Just the type of thing that should make people want to tune in to the weekly part of the show.Originally Posted by mth
Just the type of thing that should make people want to tune in to the weekly part of the show.
Yeah, curious to see if this is leading to Bryan or Shane leaving. Could see either, Bryan's still got awhile left on his contract. Not sure what Shane has going on, he might want to get off the road.
If Becky's back in time for the Mixed Match Challenge, she needs to team up with Finn. Different Brands be damned!
I mean AJ isn't really losing to Jinder is he?
I want to see Kahli again tonight.
I maintain my earlier position that this PPV would be a lot better if they ran Zayn/Nakamura and Owens/Orton as singles matches...
They could keep everything else the same...
I felt the two ref tag match was just too overbooked for a single brand PPV, especially one with two other tag matches, a lumberjack match and a triple threat...
I hope to go AJ wins and jinder the jobber goes back to the mid card
Who else besides The Great Khali can interfere to help Jinder win?
I could have sworn I heard words "straight outta Punjab" in Jinder's theme
The story and two refs took away from a good tag match with some of the best guys on the brand. I am liking the story but it was hard to care about the actually match waiting for what was going to happen between Shane and Daniel
Please don't take the belt off AJ. Build the show around him. This is the guy. Should be the top babyface on Raw. He's the best they've got right now.
They don't won't none
Authors of Pain?
I like the way you think.
shockingly audible 'lets go jinder' chant
Maybe the Singh brothers screws jinder over
Smart fans.
Did they sign that Indian woman from the MYC?
Perfectly watchable match so far. AJ bumping his ass off.
USA chants always win out over smarkiness.
Heath shows up and interferes. He and Jinder from 2MB until Drew is healthy and we get a full 3MB reunion
It's been OK. Credit to the announcers selling Mahal like a future hall of famer. I can't help but look at Mahal and laugh.
AJ selling hard for Jinder.
Mahal, himself, was never the problem. It was the bad storytelling. Nothing about Jinder winning the title made sense and people rejected it.
Of course they did. People would be confused and pissed off and let down if Elias was made champ tonight. And he's an actual mid carder. Or at least he's been booked as a bit of threat lately.
But Jinder couldn't have been lower on the card just before he was made champ. It's the same as if Curt Hawkins was made champ tonight. Never on tv and now the champ.
Granted Curt Hawkins is terrible. Jinder has actually filled this role as well as could ever have been expected. Nothing of how the iwc feels about him is surprising. But none of it is actually his fault either.
Mahal adopting Ryback's Shell Shocked...
I like it...
Where are your Jinder chants now?!
Yessss.
YEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!
Nice. He made Jinder look good and kept the belt
Thank god AJ won
good match. Styles/Jinder ended up being a pretty awesome feud. a babyface people genuinely love and want to win vs. a heel people genuinely don't like and don't want to win, AJ beats him for the title and then defends successfully. nice.
Pretty good match. Mahal got in a lot of offense.
AJ carried that whole match he can make a jobber into a great wrestler
Decent enough match but nothing overly great. Jinder's getting to be ok but Styles is obviously aces.
Show was exactly what I expected: ok.
Come on, AJ/Nak respect match at Mania...
Nak For Rumble Win...
It's tough to put on a great match when most people refuse to see Jinder as a main eventer. I fully blame Vince and WWE for making him a jobber for so long. This was a good match.
Solid PPV overall. All the matches were good except the Orton/Nakamura vs Owens/Zayn but that was mainly because of story and not the action itself.
Kind of a lackluster PPV.
A rarity in this company and it feels so damn good
I'm thinking the Rumble comes down to Nakamura and Balor with Nak winning to face AJ at Mania.
Naka winning the rumble would be good
Dasha was the only one that got invited lol
Mahal is a performer people genuinely dislike for all the wrong reasons. They think he is garbage. Which is accurate. That hardly makes for an awesome feud.
Best match was the fatal 4-way tag, I don't think it's really close after that. About what I expected of this show and they give people some controversy to carry stories into the Rumble.
Sad part about the Sami/Owens tag match was the participants being irrelevant to the actual story going on with Shane & DB.
C+ for the show. Felt like your typical Smackdown but with all championships involved. Hard to fault them because they typically outperform RAW in my opinion, so it's hard to really do a PPV that has any major surprises (debuts, turns, interferences). The way the AJ/Mahal match dragged past the 10 minute mark I was seriously expecting some additional interference be it Khali or someone else.
He has time. Miz had the same issue when he was champ
overall not a bad ppv. they did work hard to get as many people on the card as they could to end the year.
give chad a chance
when he's not supexling people on there heads
After tonight, he will be. Before, I think it was like "Owens and Zayn are dicks, they deserve some payback". Now it's to a point where Shane's going too far with it. After this, I feel like it's gonna get away from Owens and Zayn, and more a matter of Shane and Bryan not seeing eye-to-eye. It'll probably be explained that Bryan didn't do the fast count to screw Orton or Nakamura, he did it because Shane wasn't gonna do the right thing. I think Shane continues abusing his power and it becomes a conflict with Bryan, which leads to the full Shane heel turn.
I dont think how long he was a jobber mattered tbh, they could have built him up through the card. The problem was he went from jobber to champ in less than a month and people didnt buy into it.
If theyd built him up through the midcard he might be received better but they seemingly got the whole idea about going all in on the Indian market overnight, went all out and then when it failed to work theyve cashed out just as quick.
Jinder should have a good spell as a mid carder but I honestly wouldnt be surprised if he went back to being a jobber in a short amount of time.
They should have had him lose to Mojo, then had vignettes of him training extra hard. Have him take a few weeks off of in ring action and build him up. Then have him come back and beat guys like Ziggler, Zayn, Z-Man, etc. Then you can put him in the battle royal for number one contendership.
I love the way the Owens/Zayn vs Nak/Orton match ended. Good stuff.
I like how Shane and sometimes Bryan can come across heelish but I think we're just so used to the standard boring dynamic of a GM/Authority figure we overthink it. What Shane has done to the likes of AJ Styles, Owens, and Zayn over the last year is no different than what Stephanie has done for years to babyfaces.
The strange thing is the commentary. I think if Byron wasn't so "follow the leader" with his verbiage it wouldn't have been this weird confusing reaction. Byron did a terrible job justifying Shane's actions for not counting the 3 and it was made even worse when he acted like what Bryan did was 1,000 times worse.
The commentary being all over the place can more often than not be really bad for the WWE. Booker T shits on Jason Jordan but applauds Enzo. Corey Graves does the opposite. Then the next week, they'll both agree that Jason Jordan is awesome. It's so random. Commentary is the main connection imo between the product and the fans. By these guys fucking around like they are, it confuses the message.
Last night Byron did a terrible job of explaining why Shane was justified in what he was doing but he also should have beat it home that while Shane may have been justified for all the shit they put him through, he should be the bigger person and not get caught up. Instead his verbiage and approach made Shane's babyface status questionable.
I think of all the announcing I hate how they treat Elias most. He’s a heel, but Graves hates him (dating back to NXT) but Booker and even Cole love the guy and his physique. Weird.
I agree. "Look @ Elias...He's got all the tools just look at his physique.." Never hear about any other "tools". Just like with Titus. If you suck ass on the mic and in the ring, at least if you LOOK decent you have all the tools apparently. I mean look @ the career of Hercules. Multi time WWF champion, IC Champion, tag champion, KOTR winner, Rumble winner, mega popular until he passed.
*sarcasm thicker than a broadsword*
The commentary has always confused me. I can never tell who is a heel commentary or a face commentary. I don't know if this is intended where they just want natural reactions from commentators in the moment (which would be awful, as kayfabe and a heel/face element should still be implemented) or if it's just bad continuity from the commentators.
Can only imagine the jokes vintage Bobby Heenan would be making about how shit the current commentators and overall flow of the teams are...
Lose the three man teams. Get one straight guy, and a heel guy to make jokes and the like.
They always reckon that Vince will feed the commentators lines and usually goes to the heel guy especially JBL if he wants to get points across. The main play by play guy needs to be neutral but the summarizer/colour commentator will usually side with the faces or heels. King and JR were equally effective whether Lawler was heel or face. Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon worked well together although Gorilla was positioned to be the voice of reason and side with the faces despite having been a top heel most of his in ring career. Bobby Heenan was naturally a heel but would be funny with it.
I agree that the two person team works better, maybe go to three for certain big matches or have the odd guest commentator who comes to ringside.
Who listens to this commentary and thinks "Gee this is good stuff?" Corey seemed like a glimmer of hope but it's just awful across the board. I don't want to seem like a racist but it's just the facts: What do Byron, Booker, or Percy add to the booth on Smackdown, RAW, or NXT?
Todd Williams and Corey Graves would be a good duo.
Michael Cole is really good, Corey Graves could be the heelish of the two.
Nigel McGuinness and Mauro are just exceptional.
One problem with the announcing is the constant bickering. Fine, get the different point of views across, but after that, leave it be. Don't just go on and on with the same argument. It's tiring, and can really take you out of a match.
Also, I'm very disappointed that KO never informed referee Bryan that he had 'til five.
I think it's a good idea to have the announcers with different perspectives and disagreements but the way they produce/direct them is just unpleasant. Last night Corey and Byron were constantly telling each other to shut up and calling each other "dummy", etc.. Bickering so aggressively and throughout the entire match, and in just about every match, is pretty distracting and off putting. Doesn't help when a guy like Byron or Booker also can't even stick to their stance and contradict themselves, maybe because they don't actually believe what they're saying, they're just being told to argue?
I do my best to try to focus on the in ring action and tune out the commentary but it's tough. When you partner that kind of commentary with a match where the in ring action's not that strong, like the Women's Title or the nutty special ref match, and that's when I'm inclined to tune out and check my Facebook and whatever else the internet has to offer while I wait for the important shit to go down.
Some of the arguments they've gotten into on commentary reminds of the the ones Tazz and Josh Mathews used to have in TNA. Those two bickered like an old married couple. It just makes watching wrestling more painful than it should be.
Commentators shouldnt bicker that much really. Watching the old ones and you simply have a face commentator putting across the faces then the heel saying why they think the heels are better. Have the odd potshot but the aim should be to make both look good at the end of the match.
I rememeber watching an old show earlier and one of the Rougeuas were wrestling (under whichever Quebeccer gimnick they had at the time) and whilst he was a chicken shit heel the commentary made his sound absolutely spectacular coming to the ring. He tried shennanigans but once he was defeated by the heel you came out thinking despite being an arse that the face had still defeated someone really accomplished.
Did Ziggler win the belt because he's in that advert?
Please watch the language.
Think less, watch more.
I've been down on the product massively recently, haven't really been watching Smackdown at all and came into this with an open mind and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Loved the opening 3 way, the 4 way tag rules were daft, but it was good. Loved how Gable was given the opportunity to shine.
With the exception of Dean and Seth, has there ever been a decent 'lumberjack' match? This was no different.
Bludgeon Brothers and Breezango would have been better placed on Smackdown or swapped with Mojo and Zack from the pre-show. I enjoyed their match.
Orton/Nak Vs. Sami and Kevin was fun enough. And the main event was decent and thank Christ AJ won.
7 1/2 out of 10.
Oh I'm sorry. Last I checked this was a discussion board.
Commentators bickering is stupid, the heel guy maybe threatening or trying to intimidate the play by play guy can work if the play by play guy was never a wrestler. I think one guy certainly needs to have had in-ring experience.
Putting the US Title on Ziggler seemed strange as it really protected no-one if they do intend to put belt on Roode long term.
Lance Storm was tweeting about this.
'LumberJill is a legit term. Female LumberJack. I looked it up. Why are they calling these women LumberJacks?'
He answered his own question. If a lumberjill is a female lumberjack...she's a lumberjack.
It all started when they had that big lumberjack match the Tuesday after Survivor Series.
It's assumed that lumberjacks eat pancakes...
The commentary drove me absolutely nuts. During the womens' title match and the tag match Graves and Saxton just bickered back and forth like an old couple the whole time. Made what should have been good matches nearly unwatchable. I can't imagine the powers that be are happy about it.
By a show of hands, how many people think the bickering every fucking show is played out? I hated it years ago when they'd have the 3 brands call a match and they'd start work-shooting on each other. But holy fuck just watching Raw last night, it's non-stop.
Funny that it always seems the black man is shit on the most on Raw, SD, and NXT........
Definitely agree. It's bullshit and takes away from the program.
Do you think they're trying to recapture what some of the announce teams had in the past? Heenan/Monsoon, Ventura/Monsoon, etc. They all argued a bit, but not to the level we see now. The past two nights have gotten way out of control. To the point nobody was calling the match.
Yeah I don't remember King and JR spending an entire match bitching at each other. IMO, this started with the 3 brands calling 1 match and shooting on each other. Apparently Vince encouraged that stuff so I assume from that point he was pushing for it more and more. We saw it reach absurdity with heel Michael Cole shitting on the divas and then that evolved into him rambling hate toward King and whoever else through entire shows.
Now it's just annoying. You know last night when Enzo was out there it was too fucking loud but I don't really mind when a wrestler comes out and they aren't really on the match because it's not 100% about the match. But when you can't make it 20 seconds without Booker T or Byron getting shit on it's stupid. They're all supposed to be drawing us in to the product, I don't give a fuck about the back and forth bitching.
And you know Booker T at times is legit frustrated. He's probably wanted to beat the fuck out of Corey Graves several times. Don't get me wrong, Byron is dogshit. That might just be due to what he's told to say but we all know not every single word is scripted or fed to them.
Corey shitting on Enzo is at least funny and I like heel Enzo. Booker constantly bemoaning Jordan is getting tiresome though.
I wasn't aware Corey floated that way. I thought he was married to a woman.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Being married to a woman is irrelevant when shitting on a foe.
Lesson Donald, quote typos if you want to mock Donald, because I can ninja edit (missed out the s in front of shitting). See I can teach that!
I'm a failure.
The women's title match on Sunday was unforgivable. 90% of the match was Graves and Saxton bitching at each other about the lumberjacks. It was annoying, and unprofessional. I was just waiting for one of them to say, "My dad can beat up your dad!"
Graves is kind of like the new JBL which isn't exactly a good thing. Graves had an old school Bobby Heenan vibe going for awhile and now it's like with everything that is cool in the WWE. The WWE overdue it and it becomes a bad parody of what got over.
Yeah. He just sounds like he's being a dick towards everyone now.
Not at all. You are the Donnie-donald on my Badgebus.I'm a failure.
As for Graves, I think he still has it. Two man team with a straight man to play off of would be ideal. Three man teams on both brands are muddled plus Booker says some real odd shit.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote