The PPV Discussion Thread

[iesty wfc]

Loved that rumble. Only thing lacking was surprise entrants (bar aj)

Trips as champ? I will take that. As usual there are some good feuds started at the rumble.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Enjoyable PPV.

Ambrose/Owens was a fantastic match. Agree with that for match of the night. The other matches were all varying degrees of fine and the Rumble itself was well done. I was surprised at the reaction that Styles got. All the WWE fans must be secretly downloading and watching TNA because the sort of recognition AJ got doesn't tally with Impacts tv ratings!

pretty much most of the WWE fanbase knows about TNA, a good portion of the near 2 million they used to get was rotating WWE wanting to try something different and even when they didn't at all watch TNA it has had so much internet coverage they know about the product. Add in Styles has by afew been classed as the best wrestling in the business for a long time (not just when he left TNA) and his match with Joe/Daniels was classed one of the best for a long time.................people have checked the guy out.

the reaction doesn't surprise me.................but WWE have missed the boat with how they used him, he should have been your Raw after Mania debut and set up the summer.

Good luck to styles if a wrestler has earned his right to be in WWE its him, I just dearly hope WWE do not do their usual 'he is not WWE created so we'll bury him' approach because Styles maybe is what WWE need right now, something fresh and different.

 

[kopite]

Made up for AJ Styles with that reaction. I was gutted he didn't come across strong in the Rumble....I really hope he gets opportunities to be a main event guy. Also that theme music is awful....his TNA music was way better! Looking at who is in the mix, I'd love to see him against Jericho...that would be one sweet match.

With the reaction Roman got...I think having him against Triple H at Wrestlemania won't get the excitement. I'm happy with Triple H as Champion....he's a legit superstar and being the boss will add something extra to his title reign.

 

[Oaf]

Everybody is saying they don't really want Triple H vs Reigns at WM... but I seem to remember that this time last year people were dreading the likely line up for WM, and that turned out to be fantastic in the end. People shat all over Reigns/Lesnar in the build up and nobody wanted to see it, but I actually thought that they gave us the best WM main event in a good long while. I see no reason that Triple H and Reigns won't deliver, they're both good enough to.

 

[Libertine]

Everybody is saying they don't really want Triple H vs Reigns at WM... but I seem to remember that this time last year people were dreading the likely line up for WM, and that turned out to be fantastic in the end. People shat all over Reigns/Lesnar in the build up and nobody wanted to see it, but I actually thought that they gave us the best WM main event in a good long while. I see no reason that Triple H and Reigns won't deliver, they're both good enough to.

Agreed. I'm not particularly pumped for Reigns winning the title at WM but what else are they gonna do? They want their new guy ending WM with the title, hardly a surprise, and with all the injuries they have. Can hardly deny the guy is ready for it now, though he is still dull on the mic.

AJ Styles looks like a CAW.

 

[kopite]

I was all up for Brock vs Roman last year. It made total sense...Roman was the new main event guy taking on the unbeatable champion in Brock. I was curious to see how Roman would pull of a win. But as it turns out...Rollins made heist of the century.

Roman has had his 'moment'....then Sheamus happened...then he had another big moment when he won the title. Winning the title for 3rd at Wrestlemania when his momentum from December has kind of gone....Just doesn't get me excited.

But with injuries....it's too much to ask them pulling the trigger on AJ.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

I got it wrong last year. I didn't anticipate how stiff/physical it would be (kinda ridiculous, since it was Brock versus a Samoan!) and I didn't expect Rollins to cash into a live match. It's always possible to overlook creative possibilities, which is good.

Triple H versus Reigns makes sense, especially given the shitty hand they have to play, but I suppose my misgiving is I don't really care about the result. Reigns should go over, but I don't care if he doesn't. Ultimately he's headlining the show because WWE want him to be popular, not because he is. Triple H? He should probably have retired from in-ring competition a few years ago. So it's hard for me to get behind either. Last year I really wanted Brock to retain. I didn't expect a good match, but I at least cared about the outcome.

I don't think it'll be awful. Hunter is still a solid all-rounder. Reigns rarely has a bad match on PPV (he is underrated in that respect). The in-ring stuff will be fine. It's just that WM main events ought to have a sense of occasion about them. You should care. The match should have dramatic tension. At the moment, the prospect of Triple H versus Reigns just strikes me as a bit meh. It makes sense, but it's nothing to get excited about.

I might be wrong again. If so, great.

 

[Renegade]

Courtesy of Botchamania:

 

[Luke]

I sense the anticipation for Fastlane is to much for some on here....

Final card (I think):

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose (WWE World Heavyweight Championship No.1 Contender Match)

Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Championship Match)

Charlotte vs. Brie Bella (Divas Championship Match)

Big Show, Kane & Ryback vs. The Wyatt Family (Six-Man Tag Team Match)

Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch vs. Naomi & Tamina

Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio (United States Championship Kickoff Match)

Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles

Predictions:

Roman - Please don't be so predictable and pull a massive swerve WWE but can't see it happening.
Owens - Surely he won't drop the title after 6 nights
Charlotte
Wyatt's
Sasha Banks & Becky - Travesty if the other two win
Kalisto - Don't give him the title just to lose it pretty quick again
AJ Styles

Not expecting much from this PPV, hopefully there will be a surprise or shock at some point as I think the majority of us are not looking forward to this and Wrestlemania isn't looking great. Sometimes they turn it around and we look silly but I'm pretty sure come Monday night we will all be moaning about this PPV.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Half the card looks decent, half looks a joke.

The main event, Owens/Ziggler and Jericho/Styles have the potential to be superb - but the rest looks awful.

I suspect they will have at least one 'unexpected' run in or segment to build a surprise WM feud, be that a return of some sort or a run in.

 

[Oaf]

Fastlane was alright. Styles/Jericho was great and the triple threat, while not quite the match of the year candidate I'd hoped for, was still solid.

First though, let's talk about that result.

How the fuck did that happen? What a fucking awful move. Reigns? Oh no. I'm not talking about the main event here. WHY. THE FUCK. DID THE WYATTS LOSE. They're most likely heading into something, you know, BIG at Wrestlemania. Or at least you'd like to think so. So why the hell did they lose to three people who we generally hope don't even make the god damned WM card*? MADNESS!

*Saying that, fuck it, I love DA BIG GUY. Still didn't want to see him win though if it meant Kane and Show beating the Wyatts.

Oh yeah, and the slightly less baffling result, Reigns winning. Ok, yeah, we knew it was coming but... eh. And ok, yeah, this time last year leading into Reigns/Lesnar we weren't exactly beaming with excitement and that turned out to be fantastic. But still. EH.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Fastlane was alright. Styles/Jericho was great and the triple threat, while not quite the match of the year candidate I'd hoped for, was still solid.

First though, let's talk about that result.

How the fuck did that happen? What a fucking awful move. Reigns? Oh no. I'm not talking about the main event here. WHY. THE FUCK. DID THE WYATTS LOSE. They're most likely heading into something, you know, BIG at Wrestlemania. Or at least you'd like to think so. So why the hell did they lose to three people who we generally hope don't even make the god damned WM card*? MADNESS!

*Saying that, fuck it, I love DA BIG GUY. Still didn't want to see him win though if it meant Kane and Show beating the Wyatts.

Oh yeah, and the slightly less baffling result, Reigns winning. Ok, yeah, we knew it was coming but... eh. And ok, yeah, this time last year leading into Reigns/Lesnar we weren't exactly beaming with excitement and that turned out to be fantastic. But still. EH.

It was obvious the Wyatt's were going to lose as soon as I saw that Bray wasn't in the match.

The main event was good, I felt it needed to be longer and with a different outcome to be a MOTY contender but crowd were definitely into it.

Thank god Charlotte retained and Brie of Botchville can go back to being irrelevant.

The worst thing of the entire night was they seem to be putting the most over guys on the roster in The New Day into a Wrestlemania feud with those dullards The League Of Nations

 

[kopite]

Found that really dull.

None of the matches were ppv worthy in my opinion. It felt like watching an average Raw, bunch of meaningless tag team matches...a talk show which didn't really go anywhere and they squeezed in a random Truth vs Axel match. Even the triple threat could have been a Raw main event.

The ppv just didn't matter.

Reading reports, apparently Brock Vs Wyatt been scrapped and Ambrose facing Brock now.

 

[Christian Slater]

I only watched Jericho vs Styles and the main event. The former was solid but the main spots were botched, Jericho is a bit too clunky to keep up with the athletic talent. The latter was great, the result was never in question but there's many things they could have done to make the finish interesting. I'm not even arsed about Raw.

The rest is insignificant, especially The Wyatts who were done a long time ago.

 

[silvergull]

Kevin Owens with one of the best post match promos of recent years. Just a shame it was wasted on something people will never see. Sells the fight, puts Ziggler over whilst killing it as a heel.

 

[Christian Slater]

Kevin Owens with one of the best post match promos of recent years. Just a shame it was wasted on something people will never see. Sells the fight, puts Ziggler over whilst killing it as a heel.

These are the promos where the performers are allowed creative freedom. That's why they're always good and why you can only see them on their website while character development on Raw is driven by matches and no talk.

 

[Oaf]

I only watched Jericho vs Styles and the main event. The former was solid but the main spots were botched, Jericho is a bit too clunky to keep up with the athletic talent. The latter was great, the result was never in question but there's many things they could have done to make the finish interesting. I'm not even arsed about Raw.

The rest is insignificant, especially The Wyatts who were done a long time ago.

I want to talk about Jericho actually.

I do like Jericho, though I've always found him to be fairly over rated if you look at how people talk about him on the internet. He's a solid (no better) in ring performer for me who excels on the microphone but has a lack of real classic matches. Yes, he has some... but not quite enough to justify the love he gets online, for me. Off of the top of my head I can think of vs Benoit at Rumble 2001 in a ladder match (as well as a great 2 out of 3 falls match at some point around then) and he had some great matches with HBK (but let's face it, who doesn't?!) but that's about all I can think of. There are probably more.

But anyway, the thing that annoys me right now is his character... he feels like he's playing a deluded guy with his head rammed far up his own ass. He talks about himself as if he's the greatest thing wrestling has ever seen. This is nothing new in pro wrestling... only, usually, wrestlers do it as a heel. Jericho, for some reason, is doing it as a face. It doesn't suit a face to be so fucking delusional and conceited. It just feels off putting, to the point where it's just irritating. It's cringe worthy.

If he were a heel and giving the promo's he's giving, it'd be fine. But I don't see why people are supposed to get behind somebody who over rates themself so much. He's about on par with The Miz or whatever in that regard, only The Miz for some reason is boo'ed for it. It doesn't make sense.

 

[Christian Slater]

Jericho has always had the cocky side to his persona I feel, good or bad. He's working soley to put people over these days, the only drawback being he's done it so often over the past few years it's had little effect. Saying that, I think this feud with Styles has been very good, the matches have been more than decent and Jericho did a great job putting AJ over on commentary and through telling a good story. The inclusion of The Miz in the feud was also a nice wrinkle that kept Jericho and AJ from looking stale.

Jericho vs Rey from The Bash 2009 is a great match that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

 

[T.A]

Shane Is back...

 

[Saddlerrad]

As happy as I am that he is back and he got a great pop, throwing him straight inside a hell in a cell vs the undertaker just feels a desperate risk to me. That being said, some of the spots in that match will no doubt be insane.

At least it wasn't predictable.

 

[Christian Slater]

Roadblock

The NXT tag match, women's match and WWE title match were all excellent.

I enjoy the smaller scale events like this, probably because it's a different presentation and anything that differentiates from the static norm is welcome.

I have to admit they got me thinking about a title change twice. First when Brock and Bray were kept apart and second when Ambrose got the three. Nice deciet.

The crowd was awful. The lack of enthusiasm for Zayn was sad.

 

[Libertine]

Roadblock

The NXT tag match, women's match and WWE title match were all excellent.

I enjoy the smaller scale events like this, probably because it's a different presentation and anything that differentiates from the static norm is welcome.

I have to admit they got me thinking about a title change twice. First when Brock and Bray were kept apart and second when Ambrose got the three. Nice deciet.

The crowd was awful. The lack of enthusiasm for Zayn was sad.

Too right about the crowd. Constant CM Punk chants as well, bore off now.

 

[Christian Slater]

Too right about the crowd. Constant CM Punk chants as well, bore off now.

They typified the smark fan that use their knowledge to disrupt the show to try to be clever. I'm surprised there wasn't a Benoit chant.

 

[Oaf]

Usos vs Dudleys and the Andre the Giant battle royale announced for WM now... those two smell of pre-show, I reckon.

I'm kind of gutted that they're going down the New Day vs LON route. New Day are wasted on those four, for me. I'd have rather seen some kind of New Day/Usos/Dudleys/Luchas TLC match... that could have been incredible.

Also, two episodes of Raw left until Mania and BRAY WYATT STILL HAS NOTHING.

I was thinking that maybe, maybe, they'd put him against Sting. That'd just work. But it seems too late for that, now. No doubt we'll get some kind of Wyatts vs Social Outcasts or something. Argh. Running out of options for Bray, which is a shame.

Also, how about for Shane vs Taker... Cena interferes to help Shane to get rid of the Authority. Makes sense that he'd do that (plus get's him involved in WM somehow) plus sets up Cena/Taker for WM33 easily.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

Given that he's going in the HoF this year, and given that WWE has done precisely nothing to tease a comeback, I think Sting's effectively retired (or been retired) from in-ring competition. The injury he sustained against Rollins was certainly serious. He's old and WWE seems to be erring on the side of caution with injuries, so I reckon he's done.

But for what it's worth, I think Sting vs. Wyatt is one of those feuds that would have intrigued 12-18 months ago but would now elicit little more than an indifferent shrug, and that's because they've booked both performers so badly. Sting is 0-2 for PPV and has been booked to look so stupid (jobbing to Hunter, shaking the hand of a guy who cheated him, losing to Rollins by roll-up) that it really makes you wonder how deep that WCW animus runs with Vince. And Wyatt… well, we've both complained at length about his booking a few times now. Why flog a dead horse?

WWE is in a kind of post-saturation stage (and has been for a while), and I strongly believe that sometimes the best thing you can do with a performer is nothing. Perhaps we’re at that stage with Wyatt now. The feud with Lesnar has been nixed, and feud-wise they don’t appear to have a Plan B. They could stick him in one of those multi-person clusterfuck matches they often have at WM, but how would that help him? Wouldn’t it just project the image that he’s on the same level as guys like R-Truth and Curtis Axel? If they don’t have anything interesting or purposeful for him to do, why do anything? He reportedly didn’t work Road Block because of a back injury. Give him some proper recovery time and plan to bring him back post-WM with renewed purpose.

 

[Leewilson]

I can't see Shane winning. I don't think he's advertised for any post WM events.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

It would be extremely odd to tease the possibility of Shane disposing the Authority (which has been going for ALMOST 3 FUCKING YEARS now) and then not deliver on it some way. That's why making it contingent on Shane beating Taker is such bizarre booking. In a straight up match Taker can only retain his credibility by wiping the floor with Shane, but him winning makes the whole angle a damp squib. Unless they come up with a creative way to put Shane over (which they still may do), the whole feud will seem completely stupid.

 

[Christian Slater]

They had the perfect chance to do something clever on Raw but missed the opportunity again. Reigns should have cost HHH the match, Ziggler then inserts himself in the Undertaker vs Shane match and has the chance to dispose of The Authority again. The Authority is then a victim of their own making, their power craze is their downfall.

Nope.

 

[Leewilson]

It would be extremely odd to tease the possibility of Shane disposing the Authority (which has been going for ALMOST 3 FUCKING YEARS now) and then not deliver on it some way. That's why making it contingent on Shane beating Taker is such bizarre booking. In a straight up match Taker can only retain his credibility by wiping the floor with Shane, but him winning makes the whole angle a damp squib. Unless they come up with a creative way to put Shane over (which they still may do), the whole feud will seem completely stupid.

Do you not see this as a one off though?

I see it as they had no other plans for Taker and Shane has helped them out. Shane isn't advertised post WM which makes me think this is a one off performance effectively. I can see an ending whereby Taker wins, Vince gets in the ring to rub it in etc and Taker tombstones him. Taker and Shane then walk out together in a typical WM 'they're both winners' exit (when in fact, it's the fans who are losing out on any potential future repurcussion)

 

[Captain Scumbag]

^
Erm… I recognise it could be. Shane has undoubtedly added some star power and intrigue to the card, which is what it needed. The angle has got people talking and it's possible he was brought in simply and solely to have that effect. Perhaps there is no medium-to-long term plan.

But that's really shit. I'm not saying such booking is beneath them as it demonstrably isn't (we're talking about the same people responsible for the anonymous GM angle here) but I dunno… I guess I'm just struggling to accept they'd waste Shane's return on something so short-term. They didn't have to tease a takeover. They didn't have to use Shane in this way, especially not if the plan is to have him fuck off again.

Also, I don't think Shane not being advertised for post-WM shows tells us much, as that may be deliberate. It took them a while but I think WWE is now quite savvy to how little details like that show their hand and effectively function as spoilers. We'll see I guess.

You seem very sure Taker isn't loosing. Why?