WWE Royal Rumble

[Joe Pesci]

Yeah I'm not too thrilled with this Shane vs Steph angle. Was really hoping for either a brand split or just Shane in charge for a while. The focus doesn't need to always have a McMahon front and center, and Shane was doing just that. I'm guessing that with the dip in ratings with Shane in charge, they felt this was necessary? Could have at least given it some more time, change takes a little while to set in and the shows were much better from a wrestling perspective imo.

Also, Owens/Zayn is the best thing they have going, hands down.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Reigns going to go over Styles again at Extreme Rules?

[briantw]

16 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Reigns going to go over Styles again at Extreme Rules?

If I had to guess, Gallows and Anderson turn on Styles at Extreme Rules.  Whether they join up with Reigns (which would suck) or Balor debuts to lead a WWE version of the Bullet Club (which would be awesome) is the question.  Hopefully it's the latter, because the fans will shit all over Gallows and Anderson joining Reigns.

What I would do is have them come down to the ring right as Reigns looks like he might be about to win and just beat the living hell out of him.  Then, as it looks like Styles is about to pin him and win the title, they turn on Styles and lay him out too.  Balor's music hits, he does his full demon entrance, enters the ring, delivers a double stomp to Reigns, his other finisher to Styles, and then holds up the title in the middle of the ring over both guys as the PPV ends.  

I know it's kind of weird to do a no contest in an extreme rules match, but I think that kind of ending makes it work.

[Jack Bauer 24]

I just want to see Styles get a run with the strap, but sadly I don't think it will happen.

[briantw]

37 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

I just want to see Styles get a run with the strap, but sadly I don't think it will happen.

He probably will at some point, but I can't see Vince backtracking on Roman as champ so soon after finally pulling the trigger and giving him the belt.  I think he holds the title until Summerslam at minimum.

[Jack Bauer 24]

7 minutes ago, briantw said:

He probably will at some point, but I can't see Vince backtracking on Roman as champ so soon after finally pulling the trigger and giving him the belt.  I think he holds the title until Summerslam at minimum.

I wonder who he will start a program with after Styles? SS is one of the main PPVs, so hopefully it'll be a big match. I hope Zayn doesn't get stuck in the mid card forever. Hopefully Nakamura gets called up soon.

[briantw]

4 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

I wonder who he will start a program with after Styles? SS is one of the main PPVs, so hopefully it'll be a big match. I hope Zayn doesn't get stuck in the mid card forever. Hopefully Nakamura gets called up soon.

Personally, I think Owens would be the best choice to take the title from him at Summerslam.  He's a heel, but the fans love him.  You can have him hold the title until Wrestlemania, and then drop the belt to Zayn in a program that pretty much writes itself.

[Jack Bauer 24]

16 minutes ago, briantw said:

Personally, I think Owens would be the best choice to take the title from him at Summerslam.  He's a heel, but the fans love him.  You can have him hold the title until Wrestlemania, and then drop the belt to Zayn in a program that pretty much writes itself.

That would be amazing, but do you really think Vince would have them headline Mania AND Zayn go over and Win the world title? Plus they are probably going to be in a long program right now.

[briantw]

Just now, Jack Bauer 24 said:

That would be amazing, but do you really think Vince would have them headline Mania AND Zayn go over and Win the world title? Plus they are probably going to be in a long program right now.

Well, during the Zayn/Owens match, JBL was pretty emphatic that he thought that Owens was a future world champ, and Michael Cole agreed.  Usually you don't get Vince's mouthpieces saying stuff like that unless Vince wants them to.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Riley got canned? Wasn't he just on NXT last week doing a promo for an upcoming match with Nakamura?

[briantw]

46 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Riley got canned? Wasn't he just on NXT last week doing a promo for an upcoming match with Nakamura?

They generally tape around four episodes of NXT at a time, so the timing tends to be screwed up.  For example, the show from two weeks ago was taped before Ryder actually became the Intercontinental champ (they did the past four weeks of NXT tapings the day in between Takeover Dallas and Wrestlemania), but they still referenced it on commentary, and it was also taped weeks before Samoa Joe won the NXT title, but they talked about that as well.  They just edit the shows later and redo any commentary they need to.

I think last week's NXT taping was the first one since the day before Wrestlemania to be taped at Full Sail, which means every episode prior was taped in Dallas over 'Mania weekend.

[Jack Bauer 24]

4 hours ago, briantw said:

They generally tape around four episodes of NXT at a time, so the timing tends to be screwed up.  For example, the show from two weeks ago was taped before Ryder actually became the Intercontinental champ (they did the past four weeks of NXT tapings the day in between Takeover Dallas and Wrestlemania), but they still referenced it on commentary, and it was also taped weeks before Samoa Joe won the NXT title, but they talked about that as well.  They just edit the shows later and redo any commentary they need to.

I think last week's NXT taping was the first one since the day before Wrestlemania to be taped at Full Sail, which means every episode prior was taped in Dallas over 'Mania weekend.

Thanks for the info. So Sandow, Riley, Barrett were canned today. Shame about Barrett. He could have been a star. So I watched my first LU match today. The No Mas Mariposa/Sexy Star match. Had no idea Striker was doing commentary over there lol. Any must see matches? Where do I go from here?

[briantw]

44 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Thanks for the info. So Sandow, Riley, Barrett were canned today. Shame about Barrett. He could have been a star. So I watched my first LU match today. The No Mas Mariposa/Sexy Star match. Had no idea Striker was doing commentary over there lol. Any must see matches? Where do I go from here?

Yeah, my guess is that Riley will have his NXT appearance this week, as they've already taped it.  It's possible that, with him being released, they'll pull it and replace it with something else.  But I doubt it.  No real reason to.

[briantw]

Dunno if you guys watched the PPV two nights ago, but damn that Intercontinental Title match was the best main roster match of the year.  Just electric from start to finish.  And unlike the main event, the fact that you really didn't know who was going to win really added to it, as every nearfall meant there could be a new champ.

[Joe Pesci]

44 minutes ago, briantw said:

Dunno if you guys watched the PPV two nights ago, but damn that Intercontinental Title match was the best main roster match of the year.  Just electric from start to finish.  And unlike the main event, the fact that you really didn't know who was going to win really added to it, as every nearfall meant there could be a new champ.

It was tremendous, I'm even starting to enjoy the Miz in action too instead of just on the mic. I think Styles and Reigns have had two pretty good matches up until the predictable superman punches start flying. It's obvious that he isn't losing the belt yet, especially to a guy who isn't a wwe product and that does take away from the match. That changes somewhat though with Rollins up next, but not that much. Summerslam is the earliest I think they will consider a title change.

[briantw]

2 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

It was tremendous, I'm even starting to enjoy the Miz in action too instead of just on the mic. I think Styles and Reigns have had two pretty good matches up until the predictable superman punches start flying. It's obvious that he isn't losing the belt yet, especially to a guy who isn't a wwe product and that does take away from the match. That changes somewhat though with Rollins up next, but not that much. Summerslam is the earliest I think they will consider a title change.

I thought the main event was really good, and much better than their Payback match (which wasn't bad, but wasn't amazing or anything).  But knowing that Styles has no shot of winning despite being the much better performer is just kind of depressing.  Reigns' Super Cena booking didn't help either, with him shrugging off a Styles Clash, a Styles Clash onto a chair (which should be a knockout move that could end a last man standing match), and then half a dozen chair shots only to leap to his feet and spear Styles like he was totally fine.  It's like the WWE doesn't understand that the fans have moved past wanting that kind of booking for faces.  No one wanted another Cena, but Vince is dead set on forcing one down our throats.

And then the WWE bringing back Rollins and trying to play him off as a heel even though there is zero chance that the fans cheer Reigns over him just shows how out of touch they are.  They could have made Rollins the biggest face in the company.  Instead, they're going to keep trying to pretend everyone loves Reigns even when it's clear that's not the case.  I think he even got a "fuck you Roman" chant last night.

By the way, that Styles/Owens match from Raw last night was phenomenal.  That shouldn't be surprising, I guess, since they're two of the five best in-ring guys on the roster.  I'd probably list my main roster top five as Owens, Zayn, Styles, Rollins, and Cesaro (in no particular order).  I'm looking forward to seeing Owens, Zayn, and Cesaro link back up for Money in the Bank next month.  

My bet is on Owens to win.  He seems to have become one of Vince's favorites of late, and he's pretty indisputably had the best work rate in the company over the past year.  They noted at Extreme Rules that he was the first guy since the Undertaker to appear on every PPV his first year with the company.  That's pretty impressive.  He pulled double duty in at least two of them too (Survivor Series and the Rumble).  JBL and Cole have also been talking him up as a future champ, and they are ever Vince's moutpieces.  

[Joe Pesci]

Owens/Styles was great, it just seemed odd to me right off the bat that they were leaving one of them out of MiTB match when they are both tailor made for it. It was the perfect transition for Styles out of his feud with Reigns instead of that awkward segment with Gallows and Anderson. Can't wait till Balor shows up to help Styles and predictably one will turn on the other.

And yeah they really screwed up with Rollins last night, though his promo was on point and turned the crowd real fast against him. Reigns is not going to get cheered, and JBL is really working his 'you're passionate about Roman' lines just a tad too much. 

[briantw]

2 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

Owens/Styles was great, it just seemed odd to me right off the bat that they were leaving one of them out of MiTB match when they are both tailor made for it. It was the perfect transition for Styles out of his feud with Reigns instead of that awkward segment with Gallows and Anderson. Can't wait till Balor shows up to help Styles and predictably one will turn on the other.

And yeah they really screwed up with Rollins last night, though his promo was on point and turned the crowd real fast against him. Reigns is not going to get cheered, and JBL is really working his 'you're passionate about Roman' lines just a tad too much. 

My guess is that a certain Finn Balor is about to appear on the main roster to lead the Club and he'll feud with Styles next.  

[Joe Pesci]

So with Smackdown going live on Tuesdays in July, there will be an accompanying brand split and draft. Very interested to see how this will start to play out over the next couple of weeks. With wwe pushing the "new era", do they keep these younger guys together on one show or spread them across both? I'd probably prefer them on one show(smackdown) and highlight the wrestling while keeping raw as is with the established vets and storylines. It worked well with the first brand split and could again.

[briantw]

22 hours ago, Joe Pesci said:

So with Smackdown going live on Tuesdays in July, there will be an accompanying brand split and draft. Very interested to see how this will start to play out over the next couple of weeks. With wwe pushing the "new era", do they keep these younger guys together on one show or spread them across both? I'd probably prefer them on one show(smackdown) and highlight the wrestling while keeping raw as is with the established vets and storylines. It worked well with the first brand split and could again.

Supposedly Vince wants to have Reigns headline Raw and Cena headline Smackdown, proof positive that he actively hates us or at the very least is trolling us.