The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*

[brat99]

You're a part of the "IWC" yourself so do you think there was a burial? I find it ironic that people cannot see the IWC is anyone who talks online about wrestling. Don't tar everyone with the same brush, I'm sure you're better than that.

 

Now I've slept I figured I'd give my opinion on what I liked/disliked. I loved Owens v Ambrose as that match really got me hyped for the show. It finished the way I hoped. Kevin Owens as a heel works because he is such a douche you want him to lose but at the same time you know he can back up his bravado. I also liked the tag title match (although I can't stand Kofi Kingston's 5 year old girl routine. Skipping and clapping like a little girl is stupid). The match was solid, even if the outcome was obvious. US title match was a botch-fest and Kalisto will drop it to ADR again before Fastlane. No one cared as the match has happened 3 times in the last few weeks. I fell asleep just after this but luckily woke up as Reigns was entering the Rumble. 2 surprise entrants for me made it all too predictable (maybe that's my fault) and despite the ending making "sense" WWE really dropped the ball again in not making someone come out of that a new legit main event star. Instead we are going to see the THIRD Wrestlemania where a part time champion is in the Main Event. How no one in the company sees this as a bad thing is beyond me. They are supposed to be smart and yet go the easy route. The minute Reigns was eliminated any one who thought Ambrose would win it were delusional however it too would have made sense as Ambrose is then the guy who won a last man standing and the Rumble match in the same night, plus the crowd like him which with Reigns they do not. It could then lead to a Reigns turn and Ambrose v Reigns at Mania. No one cares enough for Reigns or Triple H to buy the PPV who wouldn't have already.

 

I completely agree that once it was down to Triple H and Ambrose, it was ridiculously obvious how things would end. Too bad the booking team missed a huge opportunity......Triple H vs Reigns at Mania was going to happen no matter what and doesn't really need to be about the title. Ambrose winning would have given WWE the opportunity to elevate two people.....obviously Ambrose by winning the title, but tonight on RAW they could have stripped Ambrose of the IC title (can't carry two singles belts given as the excuse) and announced a tournament to name a new IC champion......great matches with KO, Styles, Neville, Zayn and anyone else they wanted to include would have gone a long way to elevating someone else. It's really kind of sad that WWE's booking has become so predictable over the last several years and at the same time made little to no sense with their decision making ability. Oh well..........

[OldStingberg]

I think it's interesting that the best thing that can be said about the Rumble/presumptive WM main event is that it "makes sense".

 

Personally, yeah, I think it makes sense. But I could not possibly care less about it. I'm honestly probably not going to watch Raw the next couple months because I just don't care to see Roman chase another Authority champion, especially when that champion is HHH, and that's going to be what at least 75% of the focus of Raw will be.

 

And while I will watch WM because it's WM, I could actually see turning it off before the end. There's just no drama in a Reigns/HHH match especially when there's no MitB in play. HHH will hit his five moves, Reings will hit his five moves, they'll throw a lot of punches in between, and Reigns will go over.

 

But at least it makes sense. So they've got that going for them.

[Big Roguey]

Rusev is still continually brilliant. He's now claiming on Twitter that because he took a TV monitor post-splash he's the TV champion.

 

Cut Lana from him, let Rusev just be his own man. New boom period.

[CQI13]

Missed opportunity with Bray. Lights should just have gone out throughout the match and leaving him as the only person in the ring. It works for cage matches and for the MITB match he wasn't even in...why not the Rumble?

[K-Nection]

But at least it makes sense. So they've got that going for them.

 

 

It feels like to me that they are keeping all their big name's spots warm for when they come back. This is a backwards way of thinking because this is how they end up in positions like this one. Ambrose winning the big one could have caused a new heel to get elevated with him.

 

They could have easily had Roman vs. HHH without that belt. That fued doesn't need the belt. It starts out over the belt but Roman not diverting his attention directly on the title until his business was done with HHH would also "make sense."

 

I know somebody mentioned a tournament for the IC title if Ambrose won would be a brilliant moniker for fastlane.

[milamber]

Royal Rumble Review:

 

Owens vs Ambrose - The most entertaining Last Man Standing match I can remember watching. "I hate you!" sums up this well-booked feud perfectly.

New Day vs The Usos - Good match. The crowd reaction was interesting. They should start a double turn to freshen up the Usos and so New Day can feud with the Wyatt Family and Balor Club as babyfaces. But not before they fued with Enzo & Cass

Del Rio vs Kalisto - Solid match but too sloppy at times. I'm happy Kalisto won. I don't mind the US Title being hotshotted a bit if they use it to put over newer guys like Kalisto.

Becky vs Charlotte - Solid match but a bit of a letdown after the good work building up the feud. The kiss was cringeworthy. Sasha's finally in the title picture so that's great.

Royal Rumble - Solid match. Decent storytelling and enough fun spots that it never got boring for long. Felt sorry for Rusev being tossed out 1st until he got his revenge. It made sense for Reigns to sell the beatdown but he was out of the match for way too long. Bringing out AJ Styles early was smart to get the crowd on side. R-Truth and New Day were funny. Owens selling his 1st match injury and tossing AJ before Zayn eliminated him great. Owens has 2 potential feuds going now. I was hoping Bray would win, or Ambrose at the end, but better HHH than Reigns overcoming incredible odds.

 

Verdict: Fun show from start to finish.

 

[CMPunkBubble]

It feels like to me that they are keeping all their big name's spots warm for when they come back. This is a backwards way of thinking because this is how they end up in positions like this one. Ambrose winning the big one could have caused a new heel to get elevated with him.

 

They could have easily had Roman vs. HHH without that belt. That fued doesn't need the belt. It starts out over the belt but Roman not diverting his attention directly on the title until his business was done with HHH would also "make sense."

 

I know somebody mentioned a tournament for the IC title if Ambrose won would be a brilliant moniker for fastlane.

 

I agree triple h eliminating Roman would be enough. He cost him the title job done. Roman gets revenge at fast lane and possibly moves on to ambrose at maina. With ambrose offering Reigns a chance to win the title he was screwed out of. Ambrose could retain. Having the champion retain is something different and you still get the feel good factor as I'm sure most fans would want that result. Now why would triple h the champion and basically part owner of the company ever grant Roman the chance to win the title back? He wouldn't, Reigns would have to really upset trips enough to get him to want to face him. Only logical ways I can think of is one:, beat up Stef (too heelish) or Vince but doesn't seem like triple h would be willing to give reigns a title shot over or two:, the number one contender steps aside to let Roman take their spot. It would have to be ambrose and it's risky, it could turn fans off him and make him look soft and weak. Any other way ie wining a spot makes no sease to be as why would they even give him a chance?.

 

I enjoyed the booking of the Whyatts and lesner up until lesner just walked away. Lesner should have gone back into the ring and eliminated Bray. I didn't think that done his character any good just walking away after being screwed. Zane and Owens should fight at mania. I think that would be awesome given that stage and a good amount of time they could still the show. I think Reigns should have either not gone back stage or at least sold the injury when he came back out. So he had to leave the match because he's too hurt to continue but when he comes back he's running, yes running and superman punching his way to the ring. So the injury wasn't that bad and you're just a bit of a baby. Poor.

[smurphy1014]

I will say this though, I wonder how Samoa Joe feels about AJ going directly to the main roster and not having to go to NXT.

 

I know NXT is one of the hot promotions now but I have to believe that it is a slap in the face for someone like Joe to have to compete on what is the WWE's version of AAA Baseball.

 

I wanna say Joe's deal was set up to allow him to work both Indy events and in the WWE. Which would work given how NXT tapes their shows.

[soxfan93]

I wanna say Joe's deal was set up to allow him to work both Indy events and in the WWE. Which would work given how NXT tapes their shows.

 

That's how the contract started, but WWE had an option where they could convert it to an exclusive deal, which the exercised immediately after ROH announced their new TV deal.

[Rone Rivendale]

I took my 'smark' glasses off and really enjoyed the PPV.

 

You guys oughta try it.

[Derek B]

I feel the urge to comment on last night's show, having stayed up until 4am to watch it here in the UK.

 

Thought #1... it wasn't worth it.

Thought #2... the undercard as generally good, though ADR/Kalisto had more mistakes than I've come to expect from those guys (and I worry already that Kalisto is literally just Rey Mysterio 2.0)

Thought #3... didn't the WWE used to tell good stories and have strong characters?

 

I mean, it's a large group of thoughts when it comes down to telling stories, but once upon a time the WWF/E had the ability to tell long term storylines and they were based on the personality of the workers involved. Unpredictable things happened, there were talking points that could keep yourself and your friends going for ages until another show happened and the range of characters involved meant that everyone could have a different favourite and any arguments you had with your friends about it could have merit.

 

These days it seems like only a handful of the wrestlers even have a personality, with most of them being essentially the same person with a different catchphrase and/or T-shirt. The only place within the WWE universe that seems to have any real variation in characters is NXT, where they manage to have a heavyweight, tag and women's division within a one hour show each week. The main WWE roster has 3 hours or Raw, 2 of Smackdown and some B shows yet doesn't even manage to accomplish half as much in terms of getting a roser over with fans. And Triple H gets a lot of the credit for the success of NXT....

 

.... yet Triple H plays a major part of the failings to do the same thing on the main WWE roster. I know the WWE has to deal with sponsors and shareholders and stuff like that, but there's no excuse for the lack of well defined characters and weak storytelling that has plagued the main roster for years. This inability to create new stars along with an ageing and injured group of older talent is starting to show up the lack of options for the WWE going forward. Some people are saying that Triple H as champion is a good thing and that's it is logical for the story... but if the WWE were building talent they wouldn't NEED to have HHH in that position. It's the real life job of someone like HHH to be making new stars to replace him, so that HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Jericho, Mark Henry et al can retire in peace without the future of the WWE being in jeopardy.

 

The roster of the WWE is talented... there are awesome athletes, there are prototypical big men, there are flyers, technicians and all kinds of styles of wrestler on there that CAN appeal to people all around the world and can have exciting matches. And that's all fine and good.... but matches are only half of the equation. You don't become champion by having the most exciting matches, you become champion by forming a bond with the fans and that comes from personality and charisma. It comes from stories. For the most part, it's not about wins and losses, it's about what they mean and how the character handles it. It's about how they bounce back, how they fight their way to get another rung up the ladder. The fight is what makes people care.

 

And that is why the Roman Reigns push is failing. Roman Reigns has never had a clean defeat in his WWE career. The closest he has even gotten to that is when he ate the fall when the Shield lost to the Wyatts, and even that finished at 3 vs 1 against Roman. Roman Reigns is Superman in every sense of the word... an unbeatable, wholesome, tough guy that doesn't resemble a single person that anyone has ever known or could ever know. He's not larger than life or even an exaggerated version of a real person... he has more in common with a middle aged, rich, white American one percenter type than he does with any of the fans. So why would he anybody's favourite when those people are some of the most hated people in society?

 

The times where people have liked the Roman Reigns character the most (post-Shield split) were when he finally snapped against the Authority/League of Nations AND when he got his ass handed to him by Brock Lesnar. Essentially, those were the times when he stopped trying to reconcile being "cool" with being an "underdog". He was one or the other and people cared. He was showing the signs of being the kind of person that people could relate to, the kind of person that people know in real life and can genuinely care about... and yet, that didn't last. He was back to the same unrelateable character again in no time, leading to fans once again boo-ing Reigns and cheering anyone who might actually force that character to change into something that they would enjoy seeing more.

 

The WWE had the opportunity to morph the Reigns character into something that the majority of people could get behind. But instead they kept ploughing down the same path despite fan resistance. And with the ever smarter nature of fans (in terms of being wise to it being a story) it was clear that the booking of Reigns in the match was to hide the fact that he literally can't do what he had to do to win. They hid him for more than 30 minutes of match time with a kayfabe beatdown that was nowhere near the level that he has shrugged off before, even shrugged off more recently when snapping against the Authority in the first place.

 

It's this level of poor storytelling that continually disappoints me. Last night I was more disappointed than ever. Not angry. Not rage quitting the WWE forever or anything. Just making a small decision to stop spending money on the company. I've heard it said that you will never lose a smark fan base so it doesn't matter if you appeal to them or not... they lost me last night. Just like TNA lost me (again) last year. And when even the most enthusiastic of wrestling fans start to check out, it's a bad sign indeed.

 

And in case it comes up... I have no issues with Roman Reigns as a person, he seems like a perfectly good human being and wrestler doing a tough job.

[Dave_Scott]

Well...........wasn't as bad as 14 and 15.

[K-Nection]

That was extremely well said Derek! You nailed my gripes with this to a tee. I took my break from WWE 2 years ago right after Batista winning the rumble so my ceiling might be higher at the moment but I'm not having a lot of faith going forward at the moment.

[iruleall15]

Well lets look at the meaning of HHH winning. It sets up for Reigns to beat the odds yet again and win title #3. ITs so predictable.

 

 

Why Reigns is the guy they push is still beyond me. He cant talk. He cant wrestle. yet he is made to be a god than cannot be hurt?

 

 

Im not gonna deny he is a nice guy IRL. But in WWE he is terrible. HE has no business being a Main Event talent at all. Just because he is attractive to women and Rocks cousin doesnt mean he can be a Main Eventer. Why is it Reigns gets this super push yet McIntyre who was the real Chosen One of WWE got dumped despite having actual talent?

 

 

Or why cant WWE not have 1 Superman and just have a floating Main Event scene. Make the title the #1 thing in the company again. Make it what everyone wants. The Champion should be the only guy who is booked to be strong. What they are trying to do in replace Cena isnt what people want. You would think Cena getting booed for years would show Vince we dont want 1 corporate superman. We want a Main Event scene with different fresh talent being given a chance. Right now its Roman Reigns with everyone else as Midcard

[LoganRodzen]

I thought it was a fun show to watch from start to finish, with some dragging here and there (as usual). I thought the opening Last Man Standing match was excellent. I won't lie, I expected a little bit more from it but it was solid. The US Title match was mostly what I thought it would be. They did what the feud was meant to do: introduce a little more lucha style to the WWE crowd. The Diva's Title was a decent match. I liked Sasha coming out. I'm a big fan of hers. Tag Title match was rinse and repeat for me. Same crap we've been seeing.

 

I enjoyed the majority of the Royal Rumble match itself. I was really excited they decided to have AJ Styles debut during the match. No better way to debut in a company you've never worked for than to debut in a match you've never been apart of. Bringing him in early and letting him last while getting a few eliminations was the best thing for him.

 

Obviously he wasn't going to win and having him get eliminated before the rest of the stories they wanted to tell (Lesnar/Wyatt, Reigns/HHH) was brilliant. He wasn't overshadowed one bit the entire time he was in there. They booked him brilliantly in my opinion.

[steesh07]

I was excited at the Styles debut too, one of the few times I've been excited watching wrestling in a long time. I was surprised at how small he looked compared to a lot of the guys in the ring though, maybe its because of thr long shots of the ring but he even looked small compared to Tyler Breeze. Was a brilliant way to introduce him and to have him enter the match match when the WWE champ was the only other man there was a great touch.

 

All in all I watched my first PPV all of the way through since a couple of years and it was solid until the ending which was a bit meh.

[crownsy]

I called the entire Rumble, except how the Owens-Zayn moment was. Not bragging, using it as an inditement on creaative ha.

 

On the overall Rumble, I thought it was a great undercard, with a predictable ending to a good rumble.

 

Owens-Ambrose was great, amazing match, and both guys come out of it looking like gold. Owens screaming "I HATE you" at Dean while dean went to get another chair and dean yelling back "I hate you too" right before the chair shot perfectly encompassed a great fued those two have built over the last few months. Good ending, and I hope now we move onto Owens-Zayn and Ambrose - Styles.

 

Tag match was fun, New Day was very funny as always, and I liked the finish. The one time Xaiver didn't cheat ha. Also, the Uso's were very heelish here, hope that doesn't mean a face turn for New Day. they need to stay over the top annoying, it makes the gimmick work. Worried they are going to try to make New Day faces, and we'll end up with Tons of Funk 2.0

 

 

Diva's match was pretty good, but it was mostly a setup for Sasha coming out. Which needed to happen, now we can get to Sasha- charlotte as we all wanted for Mania. Liked Sasha booting becky out with the "my spotlight, becky" line. let everyone know Sasha is still all about Sasha and not suddenly a babyface. Intersting that Namoi didn't come out too, hopefully that means the end of the "Teams"

 

Kalisto -ADR was ok. to many botches, and ADR really needs to come up with something different for his character. Oh, the small guy is a peasant compared to you? Where have I seen this exact promo before?

 

Rumble had it's good moments, like AJ's debut and lasting 30 minutes, Brock's inital entrance, Owens tossing styles "Welcome to the WWE!", Zayn tossing Owens, ect.

 

But my two negatives are wow, really? Reigns can't even be in a glorified punching and kicking contest for 30 minutes? What a joke the "Injury" was. and the crowd of course saw it for what it was, a guy with no cardio getting a break for half an hour, leading to them pooping all over reigns coming back in fresh half an hour later.

 

I had hopes, for a brief moment, they would have Ambrose win, and then do a IC turny that you could have Owens, Styles, Zayn, ect in. Instead we get HHH vs. Reigns, as predicted by approximately 90% of the world.

 

The thing is, I don't even hate HHH V. Reigns at mania, I just don't think you need the title to do it.

[I Rule Me]

Im not gonna deny he is a nice guy IRL. But in WWE he is terrible. HE has no business being a Main Event talent at all. Just because he is attractive to women and Rocks cousin doesnt mean he can be a Main Eventer. Why is it Reigns gets this super push yet McIntyre who was the real Chosen One of WWE got dumped despite having actual talent?

 

Oh, he's terrible in real life. I don't get why he has such a ban base. He won't sign for people at all, unless it's kids, and even that is pulling teeth, even of people with ties to WWE. He's a d*#k. I don't get the appeal. If anything he used to actually be nice back in FCW.

[I Rule Me]

But my two negatives are wow, really? Reigns can't even be in a glorified punching and kicking contest for 30 minutes? What a joke the "Injury" was. and the crowd of course saw it for what it was, a guy with no cardio getting a break for half an hour, leading to them pooping all over reigns coming back in fresh half an hour later.

 

I had hopes, for a brief moment, they would have Ambrose win, and then do a IC turny that you could have Owens, Styles, Zayn, ect in. Instead we get HHH vs. Reigns, as predicted by approximately 90% of the world.

 

The thing is, I don't even hate HHH V. Reigns at mania, I just don't think you need the title to do it.

 

I knew Ambrose wasn't going to win since he already had a title, and while I was kind of disappointed they put it on Hunter, I saw it for what it was, in the context of the storyline. HHH won't be champion after Mania. Putting the belt on Lesnar was a bad idea, so I get why they didn't do it since he's a part timer, and they can use him for an excellent feud against the Wyatts. Honestly, as far as the Rumble goes, I was kind of disappointed so many people like Henry last like 5 seconds.

 

The lack of nostalgia surprises was also disappointing in a way and considering reports I've heard that Rock is going to come back and wrestle more, it would have been nice to have him come out and win, and perhaps even work a program with Reigns to help this kid out.

 

As for the actual thing, I called it live too. I was telling people in the crowd that would happen, and that he'd come back out and get eliminated or win at the end. His terrible no selling of the beatdown by the League of Nations was disappointing. WWE should take his kid off the road and put him back on NXT so he can learn this stuff all over again.

[lr10540]

I knew Ambrose wasn't going to win since he already had a title, and while I was kind of disappointed they put it on Hunter, I saw it for what it was, in the context of the storyline. HHH won't be champion after Mania. Putting the belt on Lesnar was a bad idea, so I get why they didn't do it since he's a part timer, and they can use him for an excellent feud against the Wyatts. Honestly, as far as the Rumble goes, I was kind of disappointed so many people like Henry last like 5 seconds.

 

The lack of nostalgia surprises was also disappointing in a way and considering reports I've heard that Rock is going to come back and wrestle more, it would have been nice to have him come out and win, and perhaps even work a program with Reigns to help this kid out.

 

As for the actual thing, I called it live too. I was telling people in the crowd that would happen, and that he'd come back out and get eliminated or win at the end. His terrible no selling of the beatdown by the League of Nations was disappointing. WWE should take his kid off the road and put him back on NXT so he can learn this stuff all over again.

 

I was more pissed about the beatdown in general. They kept the camera on Roman the entire time while there was a match going on!

[Dawn]

''Stardust announced on Twitter that his character is coming to an end.''

 

I think I just had a freaking orgasm.

[crownsy]

I'm glad, but the timing makes no sense to me. I always assumed this was going to end with a brother vs. brother match at Mania which would snap cody out of it.

 

Seems odd not to just do that to retire the stardust character on social media.

[Stennick]

''Stardust announced on Twitter that his character is coming to an end.''

 

I think I just had a freaking orgasm.

 

I love the Stardust character and you don't honestly believe he would just post on twitter future plans for his character do you? He does this all the time. Stardust is going to face Arrow at Wrestlemania.

[Dawn]

I love the Stardust character and you don't honestly believe he would just post on twitter future plans for his character do you? He does this all the time. Stardust is going to face Arrow at Wrestlemania.

 

Well, I don't really follow his Twitter, so I don't know if that is true, but about the character being done, let's wait and see.

[Mootinie]

Kevin Owens was the highlight of the Rumble for me. First a fist fight with Styles and a really entertaining elimination. Then tangling with another rival of his in Neville. Then Ambrose comes down and the two go at it again, and then bloody hell, Sami Zayn! Amazing sequence. He was in there for all of five minutes and was easily the MVP for me.