khali
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,891
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Post by khali on Apr 3, 2023 19:08:59 GMT -5
What kills me about the booking here is that Cody set up a really interesting storyline in the promo on Raw. What does happen when Roman loses? Does the Bloodline fall apart around him? I was really interested to see this direction they mentioned, sounded very interesting and new. Sucks for me, I guess!
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 29,325
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Post by Sephiroth on Apr 3, 2023 19:40:06 GMT -5
There are no heroes anymore, this is part of the problem. Cody is arguably the one truly straight up hero on the roster. I think a really telling show of that was that bit on the preshow where they asked a woman and a kid who they thought was winning the main event, and the kid was super enthusiastic that Cody was going to do it because of how cool he is while the woman just kind of dryly went, "Roman, it's always Roman." And then she was the one who was right. Example: when Seth Rollins is playing it face, he still comes across so douchey that he’s not a true hero character, plus he’s been heel so much before, that grain of salt will always be there. This is virtually the problem with virtually every face character they have got, particularly after spending two years feeding all the faces to Roman.
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Post by HMARK Center on Apr 3, 2023 21:12:51 GMT -5
Might end up saying this in multiple threads, but I really don't consider myself a fan who thinks that match outcomes determine the quality of a show. They're important, of course, but mostly in the context of asking "how does this outcome impact the story being told or the character arc developing?"; I truly believe that in +90% of cases, it's kind of silly to rate a show or match based mostly around "well, who won?", even while it's understandable that someone can personally feel happy or disappointed if their favorites (or most hated) win/lose.
That said, there are always exceptions out there, and while I can't comment directly on the show since I don't watch WWE closely enough, just judging by the way things have been laid out of late it does feel like they missed a few big opportunities in recent months; it's very, very difficult to imagine something as big as Sami beating Roman in Montreal, or Cody doing it at WM. Not impossible, of course, but man, good luck finding it.
Honestly, I don't think this would've really been a problem if they'd just firmly committed to Roman in the "ace" role at this point; start this current iteration of his character heel, but really drive home that he just had to use it to get a new focus that allowed him to hit a new plateau and confidence. Instead, they keep having him cheat to win, and after nearly 1,000 days and following him on weekly television I have to guess a lot of people are losing patience with that. I don't think people would be this salty if he was being booked more like Okada (a guy who's less face or heel and more the ultimate mountain to climb), but instead the story all along seems to be that Roman's done all this stuff because he's the opposite of that: he's insecure, and thus he's come to rely on Heyman and on manipulating his own relatives, and it's tough to have that character run through everybody for that long when he's not doing it cleanly along the way.
Eh, maybe Jay White debuts and beats him tonight or something.
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mc74
Samurai Cop
Posts: 2,439
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Post by mc74 on Apr 3, 2023 21:34:43 GMT -5
What kills me about the booking here is that Cody set up a really interesting storyline in the promo on Raw. What does happen when Roman loses? Does the Bloodline fall apart around him? I was really interested to see this direction they mentioned, sounded very interesting and new. Sucks for me, I guess! The entire story had wheels to it, and it's that level of storytelling that made this year's road to Wrestlemania the most compelling we've seen in years imo. I loved Cody's promo on RAW too, because it did a masterful job of hammering home the point of how Roman losing the title would lead to the downfall of The Bloodline. That gave the audience good reason to stick around to find out what happens in the aftermath. Not to mention Cody winning the belt would've been much needed breath of fresh air after 3 years of Roman dominating the main event scene. But that didn't happen, and since Roman's retained the title, we've got a big problem on our hands because he's basically ran through the whole roster. There isn't really much in the way of options.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
FANatic
Writer, Lover of all things Wrestling. Analytical, Critical, Lovable (hopefully). Lets all have fun!
Posts: 245,249
Member is Online
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Apr 3, 2023 21:52:32 GMT -5
And after how RAW ended... HHH continues to fumble the bag as booker lmfao
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A Little Doo Doo
Salacious Crumb
An unconventional man with unconventional methods.
Posts: 71,355
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Post by A Little Doo Doo on Apr 3, 2023 22:08:52 GMT -5
And after how RAW ended... HHH continues to fumble the bag as booker lmfao Fumbling like Tyler Huntley against the Bengals.
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Post by millionurkle on Apr 3, 2023 22:09:41 GMT -5
I am crying laughing at the ending of this Raw. This Raw was so bad. It just feels like a Raw booked before Vince left and it appears a certain someone is probably back. No offense to WWE fans because I’ve enjoyed WWE in the last few months but this is why I’m glad there is an AEW that I can rotate to whenever one product sucks so bad. They managed to kill 3 major babyfaces (Cody, Sami, and Drew) who could main event in 6 months and now they are back to square one. I don’t need to come back next week. I’m good.
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Post by Friday Night SmackOwn on Apr 3, 2023 22:11:00 GMT -5
The way the show was booked tonight has me wondering if they're just booking out of spite for its audience.
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Post by The Rick Jericho on Apr 3, 2023 22:12:09 GMT -5
The way the show was booked tonight has me wondering if they're just booking out of spite for its audience. Which is what Vincent Kennedy McMahon does best.
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Post by mistery on Apr 3, 2023 22:12:35 GMT -5
Lets not forget how Triple H probably thought people would go wild over Raquel and Liv winning, and it was met with indifference. And then you had Rhea and Bianca stare off, which should have been a big moment, but it fell flat because Bianca's promo absolutely sucked and goddamnit Asuka deserves better.
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Post by King Devitt and the Woke Mob on Apr 3, 2023 22:30:28 GMT -5
The way the show was booked tonight has me wondering if they're just booking out of spite for its audience. Which is what Vincent Kennedy McMahon does best. Bingo.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Apr 3, 2023 22:42:42 GMT -5
Yeah again I've been critical of Triple H as a booker for awhile, but things continue to point more and more to Vince being the guy booking things. For all my criticisms of Triple H this felt more like a Vince show.... hell this felt like a Russo show
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Post by ChitownKnight on Apr 3, 2023 22:44:24 GMT -5
Honestly, I’m starting to think that HHH didn’t book Mania Sunday
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Post by mistery on Apr 3, 2023 22:47:07 GMT -5
Yeah again I've been critical of Triple H as a booker for awhile, but things continue to point more and more to Vince being the guy booking things. For all my criticisms of Triple H this felt more like a Vince show.... hell this felt like a Russo show You would likely be right. SRS was pretty adamant during the Fightful stream that Vince is backstage in gorilla now, and meddling with creative again. Bayley was supposed to escort Damage CTRL to the ring tonight, but she was pulled from the plans at the very last minute (apparently right before they were supposed to go out there).
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Post by King Devitt and the Woke Mob on Apr 3, 2023 22:50:26 GMT -5
Honestly, I’m starting to think that HHH didn’t book Mania Sunday I still maintain HHH was given Night 1 as a thank you from Vince. And from Night 2 Vince took back over. Like seriously, y'all pointing the finger of blame at the wrong person.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Apr 3, 2023 22:53:22 GMT -5
Yeah again I've been critical of Triple H as a booker for awhile, but things continue to point more and more to Vince being the guy booking things. For all my criticisms of Triple H this felt more like a Vince show.... hell this felt like a Russo show You would likely be right. SRS was pretty adamant during the Fightful stream that Vince is backstage in gorilla now, and meddling with creative again. Bayley was supposed to escort Damage CTRL to the ring tonight, but she was pulled from the plans at the very last minute (apparently right before they were supposed to go out there). SRS has also been pretty stubborn in saying Vince is not in charge of creative... but he kind of gave that that's the official word from WWE. I also saw somewhat tweet that they were sitting behind the production staff and they were given 3 separate run downs in the first hour of Raw. Like I have criticisms of Triple H. I think he way too often tries to push people as cool badasses, and I don't think he really sees the value in variety on the show (at least not without a Dusty or Ryan Ward with him), and I think he also at times tries to play too much into the surprise debut tactic too much (again I don't buy the recent narrative that so many people were brought back to add depth to the roster when most of the people brought back... aren't really used recently), but the show just doesn't feel like a Triple H show to me.
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Post by Error on Apr 3, 2023 22:53:49 GMT -5
I think Hunter checked out once Vince showed up for Cena's return. He'll be there until he gets his merger payoff and he's gone.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Apr 3, 2023 22:54:25 GMT -5
Honestly, I’m starting to think that HHH didn’t book Mania Sunday I still maintain HHH was given Night 1 as a thank you from Vince. And from Night 2 Vince took back over. Like seriously, y'all pointing the finger of blame at the wrong person. I've been saying ever since Vince came back that no matter what WWE said, they were getting to Mania and Vince was taking over.
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Post by The Rick Jericho on Apr 3, 2023 22:56:06 GMT -5
I think Hunter checked out once Vince showed up for Cena's return. He'll be there until he gets his merger payoff and he's gone. It could end up being the best for everyone in the end. Especially Hunter's health. He's really been going back to 110% effort since hospitalization. He's got 3 kids, this work has to be very tiring on his body.
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Apr 3, 2023 22:57:16 GMT -5
I think Triple H is a bit overrated as a booker but tonight's RAW felt nothing like the last 6 months.
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