deezy
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,700
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Post by deezy on Aug 30, 2020 12:04:49 GMT -5
This is a huge move and has fans excited. If you think a heel Roman is a bad idea or wanna blame the fans for being fickle or whatever I don't even know what to say. This is the first time in awhile that I'm actually looking forward to a ppv and SD on Friday instead of watching it out of habit.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2020 13:44:25 GMT -5
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a “chosen one babyface” if that face is talented and charismatic. If they’re good at their job, they’ll keep selling merch, they’ll keep getting high ratings and loud reactions. Trying to make them edgier out of nowhere, or having them suddenly become weaker because they were winning a lot just to appease a handful of folks who hate them, is awful strategy. Golden rule #23 of Pro Wrestling 101: It’s okay if the top face isn’t everyone’s favorite. All wrestling companies should stick with their guns if a babyface is performing the way they want. Vince stuck with Cena as a strong champ despite some fans in the crowd liking Punk or Edge more, and he was overall a success. As you said, Gedo knew Okada had the tools and kept him as a strong champ despite fans liking Naito or Tanahashi more, and overall Okada’s been a success as well. And back in the day, Hogan and Bret weren’t universally loved by every single fan either, and I know of tons of fans who couldn’t stand Austin or Rock, There’s tons of fan reports talking about this crowd booing Dusty and cheering Ric, that crowd booed face Hogan, and so on. No face has ever been embraced by all fans, because people aren’t monolithic- folks will like who they like, and that’s fine. Roman’s issue wasn’t him being over pushed, it was him getting cut off at the knees. His treatment by the writers has been a lot closer to Made In The USA Lex Luger, a hyped up superface who was over for a period before Yokozuna kept outwitting him, and then the fans went back to Bret. My main point is, if you stay consistent with a face star who has talent and charm, which Roman has, you don’t need to turn them heel. “Universally loved faces” are a myth. I agree However, as said no matter what you're going to have that portion who will just hate him no matter what and they want their voices to be heard the loudest This board alone should tell you how split it is on him. Responses like, I like Joe and wish him good health but don't want Roman on my TV has been seen plenty of times on here and is outside of that realm of wrestling you really can't do anything about I will keep repeating, fans are fickle. They hate the "vanilla" version of him but will change their tune with this potential heel turn. He will be a face again and hotter then he ever was. It launched Becky Lynch into a whole diff orbit. Steve Austin coming off the double turn. Rock getting his Nation and Corporate runs. He's still THE GUY whether he is a face or heel but the change in character will change perception at least for a little while. He will still be hated because he is a Vince favorite and not a "organic favorite" Ain't got nothing to do with being fickle. Come on now. It's about wanting to see interesting characters, something Roman hasn't been since The Shield. How many years were we force-fed this dude? How many Manias did he headline and get booed out of the arena? How long has dude been doing the same schtick? He was Dolph Ziggler with a megapush. If people say they don't want Roman on TV it's because no one expected the company to do anything interesting with him. Blame them for conditioning us to feel that way. You're saying people will change their tune if they do something intriguing and different with his character.. Yeah, no kidding. That's how it works. If that's fickle than every single person who consumes media and has likes and dislikes is fickle.
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Post by eJm on Aug 30, 2020 14:03:56 GMT -5
So I’m really on the fence of all this to be honest.
On the one hand, this has been due for a long so I’m glad it’s at least being teased but on the other hand...it has been due for a long time and in that sense, it feels more like a desperate bandaid to get fan interest and ratings rather than anything genuinely meaty.
But I also have to side with Clash a bit. With this potential turn, it basically demonstrates something we’ve all known for years in that WWE doesn’t know how to book a consistently strong good guy face to save their lives. For as good as Sami, Bayley and others have been as heels, they had so much more to give as faces before the turns that it feels like they just don’t care to really try and create genuine, marketable baby faces.
Even Roman, for as strong as he’s been booked, has had so many stop/start pushes to establishing himself and pitfalls that it genuinely made me wonder if they actually want to push the guy. You have to remember, he fluked his way to a 2015 Royal Rumble win, something Austin, Hogan, Cena etc never did. Along with the mentioned WrestleMania 31 loss, the fluke win over Lesnar, the promos being written for him, it felt way more like missteps rather than actual investment.
But the other part of this is...honestly, I can’t get myself to care anymore. I do rag on WWE a lot but to be frank, it’s because I want o watch it again. I like being a part of the live threads, the wider discussions, everything else. I hate ragging on them for booking, the Saudi deal, the terrible way they’ve dealt with #SpeakingOut, their bullshittery in relation to the pandemic but it’s just that I miss enjoying the company and their roster is insanely good that any other booker would be doing everything they can to take advantage of them but...they’ve made most of them look like bums who don’t belong.
One of the reasons I can’t find myself caring is because they’ve spent the past decade plus eroding so much goodwill, losing so many opportunities and letting people go who still had a place on the show that it’s a struggle to even think they’ll know how to pay this off. They promoted a new “rebellious” stable on WWE.com, something they knew how to do not that long ago with more promotion and teases, I have zero faith this’ll last that long.
Also, fans are fickle for getting excited? Do we have to keep to WWE’s attitude of seeming like they dislike their fans? It’s one of the reasons investment in the product is so low, for crying out loud.
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SAJ Forth
Wade Wilson
Jamaican WCF Crazy!
Half Man-Half Amazing
Posts: 27,214
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Post by SAJ Forth on Aug 30, 2020 15:46:33 GMT -5
Well at least we know he's not there so Paul talks Lesnar, maybe.
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Shark
Hank Scorpio
The world's only Samurai Ninja Pirate
Posts: 7,045
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Post by Shark on Aug 30, 2020 17:54:20 GMT -5
I'll say this, This year, the Universal title has felt really unimportant. Bray wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire, then he got squashed by Goldberg who then lost it to a late replacement Braun, who then was one of the least important parts of Smackdown for the last 4 months. His feud with Bray wasn't doing much, the most interesting part of it was Alexa's involvement. But now with Roman back and whatever this deal will be with Heyman, the title actually FEELS important and interesting again. This is the first time in a LOOOONG time that I can actually say I'm excited to see a Universal title match.
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