Have to admit, I'm actually surprised at the "Backlash". Obviously the match order was all wrong, but the match quality itself was not nearly as bad as other PPVs in recent memory.
Apparently having Roman feud with Jinder Mahal is the big change. That is Raw's top feud. Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal. Oh boy. Can't wait to see that
And the funniest part? Jinder, a guy that got booed for months on Smackdown, is now going to have the crowd behind him during matches with Roman. Jinder. A ****ing jobber turned champion that drew massive heat, is now going to be more liked than Reigns by anyone over 14.
Exactly. The fact that Jinder Mahal who is god awful, is now going to be cheered when going up against Reigns. That tells you right there that the guy isn't over...sh!t you had people leaving the arena during the Reigns/Samoa Joe match...he got the Rock booed at The Rumble which The Rock was pissed(just look at his face). I just don't understand what the hell is Vince thinking.
So started watching wrestling again after a long time because Mania was on (pretty much stopped watching just before JBL became champ) and boy do I have a lot to say...
It really feels like a true global organisation now, all of the foreign superstars seem to have no problem getting pops from the fans, 15-20 years ago you got booed if you weren't American, chants of 'USA, USA' would fill arenas whether the non American wrestler was a heel or a face. Now people like Seamus, Rusev and Balor are huge. Definitely gives the company more of an MMA event kind of feel.
The women's division is incredible now, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Ember Moon are just awesome, Ruby Riott has impressed too. Still needs more mic talent though, The IIconics and Carmella are about the best I've seen thus far and Nia Jax's bullying speech at Backlash was awful to watch, reminded me of Trish Stratus' 'This is why I do this' rant years ago.
Seems like everyone has been world champion now, back to my original point briefly, 15-20 years ago you would never have been world champ unless you were American or Canadian, it also seems like all the top guys have been champ 10-15 times, guess they were sick of Ric Flair's 16 or 18 title reigns making everyone else sound shit so they let guys like Cena and HHH catch up to him more or less.
I've seen Brock at 2 Wrestlemania's now, this last one and the one were he fought Goldberg and he sucked at both of them. If you can't raise your game for the granddaddy of them all then you have no business wrestling. Brock looked phenomenal when he first burst onto the scene but ultimately I think he is just lazy now. The best performers make their opponents look good too, (Bret Hart was a master at this) and Brock does none of this, even his mic talent consists of giving the mic to Paul Heyman and standing there looking like a retarded parolee.
The world title belts look really cheap now, it all started when they allowed John Cena to take the spinny belt thing he had when he was US champion and put it on the world title and then guys like Edge kept it for their title reigns, really sad, they look like happy meal toys now.
Was at a friends house a few years ago to watch the Royal Rumble, (the one that Reigns won) and I noticed how much the fans seem to hate Roman Reigns, and they still do now, I actually feel sorry for the guy TBH, why don't they just make him a heel? They're going to boo him anyway so why not make him the most hated man in wrestling for quite some time? It's not like he's completely devoid of talent, they only boo him because he is being forced down their throats.
I'll keep watching until Money In The Bank at least, but from what I can tell Strowman should win it despite his size, his profile is just getting bigger and bigger but you just know a match between him and Lesnar would be awful. Seth Rollins is awesome too but his gimmick is a bit like, 'I'm a wrestler from 1999 sent forward into the future to wrestle today.' It's like he's a clone of the entire Attitude era.
__________________ Then lets head down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch
Ha! Cheered. Funny. People walked out when Roman was facing Samoa Joe. Prepare to see that happening more and people turning off more. WWE made fans have apathy to Roman.
Agreed. I have listened to various Wrestling podcast's, and it seems the plan with WWE, is to have Reigns in a Daniel Bryan like story line...all of this to desperately get him over. If this actually occurs, I will be laughing my ass off because the sh!t storm reaction Reigns will receive will be like Bobby Rhoode's theme, GLORIOUS
I just had a brilliant idea what WWE could do with Nakamura. Have him start a new stable. With who? Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Imagine that. MITB, AJ vs. Nakamura. The two are clashing it out. When suddenly, Anderson and Gallows come out and hit the Magic Killer on AJ. Nakamura wins. This helps Nakamura because you have given him a mouthpiece with Anderson and Gallows and also you're giving Anderson and Gallows something to do. And this will be a nice heel-turn against Styles for Anderson and Gallows.
Gender: Unspecified Location: 30.3322 degrees N 81.6557 degrees S
On this date back in 2011, we lost the Macho Man Randy Savage. Savage suffered a heart attack while driving in Seminole, Florida and lost control of his vehicle, crashing into a tree. The cause of death was ruled as atheroscclerotic heart disease.
Randy Savage (real name Randall Mario Poffo) had a very decorated wrestling career spanning from WWE (then known as WWF) where he held their top belt on two different occasions for a total reign of 520 days. Savage was also a one time Intercontinental Champion with a reign of 414 days. He would lose that title to Ricky the Dragon Steamboat at WrestleMania III which the Wrestling Observer Newsletter had as their 1987 match of the year. Savage also won the 1987 King of the Ring tournament. Savage would lose to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII in a retirement match but would be back wrestling again in no time. Savage would go on to win his second and final WWE Championship title at WrestleMania VIII by defeating Ric Flair.
Savage also found success in WCW where he was a 4-time World Heavyweight Champion there but that combined reign is only 53 days. Savage would also win the 1995 World War 3 60-Man match for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship (this would be his longest title reign in WCW at 31 days). Pro Wrestling Illustrated gave his 1997 feud against Diamond Dallas Page their Feud of the Year.
Overall, Savage won 29 titles during his 32-year career and would be posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.
Randy Savage was 58 years old at the time of his death. RIP Macho Man.
Gender: Unspecified Location: 30.3322 degrees N 81.6557 degrees S
Brock Lesnar has just surpassed CM Punk's 434 reign as champion to become WWE's longest reigning modern world champion. Give Lesnar another two title defenses and he'll surpass Bruno's first reign as world champ. Lesnar has, on average, defended his title every 2 and a half months. Screw Lesnar.
Also, New Japan has just put on easily one of the greatest matches of all time with Okada vs. Omega IV. This was a moment a year and a half in the making. The two put on 4 amazing matches during that year and a half.
Meanwhile, WWE is giving us AJ vs. Nakamura V at MITB in the span of about two months. This dream match has become a recurring dream. Here are all their matches thus far in WWE:
1.) WrestleMania: This was lackluster for several reasons. (1) The event was already going on for a good 6 hours. Fatigue was hitting the fans and there was zero energy from the audience. They were drained since Daniel Bryan made his return. (2) The build-up wasn't particularly good. (3) There was no clear face/heel dynamic nor was this built up to be a blood feud. This was built as two guys just wanting to put on a good match. Compare that to Kenny Omega who was bloodthirsty for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Nakamura didn't have that intensity. Needless to say, the match wasn't nearly as good as their match at Wrestle Kingdom but enjoyable nonetheless. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
2.) Greatest Royal Rumble: We had a clear heel/face dynamic going into this match and the intensity was up. The match was just too short and the inclusive ending hurt it. ESPECIALLY considering how their next match ends. 3 out of 5 stars.
3.) Backlash: This no DQ match ended with a double count out. If we didn't have the Greatest Royal Rumble, this wouldn't have sucked so much. Instead we get another inclusive ending to what was otherwise a great match and the fact that this wasn't the main event (again) but instead Roman vs. Joe was (which wasn't even for a title) just pissed me off. 3.75 out of 5 stars.
4.) Smackdown: Nakamura beat AJ Styles in a non-title match. Why? Why did we get this match here? It was fine. But pointless and has only destroyed the magic of the two facing off in the ring. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had 3 single matches in the span of 5 years. That made each encounter feel HUGE. 3 out of 5 stars.
Now, we're getting a fifth match at MITB. WWE should take a page out of New Japan and instead stop doing this feuds that run every dream match into the ground. Less is more.
i couldn't think of a match i want to see less than jinder vs roman
I thought the same for years that cena should never be pushed as constantly as he was but he had lots of younger fans, i don't know if even kids care about roman.
Gender: Unspecified Location: 30.3322 degrees N 81.6557 degrees S
But there's AJ vs. Nakamura...for the fifth time in 2 months...happening! I mean, sure Okada vs. Omega had heart and soul. But forearm to groin has forearm to groin!