I doubt they would have let Rollins take as many bumps from psycho-Ambrose as he did if he were legit injured. They’re just building up their match for Summerslam.
I really enjoyed this show, and I’m surprised how wrong I was on my match predictions.
I agree on Wyatts vs Usos, that was an old school style great tag team match. I remember back in the day the tag team matches were often the most exciting matches on the card, whereas in modern WWE many of them feel like filler/nonsense. Not this one, amazingly well worked.
Paige vs AJ was okay for a women’s match. I’m glad AJ didn’t win with the Black Widow. Something William Regal said awhile back in an interview, is that one of his metrics for something being a good wrestling move is that it actually relies on the actual motions of the body and how the body works. The Black Widow violates that completely, because it’s a submission maneuver in which we are to believe the recipient doesn’t realize they are supporting the assailant’s weight with their legs, and that if they chose not to do that they would easily escape the hold.
I agree on Swagger vs Rusev. I actually like both guys individually, Rusev especially showed me against Big E he can sell as well as work a pretty physical/athletic match for a big guy. Swagger has always been physical/decent in the ring (boring character, though.) But the two together just worked a snoozefest of a match, the Big E match at MitB was a far better Rusev match.
All I can guess about the IC Battle Royal is they saw no reason to push anyone else in the match or perhaps the IC is so pointless they didn’t figure it mattered match in terms of pushing anyone. The biggest thing I think we’re seeing from that match is just a strong confirmation that for some reason Cesaro’s “push” is over. I’ve not felt like he was being treated seriously in about a month and a half now, once Brock comes back and Paul is representing him again I wouldn’t be surprised if Cesaro gets even less air time.
It’s odd too, my understanding is the brass love Cesaro and he was clearly being groomed just recently for a major main event push.
The Fatal 4-Way was “okay” maybe 2 / 4 stars, it loses points from me because they had Cena end it the exact same way he ended MitB. We all knew this was a filler match since WWE already has plans for Cena in the main event of SummerSlam (necessitated by DB’s injury), but come on, that doesn’t mean you end it with the exact same AA-onto another wrestler, finish of the MitB match.
RAW was kind of “ehh” last night, but Ambrose was the star, IMO. His body language is masterful. He stumbles, flails drunkenly, clutches at pain, but pulls off those comeback-from-nowhere moves like a horror movie slasher. I love the way he almost falls through the ropes but hooks them with his legs and springs back in out of sheer spite.
Otherwise, the Stephanie-goes-to-jail angle was just more McMahon drama to fill out three hours of post-PPV air time. Xavier Woods leading a race-related stable? The dude never wins, even on NXT. Please let this angle die in developmental hell.
I liked the Nation of Domination.
It’s interesting that they are re-hashing a faction from only 15 or so years ago almost verbatim.
Obviously nothing is original anymore (especially in wrestling) but the “militant black group” is unique enough that it’s funny to see they are doing literally the exact same thing.
Maybe Mark Henry will be a catalyst and they will call themselves NOD and make it a new NOD, as opposed to “insert tough black name here” and have it just BE the Nation of Domination.
How much longer is Bray Wyatt’s character going to stay like it is? I’m not saying it’s on it’s last legs, but I don’t see it being the same a couple of years down the road without becoming stale. After all, Kevin Sullivan’s Prince of Darkness character eventually got old. It was still recognizable, but once he turned on Dory Funk and Sir Oliver Humperdink the character became less over the top. I wonder if it could turn out that Sister Abigail is still alive, and she exposes him as a fraud?
I enjoyed WWE All Stars. Very much an arcade style game, not a realistic one.
I enjoyed the Uso win at Battleground, I love them, and I enjoy Harper and Rowan (though not Bray). They had me going through out the match thinking my guys would lose it.
But then again, I’m kinda enjoying the Hollywood Miz thing for the moment.
P-man, I think Bray’s family will change roster eventually, as Luke Harper is breaking out as a solo star. Maybe a “dissention in the ranks” angle will result, leading to a Wyatt-Harper feud, and Bray will then take in new family members to be his stooges. I still like the current angle and hope the Wyatt family stays together for as long as possible, but nothing lasts forever.
The biggest problem with Bray, and I’ve mentioned this before, is that he never ever ever wins.
He might have a vic or two on a Raw or one of the other shows, but when it’s crunch time, when it’s time for him to follow through on is threats he loses.
His rantings and ramblings also have gotten stale to me, it’s just hashing the same thing over and over again. So Bray either needs to win, or actually DO something here soon, otherwise he’s going to get real old real fast
Apparently rumors are going around (started by David Meltzer) that Daniel Bryan may be facing the same situation as Edge, that after his second surgery the prognosis is he will not be able to return to wrestling. It’s well known we were originally going to see DB - Lesnar at SummerSlam to build up DB even more with probably a win, over the guy who beat Taker at WM30. When we thought DB was just going to be out for awhile, it was assumed Lesnar would be beating whomever at SummerSlam (ends up being Cena), and that a returning DB maybe beats Lesnar at WM30 to right the world.
What happens now if DB is expected to not return? Does it still make sense to put the belts on Lesnar? If not, how is the WWE going to make Cena as champ “not stale?” Because I’m just not seeing it. I guess maybe a Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior style face vs face feud with Reigns v Cena that culminates in Reigns taking the straps?
Leaner will win Summerslam and go on to face Reigns down the road. The real question is what to do with a stale Cena. There’s no where else to go but to the long-awaited heel turn…and merchandise sales be damned!
Yeah, the speculation has been for quite some time that Lesnar takes the title at Summerslam, then holds it until WM, when he puts over Reigns. Reigns has got some work to do to get to that point, but it’s a long way off still. And, once Lesnar shakes the inevitable face-ish heat that he’ll get from half the Universe (myself included) for beating the everloving shit out of John Cena, he should be able to build some pretty good heel heat defending the title on every PPV between now and then.
Which is Lesnar’s real value right now–he can sell the Network. If it’s the only place we’re going to get to see him fight–which it will be–then it should get some fence-sitters to put their $10/mo down. The thing that’ll be tricky is who to feed him. Honestly, I don’t think John should even get a rematch, much less a three match series; nothing against John, but once the belt’s on Lesnar, he needs to start getting over as a proper heel ASAP. Ambrose would be a good match once he’s done w/ his feud w/ Rollins; his “unconventional style,” as the announce table likes to say, makes him closer to credible against the Beast. Past that, I dunno. Reigns isn’t an option until WM or closer to it, at least. Maybe Batista, but I want that poor guy to get a few meaningful wins sometime. Sheamus? While he’s considered a bit of a snoozefest in the IWC, I think he’s pretty over w/ the kids and casuals. It’s a shameful thing, though; he needs a heel turn almost as bad as he needs to get rid of some of those limes.
And yeah, Bray needs to be pretty comprehensively rebuilt at this point. I love the gimmick/character and his commitment to it, but the Cena feud ultimately did him no favors and while da boyz’ match w/ the Usos was the highlight of the night at Battleground, they haven’t exactly been racking up the wins either. (Not to mention that they’ve been booked more and more as a tag team that’s independent of Bray.) Bray can cut all the promos he wants saying that he doesn’t care about wins and losses–right now, he’s just not a credible threat. Hopefully he’ll come out of this program w/ Jericho a little bit stronger… and keep building back up.
I’d say Bray is due for a face turn soon if only because he’s too over with the crowd to continue as a heel, but I don’t think the gimmick needs to be changed too much. IMO, he’s the closest thing this generation has to the Undertaker, and he’s good enough on the mic that they don’t need to mess with a good thing.
Some burglars picked the wrong house to rob.
Stephanie will do anything to get back at Brie!
Does WWE even count as a game?
It toes the fine line between “sport” and “theater” and because the athleticism is the most prominent part it made more sense to put it here than, say, “Cafe Society”.
Also you all have no idea how angry I am that Bo Dallas lost. It has no point, it doesn’t help GD R-Truth of all stupid people (he’s not even in the soon-to-be angry black faction!) and it kills his gimmick and kills his character
My client, R-Truth, CONQUERED THE STREAK!
HA.
Well damn, now I’m mad they didn’t have him lose to Lesnar just for the giggles
I don’t think he needs to be rebuilt so much as he needs to just WIN. I thought Jericho came back to help put him over, then for some dumbass reason they had Jericho win the first match. Made no damned sense. Wyatt needs to go over decisively (and cleanly) in their next two matches. Then maybe a series of brief upper and mid-card feuds where he plows through them quickly. Say, pin Kofi two matches in a row, utterly destroy Miz in a match, go over Sheamus in a feud, etc.
Nah, it had to happen. Admittedly, I’d rather just about anyone do it than R-Truth, who is in contention for my least favorite wrestler on the roster (mostly because of his shitty entrance/theme song), but he just happened to be the jobbiest jobber that ever jobbed a job, and that’s who needed to go over Bo. So far from killing Bo’s gimmick, it’s exactly what Bo’s gimmick needs to develop. Bo’s not an inspirational face; he’s an insecure, delusional heel who’ll cheat to win and freak out when he loses (as he did this time–but he did it to R-Truth, who may have the only face on the roster more punchable than Bo’s… I digress).
Brandon Stroud does a better job than I can; check it out. For further examples of what Bo’s really all about, go watch the Mr. NXT segments from NXT about a month back or so. (Also, just watch them because they’re amazing. Easy contenders for segment of the year for all of WWE’s programming.)