I’m a Smackdown watcher, and we got our first taste of Rollins as a heel.
Happy he still has the SWAT gear on! Interesting that they chose Ziggler to be the mouthpiece for it tho.
The Network is a great deal for the price, even if it does do that drop down to SD randomly at times.
Netflix does the same thing, even worse at times, sometimes dropping down from 1080p to sub SD resolution that you could have watched over dialup. It’s not my internet connection either, we upgraded from DSL to cable around the time WWE Network came out and get great speeds in general, so it’s either just net congestion or something on their end or the like.
The first week the Network was pretty bad, like the total drop of the signal at one point when NXT Arrival was on, but since then it’s been fine other than the intermittent SD problem.
I was at that show–that heat he got was one hundred percent genuine. No need for crowd seasoning there. (I like to think I helped start the “You sold out” chants, too. :D)
The dark match after the taping was Dean & Roman + Big Show vs. the Wyatts. Blew the roof off the place, as you would expect.
I saw a WWE “Road to Wrestlemania” show a couple of months ago. For these types of house shows, they attract more families and kids, so they’re going to have the faces win more of the matches.
The kids popped huge for Cena, Bryan and Big Show. Ziggler and R-Truth know how to work the crowd. Damien Sandow may be the default fall guy, but he got the most heel heat by far. I came to see the Wyatts 
Their entrance wasn’t as ominous as it could have been, because the arena kept the stair lights on. Insurance concerns, I guess.
Oh wow how cool. It always seems like the dark matches are just as good (if not better) than some of the stuff they show on air.
Makes it too “fun” I gues…
Cena does HUGE merchandise sales with kids (far and away their top seller) and has granted somewhere around 400 (make-a-) wishes. There’s no chance he ever turns heel unless this dramatically changes.
Love the Wyatts. My idea for a shirt was, on the front, Bray in that upside down corner pose, but instead of holding the ropes, his arms are up holding the World. On the back, you have a panel with Harper and Rowan. The edge of the panel is the words “he’s got the whole world in his hands” repeated. Rowan is wearing the sheep mask and his head actually sticks outside the panel a bit.
Roman Reigns video link for the ladies.
I think Bo Dallas has a lot of potential if they don’t go all Santino on him. He’s the Villain who thinks he’s the Hero. Talking and playing positive while acting heelish when push comes to shove.
Glad the Usos made it big. Have always liked them.
They need to have Bo Dallas LITERALLY never lose.
He needs to get a streak up there in the 50s and 60s. Have him beat people in weird-ass funny ways, have him legitimately win, have him piss people off so that they want to face him, and he wins in some stupid way. Just have him never lose. The fans will HATE him, but it will be a good hate.
I love Bo Dallas because I hate him. His stupid shit-eating grin, his Tebowing, the fact that he hits a guy then yells “I’m Winning!!” and runs around the ring. It’s the funniest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen, and I laugh every time.
How much time do they give to Diva matches?
And are there ‘romantic’ storylines?
Basically one match a show.
And as for romance, since I’ve been watching they haven’t had one. The closest they’ve got is constantly referencing/working-into-the-story the real life romance of Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan.
Oh wait…they kinda have a thing with Summer Rae and Fandango? Kinda? but it’s not really real (even for WWE) and kinda stupid.
And he should start grossly exaggerating his streak at about the 10th win in a row.
Just wild eyed happy run in on his opponent’s promo time. “I’ve won like 500 matches in a row! More than Goldberg! We’re going to have a lot of fun out there and I’m going to win! AGAIN!”
Also, when he sees a “Bo, Leave!” sign in the audience he should stop, and point it out and say that they’re a Boliever, they’re just really bad at spelling.
I am anxiously awaiting the day when Vince doesn’t interfere with the Main Roster broadcasts any longer. Just watching NXT versus RAW, for example, you can see how much better the announcing is without Vince’s talking in their ear. William Regal is SO good in his role - I love how he actually talks about the moves in the ring as well as the ring psychology and athletic background of what is going on. I think it really helps to put over the NXT roster and it would help quite a bit when they come up to the main roster, but half the time you have King and Bradshaw having some off-topic discussion while the match is going on, completely ignoring the match itself…
Brie’s apparently off the roster. Whether that’s kayfabe or shoot is left as an exercise to the reader.
Women’s matches (I hate the “Divas” branding, and don’t get me started on that fucking belt…) are not currently well-served in the main roster WWE. They tend to involve very little wrestling, with more hair-pulling and slapping, they rarely get more than a few minutes, and they tend to be booked into “breather” spaces after big matches, so folks aren’t paying much attention–they’re off to the bathroom, or to get a beer, or whatever. Word on the wrestling street is that this is due primarily to Kevin Dunn, and to a lesser extent, Vince. More reason to hope for the changing of the guard sooner rather than later.
There’ve been some good things going on in the main roster lately (Alicia Fox, in particular, has been doing some awesome character work; Paige hasn’t been booked terribly well, but I’m told she did excellent work on NXT), but the place to go if you want to see some quality women’s wrestling is NXT. Matches are given time, they actually wrestle, they have characters that you can maybe get interested in, etc. If you have the Network, check out Natty vs. Charlotte on NXT Takeover for starters. (In fact, check out Takeover as a whole, including the pre and post shows. Such a great “special event”.)
Well apparently, DBD’s neck is much worse than expected and he won’t be cleared by MitB.
Hoping it doesn’t turn out to be another Edge situation.
I go through phases of interest. In general, there’s usually only a few guys that I really like watching. Right now it’s Wyatt, The Shield, Bryan. Shame about his neck, and I truly hope that he takes the time, and the company lets him take the time, to really heal up.
I’m ok with the Ladder Match being for the belt(s). It makes the WHC storyline interesting again because, honestly, who the hell wants to see DB and friggin Kane? No one. That’s who.
Also color me bad at predictions. After Trips told Stephanie that “I guarantee after tonight The Shield is no more” I thought that Ambrose would turn and join the Evolution, knock Reigns out, and begin his face push.
But SuperCena came out and all is well with the world.
Who the hell wanted DBD to come back from a career threatening neck injury, way too quickly, and get put into a buried alive match with Kane? THAT idea was fucking dangerously stupid and I think maybe the doctors finally said “oh hell no, we’re not clearing you that quickly to do something that stupid and end your career.”
So who do we think is winning the title?
My vote is honestly either SuperCena or Orton again, not because they need/deserve the title, but because they’re an easy placeholder until the writers can come up with a storyline to either get it back on DBs waist, or until Reigns/Cesaro/Bray(?) is ready to take it
And… Another round of releases. Frankly, I’m more surprised by who isn’t on this list, and expect there will probably be a second round within a week (there usually is).
Drew McIntyre
Jinder Mahal
Given that they were the jobber team and on TV fairly frequently, I’m at least a little surprised.
Aksana
Have wondered for a while about Aksana. She’s just never improved. People speculated that someone important really liked her, not for her wrestling skills.
Brodus Clay
Sent down to NXT, legit knocks a guy’s 4 front teeth out in a backstage segment (NOT in the ring). Yeah, your days were numbered.
Camacho
Yoshi Tatsu
Curt Hawkins.
Not surprised by any of these.
Evan Bourne
The man has been out with ‘injuries’ for a couple of years, and had two Wellness strikes against him before that. No payoff keeping the man around.
Teddy Long
Referee Marc Harris
So… How the fuck does JTG still have a job??? Is he Pat Patterson’s boy toy or something? What about David Otunga? He hasn’t been on TV in something like a year.
Otunga has a job by marriage to a celebrity. JTG is a mystery to everyone.
I’m wondering if Heath Slater got saved by the JBL and Cole show.
JTG was released this afternoon. Guess someone caught the oversight.