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

[Russelrules44]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="K-Nection" data-cite="K-Nection" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Ha! In my mind that is still one of the best in the series just for the fact it has GM Mode. Honestly that is how I found this site as I was trying to find out if one of the releases of Smackdown Vs. Raw (2010 maybe?) was going to bring it back. Then I discovered TEW and I dove down the rabbit hole for many years....because it did a great job of replacing the itch of wanting to actually wrestle.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> ...I'm learning a lot about my fellow wrestling fans today. My little soap box rant did that.</p>

[The Final Countdown]

That Festival of Friendship angle was phenomenal.

[milamber]

That was the best 3rd hour to a Raw in a long time. KO/Jericho and Bayley vs Charlotte were great!

[smurphy1014]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The Final Countdown" data-cite="The Final Countdown" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>That Festival of Friendship angle was phenomenal.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That list reveal. <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Very interested to see how Jericho gets involved in the KO/Goldberg match.</p>

[Russelrules44]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="smurphy1014" data-cite="smurphy1014" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>That list reveal. <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Very interested to see how Jericho gets involved in the KO/Goldberg match.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'm conflicted on how I should feel about this. On one hand, Jericho really held Kevin Owens back during his title reign; but on the other hand the way their friendship ended was so epic in structure and storytelling that I don't want their friendship to end.</p>

[CQI13]

<p>Let's hope the execution of the storyline is fun because Bray is "meh" to me at this point.</p><p> </p><p>

I do agree with the review a few posts up - very enjoyable show but nothing really stood out. I would have preferred Miz winning EC. His work this last year has been his best.</p>

[milamber]

<img alt="C4mT_EFUMAE7IeU.jpg" data-src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4mT_EFUMAE7IeU.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

[Russelrules44]

<p>Here. A song to dedicate us all on this special day.</p><p> </p><p>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHsq6XjkhA8" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHsq6XjkhA8</a></p><p> </p><p>

I LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVE YYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!</p>

[codey_v2]

I can't help but feel they blew it with Bayleys win. All year they've had Sasha beat Charlotte on Raw only to lose it at the next ppv, just to keep Charlottes PPV record alive. Now it looks like they're gonna do the same to Bayley. And even if they have Bayley break the streak at Wrestlemania, it will be in a title defense rather than a win, and they lost both the opportunity to make her first win at WM AND the possible story of conquering the unbeatable Charlotte because she already beat her.

[Questlove]

<p>"How come my name's on this?"</p><p> </p><p>

Like a dagger to my heart</p>

[Rayelek]

I'm a little sad about the end of Jeri-KO because the angles were gold, but on the other hand, the angles in the feud are gonna be gold. Also, Graves saying so matter of factly "Stop it Kevin" when he starts attacking Jericho was the best.

[crownsy]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="codey_v2" data-cite="codey_v2" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I can't help but feel they blew it with Bayleys win. All year they've had Sasha beat Charlotte on Raw only to lose it at the next ppv, just to keep Charlottes PPV record alive. Now it looks like they're gonna do the same to Bayley. And even if they have Bayley break the streak at Wrestlemania, it will be in a title defense rather than a win, and they lost both the opportunity to make her first win at WM AND the possible story of conquering the unbeatable Charlotte because she already beat her.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Well, Sasha beat her. Bayley didn't. I expect that's the angle we are going to get here. </p><p> </p><p> We are gonna get a 3 way for Bayley's Title at Mania I expect.</p><p> </p><p> While I agree we could have gone with the slow build "bayley really earned that one!" build from NXT, i think they are concerned that it wouldn't be as impactful on the main roster.</p><p> </p><p> Looks to me like they are going to go with the Sasha Heel turn via Bayley not feeling like her win was legitimate since Sasha cheated on her behalf. I'm ok with that if it leads to Sasha turning heel (the Boss character is more heel than face. She needs to be a cocky S.O.B, it's what works best for her.)</p>

[The Final Countdown]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Questlove" data-cite="Questlove" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>"How come my name's on this?"<p> </p><p> Like a dagger to my heart</p></div></blockquote><p> So good. Jericho was brilliant last night.</p>

[jjohns44]

Man even if we were waiting for it to come with the way Kevin was acting, it was still executed really well with the way Jericho was like "how come my name is on this" it was the Y Tu, Brute? moment.

[Big Roguey]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Russelrules44" data-cite="Russelrules44" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Ok, shut up and tell me what the plan is. I want to know.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> My plan was purely to see if emoji translate from phone to forum and they seem to do so.</p><p> </p><p> This could get fun.</p>

[CQI13]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="jjohns44" data-cite="jjohns44" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Man even if we were waiting for it to come with the way Kevin was acting, it was still executed really well with the way Jericho was like "how come my name is on this" it was the Y Tu, Brute? moment.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'm not sure when we switched from "anything can happen" to "Yeah, we knew that, but it was cool anyway" - it seems to have gotten much more pronounced in recent memory.</p><p> </p><p> But it does make for some really cool moments like that one. Could even be seen as more pressure because people are already expecting a certain outcome so the delivery has to be special.</p>

[Rone Rivendale]

<p>And now I'll give as much time to Emmalina as she gave to us last nite</p><p> </p><p>

....</p><p> </p><p>

Thank you.</p>

[Blackman]

<p>Happy to see Emma return. I told you guys it could be a troll gimmick, and I'm glad it was. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p>

Honestly it'd be nicer to see her as her normal self, so I was excited after the promo just the same.</p><p> </p><p>

I should add that I thought the turn was very well done. They missed out on some more obvious fun with the magician and the list imo, but if anything it made the turn stand out more (because the list was more on the background and one would expect the gift to be a scarf or something). I knew it was gonna happen, but the way they did it surprised me somehow. That segment and Emma elevated RAW above the average level that it was.</p>

[milamber]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="codey_v2" data-cite="codey_v2" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I can't help but feel they blew it with Bayleys win. All year they've had Sasha beat Charlotte on Raw only to lose it at the next ppv, just to keep Charlottes PPV record alive. Now it looks like they're gonna do the same to Bayley. And even if they have Bayley break the streak at Wrestlemania, it will be in a title defense rather than a win, and they lost both the opportunity to make her first win at WM AND the possible story of conquering the unbeatable Charlotte because she already beat her.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> But ratings...</p>

[fullMETAL]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The Final Countdown" data-cite="The Final Countdown" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I wouldn't blame the writers for that.</div></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="K-Nection" data-cite="K-Nection" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Yea it is more Vince than anything...</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Fair point (I didn't mention Vince, though I'd figured we were all already aware of "Vince has final say" by now), though even if you take the Vince Approval out of the equation, it feels like the writers haven't been working enough with the wrestlers they're writing for to find the right voice for them.</p><p> </p><p> I would probably compare the WWE writers' room (ESPECIALLY Raw's) with the one from Saturday Night Live, because there are a fair amount of parallels (in an ideal world, anyways).</p><p> With SNL, they've got to write a 90-minute show every week, within a week -- even taking out the musical guests, they've still got to write enough material for the sketches, the monologue, and Weekend Update, so that after cuts, the show will still fit the runtime.</p><p> Generally, after all the writers together do their round-table pitching, they break off into groups, usually with the cast members they're writing with/for, to try and figure out how to make those pitches work, and to tailor them specifically to the cast involved (and usually the host), and *usually*, you can see that effort, that one specific detail of the writers and cast members working in tandem, in the final products on the sketches.</p><p> Like, when you see a Kate McKinnon part of a sketch, you can tell that Kate's actions there were tailored for Kate's style specifically-- take her Kellyanne Conway portrayal; if you had Vanessa Bayer playing her, her portrayal would be wildly different, even if some commonalities might be found.</p><p> This past Saturday had a "behind the scenes" style sketch where Leslie Jones decided "if Melissa McCarthy could play Sean Spicer, maybe I could play Trump" and then practiced Trump stuff before going to Lorne (with Vanessa trying to psyche her out beforehand), getting shot down, then seeing Vanessa going in as Trump and doing a Trump thing before going in.</p><p> Leslie's Trump-isms were portrayed noticeably differently from Vanessa's Trump-isms, and you could tell that was due in part to the non-Leslie-and-Vanessa writers of that sketch working with them to find the right way to accommodate their specific styles.</p><p> </p><p> With the WWE writers, it's been made known previously that guys like Cena, Ambrose, Wyatt, so forth, generally get to come up with their own stuff and actually work with the writers to get the talking points down and tailor it to their style, but the other guys generally get stuck with a generic mess -- the most notorious example being the almost-exactly-the-same way that heel Jericho, Swagger, and Punk promoed at almost the same time when each of them had the World Heavyweight Title, with the same super serious, practically boring style.</p><p> Another example being the ("fella" parts notwithstanding) pretty similar scripting of promos for Roman recently and Sheamus not even that long ago.</p><p> Sure, Vince has the final say, but the writers still, in the end, are ending up writing what gets said, and what gets said, for the most part, winds up uninteresting unless they work specifically with the guys who are supposed to be delivering these words to find a way for their unique voice to come through. And not suffering from "Jericho-Swagger-Punk Syndrome".</p>

[milamber]

<p><img alt="C4mJReoVYAEbs8S.jpg:small" data-src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4mJReoVYAEbs8S.jpg:small" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p>

<a href="https://twitter.com/JohnnyGargano" rel="external nofollow">Johnny Gargano ‏@JohnnyGargano</a> 19h19 hours ago</p><p> </p><p>

Gotta get rid of this thing..</p><p> </p><p>

Just in case. #FestivalOfFriendship <a href="pic.twitter.com/khGCIoFVCP" rel="">pic.twitter.com/khGCIoFVCP</a></p>

[K-Nection]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="fullMETAL" data-cite="fullMETAL" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>With the WWE writers, it's been made known previously that guys like Cena, Ambrose, Wyatt, so forth, generally get to come up with their own stuff and actually work with the writers to get the talking points down and tailor it to their style, but the other guys generally get stuck with a generic mess -- <strong>the most notorious example being the almost-exactly-the-same way that heel Jericho, Swagger, and Punk promoed at almost the same time when each of them had the World Heavyweight Title, with the same super serious, practically boring style.</strong><p> Another example being the ("fella" parts notwithstanding) pretty similar scripting of promos for Roman recently and Sheamus not even that long ago.</p><p> Sure, Vince has the final say, but the writers still, in the end, are ending up writing what gets said, and what gets said, for the most part, winds up uninteresting unless they work specifically with the guys who are supposed to be delivering these words to find a way for their unique voice to come through. <strong>And not suffering from "Jericho-Swagger-Punk Syndrome".</strong> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I know for a fact that Punk never worked with the writers and he would always throw away what they handed him. He said this several times in the Best in the World DVD. Punk was always a writer's nightmare because he would not listen to them on anything always wanting to just feel it out. </p><p> </p><p> Jericho on his podcast has mentioned numerous times that almost all of his promos in the WWE has been without writer consultation because he came from an era where there just wasn't writers so they always have given him that kind of rope.</p><p> </p><p> The only time Jericho even sees a writer was them giving him the "overall gist" of a segment. Jericho has enough stroke that he will turn it down or change it if he thinks it sounds dumb or non-cohesive. Anytime that Jericho is in a feud with someone he works the promo out with that worker ahead of time if they are green as in the case with Fandango in 2011.</p>

[Crychon]

I just watched Raw, and I have to agree that the Festival of Friendship was fantastic. Definitely one of the best angles I've seen in wrestling. Everything about the segment was played perfectly. I had an idea of what happened going into it, and it was still kind of shocking the way it played out.

[fullMETAL]

I know for a fact that Punk never worked with the writers and he would always throw away what they handed him. He said this several times in the Best in the World DVD. Punk was always a writer's nightmare because he would not listen to them on anything always wanting to just feel it out.

 

Jericho on his podcast has mentioned numerous times that almost all of his promos in the WWE has been without writer consultation because he came from an era where there just wasn't writers so they always have given him that kind of rope.

 

The only time Jericho even sees a writer was them giving him the "overall gist" of a segment. Jericho has enough stroke that he will turn it down or change it if he thinks it sounds dumb or non-cohesive. Anytime that Jericho is in a feud with someone he works the promo out with that worker ahead of time if they are green as in the case with Fandango in 2011.

 

So, in the almost 100% certain event that what you're saying is accurate enough about heel champ Jericho and heel champ Punk promoing in 2009/2010-ish, that would mean that the writers ganked their style and then copied it for Swagger to use, which actually makes even MORE sense and indemnifies the writers even more for not working to fit the promoing to Swagger rather than vice versa.

[K-Nection]

So, in the almost 100% certain event that what you're saying is accurate enough about heel champ Jericho and heel champ Punk promoing in 2009/2010-ish, that would mean that the writers ganked their style and then copied it for Swagger to use, which actually makes even MORE sense and indemnifies the writers even more for not working to fit the promoing to Swagger rather than vice versa.

 

That sounds way more accurate yes....actually makes a ton of sense. I wouldn't call Straight Edge Society boring though....that angle was brilliant imo.