Read on for my thoughts on yesterday's Superstars and Smackdown.
Superstars:
Not a bad opening contest by any stretch. Poor McGillicutty doesn't seem like he'll ever catch a break, which is a shame because he's pretty talented and could probably do good things for the company.
Nice Divas' tag match. It makes sense to give Kaitlyn momentum going into defending the Divas' Title.
Smackdown:
I can't be the only one who thinks it hurts the drawing power of seeing Del Rio, Swagger, and Ziggler in a gimmick match at Extreme Rules to put two of them in a gimmick match here. No-DQ type matches should be rare and meaningful. They now "have" to top the brutality on the PPV. That said, the match was AWESOME. Both guys deserve a lot of praise.
I was wondering what the purpose of Layla vs. Aksana was, since it didn't advance any stories. Then I remembered that Layla was British. They couldn't have involved Kaitlyn and/or AJ in some way since they're feuding for the title? This match felt kind of "on an island".
Stop me if you've heard this one: The Shield were really good on the mic. I don't know who puts their stuff together but it's a lot better than a lot of face promos.
Nice win by FAN. DAN. GO. This act has legs. I hope he ends up feuding for one of the midcard titles soon.
Sheamus vs. Big Show is another match that could have been saved for Extreme Rules (or at least built up well). They're really running some of these feuds into the ground by giving away so much on TV. The ending was good, though. It's time to announce Sheamus vs. Henry for the PPV.
Nice Barrett promo. It's ok that he's running down someone who's pretty much semi-retired since the company's not going to be depending on Regal to look like a credible contender any time soon.
I loved Regal back in the day, but I'm glad Barrett made quick work of him to elevate a potential future WWE/World Champion. Regal hasn't won a match on Raw or Smackdown (that I can find) in over 4 years. Given his two Wellness suspensions and the fact that he's 44, I can't say that's a bad move on WWE's part. Regal's a great commentator and I'm sure he's doing good stuff in NXT, but I think his days of being an important part of the main roster are justifiably over.
Orton vs. Henry made sense to continue Sheamus vs. Henry, and ultimately I think the goal should be to set up PPV matches (instead of just having a bunch of "good wrestling" on TV - though it's nice to have some of that, too).
Pretty ticked that Taker was able to outmaneuver The Shield. Do a DQ finish or something. The hot young talent tapping out to a guy who probably has fewer than a dozen matches left in his career is bad for business. Ambrose could really shine if they used him right.
That's somewhat better. Hopefully they don't change course within a month and have Taker take all 3 guys out.
More wrestling coming up.
Couldn't really agree more.
ReplyDeleteThey had a good 'ol British party this time 'round, the only other thing I can see is Layla gaining momentum. Island?
They really do just get better and better - believe in The Shield!
Breath in the "A"'s I've made it no secret that I want to see Kofi win the World Title (and by extension - Triple Crown) if either Sandow or Fandango relive him of the US Title, it's smiles all 'round.
True, Master Regal may be getting on in years but he's rough and tough not to mention well respected. Proving that you can hang with him in the ring (as Barrett did) is a way to increase your "overness". Barrett even said on Fallout "Who knows, maybe I'm the hometown hero now?" he also gave Regal props despite the pre-match scathing.
Save Show/Sheamus for EXtreme Rules? I'd have though Sheamus' feud with Henry was the one they're focusing on. Sorry don't quite understand, why no "good wrestling"? "Good" doesn't always mean "best".
A DQ end would have made sense but he didn't outmaneuver them by any stretch, yes he beat their de facto leader but The Shield as a whole unit is still unbeaten, Ambrose had a good showing against The Deadman (I really liked that DDT for some reason) and he's always going to be a force to be reckoned with, how many young guys can say they wrestled The Undertaker - in London? Ambrose has been here 6 months.
I'm never sure on Undertaker but they could do a Triple H/Sheamus deal?
I meant "on an island" as in the match didn't seem to have any greater storyline meaning. It was just a match seemingly thrown out there.
ReplyDeleteI was a big fan of Regal back in the day (a true great). I still hold him in high regard. I just wonder how the current fans view him, since he hasn't really done anything of prominence since losing the IC Title to Punk.
I meant that he outmaneuvered them in the match. He was able to keep them at bay and make Ambrose tap out. It's great that Ambrose got to get in some offense, but I wish they would have protected him more since he needs to look like something of a big deal. It just seems like there's this constant stream of feeding younger guys to the already-established guys.
I honestly don't know what they should do between Taker and The Shield. I'd like someone a little more current to be the focus when The Shield loses. Taker's already a Legend. Him coming back from the beatdown and taking out The Shield doesn't really add anything to his career as much as it would hurt theirs.
Whoops. Totally skipped some stuff.
ReplyDeleteI was saying that they COULD have done Sheamus vs. Show at Extreme Rules given their history and the animosity between them. I see why they didn't, though. In general, I wish top guy vs. top guy matches were presented as more important.
I didn't mean NO "good wrestling", just that the point should be getting people to watch the next shows/continuing stories more so than just having "good" matches in a technical sense. Things used to be about heels getting heat and building up babyfaces to get their revenge. Now a lot of times, people seem to focus on their movesets and having a "5-star" match. It's like in movies, trying to be Oscar bait instead of trying to pull in a large audience. It's admirable to want to have a critically-accepted match, but I don't know how much sense it makes from a business standpoint.
Ohhhh.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear it. Way back in 2009, goodness...I'm sure we aren't the only one's who hold in highly.
Aha fair dues, if you ask me the big deal is competing with Undertaker in his first match on SmackDown in a long time. That could be Undertaker's last match on SmackDown ever and the honor went to Ambrose. Isn't it good to have young guys tangle with he veterans?
I see what you mean overall, defeating The Shield will elevate one's (or "three's") career exceptionally. Undertaker is still the Phenom, all he needs to do is show his face next February and he's got as much momentum as he needs.
This was a good little era for all involved, Undertaker got a couple more matches in and The Shield have been elevated even more. Who'd you like to see them feud next?
I think HHH is pretty high on him. I think there's some behind-the-scenes history there but that's a little bit "before my time".
ReplyDeleteI definitely think it's a very big career milestone for Ambrose to work with Taker and hopefully that's a sign that Management likes The Shield. I know that they've thought highly of Ambrose and Rollins for over a year.
I personally think Ryback should hire The Shield to help him get the title from Cena. Who better than him to know their abilities to take people out? As long as they paint it as strictly a business decision (they don't "get along"; it's just for mutual benefit), I think it'd be pretty cool. Of course, it's all in what they do with everyone. Honestly, maybe they should wait until after Extreme Rules to play that card. Ryback and The Shield having a reign of terror on Raw is very intriguing to me (though I have a thing for heels looking strong).
They've both been in the WWE for way over a decade, I'm sure they established a close backstage relationship, well I would hope.
ReplyDeleteEx-actly. And having faced Mr. Kane on SmackDown and won, how many people can say they battled both brothers of Destruction on consecutive weeks and not only lived to tall the tale but is now stronger than ever? WWE wanted them to deliver and The Shield have simply delivered.
That *is* an interesting story, reminds me of Stone Cold teaming with Triple H way back in the day. It's despicable - which is exactly what a heel should be. As do I, if the villain looks strong it makes thee face look strong if they overcome, simple but effective. That and the villain has to be seen as a threat - a villain not just a bad guy
I think it might go back further than that (WCW?). They both seem like pretty "old school" wrestling guys at any rate.
ReplyDeleteTNA's doing this pretty well right now with Aces and Eights. They've been on a real tear.
And yeah, I think of the model with Goku: Heel destroys him or someone close to him, then he does all this insane training and digs down deep. Then EVENTUALLY he overcomes the odds and survives even their dirty tricks. They probably did something really similar with Hogan back in the day.
Goodness, well there you go, speaking of Regal, he celebrates 30 years in pro wrestling this Summer, long live William Regal!
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear, it's a massive group isn't it?
Oh Son Goku-sama! Yeah, Frieza was pretty much invincible until Goku became a Super Saiyan. Each major villain has an entire story arc, if every challenger for the World (in an ideal world, for every title) Title had a story arc where it looked as if either the hero or villain could win. I can't be too sure about Hogan...
It's kind of hard to tell how big they are since they sometimes have "extras" who are just there for a little while. But yeah, pretty sizable.
ReplyDeleteHogan was similar to Cena: Heel beats him up a lot, then he comes back and gets the win with the power of the crowd in his corner. Pretty successful formula for a while.
Oh fair enough, when I saw 'em last there was a bunch of 'em, a lot of them former WWE wrestlers.
ReplyDeleteAha the infamous "superhuman comeback" you're talking about a match, I thought you were referring to a whole feud. Of course I'm not a fan of Superstar A winning the title only to lose it to Superstar B at the next ppv and back again but for the heel to seem superior in the weeks building up to the PPV looks better when they are overcome.
Yeah, that's a decent part of TNA: people who were in WWE for a while.
ReplyDeleteIt can apply to a feud, too! Like the face being injured or heartbroken or whatever and taking some time off; then coming back to get what's rightfully theirs. TNA was heading for this last year in a pretty good feud but changed things up at kind of the last minute. They had one partner get jealous of the other being World Champion and turn on him to take the title for himself. I liked it because it made the title seem so important. It's probably my favorite World Title scenario of the last several years outside of Daniel Bryan's run.