BRM Reviews the 4/7/2016 Smackdown

[Big Red Machine]

ROMAN REIGNS PROMO- He got booed massively. The promo itself was the same thing we heard on Raw: “I don’t care if you love me or if you hate me. I’m not a bad guy; I’m not a good guy. I’m THE guy.” It’s not a bad catchphrase, but them doing it at this point really feels like damage control instead of something organic. If they are going to do this, I think it would have been better to either start doing it earlier (like maybe right after the Rumble) or wait until after this match with a huge babyface like AJ at the next PPV so that it feels like Roman is taking this attitude because he was rejected in favor of a move over babyface instead of how it feels now which is that creative went “OH SH*T THEY’RE STILL BOOING ROMAN! WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!”
Roman says he will beat AJ at the PPV. This brings out AJ who says he will beat Roman. Roman was kind of a dick here. There were supposedly dueling chants, but every shot of the audience only had people throwing up the Wolfpac sign, AJ’s hand signal, and clapping in tune with the pro-AJ chants. Not saying Roman’s chant was canned, but at the very least there were very few people in the arena chanting for him.

LUCHA DRAGONS vs. THE VAUDEVILLAINS- 4.5/10
Yeah… if I didn’t want to see the Vaudevillains in NXT where they were actually over, I sure as hell don’t want to see them on the main roster where even fewer people care about them. They are getting booed but I have no idea if it was canned or not. Lawler made jokes about black-and-white films and silent movies. It just occurred to me that the Vaudevillains screen effect means we will have to hear Lawler make the same dumb jokes every week from now until whenever they get future endeavored.
I honestly thought they might lose this match, but not only did they win, but they actually pinned US Champion Kalisto. If you’re only going to use them as tag team guys there is no reason for them to pin a singles champ.

NATALYA vs. SUMMER RAE- 2/10
Charlotte is on commentary. Ric Flair is at ringside. New branding, same old booking.

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: The Miz(c) (w/Maryse) vs. Zack Ryder- 6.75/10
Maryse came out on stage to introduce The Miz, and she stole at least three people’s gimmicks in one promo (she started off with the French version of “ladies and gentlemen, my name is…” said “but you already knew that” after she introduced herself, and the whole introduction feels like it was taken from what Maria and Mike Bennett are doing right now in TNA).
Three quarters of the way into this match I realized that I have absolutely no idea what Zack Ryder’s finisher is. Miz won after Maryse distracted the ref, allowing Miz to thumb Ryder in the eye, then hit the Skull-Crushing Finale.

Mauro referred to Maryse as a “two-time Women’s Champion” instead of Divas Champion. It’s very unlike Mauro to get his history wrong, so I assume that these were orders from Vince… so are they now just pretending they never used the word Diva ever?

THE SOCIAL OUTCASTS DECIDE WHO WILL FACE APOLLO CREWS- dumb.

APOLLO CREWS vs. CURTIS AXEL (w/the Social Outcasts)- 1/10

BARON CORBIN INTERVIEW- not as bad as on Raw, but still he probably shouldn’t be talking.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS BECKY LYNCH- AWESOME!
This got big cheers, but some of them definitely sounded canned.
Then Emma showed up and was upset that Becky has achieved more than she has. They traded barbs. This bit was pretty great, but it’s really the Becky interview part that you should go out of your way to see.

DEAN AMBROSE vs. TYLER BREEZE- Squash
Jericho and Ambrose had a bit of a (non-)interaction as Jericho was coming down the ramp and Dean was going up it.

GOLDUST & TRUTH BACKSTAGE- IT’S BEEN MONTHS! WHY THE F*CK IS THIS STILL GOING ON!
Goldust apparently has a movie he wants to do, and Truth claims he has some ridiculous connection to someone who can get him an audition when they are in LA for Raw this coming Monday.

AJ STYLES & CESARO vs. KEVIN OWENS & CHRIS JERICHO- 7.75/10
Everyone in the match was MASSIVELY over. They had a great tag match doing the standard babyface-in-peril stuff. The finish saw Sami Zayn come out (with referees, security, and agents holding him back), but it was enough of a distraction that it allowed AJ to roll Owens up for the pin. Zayn’s arm was still wrapped up, so when they had a short brawl after the match, Owens easily won it. Refs and security restrained Owens while he shouted “I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” at Zayn.

A decent episode of Smackdown.

[Serujuunin]

Roman outright sounded like a heel.

Ryder's finisher is the Ruff Ryder I think.

I can't stand Maryse now anymore than I could before. Her voice is irksome.

[Big Red Machine]

Ryder's finisher is the Ruff Ryder I think.

I mean like what kind of move is it.

I can't stand Maryse now anymore than I could before. Her voice is irksome.

Yeah, I forgot about her voice, LOL. I'm not saying she should be silent or anything, but I think she will work best as an accessory to Miz's act. He should be the one cutting the promos, she should be the one yapping on the outside during matches. Maybe have her talk every once in a while.
Give Miz her, Konnor from the Ascension as a bodyguard, Bo Dallas as a lackey, David Otunga as their "personal legal advisor (he could do all sorts of rules-lawyering and stuff to get Miz rematches he doesn't deserve) and you've got a fantastic "dog and pony show" heel stable to work with.

You could do SOOOO much with them. You could have Maryse bring in another woman to be her lackey who they all mistreat to eventually turn her babyface, you could have Miz team up with Tyler Breeze, or you could have Miz reject Breeze and use that to turn Breeze babyface, sooo many possibilities!

[Serujuunin]

I mean like what kind of move is it.

Youtube tells me it's like a famouser, but with a jump from the front over the guy. I probably described that terribly.

Yeah, I forgot about her voice, LOL.

She also seems to have lost most of her French accent.

[XIV]

Ryder's finisher is the Ruff Ryder I think.

I mean like what kind of move is it.

I can't stand Maryse now anymore than I could before. Her voice is irksome.

Yeah, I forgot about her voice, LOL. I'm not saying she should be silent or anything, but I think she will work best as an accessory to Miz's act. He should be the one cutting the promos, she should be the one yapping on the outside during matches. Maybe have her talk every once in a while.
Give Miz her, Konnor from the Ascension as a bodyguard, Bo Dallas as a lackey, David Otunga as their "personal legal advisor (he could do all sorts of rules-lawyering and stuff to get Miz rematches he doesn't deserve) and you've got a fantastic "dog and pony show" heel stable to work with.

You could do SOOOO much with them. You could have Maryse bring in another woman to be her lackey who they all mistreat to eventually turn her babyface, you could have Miz team up with Tyler Breeze, or you could have Miz reject Breeze and use that to turn Breeze babyface, sooo many possibilities![/quote


What you've described is giving The Miz like... The Midcard Mafia!

Having Otunga as his lawyer would be brilliant. An enforcer would be very beneficial! (not sure about Konnor for that role though) I'd choose a different lackey too.

Maybe Tyler Breeze in that role as a guy who looks up to The Miz and is all starry eyed about him so he does whatever The Miz needs.

Really don't know who I'd pick as enforcer though...

[Serujuunin]

Really don't know who I'd pick as enforcer though...

Barrett? Since he's done with LoN now.

[XIV]

Really don't know who I'd pick as enforcer though...

Barrett? Since he's done with LoN now.

He's also done with WWE. He will be on this month's future endeavoured list.

Baron Corbin would have been a good choice until they gave him this run he's on now.

[Serujuunin]

Really don't know who I'd pick as enforcer though...

Barrett? Since he's done with LoN now.

He's also done with WWE. He will be on this month's future endeavoured list.

Baron Corbin would have been a good choice until they gave him this run he's on now.

Oh, that's too bad. Personally I'm not a fan of his wrestling style but I can appreciate the talent that he is. Definitely used poorly, and another superstar WWE let slip through their fingers.

Maybe once Crews finishes up a baby face run he could fit the bill. The man is definitely scary and powerful enough to do it.

[XIV]

Barrett? Since he's done with LoN now.

He's also done with WWE. He will be on this month's future endeavoured list.

Baron Corbin would have been a good choice until they gave him this run he's on now.

Oh, that's too bad. Personally I'm not a fan of his wrestling style but I can appreciate the talent that he is. Definitely used poorly, and another superstar WWE let slip through their fingers.

Maybe once Crews finishes up a baby face run he could fit the bill. The man is definitely scary and powerful enough to do it.

I'd say Crews, but I'm not convinced he can quit that cheesy grin that goes with him doing anything!

If he turned it into a smirk. Great heel potential.

[Big Red Machine]

He's also done with WWE. He will be on this month's future endeavoured list.

Baron Corbin would have been a good choice until they gave him this run he's on now.

Oh, that's too bad. Personally I'm not a fan of his wrestling style but I can appreciate the talent that he is. Definitely used poorly, and another superstar WWE let slip through their fingers.

Maybe once Crews finishes up a baby face run he could fit the bill. The man is definitely scary and powerful enough to do it.

I'd say Crews, but I'm not convinced he can quit that cheesy grin that goes with him doing anything!

If he turned it into a smirk. Great heel potential.

Crews is too smilely but I think Corbin is too serious. It should be a guy who can either do both (ideally Barrett or Titus, but both of them are on their way out) or who would be so extremely serious is would be funny by contrast (which I know sounds like Corbin, but he is serious in a different way. I mean guy who is serious in the stoic, Lance Storm way).

[XIV]

Oh, that's too bad. Personally I'm not a fan of his wrestling style but I can appreciate the talent that he is. Definitely used poorly, and another superstar WWE let slip through their fingers.

Maybe once Crews finishes up a baby face run he could fit the bill. The man is definitely scary and powerful enough to do it.

I'd say Crews, but I'm not convinced he can quit that cheesy grin that goes with him doing anything!

If he turned it into a smirk. Great heel potential.

Crews is too smilely but I think Corbin is too serious. It should be a guy who can either do both (ideally Barrett or Titus, but both of them are on their way out) or who would be so extremely serious is would be funny by contrast (which I know sounds like Corbin, but he is serious in a different way. I mean guy who is serious in the stoic, Lance Storm way).

Mercury and Noble.

They can be goofy and they can be serious (and they can work too).

They would be perfect! Like a little security detail!

[Big Red Machine]

I'd say Crews, but I'm not convinced he can quit that cheesy grin that goes with him doing anything!

If he turned it into a smirk. Great heel potential.

Crews is too smilely but I think Corbin is too serious. It should be a guy who can either do both (ideally Barrett or Titus, but both of them are on their way out) or who would be so extremely serious is would be funny by contrast (which I know sounds like Corbin, but he is serious in a different way. I mean guy who is serious in the stoic, Lance Storm way).

Mercury and Noble.

They can be goofy and they can be serious (and they can work too).

They would be perfect! Like a little security detail!

They're too far to the comedy end and it would come off as just doing Rollins all over again. I'd rather use Bo as the lackey and for a bodyguard get a guy who is actually big and can be dangerous so that he can interfere in matches effectively.

[XIV]

Crews is too smilely but I think Corbin is too serious. It should be a guy who can either do both (ideally Barrett or Titus, but both of them are on their way out) or who would be so extremely serious is would be funny by contrast (which I know sounds like Corbin, but he is serious in a different way. I mean guy who is serious in the stoic, Lance Storm way).

Mercury and Noble.

They can be goofy and they can be serious (and they can work too).

They would be perfect! Like a little security detail!

They're too far to the comedy end and it would come off as just doing Rollins all over again. I'd rather use Bo as the lackey and for a bodyguard get a guy who is actually big and can be dangerous so that he can interfere in matches effectively.

I guess you're right, but there just isn't anyone available for that spot right now.

[KILLdozer]

Crews is too smilely but I think Corbin is too serious. It should be a guy who can either do both (ideally Barrett or Titus, but both of them are on their way out) or who would be so extremely serious is would be funny by contrast (which I know sounds like Corbin, but he is serious in a different way. I mean guy who is serious in the stoic, Lance Storm way).

Mercury and Noble.

They can be goofy and they can be serious (and they can work too).

They would be perfect! Like a little security detail!

They're too far to the comedy end and it would come off as just doing Rollins all over again. I'd rather use Bo as the lackey and for a bodyguard get a guy who is actually big and can be dangerous so that he can interfere in matches effectively.

Bo Dallas as lackey Bo Dallas as lackey we get it already!

[XIV]

Mercury and Noble.

They can be goofy and they can be serious (and they can work too).

They would be perfect! Like a little security detail!

They're too far to the comedy end and it would come off as just doing Rollins all over again. I'd rather use Bo as the lackey and for a bodyguard get a guy who is actually big and can be dangerous so that he can interfere in matches effectively.

Bo Dallas as lackey Bo Dallas as lackey we get it already!

As always your input is top level Dozer!