Wrestling Entertainment - we know, you don't have to tell us!

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, DE. said:

I don't use FITE - I have no idea why they'd cut the show short, I don't think they usually do?

Ya,it was weird. So, it's usually 2 hours. After the Omega Guevarra match it looked like there was 30 min left on the stream, but it was just the dynamite logo non stop til the end. Was that when the Jericho MH segment was? 

[DE.]

Yeah it was. That's really strange.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Very odd. There was hardly anything controversial or just badly done,was there?

[DE.]

Nothing controversial at all. The segment was hit or miss depending on how much you like the 'broken' MH character but absolutely no reason for anybody to censor it.

[Miller11]

The new series of Dark Side of the Ring seems to be available on Dailymotion. Watched the New Jack one last night. Some good insight into things I already knew. Absolute lunacy.

[DE.]

New Jack is in work mode 99% of the time so it's hard to take a lot of what he says seriously. Especially that incident with Vic Grimes when he threw him off the scaffold. He admitted in a shoot interview years ago that it was just a botch from Grimes and nothing to do with him, and he didn't have any hard feelings towards Grimes over his brain injury. If you watch the footage it's clear that Grimes propels himself over the scaffold and just jumps too far and nearly misses the ring. A monumentally stupid stunt regardless, but Jack barely throws him at all so I don't buy the story that he tried to kill Grimes. 

[Biddy]

LlMAO so BT sport still want £19.99 for the abomination that is going to be wrestlemania? Absolutely having a laugh. Should be on BT Sport 1 at best. Guess I'll just sign up for the free month of Network again. Going off the amount of wrestlers pulling out and the flat atmosphere of the PC, it's going to bit a fast forward job.

Too big for one night though!

[Bigdoggsteel]

52 minutes ago, Biddy said:

LlMAO so BT sport still want £19.99 for the abomination that is going to be wrestlemania? Absolutely having a laugh. Should be on BT Sport 1 at best. Guess I'll just sign up for the free month of Network again. Going off the amount of wrestlers pulling out and the flat atmosphere of the PC, it's going to bit a fast forward job.

Too big for one night though!

Saw that. They should really give it free as a gesture of goodwill and to build some positivity around the brand. Even half price. It's actually unbelievable.

Surely that cost covers both nights at least? 

[DE.]

I already have the Network for old WCW/WWF stuff so I'll just watch WM on there. Going to be a really weird show.

[Blue blood]

Yeah. Likewise 

Shame as this year has some good matches. (Some duds as well) but was genuinely excited to see Edge-Orton, Lynch-Bazler, Drew Vs Lesnar and the Fiend-Ceba matches. Also thought Styles could have made Taker have a decent match, the Bryan-Zayn match has great potential and a pre virus ladder match should have been good as well. 

A lot of this will be lessened by the lack of a crowd which is a shame as it was a good card. 

Am even more gutted it kiboshed the Takeover though. 

[DE.]

Just finished WM night one. Overall the empty arena makes it difficult to grade as wrestling just isn't the same without a crowd. With that said an admirable job by all involved. Most of the matches I felt were pretty meh, but I enjoyed Owens/Rollins. Also really liked the Taker/Styles Boneyard match. It'll polarise opinion for sure but I thought it was a great and creative way to get around current restrictions and move away from the empty arena setting. 

[Blue blood]

Interesting thoughts. For me I was also pleasantly surprised but despite this it still clearly wasn't Wrestlemania as we know it. The crowd is such a huge factor and the absence makes it even more.obvious. 

My disappointments from the night: 

- Lynch v Bazler: I really liked the match and thought it was just getting going. Really enjoyed what they did but 10 mins wasn't enough. 

- Elias v Corbin. Someone said the crowd reaction would be no louder of fans were actually present. I agree. They even had the help of a storyline of Elias  being hurt from the fall on Smack down but the storytelling and selling was poor. 

- Goldberg-Strowman. As expected brief and poor. Whilst brevity was a positive it still was utterly poor and disappointing to see a world title treated like this. 

- Boneyard match. Much better shot than previous out of arena matches but still poor imo. No tension, poor storyline and so far into fantasy as to be incongruous with a sports entertainment event. Well produced mind 

- Bryan v Zayne was disappointing. Could have had a classic but they didn't and without an audience the story they were telling also felt flat. 

Positives 

- Bazler v Lynch was great in the limited time they got. With a crowd and longer they could have a great match. 

- Rollins v Owens - good match, crazy bump, gutted they didn't have a crowd to make the storytelling and performance as great as it should be. 

- Ladder match - for a match that wasn't supposed to happen this stole the show. Great match and worked well even in an empty arena. 

- The women's tag title match was pretty good too. 

Overall a decent night's wrestling. Some good stuff on there, which would have been even better with a crowd. 

The duds would have been duds anyway. A normal match between Styles and Taker would have also been better (but can see why they didn't do this with the lack of an audience) and a crowd would have enhanced 3 or 4 of the other matches making it a very strong showing.

As it was it was pretty solid and although that's not great in the circumstances it's pretty impressive. 

One other thought splitting over 2 nights is good. 3 hours is much more watchable in 1 sitting. 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Blue blood

[Biddy]

Pretty much agree with your analysis. 

Didn't think Alexia Bliss and Nikki Cross deserved the titles. My god Nikki Cross is annoying.

The end to the Lynch Bazler match was just crap. No way did Lynch deserve that.

The cinematic Taker v Styles match was cool, but my god did it make Styles look weak.

Really enjoyed the Rollins Vs Owens match. Had a great twist and ending.

Corbin Vs Elias - meh!

Ladder match, pretty much same formulaic routine as every ladder match in recent years. No really big moves, same shite of everyone going up the ladders together.

As per all PPV, too much filler but even more for this one, just to make it "Too big for one night"

Still, think they've done a pretty decent job with the restrictions they've had and no crowd.

[Blue blood]

3 minutes ago, Biddy said:

Pretty much agree with your analysis. 

Didn't think Alexia Bliss and Nikki Cross deserved the titles. My god Nikki Cross is annoying.

The end to the Lynch Bazler match was just crap. No way did Lynch deserve that.

The cinematic Taker v Styles match was cool, but my god did it make Styles look weak.

Really enjoyed the Rollins Vs Owens match. Had a great twist and ending.

Corbin Vs Elias - meh!

Ladder match, pretty much same formulaic routine as every ladder match in recent years. No really big moves, same shite of everyone going up the ladders together.

As per all PPV, too much filler but even more for this one, just to make it "Too big for one night"

Still, think they've done a pretty decent job with the restrictions they've had and no crowd.

Thanks ? 

You forgot the world title match. In fairness it was utterly forgettable. To treat a world title like that...

Agree with you about the filler. One of the reasons I think the Takeovers work well is that there are 4 to 6 matches and they all mean something. 

[DE.]

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

- Lynch v Bazler: I really liked the match and thought it was just getting going. Really enjoyed what they did but 10 mins wasn't enough. 

Agree, the match was getting good but felt cut short. I have also seen the way Becky pinned Bayzler done a few times in NXT so that was a bit underwhelming. I also feel like the wrong person went over. I imagine Shayna will get the title soon, maybe even at the next PPV, but she should have won it here imo. All that build to lose in her first attempt is very WWE and part of the reason I much prefer AEW. Their booking is far more logical.

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

- Elias v Corbin. Someone said the crowd reaction would be no louder of fans were actually present. I agree. They even had the help of a storyline of Elias  being hurt from the fall on Smack down but the storytelling and selling was poor. 

Problem is you have two wrestlers here who aren't particularly good at wrestling. Both great at character work but boring as hell in the ring. Without a crowd it just enhances those flaws.

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

- Goldberg-Strowman. As expected brief and poor. Whilst brevity was a positive it still was utterly poor and disappointing to see a world title treated like this. 

I was actually hoping that with it being taped and the ability to edit and redo things that WWE would have a longer Goldberg match with some unusual spots. Instead it was the same old boring formula. Strowman as champion is fine but they've waited at least a year too long to give him the belt, and everyone knows he's only holding it in Roman's place.

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

- Boneyard match. Much better shot than previous out of arena matches but still poor imo. No tension, poor storyline and so far into fantasy as to be incongruous with a sports entertainment event. Well produced mind 

Considering it's the Undertaker I'm willing to give them a pass on the fantasy stuff. It can work in the right circumstances (some of Matt Hardy's TNA stuff for example) but it's baffling that they have a graveyard match and decide that's the time to bring back ABA Taker. Imagine the pop he would have got coming out as ABA Taker at a normal WM with his old music. Would have been epic. This not so much. 

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

- Bryan v Zayne was disappointing. Could have had a classic but they didn't and without an audience the story they were telling also felt flat. 

WWE barely seems to see Zayn as a proper wrestler any more tbh. He's basically a slightly buffed up manager. Would have been cool for them to put on a clinic but considering the context I understand why they did it this way, even if I disagree with it.

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

One other thought splitting over 2 nights is good. 3 hours is much more watchable in 1 sitting. 

100% agree with that. I hope they make this the norm in future although I get the feeling they won't due to logistics.

42 minutes ago, Biddy said:

Didn't think Alexia Bliss and Nikki Cross deserved the titles. My god Nikki Cross is annoying.

Yeah she really is irritating in this role. She was great with Sanity back in NXT but this Alexa sidekick gimmick is the worst. It was clear when it started that the idea was eventually for Alexa to double-cross Nikki after using her, starting a proper feud, but that got shelved and instead they've stuck with this for a while. I'm sure eventually they'll go back to the original intention (probably when they lose the titles) but as it stands their team sucks.

42 minutes ago, Biddy said:

The cinematic Taker v Styles match was cool, but my god did it make Styles look weak.

Styles has looked insanely weak the entire feud to be fair so at least they're being consistent. Remember he got beat with a single Chokeslam in Saudi Arabia!

Edited April 5, 2020 by DE.

[Blue blood]

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Agree, the match was getting good but felt cut short. I have also seen the way Becky pinned Bayzler done a few times in NXT so that was a bit underwhelming. I also feel like the wrong person went over. I imagine Shayna will get the title soon, maybe even at the next PPV, but she should have won it here imo. All that build to lose in her first attempt is very WWE and part of the reason I much prefer AEW. Their booking is far more logical.

Yes if you follow NXT then the finish is unsurprising. Or it should have happened after another 30 seconds or so of Becky being in the hold. Bret Hart was best at this move. WM8 Vs Piper and Survivor Series v Austin - both were classic matches ended with this move, with Bret outsmarting his opponent. (Showing my age now!) It didn't go long enough for a need to outsmart as oppose to overpower for starters and wasn't on long enough either. 

Bazler losing to trickery is ok in my book if they either a) come up short in an epic battle where they look a beast or b) come back dominant - for example attacking Lynch after the bell. Neither of these were the case. 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Problem is you have two wrestlers here who aren't particularly good at wrestling. Both great at character work but boring as hell in the ring. Without a crowd it just enhances those flaws.

Think you are a bit kind to them on character worm too! Corbin could be the annoying cocky heel everyone longs to see walloped and invest in that story but since he never looks that dominant even with a faction, and has lost 3286 times to Reigns it:s not a story you can invest in. 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

I was actually hoping that with it being taped and the ability to edit and redo things that WWE would have a longer Goldberg match with some unusual spots. Instead it was the same old boring formula. Strowman as champion is fine but they've waited at least a year too long to give him the belt, and everyone knows he's only holding it in Roman's place.

Add in Strowman hasn't looked dominant of late and there's no story to it either. Or heck even a reason why Strowman should be the number 1 contender and it's even worse. 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Considering it's the Undertaker I'm willing to give them a pass on the fantasy stuff. It can work in the right circumstances (some of Matt Hardy's TNA stuff for example) but it's baffling that they have a graveyard match and decide that's the time to bring back ABA Taker. Imagine the pop he would have got coming out as ABA Taker at a normal WM with his old music. Would have been epic. This not so much. 

Good thoughts. 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

WWE barely seems to see Zayn as a proper wrestler any more tbh. He's basically a slightly buffed up manager. Would have been cool for them to put on a clinic but considering the context I understand why they did it this way, even if I disagree with it.

Yeah I get why not but the story still needed fans for it to work - more than other storylines too. I read Zayne had surgery 6 months ago so may be they are just wanting him to heal up. (No pun intended although...) 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

100% agree with that. I hope they make this the norm in future although I get the feeling they won't due to logistics.

More revenue. I think it could work. 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Yeah she really is irritating in this role. She was great with Sanity back in NXT but this Alexa sidekick gimmick is the worst. It was clear when it started that the idea was eventually for Alexa to double-cross Nikki after using her, starting a proper feud, but that got shelved and instead they've stuck with this for a while. I'm sure eventually they'll go back to the original intention (probably when they lose the titles) but as it stands their team sucks.

There's so many ways they could do this story. They could have Cross as the heel too getting obsessive or playing to her crazy gimmick. I don't mind long story lines but they do need to hint and build up things with storyline advancement otherwise it just fizzles out and is nothing. 

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Styles has looked insanely weak the entire feud to be fair so at least they're being consistent. Remember he got beat with a single Chokeslam in Saudi Arabia!

The Saudi Arabia shows are a joke. It's only because of these shows we had Goldberg as a champion. What made it worse was his first match out there stunk. 

[DE.]

6 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Yes if you follow NXT then the finish is unsurprising. Or it should have happened after another 30 seconds or so of Becky being in the hold. Bret Hart was best at this move. WM8 Vs Piper and Survivor Series v Austin - both were classic matches ended with this move, with Bret outsmarting his opponent. (Showing my age now!) It didn't go long enough for a need to outsmart as oppose to overpower for starters and wasn't on long enough either. 

Bazler losing to trickery is ok in my book if they either a) come up short in an epic battle where they look a beast or b) come back dominant - for example attacking Lynch after the bell. Neither of these were the case. 

Agree, for the finish to work the match needed to be a lot longer. They've had Bayzler be so vicious and dominant pre-match that an after-match attack would have looked tame, short of practically murdering Lynch. I am not sure where they go from here but I imagine a rematch fairly soon.

7 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Think you are a bit kind to them on character worm too! Corbin could be the annoying cocky heel everyone longs to see walloped and invest in that story but since he never looks that dominant even with a faction, and has lost 3286 times to Reigns it:s not a story you can invest in. 

I genuinely think both Corbin and Elias would have gone down a storm in the Attitude Era. Not as main eventers but as mid-card players. Corbin is fantastic at being a smarmy heel you want to see get beaten up. Unfortunately his matches always stink, which is a problem in the current era where match quality is a big part of the package. Back in the AE Corbin's matches would have been short, screwy and continued developing his character or that of his opponent. He would have been a great henchman to Vince in the way Bossman, for example, was. The other issue with Corbin is modern WWE creative just sucks and the audience ends up just wanting Corbin gone rather than getting his comeuppance.

As for Elias, he's not up to much as a face but again an outstanding heel when given the material to work with. Remember that segment a while back where he got mercilessly booed for something like 6 or 7 minutes? I think Owens was there too. That shows Elias has the tools to do the job - but again not really up to it in the ring and shackled by a sub-par creative team. It's a shame for both of them.

11 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Yeah I get why not but the story still needed fans for it to work - more than other storylines too. I read Zayne had surgery 6 months ago so may be they are just wanting him to heal up. (No pun intended although...) 

My view based on how I've seen them use Zayn on the main roster is that Vince just isn't a fan. I don't think he sees Zayn as threatening or interesting, hence relegating him to the role of a manager. I could be wrong and maybe it is injury related, but my gut tells me it's something else.

13 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

More revenue. I think it could work. 

It could definitely work, but they'd need to prepare for it well ahead of time. Next year is probably too soon as I believe they've already announced the date and location. If they want to do a two-nighter again then preparation should start now to get it ready for 2022.

14 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

There's so many ways they could do this story. They could have Cross as the heel too getting obsessive or playing to her crazy gimmick. I don't mind long story lines but they do need to hint and build up things with storyline advancement otherwise it just fizzles out and is nothing. 

Oh yeah there's a lot of ways to make it work, but if there's one thing WWE creative are good at it is picking the wrong option - or picking the right one but still screwing it up (eg. Dean Ambrose' heel turn).

14 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

The Saudi Arabia shows are a joke. It's only because of these shows we had Goldberg as a champion. What made it worse was his first match out there stunk. 

No doubt. Unfortunately it is hard to write them off as non-canon if they are changing major titles and setting up WM feuds at these repulsive events however. 

[Blue blood]

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

Agree, for the finish to work the match needed to be a lot longer. They've had Bayzler be so vicious and dominant pre-match that an after-match attack would have looked tame, short of practically murdering Lynch. I am not sure where they go from here but I imagine a rematch fairly soon.

Has to be a rematch. Otherwise that has to be the shortest push ever.

Thing is I really loved Bazler in NXT, and her dominance plus the help of the other horsewomen really wound me up and got me invested in the can anyone beat her. It what made Ripley beating her so good and made some of the matches with Sane and Io so good. Wrestlemania means that storyline and vibe is way off. 

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

I genuinely think both Corbin and Elias would have gone down a storm in the Attitude Era. Not as main eventers but as mid-card players. Corbin is fantastic at being a smarmy heel you want to see get beaten up. Unfortunately his matches always stink, which is a problem in the current era where match quality is a big part of the package. Back in the AE Corbin's matches would have been short, screwy and continued developing his character or that of his opponent. He would have been a great henchman to Vince in the way Bossman, for example, was. The other issue with Corbin is modern WWE creative just sucks and the audience ends up just wanting Corbin gone rather than getting his comeuppance.

As for Elias, he's not up to much as a face but again an outstanding heel when given the material to work with. Remember that segment a while back where he got mercilessly booed for something like 6 or 7 minutes? I think Owens was there too. That shows Elias has the tools to do the job - but again not really up to it in the ring and shackled by a sub-par creative team. It's a shame for both of them.

Great points. Yeah, Elias is a natural heel and works so much better that way (why change him?) Think you are right about Corbin too - the desire for comeuppance only grows and gets invested in as a storyline if it doesn't happen. 

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

My view based on how I've seen them use Zayn on the main roster is that Vince just isn't a fan. I don't think he sees Zayn as threatening or interesting, hence relegating him to the role of a manager. I could be wrong and maybe it is injury related, but my gut tells me it's something else.

Another who was golden in NXT. Does Vince actually pay attention to how fans react? Actually I know the answer on this one - NXT is an evil necessity to keep hardcore wrestling fans from going elsewhere in his view. 

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

It could definitely work, but they'd need to prepare for it well ahead of time. Next year is probably too soon as I believe they've already announced the date and location. If they want to do a two-nighter again then preparation should start now to get it ready for 2022.

Agreed. Wouldnt be surprised to see it happen. 

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

Oh yeah there's a lot of ways to make it work, but if there's one thing WWE creative are good at it is picking the wrong option - or picking the right one but still screwing it up (eg. Dean Ambrose' heel turn).

Agreed. Even when it is harder to mess it up...

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

No doubt. Unfortunately it is hard to write them off as non-canon if they are changing major titles and setting up WM feuds at these repulsive events however. 

Repulsive is the word. The big issue is it's a nostalgia trip of poor quality. Goldberg would never have got the title had it not been in Saudi. Would the Fiend be going to WM as world champion ? possibly not but there would have at least been a champion with some credibility and quality. 

The shows are poor. Really poor. In fact that's why I think they do so many title changes there to force people to tune in to otherwise highly skippable events. 

[Miller11]

Kabuki Warriors v Bliss & Cross

Got the night off to a really bad start for me, I’ve seen others express their annoyance with Nikki Cross... but if you multiply that by a million you wouldn’t get close to how much Asuka gets on my nerves. Had to mute almost immediately due to the constant screeching, and had to fight a strong urge to switch off. 
Went far too long. Was just glad when it was finally over and glad of the result.

 

Corbyn v Elias

Boring. Was always going to be filler even with a crowd.

 

Lynch v Baszler

Didn’t work. The attempts to look hard hitting didn’t come off. Inventive ending. Was never going to live up to the hype, but due to the circumstances of the show they didn’t have chance to get anywhere near. Both struggled to adapt.

 

Bryan v Zayn

Match of the night for me. Enjoyed this. The use of the corner men was smart. With no crowd to play off they used them to build some decent psychology. The only match that didn’t suffer drastically with having no crowd.

 

Ladder match

Decent. Thought everyone worked hard, and they managed to come up with some unique spots which becomes more difficult with every passing ladder match. 

 

Owens v Rollins

Wasn't overly Invested in this. It was ok. Bit of an odd one that initially wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Raw. Tried to make it mean something.
 

Goldberg v Strowman

Predicatble, but I don’t think that was a bad thing. Fine for what it was under the circumstances. Met the very limited expectations it set.

Taker v Styles

I was looking forward to this for a break from the painful empty arena format. It started off as a brilliant brawl, largely due to the fact Undertaker is one of about 3 still active wrestlers who can throw a decent looking punch... such a nice change from shitty forearms! Unfortunately it quickly descended into farce. The fact that the production looked like an overzealous GCSE media studies students coursework became more problematic as it wore on. 
 

It will take an absolute miracle tonight for this not to go down in history as the worst Wrestlemania of all time. Why oh why did this go ahead?!?

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

I haven't watched it,but I dont understand the point in building Bayzler up so much,only to lose. Was it a screwy finish? 

What in gods name have they done to the world title?did Goldberg even defend it? And he loses to Strowman, who was built up about a year ago,but not now. Baffling. 

Heard taker styles was good. Must watch it. 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Bigdoggsteel

[Blue blood]

19 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Kabuki Warriors v Bliss & Cross

Got the night off to a really bad start for me, I’ve seen others express their annoyance with Nikki Cross... but if you multiply that by a million you wouldn’t get close to how much Asuka gets on my nerves. Had to mute almost immediately due to the constant screeching, and had to fight a strong urge to switch off. 
Went far too long. Was just glad when it was finally over and glad of the result.

 

Corbyn v Elias

Boring. Was always going to be filler even with a crowd.

 

Lynch v Baszler

Didn’t work. The attempts to look hard hitting didn’t come off. Inventive ending. Was never going to live up to the hype, but due to the circumstances of the show they didn’t have chance to get anywhere near. Both struggled to adapt.

 

Bryan v Zayn

Match of the night for me. Enjoyed this. The use of the corner men was smart. With no crowd to play off they used them to build some decent psychology. The only match that didn’t suffer drastically with having no crowd.

 

Ladder match

Decent. Thought everyone worked hard, and they managed to come up with some unique spots which becomes more difficult with every passing ladder match. 

 

Owens v Rollins

Wasn't overly Invested in this. It was ok. Bit of an odd one that initially wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Raw. Tried to make it mean something.
 

Goldberg v Strowman

Predicatble, but I don’t think that was a bad thing. Fine for what it was under the circumstances. Met the very limited expectations it set.

Taker v Styles

I was looking forward to this for a break from the painful empty arena format. It started off as a brilliant brawl, largely due to the fact Undertaker is one of about 3 still active wrestlers who can throw a decent looking punch... such a nice change from shitty forearms! Unfortunately it quickly descended into farce. The fact that the production looked like an overzealous GCSE media studies students coursework became more problematic as it wore on. 
 

It will take an absolute miracle tonight for this not to go down in history as the worst Wrestlemania of all time. Why oh why did this go ahead?!?

 

Bit harsh that when you consider the quality in some of the first Wrestlemanias! Of course nowhere near current standards but then a lot of that imo is down to a lack of crowd. 

Thought you were a bit harsh on a number of matches tbh including rhe ladder march and Rollins v Owens so nowhere near the worst Wrestlemania. Mind you that speaks volumes of a number of them as much as it defends this one. Was it 26 or 27 which Miz v Cena "main eventer?" That was a terrible one. Wrestlemania 9 was also a spectacularly bad one which couldn't have been worse if they tried. So comparatively having a few decent-good matches keeps it well.off the bottom for me. 

That said I also wasnt a fan of the boneyard match (deffo had a GCSE script writer I thought) and the screeching was something else in the women's tag. So with you on those points. With the latter point the tag match I thought was solid but the screeching did distract from it. 

[DE.]

6 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I haven't watched it,but I dont understand the point in building Bayzler up so much,only to lose. Was it a screwy finish? 

Nope. I don't know if you've seen many of Bayzler's matches in NXT but there's a finish they've done a few times where she locks in her submission finisher, then the opponent rolls backwards and pins her whilst still in the move. It was that. Problem is the match was too short for that to be credible. 

39 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Thing is I really loved Bazler in NXT, and her dominance plus the help of the other horsewomen really wound me up and got me invested in the can anyone beat her. It what made Ripley beating her so good and made some of the matches with Sane and Io so good. Wrestlemania means that storyline and vibe is way off. 

Yeah, me too. Her badass theme and stable made her an amazing heel, and she looks the part. There are a lot of people who dislike her in-ring style but I think it fits perfectly with her MMA-based character. I was always invested in her matches. The match she had with Sane at one of the Takeovers where Sane beat her for the title was brilliant. Really sad to see how Sane (and Asuka) have been wasted on the main roster, and Baszler losing like this to Lynch doesn't give me much hope for her. Am I the only one who hates WWE trying to make Lynch into the female Stone Cold? It's so transparent and lame.

41 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Another who was golden in NXT. Does Vince actually pay attention to how fans react? Actually I know the answer on this one - NXT is an evil necessity to keep hardcore wrestling fans from going elsewhere in his view. 

I don't think Vince gives a shit about NXT and I don't think he cares about what anybody has accomplished down there. Generally speaking the people who have done the best after going to the main roster are those who didn't have a huge impact in NXT. I swear Vince sees success in NXT as a bad thing. Can't understand why he treats the call ups so shoddily otherwise.

43 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Repulsive is the word. The big issue is it's a nostalgia trip of poor quality. Goldberg would never have got the title had it not been in Saudi. Would the Fiend be going to WM as world champion ? possibly not but there would have at least been a champion with some credibility and quality. 

The shows are poor. Really poor. In fact that's why I think they do so many title changes there to force people to tune in to otherwise highly skippable events. 

Titus' slip is the best and only good thing to come out of these stupid Saudi shows. I have to admit I found it hilarious that when the Saudis asked for Yokozuna (apparently not knowing he was dead) WWE brought in some random sumo to play the part. Just emphasises what a farce the whole thing is.

35 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Kabuki Warriors v Bliss & Cross

Got the night off to a really bad start for me, I’ve seen others express their annoyance with Nikki Cross... but if you multiply that by a million you wouldn’t get close to how much Asuka gets on my nerves. Had to mute almost immediately due to the constant screeching, and had to fight a strong urge to switch off. 
Went far too long. Was just glad when it was finally over and glad of the result.

Asuka has a huge upside but since losing her undefeated streak to Charlotte a couple of years back has gone into a downward spiral and never really come back. She was awesome in NXT but now is just another wrestler, much like Kairi. 

36 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Owens v Rollins

Wasn't overly Invested in this. It was ok. Bit of an odd one that initially wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Raw. Tried to make it mean something.

We've seen so much of Owens and Rollins in the build up (including those never-ending multi-man tags) that the feud already felt tired before the match even happened imo. It also hurt the match that nothing was really on the line. Owens beat Rollins - and what? Are there any consequences? I imagine it'll be as you were on Raw which makes the match itself kind of pointless. No stakes. I've said before that Rollins really reminds me of Hollywood Hogan back in the WCW days as far as his heel work goes - but whenever Hogan wrestled there were always huge stakes involved. Usually the title as 95% of the time he was the champion. But even if not there was always something big to gain from beating him. That isn't the case with Seth so it was hard for me to get especially invested in seeing Owens win. 

[Miller11]

I think IX gets a bit of a bad rap (largely thanks to Hogan), but Tatanka v Michaels and the Steiners v Headshrinkers were both miles better than anything on show last night.

I always had 2 down as the worst ever until now. Different times I know, but I think that the repetitive nature of the modern product really doesn’t help... so few of the matches feel like a culmination of a well built feud. If we haven’t seen them a dozen times already, we will see them on TV again within a fortnight. The lack of a crowd hurts the matches immensely for me personally. I thought they may have found a way around it with the Boneyard, but they failed. So much of it was standard WWE fare, unsurprisingly I thought Zayn and Bryan made the best of it. They have varied experience. Bryan worked the holiday camp circuit over here, both well travelled and paid their dues on the indies... they are able to adapt unlike Corbin and Elias, for example.

The two matches that could salvage things somewhat tonight are, in my opinion, Edge and Orton and Cena v Wyatt. Unfortunately after last night I’m not holding out much hope.

[Miller11]

The original Boneyard

[DE.]

That Sting/Vampiro feud sucked so hard. I vaguely remember a stuntman pretending to be Sting falling off the top of the tron (whilst on fire) in one of their matches. Ugh. That was after the Owen Hart incident too, so even worse. 

This promo video almost makes the feud look passable. 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by DE.