The WWE Discussion Thread

[SelectiveGamer]

Sorry but for me... the best thing that could happen to Reigns is to go to SmackDown. Since both Rollins and Reigns are supposed to be 'faces' I don't want to see them force one of them to become a 'heel.'

 

So for me... I think I'd rather have them separate Rollins and Reigns.

[JonAutomates]

If Smackdown really wants to get interesting they should have Ceasaro fued with Kofi for the title, with E, Woods and Sheamus acting as support. You get two guys that have worked their @sses off, even though they've faced off multiple times, it's fresh in terms of storyline, it doesn't break up New Day or the Bar and it gives all 5 men something to do. 

 

[jackmadrox]

That crowd was so pissed on RAW. Total bait and switch.

[Baranov_925]

was that single match for UN Championship

[Dauersack]

I know it might be a little fucked up to be happy about something like that, but Nia Jax is supposedly going to miss between 6 and 12 months due to torn ACLs. The article I read suggested that she worked through the injury for months and, with the kind of weight she has, that must have made things so much worse. Considering the crowd reactions to almost everything she does, the amount of people she hurt by being sloppy in the ring and the fact that she has her mini me Tamina with her all the time recently, I think her going through surgery is still a good thing for the overall quality of the product, especially if it catapults Tamina back into obscurity. Seems to be a lot going on in the raw divas division recently, with Bayley being jobbed hardcore despite being a title holder just days removed from her last championship, and all the reports saying Sasha wants to leave, badly.

[skidmarkgn]

The f--king Viking Experience?  That's honestly the best new name they could think of?  I mean, there's a team out there called the "creative" team, who, I'm assuming, gets paid to be creative and the f--king VIKING EXPERIENCE is the best thing they could come up with!?!?!  ugh.  Well War Raiders, I'm sorry... The Viking Experience, welcome to career mediocrity.  They'll be doing comedy routines... I'm sorry, comedy experiences, in no time.

[itachi-destroyer]

This RAW is a serious contender for the worst Raw EVER. Thankfully Sami Zayn saved RAW for two weeks in a row.

Concerning the shake-up, they took once again most of the good talents from Smackdown (and spoilers, they will misuse them once again and send them back to Smackdown the following year) and I can already bet you that they are going to send most of the wrestlers that suck or had a bad career direction to Smackdown.

 

This McMahon family are such a bunch of as*holes how can they agree to change Hanson and Rowe "The War Raiders" to Ivar et Erik (as if there wasn't already like 4 Erick in WWE) "The Viking Experience"... I can't wait to see them creating a team between Kushida and Nakamura and call them something like "The Sushi Masters" 

 

I sincerely wish good luck to Aleister Black, Ricochet, The Miz, The War Raiders, Andrade and Rey Mysterio.
AJ Styles will be fine I believe and The Usos are a part of the Ano(a)ying samoan family so they can be sure Vince is going to be the first to kiss their as* and push them to the top.

 

Hopefully they send McIntyre, The Authors Of Pain, The Revival and Bobby Lashley to Smackdown. The list ends here since most of the superstars on RAW are uninteresting anyway (or they have been used so badly that I don't care about them anymore). I can already tell that Smackdown is the loser of this superstar Shake-up.

Edited April 16, 2019 by itachi-destroyer

[Jesaya815]

Terrible Shake-up so far. RAW has way too many babyfaces, even if one or two of them go to Smackdown. There is Rollins, Reigns, Styles, The Miz, Balor, Aleister, Ricochet, Strowman, Rey, Cedric…

 

Some of the drafts don't make any sense at all. First and foremost The War Raiders aka The Viking Experience. Man, what a damn shame that is. Vince gutted NXT over the past few months and he just doesn't know when to stop.

 

Stupid decision to send The Miz back to RAW. Cedric Alexander and Eric Young won't stand a chance on the red brand. Meanwhile guys who needed a change of scenery (such as Rusev, Shinsuke, or maybe Randy Orton) are still on Smackdown.

 

The best thing about RAW really was Sami Zayn . I'd also like to point out that Lacey Evans does a better moonsault than Charlotte.

[jackmadrox]

I'm no fan of Charlotte Flair, but why does everyone keep ripping on her moonsault? I've seen her do it a bunch of times, it looks fine to me.

[SelectiveGamer]

Looks like I might get my wish. Or, at the very least, signs are pointing towards it.

 

They put AJ Styles on RAW and they've called SmackDown 'The House that AJ Styles Built' practically since they began the brand split.

 

And they're already teasing that Vince is going to announce 'the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history'

 

Unless they mean this literally and it's Braun Strowman, this could mean Roman Reigns.

Edited April 16, 2019 by SelectiveGamer

[Darth_Krid]

43 minutes ago, SelectiveGamer said:

Unless they mean this literally and it's Braun Strowman, this could mean Roman Reigns.

Almost certain Braun is going there after the Samoa Joe brawl last week.

 

It's whether they send Reigns too, which is possible. He's feuded with almost everyone on RAW and can't really challenge Rollins atm.

[skidmarkgn]

So Dean's out (still on the fence over believing that one), Sasha wants out, and Harper's all but out.  They're dropping like flies.

[GoodbyeBread]

SD was weird, but I'm happy that Balor and Kairi Sane are on it now. I have a good vibes for them. Also, Buddy Murphy is on SD. Might have more matches with Ali.

KO being a part of the new day might be interesting. Lets go Big O.....Wait.

 

So AJ styles and Roman Reigns swapped brands. Not bad, but very perplexing. AJ is has always been a SD brand while Roman is always on RAW Brand. Truth be told, I thought Styles and Roman would feud, but i guess not. Whether this is good or bad, i'll leave it up to you.

[jackmadrox]

Smackdown Live wasn't half bad tonight. Except for the whole women's segment thing. The whole thing felt messy. And what was Becky's announcement exactly? 

[AK-1138]

Another shake-up, done and dusted. Raw got the shorter end of stick again, but considering SD will be the A show by this time next year, nobody should be surprised. Reigns was the final and ultimate Ano(a')intment. Whether SD's consistent quality will be able to withstand closer McMahon "scrutiny"--much like the fiery gaze of Sauron--remains to be seen.

 

Montreal popped huge for pandering and very little else, as usual. Good thing Owens and Zayn always make the most of it. Are you Experienced? Never complain about a McMahon mandated change. He can always make it even worse next time. (Women's Battle Royal Uterus Trophy, anyone?) Once Sullivan shows his limitations as a performer and has his aura irrevocably broken by a Reigns or Cena, he'll be joining the Viking Experience as simply Lars.

 

Kofi already feels like a background character in his own world title reign, much as he did in the chase as a matter of fact. If, or should I say when, "The Big O" turns on him, you won't hear any complaints from me. If it weren't for his thankfully cancelled retirement, I'd say I haven't ever missed Bryan as much as I do right now. 

 

I was going to make a whole separate post about the Banks incident before this week's shows but she just isn't worth it. Especially now that the kayfabe lines have been blurred. I just wish Bayley would have been smarter than to join her friend in her little escapade. Knowing Banks' psychological archetype as I do, their friendship is probably one-sided at best. Montreal let Bayley have it, smarks that they are. She can take it, though; she's stronger than Banks by leaps and bounds. The more time Bayley can spend away from her "friend" the better off she'll be. She's got all it takes to get her mojo back and become the ultimate division babyface once again; always did. We believe in you.

 

Anyways, the roster moves were plentiful, if not always incredibly exciting, so at least we're headed for fresh opportunities and match-ups for a lot of talented people that deserve better than they get. And that's the most important part, to me at least. 

[skidmarkgn]

So why was Canada so hard on Bayley?  

[Dauersack]

RAW

Glad I am not the only one who thought this Raw was probably the worst in recent memory. So they start with a McMahon segment because those are always welcome, especially in Canada, and in it they show that The Miz is the first one drafted to Raw, effectively ending what was a strangely entertaining rivalry between The Miz and Shane and leaving Miz with no direction whatsoever, as one babyface among many others.

 

Next they debut a new tag team from NXT, a viking themed team. I love viking stuff and I read a bit about these two, Rowe and Hanson. Apparantly they were called The War Machine on the indies and The War Riders or something like that in NXT, not really ranking high in creativity but not a total stinker of a name either, let's see what they can do. They have their entrance and look the part, then a name flashes on the screen... "The Viking Experience", Ivar and Erik, which sounds so awful it instantly killed my interest in the team, did not even watch the match. Like seriously, Ivar and Erik, probably the two most well known viking names aside from Ragnar, thrown together in a team that is named like it is starring in some really crappy old mtv show? This is the best you could come up with "creative team" ? Not since they branded second generation wrestler Curtis Axel with the shit name "Michael Mcgillicutty" or the legit 7feet plus specimen Kipp Christianson with the ridiculous name "Eli Cottonwood" have I seen such obvious sabotage on someones career from the start. Either Vince McMahons brain is finally deep fried to the point of no return, or the creative team is injecting too many questionable substances in between their toes.

 

Next we have yet another match with Balor vs the guy who needs his girl to win matches. The women keeps interfering in matches, not even the distraction interference but actual wrestling moves like a hurricanrana, and Balor even sold it like it was a devestating move. Vega does a good job at being a heel because at this point I think she is fair game and it is really time for a superkick in the face, if she can dish out hart hitting wrestling moves on guys she surely can take them. Match was fine, but ultimately not going anywhere since, as far as I read, Balor was drafted to Smackdown the next day.

 

Sullivan vs Rey was...meh. Rey is fighting big blokes like Sullivan for decades now, he really excels in the role of the underdog and mostly delivers good matches with most big men, but this one did not click with me. Sullivan seems rather limited in ring and even the moves he does do don't seem all that impressive. He has not been around for long now so I won't give up on the guy yet, I remember how tedious Braun Strowman could be to watch at times back then, and he turned out fine.

 

The Usos were drafted to Raw, which is nice for Raw but bad for Smackdown because they are one of the more consistent teams in the company. Starting out with a solid performance, they are likely to change the tag division a bit and should do fine on either brand. Still kinda sad to see them go from Smackdown, but I guess it was time to change this up a bit, maybe they can make the battered Raw tag titles somewhat prestigious.

 

Sami Zayn was obviously in his element and it was nice to see him playing his home crowd. Not sure Alexa needed to be there, I whish WWE would just make their mind up already whether they want her to be a performer or some sideline chick with a microphone.

 

The biggest stinker of a match that night had to offer was Bayley getting teamed up with a newly arrived Naomi against the Tag Team champions that dethroned her and Banks at Wrestlemania. Not even going too much into the whole 4th wall Banks situation, but cutting this very first womens tag title reign that short and ending it before it had any potentially classic matches or rivalries put the belts off to a very rough start already. Now, two weeks after Wrestlemania, they make the new womens tag team champions job to half of the team they defeated, and Naomi. They, despite being a full time tag team, lose almost instantly against a team that never really worked together much before. Some belts had a bad first run, like the WWE championship, but if even the second run turns out to be full of shit like this, there is no chance that these belts will ever have any prestige. Regarding Banks, I view her as the women that ended the career of Paige by being sloppy, and she was rightfully ridiculed as "the botchmaster" by Rusev on Twitter, also her attitude stinks. I understand that she was pissed after having to drop the belts so early, but sitting on a floor like a bunch of children and throwing hissy fits the entire evening is not the way to go. I say good riddance to her, and may she take Nia and Tamina with her.

 

The crappy looking bird in the box vignettes have now reached Raw as well, and I usually skip them because not only are they cringy as hell, they make me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan and I can't stand my boy Bray Wyatt being shat one like this. This guy has everything needed to have a hall of fame worthy career in this business. He is good in the ring, he has a somewhat unique style to his moveset, he is big as well as athletic and he is amazing at cutting promos. When he first arrives at the scene he came off like a mix between Jake Roberts and the early, deranged Mankind character, with some Ministry of Darkness potential as he had a cult of brainwashed members following him, that had just so much potential to be a major storyline effecting the whole company at some point, just like the Ministry did for a time (until Vince screwed that one up). Now, no matter how good he is, even he can't make this utterly retarded shit work, having speaking birds in a cardcoard box and shitty looking dolls, theres no way to come back from this, I hope he leaves the company and gets the credit he deserves at some other place.

 

Braun smash, nice and short, probably sucks for EC3 but I personally have not warmed up to the guy much, so for me it was entertaining.

Another loss for the jobber squad in what was an ok match, nothing new here. If these women want to go anywhere they need to disband, not a single one of them has any success in singles matches as of now and they are, for some reason, not interested in persuing the tag titles, so they are going nowhere as a group. Natty is doing what has to be her 5th or 6th "I am here forever, yet I somehow still get overlooked for title matches" promo in her career, only to be matched and lose against the blonde bimbo that finally makes her in ring debut. Not really impressed yet, but it wasn't a total bust either, she can do a moonsault, even if it had a botched landing that nearly shattered poor Natties rips, at least it looked impressive. What annoys me is that this blonde chick, that hasn't done anything, and I mean ANYTHING, up to this point, is ending up in the title picture. This is not how this should work.

 

The final match was a good debut for Aj Styles, he is a great addition to any brand and he has done everything that was to do at Smackdown. His arrival might clutter the top babyface space on top of Raw quite a bit, but maybe some of them get drafted to Smackdown. Haven't really watched smackdown yet so not sure. The match itself was good, bonus point for not letting Drew take the fall and letting Aj Styles start on a high note.

 

Raw, despite the occasional good match, has become harder and harder to watch and I hope the new people on the roster can change that somehow. They provide some fresh match ups so that is already something, but it is up to the writers to take it from here and start some meaningful rivalries, of which the brand is sorely lacking at this point.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Nighcisama

[Jesaya815]

Kiss the title goodbye Kofi. With Roman around, it's just a matter of time before he gets his hands on the championship again. Why they didn't keep Reigns on RAW and give Drew McIntyre that big spot to close the show is beyond me. I mean, why were Drew or Braun even on Smackdown last week, if they aren't part of the Shake-up in the first place?!

 

The Sky Pirates are no more, but Asuka and Kairi have a good chemistry together and you need a strong team to challenge The IIconics, since it looks like The Boss 'n' Hug Connection is history. The depth of the women's division is incredible. Charlotte, Ember, Bayley, Asuka, Kairi, Mickie James, Nikki Cross, Carmella, Mandy & Sonya. Liv Morgan was traded to Smackdown as well. I really hope she gets a chance. Been waiting to see more of her as a singles competitor, because I think she can do great things with that wacky Harley Quinn gimmick and the natural charisma she has.

 

Buddy Murphy, Apollo Crews, and Chad Gable are good acquisitions. Finn Balor is finally on Smackdown too, which makes me happy.

[itachi-destroyer]

Smackdown had some good moments I must say but the shake-up part of the show was as bad as RAW's.

 

Big O and The New Day were fun for one night but I think it will just end up with Kevin Owens turning heel once again, as he should because he is just a natural heel like The Miz and he could spend his entire career as a heel that probably nobody would complain.

 

Concerning the shake-up it was terrible. I have nothing against Balor but if it means that Samoa Joe is going to end up on RAW it is a really shitty move because the last time he was on RAW he was barely used and when it was the case it wasn't really good either. So even though I'm happy for Balor I'm really disappointed for Samoa Joe because he is easily in my top 5 in WWE today and I know for a fact he doesn't have the spot he should have on the card. It's funny because out of all the samoans in WWE he is by far the most talented but also the most disrespected.

 

And now the main event... I don't even know where to start because I'm pretty sure I have stated countless times I much I dislike Roman Reigns on this thread but it's such a never ending nightmare that I can't help to hate the guy even more as time goes by. I don't care he is a cancer survivor or a good item sellers for the kids because these are not qualities that are required for being an entertainer. He sucks and he should be in the midcard where he belongs. 

As soon as Vince was announced and said "the biggest acquisition ever" I knew it was going to be his favourite samoan bitch and that Smackdown was going to be ruined. (Not only that but Reigns is far from being the biggest acquisition ever on Smackdown Live, he can't even compare to John Cena.) I really wished it was going to be Brock Lesnar because the guy could be a legitimate contender for "biggest acquisition ever on Smackdown Live" but no they had to ruin the best show even more.

 

All in all, the worst shake-up since the brand split. Smackdown has been screwed really badly with this one, here are the biggests exchanges :

 

Smackdown to Raw : 

The Miz

Ricochet

Aleister Black

The War Raiders

Andrade and Zelina Vega

Rey Mysterio

The Usos

AJ Styles

Samoa Joe (probably)

 

Raw to Smackdown :

Finn Balor

Lars Sullivan

Buddy Murphy

Elias

Roman Reigns

 

Even without talking about the samoan cancer of WWE, they clearly didn't even try to make this shake-up fair. 

 

Most people know RAW has always been the weaker show since the brand split so why would they make the show so stacked with talents when they are not going to use all of these talented wrestlers to the best of their abilities or not use them at all ? 

 

What's going to happen is that RAW is going to have Shield member number two on top of the show with AJ Styles alongside him while Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, The Miz, Ricochet, Samoa Joe, Aleister Black, Andrade Flair Almas, Rey Mysterio and Sami Zayn are all going to be wasted on the midcard without any good direction.

 

And Smackdown has now been screwed of most of their talents (I would just cancel the deal with WWE if I was FOX's owner honestly) and the main event scene is going to be occupied by Roman Reigns with Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens and Lars Sullivan here to make Vince's bitch look good. With so few main event talents on the show (the only true main eventers being Orton, Bryan, Owens and Reigns.) I don't even know how they are going to make half of the year watchable. 

 

2019 is going to be such a bad year for WWE fans.

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by itachi-destroyer

[Maxximum]

Don't know how to sum everything up considering the mix.

 

"Roman Reigns on SmackDown" has two sides: 

1. Quite obvious he already is the star of the show and will probably be winning this year's MITB match, one he should've won in 2015 had it not been due to Bray Wyatt's interference. This probably also has to do with the involvement of FOX and I, myself thought Brock Lesnar would be the acquisition. 

2. It almost looked he had a little heel adrenaline there when he beat up both Vince and Elias. That other mid 2016 Roman Reigns where he was more of a less talk guy. 

 

Looks like both main event champs Seth and Kofi still don't have next challengers and have only been in tag team matches for two weeks in a row. I sense Kevin Owens turning heel at some point on The New Day and snatching the spot for the WWE championship. Now that Roman is gone, now please, put people like Drew and others in the queue for the Universal title shot. I'm confused as well as now we have Becky appearing on RAW and SmackDown. I don't even get what the point was of having that winner take all match when Lacey Evans is only gonna challenge Becky 2 belts (lol, I even thought such words were banned from TV) for the RAW Women's title only. 

 

I'm guessing it's the end for Sasha Banks & Bayley. More tag teams at least, but then with all the claims, the division is slowly dying after that short reign of the titles. More prestige on the way? Maybe. Triple H indeed creates, while Vince is a buries. The Viking Experience? WTF. It's okay to look back how people were mad at the name War Raiders from War Machine, but this time we didn't need another name change. They are still NXT tag champs and are already getting ruined on their debut.      

Edited April 17, 2019 by ee28max

[SelectiveGamer]

WELP. I GOT MY WISH. ?

 

Roman Reigns to SmackDown. Good. I didn't want to see them force Rollins or Reigns to become a 'heel' anyway.

 

Also, again this is just IMO, going to SmackDown was probably the best thing that could have happened to Ember Moon and Bayley. I don't know what the hell is going on with, or what the problem is, with Sasha Banks but this is probably the best thing that could have happened to Bayley if you ask me.

 

So yes, I'm satisfied. Although how both the Intercontinental & U.S. Titles being on SmackDown makes sense is beyond me. ?

[skidmarkgn]

43 minutes ago, SelectiveGamer said:

. I don't know what the hell is going on with, or what the problem is, with Sasha Banks

 

https://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/wwe/rumor-mill-sasha-banks-unhappy-in-wwe

 

Here's an article that kind of gives some details.  The "why" of her being unhappy is still a bit vague but it's better than nothing I guess.

Edited April 17, 2019 by skidmarkgn

[jackmadrox]

16 hours ago, skidmarkgn said:

So why was Canada so hard on Bayley?  

I'm curious about that as well.

[HunterKiller]

WWE is getting worse over the years, storylines that make no sence or bookings that are pointless

 

Womans tag titles - Sasha and bailey lose and now the team are split on different brands

AJ to Raw - After telling everyone SD is the house he built  beating orton at mania now wwe change him brands

Lars Sullivan - Knowing WWE there going to make him like a powerhouse like Braun Strowman and then do nothing with him book him in useless matches

 

[skidmarkgn]

So it would seem that Andrade and Aelister Black have been quietly moved to Smackdown (Fox wanted a Latino star and since Vega was going to Smackdown Aelister wanted to go there too) in exchange for Cesaro and Samoa Joe.