WWE Raw & Smackdown Weekly Thread

[rookieb]

Yup. That's where the issue comes in yet again. There's more than enough room in WWE if only they'd look at something besides these stupid hackneyed angles they keep coming up with. Let's look at titles for example - you currently have the World, US, Intercontinental and Tag Championships, as well as the Divas Title for the ladies. 4 major straps for the guys. Years back, you could make a whole program out of the pursuit of one of these secondary championships, using a number of guys in the mix. The old Pro Wrestling Illustrated actually used to publish rankings based on championships and their respective contenders, and appearance on one list was usually just that - you were in line for X title, not the hodgepodge we see today. Secondary champions and the matches that make them could be great TV, while also filling time where your part-time champ isn't on the screen. Some of this new talent could really make some noise for the secondary titles and make them matter again. Instead, WWE's focus is on the World Title, the Authority, the Bellas, and John Cena becoming super once more. The minor programs involving the US and IC titles will fizzle out in short order, and they'll go back to being fed to the big dogs challenging for the big strap. WWE is completely lost in the tag team division, and they can't tell a story for the Divas to save their respective lives, or stock values for that matter. Natty, AJ, Paige can all go and tell a good story doing so, but instead we get AJ and Paige trying to out-crazy each other, and Natty is enhancement talent for the likes of Summer Rae and Eva Marie. Whether it's Trips as COO, Vince pulling his strings, or some awful combination of the two, there's no talent advancement in WWE.

 

[freeryan]

This is why I hope TNA doesn't die off and why I can't wait until Hunter/Stephanie becomes full owner.

 

[Deepcover]

This is why I hope TNA doesn't die off and why I can't wait until Hunter/Stephanie becomes full owner.

When that day comes that is when wrestling entertainment has truly died for me...

 

[alexpnz]

WWE will become a WAY better company when HHH assumes control.

Just can't see Stephanie taking 2nd seat to him, though.

 

[DSOTM73]

anyone listen to Batista on Talk Is Jericho? if not i highly recommend doing so. it was such great interview. Batista is such a humble guy. he has a great mind for the business and the old ways of wrestling. after listening to the interview i found i have much more respect for him especially as a person.


i also enjoyed the little shot he took at Lesnar and Rock

 

[Deepcover]

WWE will become a WAY better company when HHH assumes control.

I honestly don't think so. He doesn't have the mindset to become the next Vince McMahon. Triple sellout is going to send the WWE company right down the fucking toilet.
Oh and Monday Night Raw was boring...

 

[DSOTM73]

Now that Brock Lesnar is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, his unique deal with WWE has apparently changed a bit.

In the past, WWE would have Lesnar’s dates and storylines booked well in advance and would work their shows around his schedule accordingly. Now that he is the champion, they have a deal in place as far as money is concerned, but the agreement now allows WWE to book him for RAW shows and pay-per-views whenever they feel they need him.

Essentially, Lesnar can work every pay-per-view from now until WrestleMania 31 if that’s what WWE wants, as there is an agreement in place that allows them to increase dates on a pro-rate basis.

As noted, Lesnar’s next WWE pay-per-view appearance is at the September 21st “Night Of Champions” show, where he will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a rematch from SummerSlam against former champion John Cena.

http://www.wzronline.com/wrestling-news/major-backstage-update-brock-lesnars-wwe-contract.html

about time WWE wises up. now Blockhead can stop being a selfish little bitch(personal opinion). the champion should be fulltime anyway. it still sucks that he's not doing the live events as i feel it deprives the fans of not getting to experience to see the champion perform.

 

[rookieb]

I honestly don't think so. He doesn't have the mindset to become the next Vince McMahon. Triple sellout is going to send the WWE company right down the fucking toilet.
Oh and Monday Night Raw was boring...

It was indeed. I worry about Trips taking control as he seems to be of the same mind as Vinnie Mac - any huge guy can make it, and damn the rest. I also worry about the pure ego that seems to be there - yes, Vince is egomaniacal too, but as he's gotten older and less able to go in the ring, his appearances have dwindled. Trips still has a long time before he's not of ring age or in ring shape anymore, and regardless of whether or not he's performing, he seems to like being on TV. I long for the days the show becomes less about the McMahons and more about wrestling. I will say that Trips does seem invested in NXT, but again looking at the fact that he seems to like pushing big talentless guys based on size...Mojo Rawley anyone?
I will say for the record that I have enjoyed the subtle shifts in Trips character as he's transitioned from active wrestler to COO and part-timer. Watching him sell Brie Bella's dropkick through the ropes at SS was hysterical. Bow down to the king indeed.

 

[DSOTM73]

OPEN LETTER TO VINCE, STEPH & HHH from Vince Russo.

Dear Vince, Stephanie and Hunter,

First let me apologize for my rant last night on Russo on Raw. I’m Italian, I’m emotional, I’m sorry I get that way sometimes. Come to think of it, you probably witnessed it first hand in a galaxy far, far away—many light years ago. The truth is—I hate to criticize RAW. I really do. Having been there and done that, I realize how difficult it is to come up with two hours of compelling content every week – let alone three. The job is not easy, I understand that, and nobody can be criticized for TRYING and giving their BEST EFFORT—nobody. But . . . the question I have to ask is: “Is what we see every Monday Night honestly and truly your best effort? I just know that having worked with all three of you in the past, I don’t think any of us would have been satisfied, or even ALLOWED last night’s show to air in its final form. Are we seriously not better than that? What happened to our mantra during the Attitude Era when this week’s show was going to be better than last weeks? Remember that, Vince?

I don’t know what it is. I don’t know the structure, because I am not there, but nobody—NOBODY—can tell me that with a bit more effort you couldn’t be doing better than what WE THE PEOPLE are being exposed to every Monday Night. Look—we all love wrestling, we are all HUGE fans of the WWE and in all truthfulness—WE WANT TO LIKE THE SHOW!!! But, you just make it so difficult. Asking anybody to sit through three hours of what you’re currently putting on the air is not only asking too much . . .but, it’s also unfair.

Look, I’m not going to tell you what to do, or how to do it, who am I? All I’m asking is that you all ask each other—is this the best that World Wrestling Entertainment has to offer its fans? If the answer is yes, that I guess I’ve just over-rated you, however, I think we all know that’s not the answer. I don’t think any of you can walk away from that building on Monday night honestly believing that you had just put your best foot forward. I don’t believe that for a second.

Right now, you have an UNBELIEVABLE talent roster, up and down from first match to main event, but the writing and producing of the show is just not serving them justice. You have to know that. What happened to the work ethic and the commitment that we all shared during the Attitude Era? What happened to that passion, when we literally used to leave our own BLOOD, SWEAT and TEARS on the script that we wrote. If something didn’t exceed our expectations we were sick over it for days—I know I was.

Vince, Stephanie, Triple H, YES we will always be here no matter what. We support you, and we support the WWE, but the truth is . . . we deserve better. And, deep down inside I know that you know that.

With 1,000% sincerity.

Peace,

Your Former Head Writer

Vince Russo

http://www.pyroandballyhoo.com/open-letter-vince-steph-hhh-fan-wwe/

i know most people hate him, but Russo is 100% right.

 

[rookieb]

Wow, as much as Russo is the man we all love to hate, that post is spot on. WWE have shown themselves capable of delivering so much more - whether it's on RAW, SmackDown! or one of their PPVs. SummerSlam was a gem - great matches, drama, outcomes, hype and characters. Since then, we've been subjected to the least interesting feud in wrestling history - seriously, I paid more attention to the Funkadactyls breaking up than I have the Bellas. We've had random things thrown at us - the pairing/break up of Henry and Show - though they stayed together long enough to thoroughly demolish the Wyatts - John Cena's completely unnecessary 'redemption", stop-and-start pushes, and the most disappointing feud in recent memory, Jericho vs Wyatt. To quote Kenny from Seinfeld - that one could have been gold, Jerry.
In short, yes. Russo is right. WWE should show the humility to hear the voices of their fans. There was a social media post from WWE last night about Jerry Springer coming to sort out the Bellas on RAW. The fans commenting trashed it. When is enough enough? Sadly, though we should stay away, we won't. The alternatives are not watching, or watching TNA, for as long as it's on. Sadly, though their match quality is getting better, their storytelling is often much worse. Sigh. These are dark days.

 

[DSOTM73]

celebritys rightfully get crapped on(with the exception of Hugh Jackman) and yet WWE doesn't learn. im gonna be ready to laugh my ass off watching Springer get torn apart.

 

[Mr_Stiffy]

Whether it's Trips as COO, Vince pulling his strings, or some awful combination of the two, there's no talent advancement in WWE.

In 2014 The Shield have been elevated to the level of huge stars and all three of them are focal points of the TV today, Bray Wyatt got moved from bizarre midcard freakshow to a six month run with the company's top man while Harper and Rowan went from lackeys to believable tag team title contenders, The Usos emerged from the pack to become the focal point of the tag team division, Rusev got moved up to the main roster and given a monster push (which he is still in the midst of), Wade Barrett got repackaged and given a new lease of life restoring much lustre to the Intercontinental title (only curtailed by injury) and of course, Daniel Bryan was elevated off the back of fan demand to the position of main eventing WrestleMania and being given the big belt(s).

But yeah, sure, nobody gets to advance.

I will say that Trips does seem invested in NXT, but again looking at the fact that he seems to like pushing big talentless guys based on size...Mojo Rawley anyone?

The NXT Champion is Adrian Neville, and prior to that was Bo Dallas. That should say all you need to know about size being the factor in somebody's push. Unless you're saying that Mojo shouldn't be pushed because he's big, and can't do springboard 630 moonbombs.

These are dark days.

Personally speaking, I'd say there is far more talent on TV right now than the last couple of years and match quality is really consistent. I'm closer to being a "regular" viewer of Raw and the PPVs now than I have been in nearly 10 years. But that's just personal taste. You're right that the storylines are dull, but the wrestling makes up for it. SummerSlam was incredible.

 

[freeryan]

Actually, Vince and Hunter seem to argue a lot. Hunter wants to push the younger talent (exactly why he runs NXT) while Vince wants to keep using Cena to milk the money out of kids who eat up the pg crap but in all honesty, are being deprived of quality. Once "best for business" turns into "best for wrestling", everything will be fine. Like Vince, Hunter will do better with experience and Hunter at least has a wrestler's perspective.

 

[Mr_Stiffy]

There's no coincidence that since Hunter gained greater influence on hirings and firings, the company has been more considerate of talent from the wider wrestling world and given more opportunities to international and independent wrestlers. Under Trips' watch they've taken a look at (for better or for worse) Mistico/Sin Cara, Samuray del Sol, Pac/Adrian Neville, Joel Redman, Martin Stone, Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose, Kevin Steen, Prince Devitt and KENTA. For a variety of reasons, I don't think many of those guys would have had much of a shot let's say five years before Hunter took up his current responsibilities. And I doubt they'd have looked twice at Amazing Kong/Kharma, who would have been judged not sexy enough to be a Diva. Hunter is a wrestling fan first and foremost, and it shows in his attitude to talent acquisition.

 

[passenger57]

Leave it to the fans and CENATION to explode when CENA started Smackdown the other night. Haven't heard a reception for him like that in a while. Good way to start the show which turned out good. Loved Nikki and AJ at ringside while Paige and Brie fought. Paige won which is good since Brie needs some wrestling moves. Damn is Nikki sexy as hell ! Laughed my ass off when they showed the twitter post about Brie apologizing to her family and WWE for hitting her sister. The funny part was she did it ........ after breakfast. Had to eat first ha. Most of the superstars were there except for Orton. Overall, a good show. Maybe RAW can follow that on Monday.

 

[rookieb]

celebritys rightfully get crapped on(with the exception of Hugh Jackman) and yet WWE doesn't learn. im gonna be ready to laugh my ass off watching Springer get torn apart.

I can't even bear to watch. It really is going to be that bad.

 

[DSOTM73]

this is really long, but worth it.
https://medium.com/@JustinRoberts/i-love-this-business-you-might-also-bb8cbd7c9e7c

 

[tvstrip]

Good show tonight. Cage match to start and a jumping bunny?!
Say what you will about Cena, but when he cuts those promos about the work he does with sick kids and veterans like he did tonight, you can really see the sincerity in his eyes.

I marked out when I saw this; been waiting for this to happen for a while! Too bad they didn't put it on the show

Anyone catch what was wrong with Lawler tonight? Did he have another health issue?

 

[Deepcover]

I can't even bear to watch. It really is going to be that bad.

It was....

 

[rookieb]

In 2014 The Shield have been elevated to the level of huge stars and all three of them are focal points of the TV today, Bray Wyatt got moved from bizarre midcard freakshow to a six month run with the company's top man while Harper and Rowan went from lackeys to believable tag team title contenders, The Usos emerged from the pack to become the focal point of the tag team division, Rusev got moved up to the main roster and given a monster push (which he is still in the midst of), Wade Barrett got repackaged and given a new lease of life restoring much lustre to the Intercontinental title (only curtailed by injury) and of course, Daniel Bryan was elevated off the back of fan demand to the position of main eventing WrestleMania and being given the big belt(s).

But yeah, sure, nobody gets to advance.

The point about the Shield taken, let's look at some of the other folks mentioned here. Bray Wyatt - since he's finished his run with the company's top man - during which he was presented as a laughable threat at best after Cena's 'hallu-Cenation' episode and buried at John's hands - he moved on to feud with Chris Jericho, in a situation that WWE creative somehow managed to ruin. He's now focused on the Big Show, whose most notable RAW moment of recent memory is crying while he punched out old folks. How the mighty have fallen.
Rowan/Harper have gone from monster heels to also rans. Considering the list of challengers to the Usos titles is pretty short, and further considering that Rybaxel and numerous other thrown together tag team have been given a shot, I would neither call this advancement, nor a refocused tag team division. Rowan and Harper now spend their time jobbing out to the likes of Henry/Show and taking double chokeslams from Show himself last night. To say they're not taken as seriously as they once were is pretty apt. As for the Usos, the champs can often be judged by the quality of their challengers.
Wade Barrett - no doubt, he was given a repackaging chance and ran with it, and no one was more disappointed than I to hear he got hurt. So, let's look at his title instead - it's been exchanged between Miz and Ziggler (one of whom should be pushed to the MOON) and is now not even the focal point of the feud between the two wrestlers. Instead, we get dumb comedy double bits with stand-ins R-Truth and Damien (ugh) Mizdow.
Daniel Bryan - yep, he got the straps. He created a popular movement so organic that the WWE were faced with full-on riots had they not acquiesced to the demands of the fans...yet, right up until post-Royal Rumble, what was their plan? Batista. They called an audible, as smart companies will do when faced with consumer demand. Yes, they took Bryan and ran with him, once their hand was forced.
Rusev - I know he appears to be in the midst of a 'monster' push, but I sure wish they'd get to the point of it quickly. Rusev, crush is getting a little one-dimensional and his first major feud amounted to squat. Jack Swagger was elevated by the organic popularity of what he stood for, not the man himself, so what did Rusev gain from all this? A quick transition to the same feud with Mark Henry. Wash, rinse, repeat.
In short, while I agree with some of your points, I also think sometimes being on the main roster is confused with getting a push. One doesn't necessarily make the other, in my books. Nor does getting an initial push equate to talent advancement if that advancement is not sustained, and the old guard takes over once the fun is done. With Neville, Breeze and the Ascension all poised to come up in the next few weeks, I remain hopeful.