Professional Wrestling

[Piko]

No worries for you. Reigns will soon be a three time champion. Believe that.

[thevoid99]

No worries for you. Reigns will soon be a three time champion. Believe that.

3-time champion that will probably be a worse draw than say... Diesel?

[Piko]

He isn't already the Diesel of this generation? Big guy with a look and extremely one dimensional. It's 1995 minus the financial issues.

[xfocalinx]

I'm actually excited to see raw tonight, just to see what happens w/ AJ

[Piko]

Ditto. But can't help but expect to be disappointed. They left open alot of threads. Hopefully they follow up on them.

[theburningreptile]

LOL @ Bo Rida.

[Piko]

What's up with AJ and his lack of offense? Alright match. But, come on. He's way more capable than that. Transitioning?

[Conan The Barbarian]

Loved how the fan dressed as macho man got more attention than the Kane/Wyatt match.

[thevoid99]

Bret Hart recently said that last night's Royal Rumble match was one of the worst matches he had ever seen. http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/6669...-more#/slide/1

Never change Bret.

[Conan The Barbarian]

That rock segment sucked

[thevoid99]

So it's the Rock and the New Day and it went overlong? That was the surprise guest? Him and some shit rapper? And this is why I stopped watching RAW because I'm not willing to waste 3 hours of my time for shit like this.

[Fifey]

You know, for a group that claims to not want Roman Reigns to have the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the Authority sure gives him a lot of opportunities to win the title....

[thevoid99]

You know, for a group that claims to not want Roman Reigns to have the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the Authority sure gives him a lot of opportunities to win the title....

As a way to make the fans root for him and make him look strong to the point that he'll probably have more title reigns than Cena. Wow.....

[Prettybrokenspiral]

What's up with AJ and his lack of offense? Alright match. But, come on. He's way more capable than that. Transitioning?

Probably more a case of WWE saying to A.J.: "Hey bro, you're going to have to tone down your high-powered offense that you're known around the world for so that you don't make this pudgy, aging has-been look like he's wrestling in slow motion out there"

Jericho vs. Styles was the only reason I bothered to tune in, and it was worth it just for the hilariously bad commentary to go along with it. JBL refusing to acknowledge any of A.J.'s world title wins outside of the IWGP title was bad on its own, but to insinuate that this was a "trial by fire" for A.J. against a six-time world champion in the big leagues?

Who do they think they're kidding with this shit? That "six time world champion" is the most high-profile jobber on their roster, who lost to Fandango at WM. A.J, even at almost 39 years old, can run circles around practically every guy on the current active roster with aplomb. This shameless overselling that Cole and JBL do is absolutely cringeworthy at every turn anymore.

[thevoid99]

Jericho as a has-been? Ouch....

[xfocalinx]

I honestly think AJ got knocked loopy on the apron bump. He looked fine up until that point..then he looked lost for the rest of the match.

[Swykk]

Segment too long or not, New Day rocks!

Also, stop calling AJ Styles a kid, morons. Jericho did it as an insult but there's no excuse for dumbass Cole and dipshit hillbilly JBL doing it. And yes, LET AJ HIT SOME FUCKING MOVES. Thanks!

[Piko]

Probably more a case of WWE saying to A.J.: "Hey bro, you're going to have to tone down your high-powered offense that you're known around the world for so that you don't make this pudgy, aging has-been look like he's wrestling in slow motion out there"

Jericho vs. Styles was the only reason I bothered to tune in, and it was worth it just for the hilariously bad commentary to go along with it. JBL refusing to acknowledge any of A.J.'s world title wins outside of the IWGP title was bad on its own, but to insinuate that this was a "trial by fire" for A.J. against a six-time world champion in the big leagues?

Who do they think they're kidding with this shit? That "six time world champion" is the most high-profile jobber on their roster, who lost to Fandango at WM. A.J, even at almost 39 years old, can run circles around practically every guy on the current active roster with aplomb. This shameless overselling that Cole and JBL do is absolutely cringeworthy at every turn anymore.

Not sure why. He's not that balls out like Owens was as Steen. He's not showing much offense, period. Granted, he's likely never worked with a lot of these guys before. So maybe he's still trying to develop a chemistry. Everything he did in the last two nights just came off like he was lost.

As for Jericho. I'm whatever about him. He can still go the distance. But, he's clearly past his prime and there's not much else to really expect from it. He's done it already. So, having him put over newer talent is the way to go with him. He's established and can still work. So yeah, he's sort of a jobber now. But, at least he can still work.

[perceptionnexus]

I'm not trying to start a whole PC debate or anything, but this pissed me off. I feel that reviews like this are strongly indicative of why we can't have an edgy wwe these days. It's a small part of a bigger issue.

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/monday-...mentum--231275

And holy shit, I also don't understand the logic behind the comments section on most of the av club articles. Is it supposed to be like a nesting ground for wannabe comedians?

[thevoid99]

I'm not trying to start a whole PC debate or anything, but this pissed me off. I feel that reviews like this are strongly indicative of why we can't have an edgy wwe these days. It's a small part of a bigger issue.

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/monday-...mentum--231275

And holy shit, I also don't understand the logic behind the comments section on most of the av club articles. Is it supposed to be like a nesting ground for wannabe comedians?

The people who do comments there are fucking notorious. I got banned from commenting the site because of some arguments with some idiotic trolls. It is among the lowest group of people who go there and while there are those who do say intelligent things. Some of it is disguised as stupidity.

Yet, the review is spot-on about why this product has gotten so bad. It's bad enough WWE has to rely on old talent and such to get attention and remind everyone how great WWE was but at the extent of young talent who could barely make a name for themselves.

[perceptionnexus]

I thought it was hilarious that there was a commercial for LU season 2 during Raw. Anyone watching it catch that? Or maybe it was just on directv, I dunno.

After last night, I'm kind of wondering if they would maybe have Lesnar win at Fastlane, setting up HHH vs. Lesnar at WM for the title, and also have reigns and ambrose turn on each other during the fastlane match, which could them up against each other at WM.

Still not the most exciting scenario, but better than fuckin HHH vs. Reigns and Lesnar v. Wyatt.

Speaking of lesnar, after getting royally fucked over by the wyatts during the rumble, where is the logic in their company "beast" sulking back to the locker room like a little bitch instead of flipping the fuck out on everyone?

[the duder]

Man. I wish WWE would give me a leg to stand on when I defend them; Raw sucked.

This booking makes no sense - Reigns heel turn at WM? Please? Destroy the Rock?

[RJK]

Highest rating in 10 months sure isn't going to change the booking. :-/

[xfocalinx]

off for a few days, can't really work out cause my back is killing me, so i'm doing some arts and crafts and hand sewing some tassles for my gear!

[thevoid99]

I finally saw that segment with the Rock and the New Day and.... it was brutal. It wasn't bad but it was just very mediocre where it seemed like the Rock was phoning it in. His heart wasn't there and that's not the Rock that I want to see. In fact, this is making not even become interested in WrestleMania anyways. Personally, I would just rather see this happen....

[gorast]

LU always runs commercials during Raw. I'm sure USA Network doesn't give a shit as long as the ads they get are appropriate and they pay the price for the space, and WWE sure as shit won't tell USA what to do in regards to ads. It's a smart move for them but I doubt it brings in a big amount of viewers. But any viewers helps, I guess, just to get eyes on the product. This season's going to be great, on that note.

I thought the Rumble - and the match itself - was booked very well. The match in particular was the best one in years, not that that's a hard mark to surpass. Getting Reigns out of there by killing him did wonders for the breathing room of the other stories - Owens v. Zayn, Brock v. Wyatts, stuff like that would've been stifled by Reigns still lying in the corner, and Brock would've gone straight for him anyway. And AJ's debut was very well-done - commentary blew their load the moment he showed up, JBL dropped the "just like Lesnar" thing for the people who didn't know AJ, he was booked to look good against most of the guys in the match, and Owens eliminates and shits on him to get the inevitable real heat from the crowd. And then Zayn knocks his big ass out immediately after.

Very glad Strowman took care of Kane and Big Show in short order. I hate that those two guys are in the match every year because they drag everything to them, but having Strowman kill both of them and replace them is a good move for a very, very young guy. The Wyatts may have poor, inconsistent booking, but they've handled Strowman beautifully. Just a big, mean motherfucker who very nearly can't be taken down.

Triple H winning is hysterical, and it probably didn't even manage to get the intended effect because the Orlando crowd was bent on booing Reigns out of the building. Boo him when he enters, boo him when he gets any sort of offense in, boo him when he gets bodied, boo the stretcher job, boo his return even though he killed Sheamus, cheer Triple H, cheer him eliminating Reigns. Fuck, dude, take it down a notch for once. Jesus. There was a report that Dean being the last one out was an audible to placate the crowd and turn them against Triple H at the end, and I think it worked, but still. Triple H is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in 2016. Wow.

The sad thing is that I think this story has been very well-written so far. That's probably because it's Austin v. McMahon combined with the Daniel Bryan story, but a re-telling can be just as good and compelling as the original. This has all the makings of a truly great long-term story. The problem is that they fucked it up from the get-go by not having Reigns face any real adversity on his way to the top, or even really lose. His first singles loss was to Big Show in February 2015 and it was never emphasized and completely ignored afterwards. I think the hernia he got in 2014 derailed a lot of that development, but he was still green and unable to hold his own in singles matches back then, so there were already indicators that this wasn't going to work the way they wanted. I guarantee if you put Dean where Roman is with this story, it would be immediately lauded as incredible booking. Seth as a face. Ziggler? Probably not. Cesaro? Sure. Reigns can't connect with the audience and his character will never gain traction with the crowd long-term until it changes. It's too late now. You can have him get bodied by Sheamus immediately after winning the title, have the Rumble and his title stolen from him, and the fans will still piss right on his face the first chance they get. It wasn't as bad in Miami, but the title scene was bafflingly booked on Raw anyway, so who cares?

It's just disappointing because I think that Reigns could have been so much better if they'd just let him lose in 2014 before the Rumble. Have opportunities taken away from him. Or, shit, have D-Bry fucking beat him at Fastlane. They realized too late and now the fans have made up their mind on Roman Reigns. It won't change until he turns heel or at least gets really close to that, and that's dumb because I hate this Internet mentality that a heel turn automatically fixes all character problems. It doesn't.

At least we've got Lucha tomorrow.

[the duder]

It's just disappointing because I think that Reigns could have been so much better if they'd just let him lose in 2014 before the Rumble. Have opportunities taken away from him. Or, shit, have D-Bry fucking beat him at Fastlane. They realized too late and now the fans have made up their mind on Roman Reigns. It won't change until he turns heel or at least gets really close to that, and that's dumb because I hate this Internet mentality that a heel turn automatically fixes all character problems. It doesn't.

Here's a pretty decent analogy that a fan wrote for Cageside Seats - basically likens Reigns to an early Kevin Nash.

[Swykk]

This may be the worst episode of NXT I've seen despite American Alpha killing it as well as Joe and Sami having to carry Corbin's lame ass.

Hey, Dana Brooke, it must've been hard to rip Blue Pants when you aren't nearly as pretty, talented or over as she is.

Also, it shouldn't take 20 minutes to do a side slam, Nia. You looked like a lost mime out there.

Why bring back Alex Riley? Did we not learn before that he's bland?

What NXT needs is less Elias Sampson.

Finally, re: Jersey Shore douches. One is fat shaming and the other is looking at the wrong camera for much of his "promo."

[Piko]

The Nia Jax match was a doozy. Rest hold that went on for way too long. I was thinking "ok, maybe they're going to have the other girl pass out from the hold go put over Jax.". Nope. Just a waste of time. I'm not on that bandwagon at all. Ever since Breaking Ground, where she had to be make it known that The Rock is her cousin. That bugs me. Can't get over on your own?

And what's with the Drifter gimmick? Jobber gimmick if I ever saw one. Not feeling it one bit.

I'm ok with Riley. Not much more to expect from him though. Whatever glory days he's had in the past are behind him.

And I don't really care about whether or not Enzo fat shamed. Especially when it's directed at a heel. I'm just whatever about it.

[perceptionnexus]

You can't make fun of fat people in professional wrestling anymore? Wtf?