SMACKDOWN LIVE SUPERTHREAD

Lithium93_

Somehow I get the feeling that WWE's Social Media & Creative teams aren't on the same page, I mean A.J Styles/Randy Orton was announced last week, so why spend X amount of minutes padding out/rehashing what we know led us to Styles/Orton clashing..

connemara man

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Somehow I get the feeling that WWE's Social Media & Creative teams aren't on the same page, I mean A.J Styles/Randy Orton was announced last week, so why spend X amount of minutes padding out/rehashing what we know led us to Styles/Orton clashing..

It's as if the were meant to go out before the cameras went live to liven up the crowd but we're late and said sod it we'll do it anyway

J. Marston

Weird seeing Cena in such a nothing feud this close to Wrestlemania.

Lithium93_

connemara man wrote: »

It's as if the were meant to go out before the cameras went live to liven up the crowd but we're late and said sod it we'll do it anyway

Either that or Smackdown Live took a page from RAW and decided to open with a fluff promo segment.

PTH2009

That forklift thing was ****ing embarrassing TBH

Lithium93_

J. Marston wrote: »

Weird seeing Cena in such a nothing feud this close to Wrestlemania.

And for what, a marriage proposal? We'll probably get the wedding on SMACKDOWN LIVE..

I'm not hating on the angle in case anyone thinks otherwise, but to see THE GUY in WWE relegated to something pointless, just kinda ruffles my feathers.

martyos121

Hope I'm wrong but I thought Orton legit injured his knee in that match, definitely mouthed something to the ref as soon as it finished. Could be great selling but he looked pretty pissed off at the end. I'm probably reading into it too much.

SureYWouldntYa

That bit where Styles was going to hit the phenomenal forearm countered into an rko but he didn't go for it was brilliant

That manic look on Styles face before he tried to hit the 450 too

All I can say is Wrestelmania isn't for the real fans, it's for the casuals and with so many part timers in main events these past few years it says it all on that side. Maybe people will really pay attention to the guy facing Vince's son and he'll get some serious recognition coming out of Mania

ERG89

Lithium93_ wrote: »

And for what, a marriage proposal? We'll probably get the wedding on SMACKDOWN LIVE..

I'm not hating on the angle in case anyone thinks otherwise, but to see THE GUY in WWE relegated to something pointless, just kinda ruffles my feathers.

Cena is going on hiatus not long after Mania & I read somewhere he could be gone until November. I don't blame WWE for not giving him the Undertaker match or building a major program around him tbh. His own goals are clearly elsewhere.

sky88

ERG89 wrote: »

Cena is going on hiatus not long after Mania & I read somewhere he could be gone until November. I don't blame WWE for not giving him the Undertaker match or building a major program around him tbh. His own goals are clearly elsewhere.

unless reigns feud with taker is turning him heel it will do nothing for him except push the fans against him more if he wins and stays face.

as said above mania really is for casual fans now and i think for causal/hardcore fans the biggest match is taker/cena.

Lord TSC

CSF wrote: »

The way I look at it is nearly everyone has suffered from the clusterf*ck. I enjoyed the Randy Orton at the compound segment but I didn't feel that was helped in any way by the number 1 contender battle. It just made an illogical situation where one week Orton relinquishes his number 1 contender spot only to want it back for no obvious reason.

Then you have Harper who has been soundly beaten in his pursuit to become number 1 contender. He is hardly helped here. And Styles goes into Mania as the dastardly heel who is receiving the Stone Cold/Vince treatment by the supposedly face Shane McMahon.

I guess it's a matter of perspective but they should have built to Orton/Wyatt and Shane/Styles in a much better way.

As said earlier, the fact it's used as a counter point to Raw will always make Raw look better. But, honestly, I'm enjoying Smackdown's build.

I disagree there was no obvious reason for Orton to relinquish his title shot and then want it back; he relinquished it so that he could get that final step closer to Bray. Doing so was the moment Bray probably finally trusted him, and thus made his betrayal so much better. Logically, Orton probably knew he'd still get at least a shot at getting his shot back, and had faith in himself to get it. The Orton/Bray story has been building for months and will get a payoff at Mania, so am more than happy with that.

Styles being messed around in the pursuit of a title shot is good motivation for his character; if they want to build Styles vs Shane, then they needed Styles to have a legit beef and he's got it now. There's shades of grey; Styles has been more of a tweener than a heel for months now. He's definitely justified in thinking he's earned his shot a few times. But I don't think he's been screwed by Shane either; he got his title rematch (albeit in the Elimination Chamber), and although he beat Harper for the title shot, most fans will accept that Orton deserved the match he got to determine the challanger.

I'm enjoying the build for Styles/Shane because, ultimately, both are justified in their actions so far, AJ in his frustrations but Shane in trying to run the show.

Harper lost to AJ Styles, a Tier One guy at the moment. Most agreed he wasn't ready to headline a Mania, and while I think he could have added a dynamic, I never once thought a loss to Styles hurt him at all.

I'm enjoying Smackdown's build for the most part. By and large, they are rewarding their hard workers. Styles gets a high profile main event match against Shane McMahon, Orton and Bray get rewarded for their efforts with the Smackdown main event. People harp on Cena being dragged down to Miz's level, but no one seems to consider that he's dragging Miz up to his level; Miz has stood out massively since the draft, and this should be considered Miz getting rewarded with a high profile match too. And Ambrose and Corbin should be able to put on a hard hitting (hopefully gimmicked as a street fight) match as well.

Is it perfect? No. Is there going to be any wrestling masterclasses? Nope. But the guys who have worked hard for the last few months are getting rewarded with matches on a decently high level.

Lord TSC

Speaking of Miz, any time he's on Talking Smack, he's gold. He tore Cena a new one again last night.

https://streamable.com/8e4tg

ERG89

sky88 wrote:

as said above mania really is for casual fans now and i think for causal/hardcore fans the biggest match is taker/cena.

Wouldn't putting 2 part timers against one another be ideal for casual fans?

sky88

ERG89 wrote: »

Wouldn't putting 2 part timers against one another be ideal for casual fans?

that what i meant to say

PTH2009

martyos121 wrote: »

Hope I'm wrong but I thought Orton legit injured his knee in that match, definitely mouthed something to the ref as soon as it finished. Could be great selling but he looked pretty pissed off at the end. I'm probably reading into it too much.

That would be disastrous for the WWE and really **** up the whole storyline

Omackeral

Agent Coulson wrote: »

AA must be one of the blandest teams in years.

They really have missed a trick with these guys. On NXT they had a great awkward bromance type story going and it was great. They put the straps on these lads out of the blue and it's hurt them. They've also given them next to no character on the main roster. I think that giving the Wyatt's the titles at all was stupid. They barely held them, then dropped them in a very random multi man match. Heel Usos should've decimated Slater and Rhyno and took the tag championships. Then have a developed AA go over every other team week by week with the Usos avoiding them. Have them beat Breezango, have them beat Hype Bros, have them beat the Vaudvillians. Have them beat a beefed up Ascension (who could go over Hype Bros earlier). Finally onto the Usos at Mania with a feel good pay off.

sky88

anyone see talking smack miz bascally said something along the lines of at least i can wrestle and bryan says well see in a year and a half.

really have a bad feeling that bryan is going to end up in a bad way if he goes to the indies,NJPW with the injuries he already has.

Agent Coulson

He could just waiting to see if they let Angle wrestle again if the WWE let Kurt wrestle after everything that has been said about his injuries Bryan probably will feel hard done by.


It's been close to two years since he last wrestled and another year and half is a long time that would be close to three and a half years since his last match and if he is continuously passing the impact and baseline testing like he has said he is then maybe who knows what Vince's stance will be then.


Maybe he will go to NJPW or somewhere to prove something to the WWE and himself hoping they will take him back as an active wrestler.

Mokuba

If you were to tell me this time last year (or any other year for that matter) that the person I look forward to most each week would be The Miz, I would have laughed in your face.

His Talking Smack bit was one of my favourite segments in years. Just amazing. Love that Maryse is growing in confidence too. Hope he gets a run with the title after WM.

Itssoeasy

The miz lives up to his catch phrase. He is indeed awesome. Also Alexa is very good on the mic. But why her versus all the rest of the roster ?

CastorTroy

I noticed how Daniel chose his words when announcing the women's match. He said it would be Alexa against every available woman. So would rule out the likes of Nikki and Maryse.

So that leaves Natalya, Mickie, Becky, Carmella and a returning Eva Marie? Could we get a debut?

Pentecost

CastorTroy wrote: »

I noticed how Daniel chose his words when announcing the women's match. He said it would be Alexa against every available woman. So would rule out the likes of Nikki and Maryse.

So that leaves Natalya, Mickie, Becky, Carmella and a returning Eva Marie? Could we get a debut?

That could be a bit of a cluster.. but I like Becky, Alexa, and Mickie so good to see them on the show in some way.

Lord TSC

CastorTroy wrote: »

I noticed how Daniel chose his words when announcing the women's match. He said it would be Alexa against every available woman. So would rule out the likes of Nikki and Maryse.

So that leaves Natalya, Mickie, Becky, Carmella and a returning Eva Marie? Could we get a debut?

My guess is Naomi returns and regains her title.

johnnyryan89

Mokuba wrote: »

If you were to tell me this time last year (or any other year for that matter) that the person I look forward to most each week would be The Miz, I would have laughed in your face.

His Talking Smack bit was one of my favourite segments in years. Just amazing. Love that Maryse is growing in confidence too. Hope he gets a run with the title after WM.

Where does he go after Mania though? Bray and Randy will possibly still feud beyond Mania if Bray loses as he'll be entitled to the rematch, Miz probably wouldnt get a a chance to feud for the belt until June, July or Summerslam. They'd need to call people up from NXT or push the draft forward for fresh feuds on Smackdown.

Agent Coulson

Omackeral wrote: »

They really have missed a trick with these guys. On NXT they had a great awkward bromance type story going and it was great. They put the straps on these lads out of the blue and it's hurt them. They've also given them next to no character on the main roster. I think that giving the Wyatt's the titles at all was stupid. They barely held them, then dropped them in a very random multi man match. Heel Usos should've decimated Slater and Rhyno and took the tag championships. Then have a developed AA go over every other team week by week with the Usos avoiding them. Have them beat Breezango, have them beat Hype Bros, have them beat the Vaudvillians. Have them beat a beefed up Ascension (who could go over Hype Bros earlier). Finally onto the Usos at Mania with a feel good pay off.

Then at WM they could have brought Angle out to give them the the belts and his endorsement.

Or bring Angle out with Team Angle to challenge them.


But right now they just bore.

SureYWouldntYa

It's funny how they can transform a guy like Miz and give him a real character and motivations, and the likes of American Alpha are just there

Agent Coulson

To be fair I've been a huge fan of the Miz for years and he does have that IT factor but the WWE did there best to kill it.


They have done it to so many guys that get themselves over but because the WWE didn't get them over they try to kill that momentum.

DM_7

Miz does not have the IT factor like a John Cena.

Overall he is good but at his best he is the level of Sheamus or Del Rio. The WWE WHC from Smackdown level.

Huge strength is in his mouth and mind. He may as well be Cody Rhodes in a match.

He was unerused over the years when the brand split ended and it makes sense to see him rise back up now a spot is available every week.

Well done to him for getting a mania spot though. Maryse and him on Total Divas helped his career a lot.

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

J. Marston wrote: »

Weird seeing Cena in such a nothing feud this close to Wrestlemania.

The whole Cena / Nicki team thing is cringe to say the least, turning into FF television

Mokuba

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Where does he go after Mania though? Bray and Randy will possibly still feud beyond Mania if Bray loses as he'll be entitled to the rematch, Miz probably wouldnt get a a chance to feud for the belt until June, July or Summerslam. They'd need to call people up from NXT or push the draft forward for fresh feuds on Smackdown.

He is surely a lock for Money in the Bank when that comes around - just the most obvious person to have holding the briefcase right now.

Until then I hope he gets his win back on Cena at the PPV after WM.