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

[SanX]

5 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

Actually, by the time she signed, AEW had cooled off a bit. Injuries, lower attendance, lower ratings. The huge, massive turnout at All In was a bit of a blip.

At least WWE has the good sense to keep her in tag matches, for the most part, with the exception of that one really quick squash with Chelsea. Her solo matches in AEW were... Well.

When she left yes, during contract negotiation time, AEW was hot I think.

[PaperMachete]

I enjoyed Backlash. The results were predictable, and there were a couple of rough spots (Why did R-KO take so long in their entrance? And the whole women's tag team thing) but the crowd was great and the matches were very fun.

The whole two count-chant the crowd did got old very quickly, though.

[CQI13]

13 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

Actually, by the time she signed, AEW had cooled off a bit. Injuries, lower attendance, lower ratings. The huge, massive turnout at All In was a bit of a blip.

At least WWE has the good sense to keep her in tag matches, for the most part, with the exception of that one really quick squash with Chelsea. Her solo matches in AEW were... Well.

To be fair, a TON of ECW workers were beyond AWFUL but Heyman was able to make them entertaining. Same thing with OVW where Cornette was able to accentuate strengths and hide weaknesses. I don't need the workers to be legit bad asses. I just need them to play the part and be entertaining while they're at it. And hopefully Jade puts the work in to improve, because after a while it will be expected. But I still remember when my buddies would come over to watch the PPVs in the early 2000s, we always had the over under for when Trish would sell by grabbing her head. She wasn't very good to begin with and improved greatly. What Jade has going for her is her look, and some of the feats of strength she can do. She stands out. Hopefully they can do something with her. Tag matches are the way to go, not sure I would have gone the title route. Because I can definitely see a story of one of them turning on the other, but not sure she is up to that standard yet. Crowd was fun, it was a nice change of pace.

[Wrestling Machine]

Edited May 5 by Wrestling Machine

[Sisma]

5 hours ago, CQI13 said:

To be fair, a TON of ECW workers were beyond AWFUL but Heyman was able to make them entertaining. Same thing with OVW where Cornette was able to accentuate strengths and hide weaknesses. I don't need the workers to be legit bad asses. I just need them to play the part and be entertaining while they're at it. And hopefully Jade puts the work in to improve, because after a while it will be expected. But I still remember when my buddies would come over to watch the PPVs in the early 2000s, we always had the over under for when Trish would sell by grabbing her head. She wasn't very good to begin with and improved greatly. What Jade has going for her is her look, and some of the feats of strength she can do. She stands out. Hopefully they can do something with her. Tag matches are the way to go, not sure I would have gone the title route. Because I can definitely see a story of one of them turning on the other, but not sure she is up to that standard yet. Crowd was fun, it was a nice change of pace.

I wasn't crazy about them getting the titles, either, but since they aren't heavily featured (the titles), I guess they might as well. I am certain they are going with the inevitable turn and I hope they are smart about it and turn Jade heel. She already has a certain arrogance to her presentation, coupled with her size and power based moves (and still limited in-ring skills), it would make sense to have her be a powerhouse heel and run through everybody before the HERO gets to defeat her. It would be a good chance to elevate a new girl, too, someone from NXT who gets called up, perhaps. Bianca doesn't need it.

[Sisma]

8 hours ago, PaperMachete said:

I enjoyed Backlash. The results were predictable, and there were a couple of rough spots (Why did R-KO take so long in their entrance? And the whole women's tag team thing) but the crowd was great and the matches were very fun.

The whole two count-chant the crowd did got old very quickly, though.

I also wondered why they took so long with the entrances. I'm guessing either Randy had to poo (😉) or they really, really wanted us to ''get'' how hot the crowd was. 

Edited May 5 by Sisma

[Mootinie]

I thought Backlash was pretty good but the crowd got annoying to me during the second match.

The opener was really fun. God bless Randy Orton and Kevin Owens if they have to work against Tanga Loa in the near future. As I said in this thread a few weeks ago, Solo Sikoa loses all the time. He really needed this win. Good for him.

The women's triple threat was fine but it seemed to end just as it was getting going. Tiffany obviously has a lot of upside but seems very limited as far as doing things and I guess that's to be expected when you're 80 to 90 matches deep into your wrestling career. 

The Jey Uso match was a Jey Uso match, he's just not very good to me gang. Damian Priest is a jumped up midcarder who should lose the belt in Scotland. It was a perfectly forgettable "World title" match where the main takeaway was Judgment Day drama. A perfectly fine TV match, the sort of thing you used to see in 1998 when they had the European title defended on PPV.

The women's tag team title match was going fine until the ref told Kairi Sane she wasn't the legal woman. It just fell off a cliff and only recovered when they went to the finish. 

I enjoyed the main event and thought AJ Styles was awesome. I guess I keep expecting him to slow down but I am pretty sure he's like Shawn Michaels. He will be doing the Springboard 450 Splash in his retirement match. He is a timeless wrestler, an exceptionally gifted performer who never seems to age. It's just a shame that the match happened with this timing because Cody was always winning here and I think AJ deserved better in terms of how you book this match and how you lead into it.

[Matt_Black]

22 hours ago, CQI13 said:

To be fair, a TON of ECW workers were beyond AWFUL but Heyman was able to make them entertaining. Same thing with OVW where Cornette was able to accentuate strengths and hide weaknesses. I don't need the workers to be legit bad asses. I just need them to play the part and be entertaining while they're at it. And hopefully Jade puts the work in to improve, because after a while it will be expected.

And here's the thing- she's not that entertaining. Her character is undefined outside of "I'm hot and I think I'm better than everyone" (in wrestling? What a novel concept!), and her promos are not good. And she never sells. I'm not just talking about in the ring. In AEW, every feud, she never once acted like whomever she was feuding with was a threat, and in fact many times seemed bored with the fact that she had to wrestle anyone at all. 2 and a half years of this in AEW, by the way. If the wrestler doesn't give a *STEAM WHISTLE* about what's going on, why should the fans watching?

[PaperMachete]

6 hours ago, Mootinie said:

The women's triple threat was fine but it seemed to end just as it was getting going. Tiffany obviously has a lot of upside but seems very limited as far as doing things and I guess that's to be expected when you're 80 to 90 matches deep into your wrestling career.

I smell a QOTR or MITB win for her during 2024. She is money.

[Jaysin]

12 minutes ago, PaperMachete said:

I smell a QOTR or MITB win for her during 2024. She is money.

My partner is in love with Tiffany. I think Tiffany is the perfect storm of talent, potential, look, charisma, and mic skills. She feels like a next big thing kind of talent to me. Her naming her finisher the Prettiest Moonsault Ever in tribute to Christopher Daniels certainly sways things in her favor for me too lol

[Dawn]

I am hoping Tiffy gets MITB. A big part of that is the fact I believe Gunther will bulldoze his way to KOTR so I really want a babyface Queen to balance that out. Strap the rocket to Lyra!

[Wrestling Machine]

Bron Breakker and Tiffany Stratton have that X-factor to be huge superstars

[The Blonde Bomber]

Bron is the next big thing in WWE.

[SanX]

13 hours ago, Mootinie said:

The Jey Uso match was a Jey Uso match, he's just not very good to me gang. Damian Priest is a jumped up midcarder who should lose the belt in Scotland. It was a perfectly forgettable "World title" match where the main takeaway was Judgment Day drama. A perfectly fine TV match, the sort of thing you used to see in 1998 when they had the European title defended on PPV.

I legit forgot that Jey Uso/Priest was a world title match and not just a Judgement Day feud match, It took me a second to recall it while counting how many title matches were there after the show ended. Jey has a hot entrance and the crowd/People are invested in him, but that title still doesn't feel like a World Title and Jey Uso still wrestles like a Tag Team wrestler.

[Matt_Black]

Tiffany Stratton is like Mariah May, except she's, you know, OVER with the crowd.

[PaperMachete]

I wonder if they're giving us Dragunov vs Gunther for the KOTR finals already. It would be cool if they built Dragunov up like he's the Rollins to Gunther's Roman, in where Gunther/Roman is basically unstoppable but there's one guy who has him figured out.

 

Oh... Ricochet vs Dragunov was a banger.

Edited May 7 by PaperMachete

[guyver3]

Gunther and Dragunov can’t meet in the finals cause they’re both on Raw but if that happens in the semi final I’d guess it’s more of a taste of what they can do together and not a full serving. Personally I think it’ll be Gunther vs Carmelo in the finals even if that’s a heel vs heel match the crowds love Gunther 

[Dawn]

25 minutes ago, guyver3 said:

Gunther and Dragunov can’t meet in the finals cause they’re both on Raw but if that happens in the semi final I’d guess it’s more of a taste of what they can do together and not a full serving. Personally I think it’ll be Gunther vs Carmelo in the finals even if that’s a heel vs heel match the crowds love Gunther 

I'm thinking Gunther vs. LA Knight for men's finals and Lyra vs. Tiffany for women's finals.

[guyver3]

2 hours ago, Dawn said:

I'm thinking Gunther vs. LA Knight for men's finals and Lyra vs. Tiffany for women's finals.

I was thinking that too for the men’s final but I also think AJ and LA are going to keep the other from advancing all the way and Carmelo going to the finals would elevate him pretty well. I think that women’s final would be good though I think I like Tiffany adding a queen gimmick to what she is currently doing better than potentially being ms. Money in the Bank 

[MightyDavidson]

So apparently Jacob Fatu is HHH's newest signing, which likely means we can look forward to a new member of the Bloodline sometime in the near future.  

[PaperMachete]

For some reason I forgot that Smackdown had a bracket too, lol. My bad

[Matt_Black]

I'm sorry, I can't get over the fact that Dragunov's finisher is a fist drop.

[CQI13]

22 hours ago, MightyDavidson said:

So apparently Jacob Fatu is HHH's newest signing, which likely means we can look forward to a new member of the Bloodline sometime in the near future.  

I thought that’s who was going to debut at Backlash. 

[PaperMachete]

Really gonna be interesting with the presumed Bloodline civil war. It's not out of the question that we can get:

Roman, Jimmy, Jey, Sami, unknown (and the story of Roman trying to make up for his sins with the Usos and Sami will be great)
vs
Solo, Tama, Tanga Loa, Fatu, Hikuleo (who I presume will be signed as soon as it's possible)

or maybe 4v4 with Fatu being face and Sami out of the picture. Or The Rock in there somewhere. There are so many options.

[Matt_Black]

Maybe even add some women in there. Nia Jax on Team Solo, Naomi on Team Roman.