I'm wandering how many people are actually there at one time given the restraints. Possible to me they've sent most home and/or are rotating people through the building. Maybe they're still able to adhere to the evolving new mandate with smart pre-taping and carefully managing which personnel are present at one time. Like were the commentators physically there for the Taker segment?
Did Jonathan Coachman ever get stunnered?
Yea I wondered the same the Roster is way more than the recommended 50 people correct? Plus camera crew, tv crew, executives etc. So I'm guessing they have a minimal roster here.Originally Posted by Fanny Batter
JR gave him one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkWQbQcv-Zg
Man that show was surreal
That Stone Cold promo looked like a sketch off Conan
"Tough crowd.. well there actually isn't a crowd" *cut to cheesy looking Byron shot.
I didn't like it as much as smackdown but i really enjoyed Triple H commentary and the bryon/stone cold segment was a miss with me.
They smartened up and changed the camera angle to face the ramp instead of empty seats.
Brock's hair looked great tonight.
I'm surprised they never boo Heyman out of the arena.
What a random match to show, but it is a banger.
Omg stfu zelina
What a troll move a team to make, though. The two Heyman pushes that Vince shat on.
Hopefully Ric and Alexander work their way into the title match, right?
Edit - ah, Ricochet, Alexander, and Carrillo not only jobbed to AJ Styles, they now dress like him too
OLD SCHOOL tag feud. WM needs no story.
Last edited by Horatio; March 23rd, 2020 at 9:39 PM.
Shane Thorne was always a guy I thought they had something in. He's been wasting away for a while though.
Shayna's great at making things awkward. Got a feeling she's losing at WM, though...
Good, adaptive move to change the hard cam. Also wise to read the room by keeping Lawler off TV. Can't say I'm very familiar with the saying "douched out" but hey, whatever works in these trying times.
We talk about real-world situations where we're seeing new norms that should be adopted when life normalizes and I think WWE found something that should be a part of their arsenal: replays. They seem to be a draw for the casual audience. In addition, showing an entertaining classic match from the archives every week would serve so many purposes. It's essentially a free advertisement for your Network, provides historical context for your programming, and loosens the workload for creative every week. Use this to your advantage, WWE.
Feels kind of counterproductive for Styles to deliver the promos he's giving in light on the bigger picture. I think we've hit the phase where a good chunk of the audience is tired of Taker so Styles spitting a lot of truths (in the form of engaging promos) isn't going to be fulfilling with Taker getting him back. Have to assume a Boneyard Match is more or less a Buried Alive match and it'll be off site. I guess that protects Taker but takes away Styles' ability to actually carry a legit match.
Charly is absolutely willing to risk it all for Angel Garza. Tag match was all about providing an entertaining and noisy match. Street Profits didn't bring much in terms of commentary. Give me more GarzAndrade.
R-Truth: "Go back to football, Randy Moss." Hilarious.
Whoever wrote Baszler's promo did her no favors. There was too much dialogue. Be that as it may, I'll be a shocked if she doesn't beat Lynch.
The Messiah gave us the Women's Revolution lol. What a heel. The revisionist history plays into his role as a martyr very well. It's a wrinkle they haven't tapped into as fully as they could but there's something fun in the way Rollins has portrayed the value of NXT and how Owens portrayed the value of NXT. Heck of a promo by Rollins.
I liked the touch of splicing in footage with Orton's promo at the end. He delivered another good promo, and that's a feud that's set to peak at the right time.
Promos are so much better without modern crowds. I really hope after everything gets back to normal they start doing them backstage, without airing them live, and just run matches taped for Main Event while they're happening or something, or whatever to keep the live audience active. Words hit harder when they're the only sound in the room.
What?
i was gonna make a rude post man you got me good there peter griffin you scoundrel
it’s the American badass!!!!
His legs have gone, but if Undertaker's going to permanently transition into this role he'll be able to talk a match up for years to come. No more wizard please. AJ bury him at the weekend to end the Deadman character.
Taker has played the deadman for 100 years but always seems more natural on the mic as the ABA. This feud needs to continue beyond WM.
Lol lashley is out of WM yet still advertising the match
Well at least Austin Theory showed up to show one match change
Taker/Styles needs to main event one of the nights.
Still advertising Roman despite him announcing his withdrawal on social media in a really poignant post. Hopefully they air it on Smackdown. The complete lack of advice in general regarding coronavirus is a disgrace.
It’s like Vince is trying to carry on like nothing’s happened and like “Oh yeah Mania’s too big for one night!” The rest of the world acknowledges Covid, why can’t you?
I think they're still focused on presenting WRestlemania as something for kids. I can see the reason in their focus on escapism.
I don't know what to expect from the shows. I'm sure they know what they're doing.
It's disappointing, because I've enjoyed the content to be honest, it just has a hugely disingenuous air to it. No televised refund advice, no acknowledgement to postponing the Hall of Fame, no explanation to the empty arena and why in fact they're carrying on. Just lay it out and be honest to the fans.
This Mysterio/Lesnar match is a lot longer than I remember it being. Good stuff. I'd love to see Dominic vs Lesnar some day...
Zelina Vega should have recruited Raul Mendoza... 'cause he's Mexican...
Just turn Humberto Carillo heel. The guy could use a change up. He's a good wrestler, but he as all the personality of a block of wood.
Or they could leave him face and force him to team with Garza... 'cause he's Mexican...
Except he's currently been kidnapped.
They could just say his kidnappers released him early because he started coughing.
They didn't want to catch the 'Rona.
So pleased to see Taker do a non-gimmicky promo for a match build finally. Holy shit yes. Been wanting him to do that for years now. Several of his past Mania matches could have really benefited during the buildup from him actually cutting a real promo and not just the usual cartoon spook talk.
I was very skeptical with what they planned to do with Styles/Taker after it had already been played out for what you'd want to see in Saudi Arabia. Styles did the heavy lifting early with his promos but Taker certainly delivered with this episode. That was a heck of a promo, once again putting another feather in taped/no audience promos cap. I guess the Boneyard Match is another cover for the fact they can work differently with the presentation of the match since we already saw what we needed to see in Saudi.
Didn't really like the idea of Becky trying to compare Shayna to Rhonda but I guess that's how they felt best to create more of Shayna's character. They haven't written material ideal for Shayna but she can deliver in the physicality department. If Shayna doesn't win at Mania, I have no idea what they plan on doing for Becky and the rest of the division.
Aleister Black and Lashley wins the award for least-developed match for Mania. They really did nothing for them. It was interesting to hear the fact that this will be Black's second Mania. What a waste of a year and kind of speaks to how Ricochet (his partner last year at Mania) has floundered in that same time period.
Vega has a pipeline to NXT, clearly. Two guys (Garza and Theory) made it from making noise on NXT, to instantly getting fast-tracked in their own way, to making it on the Mania card. Wow.
It says something about the state of promos when KO had a good promo but he was overshadowed for a better part of the evening.
WWE strength: video production. Great retrospective video for Edge and Orton. Edge might be WWE's MVP for the first quarter of the year. He absolutely killed it with all of his promos in the build to this match. The man is on another level right now and has maximized every single second he's been on TV.
I swear, a spotlight is finally coming into focus. I appreciate the fact that they, once again, displayed that the PC parking lot is a hotspot for chaos. People get kidnapped, people suffer debilitating injuries, and magical boots show up to kick you from behind.
Heyman's promo walked a delicate line of repetitive drivel and putting over McIntyre. I thought he did enough to get over McIntyre. It would have been nice to see a confrontation of some kind but I guess we've seen enough for them. The delivery from Heyman was extremely solid.
I wonder if we just get Saturday as an 8-match Raw card and Sunday as an 8-match Smackdown card. In a safer world in the future, I also wonder if we're at a point where we've got to let the truly skilled promo acts or stories get theirs taped and cut off the audience noise and the less intricate ones happen in front of the crowd. WWE has had a lot of issues in regards to dealing with the empty venues and managing this card, but they've absolutely delivered with the promos.
Promos w/ the wrestlers looking into the camera. I swear I'm dreaming.
Wow, that Taker promo was great. He can carry on if he's going to do ABA promos.
Think I got a hardon over the "I will make you famous" line. As if it's been more than 16 years since the return of the Deadman character. That was, we thought, a retirement run. He looked past it in 2001!
Well I would guess the reason is because if you were to pull up any ppv from their entire history, it's going to be completely void of social commentary, except when they use it in a plot point like the Gulf War in 1991 - and we all know how well that went over.
The other reason is I expect Vince feels in a few years this will be totally forgotten and references would terribly date the event.
Lets hope so for everybody's sake.
Oh, yeah..btw. Agree with Spuds on turning Carrillo the Carismaless heel ("my cousin needs another partner for a Wrestlemania Title Match while I'm holding his jockstrap" etc) I Was saying this as soon as hearing of the Trevor dude being called up.
The very small but important difference is I think is Vince in his own mind with the tagline is trying to make everyone forget about it now rather than a few years. He's trying in his own way to take people's minds off it.
He would in my view would be much better off just say Corona has fucked the company but that's not him. The show must go on![/Queen]
Last edited by Badger; March 31st, 2020 at 9:13 AM.
Nothing aggrivates me more than when I'm watching a show and they cut into it with a "Breaking News" piece where they just announce 8 million new cases. Yes, you should be aware of what's going on, but things like that really put the negativity in to me. I'll go online and read articles and such if I want an update. I don't need that shit when I'm trying to watch Jeopardy. I'm going to stand up for WWE here as I always do, and applaud them for taking my mind off of things and losing myself in three hours of entertainment.
Christ, Tom Phillips must have said ‘Too Big For One Night’ on Raw 50 times. And a third of the show was old footage. Fucking nauseating.
Oh God, now they’re showing ‘Gronk’.
Lol asuka is amazing dancing after the match
This is so dumb
Shayna would give her right eyebrow for a rematch
Asuka winning still is amazing.
Liv Morgan ain't so bad herself...
Why so dumb?
I think they should have saved Bianca for tonight. Have Zelina join in the beat down last night but just leave them laying at the end. Then tonights match goes like it just did with it getting thrown out and then they start beating them down again, THEN Bianca comes out.
Vega can’t wrestle
WHAT?!
I didn't know Vega could wrestle.
On both Saturday and Sunday I noticed that during the Kickoff matches that there were no stickers or whatever they use on the ring posts. Now I just noticed, the first two matches had the RAW stickers, and now they aren't there during this match. Also the front of the stage has the LED screens, and they weren't there for the first two matches, it was just lights on top of a black shelf.
Edit: also just noticed the announce table isn't there either.
Never saw someone dumb call something dumb before.
Love a laughing in pain. APPOLO CREWS~
ApoCr takes it to the limit one more time...
Would love to see rhea come out and challenge Charlotte and win the title back
Lorcan just got obliterated in there...
Wtf is going on lol
"This has never happened before at WrestleMania!"
Someone needs to show Byron WrestleMania 9.
They wouldn’t...would they?!
I guess they wanted to give Drew something historic to make up for not having a crowd.
Liv has been in there with very capable hands as of late, but she's doing well in terms of accountability. There's certainly something there for them to work with in regards to her. It would have been a jolt to things if she actually took the match, but I get why Asuka won.
They pretty much went through 2-3 weeks worth of a program with Bianca Belair but it was a good chance to spotlight her to a new audience. As long as they don't let her waste away, she's going to be a welcomed fresh face to that division. Adding Nia into the mix adds more, as well.
Black and Crews was a fantastic match. The logic in getting Crews on Raw was weird. Phillips said Crews moved over “based on draft picks that were about to expire.” Whatever works, I guess. He would fit more in line in terms of the working mindset of Raw from several months ago: projects who need to be developed. It would be something though if they opted to go with Crews over someone like Ricochet. Speaking of...
CedRic is a team that can get some momentum. They looked pretty great two weeks ago and this was another good showing.
Any additional second that WWE isn't printing a t-shirt of the Wrestlemania 36 logo with a silhouette of Owens falling (ala the Jumpman logo) is just time they're okay not making money.
Charlotte looked good with the NXT title but I didn't really understand her promo. The Flairs are the best tailors in the business, I guess. We'll find out if their hunch is right with Charlotte drawing for NXT. I doubt believe it led to huge dividends the first time around.
Speaking of looking good, McIntyre looks absolutely amazing with the WWE title. It was convoluted to say McIntyre had this promo after Mania instead of just saying it was on Monday. I can't think of a good reason to set it as after the match, lol. I'll bite, though. If this was taped and this happened with WWE knowing it happened, why wouldn't you show everything prior to the match to start the show or at the top of hour two to build to showing the match in the last segment? I'll let it slide since they gave us seven hours of entertaining TV over the weekend, haha.
i'm sure you've done it before
That has got to be one of the worst RAW's ever
Every segment was a boring turd except Drew vs Big Show.
"Let's showcase all the extras we didn't want to put on the Wrestlemania card"
I was honestly fast forwarding Bianca Belair before she finished inialializing everything she said and swinging her ponytail as she skipped about - capitivating stuff, right up there with the gerbil looking guy sitting in the ring and trying to look creepy every single match (Aliester Blank)
The one team/wrestler that showed some potential was the Ricochet and Alexander team. Could see them getting a push in time.
First of all, I'm smart. Second of all, I use the word stupid.
I thought it was a good, rare showcase episode. They're obviously bringing in talent one at a time to get them their deal.
nah
Guess there's no reason for me to continue posting then.
You can post for the stupid and not be dumb
I'm wondering if someone thought they should get creative and remember something when it comes to Apollo Crews. He was traded for considerations that were set to expire. I wonder if that was from when Bliss and Cross were traded from Raw to Smackdown for "a future pick down the line."
I dunno, but this isn't the first time I thought they could have a star on their hands before they went and made a loser of him again. Did he ever get a decent push?
Apollo Crews is my third favorite wrestler, was very happy to see him on RAW.
I still think Apollo Crews has a shit-ton of untapped potential but he needs a goddamn character and something meaningful to uncork it. Heel turn might help get the ball rolling for starters. For anyone that knows, was he just as bland on the indy scene or did he have more of a character there?
I just hope they don't have Apollo Crews steal Lana from Bobby Lashley.
apollana would be wonderful
- - - Updated - - -
i'm lyin i just wanted to say apollana
He should buy her from Bobby Lashley. He should spend his last dime for her...
Remember when Apollo Crews used to be named after a geographic location?
Because "Uhaa Nation" remembers.
One of the rare times WWE's "random name generator" gave an indie guy a better name than they came in with.
"Jimmy, can you point to Uhaa Nation on a map? Its right there by Parts Unknown."
Like 90% of indy talent he had no personality just moves. It's funny how few wrestlers actually have something unique before getting to a larger promotion. If YOU isn't already interesting you better be creative or you're fucked.
We have to look at this through the eyes of the WWE. Apollo Crews is someone who would probably thrive more in a promotion that isn't about tv ratings and being a brand that people don't look at JUST what they offer in the ring. But you never know, look at Neville/PAC. The dude was the same guy for a decade up until the WWE turned him heel with that King of the CW gimmick. Now look at him, charging triple what he used to and a lot more people respect him.
A heel AC with someone like Drake Maverick or Robbie E (can't remember his new name in NXT) as the mouthpiece.....Him in a role where he can showcase his in-ring ability and grow as a character. And the WWE needs to allow that growth and not take it away. I'm not saying this because he's black but because they're similar and that's Shelton Benjamin is yesterday's Crews. Worked real well off Angle and then later when Haas was more of the charismatic one. But that Gold Standard gimmick he was doing in ECW with Elijah Burke at his side was really fucking sweet. And then the WWE just scrapped it and Shelton still hasn't recovered.
Seeing as it was the best thing Shelton did, try it again with Apollo and bring in Momma Crews.
If business were normal, aka fans in the building, I’d love to have seen AJ Styles as Drew’s first challenger: AJ bumping around and he has the verbal skills to bring up Drew’s mic game. Drew walking away with the belt after a couple successful PPV defenses would come out looking like a million bucks, ready for the next non-Reigns heel challenger.
Right now though, Vince needs to shut it down...
This is the most excited I have been for a champion vs champion match in I don't know how long. Classic wrestle booking is the way to go.
Asuka rulled it tonight.
Give me more Lorcan/Black. Those two grill together.
Vega has a fantastic smile.
Crews better win against MVP next week.
Rey could work two minute squash matches instead of cutting promos.
Seth has gone from douche to creepazoid.
I wonder what hopey deng sue means?
I freakin love Ricochet. I hope he turns on Cedric and goes back to being King Ricochet this year.
McIntyre reminds me of Hogan.
Last edited by Horatio; April 13th, 2020 at 11:01 PM.
They aren't practicing good social distancing techniques at all tonight. And look what all you fans have done to Seth now. He seems lost now and don't know what to do anymore.
Seth has been lost. He needs the Lord.
According to him he is the Lord of Monday night's. And he has risen to show us all how to cut creepy backstage promos
Hopefully he finds himself.
Were these shows taped? I am wondering what 70 year old Lawler is doing in there...
I believe they are live now
I'll be surprised if the finish doesn't lead to McIntyre and Rollins being the next major feud. That doesn't make a lot of sense because Rollins lost at Mania but...hey...oh well.
Rollins and McIntyre were supposed to main event a houseshow in my hometown this month, but the whole show was rescheduled for October.
Rollins loses at WM and gets a championship match lol
I'd have Murphy, Black, and Crews as the winners for the qualifying matches next week. In relation to one of the potential qualifiers, I guess Theory is staying on Raw. I have to imagine that his odds of staying relevant increased by being affiliated with Andrade and Vega, same for Garza. Vega leading them makes a lot of sense because all three are either unproven or not ready to carry a promo segment. A manager-led stable would be refreshing if it actually stays that way.
The right women won their respective qualifying matches (though I'm not sure why Liv wasn't in a qualifying match). I thought it was more effective to show Shayna off the way they did against Sarah. They seem to be deliberately putting Kairi down a peg in the pecking order. She was the one who took the pin at Mania to lose the titles, took the pin in the rematch, and then lost her qualifying match. Not sure what to make of it, but it's something.
They certainly took a different approach with some of the interviews (post-match, pre-match, people questioning the intelligence of the questions). I liked the attempt to change things up somewhat.
I didn't take anything of value away from Charlotte's promo but it's very obvious now that they're trying to cross promote NXT by having Charlotte show up on both Raw and NXT. Whenever she loses the title, they need to circle back to Charlotte and Bianca. Speaking of...Bianca playing the serious one in the trio of her and the Street Profits is a good move. That could be a good way to correct course with them because their cheesy humor isn't good humor.
Good on them to take steps to explain what happened when McIntyre and Andrade crossed paths in NXT. Probably could have used some video evidence to back that up, but I appreciate the fact that they called back to that. Pretty emphatic victory for McIntyre and a very predictable finish with Rollins coming out to set up the next title feud. Doesn't make a lick of sense based on Owens getting the shine at Mania but whatever.
Yeah, I saw before Mania that people were predicting Rollins to win that match because then he would feud for the title. But he lost, yet still gets a title program. It should really be Owens vs. McIntyre. I don't want to see more of Owens and Rollins, but I wouldn't mind if Owens came out and called out Rollins for taking his opportunity. Perhaps set up a three way match at MITB?
The criteria for title shots is so thin these days. I mean Reigns was going to get a shot just for saying he's next.
I hope Black wins MITB because I would just love that match. I don't think they'd do the sneak attack cash-in either, Black would just call him out.
Watched most of this show, turned it off when they said "Charlotte up next" and it went to commercial. Didn't turn it off cause Charlotte was up next, turned it off cause I was fucking tired. So I missed Drew/Andrade.
I enjoyed what I saw. Seems the silliness has gone from RAW and it's a straightfoward show. Don't see the buzz about Austin Theory though.
Black with the MITB case would be dope because they can really stress "one Black Mass and it's a new champ".
Really, you'd think of everybody on the Monday Night roster, Black would be the guy to have the cult and the Messiah gimmick. He's going to lead his "Black Masses" against Seth Rollins' "Monday Night Zealots".
It should be Black as a heel, being all "Dutch Satan Worshipper" with The Authors of Pain, a gothed-up Buddy Murphy, and maybe a couple other scrubs - Eric Rowan comes to mind. Against Seth Rollins' crew of The Street Profits and... ?
But none of that works with Rollins as the champ and Black chasing him.
Black is a loner not a cult leader. Also making the Satanic dude a heel is lame. Also, Rollins current gimmick is good as is. What I'm saying is no to all of that, I guess.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
