August 26, 20205 yr Author comment_5926800 Wade Barrett will join the NXT announcing team. He's very good in this role!
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926801 Only a 1-time thing apparently. But that and Thunder Rosa working All Out next weekend, not looking good for the NWA.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926804 I was one of the Keith Lee supporters who bitched about this stuff (not on Twitter), but Seth Rollins can take notes from Keith Lee on how to be supportive of the company you work for without sounding like a total kiss-ass.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926810 He really seems like an all around solid dude. Seeing WWE guys respond to fan concerns without treating them like dumb marks to barely be tolerated shouldn't be the exception but more often than not it is.
August 26, 20205 yr Author comment_5926814 I'm not sure on this but it seems there are some problems between CFO$ and WWE regarding the use of their music on the main roster, which would explain the change.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926816 Good on Keith for being chill with the fans on twitter. Twitter is too crazy for me, I keep my rasslin opinions for what they're worth pWo exclusive these days..... That said, while I'm sure some people massively overreacted in the negative to his debut, we've been down this road over and over with talent moving from NXT to RAW/SD, so the concern is absolutely warranted As far as the theme goes.....Keith moving to the main roster has been in the the plans for a while now, they had time to get his presentation right. So the "work in progress" excuse doesn't really fly with me Also, as far as the CFO$ thing goes, they used Keith's NXT theme at Survivor Series and the Rumble.....is this a new development? Also, NXT is on TV and is basically main roster anyway....not sure I buy that. Are we even sure they did his theme? I know they were doing a lot of themes several years ago (like when Enzo was in NXT which feels like a million years ago) but I hadn't heard them mentioned at all in a long time
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926822 1 hour ago, KawadaSmile said: I'm not sure on this but it seems there are some problems between CFO$ and WWE regarding the use of their music on the main roster, which would explain the change. Something about CFO$'s previous publishing thing where half of the money they were getting was going straight to the publisher, if I read correctly. Now, they're officially broken up so this might also be playing a factor.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926824 Yeah, music rights can get messy in a hurry, I don't begrudge anyone not wanting to deal with any of it. My issue with his debut was more how his debut match was used as a backdrop for the angle with Drew and that they gave him the Kevin Owens makeover. Anyone who never watched NXT but maybe heard buzz about him on the internet would see that and not understood what the big deal was. A main roster debut is your chance to knock it out of the park and I thought they squandered it. He should have been out there killing jobbers and shoulder blocking them into the top level of the Thunderdome.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926828 53 minutes ago, sek69 said: My issue with his debut was more how his debut match was used as a backdrop for the angle with Drew The only hope here is that the "my friend Drew" stuff is leading to a turn. It does seem suspect, as their "close friendship" appears to have materialized out of thin air. I don't remember it ever being mentioned before now. I mean, maybe on Instagram or something, but not in storylines.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926829 They probably crossed paths on the indies (?), were in NXT together (?), and are IRL friends (?) It's totally out of nowhere though, and if that's the story, they need to deliver on context for me to care but.....oh, the "ppv" is Sunday. Oh well. I'm a big Keith Lee fan, but I can't ignore the obvious and act like this was a good debut of him on RAW. It wasn't. And WWE doesn't get the benefit of the doubt on anything
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926836 11 hours ago, KawadaSmile said: Wade Barrett will join the NXT announcing team. He's very good in this role! How often will “I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news” will be worked in? Especially during setup of the spot moments?
August 26, 20205 yr Author comment_5926842 Worst part is that all they really had to do what give us a more well-thought out finish to the match. Lee holding Orton's punch and crushing his hand was nice, the POUNCE looked awesome as it would work like that in real life, too. It was on its way to be something at least good. A shame Drew appeared and like a magic trick, Lee vanished.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926845 I thought Orton was overly protected at the PPV. If it was so he could eat a clean loss to Lee at Payback, that works though.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926848 Still, I don't recall the last time Orton lost 2 PPV matches in a row.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926852 They were in a somewhat tough bind with Lee's debut, at least in my eyes. On one hand, Lee coming in and destroying someone in a squash-like match would've been cool. But I posted some pages back how much they desperately needed fresh blood in the main event on RAW. After Orton, there just wasn't anyone I was excited about going against Drew. With Lee in the mix, there is the potential that he is going to be treated like a big deal not just this week, not just this month, but for the next 6, 9, 12 months. There was a time when the WWE was doing a good job with slowly building up a talent...but its been years since that time (maybe Kevin Owens?). Bobby Lashley, Andrade, Aleister Black, even Buddy Murphy - the list goes on of guys who they didn't really push strong enough from the start and ended up having to re-package or who became victims of start/stop pushes. Even Drew McIntyre suffered that fate, doing absolutely nothing of merit for at least a year after his call-up. Time will tell if Keith Lee's name will be added to that list (sadly, I think it will), but hopefully they view him as a guy that they are actually going to insert into the upper midcard and keep him there. To me, Drew is an example of a guy who I was pretty cold on in January and February, became lukewarm about after Mania, but am now thinking is worthy of his spot thanks to the feud with Orton. They "force fed" him to me and it worked. I hope they force feed us Lee because I think it'll work even better.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926857 2 hours ago, SirEdger said: Still, I don't recall the last time Orton lost 2 PPV matches in a row. Jinder Mahal.
August 26, 20205 yr Author comment_5926858 CAN'T HINDER THE JINDER I miss the Modern Day Maharahja. He was starting to put on his working boots, and he made that title reign memorable, at least. Will never forget his title celebration OR him running off with Orton's title on a limo.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926859 1 hour ago, DMJ said: There was a time when the WWE was doing a good job with slowly building up a talent...but its been years since that time (maybe Kevin Owens?). Bobby Lashley, Andrade, Aleister Black, even Buddy Murphy - the list goes on of guys who they didn't really push strong enough from the start and ended up having to re-package or who became victims of start/stop pushes. Even Drew McIntyre suffered that fate, doing absolutely nothing of merit for at least a year after his call-up. Surviving the initial burial/squandering on the main roster is the new "paying dues" in THA BIZ these days.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926860 17 minutes ago, C.S. said: Jinder Mahal. Wow, you're correct. And it's not that long ago either.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926862 37 minutes ago, sek69 said: Surviving the initial burial/squandering on the main roster is the new "paying dues" in THA BIZ these days. My fear for Keith Lee is that he is going to end up in some awful angle based around him being "too fat." One can only assume that someone thinks that already based on the new attire. It also seems like the king of thing that would amuse Vince to no end.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926863 Like if Vince feels he needs to cover up his upper body, fine. Have him wear gear like Mark Henry, no need to have him in those Kevin Owens shorts that had everyone on Twitter calling it a tennis onesie. That made it seem like someone was trying to sabotage him right out of the box.
August 26, 20205 yr Author comment_5926866 I dunno, bubbas. Otis is the local "funny fat guy", and even so he's treated as a legit babyface, despite his goofy antics. And the whole point of his character is that he's *not* covering his body, so I dunno. Maybe they want Lee to feel more like Mark Henry? Anyway it's barely been two days since his debut
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926867 8 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: Maybe they want Lee to feel more like Mark Henry? Now that I think about it "let's just package him like the other really strong black guy we had" sounds like the exact amount of effort Vince would put into it.
August 26, 20205 yr Author comment_5926869 Considering how they had Henry featured on big programs, title reigns and he went on to be a great, GREAT gatekeeper, things could be hella worse. Lee's ceiling is higher, of course.
August 26, 20205 yr comment_5926871 7 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: Considering how they had Henry featured on big programs, title reigns and he went on to be a great, GREAT gatekeeper, things could be hella worse. Yeah he could be macking on old ladies or being booked as a sex addict. I get your point, but the last (awesome) era of Henry's career shouldn't be used to erase the decade of Wrestlecrap he was put through to make him quit on the massive contract they had buyer's remorse over. All they need to do is get out of the way and let him be Keith Lee and everyone will be swimming in cash.
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