Billie's been wrestling for 10 years and some people think that Peyton's passed her. They're not going to completely blow your mind (and never really got the chance to do anything particularly amazing in NXT) but they're good.
Got it. So the “Divas Era” stuff is a bit extreme?
I like them. They have characters. There’s not enough of that.
I wasn't using Diva as a negative!
There's a lot of good stuff about the direction the women's division has been going in but some of us have been crying out for some cuter, more fun girls like P&B (and Carmella).
I don’t watch much NXT ... is Iconic terrible in the ring?
Either way, you’ve gotta put some of these greener girls in sink or swim situations.
I haven't watched a whole lot of NXT as of late either but I was watching a lot when they first showed up. I find Peyton to be very good and Billie is a solid hand. Neither is on Ember's level but they're both capable.
Just like the Usos, there's a really noticeable change in Nakamura now that he's turned. I didn't expect it but he obviously feels much more comfortable as a heel.
Not a bad SD if a little underwhelming. The women stole the show with Iconic debuting and Carmella cashing in. AJ/DB was a good match but it wasn't on the level off Cena/Styles. Still they have good chemistry so I look forward to future bouts. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get behind Nakamura face or heel. I'm obviously missing something others enjoy.
Upon reflection, that was a terrible SD overall. What a weak way to close out WM week. It’s like they woke up Tuesday and went “fuck, there’s another show still” ... which TBH, is kinda how I felt too.
Upon reflection, that was a terrible SD overall. What a weak way to close out WM week. It’s like they woke up Tuesday and went “fuck, there’s another show still” ... which TBH, is kinda how I felt too.
Really? Raw gauntlet aside I think that's easily the best main TV show this year. An unexpected GM announcement, a fantastic debut, a memorable MITB cash in, two solid division matches, a great start to heel Shinsuke, and the set up for everyone's favourite TNA wrestler vs everyone's favourite ROH wrestler vs everyone's favourite NJPW wrestler at Backlash.
Upon reflection, that was a terrible SD overall. What a weak way to close out WM week. It’s like they woke up Tuesday and went “fuck, there’s another show still” ... which TBH, is kinda how I felt too.
Really? Raw gauntlet aside I think that's easily the best main TV show this year. An unexpected GM announcement, a fantastic debut, a memorable MITB cash in, two solid division matches, a great start to heel Shinsuke, and the set up for everyone's favourite TNA wrestler vs everyone's favourite ROH wrestler vs everyone's favourite NJPW wrestler at Backlash.
You listed all that stuff and it still just felt blah. Iconic debut was okay on a rewatch (the beatdow went too long IMO), and Carmella’s cash-in was great, but again, the aftermath went too long. Too potentially great segments were killed by overstaying their welcome.
Paige is nice, but doesn’t signficantly elevate the show for me. The Triple Threat No. 1 Contender’s Match was another middle finger to fans for organically getting behind Rusev. And the “dream match” was a wasted opportunity to really show what these two can do with a gross amount of commercials. The Nak heel turn is great though.
All that said, the lack of signicant debuts (Iconic counting as just one) or returns made the show feels really flat. Any other week it’d be much better. Mania week? Flat.
Really? Raw gauntlet aside I think that's easily the best main TV show this year. An unexpected GM announcement, a fantastic debut, a memorable MITB cash in, two solid division matches, a great start to heel Shinsuke, and the set up for everyone's favourite TNA wrestler vs everyone's favourite ROH wrestler vs everyone's favourite NJPW wrestler at Backlash.
You listed all that stuff and it still just felt blah. Iconic debut was okay on a rewatch (the beatdow went too long IMO), and Carmella’s cash-in was great, but again, the aftermath went too long. Too potentially great segments were killed by overstaying their welcome.
Paige is nice, but doesn’t signficantly elevate the show for me. The Triple Threat No. 1 Contender’s Match was another middle finger to fans for organically getting behind Rusev. And the “dream match” was a wasted opportunity to really show what these two can do with a gross amount of commercials. The Nak heel turn is great though.
All that said, the lack of signicant debuts (Iconic counting as just one) or returns made the show feels really flat. Any other week it’d be much better. Mania week? Flat.
Overstaying their welcome is a bit of a stretch. The entire segment with Charlotte's promo, Iconics interruption and beat down, and Carmella's cash in was about 15 minutes. And I thought Carmella's celebration was fantastic - it's often been a criticism (particularly in times gone by) that women's title changes were never given the appropriate room to breathe ("whoever's won the title, now quickly let's move on to the stuff that really matters!") so it was nice that they treated it like a genuinely big deal.
Oh, and it also featured this fantastic little bit of continuity:
You listed all that stuff and it still just felt blah. Iconic debut was okay on a rewatch (the beatdow went too long IMO), and Carmella’s cash-in was great, but again, the aftermath went too long. Too potentially great segments were killed by overstaying their welcome.
Paige is nice, but doesn’t signficantly elevate the show for me. The Triple Threat No. 1 Contender’s Match was another middle finger to fans for organically getting behind Rusev. And the “dream match” was a wasted opportunity to really show what these two can do with a gross amount of commercials. The Nak heel turn is great though.
All that said, the lack of signicant debuts (Iconic counting as just one) or returns made the show feels really flat. Any other week it’d be much better. Mania week? Flat.
Overstaying their welcome is a bit of a stretch. The entire segment with Charlotte's promo, Iconics interruption and beat down, and Carmella's cash in was about 15 minutes. And I thought Carmella's celebration was fantastic - it's often been a criticism (particularly in times gone by) that women's title changes were never given the appropriate room to breathe ("whoever's won the title, now quickly let's move on to the stuff that really matters!") so it was nice that they treated it like a genuinely big deal.
Oh, and it also featured this fantastic little bit of continuity:
The difference between 12 minutes and 15 minutes is massive. Either way, I thought both pieces of the segment were far longer than needed. For Carmella, it was coming back to the ring after going to the top of the ramp. I literally thought my TV skipped back a few minutes.
Pretty good show. I liked the Carmella cash in even if everybody saw it coming.
AJ vs. DB was of course interrupted but we all knew that. Also Nakamura actually has personality as a heel, I like this a lot.
On the negative side of things we are still stuck in this seemingly never ending time loop where WWE thinks people care about Jinder vs. Randy Orton. You got an entire crowd of people chanting Rusev Day, one guy getting no reaction, and the other guy only getting a reaction when he hits his finisher who already had the worst feud of last year with the champ....Yeah lets give it that guy. HAHA. Sometimes WWE really just loves to butt fuck the fans. I mean I could tolerate Rusev coming up short at Mania if it were leading to a chase for him but clearly that isn't the plan and WWE is just putting their fingers in their ears when it comes to what the fans want. Imagine if WWE was like this during the Monday night wars. Oh you want Stone Cold getting the mega push? Nah, we like Savio Vega for that instead, he'll bring in that latino market.
