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April Wrasslin' |OT| 2017 Season Premiere

Recall

Member
So I've been saying for months that you should save criticism until the show takes places and not be negative going in. Let the show happen then air opinions.

I've just finished watching the main show (I don't watch pre-shows, just like how I don't watch RAW or Smackdown)

My favourite match was AJ vs Shane by a long fucking way. Shane was gassed super early but they kept on going and delivered a chaotic fun match which seemingly burnt the crowd out straight away.

My biggest disappointment were Owens vs Jericho as while decent I expected much better. The RAW women's four way was the most pointless filler match imaginable, such a let down.

The matches I had wanted to deliver but failed in every way possible were Bray v Orton (highlight were the maggots) Triple H v Seth (highlight was the final 2 minutes) and Reigns v Taker. Why the hell was Taker v Reigns in the main event slot? Why did they go 23 minutes? Why did the match even happen?
 

Sephzilla

Member
The "face of the company" has to do media rounds.

Sami Zayn is not selling WWE as Big Time to Good Morning America.

I think he'd do fine. Zayn is a fairly smooth talker with a respectable look, plus his entire backstory regarding his nationality and what not would make him a good public figure as well.

Plus it's not like Roman is selling WWE right now either
 

gun_haver

Member
I actually think this mindset is the problem, though. Depending on one guy to carry the company for a decade is what put them in this spot. They need to have multiple guys who can carry the company and not necessarily for gigantic stints of time either. I feel like that mindset would help them focus on building deeper rosters.

Austin was the top guy in WWE for only 6 years, and even then he still had Rock, Foley, Undertaker, Kane, and HHH.

eh, austin was the top guy for more like 4 years and he was injured for one of those years.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
I need a carny brother. I feel like im the only person here that likes carny ass shit like Sanity or Balor ;_;

You motherfuckers and your "realism", damn you all.
 

ShadyK54

Member
Am I stupid for being pretty damn hyped for RAW tonight?

I'm pretty hyped. I'm in solely for Hardy Boyz & potentially NXT call ups hype at this point.

Edit: ^ DEMON KANG Balor is fun. The face paint & mannerisms are a good time. As for Sanity: their theme is cool & I like that they're a bunch of weirdos. Could do without the face paint thing they did at Takeover, though.

Edit 2.0: Yeah, Balor needs to go all out with it lol.
 

Sephzilla

Member
I need a carny brother. I feel like im the only person here that likes carny ass shit like Sanity or Balor ;_;

You motherfuckers and your "realism", damn you all.

I love the goofy shit Balor does, I loved Bray's crazy shit against Orton, and I'm a huge mark for vintage "literally has super powers" Undertaker. The only issue I have with Balor is that Demon Balor isn't different/carny enough.
 

Bronx-Man

Banned
If I were running the company, I'd go full social justice and have Zayn and Mustafa Ali as my biggest babyfaces. But unfortunately the world we live in is not just.
 

cordy

Banned
Becky is one of the few genuine faces WWE have. She's been consistently over and actually manages to have good writing for her character to make the crowds root for her. Turning her heel would be ridiculous.

Indeed.

She just needs better opponents because no woman on SDL is cutting it against her.
 

klonere

Banned
I love the goofy shit Balor does, I loved Bray's crazy shit against Orton, and I'm a huge mark for vintage "literally has super powers" Undertaker. The only issue I have with Balor is that Demon Balor isn't different/carny enough.

Alan4L said that Balor needs to watch Mutoh tapes to learn how to play a character like that
 

Sephzilla

Member
Zayn should be a huge babyface star simply because he's one of the more natural faces on the entire roster. Which is honestly rare considering most people work better as heels.
 

Caderfix

Member
Zayn should be a huge babyface star simply because he's one of the more natural faces on the entire roster. Which is honestly rare considering most people work better as heels.

Remember when he showed up to face Roman for the belt? The crowd was behind him and it was a good moment. I thought his time would come, I'd never imagine the company would bury him so deep.
 
Finally watching the TakeOver show, and requiring women to tag out when the other woman tags out (and vice versa, obvs) is super dumb. Either do a mixed tag, or don't.

Also, the NXT announce team is wretched. Nigel and Percy need to go away permanently, and they need to bring in new, better folks.
 

Cagey

Banned
I love the goofy shit Balor does, I loved Bray's crazy shit against Orton, and I'm a huge mark for vintage "literally has super powers" Undertaker. The only issue I have with Balor is that Demon Balor isn't different/carny enough.

Yeah, I agree with that. Bodypaint is the bare minimum here.
 
Finn Balor moveset: Dropkicks, corner dropkicks, stomps, pele kick, enziguri while opponent sits on the rope, suicide dive, lift opponent to an inverted DDT, 1916, sling blade, coup de grace.

Demon Finn Balor moveset: Dropkicks, corner dropkicks, stomps, pele kick, enziguri while opponent sits on the rope, suicide dive, lift opponent to an inverted DDT, 1916, sling blade, coup de grace.

That's where my real problem resides with the Demon character. He doesn't change anything for it.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Yeah, I agree with that. Bodypaint is the bare minimum here.

Here's what it should be

Finn Balor: Technical wrestler, does some fancy moves on occasion, uses the Coup De Grace as his finisher, is about winning the match.

Demon Balor: Aggressive striker, any submission move he does should look really painful, uses Bloody Sunday as his finisher, is about leaving his opponent a broken mess.

This isn't really that hard to figure out. If Mick Foley can make Dude Love and Cactus Jack work then Balor should be able to make the Demon work better
 
Only playfully now. But you know, black south American mum's are mad.
If my mom put her damn hands on me, I'd beat her ass.

She knows not to fuck with me
LOL

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Found Owensisnow
 
Balor would definitely be next in line after Reigns as "the guy", I'd think. Good enough all rounder and WWE could release merch for him out the wazoo.

He really should be wrestling a different style as THE DEMON KING but I don't think your average viewer gives a shit about that to be honest.
 

kiguel182

Member
I'm really excited for Raw, it's always fun after Mania.

But I'm more curious for Smackdown. It's the first Smackdown after Mania and I wonder who will end up there and what they are going to do next.
 

cordy

Banned
My whole issue with Balor/Demon Balor is that he's basically the same guy except he's got on paint and he crawls. He needs to divide himself up more and change his style up so there's a real difference.
This man knew how to get it down. Cody as Stardust had different moves, a different attitude, a different speech, different mannerisms and quirks, the only thing they had similar is their finisher which was different near the first part of his run (personally I think they made him keep doing the same one due to the fact that it connected to his original character more). Overall this is how you get it done.

Balor needs to study Rhodes and see what he did. Cody's always been able to show differences between each character of his. He's a master at that.
 

Ithil

Member
The "face of the company" has to do media rounds.

Sami Zayn is not selling WWE as Big Time to Good Morning America.

Neither is boring ass Roman Reigns in his poorly fitted suits.
I saw the same crap said about Daniel Bryan, and yet Bryan is 10 times better than those talkshow interviews than Reigns because he's intensely likable and genuine.

It's a bullshit point that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
did Balor and Nakamura wrestle when they were both in new japan? I want to say yes but I have the memory of a goldfish
 

Sephzilla

Member
That's actually a good example. Cody did a great job of making Stardust feel like someone else.

did Balor and Nakamura wrestle when they were both in new japan? I want to say yes but I have the memory of a goldfish

I imagine they did. Plus they also wrestled in NXT
 
I need a carny brother. I feel like im the only person here that likes carny ass shit like Sanity or Balor ;_;

You motherfuckers and your "realism", damn you all.
Nope, give me my fake shit as fake as can be, I love gimmicks and shit. Fuck that bullshit bland shit. I hate how raw and sd has so many wrestling matches, give me 7 min matches then build character and story. Russo had it right.
 
I wonder what happens / how Vince responds if Balor ends up catching Roman in merch numbers once Balor comes back healthy.
By this point I've pretty much accepted that Balor is going to basically be Vince's dream. A genuinely over guy who he can push to the fucking moon and the crowds won't boo him for that when he beats everyone clean and says goofy shit in his promos.

Guy might not be super tall but he's Irish so that ticks something off the list of qualifications to get a huge WWE push.
 

Sephzilla

Member
By this point I've pretty much accepted that Balor is going to basically be Vince's dream. A genuinely over guy who he can push to the fucking moon and the crowds won't boo him for that when he beats everyone clean and says goofy shit in his promos.

Guy might not be super tall but he's Irish so that ticks something off the list of qualifications to get a huge WWE push.

The downside is Balor is 35 while Roman is 31
 
I need a carny brother. I feel like im the only person here that likes carny ass shit like Sanity or Balor ;_;

You motherfuckers and your "realism", damn you all.

Sanity is probably my favorite thing in NXT. I still want them to just completely ruin some big NXT show, interfere in every match, put a few guys on the shelf, wreck shop.
 

Toki767

Member
I still need someone to explain why HHH's entrance involved police in motor scooters.

And they were riding down the ramp slower than John Cena ran down.
 
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