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Post by VyperJMc on Jul 27, 2016 4:12:11 GMT -5
I know I'm late to the love fest, but I enjoyed the shit out of RAW the other night. Balor vs Owens vs Cesaro vs Rusev, Sasha vs Charlotte, & Balor vs Reigns were all fantastic. Even the middle of the road stuff that I didn't particularly care for (like the Braun Strowman & Nia Jax squash matches), it wasn't so awful that I felt the need to fast forward through it like I usually do when watching RAW. The show actually felt fresh & befitting of "The New Era" moniker. And the way they introduced Balor... what a great way to instantly make a guy seem important. Can't wait for Balor vs Rollins at SummerSlam.
Last night's SmackDown on the other hand... ugh. From the moment they opened the show, with their depleted roster of jobbers & midcarders + Cena & Styles surrounding the ring. Then a boring ass battle royal. Then trotting out the latest cast of Total Divas. Then Boreton vs Miz (yeah, that just screams New Era). Then you got Ziggler earning the title shot @ SummerSlam... gotta agree with beej, durt, & AD on this one... who cares? Too little, too late. This whole show just stunk. AJ Styles & Mauro Ranallo are literally the only aspects of this new SmackDown I enjoy. And that just isn't enough to make me wanna watch it on a weekly basis.
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Post by SWL on Jul 27, 2016 8:29:28 GMT -5
Bray would have been a better fit for me as well but maybe they have something planned for Ziggler, like a new heel run or something (even though that's not gonna change much besides the feud with Ambrose). tbh, I think Smackdown is more of a long term idea. Sure, Raw has all the talent and possibilities for now, but Smackdown's gonna be the place where they can experiment with new people and guys that are coming back (like Shelton Benjamin). And I get that Ambrose/Ziggler kinda seems like a midcard match compared to Rollins/Balor but then again, it's mostly because all the big names of Smackdown are already locked for a feud at Summerslam. Orton is facing Brock, and both Cena and Styles are gonna have their rubber match. Once those are names available again, I think they're gonna be able to book higher quality stuff.
On a different note, it has been said that Raw and Smackdown are gonna have different writers and bookers to make the whole thing seem like real competition. Could it be possible that Shane and Steph are really booking these shows? Because that would explain why Ziggler seems so out of place. It has been said that Trips and Steph are better at booking shows than Shane (hence why Vince chose them to take over the company in the future), so maybe Shane just doesn't have the feel for it.. he sees a talented guy and thinks to himself "why not?". Not knowing that the audience is already over a Ziggler push.
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Post by Wesley on Jul 27, 2016 9:43:48 GMT -5
So here is how my mind set was, back in 2014 Ziggler was still my favorite and when they were actually doing something with him at the end of the year I liked him a whole lot more, but then 2015 came, oh god, that was the worst year of his career, where I didn't even enjoy his character or his role anymore and I completely gave up on him, then in 2016 it was pretty much the same and then outta nowhere Ziggler get's a WWE Championship match at Summerslam, I think they should've gave Ziggler this push in 2014 when he battled the Authority but I guess they decided to make it more surprising, and damn, when I saw him win that match I was fucking screaming, "FINALLY THEY GIVE THIS GUY A CHANCE", but if you think about it, Ziggler will never have a singles PPV main even even if he does win the World Title, but I think a Ziggler heel turn could spice it up more, even hearing about Kevin Nash wanting to be his tag partner, that could be a factor at Summerslam and have a good build up to it for Ziggler to win the title, but as SWL said, the main eventers that are on SmackDown are already booked in matches at Summerslam (I know Cena vs. Styles isn't booked yet, but I will be anyway), so anyway, I feel Ziggler deserved it, but it was random, and I think that having Ziggler turn heel and team with Diesel would get more anticipation into the match at Summerslam.
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Post by AD on Jul 27, 2016 10:06:42 GMT -5
Not sure if anybody else noticed, but on Raw the announcers used the terms "pro wrestling" and "pro wrestler" on several occasions, while on SD they were back to the standard "sports entertainment" and "sports entertainer." So I'm wondering if it's possible that they're trying to set up Raw as more of a legitimate sporting event, while SD remains an entertainment tv show.
That would also explain their choice of top draft picks. Rollins is a solid promo, but an amazing athlete/worker. While Ambrose is a good worker, but much more interesting as a character/promo. And Raw having actual weight classes would fit right into this dynamic as well.
Of course, it doesn't make any sense that Cole would be calling the wrestling show while Ranallo would be the entertainment guy. And the GM/commissioner situations should be reversed, too. So there are holes in this theory. But it's something I'll be paying attention to in the coming weeks.
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Post by iMG on Jul 27, 2016 19:55:07 GMT -5
The Smackdown commentary crew seemed to lack chemistry; constantly talking over each other, odd silences waiting for someone to talk, cutting each other off, it just felt weird.
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