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

[Big Roguey]

WWE wonders why it can't build new stars... Superman buries all those guys who get a push and the crowd stop caring...

 

 

I hope Cena gets forced to retire asap. He has ruined wrestling single handedly.

 

I wouldn't go as far as saying the bolded. If John Cena has ruined wrestling for you then you have tunnel vision. Plenty of non-WWE shows to go to in the world, don't let one person ruin the entire thing.

 

And hoping Cena gets forced to retire is just utterly unpleasant. Hate him all you want but never actively wish for another man to get injured so badly he can't do his job.

[packerman120]

Man, Brie really ruins these segments. Nikki actually wasn't half bad as a heel but Brie ruined it all. I'm still convinced Nikki is actually average on the mic.

[Dawn]

In my estimation, Nikki dropped one heck of a pipe bomb, and got over as hell. But I do agree with the fact that Brie ruined a bit of the segment.

[Croquemitaine]

I thought Nikki was better than average. I was actually impressed. Segment needed to be shorter though.

[Fleisch]

Thing with the Bella story is, it's good, but their delivery is like watching the worst B movie of all time. Neither one can act and it's hard to take the story seriously. I'm not expecting an A List actress award winning performance, but the way they are delivering their lines is like a really bad school production.

 

As for Cena, I've said it for years, someone get's over and all of a sudden Cena has to be involved and (9/10 times) buries them. If they do not see Bray as a viable option to beat Cena then don't put him in a match with him. For me, Bray Wyatts character now comes off as a guy who can talk the talk but when it comes down to a fight, he can't back it up, which loses any credibility. Look how Undertaker was booked, or Kane when they were the "monsters" of the WWE. Neither one ended up being constant fodder for Hogan/Rock/Austin. They could have had Bray go up against someone like Sheamus or Ziggler and have him run through the midcarders for a bit. They could have had the Wyatts win that match at Raw without hurting John Cena if they had put some thought into it, because both Henry and Show are coming to the ends of their careers. Alternatively, don't book the Wyatts in a match that means jack in terms of the PPV main event because what did last night truly achieve? Another win in John Cenas favour - with help of course? Big deal.

 

As I didn't want to go into a Cena hating rant (oh well), please get Bo Dallas off my screen! I would rather watch another Katie Vick or old woman giving birth to a hand than Bo Dallas. I Bo-lieve though.... I Bo-lieve he can't act and has zero charisma!

 

Now onto the plus side of WWE currently... Ziggler's Intercontinental Champion, Paige and AJ on my TV screen at the same time - in a pretty decent story is awesome (3 hours of those 2 if I could - or chuck Emma in there too) and the "Dust Brothers" turning heel (?) should make for some interesting viewing. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins (and Kane - although he still doesn't look right unmasked) should be good TV, especially if it sets up a Reigns/Ambrose v. Rollins/Kane match somewhere down the line. Lesnar as champion is also pretty decent, although it'd be nice to see him a bit more on TV as I do like this whole "conqueror" thing.

 

And finally one of my favourite parts of WWE? NXT.

 

Despite my Cena hating, I do think WWE have a lot of other aspects to their program that are heading in the right direction, but only time will tell.

[Croquemitaine]

So what was the point of those two "Henry buries Rusev" spots last week? They seem to be pushing Rusev strongly and letting him have his way with Swagger, but then Henry comes in twice in one week and steals the Russian's heat.

 

Now if the point is for Swagger to continue the feud and finally beat Rusev somewhere down the line, then what was the point of having Henry randomly drop into the story and weaken Rusev? Meanwhile, if the idea is to build a Henry/Rusev feud, why do nothing to advance that on this week's RAW?

 

Also, if Henry/Rusev is the plan (with Swagger moving on to Bo Dallas), then it's kind of an odd build. It's weird to have a feud begin with the face getting in the heel's business. Henry wasn't even helping or "rescuing" Swagger last week. He was coming in afterwards to punk Rusev during Rusev/Lana's promo time.

 

My thought last week was that Swagger was meant to lose his way into a pit of despair, turn heel, and then team with Rusev against Henry and Show. A stupid idea yes, but that's never stopped WWE before. But last night was kind of a turnaround for Swagger (yeah he lost, but I thought he came off much stronger and more determined than last week), so that looks less likely.

 

I'm curious to see what they'll do with Coulter. They're still talking about him so I expect he'll be back in some capacity. I half-expect him to run in and then turn on Swagger every time the latter is in a match now.

[packerman120]

The only part I thought Nikki botched was the whole died in the womb thing. But Brie friggin botched everything.

[Jaysin]

I just randomly came to the realization that the same guy responsible for Sting and the Ultimate Warrior is the same guy responsible for John Cena, The Miz, and Chris Masters. It's cool to me that one man had a part in the beginnings of stars so far apart in time periods.

[Russelrules44]

I just randomly came to the realization that the same guy responsible for Sting and the Ultimate Warrior is the same guy responsible for John Cena, The Miz, and Chris Masters. It's cool to me that one man had a part in the beginnings of stars so far apart in time periods.

 

OH RLY?........Huh, I did not know that.

[Jaysin]

OH RLY?........Huh, I did not know that.

 

Rick Bassman trained Sting and Ultimate Warrior with Red Bastien. Bassman owned/operated UPW and had a hand in training Cena, Masters, and Miz. Just figured I should actually say who I was referring to.

[Russelrules44]

Rick Bassman trained Sting and Ultimate Warrior with Red Bastien. Bassman owned/operated UPW and had a hand in training Cena, Masters, and Miz. Just figured I should actually say who I was referring to.

 

Wow....that's pretty cool!

[TakerNGN74]

Figured I would come in here and voice my opinion about Monday's RAW, I thought it was absolutely terrible. Yeah it had it's decent spots but the entire show just seemed lazy. Top that off with the horrible Brie/Nikki segment and it was complete garbage. I know it was Vince McMahon's birthday on Monday but that's the show you give us?

 

The segment between Brie and Nikki is in the running for worst segment of the year, I honestly don't know which segment deserves the accomplishment though. Between last night's segment and the one with that Megan Miller chick both were absolute garbage.

 

The segment wouldn't have bothered me that much if the part where Nikki said she wished Brie "Died In the Womb" was taken out of it before it got to air. I understand it's wrestling and stuff like that happens but The whole thing reeked of Vince McMahon and I absolutely hated it. It made me ashamed to be a wrestling fan, which is why I am glad I wasn't watching with a group of people who knew nothing about wrestling.

[dvdWarrior]

I liked this week's Raw. They announced that some good ol' WCW Nitro was finally coming to the WWE Network!!!!! Great news for me... when I finally am able to get the Network myself pretty soon. Other things happened too, I'm sure, but off the top of my head... I can't remember what exactly...

 

Episodes of Nitro though?

 

Always a good thing in my book.

 

[Teh_Showtime]

Other things happened like John Cena being back to 100% and unchanged after all of the speculation on how he would deal with the savage beating

 

I agree though, getting some Nitros on there finally is great and it wont be at the snail's pace of maybe two episodes a week like they've been doing old Raw

[bigtplaystew]

I totally disagree with booking Cena the way they have, but if you're going to do it, do it. Don't have him EIGHT DAYS after what is being billed as "the most savage beating in his career" come out, spit the same crap, etc. The writing is not strong with this angle.

 

I will say this, John Cena planted an expert seed of doubt at the very end of his promo. The "I'm going to beat Brock Lesnar's ass..." part almost had the slightest hint of disbelief in it. It didn't have his screaming enthusiasm that we normally see with a promo of this nature from him. I believe this was intentional and added a layer on Cena's character effectively. So if I had to say one nice thing about Monday's Raw, there it is. John Cena cut a good promo with what he had to work with.

 

If the rumors of Reigns being the man to dethrone Brock at WM are true, they are putting an awful lot of other wrestlers' momentum into putting him over. I sure hope it pays off for them. I like Reigns but his character hasn't come along the way I had hoped. He needs new music and new attire and a whole new direction. Carrying over the quiet badass thing fromt he Shield was a good move. I guess they wanted to keep the music because of the notoriety it has with the fans, but I think he needs his own theme to differentiate himself and start to make his own mark in this business before March. Because as of August 2014 he still looks green as Gumby.

[Basmat01]

I liked this week's Raw. They announced that some good ol' WCW Nitro was finally coming to the WWE Network!!!!! Great news for me... when I finally am able to get the Network myself pretty soon. Other things happened too, I'm sure, but off the top of my head... I can't remember what exactly...

 

Episodes of Nitro though?

 

Always a good thing in my book.

 

 

I think its only the first 100 hours of nitro going up. personally cant wait only got the network to watch WCW. The 60 man battle royals at WW3 PPV are such a mess of a match lol

 

the Mondays Night Wars series started last week which I enjoyed watching but is very much proWWE lol they make WWE out like they had the younger stars who had better matches than WCW with the old guys who only had star power.

[Russelrules44]

I think its only the first 100 hours of nitro going up. personally cant wait only got the network to watch WCW. The 60 man battle royals at WW3 PPV are such a mess of a match lol

 

the Mondays Night Wars series started last week which I enjoyed watching but is very much proWWE lol they make WWE out like they had the younger stars who had better matches than WCW with the old guys who only had star power.

 

Well, ya know what they say.......WCW RUINS EVERYTHING!

[Blackman]

I'm quite puzzled. It looks like they're really setting up Cena to win the belt at Superstars, regardless of the rumors. Or it should be a dirty finish on Lesnar's part after a more 'competitive' match. Otherwise Cena's momentum is buried, which is a really stupid thing to do as he leeched off of other stars enough, being pushed to the moon and all... Another Lesnar beatdown would absolutely make no sense at all, and a supershort title reign should be very rare. Acknowledging the Summerslam shocker, WWE seems to suprise me more and more.

 

The only thing that gets me going atm is the Rhodes brothers. The women's storyline is weird yet completely unintriguing, and the Bellas need some acting lessons as their performance in angles is downright laughable (even worse than their in-ring perf). Rusev winning at Summerslam was another surprise, the downside being that the storyline becomes really stale. How long will they stretch his unbeaten streak? And then there's lots of Cena, with the legends panel being one of the worst opening segments on RAW in... quite a while.

 

It's indeed a better time to watch a blast from the past. If only I could get the WWE Network without a credit card.

[milamber]

I'm quite puzzled. It looks like they're really setting up Cena to win the belt at Superstars, regardless of the rumors. Or it should be a dirty finish on Lesnar's part after a more 'competitive' match. Otherwise Cena's momentum is buried, which is a really stupid thing to do as he leeched off of other stars enough, being pushed to the moon and all... Another Lesnar beatdown would absolutely make no sense at all, and a supershort title reign should be very rare. Acknowledging the Summerslam shocker, WWE seems to suprise me more and more.

 

The only thing that gets me going atm is the Rhodes brothers. The women's storyline is weird yet completely unintriguing, and the Bellas need some acting lessons as their performance in angles is downright laughable (even worse than their in-ring perf). Rusev winning at Summerslam was another surprise, the downside being that the storyline becomes really stale. How long will they stretch his unbeaten streak? And then there's lots of Cena, with the legends panel being one of the worst opening segments on RAW in... quite a while.

 

It's indeed a better time to watch a blast from the past. If only I could get the WWE Network without a credit card.

 

Cena vs Lesnar definitely needs to be competitive with Cena throwing eveything he has at Lesnar but just coming up short. A dirty finish would help keep Cena sympathetic while losing. I wonder if we'll see Rollins try to cash in on a fatigued Lesnar only for Ambrose (who finishes his movie the night before) to stop him to a huge pop.

 

Rusev probably only needs one more big victory (eg. Henry) before they can feed him to a hot babyface midcarder.

 

I like AJ & Paige but it's basically crazy babyface vs crazy heel coupled with sexual innuendo to entice the male crowd to be interested. Which wouldn't be so bad if they just let the girls go out and legit wrestle on PPV. Paige can do more than brawl and AJ rarely gets a chance to anything but a Shining Wizard, the Black Widow and ragdoll for her opponents.

 

Brie vs Steph was way better because it felt like a continuation of Bryan vs The Authority and because Steph carried the feud. I don't care enough about the Bellas on their own.

[sebsy]

So, I've been thinking back to the time when I got in to WWE properly, which was building up to WMXX. Back then you had the following who were at the top or there abouts, wrestlers who were really entertaining in one form or another, be it awesome in-ring talent, a great entertainer or both:

 

Brock Lesnar

Kurt Angle

Eddie Guerrero

Shawn Michaels

Triple H

The Undertaker

Chris Benoit

Chris Jericho

 

Seem to recall Angle/Lesnar having a really good feud in the months before Mania, whilst Eddie and Benoit were getting their rewards on the biggest PPV to ever take place by that point. I've always loved HBK and I still can't think of a heel who has been built as well as HHH was since that time. The Undertaker was always good for a decent feud and match, especially his myriad speciality matches such as Casket, Last Ride and Buried Alive. Jericho is just awesome, pure and simple. Then you had John Cena who was just starting to carve out his domination of the main event scene, Randy Orton who was really coming along nicely and Edge, who was just starting to build his name as a singles competitor. Christian was around then and I've always liked him too.

 

Now who have you got? You certainly haven't got 8 to the rival the list from back then:

 

John Cena

Randy Orton

Daniel Bryan

 

That's about the total of people I'd put at the level of the list above. Obviously you've got Jericho and Lesnar but they're both part-time or sporadic and The Undertaker who appears once a year.

 

It's pretty poor looking at it like that, really. Punk being around still would make it 4 but that's still half of what we had 10 years ago. It's frustrating because there are so many who could be up there or at least the level below but due to awful, inconsistent booking, over pushing of the very top few, and, imo, an over saturation of tv exposure, they just haven't built a good many people anywhere close to as well as they could have. So many talented youngsters who haven't been given the proper backing to really get over, such as Ziggler, Barrett. You've got the likes of Rollins, Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and Cesaro but I'm sure the WWE will **** them up, too.

 

Perhaps I'm a little clouded by nostalgia and people will tell me that I shouldn't be adding one or another to the list from 10 years ago, but I certainly can't think of anyone else who you can put on the top list for the present. And the fact that of those 3, everyones tired of 1, the other seems to either be loved or hated, whislt only 1 seems to be universally liked.

 

Anyway, thought this could potentially be an interesting discussion. To summarise: The roster depth is ****-poor compared to 10 years ago.

[Teh_Showtime]

Don't worry, KANE has main evented the most PPVs since Mania!

[dvdWarrior]

I think its only the first 100 hours of nitro going up. personally cant wait only got the network to watch WCW. The 60 man battle royals at WW3 PPV are such a mess of a match lol

 

the Mondays Night Wars series started last week which I enjoyed watching but is very much proWWE lol they make WWE out like they had the younger stars who had better matches than WCW with the old guys who only had star power.

 

I've always kinda secretly figured that eventually, the WWE Network would have everything, (all the TV shows and whatnot), that all we'd have to do is wait long enough. I know they have all the Clash Of The champions and Saturday Night's Main Events up now, that's a couple of things I was really hoping for, already out of the way.

 

The first 100 hours of Nitro is better than nothing though, and I figure the rest will be along soon enough.

 

I'll have the WWE Network myself in just a little bitty while though. Good times, coming up!

[milamber]

So, I've been thinking back to the time when I got in to WWE properly, which was building up to WMXX. Back then you had the following who were at the top or there abouts, wrestlers who were really entertaining in one form or another, be it awesome in-ring talent, a great entertainer or both:

 

Brock Lesnar

Kurt Angle

Eddie Guerrero

Shawn Michaels

Triple H

The Undertaker

Chris Benoit

Chris Jericho

 

Seem to recall Angle/Lesnar having a really good feud in the months before Mania, whilst Eddie and Benoit were getting their rewards on the biggest PPV to ever take place by that point. I've always loved HBK and I still can't think of a heel who has been built as well as HHH was since that time. The Undertaker was always good for a decent feud and match, especially his myriad speciality matches such as Casket, Last Ride and Buried Alive. Jericho is just awesome, pure and simple. Then you had John Cena who was just starting to carve out his domination of the main event scene, Randy Orton who was really coming along nicely and Edge, who was just starting to build his name as a singles competitor. Christian was around then and I've always liked him too.

 

Now who have you got? You certainly haven't got 8 to the rival the list from back then:

 

John Cena

Randy Orton

Daniel Bryan

 

That's about the total of people I'd put at the level of the list above. Obviously you've got Jericho and Lesnar but they're both part-time or sporadic and The Undertaker who appears once a year.

 

It's pretty poor looking at it like that, really. Punk being around still would make it 4 but that's still half of what we had 10 years ago. It's frustrating because there are so many who could be up there or at least the level below but due to awful, inconsistent booking, over pushing of the very top few, and, imo, an over saturation of tv exposure, they just haven't built a good many people anywhere close to as well as they could have. So many talented youngsters who haven't been given the proper backing to really get over, such as Ziggler, Barrett. You've got the likes of Rollins, Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and Cesaro but I'm sure the WWE will **** them up, too.

 

Perhaps I'm a little clouded by nostalgia and people will tell me that I shouldn't be adding one or another to the list from 10 years ago, but I certainly can't think of anyone else who you can put on the top list for the present. And the fact that of those 3, everyones tired of 1, the other seems to either be loved or hated, whislt only 1 seems to be universally liked.

 

Anyway, thought this could potentially be an interesting discussion. To summarise: The roster depth is ****-poor compared to 10 years ago.

 

I'd include Lesnar though he's obviously limited in appearances. Also Kane whenever they use him to plug a gap in the main event. You could potentially add Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose and Bray to the top tier by WM31 if the brakes aren't put on their pushes (I'm already doubting Bray). The midcard is still weak. Too many jobbers, guys like Cesaro and Bo who haven't had big pushes up the card yet and others like Ziggler, Sheamus and Miz who should be upper midcard but end up just going back and forth over the minor belts (which hold less value than they used to). Time to bring up Zayn and Neville from NXT.

 

The best thing WWE can do is create more compelling feuds to build guys up in the midcard. Rollins and Ambrose are killing it every time they're in the ring together, combined with an interesting storyline. More of that please.

[milamber]

NXT Review:

 

The Ascension vs Those Guys - I skipped this match. I find the tag champs boring when they're not in a proper feud.

William Regal - The new GM. Triple H has chosen well. Fatal 4-Way set for Takeover 2: The Wrath of Khan. Great way to showcase NXT's best talent before promoting some of them to the main roster.

Sasha vs Bayley - Solid match but Bayley won too suddenly with a weak finisher (Belly-to-Bayley) after being dominated. Charlotte cut her best promo yet.

Bull vs Dawkins - Squash match. Bull reminds me of a shorter, more mobile Big Show.

Kidd & Breeze vs Zayn & Neville - Good match. Both teams worked well until Zayn accidentally Helluva Kicked Neville. Kidd sacrificed Breeze with a blind tag and pinned Neville. Zayn Helluva Kicked Tyson and held the belt to end the show. My prediction: Breeze wins at the PPV.

 

Verdict: Good show. Much better pace and quality than last week.

[milamber]

Smackdown Review:

 

Reigns vs Bray - OK match. Ended in a DQ with Show & Henry making the save. Better than their Raw match but nothing special.

RVD vs Rollins - Solid match. Rollins wins quite often for a MITB holder.

Paige vs Emma - They did their best with the 2 minutes they were given but we know from NXT these 2 ladies are capable of having a PPV caliber match. AJ bought Paige chocolates and Paige spat one out. AJ & Paige are funny together but the creative team are letting them down with this silly "love/hate affair" storyline.

Swagger vs Rusev - Good submission match. Swagger powered out of the Accolade but Bo distracted the ref and helped Rusev get Swagger back in the hold to tap out. Bo cut a promo and hit his finisher on Swagger.

The Usos vs The Dust Bros - Goldust apologised, the Usos won in 2 minutes thent the Dust Bros beat the crap out of them. More an angle than a match.

Sheamus vs Mizdow - Sandow rehired for a squash match. Miz cheapshotted Sheamus, Ziggler threw him back in the ring and Sandow ate the Brogue Kick as Miz escaped.

Show, Henry & Reigns vs The Wyatt Family - Suprisingly good match. Reigns pinned Harper. Big Show put on his best performance this year, including a Sunet Flip on Rowan.

 

Verdict: Average show. Too many angle segments, too many Raw replays and not enough quality wrestling.