Man it's a risk for anyone to go to Saudi Arabia.
Man it's a risk for anyone to go to Saudi Arabia.
If they do break up the Bloodline where does everyone go next? I don't really want to see Roman v. Jimmy or Jey, or a tag feud with the Usos v. Solo/Roman. The Bloodline has legs to last a lifetime. It's the dominance of Roman that needs addressed. Have this guy take a fucking L, lose the belts, and then the story can be A-getting the belts back and/or B-going after the cause of that loss THEN back to the title hunt. I don't want Roman to just start losing but I feel like his story is starting to look the same just a different color. Like John Cena's wristbands.
But again, I don't really want it to be anyone in the Bloodline he feuds with. This Saudi show could be where Sami gets his pinfall over Roman, or where we see Solo take another rare L.
There are so many ways the Bloodline thing can go. Roman has done so well as a heel, I'd hate to see Jimmy, Jey & Solo team up and attack him. It makes the trio look stupid that it happened AFTER the latest draft, where Sami could have his "I told you so" moment. I don't know if there are intentions of bringing anyone else in to become part of the storyline - such as a Bloodline split and two on Roman's side.
Roman has played the asshole heel so good that I don't want it to end, and I don't think the Usos Trio are better as faces either. Likewise, they already did Main Event Jey Uso singles feud, splitting up Jimmy and Jey would be dumb. Whatever way it goes I feel like the ending deserves something inspired by the ending in Training Day with everyone walking away from Roman, and he can get an ass kicking from whoever else he might be feuding with at the time.
I don't really want to see the Uso's civil war, brother vs brother2, but a part of me is expecting it. They kind of teased Jey not being on the same page as the rest of the family once before, but they brought him back on board rather quickly. I more than think Jey can handle it. They can make Solo a face by having him help his brothers over his cousin. Too bad that Naomi is gone, as they could have used her real life situation to explain Jimmy stepping out to support his wife.
I think ultimately the next step would be to cash in 100% and turn them babyface. I don't think they'll ever go tweener with them, but that would be cool too. Imagine the Bloodline v. everyone. Might as well, the only people Roman hasn't beat are people who haven't turned babyface yet. And Fiend. He hasn't beat The Fiend.
I don't think he's ever kicked out of the End of the Days.
In 3 years, this is the inevitable payoff for Baron Corbin
The foreshadowing is almost too obvious.
lol no shit. And then Drew will take the belt off Corbin since Drew's the only person to kick out of that move keeping Drew from going to AEW.Originally Posted by Mazer
Is anyone going to miss Drew McIntyre, the most boring wrestler on the planet?
I will. He's someone I wasn't a fan of until I saw a few things he was doing in TNA so I was hopeful that if he did return he would be given a better spot than jabroni stable. Drew just had the unfortunate hand dealt to him in 2020. He did his best but that was a tough task for anyone. Even Stone Cold said he couldn't have pulled it off.
Yeah, it does suck. I remember they had a video out around the time the pandemic started, and Drew was in Europe promoting Mania, and he got a call saying they had to go back to the US immediately cause of the pandemic.
He was finally the "chosen one" by the office and the fans. When he eliminated Lesnar and won the Rumble that was a huge moment for him. What has always bugged me though is why did he defend the title the same night he beat Lesnar against the Big Show? What was the point of that match? Were they scared Drew would never get a title defense so they threw Slow out there real quick to take a Claymore? We've just never had a Mania dark match AFTER the main event.
The WWE is playing 3d chess with this storyline. This is going to be bigger than Sami
I actually like Drew. He adds a different style to the normal guy his size.
Part of Drew's appeal is that he looks like a throwback to the days of Razor Ramon. A guy you just wouldn't fuck with.
If you ever have non fans in your house while watching wrestling, Drew is a guy that people notice. Looks like he could straight up kill someone.
Face Drew has kind of run its course. Ready for him to be a menace on Raw.
McIntyre really got the short end of the stick, probably most out of anyone, due to the pandemic. Then after that they tried to do a makeshift tag team scenario and then that person eventually was released. He's just been snake bit since the start of 2020 in this current version.
100% agree.
Then he started pandering (through his own volition or some suit telling him to) to the crowd during his face turn with the Highlander gimmick/massive sword accessory/gesturing 1-2-3 prior to his Claymore. Like Orton pounding the mat prior to his RKO, it’s completely unnecessary; those moves are best served coming out of nowhere rather than being advertised.
I hope his contract situation gets sorted and he reverts to the heelish badass, he needs to be in the WWE.
Biggest missed opportunity for Drew since the pandemic was not ending Roman’s reign at Clash of the Castle as then he cooled a bit. Roman could’ve got it back later and then brought Solo in.
Roman's reign (ahem) is well above drew in the pecking order. I like Drew but he's not even on my radar of people who should be on the list of beating reigns and ending his run. Cody and Samy both being more over and bigger stars.
Besides, I get why it would look good. Big pop from the hometown crowd, stadium going nuts, but if you go sheerly by this logic then the next time wwe is in Puerto Rico bad bunny gets the title
Roman's reign (ahem) is well above drew in the pecking order. I like Drew but he's not even on my radar of people who should be on the list of beating reigns and ending his run. Cody and Samy both being more over and bigger stars.
Besides, I get why it would look good. Big pop from the hometown crowd, stadium going nuts, but if you go sheerly by this logic then the next time wwe is in Puerto Rico bad bunny gets the title
But it’s not just UK logic. Drew was well established and beat big players most notably Lesnar for example. He would’ve been hotter too at the time of the previous reign if not for the pandemic.
Sami and Cody are big now but at that time Drew was hot. Who knows how things would’ve gone if he had ended the reign? I think at the time he deserved it. Roman could’ve easily got his heat back with his first loss then bringing in reinforcements like Solo to get the title back after the loss.
Nope. If you think Paul was letting Cody, who threw up the doublebird to the company and went off to try and build a legitimate competitor, end the most storied title reign in modern history on the biggest stage in sports entertainment, I have some affordable waterfront Vancouver real estate that you might be interested in. Fake sport/circus act/whatever, WrestleMania is undoubtedly the #2 event (behind the Super Bowl), one of two sport events that gets solidified on the calendar over a year out.
Rhodes got the Rumble “W” and the WrestleMania main event payday, but he was never going over the homegrown face of the franchise. I still think Reigns’ reign ends by him walking away from the belts: “I’ve smashed everyone, there ain’t nobody left…I’m about to shoot my shot at a Hollywood payday.”
Sami is over, sure, but he’s also less than a year removed from insane conspiracy comedy act; Zayn wasn’t ending The Streak 2.0 either.
Massive swing and miss there, apples and oranges…
Can see what you're saying but I don't think he was heated up enough for it to really click.
I wonder if the results would have been different if Drew had signed the contract extension before Clash at the Castle.
I highly doubt the idea of an extension was even broached at that time. His contract isn't up until early 2024, so I don't think they were looking at heavy or notable extension talks roughly 16 months before his contract was expiring.
Fair enough, at least you understand it.
To be honest I see the benefit of both. I get Roman carrying on the monster reign and screwing Drew for heat like happened but I think Drew would have also been fine getting to carry the ball properly for a bit in front of audiences this time and Roman would’ve been fine. Either way that was probably the time to capitalise on Drew IMO.
I will say this in defense of Virms he didn't say it was "UK Logic" It's the logic that you should book for the moment and that usually doesn't work for the long term. The visual of Drew winning in Wales would've been awesome just like British Bulldog beating Bret Hart at Wembley. Bulldog was also gone within 2 months lol.
Personally I thought Drew could've been the guy. I never bought into Sami, again, another guy who WWE should've had win and then Roman could get it back a week later or whatever. Just so we can try to get one of those Benoit/Guerrero moments. They're awesome. Cody winning at Mania would've been cool, not everyone was sold on him either.
I don't think some of us realize how many fans, "casual" and "hardcore", that don't mind Roman's current run. I've told the story that my son is a huge Shield mark, he had no desire to see any of these people end Roman's reign. Unless it's Seth or Mox. But I don't want to speak for others too much I just think that ultimately you have to have a bigger reason than "imagine the pop" and "Roman could just win it back the next ppv/Raw/etc" They want this dude to get to 1,000+ and then he'll drop it so he can do whatever the Tribal Chief wants.
I only said UK because hometown/country for Drew would’ve been technically incorrect. The comparison to Bad Bunny winning the title in Puerto Rico was a bit of a stretch because that’s not happening and there was more to my post than that.
Lately Roman has been insulting the live crowds to remind them that he is still a heel. But when his music hits, the crowd still pops for him; when the camera pans through the audience there are a lot more people flashing “Ones” than not.
This Roman as champion/Bloodline storyline still has legs; with a few tweaks (faceturn/booting the Usos, bringing in reinforcements for Solo), this could definitely go until next Mania. I think it for sure helps that Roman isn’t on every episode, hogging up TV time with a fifteen minute promo and match, his appearances still seem special.
There's also a big difference between Roman's run and when Brock was the part-time champ. With the latter, it was literally just "who can beat Brock?" and they'd just build people up to get waffled, rinse and repeat. But with Roman, you've got all the layers and moving parts of the Bloodline stuff,too, so it's not just "who can beat Roman?", it's that plus all the personal dynamics within the faction, the family history, and stuff like Sami being in/out of the group that add so much more to it than just "who can beat Roman?". There's so much more to hold interest and to keep the story going.
Just saw that there were additional tickets being made available at 10am today for Smackdown and Money in the Bank at the 02 in London. Joined the queue and they were all gone, but the cheapest ticket for MITB was £330.
Jesus wept!
Makes me fortunate I managed to get in for AEW All in at £81.
Exactly. Brock needed to have something going on in his absence. The Bloodline stable itself has helped keep the story going while Roman isn't there. I will say this though about Brock's 1 or 2 big runs where he wasn't defending-in their defense they wanted it to have a boxing/MMA feel or the old days of wrestling where the champ was the attraction and you rarely saw them. Problem is, we live in a totally different era and this isn't MMA/boxing/etc. WWE just didn't have a good enough product and it still doesn't to cater to a booking decision like that.
Still considering All In!
Still think the cheapest option is to watch these events from your couch. Don't have to worry about crowds, your view is better, etc. Unless I'm in the ring wrestling Dana Brooke, I'll stay home.
Can’t deny it’s cheaper lol but nothing like the live experience.
You ever been to a live show? Can’t remember if you said you had or not.
Yes I have been but I've never spent over $100 for tickets for any of them, that just seems like money wasted
Rather lazy and could be awfully transparent setup to the WHC match where Rollins had the sit-down interview over multiple segments and Styles gets a talking segment, where he's ran down a bit and then someone else is already gunning for him in Kross.
The tag title match in Saudi doesn't have the same heat as the Mania tag match but that's to be expected. The other issue is that Reigns seems to have a bigger issue with the Usos as opposed to the champs. All I ask is that we move forward with the story after next weekend and it doesn't hit another lull.
Decent enough first showing for Pretty Deadly.
As usual, the women's tag team picture is still kind of in shambles.
Jimmy isn't delivering like Jey in the spotlight but I do appreciate the effort he's giving.
LA Knight is either going to be a star or a big blind spot under Triple H's regime. The crowd is right there, eating out of the palm of Knight's hand.
LA Knight should beat Theory for the US title.
I like that idea. I like LA Knight more than I do Theory
Theory is someone who you can see has a bright future but he's been overexposed. As hard as they pushed him on Raw last year you would think he would be a bigger deal. LA Knight is someone I wasn't super high on but now that he's up on the main roster I'm seeing the potential in this guy. If he can stay healthy we could get a solid 4-5 years out of him still.
Cena summed it all up nicely about Theory in his pre-Mania promo. Some may say it’s burial but it’s actually truth.
I’d love LA Knight taking the title but only problem is they’re both still heels.
Last edited by Badger; May 30th, 2023 at 2:26 PM.
Supposedly, Cena said everything to Theory beforehand so hopefully it stuck. Not just with Theory but the office. Sometimes people are cast in the wrong role. How many times have we seen a gimmick or someone put in a story and you're like, fuck this would be cool if it was someone else in that role. Maybe it would still suck, maybe it wouldn't.
I don't think the stuff with Vince ever really took, and again that goes back to maybe with someone else it would've but so far we're 0-2 with the whole "Vince's chosen one" gimmick lol. Took Drew about 10-12 years to recover from that one.
If Theory took over Cena's rapper gimmick thing after the Mania win, complete with using his old music, I think it could work for awhile.
Kevin Owens was another that spoke a lot of truth when he promo’ed against Theory. It was pretty similar to what Cena said.
He’s a solid worker no doubt about it but the quickish push from the “son” in the Way to then becoming Vince’s golden boy in cringey segments and then MITB winner hurt him pretty badly. They did reevaluate a bit giving him a bit of a harder edge after that loss but then regressed a bit since to still getting cheap wins in triple threats and other title defences. It’s still at a “Why is this guy getting a push?” rather than getting real heat.
He needs something big to stand out more. Hopefully he’ll get there and properly realise his potential. The early booking on the main roster somewhat but also has to make his own luck as well to get himself over.
I think if Cena had been able to be there and help build that match it would've been 100x better. Match quality was never going to be good as Theory is very average and Cena isn't the carrying type. But the story could've been much better if we had more than Cena doing his customary Triple H inspired burial promo.
Yeah can’t argue with that.
We needed more insight as to Theory being inspired and trying to be like Cena then trying to surpass it.
It sorta reminds me of the Jericho/HBK story from 03 but that was given depth with the benefit of HBK being around to build it. Cena/Theory felt more rushed where Cena wouldn’t “acknowledge” him til that promo.
Theory is more than fine in the ring right now but he needs to be able to hit a higher gear in extended matches on a consistent basis. He doesn't have it right now in terms of holding his own on the mic. He naturally draws heat but he hasn't really figured out how to take it up a notch there. It feels like he's trying but that's a negative in this context.
He's still incredibly young compared to the rest of the roster (in relation to the main roster), so I anticipate there's going to be a lot of trial and error in terms of finding his way to evolve things. He's still easily someone I would be buying stock in.
Oh absolutely he’s got stock. I think Cena probably does have stock in him too which is why he likely went out of his way to clear his comments before publicly dissing him. Tough love.
Probably wishful thinking depending on his condition but Theory’s thinking there’s all that there’s left to beat for the title. I’ll just say Chicago but could be anywhere…..
“Ohhhhh Chicagoooooooooo!!!!”
I think Big E, if he ever does return, needs to be in the World title mix. I'm not negative to him winning the US title though.
Or over on Raw Woods & Kofi getting beat down by Imperium and Big E shows up.
This. Now I want to see Big E and GUNTHER beat the hell out of each other.
New Day v. Imperium with Big E coming to end Gunther's reign would be a crazy crazy story when you think about the interactions with Kofi/Woods v. Imperium already.
Surely they're going to have Big E feud with Ridge Holland when he returns.
Or maybe not, Big E's character would forgive him.
According to Rikishi rumours/tweets on the net about how his boys are being mistreated!
I hope this is true’
Source plz?
I tagged you on Twitter. It’s a tweet “Enough” sounds like may be referencing Reigns and could show up to his 1000 day celebration. That’s what I got from it.
It would be awesome if he did though.
I think since Ridge is now a babyface they would have squashed it.
I'm going to sign up to Twitter so I can get tagged by Badger.
Atta boy!
-Love me some Paul E, but holy personal space Batman; don’t need nor want to taste what you ate for dinner.
-Amazing how far Hit Row have fallen down the pecking order.
-AJ is over as fuck; need to see him get one last run with a big belt before he hangs it up.
-Lacey “MAGA” Evans doing the job to Zelina, love to see it; Mrs. Trailer Trash can fuck right off to Future Endeavoured land, sooner than later preferably.
-The wrong dude went over; Montez Ford in a ladder match would have stolen the fucking show, pulling some Hardyz/E&C/Dudleys TLC-type shit.
-Would love Hunter to finally pull the pin on the amicable Street Profits split, really want to see what they can both do as singles wrestlers; we’ve now had missed opportunities tonight and previously at the draft.
-Was it just me or was Montez working particularly heelish tonight?
-Enjoy watching WWE Executive Paul Levesque on my screen at the moment, given his life threatening health scare scare last Fall/Winter.
-That final Bloodline segment was absolutely riveting.
New belt looks worse than the other two. No me gusta.
- The union of Pretty Deadly and Theory really benefits both parties. They don't particularly mesh fully well together at this point but they mask shortcomings for each other. Speaking of unions, Styles with the OC doesn't do a lot to benefit Styles but helps the rest of the crew. Cole and Top Dolla is a humorous situation with bickering between both sides.
- I almost feel like there's a decent chance of Zelina winning the briefcase. The LWO has worked for everyone but she has the most steam of the group, outside of Mysterio, and she's probably one of the few women that has been booked like a threat of some sorts, which is saying something. I imagine Escobar will be in MITB as well, and that should be awesome.
- They're giving Waller TV time but it's been quite underwhelming for him right now. He's basically serving as a Smackdown version of Miz but Miz is working more in the ring lol. We'll have to see if they have a feud for him for Summerslam because he won't be in focus during the MITB build, I imagine.
- Quite a notable difference for the portrayal of Knight via commentary and the move set by him. The commentary acknowledged that he's gaining steam and support of the fans, then Knight busted out a somewhat-scary moonsault and then did a nice leap onto the top rope to counter Ford. Also, they did not pipe in booing for his entrance. He's come a long way in terms of getting over when he re-debuted as Knight compared to now. I mentioned Triple H is either going to find his next star or show an obvious blind spot and I think we'll see what's what in London, which should present an audience that should really be behind Knight.
- Fun flex to devote the final 30 minutes of the show to the Bloodline. The rollout of the new championship belt didn't do anything for me, and it certainly looked like it didn't anything for Reigns as he looked unimpressed. Quick shout out to the video package to start the show, but not a surprise that it was a good considering they're amazing at those. Weird plot hole to have the segment with Heyman and Pearce to say that there was security in place to stop the Usos if they managed to show up, but they just strolled out to the ring. The pie face by Jimmy was great and Reigns selling it was solid. While Jimmy is doing his thing in this spotlight role, I do favor Jey's acting and delivery compared to Jimmy. Solo's delivery was good, considering he doesn't say a lot, but I think he's still doing fantastic with his non-verbal communication. The segment as a whole took you on a ride, and you clearly have a line in the sand and now we wait to see where Jey goes. I do like while Jimmy has been more of a protagonist, Jey is still the the puzzle piece that's supposedly going to put things into place. I can't wait to see Jey eventually break free of the doubts Reigns has put in his head and he just beats the crap out of him.
Last edited by BGMaverick; June 3rd, 2023 at 4:36 PM.
I expected Knight to win but got a feeling Ford still gets in as some last chance qualifier consisting of the losers from the singles matches. Feels like the guy could've been a singles star two years ago but still there with Dawkins.
I could be wrong, but everything I've read suggests they're going with just six participants and most/all of the matches have been laid out. Also, it's not like we're missing a high-flyer in the group (see Ricochet).
Pretty Deadly's new theme sounds like ABBA or something. I'm not mad about it.
Knight winning was the right call. Let's get that rocket strapped on. Plenty of other opportunities for Tez in time but LA's not getting any younger and needed to start some winning ways.
Lacey Evans. I feel like she lost all her momentum when she got preg and while it was a stupid storyline to begin with, she was still working with Charlotte in what looked to be a WM match. She had the babyface run which was odd. She's had a few repackaged looks but still the same kind of gimmick so at least she's not the female Ed Leslie. Now she's out there and still doing the job in under 3 minutes to someone half her size and not much better in the ring.
Zelina can work, Lacey cannot.
Lacey has blown her pushes, due to injuries, pregnancy, and by not understanding that her stepping into political disussion would alienate a big chunk of the audience - a huge faux-pas for someone struggling to get a face reaction. It felt like she didn't "get it", worse than any female wrestler since Lana revealed her real-life engagementto Rusev when character-wise, he was looking forward to the Hot Summer. I have no problem with them using her as a jobber until they release her.
On the other hand, Zelina showed off how she can work in her match at Backlash. I didnt think much of her before this - I thought her Queen of the Ring didn't mean anything because it seemed like all of the matches were under 5 min. Plus, it bothered me that she didn't do anything to deserve a title match, and while it was easy to predict Rhea would retain in her first title defense, I was pleasantly surprised they got as much time as they did, and the match was way better than expected.
Now, I won't be upset if Zelina wins MITB and picks a rematch against Rhea.
I know you're opinions are extremely easy to manipulate if you find out someone votes Republican but come on man. Zelina can work outside the ring but inside the ring she does 3 moves and they all rely on the other person. You really think she's flipping Evans with her little ass legs? Come on. Evans can work, it's the dogshit booking. Right now it seems like a point of no return because if they go back to the Southern Belle, which was working tremendously, some fans will bitch about it. But if Hogan can go back to the red and yellow so can Lacey.
I know a lot of us have drug/drinking problems, shit memories, etc. but did we all forget which President the McMahon's and Triple H are BFFs with, taking pictures in the White House. It wasn't Obama and Biden lol. And let's stop glamorizing the vocal minority who take issue with that sort of thing. Nothing that's gone wrong with Lacey Evans has anything to do with social media or her being Republican.
Rhea v. Zelina....7 minutes....Wow. Thank God for that extra 2 minutes!
I used to be a big backer of Lacey Evans, but nothing has ever stuck and her work is still lackluster at best. Making her a drill sergeant isn't going to change anything. I say unhook the trailer and put all twenty of her repackages in the past.
Zelina Vega... I'm over the moon for her, but I still don't see her as a particularly good worker. She could go through a complete overhaul, but she still wouldn't nor shouldn't stand a chance against Rhea Ripley. I miss the days when she was Andrade's manager and she's bust out a helluva rana mid match.
Zelina is a great manager and should only wrestle sparingly like in mixed tag matches. She's always been good on the mic going back to her TNA days as a young 20-21 year old. She's so small and her offense is so light it's not like Rey or Juvi where it looked like they were going 100% stiff in there which you have to when you're that small. We all know that if Rhea v. Zelina happened anywhere else it would've been open and shut see ya later in about 3 minutes if that.
Yeah I appreciate her letting her have her moment in Puerto Rico but other than that, think she’s a natural heel. I would also agree she’s better off on the manager side wrestling occasionally.
For not getting much work in, she has her moments. She's naturally charismatic, and it conveys. Manager who gets some occasional work in is good.
Properly utilized.
She should be a heel. She's been pretty much nothing but eye candy in the LWO from day one. I'm thinking they all turn on Rey eventually and she starts getting mic time.
Escobar and Ali had a really nice qualifying match. Would've liked to see that with a little more time but they were delivering the goods. I like the way the MITB field is shaping up for the men: Nakamura, Ricochet, Butch, Escobar, Knight and either Riddle/Priest. Considering they're giving the vibe that they are slowly turning Priest, that's very face heavy for the field. Still looking like it could be Knight's briefcase for the taking.
Better late than never in terms of clearing up the title picture with the women (both tag and singles). Not sure what they figure to change the look/name for Rhea's gold, but I'm fine with how they rolled things out for Asuka. Heard earlier in the day that Charlotte was coming back but it was still a nice general surprise. It can be annoying that she cuts right to the front of the line but it makes sense. Seems like they're going to keep rolling with her as a face for the time being. Don't really like the idea of Isla/Alba going right into a Unification Match with Ronda and Shayna but the alternative is a spare set of titles just floating. Stinks for NXT but it is what it is.
Glad to see Main Event Jey Uso back where he belongs, in the main event. Low-key framed the setup very, very well for the fans to be more than willing to be behind Jey: have Heyman antagonizing things, present an opportunity the fans don't want to see (with the idea of Reigns "grooming" Jey to be the future Head of the Table), then having Jey square off against Theory. Pretty good match with a LOT of gaga in there. The just keep finding ways to have Theory steal victories lol. Good drama in the setup though with Jimmy coming in to neutralize Pretty Deadly, then Sikoa taking him out but things going sideways between Jimmy/Sikoa and Jey getting caught in the crossfire. It gets heat on Theory, more heat on Sikoa, and then creates elements of doubt with what Jey will do.
Wish they could've done the tag title merge with Liv/Raquel as champs 'cuz then the SPOOKY WITCH GIRLS would've probably won but now that Shayna/Ronda are Champs I'm pretty pessimistic about their chances...
Last edited by mth; June 11th, 2023 at 10:11 AM.
There's a rumor floating around that we might be seeing Shayna/Ronda split soon, which wouldn't shock me knowing WWE's habit of not making sense with tag-teams. But I imagine Shayna/Ronda will probably win. I'll be honest, if the WWE are serious about the women's tag division that's who you want at the top. Ronda has the name value, they both have legit cred that no other woman has in that company-at least on that level as I'm sure Asuka could beat some ass in that ring for real.
I think Alba and Isla should link up with your boy Bray Wyatt
I suspect Shayna is gonna cost them the match and Ronda's gonna cry and then they will feud.
OK now you're getting my hopes up with this split rumor...
The only thing I didn't like in the main event was Sikoa messing up when Uso was trying to toss him out of the ring. Theory was more than holding his own in the main event, as in the match itself, he looked great. The story was all about Jey, but ATL finding another way to steal a victory helps him. When they inevitably have Theory lose to a face, it will mean that much more.
Bianca has reason to be annoyed if she does what was asked, and Charlotte just walks in and gets a title shot. I wonder if they are laying a foundation for Bianca to turn heel against face Charlotte, perhaps cost her the match at MITB? Even if not, Bianca desperately needs to be doing something more character wise, so I am looking forward to more here.
Corbin becoming fodder for Butch was a bit of a suprise (I would have thought Sheamus would be in the MITB ahead of Butch), and Corbin will move on to either Carmello Hayes or Cameron Grimes. Corbin seems to have moved into the Bob Holly role of being a first stop for new roster talent. At MITB, Butch will get a great reaction from the London crowd, and Escobar is impressing every time out, but I agree that everything appears to be lining up for LA Knight. Yeah. Especially since they've been bringing him out on commentary. Let's just say I doubt Butch or Escobar get invited to commentary.
We finally got the Jey pay off! Brilliant stuff! Everything from Kayla trying to interview Heyman “Wise Man your girlfriend is here!”to Jey toying with Heyman to Sami just looking at Jey backstage not needing to say anything to the pretend dissension with Jimmy and the eventual turn. Expected but nonetheless very satisfying.
Now how does Roman handle it? A tag match with him and Jey vs Roman/Solo is no doubt coming. Will Roman bring in reinforcements to bolster the Bloodline or just keep with Solo who may eventually turn on him as well? Either way Roman is going to descend into madness and should be fun to watch.
Roman/Solo vs Usos has been announced for MITB.
That was one wild ass ending.
To anyone who says The Bloodline storyline is done or boring, you’re just a hater. The post-SmackDown video shows how far Joe’s acting has come, the vulnerability/shock/disbelief that he portrayed was amazing. I feel like we’re at a crossroads here: either reinforcements show up for The Bloodline or these are the first steps in Roman being like “Fuck it, y’all (WWE universe) don’t deserve me. I’m going to walk away from this (these?) title(s) and make better money in Hollywood.”
The Brawling Brutes go over four tag teams just to job to Pretty Deadly. K. Ain’t no way Pretty Deadly goes over Zayn/Owens.
Really like where the women’s division is headed, right now.
Karrion Kross still does nothing for me.
I’m slowly getting converted to the “put the rocket on LA” side. Give him the briefcase and have him cash in on Seth, see how he does running the red brand.
I barely keep up with WWE but I saw a clip of the end of the show. Is roman carrying three belts now? I thought the new one was replacing the other two
Seconded.
Possibly just for visuals and to boost his ego. It’s like getting a PS5 but keeping the PS4 anyway lol.
Also the timing of the “It’s not paranoia…it’s the Usos!” with the visual of Roman being down is magnificent.
Would've liked a bigger pop but the moment was really great to see Jey make his decision. I like the Civil War match and then likely lead to Jey/Reigns at Summerslam.
Waller has looked flat in his talking segments and sheesh, the lack of chemistry with Charlotte was extremely evident.
What an ending. The Bloodline story is miles above everything else from a storyline perspective than anything in wrestling today. You might have some stuff where they feud and then 8 months later they bring it back around and talent fight again with some nods to the past. But I ask anyone to present to me a storyline that has been able to run this long, this consistent, and somehow still giving us a great arc.
I mean, they could've wrapped this up when Jimmy returned. Instead we've seen so many different layers, think about how much has changed just in the last month??
And it's not a rivalry or a feud. That's what's so mindblowing about it. It's ultimately a big chunk 5-6 chapters worth in the book of Roman. Even with the nWo it was ultimately about Hogan v. Sting right? That wasn't even 2 years. ECW had Raven/Dreamer that went 2-3 years but again it was always about Raven v. Dreamer.
The timing of how things are developing/falling apart with the Bloodline now is the right way to do this. You don't do it a year ago when Solo wasn't even on the main roster, let alone being main roster ready. You don't do it without having Sami becoming an honorary Uce. IMO, two key parts that needed to happen. And if you take Sami and Solo out of this, just being Jimmy, Jey and Roman, or Jimmy and Jey having tension isn't as impactful. Can't underestimate Heyman's role in all this as well.
Back when it was Jey becoming right-hand man I never thought of it as a story with this much mileage to it. Now it's become - when does Solo side with his brothers? Does Roman bring in help to battle back against the Uso trio? I''m picturing it that Roman looks defeated, only for backup to show up, spinning off into a new layer with Jimmy, Jey & Solo.
- Good opening promo for the fully-turned face Usos. London will be hot for the Civil War.
- Knight is over AF right now. Mysterio didn't really stand a chance out there in terms of getting the same energy from the crowd as Knight did, and that's saying something for the beloved HOFer.
- Nice to see Liv back, but I imagine Ronda/Shayna retain the championships for a while.
- Pretty Deadly has been pushed appropriately since getting called up and they're delivering.
- Where is Theory? You don't have anything for the US Champ?
Opening promo served its purpose to show Jimmy and Jey are united. Not sure we needed them saying they still loved Roman but didn't address their younger brother Solo, but I was fine with them blaming the snake Heyman.
Crowd will be hot for them wherever they go.
Grayson Waller Effect with Pretty Deadly was terrible. Not sure if we should blame Waller or Pretty Deadly. When Pretty Deadly referenced the GWE being much better than the KO Show, I am sure I wasn't alone in thinking MizTV is miles better. Miz has a way of getting ANY segment over, even one with only heels. Waller seemed to forget that he has to put over his guests, but at the same time say something positive about himself. Street Profits came out to save us. Pretty Deadly get a win by cheating, which is what heels should do. Street Profits have fallen immensely since they tag titles days. It felt like the crowd clearly understood Pretty Deadly was getting the big push to justify they're in a title match, so the crowd weren't caring.
Ridge Holland did his best selling ever for Solo's backstage spike attack. Ridge normally doesn't do much for me so I will give him credit.
LA Knight. Yeah. Rey always makes every opponent look great, but this time, while the crowd was expecting LA Knight to get the win, they were fully onboard. Yeah. Post match, I doubt anyone is picking Escobar for MITB.
Congrats to Ronda/Shayna for winning more gold and unifying. While I was not familiar with the NXT women, they got a lot of offense in, and I don't think I've seen Ronda sell that much before. Anyway, I saw on SD Lowdown that they added Liv/Raquel vs Ronda/Shayna to the MITB card. Raquel gets to go back to throwing Liv at their opponents. Glad Liv is healthy.
Charlotte/Lacey was a reminder that Lacey is still on the roster. I wish they did more with her.
Sheamus gave us another banger. Solo looks better every time he gets a good amount of time. Toward the end, both guys on the mat, it looked like Solo covered his mouth with his arm when he wanted to talk to Sheamus. The crowd was really into this match, and both guys deserved the "This is Aweome!" chant. I wasn't sure watching if it was a double countout, but it doesn't matter. Story was about Solo wrecking havoc until his older brothers showed up to pop the crowd.
Last week they said we'd get Bayley/Shotzi. Maybe next week?
I'm glad you got to experience Alba and Isla. Alba in particular is a vet (though Isla also has been in the business for a decade) and can put on some damn incredible matches. Isla is very capable in the ring, but shines in the charisma department. I hope they both have success on the main roster, as both are certainly worthy of great main roster careers.
They did mention Solo’s name a couple of times the end tbf although not as much as Roman. I think that could maybe be design how they didn’t vitriol on Solo as much even with the post-match beatdown, leaves the door open for Solo.
There was zero mention of Charlotte and Lacey's history in their match and maybe that was by design as WWE is notorious for pretending their own history never happened lol. It was crazy watching it because the whole time I kept thinking about their feud and how it fell apart at the worst time due to Lacey getting pregnant. It felt like that feud was going to be Lacey's ticket to the main event of the women's roster and ever since she came back it just hasn't clicked at all. WWE are not putting in the effort they think she should just come out and boom-over. Gotta put in the work.
It might be lazy booking but what if they formed a stable of women who were underappreciated on the main roster. Lacey Evans, Dana Brooke, Xia Li, you could bring in Aaliyah she's not even hurt she's just sitting there. Women who aren't the 4 Horsewomen, women who have to take a backseat to one of Triple H and Shawn's golden girls from NXT. SOMETHING to give these women a purpose other than Sunday Night Stevie.
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