What Kinda Wrestling Thread You Runnin' Here?

[Hunter Rider]

Rusev needs to not talk, he lacks a villainous foreign heel accent for starters.

 

[DarkSentinel]

FINALLY a they use "unhinged" with Ambrose!! He's MR. UNHINGED, Michael, I've been saying it for months!!

 

[sweetre15]

Hillbilly Jim:

Bruiser Brody:

Luke Harper:

If Luke was a ripoff of anyone it would be Bruiser Brody before in a million years being Hillbilly Jim. Him and Jim have literally nothing in common.

 

[LOBO3315a]

Dean, saying oh **** during a match isn't PG.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I bet the PPV carriers love WWE's new Network pimping direction.

 

[DarkSentinel]

Dean, saying oh **** during a match isn't PG.

Dean Ambrose don't give a DAMN about your PG!!

 

[The Apocalypse]

So Hogan is really inducting Savage huh? I can picture it now, "Everyone remembers when I let him win the belt at WM4...only to take it back at WM5, but we're not here to talk about that brotha!"

 

[Wheels]

Same guy, just a heel version of HBJ. The crowd ain't feeling him and Rowans without Wyatt.

No disrespect but you need to go back and watch Jim work a match. Jeans and a beard doesn't make them the same. Pay attention to details not broad strokes.

 

[Darkness Falls]

hhh's introduction for cena made me chuckle
he's such a smug son of a *****

 

[ShadowBoxer]

How many times is Dean Ambrose gonna lose? He needs to get push ASAP!

 

[Docker2.0]

How many times is Dean Ambrose gonna lose? He needs to get push ASAP!

For awhile he was getting more cheers that Cena. The WWE ain't about to let that happen. That's why Cena took over his feud with Rollins and they gave him Wyatt. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

 

[The Apocalypse]

Seth has been on point on the mic lately

 

[LOBO3315a]

Who waved the Turd under HHH's nose?

 

[The Apocalypse]

Rollins standing over Lesnar and Cena, something I never thought I would see.

 

[Urich Leeds]

So I see the Macho One is finally getting an induction...... neat.

Well deserved.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Rollins holding his own on the mic with Heyman was impressive and the finale to the segment was predictable but worked well enough, although I think Brock might have got hurt on that Curb Stomp.

Triple H looked grumpy tonight, maybe he didn't have enough lines, unless I missed him gabbing earlier.

I wonder how Orton feels when he looks at how Rollins is booked as the Authority's chosen one and how he was booked. He was treat like their pet, as Triple H's avatar, where as Rollins is on a pedestal with Steph like a cheerleader for him.

 

[sweetre15]

Ok so.....a decent episode of Raw with some good segments near the end

 

[Bat Brain]

 

[Lobo]

Why is Hogan inducting Savage? Shouldn't The Genius be the one?

 

[zeroapoc]

For some reason this thread has seen a sharp decline in random gifs of Japanese guys.

 

[Lobo]

Did anyone wish the kid the best of luck in his future endeavors? Last I heard he was in Japan as a scout for the WWE, and they were footing the bill.

 

[DarkSentinel]

Ok so.....a decent episode of Raw with some good segments near the end

I would say decent, pretty much. Bryan v Kane is stale as hell but it was great getting to see Bryan work in that brawl. Someone said earlier that he showed a good balance of lightheartedness and intensity, which is why he's so popular.

I think Ambrose listens to Stone Cold's podcast or at least someone on the writing team does. Also Ambrose pulling that comedy gold with what could have EASILY been horsesh-dung (see what I did there? ) shows how deserving he is of a push on charisma ALONE. No one's touching Ambrose right now, except maybe Bryan because of his likability. Need a feud between these two sometime in the future.

Roman needs to start talking less. PRONTO. Not sold on him at ALL at this point, he's too contradictory of a character. Visually he's a tac-vest-wearing badass out of a Jim friggin Lee comic book, the next he's yapping on and it's so...forced. Ugh. Roman is a dude best suited for short lines instead of long promos. He's good for a stare down that can be capped off with something like, I don't know, "In the end, Roman. REIGNS!" Superman Punch, good promo dude.

The Ascension need a gimmick change, appearance wise. I like the Eye of Horus around their eyes, but take away the God of War paint and give them jackets to wear instead of shoulder pads. And stop trashing old school teams, as everyone has been saying. I think it would be more effective to say that they are "this generation's" Powers of Pain, Legion of Doom, etc. Either give them a manager or tone down their promos' intensity.

I'll have more, I'm reviewing RAW for a YouTube channel me and a friend are restarting.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Roman Reigns and the search for an Identity

If I wrote a blog on wrestling this would be the topic right now. I admittedly didn't see his promo tonight but the feedback I've seen describes it as anywhere from awkward to cringe worthy to excruciatingly embarrassing. So, pretty much in line with his last 2 attempts.

When you look at WWE right now, Rollins has transitioned into being a singles star effortlessly, he was always great in the ring but now he has his heel persona down pat and his mic skills have vastly improved over the last year. Ambrose, well, they are just letting him do him, albeit toned down, and whether you like the rubber power ranger outfit and the ECW reject look, both have clearly separated themselves from their Shield incarnations.

Now look at Roman, he has the same look he had in The Shield and comes out to the same music, but these days he has no one to cover up for him on the mic and nobody to fill out the body of his matches. Essentially they took the engine and chassis out of the car and left the cool body shell.

Given that the other two have gone successfully into the singles phase of their careers with characters that work, did Roman simply not speak up as to how he wants to be portrayed, or is he too green and doesn't really know how to act or talk without his safety net?

Whichever it is the outcome has been Vince doing to him what he did to Cena. On SD when Cena won the WWE title he was really over and had his own style of promo. Then he moved to Raw and suddenly he's all goofy joke promos where he comes off like a lame Rock impersonator who at the same time is trying to be a badass like Austin.

Reigns is now in this slot, Vince eventually chose to just make Cena into Hogan 2.0 and we've had that for 8 years or so, and Cena's charisma and genuine ability on the mic allowed him to overcome the horrendous character interference to a large degree, I am not sure Roman has the natural showmanship or mic skills to do the same.

Logically he should be a man of few words, like early years Taker and Diesel, or even Goldberg as he's got presence and a cool voice for simple, short, no nonsense lines. However WWE is so promo driven they are trying to force him into their mold, but they are doing it by giving him a third hand set of scripts that Rock would have wiped his ass with 15 years ago, and Roman simply doesn't have the experience or natural mic ability to find a way to make these type of promos work.

So where does that leave him? If Vince thinks he can go for another ten years of a split audience top guy I think he's mistaken. Cena made that work with the way he actually played into it and utilized it, his whole colourful look and cheesy grin stuff and mic skills made it gel, Roman will end up closer to Batista unless they alter the course they are on.

It's a tired approach and I'm not wholly sure it would work, but I'd turn him heel, put him with Heyman, give him a suit and some fresh ring gear, and let him grow by cutting promos where he can play off Heyman and grow in confidence on the mic and find his own voice. These days you nearly always need to get over as a heel before you can get over as a face as the audience take convincing to cheer someone, you could argue The Shield was over as heels so he's done that already, I'd argue The Shield was greater than the sum of it's parts at the time and over as a unit, since the split all 3 have needed to get over again.

 

[nite-owl]

 

[ssj wolverine]

About time that Savage is going to the HoF. Have no problem with Hogan inducting him. No other wrestler had a longer history in the ring with Savage than Hogan. Would have been better to see Lanny Poffo induct him but it is what it is.