That Bryan/AJ match...keep the same energy

[blissified]

I enjoyed it myself and feel the "awfulness" is being exaggerated cause it's the cool thing in IWC HS to hate AJ.

[blscks]

I was there and I never saw a crowd so uninterested in a Bryan match. They are killing his character. Brutal.

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2019 12:42:08 GMT -5 blissified said:

I enjoyed it myself and feel the "awfulness" is being exaggerated cause it's the cool thing in IWC HS to hate AJ.

It's actually the opposite. More people love Styles than hate him.

[Tea & Crumpets]

I've not seen the match but all I'll say is I HATE the concept of cooldown matches. People talk about burnout but things only burn out if you give fans a reason to burn out eg. a dud match. I hate to be the 'But in Newwww Japaaaaaan' guy, but...in New Japan, they tend to structure cards around a steady progression towards the hottest match or moment of the show. Build to a big crescendo rather than getting the crowd up then letting them cool off. I'd much prefer if WWE took this approach, because it also makes the bigger matches feel bigger because they're part of that rising wave.

[HMARK Center]

Jan 28, 2019 13:28:37 GMT -5 Tea & Crumpets said:

I've not seen the match but all I'll say is I HATE the concept of cooldown matches. People talk about burnout but things only burn out if you give fans a reason to burn out eg. a dud match. I hate to be the 'But in Newwww Japaaaaaan' guy, but...in New Japan, they tend to structure cards around a steady progression towards the hottest match or moment of the show. Build to a big crescendo rather than getting the crowd up then letting them cool off. I'd much prefer if WWE took this approach, because it also makes the bigger matches feel bigger because they're part of that rising wave.

Yeah, I understand having two Rumbles probably makes that a bit difficult (I imagine doing each Rumble back to back would be a bit of a drain on the crowd), but there hasn't been a need for "cooldown" matches since the early 90s, when PPVs with something like 14 matches on them still happened a lot.

[darbus alan]

The show was absurdly long and the crowd was there for a few matches for a preshow, too. Instead of having cooldown matches, maybe not book shows that aren't Wrestlemania to be that long. The Rumble has always been the main attraction in the Royal Rumble with the title matches always coming off as ancillary.

[bearned]

I liked the match personally, thought it was pretty good given what they were probably told to do and the spot on the card. Could have been a real stinker but it wasn’t.

The issue is the PPV was ridiculously long and theres was probably the most obvious match that could be used to give the crowd some time to recharge. These long ass shows must be horrible to sit through for the crowd and a nightmare to try and book.

[Deleted]

Match was garbage.

I'm not demanding every match be a spotfest - hell, I still say Cena / AJ at the 2017 Rumble sucked for that exact reason - but have SOMETHING happen. That was two guys who've already fought over and over and over again, having far more dynamic matches in the process, just rolling around on the floor for 25 minutes and then it just ends on a wet fart of a run-in where they completely killed all surprise before it even actually happned.

[Deleted]

I’m saying it.

The match sucked.

Especially after watching Ricochet and Johnny Wrestling kill it the night before. Styles and Bryan are meant to be two of the best in the business and they got shown up by Rookie Ronda and The Boss.

I like both guys but that match sucked ass. I’m surprised how many people are actually enjoying this heel Bryan stuff. For me it’s one of the worst decisions they’ve made recently. Styles should have been the one to turn.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

In that match, it was just really hard to ignore that nothing means anything. "Oh, look, he's going after his ribs. That'll kill a few minutes and not play in to the ending spot at all."

"Oh, is this the first time AJ's got the heel hook on? Well, no way for that to be the finish, so who cares?"

[City Duck]

AJ Styles had a lame, overly long match on PPV where nothing happened and it killed the crowd?

I haven't been this shocked Roderick Strong did a backbreaker.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

I thought the match was fantastic until the dogshit finish but clearly I'm in the minority.

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

Jan 28, 2019 12:42:08 GMT -5 blissified said:

I enjoyed it myself and feel the "awfulness" is being exaggerated cause it's the cool thing in IWC HS to hate AJ.

Completely agree.

This match was in no way as bad as the shitfest that was Rollins/Ambrose, and I was enjoying the match last night until f***ing Erick "the charisma, presence, and wrestling ability of a turnip" Rowan showed up. I felt the match was just starting to get it legs.

Rollins/Ambrose was no psychology, no real effort put into the booking of the match, and it showed.
I don't recall the crowd chanting boring last night either.

Was it as good as their SDL matches? No. Was it as good as the TLC match? No.
I was just stoked that Bryan and AJ were getting to wrestle each other on one of the big 4, and in front of almost 50,000 people.
It was surreal.

The match was fine up until the end, had it been given 5-10 more minutes and went into second gear it would've been really good.

So I can't keep the same energy because it wasn't the same energy.

[britishbulldog]

I loved the match, it was old school pick a body party and go to work. It made sense, probably a little too long but I love that style much more than false finish every other move.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Jan 28, 2019 12:30:30 GMT -5 abjordans said:

I think the real news here is how Bryan was just out of his mind cutting ridiculously good promos all weekend long. It was similar to those nights Steph Curry just can throw it up from anywhere on the court and it is going in. It was just like “crazy promo here, crazy promo at the merch store, crazy promo here, crazy promo backstage” he was Steph Curry with the shot, boi.

No kidding. Dude managed to get three minutes of promo fire out of some Frankenstein burger.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jan 29, 2019 0:20:17 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Jan 28, 2019 12:30:30 GMT -5 abjordans said:

I think the real news here is how Bryan was just out of his mind cutting ridiculously good promos all weekend long. It was similar to those nights Steph Curry just can throw it up from anywhere on the court and it is going in. It was just like “crazy promo here, crazy promo at the merch store, crazy promo here, crazy promo backstage” he was Steph Curry with the shot, boi.

No kidding. Dude managed to get three minutes of promo fire out of some Frankenstein burger.

I found it hilarious how much they let him bury that burger. He crushed one on camera and then bloody Charley Caruso shit-talked it as well. Either the Chase Field people are good sports or they had no idea.

[Ryushinku]

Rollins-Ambrose got, rightly, crapped on for the lack of fire when it came to the big clash. I'm calling the same thing here.

They went out and had A Match. AJ-Bryan is never going to be terrible, but just A Match made it my most disappointing bout of the night, particularly given the build.

Probably should've called an audible and mixed things up. They were given 25 minutes to play with, so there was plenty of time for some latitude.
Wonder if they held back a little in not wanting to miss out on WrestleMania? Or just were determined to work a certain style of match?

I don't know.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Jan 28, 2019 12:42:08 GMT -5 blissified said:

I enjoyed it myself and feel the "awfulness" is being exaggerated cause it's the cool thing in IWC HS to hate AJ.

My kingdom for a world where people can have different opinions and it isn't blamed on hive minds, "the cool thing to do", or people just deciding they're not going to like something no matter how it turns out, but just on people actually having different opinions.

[blissified]

Jan 29, 2019 3:54:52 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Jan 28, 2019 12:42:08 GMT -5 blissified said:

I enjoyed it myself and feel the "awfulness" is being exaggerated cause it's the cool thing in IWC HS to hate AJ.

My kingdom for a world where people can have different opinions and it isn't blamed on hive minds, "the cool thing to do", or people just deciding they're not going to like something no matter how it turns out, but just on people actually having different opinions.

Yeah that's fine but i've literally seen people say that they would rather have Jinder in Styles spot.

There's having different opinions and then theres the side effects of high quality drugs.

[clifford]

The match was fine but is THE classic example of boredom booking that the WWE utilises i.e. books the same championship match for MONTHS on end to the point the crowd are just sick of it. Bryan/AJ have had 2 great tv matches and a great match at TLC. Why do we need a fourth?

Why not put Mustafa Ali in there to tear it up for 15 minutes with Daniel Bryan? Or if you don't want 2 big underdog world title fights on the same PPV, how about Bryan/Rey or Bryan/Jeff Hardy? Why do we need to see Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles for the fourth time? Why should we care? AND the ending kind of sets up a FIFTH match between them. It's f***ing redundant. There are so many options these days on TV, especially in an era where it seems that ANYONE on the roster is but one big win away from a world title match at all times. Vary it up!