Its a shame because if Eva did improve she probably could have a massive face run as somebody who tried to go up through NXT and train how to be a wrestler.
Instead of say Nnaomi who is just as bad if not worse in the ring.
True. I like to be optimistic and think Eva when she finally wrestles will be solid. I suppose we'll eventually see. For now, I'm just curious to see what they do with her grand return. Becky and Alexa are feuding, as are Nikki and Carmella. Unless they keep her return for after No Mercy.
Bayley & Becky are really the perfect people to carry the womans divisons. They're so dorky and likable that it works out perfect for them to be female Cena's.
Unlike Carmella who literally NO ONE in the arena seems to give a damn about. She's just terrible all around.
Also funny to see all of Wreddit now turning on Sasha after being their darling for so many months
I respect her a lot for being the reason for being on different brands from Enzo and Cass given she wanted to succeed on her own. That's great. What isn't great is the fact she kept the gimmick and not one mention has been made yet of the fact she knows them. I dunno, maybe the heel turn would have had more affect if they made her connection to the hugely over babyface tag-team over on Raw a bit more prominent.
I respect her a lot for being the reason for being on different brands from Enzo and Cass given she wanted to succeed on her own. That's great. What isn't great is the fact she kept the gimmick and not one mention has been made yet of the fact she knows them. I dunno, maybe the heel turn would have had more affect if they made her connection to the hugely over babyface tag-team over on Raw a bit more prominent.
I think in time there will be a mention or some kind of programme/backstage skit. Problem is as you said she's Heel now (which I like) but yeah. Bad timing.
To be fair, it's stupid how Sasha had to 'earn' her rematch that she should have just gotten anyway just for being the former champion so the right person won. But I wanna see Dana smash Charlotte! Why have they done more to make me care about Dana than face Sasha? :|
And Bayley defeated the champ so she probably deserves a shot too, or does that kinda stuff only count for Roman??
Eva and Becky started an interesting thing starting before Eva went on holiday, and I want to see Eva try and get out of a D-Bry interview on Talking Smack because her top suddenly disintegrates and D-Bry is left blushing.
To be fair, it's stupid how Sasha had to 'earn' her rematch that she should have just gotten anyway just for being the former champion so the right person won. But I wanna see Dana smash Charlotte! Why have they done more to make me care about Dana than face Sasha? :|
And Bayley defeated the champ so she probably deserves a shot too, or does that kinda stuff only count for Roman??
Eva and Becky started an interesting thing starting before Eva went on holiday, and I want to see Eva try and get out of a D-Bry interview on Talking Smack because her top suddenly disintegrates and D-Bry is left blushing.
Automatic title rematches are dumb anyways because nobody really wants to see the old winner get it back. The reason why Sasha was good was that Bayley shouldn't be getting title shots yet.
It's actually a little funny to me that Raw got Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte and its been a worse division so far.
Yeah I don't get that. There's no reason whatsoever why Asuka wouldn't make the main roster.
Automatic title rematches are dumb anyways because nobody really wants to see the old winner get it back. The reason why Sasha was good was that Bayley shouldn't be getting title shots yet.
It's actually a little funny to me that Raw got Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte and its been a worse division so far.
Automatic title rematches are dumb anyways because nobody really wants to see the old winner get it back. The reason why Sasha was good was that Bayley shouldn't be getting title shots yet.
It's actually a little funny to me that Raw got Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte and its been a worse division so far.
Smackdown handling all of its' women as contenders is somehow less messy then whatever type of situation they're trying to do on Raw. Plus Smackdown currently has a champ we've never had before in Becky and also giving a shot to a woman who in NXT never truly had the limelight in Alexa. Nikki Bella herself is settled into the secondary feud that seems designed to help put Carmella over properly. Compare this to Raw giving us Sasha vs Charlotte for the third time in over a month. I mean, Smackdown managed to get motherfucking Eva Marie to be enjoyable, that tells you all you need to know on how much better things are there.
Smackdown comes off as more of a sports entertainment program than Raw. The wrestling is an accessory to getting characters and storylines over, rather than being big PPV style blowoffs. The Raw main event in the last three weeks have been PPV quality matchups and PPV quality matches (Roman/Rusev, Sami/Owens, Owens/Reigns) while running singles matches involving the primary characters of said feud (Titus/Young, the women). Raw still has this "stuff happens" feel punctuated by the occassional great match that saves the show from being absolute garbage.
Smackdown is driven by characters and how they interact. While of course, they've always tried to have it be like that on Raw, the pacing and construction of feuds rarely made them feel like stories and the presentation of performers rarely made them feel like characters. Just focussing on the main events of each respective show, Raw seems to rely a ton on ambiguity and lack of agency - we still don't know what HHH is really up to, Seth's motivations are somewhat unclear (he's still a heel who just happens to hate Steph right?), Owens is just kind of there and yes, that is how it's meant to come off but it doesn't make it good. There isn't that clear of a direction to the main event feud.
Seth is nominally out for revenge but has been written to also still hate Reigns for reasons, even though he turned on Roman for HHH's approval and a no DQ triple threat would give free reign to beat the shit out of HHH's surrogate. Nobody has true agency in the feud either. Owens is there at the behest of HHH. Seth appears to be getting the run around from Foley, Steph and Hunter all at once. Reigns keeps getting dragged back into the midcard.
There's nothing to really sink my teeth into there. Why do I care about a wrestling feud where the most important characters aren't going to have a match (aka The Stephanie McMahon Fallacy)? Where characters have unclear motivations and obsfucated plot beats?
Although both shows are ulimately tied together in a storyline about, you guessed it, the McMahons
Smackdown meanwhile has much clearly defined motivations in the main event. AJ is the angry vet who demands to be acknowledged after years of being the best everywhere else and become the new standard for the WWE. Dean is the man with everything to prove, with both the champion, challenger and now the crowd questioning his drive. Cena is out to cement his legacy as the all-time greatest WWE champion. Miz, while not in the match is forcibly interjecting himself into the main event for very similar reasons to AJ: he feels like he has been ignored by the fans and management despite having worked incredibly hard. Unlike AJ, that hard work is of a different nature and inside the company instead of outside which further defines those characters.
Everyone is working towards their own ends. They are masters of their own destinies, captains of etc. etc. Miz, by virtue of having a feud with an authority figure that doesn't have McMahon in their last name, is allowed to appear like he is actually accomplishing things and forging his way up the card, rather than being outwitted, belittled and shouted down.
Now of course, the 3 hours of Raw are still a gigantic storytelling block to overcome but they really book themselves into very predictable corners. With the Cruiserweights supposedly occupying the first hour of Raw from this week forward, that excuse will be dropped. And I didn't even mention the other feuds on each show. Compare New Day/Club to Slater/Rhyno. Compare Titus/Young to Miz/Ziggler. The only place where Smackdown falls down is with Orton and Wyatt. They've rehab the Usos. They've built a compelling women's division with arguably less talent than Raw. Meanwhile Raw's great idea for Sasha Banks is a fake retirement speech that was in poor taste and had backwards psychology.
Not only would they look like they don't give a shit about their performers' health for the sake of money, but if someone were to ever happen to Bryan, they'd be at fault.
Not only would they look like they don't give a shit about their performers' health for the sake of money, but if someone were to ever happen to Bryan, they'd be at fault.
Not only would they look like they don't give a shit about their performers' health for the sake of money, but if someone were to ever happen to Bryan, they'd be at fault.
Not only would they look like they don't give a shit about their performers' health for the sake of money, but if someone were to ever happen to Bryan, they'd be at fault.
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