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

[Jaysin]

NXT was great as usual this week. I love Shotzi Blackheart.

 

Keith Lee winning the North American title was a nice surprise. I was hoping he'd win the Rumble, but highly doubt that will happen now.

[milamber]

- Era vs Grizzled Vets was great. Based Imperium didn't even need to throw hands to make an impact.

- Toni vs Io was good. Someone was obviously going to run in so neither would take a loss. Everyone got their licks in and came out looking strong. The height Io gets on that dropkick is insane.

- Balor vs Wilde was a solid squash. Love seeing Finn wrestle so agressively.

- Shayna vs Shotzi was good. I'm surprised and delighted Shotzi is getting a decent push so quickly. She even got to keep her name. The women are getting so many storylines now which is awesome. I predict Nox vs Dakota ends in a double countout leading to a No DQ match.

- Broserweights vs Imperium was my MOTN. High octane tag team wrestling at it's finest. Loved the post-match promos.

- Lee vs Strong © was great. I marked out for Lee winning. I feared they wouldn't pull the trigger on him while he was red hot. Nice brawl to close.

 

Stacked show and it delivered in spades.

[Jaysin]

So the NXT Women's title is now just named the NXT Championship. So dumb.

[milamber]

So the NXT Women's title is now just named the NXT Championship. So dumb.

 

If there is no intergender wrestling and they want both titles to sound equal in importance then it makes more sense to rename the NXT Championship to the Men's NXT Championship instead.

[Jaysin]

Just finished watching all three episodes of Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions. It was pretty cool seeing Undertaker and Kane out of character. Very good interviews all around though. Lots of information that's never been revealed before about the history of Kane which was cool. It was especially neat seeing the original concept art for Kane.

 

I'd really like to see Austin interview Sting next.

[Jaysin]

Very pumped Imperium won. Walter is the man

[milamber]

Mia vs KLR - 3.5 stars

Scott vs Devlin vs Banks vs Garza © - 4.25 stars

Balor vs Dragunov - 3.75 stars

Moustache Mountain vs DIY - 4.5 stars

Storm vs Rhea © - 3.5 stars

Era vs Imperium - 4.75 stars

 

A bit of a mixed bag but everything ranged from good to great. Shocked Devlin won the Cruiserweight title. NXT UK needs its own secondary title but this will do for now. Toni vs Rhea would have been better if they had been given another 5 minutes. Shame Wolfe got injured.

[Warhawk8492]

I like this years Royal Rumble, glad McIntyre won.

[BHK1978]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Warhawk8492" data-cite="Warhawk8492" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I like this years Royal Rumble, glad McIntyre won.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I agree, it is a good comeback story.</p>

[Questlove]

Yeah, best Rumble in years overall and I couldn't stop smiling after #21.

[MightyDavidson]

Glad to hear McIntyre won. Always liked him ever since he first joined the WWE.

[BHK1978]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="MightyDavidson" data-cite="MightyDavidson" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Glad to hear McIntyre won. Always liked him ever since he first joined the WWE.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I was not a fan of him during his first run. I don't know if it was because I read at the time he was HHH's hand picked chosen one (I have always strongly disliked HHH) or what. He just never clicked with me.</p><p> </p><p> Then he went to TNA and I became a fan. I enjoyed his run there and I have liked him ever since.</p>

[milamber]

<p>Decent PPV. Bianca and Otis were the best parts of the Women's Rumble. Even though she didn't win, I hope Shayna goes after Becky. Charlotte can choose Bayley. I'm happy Drew won. My Top 3 matches:</p><p> </p><p>

1. Men's Rumble</p><p>

2. Asuka vs Becky</p><p>

3. Bryan vs The Fiend</p>

[Jaysin]

<p>Charlotte winning is pure garbage. Shayna should have won. This better not lead to Becky vs Charlotte for the millionth time. </p><p> </p><p>

Lacey is awful and no where near ready for the main roster. Her face turn hasn’t but been well done either. Bayley as a heel isn’t working.</p><p> </p><p>

Brock eliminating half the roster was so stupid and boring. Almost turned the show off.</p><p> </p><p>

Edge returning was huge. Didn’t look like he had much ring rust. Too bad he injured AJ Styles. Hope AJ is ok. </p><p> </p><p>

Drew winning was predictable but the right call.</p>

[Self]

Was spoiled on the Rumble about 15 seconds after waking up, so that saves me £20. I'm happy about that, because I wouldn't have enjoyed the Brock Show. Drew winning feels interesting and exciting to me though, so that's really cool.

[GooseRobb]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Charlotte winning is pure garbage. Shayna should have won. This better not lead to Becky vs Charlotte for the millionth time. <p> </p><p> Lacey is awful and no where near ready for the main roster. Her face turn hasn’t but been well done either. Bayley as a heel isn’t working.</p><p> </p><p> Brock eliminating half the roster was so stupid and boring. Almost turned the show off.</p><p> </p><p> Edge returning was huge. Didn’t look like he had much ring rust. Too bad he injured AJ Styles. Hope AJ is ok. </p><p> </p><p> Drew winning was predictable but the right call.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I wouldn't put that on Edge, it's the way AJ decided to sell the spear.</p>

[Jaysin]

I wouldn't put that on Edge, it's the way AJ decided to sell the spear.

 

Definitely AJ's fault. It's just unfortunate.

 

I had tears in my eyes when Edge's music hit though. I saw he signed a three year deal and his rumored Wrestlemania match is Randy Orton. Orton is a low impact and safe worker who is capable of having good matches so it's a good match up on paper.

 

I'm still salty as heck that Charlotte won. Becky vs Charlotte is just not appealing in the slightest and Charlotte vs Bayley is even less appealing. It should have been Shayna.

[guyver3]

If Charlotte is going to go after Bayley then it’s also gonna mean a brand switch for Andrade at least and Alistar n Zelina at most. I don’t see them switching 4 people to Smackdown just for a women’s title program. Not that Becky Charlotte has me excited either but it feels like that’s the direction they’re going.

[Warhawk8492]

I would not mind seeing Rated RKO Vs The OC at some point.

[wbafanlee]

I would love to see an Edge vs AJ Styles match but considering the injury to Styles hopefully he is back in time for a Rated RKO vs The OC match which will probably be safer for Edge and Styles.

[Blackman]

Really liked the Rumble. It was very predictable, but I consider that a good thing. Some good spots.

 

It's true Charlotte didn't need the win. But Shayna received some good spots. I'm sure there is some angle they can do with the Horsewomen. The Asuka match had a nice story but could've went better. The Fiend vs Bryan was in the same situation.

 

Mighty Molly debuting was a nice pop for me. I caught the rumors around Edge but it was still great to see, especially given how far he got.

[sheepy]

First time I've been truly gripped by a WWE show from more or less start to finish in a while. Everything (excluding the Bayley title match) felt important and like it really mattered.

 

Loved the mens royal rumble and the story with Brock, Edge's return, the Rollins bit etc all great entertainment.

[Jaysin]

From here, each wrestler's time spent in the Royal Rumble. I still stand by how asinine it was to have Lesnar destroy the first half of the participants and it's even worse looking at how long each person actually spent in the ring. Lesnar was also in the ring by himself for a total of 12:02. Almost half of his total time spent in the match. I know I'm very much in the minority on hating Lesnar's booking in the match, but there's no reason a part timer should be making full time talent look like jabronis.

 

1. Brock Lesnar: 26:23

2. Elias: 1:01

3. Erick Rowan: 0.0731 (Shortest)

4. Robert Roode: 0:42

5. John Morrison: 0.876

6. Kofi Kingston: 5:06

7. Rey Mysterio: 2.54

8. Big E: 0:53

9. Cesaro: 0:18

10. Shelton Benjamin: 0:37

11. Shinsuke Nakamura: 0:20

12. MVP: 0:24

13. Keith Lee: 3:33

14. Braun Strowman: 1:49

15. Ricochet: 3:02

16. Drew McIntyre: 34:10 (Longest, Winner)

17. The Miz: 0:29

18. AJ Styles: 7:49

19. Dolph Ziggler: 12:20

20. Karl Anderson: 9:46

21. Edge: 23:42

22. King Corbin: 4:04

23. Matt Riddle: 0:41

24. Luke Gallows: 2:00

25. Randy Orton: 14:38

26. Roman Reigns: 16:01

27. Kevin Owens: 6:59

28. Aleister Black: 5:06

29. Samoa Joe: 4:25

30. Seth Rollins: 4:00

[Jaysin]

Other than the Edge/Orton segment Raw was pretty bad. Mysterio vs MVP was very disappointing. They had no chemistry together whatsoever. Hell, Lana vs Liv Morgan was a better match!

 

Usually Mania season brings out the best in the writing teams, but so far it's still awful.

[BHK1978]

I honestly do not get the treatment of Erick Rowan in the Royal Rumble. Now granted I do not follow the product closely but I do read about it and from everything I have read it looks like they are trying to build him into something.

 

If that is the case, why have him get eliminated so quickly? They could have easily put him in the non-Brock half of the Rumble and had him eliminate some people there.

Edited to add: Even John Morrison probably should have been in the non-Brock part of the match. The guy returns after all these years and he is just eliminated like that. It just does not make sense to me.

 

Honestly they probably should have had John debut at the Rumble instead of some random Smackdown episode.