BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 19th, '18, 02:11

JEFF HARDY PROMO- fine

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS SHINSUKE NAKAMURA- good

AJ STYLES vs. ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS (w/Zelina Vega)- 7/10
Almas wore a mask (not sure if it was one of his old La Sombra masks or not) onto the stage, then took it off and tossed it behind him.
These two had a pretty great match (but also one that felt like they were trying not to do too much), with AJ making Almas tap out to give Almas his first loss on the main roster… which seems like a completely backwards finish to me. AJ has been the champion for eight months now. Jeff, AJ, and Nakamura seem like they’re going to be working a program together, Miz giving a “eulogy for Team Hell No” later tonight seems to indicate that Bryan will be working with him, and AJ just beat Rusev clean on Sunday so AJ needs to feud with someone to defend the title against, and unless Samoa Joe is able to climb out of whatever vortex to the netherworld he seems to have fallen into without a trace, Almas is the guy in the best position to do that. Furthermore, I can’t recall a time when AJ lost cleanly as champion and Almas still feels fresh off of his call-up, so putting him over AJ cleanly here would immediately establish him not only the #1 contender for SummerSlam, but as a guy who belongs in that to echelon of the Smackdown roster with AJ, Joe, Bryan, Nakamura, Orton, Cena, and Hardy.
But instead they had AJ beat him and break his undefeated stream in a match with zero hype.

I don’t like Naito’s gimmick at all, but WWE having their announcers use the word “tranquillo” to describe Almas and others (I forget who Graves used it about last night) has been more infuriating to me any other WWE attempt to co-opt someone else’s phrase/gimmick/whatever that I can remember.

AIDEN ENGLISH & LANA BACKSTAGE- good
English wants to apologize for screwing things up at the PPV. He asks Lana to talk to Rusev for him, but she says that she won’t, instead telling him to ask himself if he is best for Rusev. Hey, look! They finally remembered this plot point that they randomly raised like two months ago for one segment and then did nothing with. Aiden begs for a second chance, so Lana says she’ll take delivering his apology to Rusev under consideration.
Hopefully this does lead to them breaking up, because Aiden English is the living embodiment of everything I hate about Rusev Day. Also, I think I figured out the secret pattern with Lana’s accent: she now only uses the Russian accent when saying “Rusev.” I assume that if I mail this information in to the WWE promotional department, they will tell me I have won some sort of contest and send me one of those v-neck “HA PY LANA DAY” t-shirts she is always wearing nowadays.

WWE tried to put over Miz’s performance in the celebrity softball game that is part of MLB’s All-Star Game festivities. While doing this Tom Phillips incorrectly claimed that Bernie Williams was a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and even more incorrectly claimed that the game occurred this weekend. It happened on Monday, and MONDAY IS NOT PART OF THE WEEKEND.

BECKY LYNCH vs. MANDY ROSE (w/ Sonya Deville)- 2/10
Becky Lynch won clean, then cut a promo pointing out that she has won a lot matches recently and thus she wants a title shot.

CARMELLA & PAIGE BACKSTAGE- This was… magical. That’s the word for it. These two were so over the top that the brute force of it somehow made this entertaining as hell. I’m finally warming up to Paige’s gimmick of temporarily playing along with the heels to make them look stupid (although I think it only works with certain heels, but Carmella is definitely one of them). The gist of this is that next week Becky will face Carmella in a non-title match, and if Carmella wins then Paige will throw her “the biggest Mellabration in the history of Mellabrations,” but if Becky wins, then Becky will get a t title shot at “the biggest show of the summer”… which Paige then apparently felt the specify to us that she meant SummerSlam , just in case anyone watching thought she might have meant the August 29th house show in Sheboygan.

R-TRUTH ANNOYS TYE DILLINGER BACKSTAGE- dull

SAMOA JOE vs. TYE DILLINGER- 2.5/10
Apparently this match stems from a dark angle that they did before last week’s Smackdown where Joe and Dillinger were supposed to wrestle (because Truth lobbied for the match) but Joe just attacked Dillinger from behind on the ramp and choked him out.
Dillinger charged right at Joe and got some very good shots in but Joe took over on the outside by tossing Dillinger’s entire body into the ringpost. Joe then got Dillinger back in the ring, beat him up more, and choked him out. This was short, but REALLY good for the time it got. It might well be the best two-minute match I’ve ever seen.

MIZ’S FUNERAL FOR TEAM HELL NO- meh
At least he was smart enough to not bring out a casket. That would just be tempting fate.
Miz cut a promo on Team Hell No, which turned into a big promo on Bryan, declaring Bryan’s career to be “dead.” Bryan’s music played. I’m not sure why, considering the fact that he came out of the crowd rather than from the entrance. He attacked Miz from behind, like a coward. The pallbearers tried to restrain him but he beat them up as Miz escaped. If Bryan had just come down the ramp instead of attacking Miz from behind, this would have been good, but instead he had to attack from behind like a total heel.

NEW DAY FART AROUND BACKSTAGE- well… at least they’re not eating, playing with, or talking about pancakes. Kofi is apparently wrestling Eric Young next, because why would a gimmick match on PPV with a clean finish end a feud?

ERIC YOUNG (w/SAnitY) vs. KOFI KINGSTON (w/The New Day)- 6.75/10
Very good match with a cool finish.

We are told that Paige will announce AJ’s SummerSlam challenger on next week’s show.


WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. Jeff Hardy- 8/10
Good news, everyone! I found the PPV match that Jeff and Nakamura were supposed to have! Then Randy Orton had to come out of the crowd and ruin it. Why did you waste Randy’s return on the PPV when having him return here would have been much more impactful?


A pretty good show from Smackdown. I question some of the booking decisions, but there wasn’t anything on here that I found boring, pointless, or offensively bad, and for a WWE main roster (and non-205 Live) TV show, that’s a win at this point.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Serujuunin » Jul 19th, '18, 08:31

Randy’s segment with Jeff here is the first time in a while that a heel segment made me genuinely uncomfortable. I think Randy’s presence as a heel is something the Smackdown roster needs, because he’s just so good at it.

Also, when he was done with Jeff he shouted “Where’s Shin?” But nothing ever came of it. So I’m curious now where it goes.

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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Jul 19th, '18, 09:24

He tried to rip his ear off lol.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Jul 19th, '18, 10:14

That would have a good time to have Jim Ross around btw...but instead you've got two idiots like Saxton and Phillips..."Randy Orton has lost it...he's lost it."

Lol man gtfoh! Saxton is one of the worst of the past decade/era, if not top 3 of said list, and Phillips just sounds like a cartoon.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 19th, '18, 12:09

Serujuunin wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 08:31 Randy’s segment with Jeff here is the first time in a while that a heel segment made me genuinely uncomfortable. I think Randy’s presence as a heel is something the Smackdown roster needs, because he’s just so good at it.

Also, when he was done with Jeff he shouted “Where’s Shin?” But nothing ever came of it. So I’m curious now where it goes.
I agree. The question then becomes, who do you flip babyface to give the men's main event side of things not be totally out of balance. Rusev would have been the best choice, but they seem to be intent on keeping him heel. Either that or they're going to turn Lana heel and have Rusev stay with English.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Bob-O » Jul 19th, '18, 12:52

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 02:11 AJ STYLES vs. ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS (w/Zelina Vega)- 7/10
Almas wore a mask (not sure if it was one of his old La Sombra masks or not) onto the stage, then took it off and tossed it behind him.
Furthermore, I can’t recall a time when AJ lost cleanly as champion and Almas still feels fresh off of his call-up, so putting him over AJ cleanly here would immediately establish him not only the #1 contender for SummerSlam, but as a guy who belongs in that to echelon of the Smackdown roster with AJ, Joe, Bryan, Nakamura, Orton, Cena, and Hardy.
But instead they had AJ beat him and break his undefeated stream in a match with zero hype.
I liked this! AJ should not be losing clean to anyone as champion... it'd kinda the point of being the champion... booking the champion to lose to a newcomer in the opening match seems like the backwards thing to do...

It'd be fitting, considering how they've treated AJ, but why would that be a good idea? I thought it was bad enough they had him in the opening match aaaaaand brought him out first (champ should come out last, it's a big pet peeve of mine).

But, beyond that, this was perfect. Almas was brought out second, controlled the match, AJ was on defense 90% of the time and got what came across as a desperation win. Almas got his cocky heel spots in and looked like he belonged in that ring. He came off very strong, and no mention of it being his first loss was made (that I heard), so that's not even there to bury him. The announcers could have done a better job of selling it, but afterward AJ looked like a man who'd just been taken to his limit... I loved how it looked like they were going to shake hands afterward, but Almas blew him off before he could extend it.

I know what you're saying, but tit for tat, this was the right call. What it'd do for Almas wouldn't make up for the damage it would do to AJ... they can play off this in the future.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Serujuunin » Jul 19th, '18, 14:09

Bob-O wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 12:52
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 02:11 AJ STYLES vs. ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS (w/Zelina Vega)- 7/10
Almas wore a mask (not sure if it was one of his old La Sombra masks or not) onto the stage, then took it off and tossed it behind him.
Furthermore, I can’t recall a time when AJ lost cleanly as champion and Almas still feels fresh off of his call-up, so putting him over AJ cleanly here would immediately establish him not only the #1 contender for SummerSlam, but as a guy who belongs in that to echelon of the Smackdown roster with AJ, Joe, Bryan, Nakamura, Orton, Cena, and Hardy.
But instead they had AJ beat him and break his undefeated stream in a match with zero hype.
I liked this! AJ should not be losing clean to anyone as champion... it'd kinda the point of being the champion... booking the champion to lose to a newcomer in the opening match seems like the backwards thing to do...

It'd be fitting, considering how they've treated AJ, but why would that be a good idea? I thought it was bad enough they had him in the opening match aaaaaand brought him out first (champ should come out last, it's a big pet peeve of mine).

But, beyond that, this was perfect. Almas was brought out second, controlled the match, AJ was on defense 90% of the time and got what came across as a desperation win. Almas got his cocky heel spots in and looked like he belonged in that ring. He came off very strong, and no mention of it being his first loss was made (that I heard), so that's not even there to bury him. The announcers could have done a better job of selling it, but afterward AJ looked like a man who'd just been taken to his limit... I loved how it looked like they were going to shake hands afterward, but Almas blew him off before he could extend it.

I know what you're saying, but tit for tat, this was the right call. What it'd do for Almas wouldn't make up for the damage it would do to AJ... they can play off this in the future.
I agree with you that Almas didn’t come out of that match worse for wear with the way the match went down. If AJ had blown by him in no time flat I would have been mad, but this way he’s taken the Champ to his limit and nearly won, who’s to say his performance didn’t impress people backstage enough to consider him for a future shot (in storyline)? I mean, they do stuff like that all the time but it usually feels pretty haphazard and like they haven’t put any effort into it at all- here it actually feels like it makes sense.

I do think at this stage in the game it wouldn’t hurt AJ to lose periodically though, and if it were a loss by DQ because Vega got involved, it would have been heel heat on him, and protected AJ too. However, I’m not really familiar with his character and if that’s something they would do with him or not.

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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 19th, '18, 17:42

Bob-O wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 12:52
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 02:11 AJ STYLES vs. ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS (w/Zelina Vega)- 7/10
Almas wore a mask (not sure if it was one of his old La Sombra masks or not) onto the stage, then took it off and tossed it behind him.
Furthermore, I can’t recall a time when AJ lost cleanly as champion and Almas still feels fresh off of his call-up, so putting him over AJ cleanly here would immediately establish him not only the #1 contender for SummerSlam, but as a guy who belongs in that to echelon of the Smackdown roster with AJ, Joe, Bryan, Nakamura, Orton, Cena, and Hardy.
But instead they had AJ beat him and break his undefeated stream in a match with zero hype.
I liked this! AJ should not be losing clean to anyone as champion... it'd kinda the point of being the champion... booking the champion to lose to a newcomer in the opening match seems like the backwards thing to do...

It'd be fitting, considering how they've treated AJ, but why would that be a good idea? I thought it was bad enough they had him in the opening match aaaaaand brought him out first (champ should come out last, it's a big pet peeve of mine).

But, beyond that, this was perfect. Almas was brought out second, controlled the match, AJ was on defense 90% of the time and got what came across as a desperation win. Almas got his cocky heel spots in and looked like he belonged in that ring. He came off very strong, and no mention of it being his first loss was made (that I heard), so that's not even there to bury him. The announcers could have done a better job of selling it, but afterward AJ looked like a man who'd just been taken to his limit... I loved how it looked like they were going to shake hands afterward, but Almas blew him off before he could extend it.

I know what you're saying, but tit for tat, this was the right call. What it'd do for Almas wouldn't make up for the damage it would do to AJ... they can play off this in the future.
What damage would it do to AJ? The mere fact that he hasn't lost cleanly (or, really, at all) in forever is exactly what would make this big. Yes the champion shouldn't lose often, but there is nothing wrong with him losing once every three or four months in order to set up a challenger.

I also totally disagree that a loss here would hurt AJ more than Almas. Almas is a relatively new guy who hasn't lost yet. We haven't seen him start to go down yet. He hasn't hit that point where you can tell Creative is giving up on him the way you could tell with a guy like Corbin or Rusev or Cesaro that they no longer thought he was capable of what they originally thought. And so many years of WWE's tendency to just give up on guys has created the impression in many fans' minds that the highest you go in that initial push is the highest they'll ever let you get unless something drastic happens. Almas hadn't hit that point yet, so his potential ceiling had yet to be set, and a clean win over AJ to set up a main event at SummerSlam would firmly establish him as a top guy. Losing here just makes him a jobber to the stars. He beat Sin Cara (who hasn't done anything relevant in years) and but now that he has to face someone in the upper echelon of talent, he loses clean.
I also just don't buy the "he took AJ to the limit" thing. I just saw AJ last over thirty minutes in a Last Man Standing Match with Shinsuke Nakamura. We've seen him go almost 35 in the Elimination Chamber, and have matches with John Cena that usually went around twenty-five. You can't convince me that fourteen minutes with Almas was "taking AJ to his limit."
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by cero2k » Jul 19th, '18, 21:32

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42
What damage would it do to AJ? The mere fact that he hasn't lost cleanly (or, really, at all) in forever is exactly what would make this big. Yes the champion shouldn't lose often, but there is nothing wrong with him losing once every three or four months in order to set up a challenger.
it depends on how much a fan would play MMA-math since Sin Cara (known jobber) gave Almas a lot of trouble just a week prior
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Bob-O » Jul 19th, '18, 23:08

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42 What damage would it do to AJ? The mere fact that he hasn't lost cleanly (or, really, at all) in forever is exactly what would make this big. Yes the champion shouldn't lose often, but there is nothing wrong with him losing once every three or four months in order to set up a challenger.
The champion shouldn't lose EVER! It's personal preference I suppose, but I hate non-title match ups to begin with. I'm alright with the champ taking the fall in a tag match, but losing clean to start a program? Not a championship program. ~IF~ we're going to do a non title match, I much prefer this route. The one where the champ squeaks by, and now Almas can say "that won't happen again, put the title on the line if you're so sure you can beat me again..."
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42 I also totally disagree that a loss here would hurt AJ more than Almas. Almas is a relatively new guy who hasn't lost yet. We haven't seen him start to go down yet. He hasn't hit that point where you can tell Creative is giving up on him the way you could tell with a guy like Corbin or Rusev or Cesaro that they no longer thought he was capable of what they originally thought. And so many years of WWE's tendency to just give up on guys has created the impression in many fans' minds that the highest you go in that initial push is the highest they'll ever let you get unless something drastic happens. Almas hadn't hit that point yet, so his potential ceiling had yet to be set, and a clean win over AJ to set up a main event at SummerSlam would firmly establish him as a top guy. Losing here just makes him a jobber to the stars. He beat Sin Cara (who hasn't done anything relevant in years) and but now that he has to face someone in the upper echelon of talent, he loses clean.
I say "hurt AJ" in the sense that the damage has already been done. Damage to AJ, damage to the title, c'mon man...
With no Universal Championship in sight, they put the IC title match on last on Sunday. A non-title match last at Backlash. MITB was understandable, but the context clues here speak volumes. Yes, a win here immediately elevates Almas. But what kind of WORLD CHAMPION takes a loss in the opener of weekly television? A loss to the guy that's fresh off his feud with Sin Cara? No! Have him beat Danielson or Hardy or Asuke or somebody else clean in the opener to bump him up! Why damage the credibility of your champion because he hasn't lost in a while? Are we that bored with WWE? Are we that desperate for things to start happening? Has Lesnar made all the championships unimportant? I friggin' love Almas, I just want to see this go the proper route.
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42 I also just don't buy the "he took AJ to the limit" thing. I just saw AJ last over thirty minutes in a Last Man Standing Match with Shinsuke Nakamura. We've seen him go almost 35 in the Elimination Chamber, and have matches with John Cena that usually went around twenty-five. You can't convince me that fourteen minutes with Almas was "taking AJ to his limit."
14 minutes that Almas controlled about 10 of. But, I'm referring to post match. He was blown up, could barely hold his title, took forever to get up... Almas looked to be in better shape after the loss. AJ sold his ass off, Tuesday night was definitely all about Andrade. Did he ACTUALLY take him to his limit? No, of course not. But Almas can claim it and not look like a fool.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 20th, '18, 01:57

Bob-O wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 23:08
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42 What damage would it do to AJ? The mere fact that he hasn't lost cleanly (or, really, at all) in forever is exactly what would make this big. Yes the champion shouldn't lose often, but there is nothing wrong with him losing once every three or four months in order to set up a challenger.
The champion shouldn't lose EVER! It's personal preference I suppose, but I hate non-title match ups to begin with. I'm alright with the champ taking the fall in a tag match, but losing clean to start a program? Not a championship program. ~IF~ we're going to do a non title match, I much prefer this route. The one where the champ squeaks by, and now Almas can say "that won't happen again, put the title on the line if you're so sure you can beat me again..."
So you're saying you think the challenger losing a non-title match is a better way to start a program than having him get the win? I get what you're saying about challenging the champ to put the belt on the line, but surely management wants to see him get some other victories first to prove his worth as a challenger again.
Bob-O wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 23:08
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42 I also totally disagree that a loss here would hurt AJ more than Almas. Almas is a relatively new guy who hasn't lost yet. We haven't seen him start to go down yet. He hasn't hit that point where you can tell Creative is giving up on him the way you could tell with a guy like Corbin or Rusev or Cesaro that they no longer thought he was capable of what they originally thought. And so many years of WWE's tendency to just give up on guys has created the impression in many fans' minds that the highest you go in that initial push is the highest they'll ever let you get unless something drastic happens. Almas hadn't hit that point yet, so his potential ceiling had yet to be set, and a clean win over AJ to set up a main event at SummerSlam would firmly establish him as a top guy. Losing here just makes him a jobber to the stars. He beat Sin Cara (who hasn't done anything relevant in years) and but now that he has to face someone in the upper echelon of talent, he loses clean.
I say "hurt AJ" in the sense that the damage has already been done. Damage to AJ, damage to the title, c'mon man...
With no Universal Championship in sight, they put the IC title match on last on Sunday. A non-title match last at Backlash. MITB was understandable, but the context clues here speak volumes. Yes, a win here immediately elevates Almas. But what kind of WORLD CHAMPION takes a loss in the opener of weekly television? A loss to the guy that's fresh off his feud with Sin Cara? No! Have him beat Danielson or Hardy or Asuke or somebody else clean in the opener to bump him up! Why damage the credibility of your champion because he hasn't lost in a while? Are we that bored with WWE? Are we that desperate for things to start happening? Has Lesnar made all the championships unimportant? I friggin' love Almas, I just want to see this go the proper route.
What kind of world champion loses in the opener of a TV show, you ask? One who needs to take a loss to elevate a new challenger when the other two big spots on the show have already been announced for other things (one of which was the US Title match). If you're looking to grab attention heading into SummerSlam and make people think anything can happen then beating the champ in the opener is a good way to do it.

Why damage your champion right now? Because you need to take a drastic measure to set up a challenger for SummerSlam. The only guys on SD who could just walk out there and get in AJ's face and just be given a title shot on aura alone right now are Orton, Joe, Cena, and Dragon, and Dragon and Orton are doing other things this month, Cena isn't around and Joe doesn't seem to be, either. Therefore, you need to take a more drastic step to build a challenger, and I think Almas is in a unique position where the benefit of having him beat AJ here is much great than it would be for pretty much anyone else in the company to do so.
You can certainly build Almas up with those other wins, but if you want to make him look like a credible challenger in time to get the build rolling for SummerSlam, he'd have to beat someone major, and most of those major guys are either heels right now, not around (Cena, Taker) or were already booked for something else tonight (Hardy, Dragon).


As for the IC Title main eventing the PPV over the world title, they had the gimmick match. The finishes being what they were and my own opinion that Ironman Matches are often dull, I would have put AJ vs. Rusev on last, but there is at least a logical thought process that says that putting the IC Title Ironman match on after the regular WWE Title match makes sense.

Bob-O wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 23:08
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 19th, '18, 17:42 I also just don't buy the "he took AJ to the limit" thing. I just saw AJ last over thirty minutes in a Last Man Standing Match with Shinsuke Nakamura. We've seen him go almost 35 in the Elimination Chamber, and have matches with John Cena that usually went around twenty-five. You can't convince me that fourteen minutes with Almas was "taking AJ to his limit."
14 minutes that Almas controlled about 10 of. But, I'm referring to post match. He was blown up, could barely hold his title, took forever to get up... Almas looked to be in better shape after the loss. AJ sold his ass off, Tuesday night was definitely all about Andrade. Did he ACTUALLY take him to his limit? No, of course not. But Almas can claim it and not look like a fool.
Yeah, AJ was selling because he was blown up, but so what? He didn't look like he was in bad shape, like he did after his matches with Cena or the Last Man Standing Match, etc. Yeah, he was selling most of the match because 1) he was winning, so this helps Almas not look like a total chump and 2) AJ is the babyface; they need to create sympathy to make people care about the comeback more. Yes, AJ put Almas over with his selling afterwards, but there is no way that you can convince me that fourteen minutes against Almas is AJ's limit when he went longer than that against Brock the Squash Monster.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Jul 20th, '18, 23:48

I know I'm not the only one who thinks Dillenger is such a shitass.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/17/2018 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 21st, '18, 20:12

KILLdozer wrote: Jul 20th, '18, 23:48 I know I'm not the only one who thinks Dillenger is such a shitass.
I've been saying that for years.
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