BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Nov 22nd, '17, 01:31

The announcers (well… mostly Byron) are trying to sell to me that Smackdown was “well on their way to winning” in the main event of Survivor Series when Owens and Zayn showed up and attacked Shane, thus costing Smackdown the match. What a load of sh*t! Even at that point they were down 3-2, and they should have counted themselves lucky to be doing that well as Shane should have gotten DQed for the outside interference that helped him put Braun through the table and Cena was only able to eliminate Joe because Team Raw couldn’t stop arguing over stupid crap.
Tom Phillips wants says that I have to give Shane credit because “he fired the first shot; he thought he had the right plan.” CREDIT?! For that? Are you kidding me? You want me to give a guy credit for jumping someone else to start a fight that he couldn’t even win? And because he thought he had the right strategy but it turns out he didn’t? NO! That’s not how strategy works! You don’t get any credit for picking the wrong strategy because YOU PICKED A LOSING STRATEGY!

SHANE MCMAHON PROMO- infuriating, as usual.
He mentions that Smackdown lost at Survivor Series and the fans all boo, and I’m calling them out for it because I’ll bet that a large chunk of tonight’s crowd were in the building last night and all cheered when Steph talked about Raw winning.
Shane then warned us not to listen to what Steph says because she will “try to spin it,” but he insists that “Smackdown Live proved this past Sunday that we- even in defeat- will no longer be considered anything but the show in the WWE.”
ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?!
NO! NO! NO!
Listen up you entitled little sh*t stain: you spent the past month telling me that you were so sick and tired of everyone on Raw thinking of Smackdown as the “b show” no matter what you tried, so the only way to prove that you weren’t the inferior show was to beat them at Survivor Series. Well Survivor Series came and YOU LOST! And last night on Raw they were all celebrating their win and calling Smackdown the “b show” just like they (apparently) always have… and you’re trying to tell me that even though you lost at Survivor Series you still somehow accomplished your goal anyway? F*CK. OFF.
And you have temerity to say this after telling me not to listen to Steph because she is the one who will try to spin things? She doesn’t have to do any spin, asshole! And do you know why? BECAUSE HER TEAM BEAT YOURS!
Anyway, Shane is really proud of all of his Smackdown children… aside from Owens & Zayn of course. Shane calls them out, so we get the…

SHANE, OWENS, & ZAYN SEGMENT- good
As Owens & Zayn come out, Byron goes on this tirade about they were “selfish” and couldn’t put the good of Smackdown above their own desires and so forth. Really? Because if I’m supposed to believe that Shane said about Smackdown still having proven themselves to be the better show even in defeat then the results of the matches at Survivor Series didn’t matter and if the results didn’t matter and Smackdown was able to prove their superiority even in defeat, then how did Owens & Zayn trying to make them lose instead of win harm the common good of Smackdown in any way?
Byron insisted that their supposedly selfish actions affected “people’s paychecks.” If you want to say that they were a major cause of Smackdown’s loss in that match- a dubious claim for the reasons I stated in the opening paragraph, but for the sake of argument we’ll pretend it’s true- then they affected the paychecks of the five Smackdown wrestlers in that match and that’s it. They didn’t hurt the brand’s drawing power or steal the gate or something like that which would affect everyone on the brand.
Owens and Zayn cut a promo on Shane that I completely agreed with. They basically accused him of coming out at the start of each show with a new bullsh*t excuse for his own shortcomings. From there they cut a great egomaniacal heel promo about how they were better than everyone in the WWE. Shane told us that he had a two-word phrase for them. More barbs were traded back and forth until they build up to Shane getting to say his two words. This to me all seemed like perfect set up for the two words to actually be “Gauntlet Match” but instead Shane just tried to fire them.
I say “tried to” because Daniel Bryan interrupted him before he could say the word “fired.”
Hey Courtney! You’re holding your pink sign upside down.
Anyway, Bryan said that Shane shouldn’t fire them because Bryan isn’t an idiot. Bryan reiterated that everyone in the locker room hates their guts, and even told us that he had to “send Randy Orton home” because Randy said he was going maim Kevin & Sami if he saw them tonight. Look at that. A simple and natural kafabe explanation for why a major star won’t be appearing on this episode of the show. Hooray!
Bryan books them against New Day with everyone else on Smackdown as Lumberjacks. Wow. That’s even better than my Gauntlet Match idea.

SHELTON BENJAMIN (w/Chad Gable) vs. JEY USO (w/Jimmy Uso)- 6.5/10
Holy f*ck that knee from Shelton! And the bump Jey took down to the floor for it!

OWENS & ZAYN TRY TO RECRUIT PEOPLE TO WATCH THEIR BACKS IN THE LUMBERJACK MATCH- they tried to convince first Corbin and then Roode. Corbin wanted to know what was in it for him and when they couldn’t give him a good answer he wouldn’t help them. Roode yelled at them not only for ruining things for all of Smackdown (which doesn’t make sense for the reasons I explained above if we are supposed to believe what Shane said about them having proven themselves anyway), but even worse, Roode claimed that they ruined his big opportunity. He was eliminated well over ten minutes before they came out.

BLUDGEON BROTHERS HYPE- Tom Philips accidentally said “Harpan” instead of “Harper” or “Rowan.” I laughed my ass off.

NAOMI TALKS TO THE MAKE-UP LADY- she says she is “bummed” that her team lost to Raw’s team in their elimination match last night, “but it did feel pretty good to see Charlotte beat Alexa Bliss!.” In other words, Naomi is a loser who must resort to living vicariously through others. She then asked the make-up lady who she thought would win tonight’s Women’s Title match. If your story is that everyone hates Owens & Zayn for betraying Smackdown and you have a member of the roster talking to someone about her feelings about the results of the Survivor Series match, why not have her throw in a line about how much she hates Owens & Zayn for betraying them all? One mistake that WWE often makes is that they tell us that something is an issue that is affecting everyone butt only show it affecting people in the segments that are specifically about that thing. Doing something like what I suggest here would make it feel more real by showing it being on people’s minds in segments where it isn’t central to the narrative, thus making it feel like something that isn’t only relevant when the plot needs it to be.
Then Ruby Riot showed up with Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan and they beat Naomi up. The attack of the female NXT undercarders continues. Becky Lynch showed up to make the save but she got beaten up, too. This actually looked pretty vicious, but what kind of idiot books Heidi Lovelace as a heel?

BRYAN & SHANE BACKSTAGE- dull
Apparently Bryan was the one who made the decision to bring Liv, Sarah, and Ruby up from NXT. Well then why the hell did he take Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan when he could have taken Kairi Sane, Ember Moon, Nikki Cross, Shayna Baszler, or Mercedes Martinez?
Shane has decided to leave work less than half way through the show because he’s lazy. He’s also expecting Bryan to fire Owens and Zayn later tonight.

BLUDGEON BROTHERS vs. THE HYPE BROS.- no rating, awesome squash.
Their entrance was awesome, although I think Rowan really needs to lose the sheep mask and maybe replace the maroon on their gear with a different color. They obliterated the Hype Bros.

DASHA INTERVIEWS NATALYA- good stuff from Nattie.

AJ STYLES & JINDER MAHAL SEGMENT- good segment.
First they showed a promo from Heyman from after Survivor Series putting AJ over HUGE. Then AJ cut a promo challenging Jinder to face him right now but Jinder showed up on the TitanTron and said stuff. Jinder eventually said that he would be having his rematch at Clash of Champions. I could have sworn that match was already announced for this show. The Singh Brothers jumped AJ from behind and a decent beating in on him before AJ made his comeback and took them out.

OWENS & ZAYN TRY TO RECRUIT RUSEV & ENGLISH- they look intrigued by the idea.

WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Charlotte Flair(c) vs. Natalya- 6/10
They were having what was well on its way to being a very good match when the NXT trio jumped the barricade and attacked Nattie for the DQ. Then they attacked Charlotte, too and laid her out.

DASHA ASKS BRYAN ABOUT THE FINISH OF THE WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH- he called it an “interesting situation” and then said “no comment.” This came off as very suspicious. Then Owens & Zayn showed up and told Bryan that if he fires them tonight it will be the biggest mistake he has ever made.

LUMBERJACK MATCH: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The New Day (w/Xavier Woods)- 5.75/10
Stuff happened. Owens & Zayn won but still brawled with New Day afterwards. New Day isolated Sami and beat him up while Owens ran away.

OWENS & BRYAN BACKSTAGE- Owens thinks Bryan is going to fire him but Bryan just books him against Orton for next week.

An okay episode of Smackdown, which is much better than what we usually got. It’s biggest failing was the end of the show, which felt totally anti-climactic.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Nov 22nd, '17, 09:55

You know how ridiculous the Mitb thing is getting? "The champion has to watch her back"- this is the 3rd separate and different champion who's "had to watch her back." , At this point I don't think it matters anymore.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Nov 22nd, '17, 10:46

It's becoming an entrance prop, like the fuckin' mop or Gold medals or The Godfather's old red vest lol.

That's a hell of a topic right there btw.
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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Nov 22nd, '17, 11:06

I've seen guys on FB though, mention if, what if these women's trios are actually connected as one?

Seeing as how coincidentally similar they were within two days, I guess it's possible.
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 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by Big Red Machine » Nov 22nd, '17, 11:40

KILLdozer wrote: Nov 22nd, '17, 11:06 I've seen guys on FB though, mention if, what if these women's trios are actually connected as one?

Seeing as how coincidentally similar they were within two days, I guess it's possible.
I'd imagine that this has to be the case, but the problem is how are you going to have them appear to be part of the same faction when they can only interact a few times a year?
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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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Nov 22nd, '17, 11:52

Big Red Machine wrote: Nov 22nd, '17, 11:40
KILLdozer wrote: Nov 22nd, '17, 11:06 I've seen guys on FB though, mention if, what if these women's trios are actually connected as one?

Seeing as how coincidentally similar they were within two days, I guess it's possible.
I'd imagine that this has to be the case, but the problem is how are you going to have them appear to be part of the same faction when they can only interact a few times a year?
They're obviously just going to be all over both shows anyway lol.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 11/21/2017 Smackdown

Post by KILLdozer » Nov 22nd, '17, 13:14

You've gotta top expecting consistency and adherence of certain guidelines that have been previously set in place for certain things.

I literally know exactly everything you could possibly say here, but none of it will matter if it's what they decide to do.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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