WWE SmackDown Discussion II

[Amare_1_Knicks]

A good episode of Smackdown. The more Roman/Heyman stuff, the better. Great opening segment with Brock/Roman and etc. The backstage stuff with Heyman is great.

I didn’t watch a second of that 5 on 5 match. Saw Trae Young come out — got some good heat, but that was it. These guys all feel like jobbers and Boogz specifically is unwatchable for me. Big E has go away heat with me — too much bad comedy.

The Edge and Rollins match was good but felt loooongggg. The ending was too dramatic with even the ref making saddened facial expressions. After the match there was too much bad acting by everyone for my liking and it dragged awhile.

[jakecronus8]

They cut Zelina Vega’s match off the show. Management of this company is just your definition of brain dead and tone deaf.

ETA: I feel bad for Zelina. To see her husband having the success he is in AEW only for her to rot away is sad.

As soon as she started talking about unionizing and high profile lawyers reaching out to her, I’m sure that’s when Vince swooped in with big money. No doubt in my mind what their motivations were to re-signing her.

[improper]

Sorry, I don't get the Balor/Demon thing anymore. He does basically the same thing - except with makeup and fog. Even the entrance music's the same, and he does the same mannerisms and just did the same old staredown with Roman that he would have done as Balor. If I was 10 years old, it'd be entertaining. The act was lame compared to the Fiend, and considering WWE couldn't figure out what to do with the Fiend, it ain't likely they'll make Demon look interesting.

This has always been my complaint with Balor. He puts on the makeup but then wrestles the exact same goddamn match he always wrestles.

[iMoreland]

I want to see Seth lead a faction again. He was great in that role. Maybe they can align him and Mace/TBar after the draft.

[jakecronus8]

Weird how all wwe programming has improved since AEW signed all these top guys.

Anyways, prop bet.

Will Zelina Vega pick up a single victory before she’s re-released?

[tugs]

Any predictions who will be transferring to SD? Mine's:

Bliss
Repacked Elias
Jeff Hardy
Ricochet

[Ruzious]

Any predictions who will be transferring to SD? Mine's:

Bliss
Repacked Elias
Jeff Hardy
Ricochet

I don't even keep track of who's on what show. It will be interesting to see how they repackage Elias and if his new character will say to walk with Elias. He does need to be packaged well, because he's a boring in-ring performer, tbh.

Will anyone from NXT get drafted?

[iMoreland]

What is mad cap? What does that even mean? Why would you name someone that.

If the booking doesn't change for KO after the draft he's definitely gone.

[tugs]

So the SD Women's Champ was drafted at? I'm confused

That swerve with Drew though. Caught me off guard with the Big E confrontation. Made sense to challenge since the stipulation was as long as Bobby was the champ he can't compete for the title. But honestly I'm relieved, Drew as champ has to take a break for now. And liked the idea how he stitched it back to his debut as an unfinished business for him

Speaking of swerves, man, Hit Row in SD should be great. Problem is, the stable wars have been on fire for NXT. Wonder who they'll be feuding up against in SD. I don't see them as effective without a feud against a stable

[Amare_1_Knicks]

What is mad cap? What does that even mean? Why would you name someone that.

If the booking doesn't change for KO after the draft he's definitely gone.

At first I though they were saying “madcat” and not “madcap.” Madcat kind of sounds like a 1950’s wrestling gimmick — almost sounds cool. Madcap apparently means one marked by capriciousness and foolishness, which certainly describes how he was acting lol.

I swear I called Drew and Riddle/Orton to Smackdown in the draft btw.

[Celtsfan1980]

39 people on the roster. A huge amount who could be buried.

Assuming Drew wins at Wrestlemania, I'm not sure who Roman defends against before that. Sheamus? Nakamura? Hardy?

I'm thinking Baszler wins at Wrestlemania. Again I'm not sure who will be challenging before that. Even if Sonya starts wrestling again I could see them struggling with getting challengers.

[tugs]

Shayna as Sonya's muscle, or is Baszler pulling the strings on this one?

[jakecronus8]

After reading all the hype about this title exchange fiasco with Becky and Charlotte/backstage confrontation/heat with Charlotte amongst the entire women’s roster, I watched that segment just now.

I could be wrong but this whole thing screams worked shoot to me. It was well done and different. The idea of the belt hand over seems lame but using it as a way to build to their survivor series match is about as good as you can get for two people on different shows.

Maybe I’m wrong. If there really is all that heat I wonder if Charlotte is pissed about the way her creepy father’s situation was handled and the firing of her husband and she’s trying to force her way out of her contract little by little.

I’m digging AEW right now but I’ll call it like it is. They don’t have a single female talent on her level. I think she’s better off in wwe.

[LLJ]

WWE isn’t creative enough to come up with a worked shoot like this.

[Amare_1_Knicks]

WWE isn’t creative enough to come up with a worked shoot like this.

Yeah, it didn’t strike me as one at all. Reports that officials weren’t happy backstage (including Vince), and then on the replayed episode last night they cut part of the segment.

[Texas Chuck]

After reading all the hype about this title exchange fiasco with Becky and Charlotte/backstage confrontation/heat with Charlotte amongst the entire women’s roster, I watched that segment just now.

I could be wrong but this whole thing screams worked shoot to me. It was well done and different. The idea of the belt hand over seems lame but using it as a way to build to their survivor series match is about as good as you can get for two people on different shows.

Maybe I’m wrong. If there really is all that heat I wonder if Charlotte is pissed about the way her creepy father’s situation was handled and the firing of her husband and she’s trying to force her way out of her contract little by little.

I’m digging AEW right now but I’ll call it like it is. They don’t have a single female talent on her level. I think she’s better off in wwe.

I thought it was a worked shoot too. And a good one. Right there with you. But yeah the reports suggest something else. I get Becky and Charlotte have past beef but Becky should be enough of a pro to have seen what a great shoot that was by Charlotte and as over as Becky remains she wasn't going to be hurt by Charlotte's actions there at all.

Becky imo should have said hey next time let me know upfront you are going to do that so I can play off it and make our segment even hotter, but acknowledge it was a smart angle by Charlotte.

And yeah Charlotte would be totally wasted on AEW. They have nobody who could go with her night after night.

[LLJ]

The problem with Charlotte is that she has a history of manipulating booking so that she comes out looking the best. And the WWE internally supports this. You don’t need to look at just this one incident. Just look at her booking history. Every feud she is in she ends up tapping out her opponent clean in the figure 8. Even Becky at her peak popularity has occasionally won dirty to protect her opponent. With Charlotte she wins her feuds clean as a whistle 99% of the time.

Now nobody is saying Charlotte isn’t a good worker. But so was Benoit, or Cesaro. The reason those guys weren’t/aren’t pushed to the top constantly is they weren’t over enough and Vince never liked them to that degree. With Charlotte Vince sees her as the top woman but the bottom line—money and crowd reactions—suggests she isn’t.

Can anyone argue Charlotte had ever been over to the degree of her push? We have seen so many of her feuds since 2016 where her opponent was more over than her, yet in the end she goes over, clean.

And it’s not like as a heel she constantly draws heat. Much of the time the crowd is apathetic to her, unless she’s booked to ruin a good angle—that’s less to do with her performance and more to do with how she is booked tho

Charlotte is a good performer who should be pushed every now and again. Being talented should count for something at least. But not as a constant focus of the division. If you don’t bring in the money to a ridiculous degree you shouldn’t be booked like she is.

Becky isn’t the worker Charlotte is but nobody can deny that Becky doesn’t bring in the money for the company. She moves merchandise and has many fans and great crowd reactions. You can dislike Becky but you get why she is pushed like she is—she’s a moneymaker with legit star crowd reactions. Which in the end is the most important part of pro wrestling.

[spykelee]

Charlotte reportedly did campaign to lose clean to Bianca on raw. I agree with her assessment that bel-air is a star and that probably should have happened tbh. No doubt she has clout backstage but I too wonder if she isn't trying to force her way out little by little. I do think she has a good head on her shoulders for the business and lay most of the blame for her pushes at the feet of creative.

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[Ruzious]

I think Charlotte is pushed the way she is because it's clear she's the top female performer in the WWE. That's not a knock on Becky, Bianca, Sasha, or anyone else. It's just acknowledging what is.

[daoneandonly]

Got to disagree with those that said the title exchange segment was good, just weird to watch as a viewer and the unprofessionalism of both was just too noticeable.