This is both meta and a cop-out: WWE got Seth Rollins to blame Baron Corbin for the RAW suckfest, and the announcers have been parroting that all night long.
Just call the action and quit making everything a promo. Bezos.
Sweet! Mustafa Ali is on prime time! Good for him. He deserves it.
He’s doing for Daniel Bryan what Danial Bryan did to put over the heel of the month.
They flipped the main event. I am way more interested in DB and Ali then I am about a snoozefest between Asuka and Charlotte
We must be watching different shows. Asuka/Charlotte was great; didn’t like the disqualification, but neither was going to win or lose clean, so it was expected. And the post-match beatdown was fun.
I wasn’t aware that Bryan and Ali were going to fight until, like, an hour after it happened. So now I gotta wait 30 days to see it, argh. Those are two of my favorite guys.
Oh, you didn’t miss much. Ali just sold Bryan’s holds like he was being tortured to an inch of his life, did a few counters and flips that defied gravity, ate the broadcast table a couple of times and almost killed himself. Your usual Ali match.
Yeah, but this time he got to do it against the WWE Champion!
I’m a bit of an Asuka hater and absolutely do not see the appeal in her. I’m also souring on Charlotte because I’m beginning to get bored with her schtick, so that match didn’t really do anything for me on multiple levels.
My personal opinion of Asuka has soured in recent months after befriending retired Japanese wrestler Kyoko Kimura in another forum. According to her, Asuka has a massive ego, was constantly burying people in Japan and putting herself over everyone else, and once tried to shoot-injure her during a match and end her career early.
Interestingly enough, one of Kimura’s trainees, who’s also named Asuka, is the first transgender pro wrestler to win a championship, and sounds like a much nicer person.
I would love it if he were promoted to SD, even if it’s as Jobber to the Stars. I could see Ali putting on stellar matches with Nakamura, Orton, Cesaro, Miz, Luke Harper, and versus Jeff Hardy in a 30-ft ladder match. Not only is his work rate magnificent, he can make even the most jaded smark cheer him like a 5-year old.
No comments on TLC? Have we given up THAT quickly? I’m hoping to catch up on it this week (I was working last weekend) but it’s interesting to see no one here made a comment on it
They were discussing it on Busted Open; the main argument was, was the pop Asuka got when she won bigger than the one Becky would have gotten had she retained?
But I can see why they went this way; this opens the door for Becky to win the Women’s Royal Rumble, then crossover to challenge Ronda Rousey for the Raw title (possibly as the main event) at WrestleMania. I can also see this happening: (a) Becky wins; (b) she decides to stay on SmackDown, and possibly unify the women’s belts (do they really need two of them?); (c) Rousey decides to move from Raw, just in time for the move to Fox in October.
And I am glad to see that somebody finally figured out that a No DQ match means you can turn it into a de facto handicap match.
TLC just felt phony to me, like WWE is trying to satisfy hard-core fans with G-rated violence. It’s like billing Conan the Barbarian and getting He-Man.
I did like the Asuka/Charlotte/Lynch match. I would have liked the Bryan/Styles match more if it wasn’t so obvious Bryan was going to win. Any match with ND is going to have those fucking pancakes, so yawn.
Guess what everybody? Vince finally listened to us! He knows we want all McMahons all the time! Now all 4 of them are going to host both shows and they’re going to take up more air time! Isn’t that great? Who cares about stupid wrestling anyway? We want to see the McMahons assert authority and make 15 minute promos and constantly remind us they control the reins. It’s what we always wanted!
Just wait until Vince’s grandchildren end up playing characters on TV and start feuding over who’s parents deserve to take control of the WWE.
<six months later>
Goddamn, Vince is looking old. I also notice that he’s at least an inch shorter than Miz, who is 6’1" but billed as 6’2", and Vince used to be billed as the same height.
Hey Chi, welcome back!
It looks like they’re keeping Mustafa on SD! He teamed with AJ vs Bryan and Andrade, worked about 75% of the match, and got the pin on Bryan. I guess he’ll work with Andrade next.
I suspect the McMahons put their foothold in SD so that they’ll be grandfathered in when FOX takes over. Vince does look like he lost some bulk, or they took padding out of his suit.
“When Fox takes over”? You make it sound like Vince sold Smackdown to Fox.
It was just a deal to show Smackdown on the Fox network, wasn’t it? I seriously doubt Vince would have agreed to anything that would have given anybody other than himself even a slight amount of control over anything other than scheduling the show - for example, Fox will have to pre-empt it on 10/25 for World Series Game 3.
Fox can “suggest” things, like, “Put Ronda Rousey on Smackdown,” but in the end, that should still be Vince’s call.
The reason I think Vince might be digging a toehold into FOX is because they’re already making it known they want to focus on the sports aspect of wrestling and aren’t up for angles so much. That means no silly skits or gimmick matches, which I’m sure Vince will try to circumvent. With more of a focus on the athletes, he and his won’t get as much of the spotlight.
This whole thing is just typical desperation from Vince & co. - take something that worked in the '90s (in this case, MOAR MCMAHONS) and rehash it until you run it into the ground. No doubt it’s going to lead to the typical family drama and probably some kind of “A McMahon in every corner” match at 'Mania.
In other news, WWE already taped next week’s Raw and Smackdown due to the holiday, and here’s a big spoiler for Smackdown;
Rusev wins the US title from Nakamura! Our Christmas present is that it’s Rusev Day once more.