Re: The Official WWE Thread - Part 31

[S]

I don't know Mole, some guys just seem to have that knack to make a promo go with the flow. They don't stand idle and take the insults like AJ did today. Look at KO or Jericho for example, especially KO among the new breed of wrestlers who always feels the need to interrupt the other guy or trash talk to the crowd which I'm sure ain't part of the script. Well you can say that's his gimmick or character but that enhances a promo compared to AJ where I felt it was more mechanical especially in regards to today's segment.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

In fairness we are not talking about mic quality, it's about the style and template of the promos.

Seems to me that regardless of quality, i'll use Jericho as an example that pretty much every promo has the same template.

Everyone no matter how good or bad they are seems to do the same thing, say what they scripted say while the other guy says nothing until it's his "turn".

There's less of a flow or back and forth and considering that practically everyone does it (Cena did the same thing tonight) i believe it's more of a company wide direction than it is any individual deciding they want to do it a certain way.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

I don't know Mole, some guys just seem to have that knack to make a promo go with the flow. They don't stand idle and take the insults like AJ did today. Look at KO or Jericho for example, especially KO among the new breed of wrestlers who always feels the need to interrupt the other guy or trash talk to the crowd which I'm sure ain't part of the script. Well you can say that's his gimmick or character but that enhances a promo compared to AJ where I felt it was more mechanical especially in regards to today's segment.

Cena did the same thing though( he basically sat in the chair as AJ was talking lol and didn't say a word), that's my point. If it wasn't something i saw consistently from like everyone on the roster i'd agree with you.

It's like in football when everyone in the team stops performing, who do you blame? the manager as it's not a coincidence.

If it was just AJ or whoever i'd understand but it seems like to me most promos in the WWE are constructed this way for what ever reason.

They probably want as much control over it as humanly possible, to me this is just another example of the WWE over scripting their talent.

[AnJl]

I genuinely think Bryan and Miz tell each other to have a right go at each other, literally dont leave any stone unturned when they are together on Talking Smack.

[S]

The women's roster on Smackdown are absolutely killing it. Be it the Bella-Natalya feud or this developing Miz and Ambrose storyline that prominently involves both Renee and Maryse. Brilliant stuff from pretty much everyone. Ffs dint expect Maryse to slap Renee or Natalya to say 'you'll die alone' to Nikki. That's proper heel stuff
Whereas on Raw, it's mostly Stephanie hogging the spotlight among women and Charlotte or Sasha having a championship match every odd week. It's a stark contrast to what we see on SD.

Never have looked forward to watch the women's roster going at each other every week as much as now tbh.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Completely agree on the Women storylines on Smackdown.

I'm even enjoying the mystery around the Luchadora angle with Becky and Alexa and seeing where it goes and Alexa is great on the mic anyway. (probably the best of any of the woman)

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Speaking of the women, this Ellsworth and Carmella angle is *bleep* hilarious.

Watching Talking Smack and he's acting like the teenager who has never been laid before lmao, so *bleep* shy and unconfident around her. While she is acting like she actually is attracted to him lol and while he's actively helping her in matches i'm interested to see where it goes.

This has no right to be good but somehow it is.

Also the Miz promo was amazing too, they also announced American Alpha vs Wyatt Family, John Cena vs Baron Corbin and Natalya vs Nikki Bella for next week. All of which have storylines built around them that make them interesting, especially on the Natalya and Nikki one which i'd have zero interest in before the last two weeks of promos.

Alpha and Wyatts, Cena and Corbin would have been good regardless though i imagine.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Watching it again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcRpaQ7vyMQ

I like the passion Cena brought and he seems genuinely pissed off by AJ's promo. But what he says genuinely makes no sense

What the clip doesn't show is how the segment started, with AJ saying to Bryan how they came from the same place ( aka wrestling in high school gyms in the indies) and how it's BS that Cena comes back and gets a title shot for no real kayfabe reason.

He's basically saying AJ has no passion for it, when it's blatantly obvious that isn't true due to the indie stuff they alluded to before hand, the biggest WTF part was when he said " you come down this ramp because you have to. I come down because I want to"... right after AJ had talked about working school gyms for crowds of zero because of his love for the industry.

He seemed mad at AJ for calling him a hypocrite yet his counter promo had practically nothing to do with anything AJ actually said.

I don't know if the idea was to make Cena look like a hypocritical asshole or what but I don't really get it. Granted, he's cocky more often than not but he just came off as out of touch there.

Still a good promo from both, outside of what Surag said which applies to both guys as they both sat there and let the other guy go off on them. But while AJ stated the truth, Cena's rebuttal didn't really make any logical sense in the frame of the promo.

If i didn't know any better and i hadn't been watching the product i'd think AJ is the babyface and Cena was the heel as that's the vibe i get from that promo.

Ignoring how the promo was set up though, there's no one better than Cena when it comes to selling big matches like this.

[Kaladin]

I can see where S is coming from, i've been critical of AJ's promo's as well, i really don't think he's all that when dishing it out. His delivery is very robotic, very 'reading from the lines'-esque. As opposed to guys like Cena/Ambrose/ heck even Roman has good delivery, Rollins suffers from this as well. When it comes to how he takes it, S is right, he kind of stands out like a headless chicken, doesn't know what he's doing.

------------

Anyone seen Omega v Okada? People sating its the best match of all time

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

When it comes to taking it, they both did the same thing though. Cena sat there and took it and didn't say a thing till AJ finished, which is what i argued as it's something i'm seeing with almost every promo on Raw or Smackdown and why i believe it's more of a template of how they like to do promos than anything else.

The delivery stuff is a different argument and not one i disagree with.

[Onyx]

Need a good storyline imo to get people watching weekly again. There hasn't been one since Bryan's 2014 RTWM.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

And that was a fluke what does that tell you.

I'm enjoying Smackdown's storylines though tbh, Raw's storylines can continue to suck for all i care as long as i still look forward to Smackdown and the show doesn't start to tank i'm all good.

[Onyx]

Can't genuinely get interested in the product if it's just going to be generic good guy vs bad guy feuds. "I'm better than you! You suck! I'll beat you for the title this Sunday!" etc etc. Just really cliche. Need a story that's special and larger than life that gets people talking imo. Only one I can think of atm is a Cena heel turn.

[S]

When it comes to taking it, they both did the same thing though. Cena sat there and took it and didn't say a thing till AJ finished, which is what i argued as it's something i'm seeing with almost every promo on Raw or Smackdown and why i believe it's more of a template of how they like to do promos than anything else.

The delivery stuff is a different argument and not one i disagree with.

IMO I think there's a difference there too. When Cena was taking the insults , guy's body language alone looked like 'I'll let this punk talk and I know I'm going to layeth the smackdown on him anyway '. AJ's insults dint even intimidate him much. Cena's reactions, expressions and his overall body language when he ain't speaking is top class and enhances the storytelling.

With AJ it's more like ' I'll do my lines first and then I'll leave it you to do the talking while I just stand there and listen'.

Part of it may be down to how AJ's character is portrayed and this is where it disappoints me. A guy like him is above being portrayed like some newbie punk who's just made it into mainstream wrestling.

I have no problem with the content though , I think it's great. Just would've loved to see some back and forth verbiage between two of the best in the business.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

In fairness most storylines in the main event scene in the attitude era were like that too, it's up to the talent to get it over.

Prime example is that technically the Daniel Bryan storyline was cliche, it basically is the authority keeping down the hard working man. It's how it was told which is why people liked it.

There's nothing larger than life or special about it from a pure standpoint, it was just told in a way which made it feel that way.

It's the same with any other story they tell really, up to you whether you like it or not. But i do enjoy the stories being told on Smackdown atm and i can accept it if people don't.

Raw's story( if i can even call it that) is non existent though and it's the reason i stopped watching it. ( i have zero investment and practically the entire main event scene) No point concerning over something which i don't enjoy, if Smackdown becomes the same i'll stop watching that too.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

When it comes to taking it, they both did the same thing though. Cena sat there and took it and didn't say a thing till AJ finished, which is what i argued as it's something i'm seeing with almost every promo on Raw or Smackdown and why i believe it's more of a template of how they like to do promos than anything else.

The delivery stuff is a different argument and not one i disagree with.

IMO I think there's a difference there too. When Cena was taking the insults , guy's body language alone looked like 'I'll let this punk talk and I know I'm going to layeth the smackdown on him anyway '. AJ's insults dint even intimidate him much. Cena's reactions, expressions and his overall body language when he ain't speaking is top class and enhances the storytelling.

With AJ it's more like ' I'll do my lines first and then I'll leave it you to do the talking while I just stand there and listen'.

Part of it may be down to how AJ's character is portrayed and this is where it disappoints me. A guy like him is above being portrayed like some newbie punk who's just made it into mainstream wrestling.

I have no problem with the content though , I think it's great. Just would've loved to see some back and forth verbiage between two of the best in the business.

I don't think it intimidated him, but i do think it pissed him off and it did get under his skin ( character wise anyway) he looked like he was about to blow a gasket while AJ was speaking and especially during the " You'll never beat The Rock in Hollywood and you'll never beat AJ Styles in this ring"

Also considering what Cena said i don't know how AJ could have responded to really in an intimidated manner. While AJ went off on him so Cena had to act angered, Cena's response basically that AJ lacks passion and he just turns up to work.

I don't think even if AJ was as good at Cena at this stuff he could respond in the same way because the content of the promo wasn't the same and not anything to get angry over unlike AJ's promo to Cena which was obviously designed to get Cena pissed.

I didn't feel like Cena's response was designed to get AJ pissed back at him really, it was more a defense promo and i'm going to beat you anyway and there's *bleep* all you can do about it.

[Onyx]

Interested in seeing storylines about drugs, sex, mental disorders, religion etc.

Imagine Broken Matt Hardy becoming an underworld drug lord.

There's so much they could do with Bray's character too. Kidnapping, torturing people in swamps etc.

So much potential there if the product wasn't PG and had some proper writers.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Well we all agree with that, the best you can hope for is proper writers though sadly. Although and i stand by this, PG rated show isn't the issue and never has been and just an excuse for bad creative IMO.

Of course the older the rating the less restrictions you have but all in all it's not an excuse for a bad product IMO.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

I'm coming to the conclusion that after all the TV and Films MT has been watching recently that he's finally realised that wrestling storylines are bad and always have been bad

[Onyx]

They are in comparison to movies imo. Although that's never stopped the product from being great when it has been great. Mainly because it's a completely different form of entertainment and the requirements for it to be entertaining differ compared to movies.

Wrestlers do use ideas from movies/TV shows for their characters. Would freshen things up if storyline ideas were used imo.

[RealGunner]

Cena vs Corbin next SD

[Kaladin]

I liked Corbin in that seg with AJ and Cena, though i'm not to keen to him being pushed so fast

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

In fairness the push started since Wrestlemania last year lol, I feel like it's been quite a slow push for WWE standards.

Him and Strowman have been handled really well imo, both are going to be champions at some point in 2017 probably and I really have no issues with it.

Although I should say he sounds really nervous when he speaks, needs more reps when it comes to promos so he can improve that part. But his character and ring work have come on a lot since the brand split.

[RealGunner]

Catching up on SD. It's so superior to RAW that it's not even funny lmao.

So good to have Cena back

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

What i like about it is how it isn't tonedeaf at all.

Ziggle starting to get stale? heel turn. Wyatt's are hot as *bleep*? we were going to put the belts on the Usos but nah Wyatts. Heath Slater and Rhyno is getting over? give them the tag team belts.

There's many more examples of this, they seem to react to where the show is going and book accordingly instead of flat out ignoring things because you have a direction you don't want to steer from.

If i was going to be negative i'd argue they put the belts on American Alpha and Dean Ambrose too fast, but here's the thing i actually trust their writers to make sense of it like an actual tv show should.

It's great to feel that way, i don't get angry when they make a decision i don't agree with instead i get intrigued because i trust them after weeks of consistent storytelling.

[Kaladin]

Has Smackdown historically been a more superior show?

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