Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
The babyface reunion at the top of the show was really good. It meant something to see those guys again after they were off TV for a few weeks and it was presented as mattering that they were fired. I'm not a huge fan of Rowan or Ryback, but I think all three men gained something from the break.
Once the heels came out, it was less exciting. Big Show's Big Show, so there's not much they can do on that front. All in all, a good segment, and I'm glad they tossed right to the first match. Teddy Long would have made A STRAIGHT UP TAG TEAM MATCH for the main event with some of the people in the segment, but WWE understandably wanted to break from that old formula.
I liked Barrett vs. Ziggler. Ziggler's one hell of a wrestler. The IC Champion has been knocked down a few pegs since returning, but hopefully he's not destined for midcard purgatory.
After reading about how "awful" Reigns promo was for this episode, I expected a lot worse than that. Either WWE shot a new one after the taping and inserted it in post-production, or the reality distortion field of Reigns' detractors is really strong. It wasn't a great promo, but it wasn't terrible, either. I will say there are people in NXT who sound more natural on the mic than Reigns, and he's supposed to be a big deal on the main roster.
Kind of a funny segment with Ambrose and Fandango. I like the Rumble tumbler segments as a rule. They can be fun.
I was really impressed by Ryback vs. Rusev. It wasn't Zayn vs. Neville or whatever, but they upped the ante of what I was expecting. I think in some ways it was a mistake to have them face off so soon after Ryback returned, but they left things open for future matches. Pretty good stuff.
Nice post-match. I definitely want to see them collide again. Maybe we get a big brawl at Fast Lane.
Kind of a funny Bellas promo. I hope we're not too far off from them being out of the spotlight. There's only so much more to do with them now, and other Divas can step up if they step aside. For now, though, it makes sense to keep featuring them.
I liked Brie vs. Naomi well enough. It's weird to think back to when they were both on NXT Season 3. I wonder if Nikki will be 100% by Sunday. If not, they can mostly work around her since it's a tag match.
Not a bad post-match to set the stage for Sunday.
It's a shame Harper's IC Title reign was blown off course so quickly. He's great and should have been used more.
Stardust vs. Goldust could be pretty fun. I really do want another Backlot Brawl to end Goldy's career. I think they should have some legitimate wrestling matches, too. That could be really good.
Hahahahaha! That's not saying much for Rowan that he lost right after coming back and now isn't in the Rumble. I'm glad Harper looked good, but I would have thought for sure Rowan was going to be in Sunday's match.
I'm ready for Kane vs. Bryan. I hope it's incredible.
That kind of spoiled a theoretical face turn for Mizdow, but it also set it up pretty nicely. I'm ready for it. Miz vs. SANdow at Fast Lane. I really hope they do some things where Sandow impersonates some of Miz's past looks in that feud. That could be gold.
Really good stuff from Bryan and Kane. I'm glad there was some story involved beyond "two men beat the hell out of each other".
I love having a really big brawl every once in a while. This was the time for one.
More wrestling coming up.
Rumble predictions:
ReplyDelete- The New Day wins on the Kickoff show.
- I can see Paige or Natalya getting the win to set up a title match.
- The Usos retain the tag team titles to set up Mizdow turning face in the Rumble.
- I wouldn't be shocked to see Konnor and Viktor lose and/or get beaten up by Raw Reunion legends so they can disappear before coming back with a new gimmick. Maybe that's wishful thinking, though. I could also see WWE trying to build to The Ascension vs. someone like the Dudleys at WM31 if they think there's legs to that idea and the Dudleys take the right contract.
- I have a weird feeling Rollins will cash in and walk out with the title.
- Reigns might win the Rumble. Maybe Rollins prevents Ambrose from winning and that leads to a triple threat for the title at WM31?
I'm not sure what the case was with the promo with Reigns and if it was re-aired or not. The way I see it, it may have been an idea for WWE to attempt to build more credibility for Reigns by re-doing his promo. Then again, I'm not sure how often they actually do that. If they did, what I take out of it is that WWE wants to continue to build Reigns as a "force."
ReplyDeleteI also see New Day winning. Adam Rose and Cesaro have both been in a big rut the past few months, so I don't see that changing. I'm not sure where New Day will go from here. It just seems like they're missing something as a team, which may be lack of storylines/material from WWE for them.
I also see The Bellas getting upended by Natalya and Paige. This sets up one of them (I will probably think Natalya, since she's gotten the most shine of late) to get a title opportunity.
Same thing with The Usos winning. The question is: what will become of Sandow/Mizdow if the team dissembles? He won't be able to entertain through being the stunt double anymore, so the real struggle for him is coming up with a new role. He's demonstrated he is VERY versatile, so I think he's one of the rare ones that can pull it off. The burning questions are what will it be and will he gain any traction with it?
I will say The Ascension will win, mainly that very few actually are aware that the New Age Outlaws are even on the pay-per-view card and they probably won't be able to gain any traction due to probably not being part of the active roster for much longer. Even so, I think this match will be one of the more disposable ones. Any truth to the rumors that WWE is losing favor with The Ascension?
I do not think Reigns SHOULD win the Rumble, but I still THINK the company will have him win. I've stated before that I don't think he's ready or may never be "the guy" to carry the torch, and that guys like Bryan, Wyatt, Ambrose, or Rollins are more representative to carry that torch than him. We'll see what happens.
I'm honestly not sure what will become of the WWE W.H. Title match. I think either Lesnar will win the match or Rollins will cash in the briefcase. I'll say Lesnar wins the match, but I'm very unsure at this point.
It's entirely possible one promo was shown for the live crowd at the taping, and WWE taped a new backstage promo later. It wouldn't have been hard at all to put that set up again at a different location and tape a new one - using a shot from the crowd from the previous promo where things lined up. Or they could have done more than one take backstage and shown one for the live crowd to see how it got over before using a different one on the actual broadcast. That's the beauty of having time to post-produce things.
ReplyDeleteI have an idea for where to go with The New Day from here I'll put together in the "how I'd book things" post tomorrow. I don't think it's what WWE will actually do, but it's an option. I think the team's spinning their wheels. I don't see them going up against The Usos for the titles, and it doesn't seem like they'll face The Ascension yet, so there are few options. A feud with Slater Gator maybe?
There aren't many places for the story to go if The Bellas win clean in dominant fashion. That's part of why things are so predictable a lot of the time: in order to get to the ending a storyteller wants, some things are stuck on a certain trajectory. Like if Rusev is supposed to be undefeated until Mania (as far as not being pinned), they really can only do so much to keep things interesting in the meantime.
I think a Miz/Sandow feud has a lot of potential, since Sandow could roleplay as some of Miz's earlier roles like the Chick Magnet and such. That could take them to Mania, at least. After that, there is a wonder of what to do with him. The generic answer is "challenge for titles" or what have you, but as what character? He might go to more or less just being himself in a fairly standard face role after going through so many impersonations. An actor character or something of the sort could be interesting, but I don't know really how they'd pull that off.
I wouldn't be shocked if WWE was. I think that's almost entirely on the gimmick, though. What they were doing in NXT was nothing like what they're doing now. Their NXT characters remind me a bit of The Acolytes before they were the APA, although The Brood is an easy comparison as well. They went through several interesting iterations, but what's presented on the main roster now is pretty different.
I don't know if WWE will actually do it, but Rollins vs. Ambrose vs. Reigns for the WWE Title could be a pretty cool WM31 main event. I'd like to see Bryan vs. Lesnar underneath that.