When was the last time Apollo Crews was on TV? I miss that dude.
When was the last time Apollo Crews was on TV? I miss that dude.
Would you say that you have the Apollo blues?
I have no Apollo Clues on why he’s not been on TV.
Apollogetically
Where did I say I was giving up?Originally Posted by Nash Diesel
There's always something to like about WWE, or I wouldn't bother anymore. At the moment, that's everything with RKBro and the Bloodline, plus Cody.
If all my posts were like the one you've quoted here, fine, but I've been mostly complimentary about WWE recently, so just another case of Nash Diesel being Nash Diesel. Must be exhausting.
When he was on TV, all you'd see is Apollo Lose
Whenever his contract is up for renewal and he’s considering whether to stay or go elsewhere, It would be nice if they let Apollo Choose
How is this "Nash Diesel being Nash Diesel" when Tyrone agreed with my comments about the lack of patience some fans have? Is Tyrone being Nash Diesel? I'm confused by that statement.
The FACT is that you posted 2 comments, both negative, and 1 of them was about an angle that's barely got it's feet wet. So if you were so high on RKBro, Cody, etc why focus on just the negative and then try to single me out? You could've left that last bit of your post in your head because it makes zero sense when Tyrone replied as well.....
Main Event. I had to look up his record and yeah it seems like he's back to Main Event. He at least won his last match...against Akira....wow.
My theory: Finally gets an interesting gimmick. A predominately white out of shape men took offense and after enough chirping on Twitter the E caved in. So now you just get a watered down version of what he was doing as IC Champ on Main Event jobbing to Ciampa or whoever the fuck.
Honestly though the guy is pretty fuckin bland. That NXT documentary with him talking to Scott Hall...He was just so uncomfortable. I never watched him prior as Uha Nation and considering most indies aren't character-promo driven like WWE, I can see why he's not exactly killing it when he talks. But the gimmick he's rocking now, idk....if he dropped the accent would what he says still work? For some reason the accent helps his heel persona.
Ok, pal. Whatever you say, fella.
Tie Rone, or Tyre One?
Show me where I'm wrong. Answer one question instead of trying to do the cornball routine of slighting me for no reason. I'm not offended pal, don't worry guy, I'm not your fella and I don't need any more friends buddy.
Ok, pal. Whatever you say, fella.
Oh it's just Murphy being Murphy. Doesn't get praise so he tucks himself and cries in the corner.
Nah, no interest in debating with you. Anyone else, yes, but you, no. No offence.
We move on.
Yeah you popped off, sounded like a buffoon, nothing new from you.Nah, no interest in debating with you. Anyone else, yes, but you, no. No offence.
We move on.
What ultimately made me parachute away from WWE was the constant "just wait for the payoff" mentality. They've been producing some god-awful television for years, from awkward backstage promos to lazy booking, and now I tend to take things as if they were movie trailers. If I look at something and I'm not digging what I see, then I skip it next time I see it. The Becky/Asuka backstage thing was... not good. It looked like two preschoolers yapping at each other on the playground, and if that was what they were going for then that's not up my alley. Either way, it stinks, but that's kinda WWE's modus operandi.
And even if you do wait for something to pay off, WWE doesn't really have things pay off usually. Things just transition from one uphill to another uphill or they just drop it and start a new uphill. It never stops and there's rarely a cohesive arc.
With WWE, it's like waiting for a train that's never coming.
@VHS Your post sounds like someone who watches WWE religiously. You're definitely one of the main posters who talk about how you never watch or you barely watch WWE these days but always have an opinion that is current.
When someone says they "parachute" from something it means you leave. For good. You've bailed on the WWE but you still watch........?
There's a reason it's called EPISODIC.
I mean I used to watch it religiously. Now I mostly keep tabs on the Youtube highlights.
Stop trying to catch everybody in a lie, detective Nash. I'm walking here, I'm walking here.
I'm Dick Tracy
Where there's Dicks, there's always Nash.
Are you one of those people who freak out when a woman is breastfeeding? I swear I've never met someone online or in the physical realm that was so disturbed by cock.Where there's Dicks, there's always Nash.
Any cock'll do
I kind of want to share a stadium bathroom urinal with @VHS just to see what the fuck his problem is with a penis.
Can we get back on track please?
The weird derailing bits are getting even weirder.
Thank you.
You got it, big boy.
RAW sucked!
I’m a bit surprised they started the show off with the Cage Match, but definitely not surprised they ran a spot with one of the dudes being blasted through the cage. Shelton Benjamin must be really busy if Cedric Alexander us the hanger on in this Hurt Business stuff. Alexander’s sell of the bump from the top was great though. The match was fine for what it was but I don’t know what we’re doing here if the purpose to get Omos over because he’s now lost 2 of the 3 matchups with Lashley. We don’t need more of this but apparently WWE has more up their sleeve with these two.
Kind of a mixed bag with the US Championship story. It seems awfully convoluted with getting more and more side characters involved but it also works to help freshen things up by having those side characters integrated. Feels like it’s been forever and a day since we’ve seen The Mysterios, but it made sense to see them come back to aid Ali from the attack from Veer, Miz, and Theory.
It seemed obvious that Orton’s absence due to a “family commitment” opened the door for Jey Uso to mess with Riddle during the match against his brother Jimmy. The match was pretty good and followed the trend prior to the unification talk, with The Usos being on the short end of the stick in singles matches.
What are Los Lotharios doing on Raw? They didn’t address it, but I appreciate the fact they gave Styles and Bálor a warmup tag match to build towards The Judgement Day. I don’t think I’ve seen a tilt a whirl into a leg sweep but Bálor executed that so smooth. Los Lotharios are just straight good. They also look great when they’re working and they bump and feed really well. They get moments to shine and then they do what they’re supposed to do in making the other team look good. I’m not really sure why Liv would be so apprehensive to Styles’ offer to team up with them at first. I guess she was gun shy after being burned by Rhea, but seemed on board by the end. Liv seems to really be in awe of the talent of the guys and Styles/Bálor look like they’re having a blast working together.
Not much there in week 2 of Sonya vs. Alexa. It was longer but not much better. Alexa got a new theme, too.
So last week they advertised and hit it heavy that Rhodes would get a championship match to start the third hour. This week they have a Cody countdown for the show to lead to his arrival at the start of the third hour. They’re definitely trying to use his star power to make the viewing habits change for that third hour. Gotta say, that’s better than Raw Underground lol. I think Rhodes’ approach to his promo was pretty good. He talked about how two losses for Rollins set him on this deranged path while a previous history of losses caused Rhodes to endure to be reborn. Rhodes was emotional for the promo but he sure as hell knew when to find the camera to stare it down haha. Why was Rollins wearing an earpiece? Lol
KO on commentary is just a blessing. He’s really selling this story and helping get this over with Ezekiel. This match with Gable was one we’ve seen over the last few weeks but it was stretched for time. It didn’t drag, so that’s a plus.
Carmella seems to be shifting into the 24/7 picture. At least she was reunited with Truth.
Much like Los Lotharios, not much of an explanation as to why Lacey is working on Raw too. After some slippery appearances as of late, it seems like they’re trying to get things back on track with pushing her as a heroic, sympathetic face.
Nice quick promos by Riddle and The Usos to hype Friday’s match. Feels kind of weird to see Raw hype something on Fox but they did it. On top of that, my hopes aren’t that high that we actually get a finish there.
Lots of messiness apparently going on as they advertised a Six Pack Challenge at the start of the show and that evaporated in a hurry. Then you had Graves outright state that Shasta and Naomi walked out. A lot of the stories surrounding the situation don’t make a lot of sense but things will get sorted out in due time. Shame Asuka and Becky didn’t get a lot of time here but they made the most of it. The pace was rather frenetic and they were grooving and in sync most of the way. Good match, and Asuka/Bianca should be fun.
I read somewhere that Benjamin's injured.
I know a lot of people are saying the Sasha/Naomi thing could be a work but I doubt it. The WWE aren't going to completely break kayfabe the way they did for Sasha and Naomi. I think what threw people off was Corey Graves acknowledging it. 25 years ago they would've just changed the match and years later on Prichard's podcast we'd get the scoop lol.
Apparently 2 of the women in that match the champs were uncomfortable working with....I'd like to believe that it's not Asuka and Becky which leaves Cross and Doudrop. IDK....Kind of weird on Naomi's part to walk out. Sasha, she's been pretty spoiled by this company but if you're not satisfied with being on both shows every week, having matches, defending the titles, what else is there for you to be angry about? I'm obviously jumping the gun but still...They're 2 of my favorites and I was digging the return of Team Bad.
Anyone know Sasha's address? I've currently got a box of tissues lined up in my Amazon checkout I'd like to send to her.
I just don't see what the angle would be. They're on Raw AND Smackdown every week. They worked Mania. Sure they weren't on Backlash but it had 6 matches so many many people including the US/IC champions were not on the card.
It wasn't like this was a tag title match it was a 6-pack challenge. Rumor is that Naomi was going to win-I don't know if I believe that but if she was going to win what a weird time to risk not only your job but walking out on a contract isn't cheap.
Sasha has a history of being disgruntled. Why does she keep resigning? Or why do they keep resigning her? Don't get me wrong, she's good in the ring, but there are better women on the roster, and the headache would be gone from WWE management.
Naomi they probably have to be more careful with because they don't want the Bloodline leaving too...
So a friend of Naomi's said the plan was for Naomi to win and then lose to Bianca and for Sasha to be the challenger for Ronda and lose to her putting off defending the tag titles for like a couple months. Basically using them to put over the champs. Same friend said that they had no issues working with anyone in the match. In fact there were pitches made to make sure the they started their program with Nikki and Doudrop during this but they were shot down.
They have been all over tv more so than Richochet the IC champ. They have been doing these little short feuds with thrown together teams with no real story. At least they seem to be building a story for Nikki and Doudrop being together.
I can see their frustrations to a degree but I don't think it hurts them to put over the singles champs. They will still be on tv and gives more time to establish teams and challengers for them to give them better stuff to go on. there is not a tag division for the women right now. At least when they put Naomi and Sasha together they had history with Team Bad.
I think they made the wrong call to walk out. They expressed their concerns and frustrations to creative and to Vince. At the end of the day you need to be ale to do business and walking out is not doing business.
I'm just surprised at the amount of specifics/details the official WWE statement goes into:
Like, they could have just had a sentence or two that just says "they left and we're sorry" but they've got all the juicy juice in there about respect and not wanting to work with folks and leaving their belts on the desk, etc.. I guess they just wanted to put the facts out so there wasn't a bunch of speculation? Just seems like a lot of info you wouldn't think necessary or "appropriate" for them to include. Wild stuff.
Exactly. It seems like they (WWE) were trying to get ahead of any bullshit that the dirtsheets were going to put out there or even Sasha/Naomi.
Reminds me of what Paul Heyman did to Sabu back in the day when Sabu bailed on an ECW show for a booking Japan. He went out there and just buried Sabu. Samoa Joe was put to task by Dixie to do the same to Scott Hall in TNA, only Kevin Nash was standing out there and double slapped the shit out of Joe backstage for his comments lol.
Say what you want about WWE and the booking and all that, but the fact is when you as a talent do that--it's actually more of a disrespectful thing toward the talent you would be working with and the fans who pay to see you perform per your obligations via contract than toward WWE.
we all know vince doesn't like tag team wrestling, what did she expect lol
Lashley and MVP both deserve a lot of credit for making Omos look like he knows what he's doing out there. I'm not sure where they go next after the HIAC match, because a cage match used to always be reserved for the blowoff for a feud. Omos is being booked like heel Big Show was, they try to make him look like a threat but nobody takes his legs out from under him.
Theory is getting more comfortable on the mic in front of a live crowd, and Miz is making this story with Ali work. Ali also sold really well for Veer. The return of the Mysterios was fun, and the double leap spot to take down Veer was impressive.
KO backstage with BBQ results, then on commentary for Zeke's match, is why everyone should watch. He is making a ludicrous angle far more entertaining than it has any right to be. Gable more than just held up his own end here. Total commitment to the storyline.
I am glad Carmella is away from Queen Zelina. Dana's line that Carmella hasn't been relevant since the chinless guy was one of the best things she's ever said. I am hoping that reuniting Mella with R-Truth will lead to something better for the 24/7 title.
I had better hopes for Liv, but she's just not that good an actress. Her makeup reminds me of Doink. Styles/Balor working together more is solid. I did not find Edge's promo to be as annoyingly boring as I did for the last few.
They love to repeat matches, and Alexa Bliss vs. Sonya is this week's installment. Shame is, both are much much better on the mic than in the ring, and they haven't given Bliss any mic time since her return.
I wanted Cody to simply say he proved Rollins is a loser and despite Rollins' intentions, he's done with him and moving on to better things. Then, next week when Rollins wrestles someone like Riddle, Cody could appear out of nowhere to stomp Rollins as payback for the attack next week.
I wasn't sure what the deal was with announcing the six person #1 contender's match for the women's title, then changing it to Becky v Asuka. It seems that Sasha and Naomi walking out in the middle of the show was legit.
Everyone always thinks they're going to change the old man's mind especially the newer generation of wrestlers.
WWE certainly gets to control the narrative when they put information out there. It's like when they tried to roll out overnight numbers for Smackdown for Friday's when Rampage was starting, or when they went head-to-head for part of one night. The information isn't going to be accurate but it's out there and people will take what's given to them immediately. It also provides WWE's side of the story so you'd like to think a lot of people are going to say "well, let's wait to hear the other side", but a lot of people won't do that, either.
Naomi put her Uso husband in a rough spot. Gonna need the head of the table to help sort this out if she's gonna save her career.
Sasha, well, I haven't always been a huge fan of hers but she's gotten better in the ring, but she's got a track record of being disgruntled. She seems more trouble than she's worth.
Jimmy has had his own share of rough spots without Naomi being added to the list.
I think there's definitely a larger % of fans who are going to want to hear from Sasha and Naomi regardless of what WWE says. Most people take WWE's word and laugh.
I don't think her husband is in a rough spot at all.
I don't mean with he's in a rough spot with WWE, but I meant in his home life.
His home life? Now I'm even more confused. How would his home life be affected?
Maybe he'll start to be worried that she'll walk out on their marriage.
Lol I guess.
Anyway yeah it’s unusual for WWE to be that up front but yeah I’m on the % that’s going to wait to hear their side. Despite this, I have felt that the women’s tag title division was stale for a while. Just recycled matches over and over. Be interested to see what they do with them know. Guessing gauntlet or tournament.
I'll be honest I don't think there's ever been a time where the women's tag division was strong. It's always been these random pairings or pairings that make sense and no real solid feuds of any kind whatsoever.
I wish I could say TNA did any better but their women's tag division was a fuckin joke. Eric Young is a former women's tag champion....
When the first started the division they had some teams that were together like Mandy and Sonya, Tamina and Nia, IIconics, and I think maybe one or two more plus Bayley and Sasha. Went downhill pretty quickly though and has had more downs than ups for sure.
Quality over quantity. Mandy and Sonya were greener than goose shit, Tamina and Nia were a ring death waiting to happen.
So yeah they had a few teams, just like they always have of these random singles people being paired up with minimal if any history. But where's the storyline? Can we even name one female tag-team rivalry that's been developed? I can't.
The tag titles are more of a prop for the women. When Sasha and Bayley were heels and had all the gold....but can we even think of a single feud they had with other teams that mattered? I'll be honest, I can't think of a single tag-team feud in general. Most of the feuds in the tag division are centered around non-tag situations.
Remember when every week Nia would powerbomb Lana? You would've thought the end game would be maybe Lana and Nattie or Dana winning the titles from Nia and Shayna...Naw.
Sasha/Bayley having title matches on NXT against their teams as well as the main roster was my favourite time. Good stuff against the Kabuki Warriors too but yeah it’s been stale most times. I personally wouldn’t be all that sad if the women’s tag titles if they never came back.
Yeah pretty much agree with you. It was more quanity over quality to start and pretty much anytime they remember they need to do a title match at wrestlemania and throw teams together.
The closest they had to team riverarly would be Bayley/Sasha and Asuka/Sane but that still involved Asuka and Sasha and the raw title more. At a stretch you could say Bayley/Sasha and Nikki/Bliss but again there was the Nikki/Bayley thing going on for the Smackdown title.
Anytime they had good established teams with the gold like Bayley/Sasha, Asuka/Sane, IIconics.. they never had another good solid team to feud with.
I wish they would do more story telling. We get little snippets like Nia and Bazler hating each other and becoming a team and champs. But overall you are correct things seem to come from other places.
What has always blown my mind over the last 15 years or so are the people who think they are going to be the ones who make Vince care about the Cruiserweights or the tag division despite knowing full well he hasn't really put much effort into a quality tag division but a handful of times he's ran WWE. Once he broke up the Hart Foundation, Demolition, and The Rockers we didn't have much of a tag division in the 90's until the Attitude Era around 1999. Even then once you got past the NAO and the TLC trinity, what did they have? APA? Sucked. Headbangers? Weak. Then a bunch of main event guys winning the tag-titles.
Women's tag titles were a little ambitious but I'm not shocked with how they've been booked.
Yeah I like that they have tag titles and can go across brands but yeah they have never really had any kind of a division to work with and have not gone out of their way to make one.
Even in NXT....They have women's tag titles and not a single feud comes to mind that wasn't again, based around something else.
I give WWE props because other than Impact there really aren't any promotions that are co-ed that cater to women's wrestling as much as they do. Even if some of the stuff is dumb or played out, they're getting exposure, they're getting tv time, for the most part most of the women are involved in something even Tamina lol.
What doesn't help is the fact that most fans including myself don't take women's tag wrestling seriously because of the fact nobody else seems to either. Why should we care if no other company outside of Japan give a shit?
Could you imagine if every wrestler walked out because they didn't like their proposed match or angle? There'd be like 2 people on the roster.
I'd walk out of my job, because I don't like 90% of what I do, but I have bills.
I had family inheritances finances behind me when I walked out my job a few months ago. Though the normal sensible thing is to wait for another one, I just couldn’t take it anymore although I loved (and still do) my now ex-colleagues so went on sabbatical but been enjoying it so far. Eventually I will return to the rat race.
I just don't see how it's a work. What's the approach? Fuck the approach what's the pitch!?!
I'm also intrigued at the fact that WWE went to the lengths they did talking about the situation. Other than trying to get it out there before Sasha or Naomi start rambling on Twitter.
Well, we all know pro wrestling needs a shot in the ass. Unfortunately AEW didn't do much. Interest always seems to be high when they blur fiction and reality. Maybe this is an attempt to do that, if it's a work. But if it is a work, who's it against? Like, we're not going to see Sasha vs. Vince.
I very much doubt the work theory. Like you say who would it be against and this is the first WWE update in a while (AFAIK anyway) where they’ve actually used the “scripted show” in their updates. That’s a weird work route to take.
Did you forget? R-Truth and Miz were running roughshod on the whole roster, and due to the "unsafe working conditions", the entire roster walked out on HHH. Only the ultimate company man, Cena, the newly face Sheamus, and if I recall correctly, CM Punk stuck around with HHH.
It also takes a shot at the other talents and being 'comfortable' with them ... how do you 'work' that? What's the upside of painting coworkers in such an unfavorable light? Uncomfortable to me reads as anywhere from some minor tiff or grudge, right up to potential of one of them being unsafe in the ring with the prep-time mentioned.
I hope it's not true. More than likely WWE, who are known to piss on your grave, probably fluffed it up to make Sasha and Naomi sound like assholes.
The main page has the tweets from an alleged friend but take that with a grain of salt. Why wouldn't Sasha or Naomi just come out and tweet a response as opposed to some random on Twitter doing it for them knowing full well it'll come back on them IF it's true?
Also I want to point out that it's not like Sasha and Bayley were constantly defending the belts.
That’s the main page for you. Neither shocked or surprised those tweets were reported as “news” when it doesn’t prove anything.
Of course that dork Dax hardwood is supporting banks. He's disgruntled employee #2 after Punk
I heard he watched Homer do it on the Simpsons and is considering changing his name to Max Harwood.
Vince was unsure how to communicate with him at the time of contract negotiations until one of his staff suggested he Fax Harwood.
His favourite vacuum cleaner is Vax Harwood.
If anyone decided he got too lazy in the ring, they’d call him Lax Harwood.
If he married Nia, she'd be Nia Jax Harwood
What’s his favourite instrument? Sax Harwood.
Bray Wyatt dad surely would tax harwood
What we are also forgetting here and it is cruelly underrated and undermentioned….KO wearing the Sami Zayn Forever shirt!
Kicking myself for not including that in my comments.What we are also forgetting here and it is cruelly underrated and undermentioned….KO wearing the Sami Zayn Forever shirt!
Maybe Sami will return the favour and wears a KO shirt on Smackdown.
If it leads to Owens vs. Zayn 898, I'm all for it.
Given his current storyline of trying to ingratiate himself into Roman's favor, Sami could very well try wearing a "Bloodline" shirt when he goes to talk to Heyman about how he wants to show his support to the Uso's. After all, as the locker room leader, he thinks it's terrible that RKBro is coming over from Raw to Smackdown to try to take the SD tag belts away, and to show his support he's wearing their shirt. Heyman probably takes a look at that shirt and says "I told you last week that Roman appreciates you, but don't press your luck". Later, when Sami has his own match, he's wearing his own Sami Zayn Forever shirt.Maybe Sami will return the favour and wears a KO shirt on Smackdown.
He's already done that, more or less.
Presumed they were going to have a kayfabe injury angle for at least one guy for RK-Bro but was surprised it was Orton, based on the fact they had updates posted on dot com relating to Riddle. Makes sense he’s the first one hanging around because you want to see how he does with this time invested in the tag team. You want to see if it’s been done right in the eyes of the audience and if they’re really behind him and will help him climb up as a singles star. Orton is rolling right now so when he comes back, it’ll be an epic pop. Zayn actually getting to directly work with The Usos for the six man tag was fantastic. Riddle seeing red when The Usos in sight is good storytelling. He got a shed of vengeance by getting the win, and it made sense that the Usos bailed as it got tough.
Edge has dumbed down his message a bit and that’s helped him a little bit. They want to get deep with the context so it sounds like they want to transition to having Rhea and Priest convey that heavier material. The general message is still meh but at least the overall presentation is getting better. Not for nothing, Cena’s name has been brought up over WWE programming a little more over recent weeks. I think that’s deliberate, with Summerslam coming. Mixed tags lose steam because you don’t get that hot tag but this match was fine. Made sense to see Edge tip the balance of the match toward The Judgement Day. They got the heat and Bálor was just nowhere to be found to I guess prolong this without a lot of direction.
Veer talked with Jerry Lawler and we didn’t get a lot there. The Mysterios kept the high ground by kicked Veer on the outside. A lot.
Alexa outlining the previous pasts for herself and Nikki did sound as silly as it has been but at least it was addressed before their match. There’s not a lot there on Alexa’s side in these matches but she’s winning. She’s back but we really don’t have a clue what her motivation is or which gimmick she’s really working right now.
Rhodes/Miz was actually pretty clunky prior to the commercial break. That didn’t seem to take any steam away from Rhodes. The ring step spot to the knee looked pretty good and I imagine that’s going to be a story point in the cell. Nice heat spot with Rollins coming in and grabbing the weight belt from the fan and using it to whip Rhodes. Crowd didn’t like that whatsoever an were definitely behind Rhodes. They ate it up as he limped back to give the belt back to the kid. Need a good go home segment next week for this one.
Literally nothing new happened with the Ezekiel story. At least we got the match finally set up between Ezekiel and Owens for the PLE.
A match between Lashley and MVP simply just to establish a stip between Lashley and Omos seems rather cheap, considering their history. The finish was stupid as Omos clearly was interfering on the outside but the ref kept counting and Lashley was counted out.
Lacey is officially on Raw and she’ll be back in action next week.
Silly to see Becky wearing a Seinfeld-esque puffy shirt. Good character work by her keep her hair preserved to show the green mist in there. If you would’ve told me this was the week they had to cook up a makeshift main event, I would’ve believed it based on how Becky/Asuka looked. It wasn’t bad but it just felt flimsy in terms of a produced match. The one last week essentially had comparable time and was much better. It got better near the end but now we’ve gotten the win last week cheapened because Becky won here and it’s now a triple threat match for the championship.
Took over 90% of the show to complete before a singles champion showed up on screen lol. If not for Bianca at the end, we would’ve been absolutely absent of those champs. No Reigns, no Theory.
That really sucks about Orton. Cruelly ironic when he recently said he wanted to go until he was 50.
However on the flip side if he was next for Reigns, then could be a summer of fun for Riddle and Orton will get a fucking pop when he returns.
It's going to be something if Graves' return to in-ring action is going to be in the 24/7 stuff. Yes, I know he's already won it and do mild work (to be nice), but I mean in the sense of an actual match with bumping and etc.
Loving all the Cody stuff, apart from the countdown and over the top pyro. Seeing as this, I feel, is the type of treatment he was getting in AEW that eventually lead to him getting the negative reactions from the crowd. He then never turned heel. Unless that's what they're looking for, but that seems odd as the company needs a good old fashioned babyface and everything else about his run so far screams a top babyface run, with the title somewhere down the line. With the reactions to boot. That may change soon, with the way he's being presented. Then again, different audience, so perhaps my concerns will lead to nothing of the sort.
Plus, maybe it was going to lead to a heel turn in AEW if he'd stuck around.
Good to see that emotion and fire from Riddle at the top of the show.
Sorry wrong thread
When it was announced that Jerry the King Lawlor was going to invite Veer to King's Court, was anyone else thinking this would not turn out well for Jerry?
Loved Jerry's joke about Veer being so hairy, that Bigfoot asks for a picture next to him. Even better was the one that Veer is so hairy, when he walks his dog, people pet Veer.
Was this the first time we heard Veer speak?
Nobody wants to see Jerry take a bump at his age - but he looks like Mae Young out there, and I can't be the only one who thought he was about to take a punch or a kick to the gut before Veer put him in the camel clutch.
The save by the Dominiks was welcomed, if only for the relief that Jerry wasn't going to need an ambulance on national TV again.
You say that, but Jerry regularly wrestles on the independents. I'm sure he can take a kick or a punch and be fine. I don't blame WWE for having him never get physical anymore, though.
Cody in AEW was kind of all over the place. It seemed like the last year or so the only time he was truly loved like he was at the start when he'd bash WWE for something. I think certain dirt sheets stories and things he or his wife would say/do rubbed some the wrong way.Loving all the Cody stuff, apart from the countdown and over the top pyro. Seeing as this, I feel, is the type of treatment he was getting in AEW that eventually lead to him getting the negative reactions from the crowd. He then never turned heel. Unless that's what they're looking for, but that seems odd as the company needs a good old fashioned babyface and everything else about his run so far screams a top babyface run, with the title somewhere down the line. With the reactions to boot. That may change soon, with the way he's being presented. Then again, different audience, so perhaps my concerns will lead to nothing of the sort.
Plus, maybe it was going to lead to a heel turn in AEW if he'd stuck around.
Good to see that emotion and fire from Riddle at the top of the show.
I also think it probably pisses off a lot of sheep fans that Cody is no doubt a WWE guy, from his work to his promos to how he approaches the entire business and without him there is no AEW. Probably pisses those same fans off even more that he came back and he's a main eventer. Those same fans sitting on the keyboard waiting for him to take a pin from someone like Sheamus and "HE'S BEING BURIED!!!"
Now that Lesnar's gone for the time being, Cody's who I look forward to seeing on PPVs.
I'd love to see Cody vs. Brock btw
Ever since he helped induct his father into the HOF I've always felt something special about Cody Rhodes. I applaud him for betting on himself after parting from the WWE. The same way you have to applaud guys like Christian, Drew McIntyre, these guys who left or were released and proved they could be something more. Especially Drew who was very similar to Cody-even tag champs with him. Groomed to be one of the pillars of the future and it just didn't pan out the first time.
Now I'm looking at those 2 like wow, they could really carry this company into their 40's along with Seth Rollins and a few others.
Brandi was awful and Cody got X PAC heat by association imo. He was massively over until she started turning up regularly stinking the joint out.
Did Cody ever recover from the neck tat?
How about the reality show? You're trying to be the alternative with AEW, but now we have Miz and Mrs 2.0. If he did that in the WWE the backlash would've been minimal if at all. We'd go "Ah it's WWE trying to bank off Total Divas, Miz/Mrs, etc. " I mean they're doing it now sort of with Corey Graves and Carmella--we don't even talk about it lol.
Brandi....Again, trying to be the alternative to WWE and you're over here acting like Stephanie. I can forgive her for the Nightmare bullshit because as it was pointed out to me a week or 2 ago, she at least killed that shit sooner than later.
Check it out--AEW already replaced them. If only Brandi was a better wrestler or bad as fuck lookin like Jade Cargill. But now AEW has Mrs and Mr Baker Bay Bay. You just have to know how to cast roles properly. Give them a reality a show it'll be more well received by a lot of AEW fans who didn't like Rhodes to the Top or whatever the fuck.
He pulled through.
Brahnhdihi sucks, but it's not entirely her fault Cody's stock fell. He was just oversaturating in everything he did here and his long-winded, TLDR promos were self-gratifying. Shit got old.
Didn't seem like his shit got old when he cut the promo before his last match with Sammy. Like I said, if he's shitting on the WWE a lot of the crowd eats it up. Nothing makes AEW fans pop more than shitting on the WWE no matter who is doing it no matter what it's about.
I definitely don't put it all on Brandi either.
A handicap HIAC, that’s so fucking dumb.
They advertised last week that Lacey would have her in-ring return this week. Whoops.
Good enough opening promo segment between the three ladies competing for the championship on Sunday. Faces like Bianca seem few and far between in WWE, where they know they’re in trouble with a triple threat but they don’t care and still believe they’re going to win because they know they’re that good. Asuka and Bianca had a good match and heavens to Betsy, we got a clean finish.
The six-man match was fine for what it was and it helped raise the animosity KO has for Ezekiel. I’m very surprised we didn’t get a DQ finish where Veer just came in and wrecked The Mysterios.
Lovely go home segment between Rhodes and Rollins. After the build, all this needed was a classic talking segment and I’d say we got it. Rollins indirectly brought up AEW and talked about Rhodes failing there and having to come back to WWE. We got a good pull apart brawl and the crowd was absolutely there for it. You got everything you needed to set up the match. These two are good to where this has been going for nearly three months and they’ve been able to keep it going without having to incorporate new characters.
Alexa/Doudrop went better than I thought it would. Still not a clue what we’re looking at in terms of her character and intentions but she’s looking alright out there.
Miz and Street Profits meshed together very, very well during Miz TV. Seemed like Miz was close to breaking due to the Profits. A 24/7 segment broke out and Tamina then Tozawa took the championship. Ford looks like he’s spending a little more time in the weight room. That’s going to work out well for him over the long haul.
Ali/Ciampa was looking pretty darn good before the DQ from Theory. There really could’ve been two good weeks of build towards the match we saw here because these two are great at promos, but WWE likes to make things harder on themselves. Decent hope spot for Ali in the impromptu championship match against Theory. I was going to say I thought this was just bypassing the opportunity to have a midcard championship match on a PLE but we’re actually getting one haha.
I highly doubt Ronin and Bronin is going to stick, but I appreciate that there was some effort placed into naming the team of Nakamura and Riddle. The match was good but didn’t have the same heat in it compared to when Orton is there. Doesn’t make sense as to why The Usos would opt for a DQ because that means they still have to face this team again lol. At least we finally got to see Riddle’s Super RKO off the top rope.
Holy moly, they had Liv come out, go to commercial, a promo by Ali, an outline the card for Sunday, had Rhea come out to go to commercial again, then had a Memorial Day tribute. Liv was out there for 18 minutes before the match actually started. Rhea got a new theme as a heel in (the) Judgement Day. The match had no flow early because IT WENT TO COMMERCIAL AGAIN lol. It got better after that. Liv got the win and tried to mount Rhea for the pin but it didn’t come across cleanly. Edge was nowhere to be found as the post match battle went down.
I can’t believe they closed this show with the 2-on-1 Handicap Match contract signing. This was ANOTHER pull apart brawl. WWE officials > Security because the officials could eventually separate Rhodes and Rollins, while security just got decimated by Lashley and Omos. This was meh.
Curtis Axel
10/10
Curtis Axel, some may say wasted talent but the guy just wasn't good. He was like a jobber you'd see on WWF Superstars in the late 80s and early 90s, but with a push behind him. Maybe slightly better than Brooklyn Brawler or Iron Mike Sharpe. You can say that he's Larry Hennig's grandson. You can say he's Curt Hennig's son. But talent must skip every third generation. Maybe Curtis' children will become huge wrestling stars.
I'll never forget the "Say something stupid Paul" promo with Lesnar, Heyman, and Axel. Axel was just a third wheel and he looked so out of place with these other two legends.
Being a producer is probably what's best for Curtis Axel, as he has less charisma than Lance Storm.
Rhodes was at his best with his promo. We also saw a tale of two Rollins over this segment. The first appearance certainly came across as the character playing Rollins showing his respect for the performance on Sunday. The second appearance was the character of Rollins getting his pound of flesh for what happened on Sunday. The attack was cheap but it worked as everyone hated seeing Rhodes hurt and Rollins trying to take advantage of the moment. Not really sure what the point was of teasing Rhodes in MITB when he’s headed to surgery.
A 24/7 segment really shouldn’t be happening during a Becky match but alas, that’s what they wanted to do. She threatened the locker room to not interfere as she challenged the newly-crowned Dana after she won the championship, and Asuka didn’t get the memo. She cost Becky the match against Dana and it was just weird. Didn’t need to happen this way, but I’m here for more Asuka versus Becky.
They announced Cena is returning on June 27, his legit 20-year anniversary date (at least the air date of his debut). I imagine we’re eventually heading towards a collision course between Cena and Theory.
This Miz TV segment harkened back to the Attitude Era, with Maryse’s ta-ta’s we’re out and about in that dress and everyone talked about Miz’s balls. Riddle’s finding his voice and has been in weeks leading up to the Unification Match against The Usos. It seems like they’ve been wishy washy as to whether or not Riddle would be an actual challenger for Reigns. It seems like they’re getting off the pot and deciding to go with that. If that’s the case, Riddle needs to keep showing up on the mic and he needs to stack up some wins. He got one here over Miz. This also saw a Ciampa cameo prior to the match as he randomly attacked Riddle. He disappeared appears to be Butch but not as maniacal. Go figure.
“Championship Contenders” Match between The Usos and Street Profits left me wanting more. Not because it was fully an appetizer, but because it was a lot of nothing. The two commercial breaks really helped make this disjointed. The first portion of the match before the commercial was just wasteful and it clearly didn’t get cooking before the count out finish. There was a nice dive by Dawkins and Ford could’ve hit his head on the briefcases with his From the Heavens. Need a much better match and better timing for the actual championship match.
Somewhat intriguing of an idea to have Lashley and Theory tussle. Definitely not from a verbal standpoint but the match would be interesting. This also feels like a step down for Lashley, considering he was setting his sights on the big championship after beating Omos. Maybe he grabbed the wrong replica title. It’s wild to think that Theory is 25 and Lashley looks like he looks and he’s 21 years older than Theory.
The crowd was dead as hell for the match between Veer and Dominik. I don’t have high hopes for Veer but having him kick out at 1 after taking a 619 and Frog Splash was a good move. All of this feels like a waste for Rey. Likely not as egregious as Styles having to tag for so long with Omos but it is in the neighborhood.
Good swerve with the reveal of Bálor not only being the new member of The Judgement Day but taking it a step further and explaining that Bálor infiltrated so quickly that he turned Priest and Rhea on Edge. They clearly read the room with how it was going with this current incarnation of Bálor and particularly Edge. I’m still of the mindset that turning Edge, while sudden, was fine. The problem was the promo work and motivation. It muddied him and the performances around him. Bálor has been DOA for ages and we haven’t seen a full-blown heel Bálor in WWE. They tried ever so briefly in NXT when he came back but it didn’t take because the crowd loved him so much. He had so much charisma even as a tweener so hopefully this gets him back in gear. More of that promo approach we saw in NXT as The Prinxe could work here. That doesn’t necessarily help Priest or Rhea but it may make the presentation more logical. There’s serious questions to answer now about Styles and Edge with all of the fallout.
I hope it was worth for Alexander on Sunday, because Omos squashed him. That led to the Dirty Dawgs returning, suddenly lol. Who knows where any of those five guys (including MVP) are going.
Not much there in the Ezekiel/Otis match but I guess it wasn’t meant to be much since it was quick. KO hates liars and Ezekiel lied to him to get a rematch. Alright lol.
They just meshed the two “stories” going on not related to the women’s championship picture and put No. 1 contender status in there. I don’t necessarily hate that idea. Felt like Rhea barely kept her balance for the Riptide on Doudrop (but it looked impressive) for the win. Liv seemed to be gaining steam through the feud against The Judgement Day, but now she’s back to Nowhereville. Probably didn’t need to pin Rhea last week if we were heading here, but I doubt they actually knew they were going here haha. Rhea/Bianca always goes hard so it’ll be a good match. Becky/Asuka as the secondary feud is fantastic, too.
We’ve got three episodes of Raw until MITB so next week has to be a heavy emphasis on building the MITB participants.
The Rollins swerve was obvious but that doesn’t take away the fact of how great he performed it. Rollins can now go on and get some much-needed wins to build heat then Cody can get revenge once and for all when he comes back before going after Roman.
The Balor swerve is an interesting one. I perhaps wonder if it was facilitated a bit quicker because with Cody gone, Raw needs a strong face so they had Edge kicked out. How or if they’re going to somehow unite Edge and Styles given all that’s gone on prior will be intriguing.
I’m also a bit confused with the Lashley stuff because all signs pointed out him challenging Roman. I can only guess shenanigans will stop Lashley winning the US title because he for sure doesn’t need it.
The MizTV stuff was cheesy but nonetheless well performed. Miz once again stripped and humiliated but he plays the part so well. Riddle/Reigns when it eventually happens will be a ton of fun. Ciampa running in is totally random and seems a bit all over the place after he was going after Ali. Should also be a fun match.
Like BG said, Usos/Street Profits was a bit lacking as they are capable of so much more but a clever finish. Montez’s frog splash has to be the best in the business probably ever tbh. Not even RVD got that insane height I don’t think. Eddie’s was fluid but again not the height that Montez gets. If they ever split up the SPs, could see him getting a monster push. Dawkins is no slouch either and he could get something out of a split but Montez is just money.
I didn’t mind the 24/7 stuff with Becky all that much as it was a new twist interesting to see someone that matters briefly challenge for it. It’s not as if Becky’s gonna be stuck there as it was all an angle to set up more stuff with Asuka but it was an interesting twist.
Nice to see the Dirty Dawgz back. I’m guessing from that they’re face now? Not sure about that one but it could be they want another face team in the division. Guess we’ll see.
All in for Rhea vs Bianca. I also hope Liv doesn’t lose too much momentum from this.
Last edited by Badger; June 7th, 2022 at 8:20 AM.
I'm really interested how Edge is address when he comes back. He's spent the last several weeks crapping on the fans and he's gotta presumably come back with his tail between his legs and have them embrace him now. It's rare you get to see a group get a reset like this now, so they've got a good chance to re-establish them and fix the silliness that came along the way. That should be manageable, as they know it wasn't working. Edge will be the bigger issue.
I'm not really digging how often Edge is face/heel turning since he's returned. Seems like with every feud he's flipping and he's not really firmly establishing one state before he's changing again.
he's garbage either way
Was he ever really a heel though with the build up of last year's Mania? It seemed like he was a tweener. He wasn't exactly teaming up with Roman and other heels. He was more pissed off at Bryan. I felt Edge was like Shawn Michaels in the build to Mania 20 with Benoit and Triple H.
Am I missing any other turns? Was last night even a babyface turn or is Edge hurt as well and now needs time off? I read somewhere there were a laundry list of injured wrestlers and Edge is made of glass.
I really liked Cody's opening promo, and the interaction with Seth. I could have done without the sledge hammer stuff, because Seth doesn't need it to get heat, an attack and kick down on Cody would have gotten the same effect. Additionally, it is hard to make the sledge hammer look realistic - I had the same problem when HHH used it for years. If he doesn't swing it to hit anyone with the mallet part, and just hits with the handle, it looks too much like he's protecting his victim. On top of that, it makes Adam Pearce's authority role completely useless if he doesn't suspend / fine / fire Seth after a stunt like that. At least HHH had the advantage storyline wise that he was part of the family that controlled the company. Why the heck is Seth Rollins allowed to do that stuff?
I love seeing Maryse on TV, and she looked amazing again. The Miz knows how to work a crowd so well, and then we got to see Riddle own the crowd. Getting them to chant "Tiny Balls!" was pure entertainment. Maryse played her part with her mic work much better than she has in prior segments.
Dana Brooke won a title during her match with Becky Lynch, and then she successfully defended it against Big Time Becks. I am looking forward to more Becky vs Asuka.
Uso's vs. Street Profits was fun, and based on the stipulation it seemed very clear that Street Profits were going to win somehow. Ford's Splash where he nearly hit the MITB cases showed just how much height he is getting. Wow. These two teams are excellent, and we know they can do more when there won't be commercial breaks.
Lashley vs. Theory seems fresh, and will be a good test for Theory, who has some pretty impressive biceps. Lashley has never been anything better than just okay at best on the mic, but this worked. Just a nitpick, but Lashley told Theory to take a walk, kicked him out of the ring, so he looks stupid as usual motioning for Theory to come back into the ring.
I am more interested in Judgment Day now that they've actually done something interesting. And I am looking forward to see how Edge reacts, and am kind of hoping the crowd shits on him the next time he is given a mic.
If the others go back to feuding with AJ Styles and Liv, then meh.
Then again, there are worse ways for them to go with this. I hope they don't have Edge recruit a failed retread like Mace or T-Bar, or worse Veer or Omos. But I would very much like to see Edge vs. Balor in an extended singles feud.
Speaking of Omos, if he's moving on from Lashley to the Dirty Dawgs, while Lashley moves on from Omos to Theory, its a huge step down for Omos. While clearly a step up for Lashley, it only shows how much he has fallen since his WWE title days not all that long ago.
Veer getting a DQ win in a match that allowed Dominik to look like the much more experienced wrestler is just dumb. Dominik can take a beating as well as anyone, but just because he is so good at selling, he has become go-to jobber. We haven't seen this much offense from Dominik in months.
Ladies #1 contenders match was very good, and Rhea has managed to look like she both deserves a #1 contender spot while at the same time she has built her heel character to the point where we will care about her match and want her to lose.
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