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Steph is a mark for herself, they wouldn't script those comments.

Of course they would.

Cesaro is very popular with the hard core fan base. He has the Cesaro section. He has numerous internet threads about him. He's well liked online. WWE creative obviously know this and they've built a little story thread around it.

I would not be surprised if they continue this for a little while on RAW with him being pissed off, not happy, rebelling against the 'authority' of Steph.

I personally don't know how well he does with the average WWE fan but he's a very mid-card mid carder.

So it makes complete kayfabe sense for him to bitch about going to the brand with heel manager as opposed to going to the face brand with Bryan and Shane.

 

[Marvel]

As seen on Tuesday’s Live WWE Draft themed SmackDown episode, WWE drafted six NXT talents to the main roster. Those names included Finn Balor, American Alpha, Eva Marie, Mojo Rawley and Carmella.

Heading into the show, WWE officials went back and forth on who they wanted to bring up. At one point they were only going to bring up Jason Jordan and not Chad Gable. Those plans obviously changed, as both members of American Alpha were drafted.

Mojo Rawley was originally planned to be brought up, then they decided against it, and then changed their mind yet again and brought him back into plans.

In regards to Bayley, who was rumored for some time to be called up, she was originally slated to be drafted as well, but was then they had a change of heart and decided against it.

Back around WrestleMania time, it was being said that they company didn’t have plans to bring up Carmella because they felt she wasn’t ready. They just recently changed their mind on that decision as well

Yup, came across as last minute rush job on SD Live.

Splitting up AA? Lol wtf, glad that never fucking happened.

 

[Sephzilla]

Yeah I don't believe the Cesaro stuff was scripted. If they were going to have Cesaro go anti-authority bit to go with it would have been something along the lines of "I don't agree with Steph and wish Shane would have drafted me". It wouldn't have been Cesaro straight up saying he thinks Steph is irrelevant and shouldn't be a focus - because Steph is a huge mark for herself and wouldn't let that fly.

 

[jmdajr]

close

 

[bill0527]

http://www.wwe.com/article/new-wwe-announce-teams-revealed?sf31321266=1

So Lawler is gone.....

 

[Sephzilla]

http://www.wwe.com/article/new-wwe-announce-teams-revealed?sf31321266=1

So Lawler is gone.....

About 10 years too late. I'm actually shocked he's not even mentioned in the article

 

[LiQuid!]

I am not asking for RAW or Smackdown to turn into NXT but my one hope for last night was to make RAW and/or SD distinct from each other - and they fell at the first hurdle of accomplishing that. The roster of each show feels like it was determined via a lottery system, with no sensible human overlooking the situation. That is a horrible start.

Not sure how you can look at the draft and consider it a lotto. Go down both lists and gauge the amount of heat each superstar has. Raw is actually the same product it was last week moving forward. Almost nothing has changed. They still have the same major players at the top of the card down to the mid/low card.

Smackdown is full of used up, old talent who are in desperate need of a career revival and some of the greener NXT talent. With that roster it seems like Smackdown is more of an NXT 2.0 than Raw Lite.

Does appear to be any randomness or lotto to these drafts. They've pretty clearly positioned Smackdown as the B show and even pushed NXT down farther into a C show.

 

[DeathyBoy]

I guess what I meant was Rock/Austin/Jericho would just tell her to shut up if she tried that last word shit to undercut a face getting the better of her

Absolutely.

Because Austin/Rock/Punk don't give a fuck about Steph. They cut their promos their way, and if someone tried to one-up them they'd destroy them. Heyman's the same. Rest of the guys spend so long trying to memorise drivel that when someone adlibs they're fucking rattled.

 

[Lyte Edge]

Yeah I don't believe the Cesaro stuff was scripted. If they were going to have Cesaro go anti-authority bit to go with it would have been something along the lines of "I don't agree with Steph and wish Shane would have drafted me". It wouldn't have been Cesaro straight up saying he thinks Steph is irrelevant and shouldn't be a focus - because Steph is a huge mark for herself and wouldn't let that fly.

Almost all (if not all) of those Network interviews were pretty bad, with people not knowing what to say and messing up. Even Charlotte went blank at one point with her mouth hanging open, LOL. These were clearly not scripted.

 

[Ithil]

Of course they would.

Cesaro is very popular with the hard core fan base. He has the Cesaro section. He has numerous internet threads about him. He's well liked online. WWE creative obviously know this and they've built a little story thread around it.

I would not be surprised if they continue this for a little while on RAW with him being pissed off, not happy, rebelling against the 'authority' of Steph.

I personally don't know how well he does with the average WWE fan but he's a very mid-card mid carder.

So it makes complete kayfabe sense for him to bitch about going to the brand with heel manager as opposed to going to the face brand with Bryan and Shane.

I suppose they scripted Kalisto to shit the bed too, right?

Not everything is a work.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Almost all (if not all) of those Network interviews were pretty bad, with people not knowing what to say and messing up. Even Charlotte went blank at one point with her mouth hanging open, LOL. These were clearly not scripted.

Also not scripted given none of the talent knew where they'd be going. They were genuinely surprised on the night. Because WWE is so badly run sometimes that they set stuff like this up and decide last minute who goes where.

Hence Lesnar and Orton on different brands before the build for their Summerslam match has even started.

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

Look at the Kalisto promo. The Network interviews were not scripted at all.

 

[Google]

Yeah I don't believe the Cesaro stuff was scripted. If they were going to have Cesaro go anti-authority bit to go with it would have been something along the lines of "I don't agree with Steph and wish Shane would have drafted me". It wouldn't have been Cesaro straight up saying he thinks Steph is irrelevant and shouldn't be a focus - because Steph is a huge mark for herself and wouldn't let that fly.

I will respectfully disagree.

I have a little more confidence in the production aspects of a show like this in that they wouldn't allow a performer, who gets paid incredibly well to shoot like this.

But we'll leave that there. No use in arguing something we'll not find out about for a long, long time.

 

[Google]

I suppose they scripted Kalisto to shit the bed too, right?

Not everything is a work.

They scripted his fucking messaging and he ballsed up the performance.

 

[PaulLFC]

I hope there's some trades although I don't hold out much hope. They need at least two of Owens/Zayn/Cesaro/Jericho on SD to give the midcard any depth whatsoever. They could have done with Sasha there to give more depth and experience to the womens' division. Also I've got no idea why Kalisto was drafted to SD when the cruiserweight division is supposedly on Raw (nice to see they thought that through...).

They also haven't mentioned what they're doing with titles. Are they cross-show? If not what are Becky and co supposed to fight for on SD? You could see in her interview she was wondering the same thing.

 

[DeathyBoy]

I will respectfully disagree.

I have a little more confidence in the production aspects of a show like this in that they wouldn't allow a performer, who gets paid incredibly well to shoot like this.

But we'll leave that there. No use in arguing something we'll not find out about for a long, long time.

So when did they script it?

They were debating who was going where up to two hours before the show. When would they have had time to script every interview?

 

[Google]

These were clearly not scripted.

When I say scripted, I don't mean every single word was written word for word. I mean it was scripted in the sense of "Go here, at this time, say this, bitch about that, talk yourself up, mention the next PPV, look angry".

You know - like professional wrestling...

 

[Google]

So when did they script it?

They were debating who was going where up to two hours before the show. When would they have had time to script every interview?

Which 'they' are you referring to?

 

[Sephzilla]

When I say scripted, I don't mean every single word was written word for word. I mean it was scripted in the sense of "Go here, at this time, say this, bitch about that, talk yourself up, mention the next PPV, look angry".

You know - like professional wrestling...

Except there's been a bunch of former writers who've come out and said that in modern day WWE most scripted promos are pretty detailed and almost word for word. They don't do the "go say something like this" and let the wrestlers improvise promos that much anymore like when Austin and Rock were in their prime. The only completely off script promos we get these days are stuff that goes to Youtube or WWE Network - aka what all of the draft interviews were.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Which 'they' are you referring to?

The writers.

Raw and Smackdown are scripted from top to bottom, promos script word for word. That's how they work. So when you say they scripted interviews, to me that means 'say exactly this.' And if they scripted Cesaro to say that, to bury Foley and Steph, then they are beyond incompetent.

 

[Compbros]

When I say scripted, I don't mean every single word was written word for word. I mean it was scripted in the sense of "Go here, at this time, say this, bitch about that, talk yourself up, mention the next PPV, look angry".

You know - like professional wrestling...

That's not what people mean when they say scripted, those are more bullet points that allow the wrestlers to fill in the gaps with their own wording. That's not what WWE does these days, they pretty much lay out the vast majority of a person's promo and the performer just regurgitates the lines.

 

[Tom Nook]

It's a fucking work.

Jesus guys...

I like the promo....

If it's a work, he delivered the promo well.

 

[Lyte Edge]

When I say scripted, I don't mean every single word was written word for word. I mean it was scripted in the sense of "Go here, at this time, say this, bitch about that, talk yourself up, mention the next PPV, look angry".

You know - like professional wrestling...

Did those sound like typical promos to you? Bruh.

 

[GunBR]

If the Cesaro promo was a work or no will be easy to know

If he was shooting then next week he will be losing clean in a 2 min match against Sheamus or Darren Young

So Balor is basically the face of RAW now right?

 

[Pikma]

It's like when hype gets too big before an Apple or video game event, and their PR says something a week before to shut down wild expectations and keep us realistic. WWE needs that.

If they just said the NXT picks could be anyone but the champs and the #1 contenders, we could have stayed hyped knowing what we would get. I'd be somewhat happy with Bliss, Jax, Mojo, and Carmella now instead.

Why is it so hard to understand that people who are currently busy being either a champ or a #1 contender will most likely not get called up (yet)?

I don't think it's WWE's fault, it's more of a lack of common sense

 

[Compbros]

Why is it so hard to understand that people who are currently busy being either a champ or a #1 contender will most likely not get called up (yet)?

I don't think it's WWE's fault, it's more of a lack of common sense

Champions have been called up before and then lose the title on their next match/program.

 

[Ithil]

When I say scripted, I don't mean every single word was written word for word. I mean it was scripted in the sense of "Go here, at this time, say this, bitch about that, talk yourself up, mention the next PPV, look angry".

You know - like professional wrestling...

WWE doesn't do bullet points, you get an actual script to learn word for word.

 

[Pikma]

Champions have been called up before and then lose the title on their next match/program.

How long since that last time that happened? It's pretty obvious things have changes, if you wanna really have a better idea of when people are getting called up see:

Finn Bálor
American Alpha
Sami Zayn (2nd call up, kinda)
Apollo Crews
Baron Corbin
The rest of the new call ups

 

[Anth0ny]

The lesson for everyone today.

Hugely disappointing show. They just made the rosters shittier. Nothing changed. There's no spark.

Real sports drafts are about new stars. Don't know what last night was about.

being optimistic about wwe was your first mistake

never do that. never ever ever.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

That Cesaro promo really isn't anything. More of the same sort of thing he's always said about being The Professional in different words. Not scripted, but not out of character or any sort of "shoot" at all.

Why is it so hard to understand that people who are currently busy being either a champ or a #1 contender will most likely not get called up (yet)?

I don't think it's WWE's fault, it's more of a lack of common sense

Happened with Owens and Banks for months.

 

[GunBR]

Champions have been called up before and then lose the title on their next match/program.

But NXT already lose too much people
Bayley and Asuka are the only ones who can fight for the title right now. They will have to give a push to another 2 or 3 girls before put Bayley on the main roster

The Man's division will also need some new people. Or at least give a push to some of the current wrestlers. You can't put Aries or Cien Almas fighting for the belt now, for example

 

[Sephzilla]

How long since that last time that happened?

Kevin Owens debut

 

[jwhit28]

Why is it so hard to understand that people who are currently busy being either a champ or a #1 contender will most likely not get called up (yet)?

I don't think it's WWE's fault, it's more of a lack of common sense

Well when they treat it as a sports draft, you would think the draft list would go from most popular/talented to least popular/talented. They just didn't even try to make the picks make sense.

 

[Pikma]

close

Real SD is actually way worse, at least that scenario had Sami, KO and Cesaro.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

But NXT already lose too much people
Bayley and Asuka are the only ones who can fight for the title right now. They will have to give a push to another 2 or 3 girls before put Bayley on the main roster

The Man's division will also need some new people. Or at least give a push to some of the current wrestlers. You can't put Aries or Cien Almas fighting for the belt now, for example

Why is this on your mind as justification? This isn't something regular fans should be considering at all.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Real SD is actually way worse, at least that scenario had Sami, KO and Cesaro.

The one on the right is talking about a Raw recap so in that scenario its basically exactly what happened other than Sheamus is still on Raw, I think.

 

[esmith08734]

The draft made zero sense. Smackdown was about opportunities for new guys yet Orton and Cena are on there, guys given the most opportunities out of anyone.

Smackdown should have been:

Styles
Wyatt
Shinsuke
Sami
Cesaro
Becky
American Alpha
Bayley
Dean
Rusev

Owens and Sami on the same show is horseshit and letting Cesaro die on RAW is horrible.

The only silver lining from this is Styles will get a championship run.

 

[Sephzilla]

Bayley is still likely to be Sasha's surprise partner on Sunday. Asuka and Nakamura are probably going to be in NXT until around WrestleMania 33. Nakamura would be a solid Royal Rumble debut, Asuka is a prime Raw-after-Mania type

 

[Google]

WWE doesn't do bullet points, you get an actual script to learn word for word.

I understand. But when I watched all the interviews last night on the network that did not seem to the be the case. It looked and felt like an old school, bullet point fest.

If what you're all telling me is true for last night and that the WWE only issued full scripts, can someone explain to me what the fuck was happening on the Network panel? It was all over the place and felt like a late 80's interview with Mean Gene.

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

Bayley is still likely to be Sasha's surprise partner on Sunday. Asuka and Nakamura are probably going to be in NXT until around WrestleMania 33. Nakamura would be a solid Royal Rumble debut, Asuka is a prime Raw-after-Mania type

I wonder if Bayley at Battleground will just be a one-time thing to get some casual fans to know her before she makes an after Summerslam debut, or if that will still be her big debut and I guess Shane and Stephanie can fight over her.

 

[Sephzilla]

I understand. But when I watched all the interviews last night on the network that did not seem to the be the case. It looked and felt like an old school, bullet point fest.

If what you're all telling me is true for last night and that the WWE only issued full scripts, can someone explain to me what the fuck was happening on the Network panel? It was all over the place and felt like a late 80's interview with Mean Gene.

Promos for television network shows are heavily scripted (Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, Superstars). Stuff on YouTube / WWE Network like the draft special and those interviews tend to be improvised stuff (mostly because Vince probably doesn't care about those as much). That's why Ziggler and Zack Ryder got to take tons of pot-shots at creative there and why Corey Graves was namedropping Nakamura and Samoa Joe even though the actual Smackdown Live show made absolutely no mention of those guys.

 

[GunBR]

Why is this on your mind as justification? This isn't something regular fans should be considering at all.

I'm just saying that is the reason why they don't call up this wrestlers.
Triple H won't let anyone destroy his show, and he is one of the only people in the company that can convince Vince of something.

I'm not saying it's a good reason
I'm not saying it's a bad reason
I'm saying it's THE reason

 

[Pikma]

The one on the right is talking about a Raw recap so in that scenario its basically exactly what happened other than Sheamus is still on Raw, I think.

Oh wow, I missed that part

Fuck... That's depressing

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

I'm just saying that is the reason why they don't call up this wrestlers.
Triple H won't let anyone destroy his show, and he is one of the only people in the company that can convince Vince of something.

I'm not saying it's a good reason
I'm not saying it's a bad reason
I'm saying it's THE reason

No one is confused on the business and procedural reasons why certain people were drafted. None of this should matter to us, the fans.

WWE creates hype and delivers payoffs as a business. This didn't happen. That's all that matters.

 

[Google]

Promos for television network shows are heavily scripted (Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, Superstars). Stuff on YouTube / WWE Network like the draft special and those interviews tend to be improvised stuff (mostly because Vince probably doesn't care about those as much). That's why Ziggler and Zack Ryder got to take tons of pot-shots at creative there and why Corey Graves was namedropping Nakamura and Samoa Joe even though the actual Smackdown Live show made absolutely no mention of those guys.

So in that respect, if we assume Cesaro was 'pipebombing' and being 'real' what was up with the rest of the talent? Were the USO's and Sheamus not being 'real'?

 

[KingBroly]

They should do a 5v5 Survivor Series Match between Raw and SD. Winning show gets to pick 3 people from the other show to switch sides.

 

[Sephzilla]

So in that respect, if we assume Cesaro was 'pipebombing' and being 'real' what was up with the rest of the talent? Were the USO's and Sheamus not being 'real'?

Well I remember Shaemus kind of off-hand even acknowledging that his last title reign was BS. How the Usos were acting in their interview felt pretty in-line with how they act on Xavier Wood's Youtube channel

 

[Ithil]

So how long before they break the separation and introduce talent trades to swap people? If I recall it took about 6 months in the 2002 split, and they tried a hell of a lot harder to make SD not a B-show in that split compared to this one.

 

[Google]

Well I remember Shaemus kind of off-hand even acknowledging that his last title reign was BS. How the Usos were acting in their interview felt pretty in-line with how they act on Xavier Wood's Youtube channel

Right. Sheamus felt like a traditional 80's interview.

"Shamo, go up, tell them you're excited, give some background that you want to be winning, that you should be winning, give people a chance to believe in you"

and he did...

So I see Cesaro being told similar things. He just delivered slightly better.

 

[GunBR]

They should do a 5v5 Survivor Series Match between Raw and SD. Winning show gets to pick 3 people from the other show to switch sides.

I can see Smackdown winning and taking Big Show, The Shining Stars and Summer Rae.