**World Soxtalk Championship Wrestling Thread VI**

[iWiN4PreP]

I wasn't happy with Raw tonight (before you b****, I've been happy with Raw and Smackdown for the past 3-5 weeks).

 

The opening with McMahon and Lynch was questionable. I could see how some would feel that there is a 'Stone-Cold' feel going on here with Lynch getting the badass reaction over a McMahon, but I felt Stephanie had no business being here and this was all about her ego. It also made Lynch look pretty stupid as all she had to do was get a check with the Doctor. If the storyline is that she knows she's hurt beyond repair, that's a pretty rough storyline to be carrying for the next two months -- good luck with that one not backfiring. 

We had the Jeff Jarrett/Road Dogg and Elias segment+match. That is at least 1 week overdone. At the rumble it was cool to see Jarrett... the next night on Raw it was a natural finish/send off/fun... this time around it was a waste of time and hurt the product. 

I'll give them a positive for the Bayley/Banks tag match. They obviously had to have Banks/Bayley wins and Banks was real-life injured so they needed to keep her away from the wrestling and they made it a match with the early shenanigans.

The Kurt Angle story was absolutely horrid. They toy us with some big announcement, but he didn't say a single interesting thing and all it led to was a DQ finish match between Angle/Strow and Corbin/Drew. Angle continues to look like a fool in this storyline and I'm not sure it's helping any of the 4. 

The Finn/Lio/Bobby storyline progression was good. No problems there.

The bliss segment was stupid. EC3 kinda looked like a fool and had a really awkward match with Ambrose. Nia being there sucks, fuck her.

The Tag Match was also a major, major down point. The Revival win in a four corners tag match that just last week on Smackdown had 3 pins.. this match was the first pin to win. Revival have now had multiple chances at the tag belts. Just boring to give them another straight chance.

 

Overall, there was a lot of bad (tag, Kurt angle segment) and questionable decisions (Lynch). At best, there was some OK storyline progression (Finn and HugnBoss connection) and thus, it was a lost show -- I would have been better off not watching it.

Edited February 5, 2019 by iWiN4PreP

[iWiN4PreP]

Welp, Raw is back to being straight awful. Methinks the spark of the Royal Rumble gave it a good 3-5 week high and now that the most exciting PPV of the year is over, Raw has fallen victim to the nothingness that we are used to.

The whole Becky Lynch-McMahon Saga has served only to hurt her. I can't believe the storyline that they've come up with is set out to make her look like an idiot. All she had to do was get a doctor's check up, but she refused for whatever reasoning making any logical viewer think she was being unreasonable. Not to be outdone, she has made the whole 'im sorry' situation so difficult. I'm not saying that this is horrendous like most of the other stuff on Raw, but it certaintly isn't good.

The 3-woman tag match was fine, nothing wrong here.

The Elias moment with the Lucha's was OK/kinda funny.

The whole like hour long segment and all the angles between Strowman/Finn/Angle and Drew/Bobby/Baron is so unbearable right now. 5/6 individuals are being hurt by this. The only one gaining right now is Bobby Lashley, but only marginally. Strowman has been completely buried in terms of where he was before. Angle looks like a Grandpa. There's just nothing interesting coming out of this. The matches at EC are going to be hideous. 

Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross -- Sorry, I have absolutely no reason to care about Ruby all of the sudden, just because they put her in a match with Rousey. Straight boring.

Ambrose vs. ECIII - Boring. Repeat of the same thing we saw last Monday. Not a way to build up ECIII or say good bye to Ambrose.

Rollins interview -- I just don't get it. Rollins isn't 'it' for me. Interview was mediocre, not horrid, but nothing that got me excited.

Raw Tag team match - This was a great match. They've been tearing down the house reportedly on the house show market and they did it here. But how many times do these two teams have to compete? Happy to see Revival become TTC.

 

As for EC, there's so much useless shit on this PPV. It's quite clear that WWE is saying, fuck it, let's put some shit together in between RR and WM. 

I'm wrestling-sad. 

[iWiN4PreP]

I wasn't super opposed to the triple threat Char vs. Ronda vs. Becky... I would rather it Becky vs. Ronda but what they did to introduce Charlotte into the fold was fucking moronic.

 

Made Becky look like an idiot. Didn't turn Ronda Heel with super heet. And randomly added Charlotte. 

The McMahons stated in late december that things were going to change... but they absolutely haven't. It's really... really fucking stupid. 

[Brian]

Don't understand outrage of Charlotte being in the match. She's the best woman wrestler since Trish and if the women are main eventing WrestleMania for the first time, she deserves to be in the match. It goes from a good match to a great one. As long as Becky is tapping out Ronda in the end, who cares? They've clearly been building to this since Nia punched Becky in the face.

Hopefully the McMahon involvement fades away as the weeks roll on.

Too bad the Revival vs Glorious will be forgotten because that was a great tag match. Easily the best Raw tag match in a long long time. Would've been a great PPV opener with a hotter crowd.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Brian

[iWiN4PreP]

2 hours ago, Brian said:

Too bad the Revival vs Glorious will be forgotten because that was a great tag match. Easily the best Raw tag match in a long long time. Would've been a great PPV opener with a hotter crowd.

Yup -- they've been on fire recently. Just awesome matches.

 

2 hours ago, Brian said:

Don't understand outrage of Charlotte being in the match. She's the best woman wrestler since Trish and if the women are main eventing WrestleMania for the first time, she deserves to be in the match. It goes from a good match to a great one. As long as Becky is tapping out Ronda in the end, who cares? They've clearly been building to this since Nia punched Becky in the face.

The 'money' match is Becky vs. Ronda. That's the match with the storyline, the emotion, and the natural path to wrestlemania. That has classic WM moment written all over it.
Adding Charlotte makes a triple threat and devalues the match. Also, storyline-wise, it makes no sense for Charlotte to arbitrarily be added to the match.

Speaking from personal bias -- I'm a big fan of Charlotte and I can get behind a triple threat (even tho I'd prefer a 1on1), but they way they went about adding her was a failure. Could have been executed significantly better compared to making Becky look like a tool. 

 

 

[Brian]

1 hour ago, iWiN4PreP said:

The 'money' match is Becky vs. Ronda. That's the match with the storyline, the emotion, and the natural path to wrestlemania. That has classic WM moment written all over it.
Adding Charlotte makes a triple threat and devalues the match. Also, storyline-wise, it makes no sense for Charlotte to arbitrarily be added to the match.

 

 

Makes perfect sense, unless you missed Survivor Series, TLC, and Rumble.

[iWiN4PreP]

8 minutes ago, Brian said:

1 hour ago, iWiN4PreP said:

 

Makes perfect sense, unless you missed Survivor Series, TLC, and Rumble.

Incorrect. She lost at all three events. She shouldn't get free opportunities.

Meanwhile, Becky went on to win the Royal Rumble and earn her opportunity in a 1on1 match against Ronda. 

Charlotte, coming out of nowhere, does not deserve it kayfabe wise and it just doesn't make sense storyline wise. 

[2nd_city_saint787]

I admitedly have not watched WWE in quite some time(not because of the product, but because i no longer have the time).....but is Rousey even good enough in the ring for a nice long mania headliner? 

 

I will be watching and would hate to see a little 10 minute match as the main event of WM. Adding Charlotte to the match makes more sense in that regard. 

[iWiN4PreP]

1 hour ago, 2nd_city_saint787 said:

I admitedly have not watched WWE in quite some time(not because of the product, but because i no longer have the time).....but is Rousey even good enough in the ring for a nice long mania headliner? 

Her big matches are choreographed well in advance and that has seemed to work. Her PPV matches have all been really, really good. Her match against Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble was fantastic, maybe 4*'s. Her matchs with Charlotte at Survivor series was amazing until Charlotte DQ'd it. 

 

[iWiN4PreP]

Elimination Chamber predictions:

Murphy vs. Tozawa : Murphy, Easy

Lashley+Rush vs. Finn: Lashley+Rush. 
I think they put Rush in there to give Finn a chance at winning this, but I don't see Lashley losing the IC title so soon.

Ronda vs. Riot: ronda loool

Braun vs. Corbin No DQ: Braun, stupid match.

Miz/Shane vs. USOS: Miz/Shane, they need the belts to continue their storyline.

Woman's elimination Chamber: Sasha + Bayley, Toughest match to predict

Men's elimination Chamber: Daniel Bryan

 

Overall, a piece of shit PPV card for one of the worst PPVs of the year per usual.

The only interesting thing going on is the Woman's elimination chamber because it's pretty unpredictable. I want Sasha+Bayley to win and they should be the favorites, but WWE has been known to swerve things in situations like this. I could see Mandy's squad winning it or the IIconics. 

The men's chamber will likely be some fun, but can we really get excited about *any* winner? AJ Styles has had his chances, Samoa Joe/Orton haven't been built up in a long while, Kofi is.. well Kofi, and Jeff Hardy is completely forgettable. 

Everything else on the card is pretty awful. The raw matches are straight garbage. 

[GGajewski18]

The PPV before Mania is always terrible.  I agree with you, this card is awful and I probably won't even watch it.  

[fathom]

I predict the Usos don’t win

[Brian]

10 hours ago, fathom said:

I predict the Usos don’t win

Maybe they're trying to get released to go to AEW. ?

[fathom]

18 minutes ago, Brian said:

Maybe they're trying to get released to go to AEW. ?

He's honestly lucky he didn't get shot

[iWiN4PreP]

Why is it so hard for WWE to realize how silly these gimmick ppvs are? It forces them into creative 'hell' since they need to create storylines such that the matches are made for these gimmick PPVS which ends up feeling rushed.
Just have one PPV in between RR and WM and call it No Way Out and let the writers do what is best for storylines during that time....

Also, why don't they actually use the ppv for something? This card is fucking horrid. My God.

[2nd_city_saint787]

Iwin4prep totally ruined WWE for me. 

 

That is all. 

[iWiN4PreP]

3 hours ago, 2nd_city_saint787 said:

Iwin4prep totally ruined WWE for me. 

 

That is all. 

It was so good during the build up to the Royal Rumble and the Royal Rumble itself and then it just went in complete reverse. There's almost nothing tantalizing about the WWE right now. 

If I were in charge I'd nix having two PPVs in between RR and WM and just have one called No Way Out. Hell, I could create a card like this in a matter of 5 minutes of thinking:

Charlotte vs. Ronda for WWE Woman's Title as main event (I'd have Becky vs. Ronda at WM 1on1, none of this BS we are going through now, could even have Becky as a special ref or enforcer or something for this match)

Daniel Bryan vs. ____ for the WWE Title. Probably AJ Styles in some sort of gimmick match, like a ladder match or something. Have it be their final send off before WM. 

Finals of WWE Woman's Tag Title match: I would have done some sort of tournament or contenders match to find the two teams and give them an opportunity to bring the house down in a proper 2on2 for the belts. Likely Sasha/Bayley vs. IIconics or something (not sure how good IIconics are at wrestling). 

Some sort of SD #1 contenders match for the title at WM. Could go a number of different ways. Could do an elimination Chamber with say Samoa Joe/Kofi Kingston/Randy Orton and then three guys from Raw are given a chance like Ambrose/Finn/Elias/Srowman of sorts. OR could just do a straight up #1 contenders storyline. I'd almost prefer a triple threat at WM with like Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe and a big time face. Whatever, it's a mess.

Asuka vs. Naomi vs. Mandy Rose  for woman's belt. Need to start to build up your champion Asuka before WM. She hasn't been on TV in a while due to WWE woman's tag belts + it ends or continues the build of Naomi and Mandy Rose. 

IC Title Match: Lashley vs. whomever could be Finn or Elias or both, this match is acceptable.

Shane/Miz vs. USOs this match servers a purpose and is fine.

Cruiserweight title.

Almas vs. Rey Mysterio: This one was obvious, not sure why they didn't go with this. 

Rollins vs. _____ Need to build up Rollins, perhaps have Heyman side with a WWE talent to give them a push and let Rollins take care of business in a high intensity match. Hell, maybe Elias, maybe Apollo crews, I don't know. It's better than seeing Strowman vs. Corbin for the 65th time. 

 

In 5 minutes time I've created a more compelling card that is logically consistent with storylines because I was not buried by the elimination chamber gimmick and having two PPVS back to back before WM. 

[Brian]

Gotta have at least one ppv a month to maintain subscribers.

[iWiN4PreP]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

Gotta have at least one ppv a month to maintain subscribers.

January - Royal Rumble
Feb - No Way Out
March/Early April - Wrestlemania

It's not that far out, provides more time for compelling storylines. Could even through in a Woman's PPV or some sort of mini-event if need be or even a big NXT event.

[Brian]

34 minutes ago, iWiN4PreP said:

January - Royal Rumble
Feb - No Way Out
March/Early April - Wrestlemania

It's not that far out, provides more time for compelling storylines. Could even through in a Woman's PPV or some sort of mini-event if need be or even a big NXT event.

I’d be fine with it like the old days but you need to think of it as business sometimes. They need the monthly content to maintain subscribers. It’s a simple business model.

When they did two a month, one for each brand, I enjoyed it cuz there’s nothing else on Sunday but it did water it down, even though it was different rosters. 1 a month or a doable. Seth in going to mania main event and he’s not even on. We’ll see if he’s even on Fastlane. Easy to not overexpose guys with one a month.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Brian

[iWiN4PreP]

2 minutes ago, Brian said:

I’d be fine with it like the old days but you need to think of it as business sometimes. They need the monthly content to maintain subscribers. It’s a simple business model.

For sure. I'm just not convinced that the business model of suffocating fans with content is the best approach. Almost universally on the internet I find that fans want Raw down to two hours, that the current PPVs length is just torturous, and that the amount of wasted time on their shows is preposterous. 

If I were 'in charge' I wouldn't be for a setup of limiting ppvs to the big 5, but I'd definitely cut out the gimmick PPVs and replace them with a set up like this:

January: Royal Rumble
Feb: No way out (meant to build to WM)
March/Early April: Wrestlemania
Late April/Early May: Backlash
June: King of The Ring
July: Bash at the Beach
August: Summerslam
September: WWE Evolution for Woman and also can do Saudi events during this time
October: Halloween Havok
November: Survivor Series
December: Starcade

 

[Brian]

On 2/14/2019 at 9:43 PM, fathom said:

I predict the Usos don’t win

@freezingcoldtakes

[iWiN4PreP]

Elimination Chamber was a lot of fun! Just goes to show you how great the talent is in WWE. The storylines going into EC were horrid and the card was terrible, but the talent overcame it.

1. Women's EC: Wow, this was absolutely fantastic. Booked really well. WWE went with the emotional Bayley+Banks win where Banks was able to overcome the odds in the end playing nicely to Bayley/Bank's storyline of one person doing the work at the end. Really, the whole match was fantastic. 

2. McMiz vs. Usos: Surprise Uso victory here, I got that wrong, but I see how it will likely play towards McMiz breaking apart. Great match too.

3. Finn vs. Lio/Bobby: Finn wins, I got this wrong in my prediction, but I see how Bobby will likely move on now from Lio, that makes some sense. Finn winning the IC title is nice for him, but this match kinda sucked. 

4. Rousey vs. Riot: Squash match but a very nice post-match ending with Charlotte and Rousey both being beat down by the suspended Becky. That plays well with the storyline.

5. Corbin vs. Strowman: Match sucked, Strowman gets 3on1'd at the end, but a very cool spot with strowman being powerbombed through two tables. This whole saga between all members involved is really a low point. There's nothing going strong for any of these guys. As individuals, I like all 4 of them, but this thing has been a dragged out mess and needs to just end.

6. Men's EC: Match was mediocre until Daniel Bryan vs. kofi was left and then it became phenomenal. What an amazing showing by Kofi. Had me believing in him and I was at the end of my seat rooting for him. Great performance. AJ Styles delivers another so-so performance, I'm REALLY losing my faith in him. Hardy sucked, Orton sucked, both guys are too old now to perform. Kofi Fucking Kingston tho.

The PPV as a whole was definitely a hit. Loved it, and that makes WWE 2/2 on PPV's to enter 2019. If only they had a better card + storylines going into this thing!

[fathom]

How can you say the men’s EC was mediocre until the end while saying the women’s was fantastic?  Seeing a botched move every minute isn’t my idea of fantastic TV.

[iWiN4PreP]

19 minutes ago, fathom said:

How can you say the men’s EC was mediocre until the end while saying the women’s was fantastic?  Seeing a botched move every minute isn’t my idea of fantastic TV.

The men's EC prior to DB and Kofi tearing the house down wasn't bad, it just wasn't helped by the storylines going into it. Daniel Bryan was fantastic in an almost Flair-like heel persona throughout the match. Samoa Joe being eliminated so early was a downer, but the storylines going into it kinda made it so.... Joe has been an afterthought. 

Hardy was eliminated after his 5 moves of doom, Orton eliminated AJ Styles with one move, AJ Styles performed well, but nothing spectacular. I just wasn't invested in any of it due to the storylines. The story hurt the first half of the match.

Admittedly, woman's wrestling is notorious for botching and this match was no different, however, the woman's EC match was entirely enjoyable. As stated before, I'm a huge bayley/banks fan, so there could be bias here seeing them win the inaugural titles, but I thought every element of it was played out well. How Nia destroyers herself allowing the two teams to take out Tamina. The whole segment in the middle where every wrestler got a chance to show off their finisher moves. The emotional ending with Banks overcoming 2on1 odds and altering her submission hold due to her injury.