WWE PPV Thread

[diamond_for_life]

whit is this pish

[Cardinal Richelieu]

Enjoying the musical interlude anyway. 

[djchapsticks]

Roman Reigns has the finest entrance theme in Wrestling today. 

It's like a final boss theme of a game.

[diamond_for_life]

Aye that announcers voice is doing my tits in 

[djchapsticks]

That was a gnarly looking botch.

[JamieStevenson]

Such a shame that was botched, this has been going along quite nicely.

[djchapsticks]

That was a fucking horrific looking pair of bumps. Jesus 

[JamieStevenson]

Perfection

[FifeArab]

Boring.

[Cardinal Richelieu]

Shite. 

[djchapsticks]

Shite PPV, good main event, brilliant ending.

[We Are Pars Fans!]

Decent ppv but was very predictable. Ending was really good

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Nia’s entrance/big return being botched was very apt.

Logan Paul is a class heel pisses people off just by existing. Dominik Mysterio is also great at getting heat just by doing the 619 or Three Amigos etc. I was pumped when bookers music hit but then it was just really sad seeing him hobble about tbh.

The ending was fantastic, the pop when Sami hit Roman was very good then the love for Jey as well. I was suckered in at that point expecting the Rock’s music to hit with him coming down the ramp embracing Jey then going to clear house but I guess he really won’t be involved in Mania.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Scotty Tunbridge

[forameus]

Managed to get through that 2hr45m PPV just there.  It was...alright.  Nowhere near the worst they've done, but sits around the middle.  A lot of missed opportunities there.

The men's rumble was fine for what it was.  Think it ended up being booked quite well, but there wasn't really too much intrigue to it or any real surprises to speak of.  Those that were there though, they did pretty well.  Managed to get the big guys in there like Brock without taking away from the overall story they were trying to tell.  Gunther got to look great (some journey for him, going from someone who couldn't be arsed moving to America and doing the full WWE deal to being the iron man in the Rumble and positioned to have a big match at WM, well deserved), a number of little stories advanced.  I think it was at a risk of falling off a cliff at the end though.  As the numbers ticked down and there was no bloodline involvement, every entrance just cemented what they were trying to do.  Had they gone with one of the first spots Gunther and Cody did alone and had him eliminate him, it would've really derailed the whole match, but luckily they had a pretty decent longer sequence that made up for a lot of the problems.  I'd have preferred them to tie the Zayn story up with something in the Rumble, but given the end of the main, I could see why they maybe didn't go with that.  Still, it leaves the awkwardness of Reigns having two stories to tell going into WM, and we might be getting double duty over the two nights, which I think is shit.

The Bray Wyatt glow party was fine.  It didn't really advance much, but it at least got him into a ring to have a match.  I'd have liked them to do a bit more rather than the Jeff Howdy-ing at the end, but there were a few cool visuals.  

Didn't really see much of the women's match, but seems like it was basically the counterpoint to the Wyatt match.  Short one, put the favourite over, and move the story on another few inches.  It's hard to say whether it's good or bad at this stage as it could go either way, but something needs to happen soon.

Women's Rumble was...fine, I guess.  It's always going to be at a disadvantage in some ways as they simply have less big names to call on to make it seem like a huge deal.  But on the other hand, it does mean you're pretty much guaranteed to get a few in there you weren't expecting.  Rhea Ripley winning is the right decision, and assuming she goes up against Belair (I'd have her win, f**k it).  Nice closing sequence, something a bit different.  Would like to see Asuka doing something more though, will never not enjoy watching her.

A fucking musical act.  Jesus Fucking Christ.  Get that shite in the bin.  If I'd stayed up for this I'd have been fucking furious.

Then the main event.  The match almost seems like a bit of an afterthought in all of it.  Owens is never going to win, but he'll always put on a show.  And he did make Reigns look like an absolute killer, in a way that not a lot of people have during his reign.  He's never seemed particularly brutal, even when dominating, he just...wins.  In this one Owens put all of his efforts into dying in the ring, especially with those stair bumps.  The first one in particular looked utterly horrendous.  Then after the match...I don't think I've been as invested in a segment in WWE since WM30 with Bryan.  Everyone playing everything absolutely to perfection, even Owens playing the bag of sand.  And that pop when Zayn hits him is thunderous.  Magnificent.  I'd also give them credit for going against the grain a little and not having Zayn then just go ham and take out all four men in the ring.  That's wrestling 101 really, but again there's more layers with Zayn pretty much submitting to a beating that got pretty uncomfortable at times.  And the wrinkle with Jey abandoning adds another layer on top of the thousands they've already gotten.  Absolutely brilliant.

But what now?  How do they fit all these pieces together going into WrestleMania.  Rhodes is presumably a lock to face Reigns in some form, which I think is a mistake at this stage, but they're unlikely to go back on it.  Anything less than Zayn getting a shot too would be setting fire to money at this stage, so seems like we might get the title split.  Do we maybe get a 6-man tag match at Elimination Chamber with Bloodline vs Jey, Zayn and Owens?  Or do they all go into the Chamber for...something?  

EDIT: Realised I missed a couple of questions from the men's rumble - what the f**k was Kofi trying to do, and how did they ever believe it would work?  Is he still alive?  And is Santos Escobar still able to walk after Brock threw his spine from a great height into the ring apron?  That looked horrible.

Edited January 29, 2023 by forameus

[TheGoon]

Better Runbles than last year, but both still quite flat. Burst out laughing at Nia at 30 too. 

Great main event, great ending but you could’ve shaved about 20 minutes off that full thing.

Wasn’t as jarring as last year, much better crowd, but it’s really sad seeing Gargano, Ricochet, Balor etc come out to crickets. Guys that should be massive deals, and are just…guys. Even more glaring on the women’s side.

[forameus]

You can see why the likes of Gargano and Ciampa never really wanted to leave NXT.  With the smaller roster and focused stories, Gargano had the time to go out and put on great matches and (often) be the babyface in peril.  He could absolutely do that on the main roster, but it's probably going to be a hard sell to carve out a spot for him to do that.  They could, they should, but they won't.

Ricochet I'm not as sold on.  He's undoubtedly impressive, but I'm not sure he's as well-rounded as other options WWE have, or at least not enough to, again, carve out that spot.  He came to the mainstream attention with those matches with Will Ospreay, but one of them has disappeared into the distance with what he's been capable of.  

Balor might be on a Nakamura style run where he's just getting to feature enough to keep him interested but isn't too bothered about pushing himself too far.  He's clearly having fun with the Judgement Day stuff, and seems like his time with Edge isn't over.

[Lyle Lanley]

The reaction at the end last night for Sami, showed why he should getting a title match. 

[TheGoon]

As mince as the actual match was, LA Knight is terrific in the role he’s in. 

[DA Baracus]

They might need to Wrestlemania 30 this shit, as Cody vs Reigns is not the main event folk want.

It wouldn't be bad (indeed it would probably be really good), but it simply wouldn't have the connection to the audience that a match featuring Zayn would. They can't blow off the Sami stuff and have him in a tag match at Mania; he needs to be going up against Reigns. 

Watched the rest of the show this evening. The Mountain Dew bollocks was daft and I'm already tired of Bray Wyatt again. Dull pish.

Women's Rumble was enjoyable, but there was so little reaction to far too many entrances. Also, get Nia Jax to f**k. Rhea was the right winner. 

Reigns vs Owens was great, but the post match stuff was fantastic. This storyline has been the best they've done in years, possibly since Daniel Bryan's run to the title at Mania. Just have to hope they can see it through and give us a good ending.

The videos for various wrestlers were odd and pointless and just added to the running time. Get that fucked. Likewise the live musical performance. Not sure why they felt they had to pad out the show.

[FairWeatherFan]

10 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

The videos for various wrestlers were odd and pointless and just added to the running time. Get that fucked. Likewise the live musical performance. Not sure why they felt they had to pad out the show.

Could have done without the Pat McAfee taking up 5-10 minutes. Something that could have happened to end the pre-show. The musical performance can also go in the bin. I'm not sure what's really gained by it from a booking standpoint other than wasting time.

The videos though are just a modern day issue. Peacock has an ad-supported tier where you get PPVs. My understanding is that non-US viewers get the seemingly random video packages, while US viewers get proper ads.