Joe's a local to the Tampa/Orlando area with a great side business going so it fit better with him than AJ.

 

I find it really funny that it's now AJ Styles and not Sting who is now the biggest name going who has never wrestled for WWE.

Joe is more doing the NXT thing as a hobby.

Basically.

Where did it come out that Sasha and Bayley practiced that match? I saw KrisZ responded to someone on Twitter that he didn't care.

Is that why Sasha's 2 Takeover matches have alot of great subtleties which is rare in wrestling today

Meltzer or I think it was Meltzer mentioned that the NXT girls have a training center to practice matches while the main roster don't have that advantage.

All of the NXT women's matches are practiced at the Performance Center, especially before big shows. Dave mentioned it as one of the (many) reasons womens' matches are much better on NXT than in WWE were they don't have as much time for practicing.

I could image they still pull off great matches without having that luxury especially in WWE when time gets cut and things changing last minute.

Couldn't they just use house show matches to the same effect. While they can't redo their screwups they get the benefit of seeing how a live crowd would react.

Couldn't they just use house show matches to the same effect. While they can't redo their screwups they get the benefit of seeing how a live crowd would react.

 

This is why it's a silly argument. The wrestlers on the main roster have chances to work on their televised matches as well. They have the house show circuit, they have time before events, time in the back, etc. Wrestling has always been that way, and suddenly holding it against the people in NXT that they practice their matches beforehand strikes me as disingenuous and willfully ignoring wrestling history that is full of great matches that were practiced beforehand.

The only thing I think the practice facility really gave them an advantage would be the reverse rana. I think getting to dry run their match at a dozen house shows over the course of a month is a bigger advantage than a practice facility because you can adjust to reactions.

Also is Savage/Steamboat invalid now because they had the match memorized move for move?

Also is Savage/Steamboat invalid now because they had the match memorized move for move?

My guess is that the answer here is no, but it doesn't necessarily mean Sasha's going to have a great match on Raw next Monday on the fly either.

Well no but that might not be her style either. She might be someone that likes to structure her matches ahead of time.

Well no but that might not be her style either. She might be someone that likes to structure her matches ahead of time.

 

Then this whole thing is doomed, because she's not going to be given the chance to anytime soon.

 

Also is Savage/Steamboat invalid now because they had the match memorized move for move?

My guess is that the answer here is no, but it doesn't necessarily mean Sasha's going to have a great match on Raw next Monday on the fly either.

 

Aye. The point isn't that pre-planned matches are bad, but that some of the girls aren't prepared to do things if something goes wrong. That tag match where Naomi won when she wasn't originally booked to is an example where they seemed completely baffled as what to do next after someone messed up.

 

Hopefully she can (and I think she will) adapt, but if Sasha suddenly stops performing at the level she currently is in NXT, I don't think people should automatically or solely blame the company.

Well no but that might not be her style either. She might be someone that likes to structure her matches ahead of time.

 

Don't most of the workers of the last decade? Even Bret proudly talks about his generation, compared to guys like Flair who called it all in-ring, being able to plan more complex matches. Including the "perfect match" with Davey Boy he envisioned move for move.

There is a difference between planning out the match ahead of time by talking about it and literally getting in the ring and practicing it. I am not saying either of them is wrong or better than the other just pointing out the difference. And that's what is being talked about, not having the time to get in the ring before Raw and practice a match.

Everyone in WWE practices their matches now. It's not a girl thing, it's a company thing.

 

Male wrestlers don't know what to do when things go awry either. See Orton and his many tantrums.

The only thing I think the practice facility really gave them an advantage would be the reverse rana. I think getting to dry run their match at a dozen house shows over the course of a month is a bigger advantage than a practice facility because you can adjust to reactions.

Well there is the ability to go back and watch the tape of your work to see where you can tighten up in certain sequences. House shows are for the fans though. So you are likely getting a different match live than you would at a taping. On tv you might see Rusev destroy Dolph Ziggler but at a house show you are more likely to see Dolph clown on Rusev for the fans' entertainment. So you're not necessarily going to be able to rehearse the exact match you want to do at a big special event. But you do get to work out certain spots for sure.

I think the difference is that a lot of the male wrestlers don't have quite as much riding against them that they have to overcome.

 

(It's not a privilege argument so much as it's a hey, "Vince is nuts and was molested by a female relative as a kid" argument)

 

The only thing I think the practice facility really gave them an advantage would be the reverse rana. I think getting to dry run their match at a dozen house shows over the course of a month is a bigger advantage than a practice facility because you can adjust to reactions.

Well there is the ability to go back and watch the tape of your work to see where you can tighten up in certain sequences. House shows are for the fans though. So you are likely getting a different match live than you would at a taping. On tv you might see Rusev destroy Dolph Ziggler but at a house show you are more likely to see Dolph clown on Rusev for the fans' entertainment. So you're not necessarily going to be able to rehearse the exact match you want to do at a big special event. But you do get to work out certain spots for sure.

 

 

Granted this was a long time ago but I saw Goldberg/Giant work a match on a house show on a Saturday and they worked almost the exact same match on Nitro that Monday.

Everyone in WWE practices their matches now. It's not a girl thing, it's a company thing.

 

Male wrestlers don't know what to do when things go awry either. See Orton and his many tantrums.

Elimination Chamber

 

There is a difference between planning out the match ahead of time by talking about it and literally getting in the ring and practicing it. I am not saying either of them is wrong or better than the other just pointing out the difference. And that's what is being talked about, not having the time to get in the ring before Raw and practice a match.

 

I understand the difference. But we're mostly talking about NXT PPV matches and major title matches on NXT that are the length of PPV matches. Since when is it unusual that PPV matches are rehearsed beforehand?

I thought we were talking about why it might not be realistic to expect Sasha Banks or the rest of the NXT crew to be busting out Takeover level performances on Raw. I never said anything about it being "unusual" to practice/rehearse a match.

 

 

 

The only thing I think the practice facility really gave them an advantage would be the reverse rana. I think getting to dry run their match at a dozen house shows over the course of a month is a bigger advantage than a practice facility because you can adjust to reactions.

Well there is the ability to go back and watch the tape of your work to see where you can tighten up in certain sequences. House shows are for the fans though. So you are likely getting a different match live than you would at a taping. On tv you might see Rusev destroy Dolph Ziggler but at a house show you are more likely to see Dolph clown on Rusev for the fans' entertainment. So you're not necessarily going to be able to rehearse the exact match you want to do at a big special event. But you do get to work out certain spots for sure.

Granted this was a long time ago but I saw Goldberg/Giant work a match on a house show on a Saturday and they worked almost the exact same match on Nitro that Monday.

Not only was that "long time ago" but it isn't even the same company we are talking about here. I don't doubt that there are some matchups that play to house crowds as it does on tv but I am just saying that isn't always the case so we can't take for granted how little time some guys actually have to practice matches. Vince himself likes to send house crowds home happy because who gives a fuck if their protected golden boy gets pinned by some fan favorite if no one sees it on tv? So he is more willing to run outcomes that he wouldn't for the sake of the storyline if done on TV.

 

Edit: for instance, a few years ago when they had the brand split, I went to a Raw house show held in San Diego. They booked Rey (a SD guy) to wrestle Triple H in the main event. Triple H stooged so much for Rey and looked like a bumbling moron while Rey was flying all around like an invincible superhero. Think that shit would ever happen on TV?

It doesn't matter to me if matches are planned out in advance, but I don't want to be able to figure out while watching it that's what they did. When matches look too patterned/rehearsed, that's a problem, but that's not a critique of process. It's a critique of execution, which is fair game.