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Somehow, I'm really invested in Reigns-Bryan at Fastlane this Sunday. Actually, the whole show tonight was pretty great, I thought.

I admit, I'm looking forward to see what happens with Cesaro, in a morbid kind of way.

Funny video/song by Little Kuriboh.

Frozen/WWE Song Parody - "Do You Want To Job To Roman?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PknxpsLf0BU#t

Spoiler as to my feelings on the Fastlane ppv.
Fuck Vince Mccmahon and the WWE. I hope that old fuck dies in a fire.

Really? I thought tonight was a fine show. Moved along a bunch of stories, had actions take place that made sense, and set up some cool stuff for Wrestlemania.

Yeah, there were a few too many garbage finishes for my liking, but if WWE was capable of running a perfect show every time, they'd already be doing so.

eostby wrote:if WWE was capable of running a perfect show every time, they'd already be doing so.

Its called NXT.

NXT is for those who like wrestling, WWE if you want story.

Fastlane was so-so. I was only invested in two matches Rusev's and Bryan's.

I, like many, was unhappy with the booking of the Royal Rumble but it is such a slap in the face to book that Bryan v. Reigns match just to have Bryan do the job and after the weak finish he tells Roman to kick ass and just walks away. I don't think Roman is ready nor deserves the push he is getting but if thats what they want to do then fine but don't tease us by dangling Bryan out there to give the fans false hope then fuck us all over again. And now at the end of the day we are left with a Wrestlemania main event that has a good chance of stinking out the joint.

Wolfwood, I completely disagree. At least this way he looks like he earned it.

Consider: They want him in the main event. That's happening. There is no way around it. Maybe they have other plans for Bryan, or maybe Bryan needs more rehab or whatever, but it is what it is. Clearly some of the fans don't like Reigns. They don't feel like he's actually earned that spot winning the Rumble. So you make him earn it. Beat Bryan, the guy they want instead, in a fair fight. Have him be respected by Bryan, but more than that, *earn* that respect. I don't think that counts as false hope. Just regular hope. You hope Bryan wins, but he doesn't. But he wasn't screwed out of it, either.

I don't want to see Lesnar/Reigns either, but I don't see any other way for this to go. I'm not sure you can sell Bryan beating Lesnar.

Also, I find it interesting you chose to warn for offensive language, I assume due to the words used. I actually find the sentence you constructed from those words worse than the words themselves.

Since its Tuesday I've removed the spoiler tags and since my rage has subsumed I have edited the offending sentence.

Korvys - It doesn't look like Roman earned a damn thing, him accepting the match in the first place rather than sticking to the fact he won the Rumble makes him look stupid(which is really more of a problem in how WWE books babyfaces nowadays). And I completely understand what they were trying to do but that match was not good, which Bryan is just as much at fault. Idk if it is lack of 1 on 1 chemistry or poor booking/pacing but the match did not impress me at all and made both guys look bad. Lastly WWE is trying to get over a babyface character overnight and that is the worst way to do it, a heel can get heat and go big in one night but a face has to have the crowd behind him, they want the next Cena and fail to remember that 1. The thuganomics gimmick started heel and 2. The fans turned him and embraced him over time. To be clear I have nothing against Reigns, I actually like his look and think he could be a big star one day. My hate and anger is in WWE's booking.

Elomin Sha - That statement is giving WWE credit is doesn't deserve. NXT is amazing at story telling, WWE has being failing more and more. Nothing like opening Raw with a 30 minute Authority promo...every week...just to tell us about the 3,000th time Big Show or Kane will be in a match with insert a top face here. Honestly this is one of the worst roads to Wrestlemaina in years.

Oh yeah, it's rushed. He needs time. Reigns might be great, but they want him to be great right now, and he's not.

Having him refuse the match and insist he deserves his title shot makes him look scared. Maybe it's a little stupid, but the're not trying to sell him as smart, just tough.

Putting him face to face with Bryan and Heyman on Raw is a pretty smart move. The crowd loves Bryan, and since Bryan respects Reigns, now the crowd is getting behind Reigns by proxy. And Heyman, the most charismatic person in the company sold him as being the guy who could beat anyone, except Brock.

He's not getting the cheers Randy Orton got, but after all that, the crowd seems like it's in favour of Reigns now. Especially compared to after the rumble.

TL;DR: Putting Reigns at the top is a mistake, but if they're doing it anyway, they're doing it right.

My biggest fear for Wrestlemaina aside from a bad main event is a decent chance of the crowd cheering more for Lesnar than Reigns which if it really is Lesnars last big night would be bad for both Reigns and the WWE as a whole.

I think the trick there is not to put it on last. End with Triple H and Sting, or maybe Wyatt and Taker. Take the bad taste out of people's mouths a little.

I hope Lesnar is sticking around. While not having the champ on TV seems weird, Heyman wasn't wrong when he said that it makes Lesnar's few appearances more special.

Wolfwood723 wrote:I, like many, was unhappy with the booking of the Royal Rumble but it is such a slap in the face to book that Bryan v. Reigns match just to have Bryan do the job and after the weak finish he tells Roman to kick ass and just walks away. I don't think Roman is ready nor deserves the push he is getting but if thats what they want to do then fine but don't tease us by dangling Bryan out there to give the fans false hope then fuck us all over again. And now at the end of the day we are left with a Wrestlemania main event that has a good chance of stinking out the joint.

I can't believe they didn't learn their lesson from last year about who should win the Royal Rumble.

Also disappointed that they got rid of the Elimination Chamber. After the Rumble, that was usually the match I looked forward to the most. I really wished they had done a women's elimination chamber. They could easily build up a storyline with6 women vying for the title and use the Chamber match to pivot into three feuds going into Wrestlemania. This would help strengthen the feuds/storylines in the women's division, as well as help show off the wrestling talent of their women's division. Most of the women's matches seem rushed.

HalfBadger wrote:

Wolfwood723 wrote:I, like many, was unhappy with the booking of the Royal Rumble but it is such a slap in the face to book that Bryan v. Reigns match just to have Bryan do the job and after the weak finish he tells Roman to kick ass and just walks away. I don't think Roman is ready nor deserves the push he is getting but if thats what they want to do then fine but don't tease us by dangling Bryan out there to give the fans false hope then fuck us all over again. And now at the end of the day we are left with a Wrestlemania main event that has a good chance of stinking out the joint.

I can't believe they didn't learn their lesson from last year about who should win the Royal Rumble.

Also disappointed that they got rid of the Elimination Chamber. After the Rumble, that was usually the match I looked forward to the most. I really wished they had done a women's elimination chamber. They could easily build up a storyline with6 women vying for the title and use the Chamber match to pivot into three feuds going into Wrestlemania. This would help strengthen the feuds/storylines in the women's division, as well as help show off the wrestling talent of their women's division. Most of the women's matches seem rushed.

Speaking of the women's matches. Has anyone noticed that social media blew up on Monday after Paige/Emma/Brie/Nikki got all of 30 seconds after Paige had her entrance, waited through a commercial, then waited through the Sting montage? #GiveDivasAChance was trending very high. AJ Lee tweeted at Stephanie McMahon complaining that the women don't get a chance to show off, Paige posted something on Instagram saying that women get do this stuff just as well as men can. Heck, even Vince McMahon tweeted "we hear you" and used the hashtag. Maybe it's just my lack of cynicism from not having watched WWE for years, but hopefully things can start to change soon.

After all, the women's Fatal 4Way at Takeover: Rival was my match of the night. I have to assume that Paige/Emma/Nikki/Brie could have a great tag match. Naomi/Natalya could have a great 1v1 match to continue their feud, but they get less than 5 minutes ending in a distraction.

Wolfwood723 wrote:Elomin Sha - That statement is giving WWE credit is doesn't deserve. NXT is amazing at story telling, WWE has being failing more and more. Nothing like opening Raw with a 30 minute Authority promo...every week...just to tell us about the 3,000th time Big Show or Kane will be in a match with insert a top face here. Honestly this is one of the worst roads to Wrestlemaina in years.

Quite a bit of a wayward rant coming about selling stories inside the ring, please bare with me. I will agree on a few things and disagree on a few others.

You need to give the Devil it's due sometimes. I should have been a little more clear. NXT is better because it has actual wrestling where the story is told through the actual match, by the moves.
Whereas WWE, because it is on network television and much of the creative team is mainly people hired out of soap operas and not knowing wrestling their storylines are by voice. This is due to WWE wanting to broaden more to the female demographic (all for it) which has been lost since the Hardyz went (very few screaming girls in he crowd nowadays). You also have issues of being a publicly traded company, have a board to answer to, trying to be politicaly correct (look at how lurid the show went after WCW went out of business), having a younger demographic because advertisers want.
With so much going on the show is going to suffer.

Another problem was having one person at the top for so long that they haven't really groomed anyone else to replace him and because they've played safe for so long they have no real out except for a rushed wrestler who can't tell a story in a match, Reigns. Reigns shouldn't be in the main event yet. Brock "Paul, Say Something Stupid" Lesnar can't do any of it either that's why he has Heyman with him. Case in point, his match vs Goldberg, another groomed individual, was horrendous and they were both booed out of the building because of it. All his opponents have been those who can put him over. At Fast Lane I can only remember Bryan as the life of that match. Bryan is the only one who could do something with the match despite some bad story line with Kane a year or so ago (more later). Bryan would be better used as a Special Guest Referee.

Example:

NXT Rivals - NXT Women's Championship, all four competitors were going out of their way with high risk moves and close saves prolonging the match longer than you'd expect because they are fighting FOR something.

Cena should know better because of his first match vs Kurt Angle showed he won't be easily beaten. His last three major feuds when he finally gets his hands on his opponents, every first move has been the same; a side-headlock.

"I am afraid of Bray Wyatt" First move side-headlock. If he was afraid of Wyatt he would have tried not to get close to him and keep his distance. He couldn't have picked a closer move than Visceagra.
"I am going to beat Seth Rollins ass" First move side-headlock. Seth Rollings cost Cena the championship. He is supposed to be livid. His first move should have been a tackled to the canvas and pummel Rollins. Not a move which separates what you can do.
"I never give up" Versus Rusev at Fast Lane. First move side head-lock. Standing up against a bully he should have stood eyeball to eyeball and they have a verbal trashin in the ring which then breaks into a couple of hard hitting moves to get the tempo going (it was still a great match that did tell a story midway to the climax).


Triple H also has an ego to stroke because he's reliving the 2000s when it was the Triple H show every week. Some people like being on TV and cannot give it up.
When it comes to Kane and Big Show. They are reliable because they have had few injuries in their career and can deliver but that is their weakness too. Not too long ago Bryan and Kane had their fued (remember Bryan trying to fix the car - so bad) and the only one who was doing anything to keep the storyline afloat was Kane. Brie was screaming badly in the car. Bryan goes from, 'we need to get out of here' to 'let's give our Jason Vorhees time to catch up while I try and fix the car'.
Big Show I can't say much for, both do need to go but there aren't many wrestlers who can do what they can.
They have talent but not in the cards that they have. If you were to equate the current "Reality Era" to the "Attitude Era" many of those working now you'd consider low-to-mid card. It's a tough act to follow because they don't have wrestlers bouncing off each other backstage (outside their one feud). Example - Goldust having a fued with Ken Shamrock because romantic realtionship with Ryan Shamrock and Bluedust was feeling neglected because of the relationship too. Not the best example but it was a deeper narrative than what we have now.

When you think of it, Miz wouldn't have made it much further than maybe the European or Intercontinetal Title. New Day are much like the Spirit Squad or the J.O.B. Squad.
The Shield would have been near or at the top of the Tag Team Division because their range of moves exstalled a cohesive unit who could work together. Uso's, not so much.

I think I'd better stop.

Paul Heyman again proves why he's the best mouth piece in the industry, especially when a mic breaks.

Yup. Bit of a cheap shot at Lilian, though.

I've noticed that there have been a lot of flubs over the past few months. Lilian's was a surprise to me because for all the years I watched I never heard her flub once but it happened twice in quick succession.

I do think Steward would be good as a commentator, at least we'd have some good jokes for once.

Also, was Booker's commet "Eric Bishoff couldn't control [Sting]" a reference to TNA? Considering the position he put him in the list of authority figures, and the weight he put on it, I think it might have been.

Because the whole time they're talking about "Why didn't Sting come back", "Why has he been gone for 14 years" I'm thinking "uh... he was in TNA for a chunk of that".

Stewart was great, and so was Rollins. "Future of the WWE" might be rhetoric, but that is a guy destined to be the top heel in the company in a few years. Maybe that's why they want Reigns to be up there as well? Having two "brothers" feuding at the top is a story that could last for years, and they'll need it as people like Cena have to step down.

It's a dig at TNA because it's not considered competition.

Yeah, but I'm wondering if Booker made an unscripted reference, cause he was also in TNA while Sting was there, I think.

The best way to explain WWE/TNA is that in WWE, TNA isn't canon.

And neither are some of the titles Ric Flair won from other promotions, he should realistically be a 23 time champion.