On the other hand, its a random episode of Smackdown. If its not followed up on and not hyped in the weeks and months to come, what harm was it? I'm not saying I necessarily agree, just offering up a counterpoint.

It's funny because earlier yesterday I got into a debate with some of my wrestling friends that the Shield has been winning too many matches. They are ready for them to lose.

Because the first loss should be a huge deal. An event.

 

Not a random episode of SD

I brought it up before but WCW did a great job of making Nick Patrick vs Chris Jericho seeming important since it was one of the first NWO losses. Presentation is everything.

Would have to watch the show, but I'm under the impression they don't want to make the Shield's first loss a big deal for the sake of the Shield. On the other hand, it continues Bryan's push. I sense that they want to keep the Shield strong given the reactions they're getting and given how the WWE does things, it wouldn't shock me if it eventually translates to a babyface run, perhaps a feud with the Wyatt family. I say this with caution, though, because this type of strong heel -> strong babyface translation is only reserved for the HHHs of the company, but who knows?

 

Also, it seems like an obvious set-up to something happening between Orton and Bryan on Sunday, costing them the match.

Would have to watch the show, but I'm under the impression they don't want to make the Shield's first loss a big deal for the sake of the Shield.

This is what I'm thinking too.

 

Ever since their first loss of any kind (which I want to say was Ambrose losing to Taker) the Shield have quietly been collecting quite a few losses for an "undefeated" team, dropping singles matches and getting out of more and more tags and six-man tags via DQ. And it hasn't slowed them down or killed the angle at all. The goalposts keep moving because every time you think (in kayfabe) that they might suffer a setback (members getting pinned, losing six-mans by DQ, now their first proper six-man loss) they always seem to just absorb it and keep pushing on as if nobody had made a dent in them at all. The Shield angle has basically centered around "Who can stop the Shield?", and this question becomes even harder to answer if beating them in a six-man tag isn't the silver bullet for the faces that we all thought it would be. Now what on earth is it going to take to stop the Shield? Taking their belts? That is the next logical step, but will THAT even stop them?

 

It is easy to go into damage control because we all love the angle and want it to continue, but honestly while it sounds like a horrible idea on paper, I'm not so sure it is going to ruin anything in reality.

I brought it up before but WCW did a great job of making Nick Patrick vs Chris Jericho seeming important since it was one of the first NWO losses. Presentation is everything.

I don't know about that. When I saw it, I wasn't impressed that he beat a ref. If anything, it made Jericho look weak.

If it gets people to say " Hey, maybe I should start watching SD." Then I don't see what the problem is.

That's the point I'm making. Maybe they're trying to give SmackDown some cool moments on the Go Home show to a PPV. And honestly, isn't it more realistic to have a big event happen every now and then on a show that's not a PPV? The idea that streaks only get broken or titles only change at PPV's is limiting.

 

And while I know a lot of you don't watch SD every week, I do. So yay!

That's the point I'm making. Maybe they're trying to give SmackDown some cool moments on the Go Home show to a PPV. And honestly, isn't it more realistic to have a big event happen every now and then on a show that's not a PPV? The idea that streaks only get broken or titles only change at PPV's is limiting.

 

And while I know a lot of you don't watch SD every week, I do. So yay!

If they present it as a big deal then you can say that. If they don't, then you can't. Basically.

The spoilers say that Lillian got on the mic and announced to the crowd that this was the Shield's first 6 man loss, so I'm guessing it's being treated as a big deal.

That's the point I'm making. Maybe they're trying to give SmackDown some cool moments on the Go Home show to a PPV. And honestly, isn't it more realistic to have a big event happen every now and then on a show that's not a PPV? The idea that streaks only get broken or titles only change at PPV's is limiting.

 

And while I know a lot of you don't watch SD every week, I do. So yay!

This is literally Bischoffian. We can argue about whether or not it's wrong or right, but your argument is straight out of ATM Eric's playbook

That's the point I'm making. Maybe they're trying to give SmackDown some cool moments on the Go Home show to a PPV. And honestly, isn't it more realistic to have a big event happen every now and then on a show that's not a PPV? The idea that streaks only get broken or titles only change at PPV's is limiting.

 

And while I know a lot of you don't watch SD every week, I do. So yay!

This is literally Bischoffian. We can argue about whether or not it's wrong or right, but your argument is straight out of ATM Eric's playbook

 

Except it isn't anywhere near as big as the main events / angles Bischoff might've given away. They were undefeated as a unit. That point had been mentioned, maybe even hyped to some extent. They'd gone down in singles and tag matches, as well the DQ loss as a unit to Cena. Had that not been the case, and had their undefeated run been consistently promoted and shoved in the audience's face as one of the biggest things happening in the company, this would be a different scenario.

 

But that wasn't at all the situation here for better (because I don't believe this loss was giving away anything that had been built up as a draw) or worse (because it could've been built up as just such a draw).

We are always going be disappointed if we expect the WWE to book like one of the old territories. They usually don't.

Think about this. They actually had Lillian announce to the crowd that the Shield lost a six man for the first time. Looking back, they never pushed an unbeaten streak . It was always "it's now their yard!" Or " they're the best team ever" , " who can stop them?" They never really pushed the unbeaten streak deal specifically.

 

 

If Lillian had to remind the crowd, then maybe it wasn't as big a deal as we take it. A little of six of one half dozen of the other

They had one of their announcers constantly harping about how they were unbeaten and might never lose as a unit. We can argue about how big a part of their act being undefeated as a unit was, but there is no question it came up often during their matches.

 

There may be a good argument for having them lose now and for Bryan being the one to do it, but on an unpromoted SD right before a ppv it feels like a massive waste.

Waste or not, I just watched it and it was completely amazing.

 

I don't want to give everything away for the rest of you, but for anyone who has been into the "The Shield always play the numbers in their favour" angle, watch for the payoff here.

Yeah, as much as I disagree with making this happen on a Smackdown, the final stretch is of the 6-man is awesome with some great heat. Daniel Bryan is the most over man in that company by a country mile.

That was such a fun match with a feel good moment at the end. And JBL and Cole totally were selling the Shield being unbeaten all match and then went crazy with "THE SHIELD HAS BEEN BEATEN!" on commentary. If someone didn't see it cause they don't watch SD, then maybe now they'll watch SD. I don't give a flying fuck, cause I do watch the show, and it's nice to get "rewarded" for my my faithful viewing.

Quickly on the BR thing: BR's reputation is warranted on general principle of overall journalistic integrity, but their wrestling and MMA coverage is pretty damn great mainly because they haven't been handcuffed into the same type of rules that most of their other sports writers have had to follow for the most part. I'm not sure if that's by design or it's because Snowden, Bix, et al decided that it was how they were going to write regardless, but it's still good stuff more often than not. BR might have a lot of crap, but their wrestling and MMA coverage is not in that realm. I'm definitely a fan of someone deciding to be the entity that tries and proves that something thought to be bad can actually be good, so good work, fellas.

 

Perfect example: Bix and Snowden write for supposed horrible website BR, yet Shoemaker writes for supposed not as horrible website Grantland. I'm pretty sure nobody on this board is seeking out Shoemaker's stuff.

 

Now, deciding to have The Shield lose on a go home show heading into a PPV because you have to let Team Hell No and Orton have their moment so that the Shield can retain across the board is WWE Booking 101 and pretty fucking ridiculous. Although if they parlay Bryan's overconfidence that he was the one that beat The Shield into him costing Orton and him the titles Sunday, I guess that's not the worst booking decision in the world. Also, they've lost by DQ a few times, so it's not like it's a HUGE deal, but if the booking decision ends up resulting in a Daniel Bryan mega-push that actually has victories attached to it, it's still good for business.

The Daniel Bryan push is starting to look like the classic "we're going to act like we totally intended him to get this over when clearly we didn't" WWE maneuver.

If you don't think the Daniel Bryan push isn't because of the Total Divas show you are out to lunch. Why do you think they are going to do him vs. Cena in a Bella Boyfriend vs. Bella Boyfriend match.

Ok that six man was pretty great. And they did they did sell it well in the moment at least. I'm pretty sure it was to set up Shield sweeping at the PPV but still, it was a great moment and I wasn't expecting them to present it as such.

 

So I guess this time Johnny's right.

I agree that they sold the moment really well, but I didn't even think it was the best match on the show.

I watched a great Stasiak/Rose match. I didn't have time to see the last two Cesaro matches too. I'll get to them.