Posted February 28, 20178 yr comment_5789944 First off, I've been incredibly distracted for the past month at how extra robotic and scripted all the promos have been on all shows from all talents. They just seem extra bad lately. The burns in the women's promo and everything Cesaro was talking about were horrific. Died laughing at Seth's big emotional promo getting CM Punk chants and then silence until HHH came out, then Seth saying he'd be at WM getting the most mild of promos. Super annoyed with Cesaro having a match where he tweaks his knee in the early going, then Joe focuses on it the rest of the match, but he's still doing dropkicks/double stomps/flying crossbody blocks like nothing happened. Hopefully Joe/Sami at Fastlane will be better than their NXT matches around this time last year.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789949 Looking at it objectively Hunter had the best promo on the show. It was great. He's had two money promos since returning. The program is cold but can't say it's his fault
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789950 Funny how his opponent was given a mealy mouth, wishy washy promo to deliver before Hunter H. Christ came out to save the day.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789952 The opening segment of Smackdown was great. The only complaint I have is Cena puts on that b-boy voice when he does a serious promo and it comes off as fake. But whatever, his and Miz's promos were awesome.
March 1, 20178 yr Author comment_5789954 Funny how his opponent was given a mealy mouth, wishy washy promo to deliver before Hunter H. Christ came out to save the day. Even when Seth picked up the intensity at the end, the crowd didn't give a shit. This is the second biggest feud going into WM right now and fans gave the injured babyface making his big stand regardless of injury the same reaction they give to any random midcarder winning a match. That sure isn't some nefarious plan by HHH causing all that.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789955 Intentional or not, the writing staff sure isn't doing Seth any favors. Nor does it seem they're even trying to accentuate his strengths/hide his weaknesses.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789958 I don't think anyone came out of that AJ/Harper finish looking better, which sucks cause the match before the bullshit was awesome.
March 1, 20178 yr Author comment_5789959 Intentional or not, the writing staff sure isn't doing Seth any favors. Nor does it seem they're even trying to accentuate his strengths/hide his weaknesses. The only way to do that is to have him not cut promos at all.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789960 opening promo between Cena and Miz was great and they set up the mixed tag match at mania as well. I'm sure a lot won't like the closing angle was it was good old fashioned pro wrestling cheeseball goodness. and they planted the seeds for Shane v AJ
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5789973 Tonight's Smackdown Live ending might probably my most favorite ending in wrestling ever. Seriously.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790023 Intentional or not, the writing staff sure isn't doing Seth any favors. Nor does it seem they're even trying to accentuate his strengths/hide his weaknesses. The only way to do that is to have him not cut promos at all. I agree and think thats actually a wonderful short-term idea. In fact, I daresay that Triple H himself could've been a bigger babyface star at any single point in his career by just shutting the hell up (save for maybe the original DX run, which, while I could never enjoy rewatching any of it, I must admit to being a fan of when I was 14). Rollins, like HHH, may be funny or charming off TV, but he's always been "jock funny" to me on TV - the kind of guy that thinks he's clever and witty, laughs at his own jokes the hardest, but is actually more engaging and interesting the less he opens his mouth. As a heel, HHH and Rollins' ingratiating speech patterns and self-importance work fine (though, obviously, their endless promos are kind of a necessary evil because of it). Roman Reigns, similarly, was most over in his feud with Triple H when he stopped talking and just beat the crap out of him all over the place. It may be retreading ground, but watching Rollins and HHH do "verbal sparring" is harming more than helping in terms of making me want to see this match.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790025 What is Rollins actually good at that WWE needs to jump through hoops to protect him? He can't cut promos as a heel or a babyface. He can't really generate heat as a heel in the ring without giving him a whole bunch of help like The Authority, J&J Security, etc. He can't generate sympathy as a babyface through selling. He is way over rated in the ring and generally drags down better opponents to his level. He's a guy who should have a fraction of the TV time he gets because he should only be working workrate midcard matches where his insistence on doing moves above actually trying to work a crowd & build a match won't be so glaring and out of place. They should be treating him like they treat Cesaro.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790027 Orton-Bray is really really really really really bad. Did I mention it's really bad?
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790028 What is Rollins actually good at that WWE needs to jump through hoops to protect him? He can't cut promos as a heel or a babyface. He can't really generate heat as a heel in the ring without giving him a whole bunch of help like The Authority, J&J Security, etc. He can't generate sympathy as a babyface through selling. He is way over rated in the ring and generally drags down better opponents to his level. He's a guy who should have a fraction of the TV time he gets because he should only be working workrate midcard matches where his insistence on doing moves above actually trying to work a crowd & build a match won't be so glaring and out of place. They should be treating him like they treat Cesaro. I know it's a bit out of the box, but I could actually see a Rusev babyface turn working. He has a certain charm about him. Maybe he and Seth should flip spots on the card.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790030 What is Rollins actually good at that WWE needs to jump through hoops to protect him? He can't cut promos as a heel or a babyface. He can't really generate heat as a heel in the ring without giving him a whole bunch of help like The Authority, J&J Security, etc. He can't generate sympathy as a babyface through selling. He is way over rated in the ring and generally drags down better opponents to his level. He's a guy who should have a fraction of the TV time he gets because he should only be working workrate midcard matches where his insistence on doing moves above actually trying to work a crowd & build a match won't be so glaring and out of place. They should be treating him like they treat Cesaro. I know it's a bit out of the box, but I could actually see a Rusev babyface turn working. He has a certain charm about him. Maybe he and Seth should flip spots on the card. No disagreements from me there, Rusev is better at Seth Rollins at pretty much every aspect of wresting except shit that doesn't matter like ability to do a Phoenix Splash. I think he could definitely have a strong babyface run but I'm not sure the Raw writers are smart enough or ambitious enough to do that.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790041 Randy Orton doing his pose in front of a burning shack has got to be the best image WWE gave us in the past 10 years or so. That whole segment was fantastic television, partly due to how absurd it was. About Rollins, it's hard to say why or how, but when you look at his run as NXT champ and heel turn as Shield member, he actually WAS a decent promo, which means he got worse with time. Nowadays he's pretty much interchangeable with Apollo Crews - although Crews did have a good match yesterday, better than many a Rollins match against superior talent.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790043 Rollins has really good cardio. And he knows a lot of different moves. Have to give him that.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790047 The start and end to SD were fantastic. Miz is just getting better by the week. And the Bray - Randy stuff, while being totally absurd, killed it for me. Reminded me of Ministry Era Taker segments. I wonder if it isn't a bit risky to put out something like that with PG and shit.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790061 Nikki calling Maryse a bitch is much more risky in terms of what people who care about PG are concerned about than the Orton-Bray stuff,
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790067 I'm surprised people dug the Orton/Bray segment so much. I liked it but I thought it would get slaughtered online. I hope Bray wins at mania Owens is getting his own DVD. Pretty unbelievable for him https://twitter.com/WWE/status/836972920933138432
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790082 Jack Swagger was on Chael Sonnen's podcast to say he asked for and received his release from WWE. Not really surprised he's done because he hasn't been on Smackdown TV in months and when they didn't even have him outside the ring during the recent lumberjack match I knew they weren't going to use him again.
March 1, 20178 yr comment_5790084 I hope he decides to keep working elsewhere and isn't another addition to the list of guys WWE has beaten the passion out of.
March 2, 20178 yr Author comment_5790118 I don't even know what to think of that Orton thing. For starters, it went on FOREVER. Should have been half as long. Randy's monologue was so overwritten and overwrought, but also hilarious for how stupid it was and for how seriously it was taken. I don't think there is room on the same show for a 6 cam via satellite shoot with live on the fly editing and music with a monologue The Undertaker would balk at doing and promos where guys explicitly destroy the gimmick of their opponent and shit on their booking. You can't have it both ways. Because of how the rest of the show is structured, you can't over look that Randy had at last 5 camera men and a production truck with him in the middle of the woods to burn down a house "live" while Bray was in the arena presumably at least 1200 miles away while he thought up this long monologue to say and where to stand/when to cut/etc. You can't lean on or break the 4th wall constantly and then run an angle like this that plays it 100% straight.
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