SMACKDOWN LIVE SUPERTHREAD

The White Wolf

RollieFingers wrote: »

How cringey will it be if they all have a group hug after the match? Surely not :P At least they came out and announced which match is going on last so those of us with little interest won't be up to the crack of dawn!

I can see Rousey assaulting Charlotte before the match leaving her not medically cleared for the match

dusty bin

Really feel bad for Asuka. What does she do at wm now? enter the battle royale? is there even one for the women this year?could they turn the 3 way into fatal 4 way or 4some elimination match?

agree with the comments that charlotte should have been steaming through the smackdown divison if this was always the plan, but a fiver says they thought about this at last minute.

Not impressed with the over use of the Gauntlet match, especially in the format where its the new day (single or tag) vs 4 or 5 others. The old gauntlet matches, where winner stays on, are useful once a year. The last two versions make chumps out of those beaten, especially when they are in the 4th or 5th match.

Liked the Uso's forfeit though.

The White Wolf

^Actually now that you mention it, Asuka beating the ****e out of Charlotte to take her out of the match at WM could be good for everyone.

CastorTroy

Wasn't there meant to be a fatal four way to decide Asuka's opponent for Mania? What they did was just unnecessary.
I know people use the "lazy writing" excuse, but this seems to be just that. This way they don't have to worry about a Smackdown women's title match.

The Usos should've just given the guys a chance to rest before forfeiting. Though they did get the ad break to rest. I did like what they did. It was in character and they knew they had nothing to gain from fighting.

Shane got a new Posse?

J. Marston

They won't do that. All the advertising is done or being done with those three as the main event, it will stay that way.

Although they have given the Mania crowd a little ammo to starting hijacking the main event with "Asuka" chants if they get cranky enough.

Loughc

SlickRic wrote: »

I'll get on to Charlotte later.

Can't wait!!

ERG89

Why couldn't they just do Lynch vs Rousey. I like Charlotte as a wrestler as much as anyone but everything about her being added to the match just feels unnecessary. If Lynch beats her at Mania what does that mean? Nothing, as Lynch has beaten her so many times already.
She's Smackdown women's champion on about an hour's notice no doubt. Shows how much the titles mean, it's why the Rumble & MITB matches mean less and less the more they happen.

SureYWouldntYa

The Kofi story is turning out to be great in the end

Anyone criticising it before would have been right, because we can't trust WWE to tell a proper story but they're actually doing it

Charlotte winning the title though is just a mess, they're making it up as they go along week by week, show by show and that usually ends up crap as opposed to a long term story set out months in advance

SlickRic

people can tell me until they're blue in the face that Charlotte deserves this spot at Wrestlemania.

people can tell me until they're blue in the face that she got a pop from the crowd when she won the title last night.

but she is single-handedly destroying this match for me. there is no fúcking need for her whatsoever. she has had her moments. this year is not hers. it's just not. she's not a Hulk Hogan, Cena, Stone Cold or The Rock where she's far and away the biggest star of the time.

the women are in the main event of Wrestlemania because of Ronda Rousey, and then the rise of Becky Lynch. that's it. Charlotte has done nothing to make this match so interesting that it deserves to close Wrestlemania. nothing. Vince tried to have her be a fúcking babyface and it was a fúcking disaster. she's in there for nothing else but her name and the fact that Vince has a raging Roman Reigns sized boner for her.

she's athletic. whoopdie-fúcking-do.

some say she's in there so that it's a good match. fúck right off. that's absolute fúcking nonsense. if that's the argument, they could've put CM Punk in a triple threat with the Rock and Cena instead of having Rock/Cena 2. so don't give me that bollocks.

and then there's putting the Smackdown title on Roman Charlotte.

so, let me get this straight...

despite it being a brilliant match, you sacrifice Asuka, AGAIN, for the sake of adding a belt to the person in the match that isn't even needed.

right-o.

you know what Vince...just get it over with...just have Roman beat Drew at Wrestlemania. then come out and say that he's been added to the Lesnar/Seth match. have him beat the two of them - pinning Lesnar on top of Seth. then have Charlotte knock Becky out within one minute of the opening bell, and have Charlotte tap Rousey out with the armbar after a squash.

then have Roman and Charlotte make out in the middle of the ring to close the show, while you sit in Guerrilla position like this...

J. Marston

SlickRic wrote: »

people can tell me until they're the blue in the face that Charlotte deserves this spot at Wrestlemania.

people can tell me until they're blue in the face that she is got a pop from the crowd when she won the title last night.

but she is single-handedly destroying this match for me. there is no fúcking need for her whatsoever. she has had her moments. this year is not hers. is just not. she's not a Hulk Hogan, Cena, Stone Cold or The Rock where she's far and away the biggest star of the time.

the women are in the main event of Wrestlemania because of Ronda Rousey, and then the rise of Becky Lynch. that's it. Charlotte has done nothing to make this match so interesting that it deserves to close Wrestlemania. nothing. Vince tried to have her be a fúcking babyface and it was a fúcking disaster. she's in there for nothing else but her name and the fact that Vince has a raging Roman Reigns sized boner for her.

she's athletic. whoopdie-fúcking-do.

some say she's in there so that it's a good match. fúck right off. that's absolute fúcking nonsense. if that's the argument, they could've put CM Punk in a triple threat with the Rock and Cena instead of having Rock/Cena 2. so don't give me that bollocks.

and then there's putting the Smackdown title on Roman Charlotte.

so, let me get this straight...

despite it being a brilliant match, you sacrifice Asuka, AGAIN, for the sake of adding a belt to the person in the match that isn't even needed.

right-o.

you know what Vince...just get it over with...just have Roman beat Drew at Wrestlemania. then come out and say that he's been added to the Lesnar/Seth match. have him beat the two of them - pinning Lesnar on top of Seth. then have Charlotte knock Becky out within one minute of the opening bell, and have Charlotte tap Rousey out with the armbar after a squash.

then have Roman and Charlotte make out in the middle of the ring to close the show, while you sit in Guerrilla position with like this...

Just to boil your piss a little more...

https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1110707028144472065

sky88

J. Marston wrote: »

Just to boil your piss a little more...

https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1110707028144472065

meltzer never says anything remotely negative of Charlotte due to his relationship with ric

SlickRic

J. Marston wrote: »

Just to boil your piss a little more...

https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1110707028144472065

Meltzer is 100% trolling there.

CastorTroy

If so worried about the Women's Revolution, why are they making it so obvious they're not spending any time writing for the Smackdown women?

Like the original plan was for Becky to be the heel and Charlotte the face. That didn't happen. Then Ronda was also set to be a big face as well. They changed that. So now the Main Event of Wrestlemania involves 2 heels who were meant to be faces and a lone face who was meant to be heel.

ThePott

I had heard about the title change before I saw it. Regardless, that is upsetting, really awful stuff.

Asuka, is one of the best wrestlers on the roster, they barely did anything with her after last Mania until they needed her at the end of the year. They put a title on her and forget about her for weeks and then they out of nowhere make a title match just to strip her of the title, kick her out of Mania and put a belt on Charlotte which she absolutely doesn't need. It is insane how much they give her, she's good and putting her in the match is one thing but making her a champ is ridiculous. Oh and don't get me started on the fact that commentary pushed this narrative that people thought Charlotte doesn't deserve to be in the match at WM and to disprove that they put her in a match she hadn't earned, absolute nonsense.

It does nothing for the feud going into Mania, there's no reason to throw another title into the match. They could have made a match for Asuka and I know it wouldn't have been a high profile match but all they did here is say that the 4 women for the contenders match are unworthy, they don't deserve a match with Asuka. Charlotte doesn't need to earn anything, she's better than any of them. It's not an excuse to say that there was no worthy opponent for Asuka at Mania, that's the fault of booking. They took the draws from Smackdown and put them on Raw and then also put them on Smackdown so there was even less time for a story for the rest of the women. They booked the whole thing horribly and just doubled down on the same old shíte.

Asuka deserves so much better than this, hard to believe this time last year she was this undefeated winner of the first Royal Rimble and a fearless badass. Seems like this was so last minute too, pretty gutted for what her reign was and her being wasted like this for nothing

The White Wolf

I can only hope it will lead to a monster heel turn for Asuka. Maybe she'll snap.

Monokne

SlickRic wrote: »

Meltzer is 100% trolling there.

I can't actually comprehend this. They have put the f*cking ROCKET under Becky for 8 months. OPEN YOUR EYES!!!

Becky has been promoted & protected as the top star for months.

She beat Charlotte for the title.

She beat her in rematches.

She went to Raw & laid Ronda out.

She won the Royal Rumble and was booked like the biggest babyface in the world in the process.

And all of this, per both the Observer & Torch, because VINCE F*CKING MCMAHON sees her as the singular top star in the promotion. It was him who insisted she win the Royal Rumble when others were campaigning for Charlotte as it would make for a better story with Becky trying to get in and make it a 3 way.

Like forget the last 3 years. Evaluate what has happened since Summerslam, and take your blinkers off. Seriously. Becky is the top female star in the promotion.

There is ONE person who is going to get the rub of beating Ronda and they chose her.

The reason Charlotte took the title is, presumably, because as a lot of people noted Ronda is the champion, and Becky is the hottest rising star. Charlotte felt less than in the context of the program. This is an attempt to elevate her star power.

The White Wolf

I get that but did they have to job Asuka with the proverbial exclamation point....there are other ways Charlotte could have won other than tap out. Whatever way you slice it they elevated Charlotte while treating someone else as a nobody.

J. Marston

The White Wolf wrote: »

I can only hope it will lead to a monster heel turn for Asuka. Maybe she'll snap.

Can't see her being booed really. But I thought that with Bryan too and look at him now.

Seen pics of her in face paint before and she looks awesome.



Smackdown after Mania she should come out like normal and interrupt someone before removing the mask to reveal a look like that, then beat the bejesus out of them. Would add some aura back to her which she has lost.

ThePott

Yeah the need to bring Asuka back as murderous heel, then again a lot of people hoped for that after last Mania too

Monokne

The White Wolf wrote: »

I get that but did they have to job Asuka with the proverbial exclamation point....there are other ways Charlotte could have won other than tap out. Whatever way you slice it they elevated Charlotte while treating someone else as a nobody.

By this rationale, Asuka treated Becky as a nobody at the Royal Rumble.

Asuka has won the Royal Rumble, the womens title, won a triple threat with Becky & Charlotte, and competed in a key Wrestlemania match. She's always going to be a level below those two, but she'll have her peaks too. I have little doubt she will work with either Becky or Charlotte for much of the summer in a focused spot.

ERG89

What is amazing is that Asuka tapped out Lynch and they had NOTHING for her in the months after it.
She had her moments but like Braun, Rusev, Nakamura, the Revival, the Usos, Kevin Owens, Andrade, the Hardy's and others she is in a situation creatively where her turning up every week is almost a headache for people to come up with a storyline for.
Bray Wyatt is seemingly being told to stay at home as they have no ideas for him.
Jinder Mahal is a joke now(like everyone knew) but WWE gave him a six f**king month title reign :rolleyes:
Glad Rowan didn't get beaten clean this week tho; seeing WWE try protect him in the last few weeks is humorous to me.

The White Wolf

Monokne wrote: »

By this rationale, Asuka treated Becky as a nobody at the Royal Rumble.

Asuka has won the Royal Rumble, the womens title, won a triple threat with Becky & Charlotte, and competed in a key Wrestlemania match. She's always going to be a level below those two, but she'll have her peaks too. I have little doubt she will work with either Becky or Charlotte for much of the summer in a focused spot.

Aye, Asuka has done all that but none of those achievements were used to push her to the next level. Indeed I believe a lot of people were perplexed about Asuka beating Becky at the Rumble given they went on to do the sum of nothing with Asuka beating her.

I think it's sad that for all of the achievements you outlined, her two most memorable moments on the main roster has been tapping out to Charlotte. As I said, I hope they have plans to use that to help Asuka in the Summer because she needs a good run at this stage.

RollieFingers

Monokne wrote: »

By this rationale, Asuka treated Becky as a nobody at the Royal Rumble.

Asuka has won the Royal Rumble, the womens title, won a triple threat with Becky & Charlotte, and competed in a key Wrestlemania match. She's always going to be a level below those two, but she'll have her peaks too. I have little doubt she will work with either Becky or Charlotte for much of the summer in a focused spot.

Asuka is only a level below Charlotte & Becky because of the language barrier, granted she'll never be able to go toe to toe with them on the mic. Not much difference in-ring between her and Charlotte for me though, I'd rather watch an Asuka match personally. And character wise, I found her more interesting than Charlotte or Becky.

J. Marston

Charlotte is the better athlete and a great wrestler but I'd still have Asuka ahead of her.

Monokne

RollieFingers wrote: »

Asuka is only a level below Charlotte & Becky because of the language barrier, granted she'll never be able to go toe to toe with them on the mic. Not much difference in-ring between her and Charlotte for me though, I'd rather watch an Asuka match personally. And character wise, I found her more interesting than Charlotte or Becky.

For clarity, I consider her a notch above Becky in the ring and equal or nominally better than Charlotte as well.

However, it is fair to say she has not always translated that well as a personality, and in a company with so much TV time to fill and the need for lengthy back and forth interview segments, her promos are not strong enough and not always easy to understand because of her inflection when speaking English. Can you imagine had the WM main event been a 4 way and she had to carry a speaking load at the level of Ronda, Becky & Charlotte? She just isn't able for that.

While I personally would like to see her on the A-list with the above 3 rather than the B list just below, I can rationally look at it and see why in the circumstances that exist, they have her pegged just lower than those 3.

SlickRic

RollieFingers wrote: »

Asuka is only a level below Charlotte & Becky because of the language barrier, granted she'll never be able to go toe to toe with them on the mic.

Charlotte is horrendous on the mic. Asuka in Japanese is more listenable than Charlotte.

CastorTroy

You say about Asuka and the language barrier, so give her a manager or someone to play off. She was great with The Miz in the Mixed Match Challenge. Giving her the title was pretty much a token gesture. Remember Nakamura's US title run? He won it, had a match or 2 in the months he was champ then lost it.

As for turning her heel, the only way to realistically do that is have her attack a face. Off the top of your heads, apart from Becky, who in the women's division do people care about enough for fans to turn against Asuka if she attacked them? She's always been the lone wolf that, while she gets along with other, would have no problem beating them. They could have her attack Naomi during a tag match but I see it being more like the time Eddie Guererro attacked Rey and still couldn't get heat

Furious-Red

SlickRic wrote: »

people can tell me until they're blue in the face that Charlotte deserves this spot at Wrestlemania.

people can tell me until they're blue in the face that she got a pop from the crowd when she won the title last night.

but she is single-handedly destroying this match for me. there is no fúcking need for her whatsoever. she has had her moments. this year is not hers. it's just not. she's not a Hulk Hogan, Cena, Stone Cold or The Rock where she's far and away the biggest star of the time.

the women are in the main event of Wrestlemania because of Ronda Rousey, and then the rise of Becky Lynch. that's it. Charlotte has done nothing to make this match so interesting that it deserves to close Wrestlemania. nothing. Vince tried to have her be a fúcking babyface and it was a fúcking disaster. she's in there for nothing else but her name and the fact that Vince has a raging Roman Reigns sized boner for her.

she's athletic. whoopdie-fúcking-do.

some say she's in there so that it's a good match. fúck right off. that's absolute fúcking nonsense. if that's the argument, they could've put CM Punk in a triple threat with the Rock and Cena instead of having Rock/Cena 2. so don't give me that bollocks.

and then there's putting the Smackdown title on Roman Charlotte.

so, let me get this straight...

despite it being a brilliant match, you sacrifice Asuka, AGAIN, for the sake of adding a belt to the person in the match that isn't even needed.

right-o.

you know what Vince...just get it over with...just have Roman beat Drew at Wrestlemania. then come out and say that he's been added to the Lesnar/Seth match. have him beat the two of them - pinning Lesnar on top of Seth. then have Charlotte knock Becky out within one minute of the opening bell, and have Charlotte tap Rousey out with the armbar after a squash.

then have Roman and Charlotte make out in the middle of the ring to close the show, while you sit in Guerrilla position like this...

Well said Ric.

Charlotte brings nothing to this match or rivalry , The only thing is now im worried they will have Charlotte win and close our WM with both titles

Not a fan of Charlotte at all , she isnt a bad wrestler but i just find her boring to watch and listen too. Becky vs Rhonda wrote itself and could have been a great match along with a good storyline.

When Charlotte lost at Fastlane she should have went straight for Asuka to set up the WM rematch for the Smackdown title from last year

RollieFingers

How many world titles do they have Ric down as winning? You know deep down Vince wants Charlotte to surpass that number

J. Marston

She adds little to nothing to the story but she definitely will add to the match. The high spots alone will be worth it. I'm expecting a double Spanish Fly.