Maybe Orton and Solo get added to the US title match given Silo has been annoying Jacob.
Maybe Orton and Solo get added to the US title match given Silo has been annoying Jacob.
Solo needs a big win to re-establish himself, as he's looked underwhelming since jobbing to Roman. Jacob Fatu's emergence as the guy to watch in what's left of the Bloodline has come at the expense of Sikoa. If Solo is going to get fed to Randy, I am not interested. If they are going to flip and have Randy make Solo look like a star the way Cena did, then sign me up.
Go-home Mania thoughts:
-Real good promos from both John and Cody, both made a lot of logical sense. Still believe that Cody goes over Sunday, as John follows Brock and Roman in cementing the future of the industry. John will get #17 before he leaves in December, just not this weekend.
-Iyo needs to go over.
-Charlotte needs to do the job.
-Put the strap on Jacob, it’s time.
-Curious as to who steps up to face Randy.
Sucks that Mysterio got injured and could be out. Guess they could sub someone like Fenix in instead.
Aleister Black could be in next week according to that promo so doubt he’s facing Randy. Leaning on Solo but hoping they may surprise us.
The replacement for Rey should be El Generico. Would be the perfect (and accidental) payoff to the angle that started around last year's 'Mania with Sami and Gable.
I think Orton goes over as Backlash is in St Louis and that's as easy a main event decision as they're ever going to get. So I don't think it'll be Rusev or anybody they're looking at getting over out of the gate. Aldis would get a big pop and he can afford the loss and respect earned after the match. Or Carmelo Hayes. Maybe even Gable or Zayn.
Cena's going over, no doubt in my mind. The story is that he's lost his touch and can't hang. I'm predicting another big heel turn (Rollins, Punk or Reigns, or the big shocker in a Lesnar return) to align with Cena and Rock as the ultimate power trip.
It’ll probably be Dragon Lee or Fenix but I love the El Generico idea much better!
So are these teasers they've been airing for certain about Aleister Black? I thought it was cool they aired it right after Zelina made her entrance haha.
How long before Black and Rusev fall into the Andrade category of not doing much?
I think Black would be a good opponent for Fatu, but not right now. He'll probably get a warm, positive crowd reaction, then turn by the end of the show.
Hard to say because while you're cherrypicking, there are plenty of wrestlers who have recently returned/debuted that are doing plenty. Andrade is one dude who isn't main eventing WrestleMania yes, but he was never really pushed super hard the first time around either so it's a weird example to use.Originally Posted by Donald Pleasence
Black isn't a main event talent, neither is Rusev, and that's OK. He's over and will get a good return pop, but like in AEW there's a ceiling because he just isn't that tip-top level. If they try for the first couple of months he should settle in as a good US/IC Title level talent. Nothing wrong with a strong midcard, which stagnated during that awful late-Vince era and is only just recovering. He'll have some fun matches and his aesthetic brings something different to the show.
Rusev could have been a main event talent until his wife fucked his career. While I was never really a fan, I saw the potential and it was somewhat derailed when he lost to Cena but it was no doubt obliterated when Lana went on Twitter breaking kayfabe during the Dolph storyline. Then it was just downhill, Rusev Day was fun but obviously a midcard thing. Could he be a main eventer still? Not on ppv, maybe headline a Raw/SNME against someone like Cody or Punk.
Black it's hard to say. The soft call up with Ricochet was odd. Then he gets called up officially, he's in the mix with the top guys on Raw, then he was set to feud with Big E and Vince fired him lol. Made no sense but that's Vince McMahon. I can appreciate Black, my sons were much bigger fans than I was. But again it's ahrd to say if he won't be a main eventer. There's definitely room for new blood. I just feel like for whatever reason the guys Triple H booked like killers in NXT, for some reason he's not booking them the same on the main roster. Killer Kross being a glaring example of a guy who returned with a ton of fanfare, right in the mix with Roman, Drew, and then nothing for what, 2+ years sans the Pride/Wyatt feuds?
Like I said there are openings for some of these cats to slide in. It might not be the split second they debut but 6 months, 12 months from now could be a totally different story.
Truth and Cena finally interacted! Should be some funny stuff before Cena brutalises him.
Shame the Code Red was botched a bit in Vega/Green. Nonetheless happy for Zelina to finally grab singles hold. Nice pop for her hubby too.
Great to see Naomi get some heat back for the Mania loss plus the return of Jax too.
Triple Threat TLC was fantastic with some great spots like the Dawkins spear and Ford diving over the turnbuckle and climbing the ladder from the inside out.
I'm sure it's a coincidence Tez was cos playing as HBK and the next thing you know a fans prosthetic is being used as weapon lols.
Hell yeah, Smackers. Great episode.
Cena/Orton confrontation was good. Really wish the fans wouldn't be split on Cena and just boo him like they're supposed to. Dorks.
Tag match was good. Fraxiom are good stuff. Los Garza are underrated AF. Wonder if they'll do the constant break up teases with them on the main roster, too?
I didn't think they'd actually have Tiff/Jade go as long as it did before the interferance. I honestly didn't expect it to be so good, either. Hell yeah. Obvious interference was obvious but I'm not mad about it.
Jacob turning on Solo eventually is going to lead to a fun feud. Tuned out during LA/Drew's match.
I like Zelina and am happy for her win. Seemed pretty obvious it was going to happen but a fun "shock", too.
I'm a massive Black mark so I was losing my shit for his return. Hope to see this run go much better than the last one.
TLC match was fucking awesome and deserved to be at Mania. Better than almost everything on that show. Some crazy, fresh, memorable spots. Props to all the guys for going all fucking out.
Congrats to Zelina. This was a shock win because Chelsea has been so damned entertaining. This match, like the TLC match, felt like it was built as a Wrestlemania backup option in case they needed a last minute change or two. Chelsea, like GUNTHER, will be taking some time off. Good for her, but she will be missed. I loved her post-match spot where she demanded a recount. I hope they do something with Piper in the meantime.
I don't see the love for Aleister Black. I do recall he a series of really good matches with Buddy Murphy, but I don't get what his gimmick is supposed to be all about. He dresses weird and they had wierd vignettes hinting at supernatural crap that Vince McMahon loved with Undertaker and Papa Shango, but failed to realize it really just makes people cringe, and it completely kills the heat of any opponent. Has Black ever cut a live promo to help give us a reason to care about him? Or does he just suck on the mic? He is one lucky dude, though, because Zelina is smoking hot.
As for the Miz promo, I am fully onboard as the Miz is under rated and underutilized. His record the past year or two is of course abysmal, but with one promo he successfully reminded us how good he is, how he should have been the one to face Orton. I also like what he's doing with HIM, as it seems clear that in a few weeks or months from now, Black will have defeated the Miz and the 10th wonder of the world will be stepping up to battle Black, in a fresh match. If Miz is slowly transitioning to a manager role, and we will keep him on TV for years to come, then all the better.
LA Knight and Drew never really got going, which is kind of a shame. They want to keep them both strong, so I understand the DQ finish, but doing it the same night they just did the same thing with Cargill/Tiffy just felt lazy.
Fatu vs Solo will be fire if they don't wait too long. But I guess we're getting face Jacob v. heel Drew next for the US title?
I was very happy to see Zelina get this win.
I think Zelina has great potential as a heel. Oozes confidence and speaks with a real confidence as well, which I think would suit being a heel. To this point anyway, has been totally lost in the shuffle as a babyface. Though being on her own now and not in a group will help there. She doesn't need a group.
If Zelina is smoking hot, then I must be some sort of Adonis.
She's been a good guy long enough for us to make a solid comparison and yeah, definitely feeling her more as a heel.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so maybe to someone (your wife for example) you are some soft of Adonis. Whether's that Adrian Adonis or someone else, we'll never know lol.
I love both Zelina and Chelsea. Chelsea has made a great run for herself, but Zelina is a good choice for the next champ.
Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, everyone has a type, etc etc......but I struggle to imagine a world where Zelina is not considered smoking hot. Not a world I want to live in, I can tell you that much,
Zelina as a heel is way better than Zelina has a baby face. She has had some good moments for sure like winning the US title but yeah I am looking for her to make a turn a some point.
She can play a solid underdog, and she's had some time getting good reactions there. Even if she is a stronger heel, she should carry a feud with Piper as a face.
You will always be (sort of) an Adonis, even if we respectfully disagree about Zelina's appeal.
I would down for Vega turning heel by recruiting Niven and Fyre, especially if Chelsea will be taking an extended absense. I bet Vega could do it, and do it well. A smaller heel with enforcement behind her is not hard to pull off. The problem is that there aren't many face women on the SD roster - but I guess they could use Carter or Chance, Michin, or maybe even Carglll. There are plenty of women they could call up from NXT.
I was surprised she hadn't had a title yet, but I guess they didn't count her inaugural Queen of the Ring, when they only had 2 min matches and didn't include the top tier women in that tournament.
She was also tag champ with Carmella for a little while. I'm not a fan of Carmella but that was a good pairing imo.
Carmella was fine when she was partnered with someone. And then they'd get excited and try to take that shit too far.
On a different note, really not sure what WWE should do with Charlotte at this point. I guess keep her away from the title for a minute.
If the rumours about Bliss heading up the Wyatt Sicks are true, then Charlotte could be a good target. They last went at it years ago so it’d be fresher now too.
I kind of wanted to see Charlotte and Andrade bring their real life relationship on screen and do a heel couple gimmick but obviously that shit ain't happening. Charlotte feels like someone who has struggled in anything beyond "I'm the best" type storylines. I feel like if she went to Mexico and Japan for awhile it would be huge. Maybe even AEW. I just feel like she's accomplished so much and going into the Jericho role doesn't seem right.
Hell of a good Smackers last night.
PD vs. Frax and Zelina vs. Piper were both solid. Green's mourning attire was hilarious.
Black vs. Miz was awesome. Black is SO BACK, baby. That cartwheel out of the SCF was dope. Fenix vs. Santos was also awesome. So nice to see Santos get to shine solo fort the first time in forever.
Women's stuff and main event tag were great. Jade has been rising to the occasion and proving the haters wrong, I think. And the new Naomi is so fucking good. Was realizing after the show that across all three brands, I might be most invested in the women's scenes right now.
In all honesty, thought this was a rather meh episode. Good but not great. Definitely will give credit to Jade and do appreciate Chelsea “mourning” and Aldis channelling his inner Teddy Long making the tag match but still felt stretched the fuck out for three hours.
Felix vs Santos was fine but felt they should’ve built up to a bit more.
If they had an extra week or two before Backlash I'd be more interested but you go from their biggest event of the year to three weeks to the next one. There's a little fatigue about it for me.
One thing I will give AEW over WWE in spite of their length is the space between their PPV builds. Both generally have a great undercard but (not including the Mania Night One triple threat here) the main events suck. WWE do tell the better stories in the build-up but AEW do leave more room between PPVs.
That probably has more to do with the fact AEW only does 6 ppvs a year right? And a lot of times, those matches on the ppv are thrown together in a matter of weeks. It can also work against AEW because they have some of the worst storylines going today and they last forever sometimes because they only do 6 ppvs. They do those special Dynamites or whatever where they have a little side feud like Moxley/Samoa Joe that builds for a couple weeks and then they have a blowoff that nobody cares about.
That Fraxiom and PD match almost fell apart towards the end. Thought Prince may have been knocked loopy. He deffo didn't raise his shoulder and Wilson didn't make the save. These things happen, but then the ref counted and hit the mat for 3 on a pinfall on Fraxiom. Was deffo confused faces out there, but they pulled it back. Still a great match.
As was Priest and Knight and Escobar and Fenix, actually.
Decent episode.
I heard Smackdown may be back to 2 hours after this month, any truth to that?
Cena's turn has been disappointing so far. I just don't think it's working. I think there's one great feud to be had with it (Punk) but other than that there's no babyface that can really go after him on the mic, after Cody of course. And with is in ring work slowing down drastically the only thing that will make it work are the verbal jousts. It's kind of a shame they don't have the roster of 2005-08 now, as Jericho, Edge, Michaels etc would've been great.
Some blame has to go to Dwayne here. Built up this whole selling soul angle then disappears as allegedly only appeared to get tickets so the narrative was changed then we get Travis fucking Scott helping him at Mania. He’s speaking fine but the problem is as you say lack of decent babyfaces.
Although R-Truth blindly cheering him on might bring some light to this though. He may innocently cost Orton tonight but either way the eventual beatdown of Truth may generate some more heat.
I think at this point Punk is endgame for the end of his farewell tour so possibly deliberately keeping them apart. Either that or Cody recaptures it then but up until then there will probably be some filler. Outside bet Roman.
Last edited by Badger; May 10th, 2025 at 6:00 PM.
Truth still kinda shipping Cena in this interview is funny af.
SNME match should be fun, troll him with his own moves.
That wasn't a good showcase for Jeff Cobb. Crap new name, crap look, boring match. I've liked Cobb when I've seen him as a juggernaut against smaller wrestlers, and that last night was pretty much the worst it could've gone given he got a relatively clean win against a top star. Hopefully they correct course and get him a few squash matches in over the next couple of months. Did enjoy Solo trolling Jacob now he has some new muscle though. Crowd's gonna go apeshit when Fatu goes for them.
Tiffany's finding her footing on top. Really good main event where she got to look particularly brutal with the chair dropkick, and surviving that brutal looking finisher.
They're trying with the tag division, but it feels so... isolated. Every good era of tag team wrestling with have the teams mingle with the top stars, either through stables/alliances or through top guys combining to go for the belts. Look at 2000-01 - Edge and Christian were friends with Kurt Angle, the Hardy's had Lita who's feud with Stephanie brought them into Triple H's orbit. Too Cool and Rikishi. APA were always mixing it up with stars backstage. Undertaker/Rock brief title win. Brothers of Destruction. Any team that was part of the McMahon-Helmsley faction. All the teams now are really good, but it doesn't feel like it matters as they're never seen with wrestlers that matter.
Nice to see a Shinsuke promo, but all of these basically lead to him losing to his opponent. I feel like he's gotten lost in the shuffle, the promos are great, but the payoff just doesn't match.
As much as they’ve tried, I don’t think Shinsuke connects with the average mark fan. Being a top tier player requires mic skills and marketability and while they have tried to present him as a dark opponent, he is just a jobber to the stars plus he’s getting on.
In NXT matches with Joe et al yeah he was hot but he doesn’t translate well with the casual. Royal Rumble win was their best shot to push him but even despite that, I think AJ was still the right call to win.
Maybe a harsh assessment but yeah was at peace a while ago that Shinsuke is….a B plus player. He’s not main event.
JC Mateo is a good name, much better than Jeff fucking Cobb who sounds like he manages Best Buy. Match was pretty underwhelming, I think it was just structured poorly. He seemed to have some good impressive stuff but it was spaced out between a lot of plodding resthold shit. Assume he'll be getting regular ring gear by his next match since this was impromptu. I have seen nothing of him prior to last night but am intrigued.
Was also happy to see Shinsuke as I'd read some rumblings he was done and gone. Would be rad to see him and Black pair off for a feud if they don't win the qualifier next week.
Gotta admit, Joe Tess's commentary is starting to annoy me. He says some cheesy lines and the emotion/enthusiasm feels forced/try-hard at times.
Give it a couple of weeks and they’ll forget about it like Walter/Gunther.
I love them both don’t get me wrong, but as a singles feud and as harsh as this may sound, the mic skills are important and not gonna carry the build to the average fan. A dark brooding guy almost silent protagonist vs Shinsuke’s though not bad at English at all, not enough to carry the feud.
As a dark kick-ass tag team though, there is maybe some potential there.
Not sure what happened during the end of Stratton and Jax, but Tess and Barrett were both channeling their inner attitude era JR. And because Tess is quite laid back usually, like you say, did feel very forced.
All of this.
JC Matteo looked like he was someone who got promoted because they needed to fill a spot to keep the Solo/Fatu storyline moving along, and not at all like a future main eventer. Think about how Roman, Fatu or Solo got protected in their very early matches. JC seems to have Tommy Tonga or Tonga Loa, maybe he reaches Big Jim Uso level , designated jobber in a tag match, written all over him.
I did not like the backstage spot with Street Profits reminding all of us how small Fraxiom is. Street Profits are not huge guys, but they made Fraxiom look like vanilla midgets. Fraxiom has been getting a well-deserved push because they've been consistently putting on terrific matches, and their run on NXT meant they deserved a bigger audience. In the past, WWE would have had shown one of those teams sitting on a shipping container or something while the others walked by, to not accentuate the dramatic height difference.
Tiffy and Nia work well together. Tiffy knows how to sell for the big woman as well as anyone on the roster, and how to make every spot look like it means something. It's really hard to believe she's only been wrestling for 4 years. I didn't really see the need to have Naomi nor Jade appear ringside for the "distraction", but I guess for storyline it allowed Tiffy a chance to catch her breath. Joe Tess and Wade Barret are fine on commentary, but they sometimes need to let the audience reactions help convey the excitement, and not try to compete with the WWE universe. It seems like this may be the end of Tiffy/Nia, at least for now, so it'll be interesting to see where they both go next.
I am glad that Bliss got the win and advances to the MITB match. I could definitely see her working with Stratton down the road, and it would be fun. But I am also intrigued by the story they're setting up with her and Charlotte, because of how many directions they could take a story with those two. Bliss is one of their top talents in overall acting ability, because nothing she says ever feels forced.
Did Andrade say "No Anglais" to Solo, who was looking for LA Knight backstage?
I love R-Truth and look forward to him and Cena on SNME. I thought his interview with Barrett was terrific, as there is a lot they can draw on. Cena has a limited number of dates left, but I don't mind him using one with Truth because of the sheet entertainment value, and the likelihood they use it to also set up Cena's next opponent. Could Miz/Melo make the save for R-Truth? Miz seems to be transitioning to a manager role, which is fine with me because he can teach the younger talent a lot. Keep Miz on TV.
Solo getting the first MITB qualifier win feels like he's getting recognized for missing out on Mania. He's fallen a LOT since his Mania win over Cena. He needs to be rebuilt more before Fatu turns on him.
Yeah I'm going to be honest, anyone thinking Jeff Cobb is there to be a future main eventer at 42-43, you need to take a step back lol. IDK maybe some fans think everyone who gets signed the idea is they're the future of the company but in Jeff's case I see it more like they have a specific role they want him in. If that, by some magic, puts him in a main event spot then he exceeded expectations.
How are the older posters the ones with the least amount of patience to see things through?
Yeah when I found out "The Monster" Matanza Cueto from Lucha Underground's real name was "Jeff Cobb" and then I saw him I was expecting some fat goofy white guy not Hawaiian Rhyno. I'm not one to be all "go watch his shit from 10 years ago" but Lucha Underground itself was so entertaining, and spoiler alert but they kill people off including Matanza lol. Just weird but fun. Imagine that happening in WWE. "Sorry CM Punk, but you're going to die in this episode of Raw"
I was at SmackDown this past Friday. My ticket was a little under $100, I feel like just a few years ago that could've at least gotten you a seat somewhere on the floor, but you won't get anywhere near that today.
I don't know how the show came across to people watching at home, and I didn't walk away entirely disappointed in the show overall, but definitely was disappointed in the complete lack of star power there. No John Cena, no Randy Orton, no Roman Reigns and no Cody Rhodes. Only 90 minutes from his hometown and we couldn't even have R-Truth there in person? The advertised "huge" championship main event was just Tiffany and Nia. I like Tiffany (and liked the match overall) but I don't think her name value is at the point where her matches can be marketed as "huge" just yet. Actually I was kinda surprised at the amount of people who left at the commercial break before the main event, I assume the kids were getting tired and realized they weren't seeing Cena, Orton or Cody tonight so had no problem leaving early. Also, the second most over guy of the night was probably Jacob Fatu (behind LA Knight), and they had zero merch for the guy. Of course each of the big names who weren't on the show were well represented in the merch booth though.
Still, good show overall, I don't want it to sound like I'm whining, but I miss when you could buy a ticket to one of these shows (and for much cheaper than they cost now) and it was a safe bet the top guys would all be there, but now you never know because select guys only have to show up a certain number of days and you just have to hope your city is one of them...
Now watch the next time you go all the big names will be there lol.
I remember going to see Raw in 2019 Christmas time it was a double taping because Christmas I think was the following Monday. They were supposed to record it the next day but the weather was really bad so they just said fuck it we'll do both shows in Des Moines back to back. It was brutal. We had 3rd row right behind where the announce table would be but this is back when Raw had the announcers up on the stage. We didn't really have too many big names. I would say the biggest name was AJ Styles that for both episodes.
Or when we went to Raw on Labor Day about 10 years ago I think. The biggest name was CM Punk, he didn't even wrestle he cut a promo and then the dark match was him beating Paul Heyman with a singapore cane for about 20 seconds lol. It was fun though but yeah I feel you man. It's like going to a Metallica concert and they play for 40 minutes and it's nothing but deep cuts from the last 3 albums.
I did kinda cover part of this in my Paul Levesque thread, but yes live shows in general are insanely expensive. Over a grand combo ticket for Smackdown/Clash of the Castle on Ticketmaster for example in Glasgow when the seats are pretty high up.
Though as much criticism as I may have given over Trips in running things, he is probably the best at ad-lib I have ever seen in a Raw house show. When in Ingliston near Edinburgh back in 05, there was a fire drill and he ad-libbed blamed Batista for pulling the fire alarm. Plus he did an HBK and oversold like Flair and even included a Dude Love knocking knees routine before flopping down to the mat. Did get to witness Jericho smashing HBK’s face through the “Jeritron” in ‘08 in the Raw show at London too. Insanely expensive and shit tap water but that’s London lol.
Two names I wish I got to see live but never got to and regret it were Taker and Bryan. Taker was on SD when the Raw shows were about. Bryan just never got around to and the time AEW were at Wembley he wasn’t available.
Cody though was fucking over in Scotland and his American Nightmare shirt is dope.
But yeah long story short, things not so cheap these days but they’re also much more financially profitable these days because of the blessing and curse that is social media. So not gonna get more than 5 matches on a PLE until they drain money. Also think they wanna spread things like other title matches on TV so they’re putting in eggs in two baskets to make them feel important and not just in the PLE basket.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote