BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Oct 5th, '16, 18:08

T-Minus 5 days until Alexa Bliss! becomes the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion:

BRAY WYATT vs. KANE- DUD!
Someone finally figured out that if Kane isn’t doing anything right now, then they really should give Bray his win back.
Or not.
My rating might be a bit unfair, (they did enough to deserve at least a 2), but there is no part of that finish that wasn’t utterly infuriating. First of all, why the f*ck should Bray Wyatt care if Randy Orton appears on the TitanTron upside down? For a “master of mind games” Bray Wyatt sure does fall for some idiotic bullsh*t. Not only was the distraction dumb, but you’d think they would have learned their lesson by now that NO ONE GIVES A SH*T ABOUT THEIR WACKY SCREEN EFFECTS. This sh*t would have been dumb in 1980’s, too, but at least back then it would have been impressive. Today there is so much mass-marketed video editing software that I’d bet that 90% of people watching this show could be given a video editing program they have never used before and created that same effect within an hour.
Next let’s talk about the actual finish. It looked like they were setting up for this distraction to allow Kane to chokeslam Bray and get the pin. That would have been dull, but at least it theoretically builds some heat between Randy and Bray and will also make the fans happy because babyface Randy outwitted his nemesis heel Bray, allowing babyface Kane to pin heel Bray and win the match.
Instead, they had Bray avoid the chokeslam, they traded a few strikes… and then Bray just decided to walk off and get counted out, showing us that he doesn’t give a sh*t about this match- which devalues Kane’s “victory” here (since he didn’t really beat Bray and the match obviously wasn’t important) as well as every other match we’ll see tonight (because Bray didn’t care that he lost, telling us that the results don’t matter). And it’s not like Bray hurried off and looked concerned. He just walked off calmly like Owens used to do before WWE realized it was f*cking stupid.
Finally… if Bray cared so much about getting to Randy, why didn’t he just use his f*cking magic to teleport over there? Hell… he could have teleported behind Randy, hit him in the back of the head, and then teleported back into the ring to finish the match all before getting counted out. But no. Bray’s magic only works when it is convenient for the plot, which makes it all the more frustrating. CHIKARA has (probably) proven that you can do some sort of magic and make it work, so long as the atmosphere of the product supports it and it is applied logically (for example, CHIKARA would never book a guy who can teleport in a cage match you can win by escaping the cage). In WWE, though, magic is applied like the attention of a babyface TNA executive: it’s only there when it is convenient for the plot, thus destroying any potential benefit to the product.

CHARLY INTERVIEWS BARON CORBIN- it led to a confrontation with Swagger. It was fine.
On another note, my kayfabe-obsessed brain is very thrown off by heel “lone wolf” Baron Corbin wearing a breast cancer ribbon. I’m not saying a heel can’t do that, but a heel who goes around calling himself “the Lone Wolf” doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would. Just saying.
BRAY WYATT WANDERS AROUND BACKSTAGE- he said nothing that he hasn’t been saying for two months now, and to make matters worse, we had to miss part of Alexa Bliss!’s entrance for this.

ALEXA BLISS! vs. NIKKI BELLA- no rating, terrible segment.
Carmella is on commentary because G-d forbid Alexa Bliss should be given a clean win going into her title match. In fact, she can’t even get a win. Nikki kicked Alexa’s ass. Then Carmella taunted Nikki so Nikki threw Alexa into her. Nikki then rolled Alexa back into the ring and got her up for her new finisher but Carmella ran in for the DQ. Nikki got doubled teamed for a few moments, but then Becky Lynch came out to make the save and each babyface unceremoniously dumped her respective heel rival out of the ring. Hooray for no heat.

NIKKI BELLA & BECKY LYNCH vs. ALEXA BLISS & CARMELLA- 3.75/10
We when come back from commercial, we learn that Daniel Bryan came out and made this a tag match. I would have made a Teddy Long joke, but JBL made one, which automatically poisons all Teddy Long jokes for the week. If you wanted to do a tag team match, why not just book a tag team match in the first place? Did Nikki Bella really need a DQ victory over the #1 contender?
Alexa did get to pin Becky here, which was the right finish if you really have to have Nikki and Carmella brawl to the back here, but I think it would have been much better to not beat the champion and instead of Alexa beat Nikki in a singles match with Becky on commentary to build up the title match, and then, later on, you have Nikki cut a promo to build up the match with Carmella that I assume she is having at the PPV talking about how she wants to get her revenge on her etc. etc. and then later have Carmella cut a promo saying that Nikki will lose at the PPV just like she lost to Alexa tonight.

MORE OF BRAY WYATT WANDERING ABOUT BACKSTAGE LOOKING FOR ORTON- He sees a smoke-filled room and a rocking chair. He is unafraid, and asks Randy “is this all you got!?”
It turns out that it was a trap and that the room was a storage area, which Randy locks Bray inside. For some reason there is a camera in the storage area, so we could see Bray (and her) pounding the walls in frustration. Once again… BRAY HAS MAGICAL POWERS OF TELEPORTATION! WHY DOES HE NOT JUST TELEPORT OUT OF THERE?!

BREAST CANCER STUFF- skipped it. See my comments on Raw as to why, but for you convenience, here is that list breast cancer charities that will make better use of your money than Komen:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index. ... overallrtg



THE VAUDEVILLAINS vs. HYPE BROS.- 3.75/10
I feel bad for Mojo because he is trying his best. He’s just got this horribly obnoxious gimmick. The match was meh. The Ascension came out to ringside to watch this match.

MIZ TV: A DOLPH-UMENTARY- great segment.
Okay… so what is the kayfabe explanation for why Nicky from the Spirit Squad, Nick the caddy, and Dolph Ziggler are all the same person?
Other than that, this was great heel stuff from Miz. Dolph definitely laid it on too think by talking about children with cancer etc. etc. True or not it was such overdone stuff (like Dolph usually does as a babyface) that it made his claim that that was “real emotion” feel dubious. Start with “winning the world title” thing and then build up to the making children smile part… because I find it infinitely more believable that when Dolph Ziggler thinks of a moment that “made it all worth it” his mind will immediately go to that night in East Rutherford where the fans went nuts for him winning the World Heavyweight Title well before he thinks of cancer-ridden children because that is simply human nature (especially for a guy who calls himself “the showoff”).
Miz brought out the remnants of the Spirit Squad, and it warmed my heart a little to know that a talentless hack like Mike Mondo is so desperate for a paycheck that he is willing to reprise this role for one night. So Kenny and Mikey beat up Dolph on Miz’s orders and laid him out with the Spirit Squad finisher. Dolph recovered and superkicked both of them. Great segment.

EVEN MORE DUMB BRAY WYATT SH*T- he’s still in the storage area. What was the point of showing this to us?

JASON JORDAN (w/Chad Gable) vs. JEY USO (w/Jimmy Uso)- no rating, good segment.
Jordan uses his wrestling skills to get a quick roll-up win, then The Usos attack the legs of both American Alpha members. They were about to hit Jordan with the Tequila Sunrise/top rope splash to the leg combination but Slater & Rhyno made the save.

MORE BRAY- now he’s just sitting in the rocking chair and singing. Now he’s talking to Sister Abigail. He asks her to “take me home. I’m ready to go home.”
After a commercial break, Randy inspects the storage container, and Bray has disappeared. Randy says “oh no no no” like this is some sort of terrible occurrence which will result in some sort of plan of his being foiled. This was so dumb.

HAWKINS WILL BE WRESTLING AT NO MERCY- months of bullsh*t all for that.

JACK SWAGGER vs. BARON CORBIN- 4.75/10
Swagger wins when he had the Patriot Lock in but the referee was an idiot and thought he was tapping but it was pretty clear he was reaching for the rope (neither his fingers nor his palm every hit the canvas).

MAIN EVENT TALKING SEGMENT- AJ came out and cut a good promo to hype up the WWE Title match on the PPV. Dean showed up and he was good, too. Cena came out and they both cut very good promos on him. Cena started a brawl, and Dean Ambrose stood tall at the end.

A decent go-home show from Smackdown, but nothing you really need to see if you were already interested in the PPV. I can’t wait for this Orton vs. Wyatt feud to end.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Serujuunin
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Re: BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by Serujuunin » Oct 5th, '16, 22:26

Big Red Machine wrote:T-Minus 5 days until Alexa Bliss! becomes the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion:
MORE BRAY- now he’s just sitting in the rocking chair and singing. Now he’s talking to Sister Abigail. He asks her to “take me home. I’m ready to go home.”
After a commercial break, Randy inspects the storage container, and Bray has disappeared. Randy says “oh no no no” like this is some sort of terrible occurrence which will result in some sort of plan of his being foiled. This was so dumb.
I am in agreement with all of this, but I feel like this was a very small detail that was easy to miss, but it was important in developing the character of Bray Wyatt in this feud. It's the first time his character has shown any kayfabe vulnerability, which is an important development for any character.

That being said, I still don't give a shit about the character or the story, so this small detail that was good gets lost in the story that is garbage.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Oct 5th, '16, 22:50

Serujuunin wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:T-Minus 5 days until Alexa Bliss! becomes the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion:
MORE BRAY- now he’s just sitting in the rocking chair and singing. Now he’s talking to Sister Abigail. He asks her to “take me home. I’m ready to go home.”
After a commercial break, Randy inspects the storage container, and Bray has disappeared. Randy says “oh no no no” like this is some sort of terrible occurrence which will result in some sort of plan of his being foiled. This was so dumb.
I am in agreement with all of this, but I feel like this was a very small detail that was easy to miss, but it was important in developing the character of Bray Wyatt in this feud. It's the first time his character has shown any kayfabe vulnerability, which is an important development for any character.

That being said, I still don't give a shit about the character or the story, so this small detail that was good gets lost in the story that is garbage.
Bray Wyatt has no character. He's garbage and every single thing he's a part of is garbage. There's more character within my tattoos.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Oct 5th, '16, 23:20

Serujuunin wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:T-Minus 5 days until Alexa Bliss! becomes the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion:
MORE BRAY- now he’s just sitting in the rocking chair and singing. Now he’s talking to Sister Abigail. He asks her to “take me home. I’m ready to go home.”
After a commercial break, Randy inspects the storage container, and Bray has disappeared. Randy says “oh no no no” like this is some sort of terrible occurrence which will result in some sort of plan of his being foiled. This was so dumb.
I am in agreement with all of this, but I feel like this was a very small detail that was easy to miss, but it was important in developing the character of Bray Wyatt in this feud. It's the first time his character has shown any kayfabe vulnerability, which is an important development for any character.

That being said, I still don't give a shit about the character or the story, so this small detail that was good gets lost in the story that is garbage.
I would agree with you except for the ending, where he escaped anyway, and with no real effort. It just feels like pointless, stupid, stalling to me.
Also, to take Dozer's comment one step further, not only does Bray have no character, but we've seen so many false and/or aborted attempts to develop one with him that I won't believe anything they do with him is intended to be real character development until I see it over a sustained period of time.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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Serujuunin
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Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by Serujuunin » Oct 6th, '16, 19:04

Big Red Machine wrote:
Serujuunin wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:T-Minus 5 days until Alexa Bliss! becomes the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion:
MORE BRAY- now he’s just sitting in the rocking chair and singing. Now he’s talking to Sister Abigail. He asks her to “take me home. I’m ready to go home.”
After a commercial break, Randy inspects the storage container, and Bray has disappeared. Randy says “oh no no no” like this is some sort of terrible occurrence which will result in some sort of plan of his being foiled. This was so dumb.
I am in agreement with all of this, but I feel like this was a very small detail that was easy to miss, but it was important in developing the character of Bray Wyatt in this feud. It's the first time his character has shown any kayfabe vulnerability, which is an important development for any character.

That being said, I still don't give a shit about the character or the story, so this small detail that was good gets lost in the story that is garbage.
I would agree with you except for the ending, where he escaped anyway, and with no real effort. It just feels like pointless, stupid, stalling to me.
Also, to take Dozer's comment one step further, not only does Bray have no character, but we've seen so many false and/or aborted attempts to develop one with him that I won't believe anything they do with him is intended to be real character development until I see it over a sustained period of time.
I entirely agree with all of these points, I never said I didn't. I was just pointing out this small detail that I appreciated, even though it got lost in all the bad. :P

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Oct 6th, '16, 20:13

He's not "suddenly vulnerable" when he's just a fucking idiot all of the time anyways!
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 10/4/2016 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Oct 12th, '16, 15:17

This show is so fucked up it's ridiculous...A legitimate fucked up call by the referee and the announcer goes off on him live on THE AIR, and Alexa Bliss is robbed of a title opportunity she rightfully won due to outside circumstances out of her control and is then not given what is rightfully hers....but she's a heel and the show runners are faces....

They look GREAT in this whole brand rivalry.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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