Any WWE fans in the audience? (Part 1)

The Game Room
8526

The Evolve show had their date before FftF, from what I understand. And having a 10th Anniversary show on the Network is hardly something that seems inappropriate.

The reality is that this isn’t much of a “dick move” at all, at least not by the WWE. Kenny Omega whining about it in order to push a “woe is us” narrative to the marks is possibly a dick move as well, but one that probably increase their viewership.

Remember, everyone, wrestling is a carny business, and if it’s in a tweet, it’s a work.

8527

It’s the first time WWE has ever aired an outside promotion’s show in five years of the Network being a going concern, and it just so happens to be counter-programming a CHARITY show put on by their newest and biggest competition?

Yep. Total dick move.

I don’t blame EVOLVE. I blame Vince.

8528

In the streaming era, I’d say the dickiness is really more of a symbolic move. Are viewers going to watch FFTF because of the charity, or because of the wrestling? From one perspective, WWE is pulling away medical aid for gun violence victims through a puppet subsidiary. From another, WWE is genuinely concerned about AEW and is testing the potential ratings battle with their lowest level of competition. I will say I do like EVOLVE’s card, because of Colby Corino vs Babatunde. Colby is definitely the greatest jobber ever, even more than the Mulkie brothers. I love his trainwrecks, and Babatunde is definitely a Reading Railroad-sized train.

On that note, I thought the latest ep of NXT was one of their best ever. Cameron Grimes, aka Trevor Lee of Impact, took on Shane “Swerve” Strickland, formerly Killshot of LU. It was a masterpiece. Nigel described Grimes as a cross between the hairy savagery of Bruiser Brodie and the sublime technique of Nick Bockwinkle. He and Mauro come up with the best wrestling bon mots. Bianca Belaire looked inhuman, and Tyler Breeze showed how much his talent was wasted on the main roster.

I think with AEW, we’re entering a wrestling golden age. Well, brass at least. WWE has so much competition now, Vince’s influence is eroding, and they’re letting the experts run the shows, at least on the NXT level.

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I have no idea how “Cameron Grimes” is considered a better name than Trevor Lee. Trevor Lee is what you would change your name to if your name was Cameron Grimes.

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I suspect it’s to tie him to the Hardy brothers, who are from Cameron NC. Plus, they already had a Lee with Keith.

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Yes, and if Bruce Lee had joined WWF, they’d have renamed him Charlie Nagasaki. :eek:

I noticed the strength of the Bianca Blair win. Good for her. Although you kinda have to believe it was approved by Vince, possibly to light a fire under her ass, I thought the Sam Roberts stuff went a bit too far in undermining Bianca Belair as a legitimate contender.

8532

I’m seeing the Heyman influence on RAW, but Vince still has his pet projects.

Mike & Maria Kannelis are recreating the psycho bitch/henpecked husband angle they had in Impact, and it went three segments. - Heyman
Shane & Roman are still continuing their feud - Vince
Cedrick Alexander made his presence known, taking the place of the janitor stooge Shane set up to be Roman’s partner - Heyman
Cedrick still got pinned - Vince
The Winner Take All angle is still headlining Extreme Rules, even though we all know Seth & Becky will win - Vince
Brock still taunts the two WWE champions with his MITB bomb - Heyman
Street Profits are doing backstage segments hyping Extreme Rules, but they seem more themselves than Vince’s script - Heyman

8533

I just want to get off a quick prediction: Undertaker turns on Roman at ER because this is the guy who retired him.

Well, not really retired, but you know what I mean.

8534

There’s a WWE house show coming up next weekend and if neither of us work I think we might check it out. Tix are super cheap and we haven’t seen live wrestling in ages. Hell, we barely can see televised wrestling anymore with our schedules…but we’re making it work dammit

8535

I like E&C’s podcast of awesome but there are some guests that I find painful to listen to for whatever reason. The chemistry just isn’t there and/or they ramble too much.

Trent Seven was like that. Turned it off because I just couldn’t listen to it.

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WWE house show audiences have dropped off big time, and they’ve been lowering ticket prices, offering two for one deals, and still can’t get much more than 2K when they used to easily fill 15K+ arenas.

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EVOLVE’s 10th anniversary show had a lot of good moments. It wasn’t as slickly produced as other WWE shows, but that’s what made it feel more like an underground fight show, especially with Arturo Ruas vs. Anthony Henry. They were hitting each other hard with mixed martial arts moves. It shows the difference between wrestling and MMA in that the participants usually try to avoid getting smacked. Wrestling is all about taking the blows and selling them, but these guys didn’t have to expend much effort in selling. They just used the forces of each other’s blows for genuine momentum. Ruas looks like he should NEVER lose.

Some dork named Brian Idol was struggling at making ring announcement, then the lights went out. When that happens, there’s usually a prone body in the ring when the light come back on, but it was Paul Heyman! This is Phillie after all.

Josh Briggs defeated some guy who looked like Magnum TA, mullet and all. Colby Corino reprised his greatest jobber ever status in a loss to Babatunde. This transitioned to the Unwanted faction coming out and calling him Baba Booey. Then the Skulk emerged, what they call AR Fox’s retinue, carrying on the Adam Rose/No Way Jose angle of shiny happy dancing people. At least the Enzo lookalike wasn’t among them. Fox and Leon Ruff won the EVOLVE tag titles from the Unwanted.

There were plenty of NXT stars on the card who had EVOLVE roots. Brostentatious Matt Riddle defeated Drew Gulak, who left his heel persona at home. He gave a promo after the match to give EVOLVE props, and did the same Bro Pose as Riddle afterward.

Austin Theory, hoping to one day become Austin Scientific Fact, defeated Blue Collar superman JD Drake for the WWN title, to hang alongside his own EVOLVE title. He’ll make a good heel when he gets to prime time, assuming Vince doesn’t think he’s too small. The lights went out again, and this time Josh Briggs appeared, to chokeslam Theory and set up the next main event.

I actually thought that was the end of the show, because it looked “big fight” level, but the actual main event was Adam Cole vs HA! HA! HA! Akira Tozawa. Johnny Gargano made an appearance, distracting Cole, but like all good true villains, Cole was able to counter Akira’s attempt for a surprise pin into his finishing move. Gargano got all bowed up and Cole left. Gargano then closed the show with his good guy goodness speech.

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Extreme Rules 2019 Predictions:

Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans, Winner Take All Match for the Universal and Raw Women’s Titles: I’m gonna go against the grain and say that Corbin finally wins the Universal Title here. I’m gonna say WWE are real assholes, in fact, and that the match ends when Lacey pins Becky.

The Undertaker & Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre, No Holds Barred Match: No way 'Taker and Reigns lose this match.

Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe, WWE Championship Match: Kofi retains; I’m still not convinced Samoa Joe will ever be WWE Champion. (You’ll recall I once said the same thing about AJ Styles, though.)

Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, 2-on-1 Handicap Match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship: Bliss pins Bayley to win the belt.

Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese, Cruiserweight Championship Match: Gulak wins and retains.

Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. Heavy Machinery vs. New Day, Triple Threat Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships: Bryan and Rowan win and retain.

Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley, Last Man Standing Match: BRAAAAAUN

Ricochet vs. A.J. Styles, United States Championship Match: Styles wins with The Club chicanery.

The Revival vs. The Usos, Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos win. Am I predicting too many title changes here? Meh.

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro: No way Black loses after crying out for decent competition for so long.

8539

I really hope you’re wrong about the UC and Women’s RAW title match. By your tone I think you are too. I think Bayley is going to retain the title with Alexa and Nikki having afeud and setting up Bayley vs. Charlotte for Summerslam. The rest of your predictions are solid possibilities.

8540

After watching AEW Fight for the Fallen, I started looking at Extreme Rules. I immediately realized the thing WWE does that AEW doesn’t: they overhype the hell out of their matches and spend more time trying to generate interest. AEW does little if any of that. So, I lost interest.

8541

Extreme Rules was entertaining. Balor vs Nakamura does not belong on pre-show, and should have been given time to showcase their talents. Hopefully someone redeems Joe; Ziggler is irredeemable at this point. Nice surprise at the end. Heyman’s time starts now; let’s hope he can elevate both Raw as a program and the talent on the roster.

8542

Meanwhile, over at the Fox Network:

“So, Brock Lesnar stays on USA, and our new show now appears to be Friday Night WWE Featuring The New Day.”

Yes, it is still about 2 1/2 months away from premiering, but they have to start lining up advertisers sooner rather than later.

8543

Didn’t realize they had a PPV last night.

Off today because the night shift didn’t show up and I got off work at 6:35am this morning instead of 10pm last night. Time on my hands. And I don’t really want to watch it.

8544

It was actually really good.

8545

Ah, WWE. Sometimes I really hate you, and then you go and do something worthwhile that brings me back.

Last night’s RAW went really well, as RAWs after PPVs can start with new storylines and discard the old ones that ran their course. I got the feeling the superstars no longer had Vince’s weight on their shoulders.

There was no Shane last night. Drew McEntyre showed he doesn’t need him around and can generate plenty of heel heat on his own. Don’t come back Shane, don’t come back!

Gallows and Anderson have become relevant, teaming up with AJ Styles as “The Club” and actually doing effective heel stuff instead of standing around with their thumbs up their asses. I’m digging their feud with Ricochet. One gets the feeling AJ resents this young punk who tries to get over with the flippydips, so he uses his own grandiose flying body fist to show the upstart how it’s done. It’s Prince Puma vs the forces of evil again!

Finn’s on a downward spiral, mainly because he’s about to take some time off. He lost quickly to Samoa Joe, but managed to get the better of him in the aftermath. His music played, he started to lead the audience along, then his music slowed down to a stop and the lights went out. When the lights came back, Bray Wyatt had Finn in the Sister Abigail hold, looking like a Zuni fetish doll. They did some creepy lighting effects and sudden closeups, showing his red irises, and then he delivered SA to Finn amidst a huge pop. I’m jacked for this and hope they don’t let the momentum fizzle.

Heyman and Brock did the megagloat, and Heyman pulled off another epic mike performance. He portrayed himself (insincerely) as a victim, because everybody was mad at him for telling the simple truth, that Brock would prevail. “That’s not a threat. That’s a SPOILER!”

Even Dolph Ziggler managed to step back into the spotlight after his humiliatingly short loss to KO. He managed to annoy the Miz enough to start a feud, sans Shane. Don’t come back Shane, don’t come back!

The show closed with a 10-man battle royal to determine Brock’s opponent at Summerslam. Braun and Big E got to have a showdown, and Randy Orton pulled the “wasn’t really thrown out because he went through the middle ropes” schtick that actually worked, but Seth managed to counter and throw him out to get the nod. Afterward, Heyman took the mike and gloatingly congratulated Seth on earning the privilege of getting savagely beaten and annihilated by Brock at SS. Much chutzpah and hubris, and no overhyping. RAW was fun and relaxed for a change.