If you don't get your way act like a deranged temper tantrum throwing toddler until you do.
We are in a really really bad place right now. Guys are getting shoved into clusterfuck match after clusterfuck match. My favorite moment might be them coming back from commercial as the crowd is shitting all over the Usos match only to break into a CM Punk chant which I think is code for we want a refund.
Someone is scratching their head in back wondering why the Randy Orton turn didn't get a reaction.
Ten minutes of Orton slowly destroying Rollins is a nice way to build up Orton-Helmsley at WrestleMania ... oh wait that's not the plan is it?
They even fucked with Sting's voice! They seriously changed Sting's voice the first time he ever speaks in WWE. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
3 weeks from Mania and a loaded roster and this is the type of show we are getting. They took every Mania match and made them seem less appealing than they were to start. Taker-Bray didn't gain or lose any traction.
I didn't want to go but decided to attend in the name of sociology. That was a mistake.
People still had the love for Daniel Bryan, relivin' the glory of January '14, but little to celebrate other than him getting two bullhammers. Crowd was also super hot for Randy Orton, up until he actually turned. It truly was a great plan.
Roman Reigns is probably the coldest main eventer in Wrestlemania history. Just apathy. Like, he wishes he was as over as Miz. Everyone was very much in favor of Brock Lesnar taking the WWE title to UFC.
I don't want to expose the business here but there was no lightning bolt that struck Bray Wyatt's chair. Just some men who hustled it into the ring in not exactly the shadow of darkness.
Uh ... Ultimate Warrior, well, he pretty specifically asked for something different than that. But I suppose even dying wishes can be WWEified.
Originally posted by JustinShapiroSting's voice. ahaha.
Ugh, the worst part about it is that it actually did a good job articulating Sting's point of view in that he's targeting HHH because he's like Eric Bischoff, and that he's trying to save another wrestling company from being killed by a power-hungry authority figure. And he isn't representing WCW, like HHH has been saying, which is a distinction that needed to be made...
John Cena attacked Rusev post match and tortured him (and us) with his crappy STF until Rusev's girlfriend gave in to his demand for a title shot. So Cena's the heel here, right?
I just hope this all leads to Curtis Axel coming out to Real American at WrestleMania. That and how fast Brock busts opens Reign's lip are what I'm looking forward to on the big show.
That 15 minute rap concert with 5 people in the crowd caring stank of Nitro. Hootie hoo!
Could you imagine a UFC with Paul Heyman acting as business manager for both Brock Lesnar and Phil Brooks? That would probably print some money for Dana White.
That was a pretty horrible show for what on paper looks like it should have been cool. We got 2 Divas matches, which is all but unheard of, Daniel Bryan vs Barrett, the Brass Ring Club in action and Randy Orton's long-awaited plan finally comes to fruition in a 10-minute beatdown.
Just one thing, did I miss something and the rest of the Authority had to leave the arena for the night? HHH wasn't there, because he handed over the 'endless opening promo' spot over to Rollins, but Kane and Big Show just wrestled earlier, in yet another variation of Authority vs Guys Who Got Fired. Maybe they were too busy arguing with each other after the KO that ended their match. I saw J&J got kicked out by Rollins, but apparently they went back to sulk and not pay any attention to the monitors.
Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed Brock was getting a FACE pop, even when Heyman threatened to take the belt elsewhere (in the days of WCW, that might have meant something, but nobody thinks of UFC as a 'rival' organization)... the fans are really rebelling full-on against the Reigns thing. I wonder how short his title reign is going to be once they realize that the boos aren't going to go away. I figure he'll either lose it quickly or go ahead and turn. If he ends up losing it to Bryan just to shut everyone up, I'll laugh myself unconscious.
I left anything that involved Cena on mute, so no idea if the fans were cheering Cena's blatant use of heel tactics to force his way into Wrestlemania or if they were shitting all over it, nor do I really care ... WWE will continue to ignore it and pretend Cena's their #1 face until he finally does us all a favor and retires.
NO idea why they decided to change Sting's voice ... if that was ever him to begin with. I'm not so good at spotting vocal tinkering. It would be just like the WWE to forget to schedule Sting for a promo and just have some guy who sounds kind of like him read his lines instead. At least the promo was well-scripted and delivered, and not just by WWE's lackadaisical standards.
There was a notable "Cena" chant in an audibly lower register after the beloved babyfaces effectively tortured the detestable heel into giving him a title shot via his helpless valet, who was *this* close to losing her "Russian" accent, so there's that.
Either they fucked with Sting's voice or he's been smoking 40 Winstons a day every day since leaving TNA.
That beatdown on Rollins at the end really got me pumped on the Road To Wrestlemania 32! Wait, it only *felt* like it went on for a year? Huh...
Stephanie sent Kane & Show home for the night. You might be one of those people who tunes out when Stephanie appears on screen. (She loves little dead cancer kids!)
My sources tell me that R Truth and Vince McMahon have had an agreement since the "little Jimmy" mini-push that basically says that when R Truth quits smoking cigarettes, he will get a legit push. Truth just reached the 6-month smoke-free mark, Vince is impressed, thus the push. Whether that's true or not (it's not), Truth should be fast-tracked to replacing Booker or JBL on the announce team. His work on the mic, while limited, has been solid the past few weeks.
John Cena, my hero.
Paul Heyman, my hero.
I don't know where they're going with his promo, or how something like that would even play out (not well?), but it's at least a more interesting option than the assumed outcome. Not the "unifying the UFC and WWE titles" thing, but the "shoot match" thing.
Sandow keeps coming into his own while pretending to be other people.
The term "ethered" seems to be in vogue these days. Well, that's just about what Heyman's promo did to WWE last night. He practically cemented Brock as a face, made everyone join in with his disgust at any "authority" (shoot or kayfabe), and turned the Bray-Taker angle into "LOL whatever". The man just continues to be the one thing people love about the current WWE while confirming fans' opinions about everything that sucks about WWE.
I had this weird feverish dream after my kid woke up at 2 am. The dream were Brock and Taker was fighting for the right to choose their opponent at Mania. When it looked like Brock won, Taker hit him with a tombstone. Taker choose Bryan. They had this awkward moment that Bryan acknowledge then Bryan did the eye roll thing. This lead to Kane attacking Bryan with Taker laughing. After the attack, Bryan sat down and wondered what Taker was teaching me.
Part me believes, that insane dream is a better Mania build than what we are getting here. TNA didn't even fuck around with Sting's voice. Cena is really the worst. I do wonder if the mindset is "Hey, Mania is $10, there is no need to put some effort into it."
As much as the Heyman promo was sorta mind blowing. It felt like the two of them going into business for themselves. The thing people were hoping with Heyman is that he would find a way to put Reigns over. He did the first time, now it seems like Reigns is now an after thought to Brock going to UFC. I am not sure if trolling a crowd that spends hard earn money is the best idea in the world. I am referring both to the fans in Pittsburgh and at Mania. As stated before this is almost WCW near the end type of booking.
About a half hour/45 minutes into last night's Raw, they showed a commercial for this Sunday's house Raw house show in Minneapolis, where the main event is Seth Rollins & Bray Wyatt facing off against the team of John Cena and RANDY ORTON. Hmmmmmmmmmm, how is Raw going to end tonight? Morons. I seriously was thinking about bringing the family down there so our six year old could experience it, but I REALLY don't knkw if I'm going to be watching much longer. WHY the HELL would they mess with Sting's voice? I may just wait for the twice a year free month to catch up on NXT on the network. Bah. Hell, I may still be watching in a year from now, but I have never felt this way about pro wrestling, and I'm almost 47 years old. I'd give anything for the crowd at WM to start a "This sucks, Vince!" chant.
Originally posted by Horsemen4everJohn Cena attacked Rusev post match and tortured him (and us) with his crappy STF until Rusev's girlfriend gave in to his demand for a title shot. So Cena's the heel here, right?
Rusev used a blatant low blow to defeat Cena, and has been ducking his request for a rematch ever since. Rusev & Lana would continue to duck Cena, and Stephanie seems content to go forward w/ a Wrestlemania without Cena, so what options did Cena have left? People (rightfully) complain when faces don't stick up for themselves when aggrieved by authority figures - see Ziggler/Rowan/Ryback being fired by The Authority and slinking away w/ their tails between their legs. People were saying they should be conducting guerrilla warfare in order to force The Authority to give them back their jobs. Yet when Cena takes matters into his own hands when he feels he's been aggrieved, he's a heel?
Also, Cena told Rusev ahead of time that if Rusev badmouthed America again, he'd come out looking to kick his ass, so it's not like this was a surprise attack by Cena.
"This show sucks! WWE is terrible! They need to change everything!! See you next Monday!"
Randy Orton might have the strangest 'Superstar' career I've ever seen. That crowd was primed for the turn and just loved him.... right up until the actual turn. Aside from the RKO, they just seem... quiet. But it always like that with him. He gets great crowd reactions until he wrestles and then it's just... meh.
Him and John Cena were supposed to be the next Rock/Austin and it just hasn't panned out.
Kevin Kelly: "Mr. Austin, would you like to comment on Wade Keller's Take that endorsing the XFL hurts your anti-authority character?"
Steve Austin: "Oh shit, he actually said that? I thought the boys in the back were ribbing me!"
Kelly: "No, he really said that. Did they tell you the part about you sitting in the stands, looking all skeptical?"
Austin: "AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah... oh man that was too much."
I admit, I'm thinking of skipping Mania. It's only $10. It's an annual spectacle.
Yes. Still.
We have three major angles with opponents who don't appear on RAW. That's hard to book around. Brock has Heyman, and Heyman is perfect, but the main event relies solely on Paul to sell his ass off every week. Bray has to work with props to sell the Taker match, and Sting is ... honestly, they could have just bought the Sting gimmick, slapped it on someone younger, and been in a better situation here. This is your upper card for the biggest show of the year. This is awkward.
There's no way Cena loses to Rusev twice, so we have a new US champ. There's no reason to put this many people in the IC match to have Barrett retain, so we have a new IC champ.
There's not much to anticipate. The curiosity of Sting's big (only) WWE match. The morbid curiosity of Taker's health. The audience reaction to Brock/Reigns. The outcomes of those matches are secondary at best.
I just don't know. I'm looking forward much more to the following RAW. That's when the good stuff happens.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by Matt TrackerThere's not much to anticipate. The curiosity of Sting's big (only) WWE match. The morbid curiosity of Taker's health. The audience reaction to Brock/Reigns. The outcomes of those matches are secondary at best.
I disagree *slightly* with your last statement. As of now, what I'm anticipating the most is how (and honestly, a little bit of if) they're gonna get the title off Brock. They've been playing up the Brock situation as a work/shoot hybrid. With Heyman constantly getting his mic cut off during his "shoot from the hip" promos, and his namedropping Montreal, I'm expecting some kind of uber-controversial outcome. Or maybe I bought into the shoot stuff too much.
Originally posted by Matt TrackerThere's not much to anticipate. The curiosity of Sting's big (only) WWE match. The morbid curiosity of Taker's health. The audience reaction to Brock/Reigns. The outcomes of those matches are secondary at best.
I disagree *slightly* with your last statement. As of now, what I'm anticipating the most is how (and honestly, a little bit of if) they're gonna get the title off Brock. They've been playing up the Brock situation as a work/shoot hybrid. With Heyman constantly getting his mic cut off during his "shoot from the hip" promos, and his namedropping Montreal, I'm expecting some kind of uber-controversial outcome. Or maybe I bought into the shoot stuff too much.
The best outcome, frankly, is for Heyman to repeat history and betray champ Brock to the PPV challenger.
Heyman keeps his regular gig. The fans get more Heyman, and Reigns, now a tweener champ, need never talk again. But again that makes me only want to see RAW more than the swerve.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
I don't know, I kind of like John Cena's heel work last night. I liked that he knocked Russev out, then woke him up and knocked him out again. And Cena's face after Lana agreed to give him the match was pretty great - great enough that I really doubt that they will ever show a replay of it, lest we forget who the "face" is supposed to be here. It was good stuff (Cena's heeling is always good, in what little quantities he allows us to see it), even if there is little to no hope of the overall story going anywhere good. At least they didn't do what I feared they would: put Cena's career on the line to eliminate any tension from the match.
I really want to look forward to the continental breakfast (I'm totally stealing that, whichever one of you came up with it), but the way they've absolutely buried the championship itself in all this kind of hurts that. Plus, even with their own peculiar brand of booking logic, I cannot understand why you'd just stick the single most popular wrestler in the entire company in the middle of it. He gains nothing by winning, the title gains little as well, and frankly, I don't think he's going to win it anyhow, so they've really got him spinning his wheels at the biggest show of the year.