed by the stipulations (at Extreme Rules) and one okay match that was laid out more than a bit oddly but had some great, great moments (Sunday) and Rusev is still a solid upper mid-card heel they can do a lot with.

 

As for Bray, he was still over when the Cena feud ended.  His heat DIED when he put over Jericho.

[goc]

I think people are going overboard with the "Rusev is dead now" thing. I think we have to reserve judgement until after the thing with Ziggler at least. Now if Ziggler steals his woman AND ends up beating him in the feud then we'll know he's fucked.

 

Because if they built him up for a year to give to Cena and then let Dolph Ziggler of all people, who they obviously don't really give a shit about, take the scraps of what's left then we'll know what his future is.

[Matt D]

I look forward to the Yoko/Owen team.

Would that be Rusev/Miz? It feels dirty to suggest that.

[Biz Smarkie]

I actually like that idea.

 

Miz taking Rusev on a trip to a manicurist pretty much writes itself.

[Brian Fowler]

Plus nothing gets the crowd behind someone like him being a lackey to The Miz.

[NikoBaltimore]

I mentioned in the general wrestling thread I had no hesitation on skipping the Payback show since it was by my place.  Had a grand ol' time at my parents' house, ate lots of food and played with the nephews.  All while having no regrets about not going to the show.

 

So when watching the PPV main event I couldn't help feeling a bit of regret.  That was tremendous, and upon second viewing it was even better.  The shitty Baltimore crowd I knew and loathed actually gave a damn which was great.  The Shield segment in particular was something I wish I was there for.

 

The New Day had a fun match, and the celebration with the milk was pure gold.  I figured Cena/Rusev would end that way but agree in the constant ref checks were not good.

[CastleVania Rey]

Late here, but I will record my brief opinions for posterity.

 

Best matches:

 

#1: New Day/Cesaro & Kidd (Stole the show again. New Day's heel run is awesome. Xavier Woods's heel-work in particular is astounding.)

 

#2: Ambrose/Reigns/Rollins/Orton (My favorite part was when Dean and Roman killed everyone else and were like "not much left to do". I liked that they were still buddies even in this sort of match, only fighting each other after murdering the other fools. Good job with that.)

 

#3: Ryback/Wyatt (This will probably be really underrated because of the guys involved. Wyatt's lariat is great, yet somehow it wasn't his best move of the match, because THAT APRON SENTON WHOA.)