BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 9th, '18, 23:11

OPENING SEGMENT- terrible
Steph is out wasting time by trying to get herself heat. The crowd is mostly not caring about her. She brings out Ronda. She wants to be friends with Ronda and says they can make it big together. Ronda hugs Steph… then puts on her angry face and turns it into an armbar. What the f*ck, Ronda? If you don’t want to be Steph’s friend, just say so! Talk with your words, not with your hands! There was no reason to give Steph an armbar.
Now Ronda is laughing. What a f*cking asshole!

This was bad not just because Ronda was a total jerk and a bully here, but because it was, in every way, a pale imitation of the famous segment from twenty years ago where Vince told Steve Austin “we can do this the easy or we can do this the hard way, Mr. Austin. The choice is yours.” And if you want an example of how today’s WWE commentary totally kills things, Michael Cole excitedly exclaimed at the end of this that “they should change ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey to ‘Rebel’ Ronda Rousey.” You know. Just in case you didn’t figure it out by her ongoing feud with the people who run the show and call themselves “The Authority.”

Now it’s time for one of my least favorite traditions of the year, the “Non-Traditional Audience” speech that Michael Cole gives on the post-Raw Mania every year to let viewers at home know to disregard everything these fans say and do because they “boo who they normally cheer and cheer who they normally boo,” even though WWE is going spend all night putting them over for “having fun” and “using their Freedom of Expression.”
Cole starts off by saying “as you’ve already seen, this is a very non-traditional audience.” Really, Cole? Because the heel Steph came out and got booed for everything she said. Babyface Ronda came out and got cheered. Heel Steph made babyface Ronda an offer which the fans figured was untrustworthy and so they chanted “BULLSH*T!” Ronda hugged Steph, making the crowd think she was joining with Steph and turning heel, so they booed. Then Ronda revealed that she was still a babyface after all and attacked heel Steph, so they cheered. How could they possibly be any less non-traditional than that?
After we were given the standard ‘warning’ about these passionate but “non-traditional” (or, as Lance Storm correctly translated it one year, “non-obedient”) fans, Graves assured us that WWE loves that this crowd does this sort of thing, a lie that is exposed by the mere fact that this very speech is being given.
For more on this, check out my rant from last year’s post-Raw Mania, but for this year I will add the following: all of this could very easily be avoided if WWE just changed their schedule up and didn’t run the same city the night after Mania! If you don’t want these fans to follow, go where they’re not so it’s harder for them to follow you around!

We’re getting another Superstar Shake-Up next week on both shows, so it will almost certainly suffer from the exact same problems as last years. And, as I pointed out, those problems did cause problems to storylines throughout the year. But this is WWE, so of course they haven’t learned their lesson.

NIA JAX, ALEXA BLISS!, & MICKIE JAMES SEGMENT- annoying
Why is Nia Jax getting cheered? I thought this was supposed to be a smart crowd. Nia is a terrible promo and is dangerous in the ring. Shouldn’t you be booing her?
Oh dear Lord now they’re chanting “YOU DESERVE IT!” at her. “Deserve” it? For what? I’m sorry for being blunt here, but the fact of the matter is that Nia Jax was given the title because she is large. That’s it. Maybe being The Rock’s cousin is a distant number two, but the reason Nia was put in the spot she was put in is simply because she is large. That is a matter of happenstance; not one of effort or talent. I’m not saying I don’t see the logic in the reason why they put the belt on Nia, or even that I don’t think it was the right thing to do (I would have built it up much differently, though). But to say that Nia has done something to “deserve” this title is utterly outlandish.
The whole reason that Nia was out here was that we were told we were going to see a tag team match, so Nia gets introduced first… and then Alexa Bliss! & Mickie James are introduced. Um… what happened to Nia’s partner?
Alexa points out that Ronda Rousey is a bully. She then cut a promo making fun of Nia and making the an excuse for her loss last night by claiming that she was so distressed by Nia’s totally unprovoked assault on Mickie before the match.
Alexa says that Nia has no friends. The people are booing Alexa and cheering Nia. Wow. Maybe Graves was right about the crowd booing who they would normally cheer and cheering who they would normally boo.
Only now does Nia introduce her partner for tonight, Ember Moon. This is the sort of thing that bugs me because they could have done the same exact thing in a different order and it would have avoided the illogical pissing on standard conventions. There was no reason Alexa and Mickie couldn’t have come out first and cut their promo, then Nia could have come out and introduced Ember as her partner. Alexa’s promo still makes sense, Nia gets to interrupt Alexa, and you still get Ember, the surprise, coming out last, but this way you wouldn’t have inexplicably changed interrupted introducing the first team in order to introduce the entire second team and then come back and finish the first team.
Michael Cole puts Ember Moon over as an example of the post-Mania Raw being “full of surprises,” but I’m pretty sure Ember getting called up was the one thing every saw coming, with the only question being whether she would wind up on Raw or Smackdown, and I think most people would have assumed she would wind up on Raw, both because they need to replace Sasha when she turns heel and because Smackdown already has an African-American babyface while Sasha turning means Raw is losing theirs.

NIA JAX & EMBER MOON vs. ALEXA BLISS! & MICKIE JAMES- 3/10
Graves wonders if Alexa and/or Mickie have been “lobbying” to go to Smackdown in the Superstar Shake-Up, so (at least for this segment) the implication is that the GMs have control over everything. The match was short and meh, but they made Ember look as strong as possible by having her pin Alexa cleanly, and Nia worked the crowd shockingly well as a babyface. If she learns to cut a promo, stops hurting her opponents, and starts using a chokeslam as a finisher I might even cheer for her one day.

KURT ANGLE IS ON HIS PHONE BACKSTAGE- he tells the person he’s talking to (although in reality he’s really talking to us viewers, which is why this phone call gimmick is so annoying) that “Ember Moon is just the spark the women’s division needs.” Yup. Not Ronda Rousey. Ember Moon is the one who is going to make things more important and exciting.

KURT ANGLE & BRAUN STROWMAN BACKSTAGE-
Kurt congratulates Braun on winning the tag titles and says “your partner last night was… a surprise. But I guess I should have known better.”
Yeah, Kurt you should have “known better.” You should have known better than to LET AN UNTRAINED MINOR COMPETE IN A WWE MATCH! WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU COME OUT AND STOP IT FROM HAPPENING?!
The kid is there tonight, backstage with Braun and holding the titles. Braun says he and Nicholas the Fourth Grader are vacating the tag titles “because of a scheduling conflict.” Okay, WWE: you want me to accept your dumb angle then fine. I will. If Nicholas was a perfectly legitimate competitor in last night’s match, then what, exactly, is the “scheduling conflict” preventing him from defending the tag titles? Is he attending fourth grade in a night school that meets seven days a week? Because if he isn’t, then why can’t he defend the titles on Raw or on weekend house shows? And if Brock can be given a contract allowing him to ignore the Thirty Days Rule simply because he doesn’t want to show up to work very often then surely an exception can be made for young Nicholas here to wrestle a similar schedule for the much more legitimate reason of completing his basic schooling. Or, hell… clearly he doesn’t have a scheduling conflict tonight because he’s here right now, so why not at least have a chance of the lineage of the title remaining unbroken by booking a title defense for tonight? EVEN WHEN YOU TRY TO PLAY ALONG WITH THIS STORYLINE’S STUPIDITY, IT’S STILL STUPID!

NO WAY JOSE VIDEO PACKAGE- I totally forgot he existed, but I popped for the video package. He debuts next.

NO WAY JOSE vs. JOHN SKYLER- squash
Jose has a big conga line with him.

Here’s the problem with those damn cosplayer fans at the shows: I just saw a blonde woman in a black leather jacket and a Ronda Rousey shirt but her hair is way different than Ronda’s and I now don’t know if I should bury her for being a lazy cosplayer (don’t get me started on last night’s mustached Undertaker) or if she just happens to be a blonde woman who is a Ronda fan and also happens to own a black leather jacket.

ANGLE, SHEAMUS, & CESARO NEXT WEEK- this is what is happening with the tag titles: there will be a four-team mini-tournament over the next few weeks with the winners facing Sheamus & Cesaro at Greatest Royal Rumble to crown new champions.

TAG TEAM ELIMINATOR MATCH: The Revival vs. Gallows & Anderson- 4.25/10
“Tag Team Eliminator” is the dumb name they’ve given to this little tournament because everything in WWE must have a dumb name. They immediately damage the tournament by not even waiting for the commercial to end to start off the first match, never mind giving the two teams entrances so they can look like stars. Rather than saying that the belts have been vacated, Cole made a point of telling us they were being “held in abeyance.” Normally I would think this is WWE just trying to sound smart, but honestly I think this might just be another Vince tick, like how all hospitals now must be “local medical facilities.”
These guys had a very good match for the time they were given. The Revival won.

IC TITLE SEGMENT-
Rollins comes out and notes that now every member of The Shield has won the grand slam. Balor comes out and points out that he wasn’t the guy who got pinned last night so he wants a title shot. This would have been a lot better if Rollins hadn’t beaten Balor clean in the middle of the ring last week. Seth says he’d be happy to defend against Balor.
Miz showed up and put his foot in his mouth about needing the Miz-tourage’s help to win. Miz says he is “a changed man” now that he has a daughter, and tells us all that he and Maryse have named their daughter “Monroe Skye.” Umm… do they realize Monroe is a man’s name (and a very old-fashioned one at that)? Miz says that Maryse told him that when he lost the title to Rollins, it made the kid cry… so he blames Rollins for making his daughter cry. That was great.
Or it would have been if it had ended there. There was more making a total goof of Miz. Rollins poured it on, to the point of coming off like a total jerk. Miz points out that Balor isn’t owed everything, but he has a rematch clause. Rollins suggests they do it right here, right now. Miz asks the fans if they want to see it and they cheer, so of course Miz says no. He announces that he will be invoking his rematch clause at Backlash.
Miz challenges Rollins and Balor to face him and the Miz-tourage three-on-two tonight. The fans responded to this by cheering for comedy jobber loser Curtis Axel. Thankfully someone backstage thought on their feet and sent Jeff Hardy out to distract the crowd, saving me from punching a hole in my wall. Miz-tourage ran away. After the commercial we would learn that Kurt had booked this match for later tonight. For those wondering, Jeff Hardy is decidedly not broken or woken or any other kind of oken.

SASHA BANKS vs. MANDY ROSE (w/Absolution)- 3.75/10
Full disclosure: I made a Freudian slip and accidentally typed “Mandy Leon” instead of Mandy Rose the first time. Mandy Rose is a better worker and a better promo and better-looking, so I hereby apologize to Mandy Rose for this (and G-d damn are those first two parts a major indictment of ROH’s wrestling school or what?).
Bayley surprised everyone by coming out to be in Sasha’s corner. Sasha didn’t seem to trust her. The did a spot where Mandy shoved Bayley on the outside so Bayley threw a clothesline at her but Mandy ducked and Bayley hit Sasha. After a stare-down with Bayley, Sasha tried to get back in the ring but Mandy Rose nailed her in the face with a flying knee for the win.

PAIGE ANNOUNCES HER RETIREMENT- She gave an amazing and wonderfully emotional speech, but the placement of it in the show was odd, doing it right after the previous angle where she had been a very clear heel.

THE DRIFTER SINGS- this might have been his best one ever.
LASHLEY IS BACK! Obviously they did a bad job at keeping this surprise, because someone had a sign that literally said just that. But if you’re trying to claim the show is unpredictable and full of surprises, why the hell would you show that sign on TV?
The Drifter tried to attack Lashley so Lashley hit him with a swinging neckbreaker, then gave him one of the most delayed delayed vertical suplexes in history.

KURT ANGLE, KEVIN OWENS, & SAMI ZAYN BACKSTAGE- silly
They want a job. After some back and forth about why their issues with the authority figures on Smackdown wouldn’t be repeated on Raw, Kurt tells them “my tag team division is full, but I hear TNA is hiring.” That got the single loudest gasp I have heard on WWE TV since Punk’s big promo. They appeal to his sense of compassion, and Kurt finally tells them that he only has one roster spot left, so they can fight for it tonight.
You only have one spot left, Kurt? Okay… so fire Curt Hawkins and free up another one! Curt has won fewer matches than you have in WWE since each of you began your current run in WWE, and you’ve only even wrestled three matches! You’ve got two main event talents that want to come to your show. CUT THE JOBBER!

HEATH SLATER & RHYNO PROMO- they’re sad they’re not in the Tag Team Eliminator so they make an open challenge. It is answered by… THE AUTHORS OF PAIN! Why the hell aren’t AOP in the Tag Team Eliminator?

HEATH SLATER & RHYNO vs. THE AUTHORS OF PAIN (w/Paul Ellering)- squash
The interesting part of this is that AOP seemed to ditch Ellering after the match.

They announced that Roman will be challenging Brock for the Universal Title in a Cage Match at Greatest Royal Rumble. There was no explanation of any sort for why Roman was getting a rematch or why this was a Cage Match.

ROMAN REIGNS PROMO- terrible.
Everyone booed him. Then he proceeded to cut a very weird promo. It was a worked-shoot, but one of those extremely stupid ones that wants you to think the business is both a shoot and a work at the same time. From what I gather, Roman is saying that Brock got the WrestleMania finish changed and this new title match, and everyone knew about it all except for him. He says that Vince didn’t “smarten [him] up,” but the problem with that statement is that obviously Vince did, or else I’m supposed to believe that Roman went to the ring last night thinking he was going to win the title but he was legitimately too weak to kick out on the finish. But then he says that if he keeps getting booked against Brock, he’ll win the title from him at some point. Like I said, this made no sense.

SAMOA JOE & ROMAN REIGNS SEGMENT- Samoa Joe returned from his injury and cut an AWESOME promo on Roman. Apparently he’s facing Roman at Backlash.

TAG TEAM ELIMINATOR MATCH: Titus worldwide (w/Dana Brooke) vs. MATT HARDY & BRAY WYATT- 3.5/10
You’ve heard of Team Hell No, but tonight we were introduced to the pairing I have dubbed “Team PLEASE, G-D, MAKE IT STOP!” Unfortunately, they won.

WINNER GETS A RAW CONTRACT: Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn- 7.5/10
They both fought their hearts out but wind-up with a double-TKO so no one gets hired. In what was an utterly hilarious moment, WWE’s first-ever on-air mention of TNA combined with this finish, leads to the fans chanting “TNA!” I’m sure Vince as having a conniption backstage.

JEFF BUMPS INTO WOKEN MATT BACKSTAGE- they f*ck around. Matt introduces Jeff to his new friend Bray, who calls Jeff Brother Nero and they hug. The best part of this was the pull-back to Rollins and Balor staring at Jeff with a “WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?!” look on their faces.

THE MIZ & THE MIZ-TOURAGE vs. FINN BALOR, SETH ROLLINS, & JEFF HARDY- 7.25/10
Rollins pins Miz rather than one of the jobbers, which was the single worst possible finish in this match because Miz is the #1 contender for Rollins’ title. Then the babyfaces all beat up Miz’s friends for no reason at all.

Michael Cole flat-out said that the Superstar Shake-up works with the GMs sitting down and making trades.

This was a meh episode of Raw the booking was bad, and although it had some of the excitement of a post-Mania Raw, it didn’t feel as exciting as usual.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 10th, '18, 09:34

So let me get this straight. the story is that Lesnar worked 'shoot' On Reigns without Reigns being in on it, a collusion between Lesnar and Vince, almost a screwjob?
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 10th, '18, 10:05

cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 09:34 So let me get this straight. the story is that Lesnar worked 'shoot' On Reigns without Reigns being in on it, a collusion between Lesnar and Vince, almost a screwjob?
That's the best explanation I've heard yet.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 10th, '18, 10:14

KURT ANGLE, KEVIN OWENS, & SAMI ZAYN BACKSTAGE- silly
They want a job. After some back and forth about why their issues with the authority figures on Smackdown wouldn’t be repeated on Raw, Kurt tells them “my tag team division is full, but I hear TNA is hiring.” That got the single loudest gasp I have heard on WWE TV since Punk’s big promo. They appeal to his sense of compassion, and Kurt finally tells them that he only has one roster spot left, so they can fight for it tonight.
Calling them TNA was pettier than all the shots Impact took at WWE, Old man Angle doesn't keep up with the times and as usual, WWE is in on a joke about a year late. Funny thing, they ARE actually hiring now that they have those extra 70K+ they were paying Patron. Hell, they're about to hire Penta and Fenix.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 10th, '18, 10:29

cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 10:14
KURT ANGLE, KEVIN OWENS, & SAMI ZAYN BACKSTAGE- silly
They want a job. After some back and forth about why their issues with the authority figures on Smackdown wouldn’t be repeated on Raw, Kurt tells them “my tag team division is full, but I hear TNA is hiring.” That got the single loudest gasp I have heard on WWE TV since Punk’s big promo. They appeal to his sense of compassion, and Kurt finally tells them that he only has one roster spot left, so they can fight for it tonight.
Calling them TNA was pettier than all the shots Impact took at WWE, Old man Angle doesn't keep up with the times and as usual, WWE is in on a joke about a year late. Funny thing, they ARE actually hiring now that they have those extra 70K+ they were paying Patron. Hell, they're about to hire Penta and Fenix.
Really? Calling them by the wrong name was pettier than all of the shots TNA has taken at WWE? Do you need to go rewatch Cookie-Gate? Or "Vince" and "Hunter" trying to get the tape of it? Or anything involving "The Big Fat Oily Guy?" Or the MONTHS that VKM (whose entire stupid name was a shot at Vince) spent calling out Shawn & Hunter by their shoot names and challenging them to fights and doing sh*t like showing up at house shows? Or the years of constant little potshots at WWE for no reason other than TNA not realizing that it's not 1995 anymore and that sh*t doesn't make you cool?
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 10th, '18, 10:52

Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 10:29
Really? Calling them by the wrong name was pettier than all of the shots TNA has taken at WWE? Do you need to go rewatch Cookie-Gate? Or "Vince" and "Hunter" trying to get the tape of it? Or anything involving "The Big Fat Oily Guy?" Or the MONTHS that VKM (whose entire stupid name was a shot at Vince) spent calling out Shawn & Hunter by their shoot names and challenging them to fights and doing sh*t like showing up at house shows? Or the years of constant little potshots at WWE for no reason other than TNA not realizing that it's not 1995 anymore and that sh*t doesn't make you cool?
yeap, pettier, because WWE is a multi- billion dollar company
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 10th, '18, 11:46

cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 10:52
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 10:29
Really? Calling them by the wrong name was pettier than all of the shots TNA has taken at WWE? Do you need to go rewatch Cookie-Gate? Or "Vince" and "Hunter" trying to get the tape of it? Or anything involving "The Big Fat Oily Guy?" Or the MONTHS that VKM (whose entire stupid name was a shot at Vince) spent calling out Shawn & Hunter by their shoot names and challenging them to fights and doing sh*t like showing up at house shows? Or the years of constant little potshots at WWE for no reason other than TNA not realizing that it's not 1995 anymore and that sh*t doesn't make you cool?
yeap, pettier, because WWE is a multi- billion dollar company

That has nothing to do with pettiness. TNA was spending time taking long, elaborate and stupid potshots at WWE when WWE hadn't said or done a damn thing about them, simply to take potshots at them. And not even at the company, but mostly at Vince, Hunter, and Shawn PERSONALLY.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 10th, '18, 12:25

Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 11:46
That has nothing to do with pettiness. TNA was spending time taking long, elaborate and stupid potshots at WWE when WWE hadn't said or done a damn thing about them, simply to take potshots at them. And not even at the company, but mostly at Vince, Hunter, and Shawn PERSONALLY.
way I see it, when Impact did it, it is taking shots at the big rich corporate, kinda like SNL making jokes about big movie stars or the president. When those big rich people lower themselves to shit on the smaller guy, that shit is petty to me, and in this particular case, it wasn't even warranted.

and you know what's the worst thing? it was a bad joke
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 10th, '18, 13:33

cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 12:25
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 11:46
That has nothing to do with pettiness. TNA was spending time taking long, elaborate and stupid potshots at WWE when WWE hadn't said or done a damn thing about them, simply to take potshots at them. And not even at the company, but mostly at Vince, Hunter, and Shawn PERSONALLY.

way I see it, when Impact did it, it is taking shots at the big rich corporate, kinda like SNL making jokes about big movie stars or the president. When those big rich people lower themselves to shit on the smaller guy, that shit is petty to me, and in this particular case, it wasn't even warranted.
That's such a bullsh*t equivalency. A dick move is a dick move. SNL has just as much money as those movie stars, by the way. And even if you want to think that way, don't forget that TNA was owned by Panda then, and is owned by whichever big media group owns them now. The difference is that SNL's job is to make fun of people. TNA's job was to put on a good wrestling show, and instead of doing that, they spent time taking potshots, every single one of which was a lot less funny (and took up a lot more time) than WWE's line tonight.
cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 12:25 and you know what's the worst thing? it was a bad joke
Yes, it was a bad joke, but I think the real purpose of it was to get the gasp. But even if they did mean it as a joke, it is still a million times funnier than all of TNA's bullsh*t. Seriously. Go rewatch Cookie-Gate and "Vince" and "Hunter" trying to get the tape of it from Final Resolution 2004 and tell me that was funnier than this. You just plain can't do it.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 10th, '18, 13:56

There isn't a single year where TNA/Impact was at the same level as WWE/F, with or without Panda, since 2000, WWE has been the top corporation in the industry. It was never two people at the same level taking jabs, this was always people (because it's not just Impact) making fun of the big corporation. SNL doesn't have more money than Clooney or Trump or Bush. The fact is that WWE had no need to make that comment, they haven't acknowledged Impact ever, not even two days before when the founder himself was inducted to the Hall Of Fame, they were being dicks for the sake of being dicks. Impact at least was trying to be the edgy underdog going against the big evil corp and a lot of those wrestles had reasons to be pissed at WWE. WWE is just being a dick.

I'm not contesting which was funnier nor I would really try to compare comedy from 2004 to 2018, point is that WWE made a bad joke. If the point was to make a gasp, then ok, but don't display your incompetence by calling them a name they're not. THAT is what makes it petty the most.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 10th, '18, 20:01

cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 13:56 There isn't a single year where TNA/Impact was at the same level as WWE/F, with or without Panda, since 2000, WWE has been the top corporation in the industry. It was never two people at the same level taking jabs, this was always people (because it's not just Impact) making fun of the big corporation. SNL doesn't have more money than Clooney or Trump or Bush. The fact is that WWE had no need to make that comment, they haven't acknowledged Impact ever, not even two days before when the founder himself was inducted to the Hall Of Fame, they were being dicks for the sake of being dicks. Impact at least was trying to be the edgy underdog going against the big evil corp and a lot of those wrestles had reasons to be pissed at WWE. WWE is just being a dick.

Yeah. Real edgy stuff here. Almost as edgy as the one where a midget punches "Vince" in the balls.

And this certainly isn't dick behavior at all:


They weren't trying to be the "edgy underdog." They were doing it for attention, and for the sake of taking desperate shots at WWE.
Yeah, there was no reason for WWE to say what they did, but it was a one-off line that at least made sense within their f*cking storyline, as opposed to TNA going out of their way to make up dumb storylines just so they could insult WWE.
cero2k wrote: Apr 10th, '18, 13:56 I'm not contesting which was funnier nor I would really try to compare comedy from 2004 to 2018, point is that WWE made a bad joke. If the point was to make a gasp, then ok, but don't display your incompetence by calling them a name they're not. THAT is what makes it petty the most.
Why are you so hung up on this name thing? Fans will continue to call them "TNA" because they've been "TNA" for fifteen years and its hard to break the habit. It's no different than people continuing to call Defiant "WCPW" or or people still calling D'Amore's indy promotion "Border City Wrestling" or people calling WWE "WWF" which everyone did for YEARS after the change. And I'll bet the same happened when Watts changed from Mid-South to UWF and when JCP became WCW.
And if you want to blame someone for that, blame the company itself. At least with WWF becoming WWE and WCPW becoming Defiant, they mid a big announcement, and WWE even had a whole marketing campaign ready to go. People have been confused about TNA/Impact's name since 2011 when they announced that they were now "Impact Wrestling" but weren't clear on if the name of the promotion changed or on if the name of the TV show changed, and people in the company kept saying both as if they were synonyms.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Apr 10th, '18, 21:58

I didn't take it as anything negative at all or even as a joke really. It was moreso surprising and it seemed groundbreaking.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 11th, '18, 10:08

Dick jokes and desperate jabs, it was early 2000s and that was the shit that went on back then and they most definitely knew their fanbase back then. Dick jokes have been the name of the game forever, even in the prestigious WWE, and everyone's eats that shit. And 'invasion' stuff like that too, people love that shit.

The name just shows the inability of people to move on, yeah it took a while with WWE and not really that much with WCPW, but those were forced to change almost one day to another. It really doesn't take a historian to remember, oh yeah, TNA is now impact, WWF is now WWE, Bryan Danielson is now Daniel Bryan, and correct one's self. Not trying to correct one's self and call things by their name is just a dick move, and while I can understand this business is plagued with smarks, WWE SHOULD be above all else and call things what they are or not at all.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 11th, '18, 10:46

cero2k wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 10:08 Dick jokes and desperate jabs, it was early 2000s and that was the shit that went on back then and they most definitely knew their fanbase back then. Dick jokes have been the name of the game forever, even in the prestigious WWE, and everyone's eats that shit. And 'invasion' stuff like that too, people love that shit.
It was TNA in the mid-2000s doing their off-brand version 1999. It's not about the dick joke. It's hiring a Vince impersonator for the sake of having him get punched in the balls by a midget. This was no different from Billionaire Ted, and that is very definition of petty.

People like invasions like interpromotional feuds. This was just guys showing up at someone else's show being dicks.
cero2k wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 10:08 The name just shows the inability of people to move on, yeah it took a while with WWE and not really that much with WCPW, but those were forced to change almost one day to another. It really doesn't take a historian to remember, oh yeah, TNA is now impact, WWF is now WWE, Bryan Danielson is now Daniel Bryan, and correct one's self. Not trying to correct one's self and call things by their name is just a dick move, and while I can understand this business is plagued with smarks, WWE SHOULD be above all else and call things what they are or not at all.
WCPW wasn't forced to change. They decided to call themselves Defiant because they thought it was a middle finger to YouTube.
If TNA wanted a clean break, they should have chosen a name without a history of confusion. If they had just switched to Global Wrestling Alliance or something like that, this wouldn't be happening because the company themselves has been using Global Wrestling Alliance and TNA as synonyms for years.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 11th, '18, 14:28

Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 10:46 It was TNA in the mid-2000s doing their off-brand version 1999. It's not about the dick joke. It's hiring a Vince impersonator for the sake of having him get punched in the balls by a midget. This was no different from Billionaire Ted, and that is very definition of petty.

People like invasions like interpromotional feuds. This was just guys showing up at someone else's show being dicks.
yeah, 2004 to 1999 is not that much as 2004 to 2018, things are not the same, and let's not pretend like WWE is this fucking saint that hasn't been doing petty shit for those 14 years. The guy at the top of the food chain shitting on the smaller guys is petty, plain and simple.

People like guys showing up at someone else's show. They loved it when DX did it 19 years ago and they loved it when The Bullet Club made it last year. Fans love that type of stuff.
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 10:46 WCPW wasn't forced to change. They decided to call themselves Defiant because they thought it was a middle finger to YouTube.
If TNA wanted a clean break, they should have chosen a name without a history of confusion. If they had just switched to Global Wrestling Alliance or something like that, this wouldn't be happening because the company themselves has been using Global Wrestling Alliance and TNA as synonyms for years.
This is not really about Impact wanting a clean break. I don't think they ever expected it nor they deserved it. This is all about people not letting go and shitting on things because of the past and not they're doing in the present, just look at Roman Reigns.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 11th, '18, 14:43

cero2k wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 14:28
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 10:46 It was TNA in the mid-2000s doing their off-brand version 1999. It's not about the dick joke. It's hiring a Vince impersonator for the sake of having him get punched in the balls by a midget. This was no different from Billionaire Ted, and that is very definition of petty.

People like invasions like interpromotional feuds. This was just guys showing up at someone else's show being dicks.
yeah, 2004 to 1999 is not that much as 2004 to 2018, things are not the same, and let's not pretend like WWE is this fucking saint that hasn't been doing petty shit for those 14 years. The guy at the top of the food chain shitting on the smaller guys is petty, plain and simple.
They really haven't, though. You can say that they tried to screw ROH over with that stuff a few years ago, but that has really been it, and that is more in the category of dirty business than it is cheap shots on their TV for no purpose.
cero2k wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 14:28 People like guys showing up at someone else's show. They loved it when DX did it 19 years ago and they loved it when The Bullet Club made it last year. Fans love that type of stuff.
Except the key difference between this and what D-X or Bullet Club did was that they were there to interact with fans. This was TNA guys showing up in a restricted area to bother WWE wrestlers and crew-members.
cero2k wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 14:28
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 10:46 WCPW wasn't forced to change. They decided to call themselves Defiant because they thought it was a middle finger to YouTube.
If TNA wanted a clean break, they should have chosen a name without a history of confusion. If they had just switched to Global Wrestling Alliance or something like that, this wouldn't be happening because the company themselves has been using Global Wrestling Alliance and TNA as synonyms for years.
This is not really about Impact wanting a clean break. I don't think they ever expected it nor they deserved it. This is all about people not letting go and shitting on things because of the past and not they're doing in the present, just look at Roman Reigns.
Roman is a whole different thing. It's not that Roman used to be bad and now he's good and people are still booing him. With Roman the issue is that this is Vince's hand-picked guy and the fans don't want Roman to be the top guy over the likes of Bryan, Rollins, Ambrose, AJ, Rusev, Nakamura, Ziggler, Wyatt, and the various other hot guys at the time who were availble and who (aside from AJ and Nakamura), people felt were stifled for the sake of Roman.

With TNA it's an issue of an established pattern of the company returning to habit. It's no different than ROH and streaming services. The moment ROH started to have problems with their service, people got annoyed. ROH told us they were fixed. They weren't. This happened several times over over the course of a few years. Then ROH seemingly got it right and they really hadn't had problems late 2013... and then this weekend happened and everyone is sh*tting on it again. And no amount of successful streams is going to help until they once again have a sustained period of several years of everything working perfectly. TNA has not put on a sustained period of a few years of great TV (I'd even argue they've failed a sustained period of several months of great TV) since their inception as a company. Of course people are going to remain skeptical that they won't just revert back to the same old mistakes, because that's what they have done every other time it seemed like they were starting to improve.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Apr 11th, '18, 19:11

Holy shit. All because they actually finally acknowledged and mentioned the existence of Tna .

I still call them that and refer as such because they'll always be Tna to me. Plus I watch or even read about it so I don't really know what it's called lol.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by cero2k » Apr 12th, '18, 09:31

KILLdozer wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 19:11
I still call them that and refer as such because they'll always be Tna to me.
see Red, this is what i'm talking about
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 12th, '18, 09:42

cero2k wrote: Apr 12th, '18, 09:31
KILLdozer wrote: Apr 11th, '18, 19:11
I still call them that and refer as such because they'll always be Tna to me.
see Red, this is what i'm talking about
That doesn't necessarily carry over your presumption of the bias against the name, though. Also, this is coming from a guy who flat -out admits that the reason is that he doesn't know what they're called. You are assuming a maliciousness that I just don't see.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 4/9/2018 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Apr 13th, '18, 06:45

Impact, Global force, Tna Wrestling. Impact wrestling. It's just the one I can identify with and relate to the most. I'd say it's more an issue of constant name changes than anything else.
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