I haven’t really seen any AJ/Shane development. RKOrton won clean over AJ last night to earn his shot at Bray at WM. No run-ins, no lights out, no cryptic promises from Bray, and all Shane did was be the sounding board thing with DB about the women’s division.
Shane may be a good performer, but I object to the notion of having a full timer go against a figurehead/celebrity. Snoop Dogg, who’s built like a broomstick, beat up Ziggler (who hasn’t) because Zig can put on a 4-star match with a broomstick. It still made him look like a chump.
So can Goldberg work an actual match anymore? His conditioning is supposedly the best its ever been according to him.
I have to assume he can actually work, otherwise it would be extreme stupidity to put him in a high spot in Wrestlemania. I had hoped the idea behind putting him against Kevin Owens, aside from getting him the title, would be to let him work a real match with someone who can hold his hand.
If he can’t actually work a match anymore than this is all just insanity. It means he either wins in a minute against Brock, which would at least continue a gag I actually find amusing, or Brock F5s him in a minute, which makes no sense at all. And assuming Goldberg beats Brock in a minute, that means he has to lose the title. Which would require an actual match, cuz Goldberg ain’t getting squashed by anyone and the one guy you could build up by having him squash Goldberg just lost to Roman Reigns!
So you’re left with no options at this point but for Goldberg to work an actual match at some point, which means he must be able to work a match? Right?
And no, he’s not retiring with the title. WWE makes dumb decisions but they would never book another Wrestlemania match where both men are known to be leaving right aftewards. That would be like booking Slaughter vs. Hogan in 2002 with Slaughter in the role of a bin Laden sympathizer.
You could, and I would never assume that WWE wouldn’t try to screw up in an entirely new way, but wow, that would be just awful.
There’s also no way to keep Goldberg leaving a secret. If Goldberg is leaving after Wrestlemania, then it’s a repeat of the first Lesnar-Goldberg match. The fans will completely turn on it. The only booking that makes sense is a Goldberg win that leads to him eventually losing to someone WWE wants to elevate, probably Roman Reigns(ugh!), or Brock finally breaking the code and beating Goldberg after a hard fought match, and you still keep Goldberg under contract as a special attraction, working two or three events a year, mainly against other WWE part timers.
I dunno, I honestly wouldn’t be at all surprised if Goldberg wins at Wrestlemania, then within a month says “You know, I’m grateful to WWE for letting me have one last run and a Wrestlemania moment in front of my kids. I’m happy now, and I’m happy to step aside and let these younger guys run with this now. Thank you.”
That could happen, I’m not discounting it too much, I just question whether it can be kept a secret in this day and age. Plus it would be dickish on Goldberg’s part. This is a very talented roster that is crying out for someone fans buy as a monster to put someone over. Someone other than Reigns. Somoa Joe could convincingly kick Goldberg’s ass, for example, and he has quite a few years left in the tank. Plus Joe can destroy an opponent without making them leave their feet much, which supposedly is one of the problems for Goldberg according to rumors.
When it comes to Goldy actually wrestling, don’t discount Brocks ability to actually sell. It might not be a squash when they wrestle, but Goldberg doesn’t have to do that particularly much for Brock to make it look like the worst thing in the world.
It’s ironic, I know, talking about Brock carrying Goldberg in the match, but he does have the ability to make Goldberg look pretty good.
I also wouldn’t doubt a Goldberg win at Mania. Dream scenario? Goldberg wins and has a promo on Monday about winning and taking on all comers (or something). Maybe even ask Who’s Next? Then the lights go out, the heartbeat thumps, and The Demon comes out with The Club. Beat Goldberg down quite heavily and take the belt.
I realize the smarkiness dripping from that fantasy booking, but I still say that Finn makes his return the day after Mania and I so desperately want him to head The Club and they just run roughshot through the tag division.
So far, the Nu Impact is kind of suck. Josh Matthews as a heel announcer bickering with Jeremy Borash is fucking annoying. They’re piping in annoying fake crowd noises. Now the former Brother Loooooove is on the mic, and he’s annoying me with his constant name-dropping.
They have Rockstar Spud doing the announcements, and while he’s OK, I hope that doesn’t mean he’s no longer Aron Rex’s ambiguously gay manservant. I liked when Borash put in extra syllables, like Muuuuh ANNNNN DREWWWWWS! Alberto El Patron dropped the D from his middle name and co-opted the Spanish version of Daniel Bryan’s Yes movement.
Why is Dutch Mantel still using the Zeb Coulter octogenarian toter? For branding themselves as entering a new era, they sure are devoting a lot of air time to invoking past names. It’s like looking at a dusty trophy case while a pot-bellied has been is bragging about the touchdown pass he threw in the North Central South Regional District playoffs.
I guess Dubba J is letting Impact absorb what he can salvage from the ruins of GFW. Cody threw the belt in the ring because he’s mad that Moose isn’t there. They just wrote off the Broken Hardys by having them morph into Decay. That’s good for a chuckle, but it’s the only pop they got out of me so far.
Maybe they need a few weeks to find their rhythm, but so far the Nu Impact is more like a sissy slap.
I turned on TNA for the first time in quite a number of years. I got tired of the announce team fighting and talking over each other within about a minute and a half and turned it off.
Bickering between announcers is OK at times as long as they do the timing right, like during a lull in the action. Corey Graves gets zingers on Byron Saxton that are short, sweet, and to the point, while Cole acts as the neutral third party and makes his calls while the audience laughs. Matthews and Borash keep arguing with each other like kindergarteners while the action’s going on, and it’s just a horrible, amateurish mess. The color guy should be the heel, not the play caller.
Just wait a couple weeks. I don’t know everything that happened in between tapings, but the one we went to was surprisingly good. There was a hilarious segment featuring a certain “bride” and a really great last man standing match. Although I will grant you that the overtly heel announcer against Mr. Backstage Passes is annoying. Although in JB’s defense, they had a talking segment where I could read JB threaten Josh with “I will fucking end you”. That was awesome.
And you can stand it in the WWE? I’ve said for years now: It’s not his fault, but JBL is literally the worst thing in wrestling because of his stupid character and how he acts. I absolutely can’t stand it. Graves isn’t far behind.
All announcing is a horrible amateurish mess to me…
I’m finding Raw to be better than the PPV/Network shows lately. And Raw hasn’t been all that great either.
Alberto Del Whatever is now the TNA champion. Hardly matters at all. They have the opportunity to innovate but they’re mainly imitating WWE. Bad news for all of us, Vince needs innovation from outside to copy.
Look for the Ride Along episode in the Network with JBL, Cole and Byron Saxton. Jayble is hilarious. He & Cole hated Saxton so much, they stranded him at a rest stop. That part was probably scripted since they had a cameraman following Saxton around, but Saxton just sucks the cool out of everything. “Hey, you think I could have been part of APA with you and Ron?”