I love the way Braun throws announcer chairs. They frame it to where the camera doesn’t show him with the chair when he starts throwing it, but you see it shooting like a bullet when it smacks into the unsuspecting victim(s). I thought Brock wouldn’t sell getting destroyed like that, since he wasn’t exactly showing any equivalence to Cena, Reigns and Ambrose when he took them on. Versus Braun however, he’s looking vulnerable, and the only way Braun shows weakness is when he overextends and crashes into the hardware.
Interesting they made Bobby Roode a face on SD. I guess he’ll be feuding with Dolph before stepping into the limelight. There also seems to be more intense competition for the US title than the World strap, so what’s going to happen to KO now that he can’t go down the US road? Can’t see him going against Jinder, but maybe he’ll get tangled with Nakamura. That should be fun.
I cannot help but bust out laughing every time Braun throws a chair. Actually, I remember busting out laughing when Cena threw the stairs a year or so ago…I guess I like people throwing things.
To counter your point with Lesnar selling, despite his beast-ness and Brock’s-gonna-Brock, he sells very well for people. I would guess that knowing you’re eventually going to win plays a lot in that, but he’s always willing to take the dive here and there for people.
It would be very interesting if Dolph comes back just to put over Roode. He’s slowly turning into the Tyler Breeze/CJ Parker/Tye Dillinger Memorial Well-Known Jobber to the Stars
I guess I’m a little biased against Brock because I see him as a shameless opportunist, albeit in a way that pits WWE and UFC against each other for bidding rights. I can’t say I blame him for sucking a little extra money from those organizations, but overt capitalism just goes against my grain because I’m so poor. I’m sure Brock places more value in his physical conditioning and his desire to participate in combat sports, but reasons.
Before his last UFC run, WWE had to implicitly agree to have Brock look dominant and not hurt his brand. Remember how Heyman kept pleading to Braun not to hurt him when the stretchers came out? That wouldn’t have happened if Braun were UFC bound. Now that it’s (almost) certain he’s not returning to UFC, he can play more of the beleaguered face role vs Braun.
I think Roode will stay a heel, he just got a face reaction for showing up on Smackdown. His music is fun to play along with and it was good seeing him promoted to the big leagues. Let’s wait until next week and see what kind of promo he cuts.
Apologies if we’ve mentioned this, but I can’t remember…
Anyone else hear the rumor that Rusev requested his release? That would be a big blow to the company IMO. And do you think he would take Lana with him? That would be much less of a blow, but I don’t want to lose Rusev.
Lol, I almost thought LU pulled off the most ridiculous storytelling of all–Mundo in Dario’s office saying that if he gets screwed over we’d next see him in another promotion. That would have been perfect.
i don’t have the link now, but someone asked Lana (via Twitter) if they had requested their releases and she essentially laughed in their face. Take it for what you will…
Google ‘Rusev Salary’. Most place it at $500k, one at $725k. Then of course there’s the other miscellaneous earnings, PPV bonuses, merch, house show money, etc, which likely makes it closer to the $725k in total.
That would be why people put up with amazing amounts of bullshit to work for WWE. Sure, he could go out and make $100k working the smaller orgs, and spend about half of that on expenses. Or he can ride out his contract, let them shoot themselves in the foot, and pocket several hundred grand after taxes each year.
Well, as someone pointed out in the comments somewhere, this means that Enzo has to interact with all of the locker rooms. Monday Night Raw, Smackdown and the Cruiserweights. He’s going to have to shape up in a hurry or suffer the consequences.
You know, when GFW decided to go through the whole “Non-citizen has to marry an American to stay in the country” thing, couldn’t they have at least updated it to 2017 by mentioning that he could have married a guy?
They filmed a segment at tonight’s tapings where she turned over the title to Regal and said that, the next time we see here, it’ll be on the main roster. Classy way to handle it, IMO - none of the NXT ladies are on her level right now, so taking advantage of the injury lets her drop the title without looking like a chump and keeps her streak alive for when she gets called up.
Hopefully she doesn’t get stuck in a typical main-roster-women angle where she’s expected to cut 10-minute promos because A) someone wants her man; B) Someone’s jelly of her, or; C) bitches be crazy, amirite dudes?
In other news, WWE finally officially announced and put tickets on sale for Raw and Smackdown up here in October, and I’ve bought mine. I missed the beginning of the presale so the best floor seats were sold but, but I managed to grab good seats in the lower bleachers opposite the hard cam. Looks like we’ll be getting the go-home Raw for TLC (which is in October this year, because Reasons.)
I’m wondering if Asuka’s injury is real, or is this just a well-deserved vacation before she’s called up?
Her English is limited, but she gets crazy with the Japanese on the mic. She could keep her tween status, kind of like Lesnar. She don’t need no silly angles to get her over. Just smile, be colorful, and kick ass like usual.
GFW’s new tag team Ohio Versus Everything is growing on me. They’re not amazing, nor do they do the flippy stuff like a lot of guys their age do, but they’ve got the scrappy been-kicked-in-the-head-and-still-come back-for-more mentality, kind of like Mick Foley.
GFW needs to communicate with all their promotional departments. They show a Johnny Impact promo, then Jeremy Borash announces a mystery contestant for the [del]Royal Rumble[/del] Gauntlet for Gold tournament. 0 element of surprise there.
This is the exact thing I said to Ms. Cups during the taping! I said “Why doesn’t he just marry his lawyer? Then they could have a ‘I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry’ angle where some inspector needs to make sure they’re actually a couple.”
I disagree, I think Ember Moon and Nikki Cross are definitely on her level, and Ruby Riot isn’t actually too far behind. And while I do recognize that Asuka was a great thing for the women’s division, I wholeheartedly believe that she’s no better than tradition and needed to lose the match to Ember at Takeover and go out on her back like a good soldier. Obviously the injury works well in her (and WWEs) favor to leave undefeated (and she might have anyway) but no one, frankly, on the main roster deserves to take her undefeated streak any more than someone on NXT (or the winner of Mae Young).
I definitely think the injury is real, she showed off her X-rays after all. I know that could be scripted too, but it’s almost TOO much dedication to kayfabe for that to be the reason.
OVE annoys me for one reason and one reason only: One of the guys looks like an Emo grown-up Joffrey from Game of Thrones. I can’t take him seriously after that.
I, too, am very happy for E-LI Drake. He’s been a staple at the company and deserves his due. I was never able to get over to Universal for any other tapings, so I don’t know how long Johnny is going to be around or what his eventual plan is, I’m hoping he stays a while though.
(and while you’re here, can you call ya boy Ricochet?)
From everything I’ve read, it’s real. That’s one tough lady - break her collarbone during the match and stay to the finish. I wonder what Big Cass is thinking. He couldn’t finish his match when he got a boo-boo. [/s]
Yeah, Asuka can’t do a 10 minute English promo. She seems to have trouble memorizing 1 minute of English, or at least 1 minute properly delivered (two different things).
And Sir T-Cups, I have to agree with Smapti - they are not at Asuka’s level. They might be as good or even better than some on the main roster, but Asuka would be top-tier there. The only thing holding her back is English promos. She needs a manager…and it better not be Lana.
Actually, wrestlers have been known to conceal their injuries because they were afraid they wouldn’t find work. Jim Cornette told a story about how Big Bubba (Ray Traylor) once had his hand slammed with a car door when they were in the parking lot. He didn’t acknowledge any pain until they got inside to the locker room, then he let go and screamed his head off. He was keeping in character as the invincible body guard at all times in the public eye.
Grown-up emo Joffrey… that’s just wrong. Now I’m going to picture him shouting that he wants Ben Stark’s head and wants Sansa to kiss it every morning.
I can’t help but think Johnny Impact is just a loaner from AAA like Drago and Hijo Del Phantasmo Jr (King Cuerno) and they’ll have him be enhancement talent for whoever wins the next dime-store trophy.
I would love to see Ricochet in RoH or NXT, but not in GFW or WWE. He’s more of an underground figure and wouldn’t look right in soap opera angles.
