yeah this has been a great show so far. i can't decide who i love more out of Xavier and Big E
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 01:55 (eight years ago) link
i am not usually at all into that spot where a guy wrestler grabs a girl wrestler and kisses her against her will, but all the same, god bless you Ric Flair you crazy old bastard
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 02:35 (eight years ago) link
oh shit that pop for THE BOSS
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 02:41 (eight years ago) link
face Becky, heel Charlotte, TWEENER Sasha, all with reasons for fighting each other, fighting over a title belt, getting PPV time and promo packages, awesome awesome awesome awesome why haven't they been doing this all along?
ok the finish to that match was dumb as shit, i will forgive it because post-match shenanigans were the best
this PPV is one good Rumble match away from being a very very good show indeed imo
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 02:46 (eight years ago) link
this Edge and Christian show looks awful
pretty savage boos for Roman right out the gate. this is gonna be FUN!
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 02:54 (eight years ago) link
we have a Styles sighting! and that was a MEGA POP!
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 02:59 (eight years ago) link
clever having KO eliminate styles.
― Mordy, Monday, 25 January 2016 03:29 (eight years ago) link
yeah, they used Owens very well tonight.
i could watch Brock Lesnar run around hitting jumping knee strikes on bigass dudes forever
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 03:42 (eight years ago) link
good job Lesnar's in this, it's gone a bit flat, you can see the last few guys coming a mile away, Wyatt and Sheamus will be here soon
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 03:43 (eight years ago) link
ha so yeah
the story is going to be all about Reigns going the distance and overcoming the odds. The League of Nations are going to make things difficult for him but he'll win through. The New Day will probably get a spot early on to do some comedy stuff. Lesnar will enter at some stage and fucking clean house, eventually to be eliminated by some combination of the Wyatt Family (probably all four of them). Triple H will return right at the death and get revenge on Reigns and take home the title. NXT guys will probably get a showing given they're in Orlando
they've actually done everything that everyone's been predicted for weeks.
it's been a really great Rumble! just a shitty main story. how on earth does taking Reigns to the back for the majority of the match make him look like a deserving good-guy champ?! Kevin Owens could barely walk and he stumbled out to give it his best
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 03:53 (eight years ago) link
Hunter got his eyes on those 16 title reigns
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 03:59 (eight years ago) link
Behold the King, the King of Kings!
Thanks for coming, everyone.
― hourspass, Monday, 25 January 2016 04:15 (eight years ago) link
aside from kalisto consuming the soul of sin cara the undercard was great, rumble was fun until the wyatts eliminated everybody and grim inevitability set in. maybe picking holes in wrestling logic is a fool's errand, but the two determining factors for the rumble matchup were pretty annoying - if it's been established that you can hang around outside the ring for as long as you want, why not do that? and if it's been established that you can help your buddies beat up and eliminate their enemies whether you're (still) in the match or not, why not do that?
― lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Monday, 25 January 2016 04:44 (eight years ago) link
that was exciting at the end there, but fuck
i know wrestling is dumb but vince mcmahon should probably know to tell his lackeys to actually formally eliminate roman from the match
also they need to stop calling him the boss, that's gimmick infringement
xp
― qualx, Monday, 25 January 2016 04:45 (eight years ago) link
tbh there should be countouts in battle royals
― qualx, Monday, 25 January 2016 04:46 (eight years ago) link
that was booked a zillion times better than last year though, except yeah the main story
― qualx, Monday, 25 January 2016 04:48 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, the Rumble had lots of fun stuff in it (Lesnar had a great run of suplexes on huge guys, not to mention those awesomely scary flying knees on Strowman), but the main angle didn't make sense either in or out of storyline.
In-storyline, it makes no sense that the League of Nations didn't eliminate Reigns after they beat him up, and that none of the other participants in the match dragged him in to throw him out either. And it's also weird that Reigns didn't just get back into the ring after HHH eliminated him to help his friend Dean Ambrose win the title. Why play fair against the guy who abused his power to take you out of the match, and put himself in it at the easiest possible position? Why not get in there with your ex-Shield comrade and do some teamwork, which is what you made your name on in the first place?
They could have still had the same result, even--just have Reigns come back in, which brings the LoN back in, so now it's 4-on-2 (5 if Barrett is back there somewhere) and HHH still wins. But that way at least Roman tried! Sometimes WWE seems to have this strange idea that, outside of tag matches, only heels should help each other.
Out of storyline, it's odd that they had Reigns sit out so much of the match in the back. That seems counterproductive if they're really trying to get the crowd on his side. I could see that sort of approach working with an underdog type, but Reigns is not Sami Zayn.
― JRN, Monday, 25 January 2016 05:33 (eight years ago) link
They're trying to have Reigns be a face, aren't they? So I guess I can understand why they didn't have him come back in to help Dean, since that would be "unfair" or whatever. It's still bullshit, though.
AJ Styles and Sami Zayn got more chants than Reigns in his home state.
― hourspass, Monday, 25 January 2016 06:10 (eight years ago) link
lol that was the best rumble in years and yet they still have no fucking clue with roman.
its like they are intentionally messing up every bit of story or interaction he does. really reminded me of summerslam when the fans chanted about roman being asleep.
i love sasha banks.
― a hoy hoy, Monday, 25 January 2016 06:56 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8FrpWIWj9o
gr8 song
― qualx, Monday, 25 January 2016 07:11 (eight years ago) link
aw man that was fucking sweet. when given something good to work with, styles can be so great. if he is against say owens & ambrose for the next couple months, it'll be some beautiful viewing.
― a hoy hoy, Monday, 25 January 2016 08:25 (eight years ago) link
Styles Clash is going to be interesting, p. much everyone he tried it against looked way too big. So glad they haven't fucked with him though - the name, the look, the gimmick, the finisher - they've basically just parachuted the 2015 wrestler of the year into their main-event scene - I like this strategy! Also that song is dope
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 12:07 (eight years ago) link
it's been a really great Rumble! just a shitty main story. how on earth does taking Reigns to the back for the majority of the match make him look like a deserving good-guy champ?!
This was exactly the thought in this house while watching it. Reigns basically sat out all the difficult opponents - Show, Henry, BROCK - and ran back out half an hour later when the pickings were easier. That's a chickenshit heel move, through and through. But looking at the way Cena's been handled for years, WWE doesn't know how to book a top face anymore.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Monday, 25 January 2016 16:35 (eight years ago) link
(Difficult in battle royal terms, obv - not easy throwing those big fellas over the top rope.)
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Monday, 25 January 2016 16:36 (eight years ago) link
But looking at the way Cena's been handled for years, WWE doesn't know how to book a top face anymore.
tbf Vince has always had a funny way of booking his top face. Hulk Hogan essentially worked heel while being presented as a face throughout his entire run on top and look at how well that worked for them. he was always cheating in his matches, acting like a spoilt child throwing a tantrum when Sid eliminated from the 92 Rumble etc. etc.
i don't see any great inconsistency between Hogan's dickishness, Michaels', Cena's and now Reigns'. Vince is an immature prick, can't help but book his top face to also be an immature prick.
― Windsor Davies, Monday, 25 January 2016 17:09 (eight years ago) link
That's fair, I didn't think back far enough - Hogan was a terrible cheat, but you don't really dwell on that stuff when you're 11 years old, you just think the Ultimate Warrior is cooler.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Monday, 25 January 2016 18:04 (eight years ago) link
pretty entertaining show top to bottom even though the finish they were working towards was what everyone expected - the Rumble at least felt fun and smartly booked to elicit "good" sympathetic disappointment at the eliminations, rather than another triumphant return to Botchamania for King Boo
some of the interference logic was kind of screwy though yes, above all else I can't buy Rampaging Blood God Lesnar getting cheated out of the match and slowly shuffling away crestfallen while the sad Charlie Brown piano plays, surely he should have overturned the ring with everyone in it
Also Bray being too crazy to not try and take HHH down for fun is a far more interesting direction for him at this point than another feud where him and his buddies ruin the matches of a guy the crowd likes watching, before getting decisively beaten by him
― Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Monday, 25 January 2016 23:05 (eight years ago) link
speaking of interference: it got lost in the shuffle after he got taken out for the majority of the match, but for some reason roman kept attacking guys who were on the verge of taking someone else out?
yay wwe babyfaces
― qualx, Monday, 25 January 2016 23:18 (eight years ago) link
Best Rumble (and Rumble undercard) in years. Ambrose is the MAN for going 20 minutes in a war with Owens, and then lasting 30 minutes in the Rumble itself and almost winning.
They did a good job at setting up future matches, but yeah, so many storylines make no sense at all. Lesnar went apeshit and got "suspended" after getting screwed out of the title at the last WM, here he gets screwed out of the title again by the Wyatts and he just walks off like a sad panda? And Reigns taking a half hour break in the middle of the match made him an even bigger heel than he already was.
HOLY SHIT that pop for Styles' entrance. I seriously don't know how much longer they can keep pretending that Reigns is the guy to carry the company when guys like Ambrose and Styles are getting the reactions they're getting.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 25 January 2016 23:28 (eight years ago) link
with the camera oddly focused on Roman's reaction I actually thought there was some atmospheric loud buzzing noise as part of the entrance theme and then it cut straight to him on the ramp like whoaahh
everyone knew it probably had to be tonight or tomorrow but even so, it's so weird/nice to see a 90s style Big Debut where the guy's reputation, name and the resultant surreal vibe of it all are intact
can they pull off a Nakamura debut that does him justice?
― Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Monday, 25 January 2016 23:58 (eight years ago) link
was hoping owens would take back the IC title so he'd have something to fight sami over at WM (darn), now that dean kept it i sincerely hope he keeps it for the majority of the year and defends it regularly, before finally going up to WHC tier. 90s style.
also at some point brock has to stop getting distracted by supernatural shit and demand a WHC match. they can only keep him from it for so long.
― qualx, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 00:16 (eight years ago) link
hhh unbuttoning his jacket to show the belt was boss
― Mordy, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 01:11 (eight years ago) link
lot of good matches tnite. aj styles v jericho was great. becky v sasha was great. kevin owens v ziggler was great.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 02:34 (eight years ago) link
i feel like botchamania etc. is going to get a lot of mileage out of vince starting raw with saying "i confess i love that you are all miserable". is that why the show sucks so regularly?
― a hoy hoy, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 07:22 (eight years ago) link
can't argue with those heel tactics.
Reigns basically sat out all the difficult opponents - Show, Henry, BROCK
yeah it's amazing that after the buildup we didn't even get to see roman and brock in the ring together
― lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 08:28 (eight years ago) link
Nobody knows who Shinsuke Nakamura is. I love him too, but come on, let's be realistic about this. He's going to NXT after his physical, if he really is WWE-bound, and getting the Balor treatment at best. And there's nothing wrong with that.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 11:02 (eight years ago) link
I feel like that was deliberate, like their booking plans have either moved beyond their feud (so they didn't want them rekindling anything in the Rumble), or they have something sketched out for further down the line (so they didn't want to pull the trigger on Sunday). Either way, their execution of it sucked.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 11:05 (eight years ago) link
why would the authority spend all this time stripping roman of the belt only to put him in a qualifying match to face HHH for the championship? like i understand they want roman to be the heavyweight champion but surely there's a way to orchestrate it that doesn't require stephanie being an idiot?
― Mordy, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 15:04 (eight years ago) link
Yeah that doesn't make any sense. There's a conflict between the 'we need to screw him' idea in the Austin-McMahon dynamic they're fixated on, and the 'oh shit he needs to be in title contention or the kids won't buy it' thing. Makes everyone involved look like a sap.
Also, disregard my theory above about keeping Reigns and Brock separate, 'cause they've only gone and booked them in a triple threat at Fastlane.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 17:01 (eight years ago) link
what could save reigns at this point? obv they want to, and obv they need to. only thing i can imagine working his him withdrawing from competition for a bit only to return in a sting-like role (possibly w/ sting)
― Will v. Maim (Will M.), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 18:48 (eight years ago) link
reform The Shield. not kidding.
― Windsor Davies, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 19:00 (eight years ago) link
they should stop trying to make heavyweight champion reigns happen and give him some time fighting over one of the other belts. they have plenty of wrestlers who could realistically hold the heavyweight belt at the moment, it doesn't need to be the one guy the fans have turned on.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 19:02 (eight years ago) link
u may have missed this (i did):
https://youtu.be/4XUSva8muAU
― Mordy, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 22:29 (eight years ago) link
There's a conflict between the 'we need to screw him' idea in the Austin-McMahon dynamic they're fixated on, and the 'oh shit he needs to be in title contention or the kids won't buy it' thing.
Both can be "best for business" at different times. See, it's simple!
A Shield reunion would be awesome, but Reigns needs a character makeover if he's going to be a top guy. Randy Orton needed four years to figure out the "viper" character after his first (failed) main event run with the title. Until he got there, he was tweaking his Evolution "legend killer" character and it wasn't working, at least not at the level that they wanted him to be at.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 27 January 2016 22:39 (eight years ago) link
i think the character problem is he's just branded as the shield
― Mordy, Wednesday, 27 January 2016 22:43 (eight years ago) link
No, Reigns' biggest character problem is that he's just not a natural babyface.
His charisma, as much as he has it, is kinda sleazy. Just look at him whenever he's interviewed by Renee Young or Jojo or whoever backstage: he can't help that bedroom eyes look, great for a heel but not for the virtuous hero he's being portrayed as.
It goes without saying that he's a terrible promo. He's just doing what he's told, but...
And yet, as I heard or read somewhere recently, I agree that he's quite charismatic in the ring. Limited moveset aside, he can hold his own and look like he belongs there, so it's easy to understand why people feel like they can get behind him. But then all the rest comes back to mind and...
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Wednesday, 27 January 2016 23:27 (eight years ago) link
fuck wwe it's lucha time
― qualx, Thursday, 28 January 2016 01:43 (eight years ago) link
do u get the el ray network?
― Mordy, Thursday, 28 January 2016 01:44 (eight years ago) link
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS SAMI ZAYN AT NXT TAKEOVER DALLAS
Seriously WrestleMania could be a steaming pile and it wouldn't matter because the only show that matters is on two days before.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Thursday, 28 January 2016 01:50 (eight years ago) link