Board 8 > All-Purpose Wrestling Topic 412: New Japan's Answer to the Mae Young Classic?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yes, but only because I wanted to walk with Elias

But then the Hardys ruined that
---

ratings will spike tonight thanks to greatest heel in history, Lavar Ball
---

Nope, a 20 year old game called FFVII is more interesting than Raw.

Speaking of not watching, a podcaster recently changed his up/down show polls to up/down/didn't watch. With samples of about 2-3k people, both Raw AND Smackdown polls listed 40% Didn't watch.

Ewww.
---

ninkendo posted...

ratings will spike tonight thanks to greatest heel in history, Lavar Ball

He is though
---

Why watch RAW when Preacher exists on Mondays?
---

Wow. Enzo gets barely half the reaction by himself.

EDIT: And heel Cass gets nothing

This was a colossal mistake
---

It's almost like every fan, even casuals, knew this was a terrible idea the second it happened. Like, I don't know what they expected honestly. Why not let them feud with Revival before this? Get Revival over? They never had a program in NXT.

But the only bigger mistake is that you're watching RAW instead of Preacher.
---

I get that they want Cass to break out

But seriously there is no room for upward mobility on thevsingles roster on Raw
---

But Cass is big. Vince will force him over if it kills him. Despite the fact he's already doing that with a BIGGER guy who is already a success, but this is Vince. He will try, or fail and pin the blame on Cass for not getting over.
---

When Finn Balor needs to feud with Elias Samson, you know that there's entirely too many big names on RAW right now.
---

So I've heard this Women's Gauntlet match has been a travesty. Is it true?
---

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

So I've heard this Women's Gauntlet match has been a travesty. Is it true?

Eh, not really. It's doing pretty much exactly what it needs to do: Having Nia Jax just dominate everybody in the division

...Atleast it was until Sasha came out. Because Sasha in the title scene is new and interesting and so we should all be pulling for her.
---

Eh, but why does Nia have to dominate everyone in the division in the first place? It's not like she doesn't have oodles of credentials to begin with. I'd argue all the other women need credibility before Nia does, title match or not, because the only women on RAW with any credibility now are Alexa, Sasha, and Nia. And Bayley has negative momentum and Emma, Mickie, Dana, and Alicia are such fodder nothings that you know they're always going to lose. Having something more competitive actually sets up that maybe all of these girls don't actually totally suck, and Nia is still super credible and a giant threat because, well, she's a giant and Alexa is a tiny little thing.

I dunno, I just don't see the point of Nia squashing all the girls when they've had Alexa be terrified to even face Nia for the better part of three months. I don't think it gets Nia any more over.
---

They've already done things like four and five way competitive matches, though. They always end up with everybody teaming up on Nia and then Sasha or Bayley win. That's not very entertaining.

Nia potentially running a gauntlet through 5 other women atleast accomplishes something since she's doing it all 1 on 1
---

legit boss
---

...Nevermind. They ruined it all by having Sasha make Nia tap.

So NOW everybody looks even more insignificant, since Nia beat everybody else in seconds to a minute or two, but Sasha... Made her tap?

Ooh, and Sasha's doing the "Cry and act like it's the best moment of my life thing" again. So exciting!
---

Never underestimate the power of awful WWE booking.
---

I actually should have seen this coming since they pointed out that Sasha's nominated for female athlete of the year on the Kids Choice Awards

So she's probably winning the title
---

I mean... does anyone actually care though? As good as Alexa is, even her title run is kind of shit because RAW writers are so utterly incompetent. They could try something fresh by putting over some of their other females, but they just don't. It's a dead division, just like it was back when it was Sasha vs Charlotte to infinity. They have no other credible women, so they're all quite literally fighting for absolutely nothing.
---

I want to care!

Nia vs. Alexa would've been interesting, even for just five minutes.

Sasha turning on Bayley would be interesting.

But no. We can't have nice things.
---

Well I hope you learned to watch Preacher every Monday instead.

Because I know I had a good time watching TV tonight.
---

StealThisSheen posted...

I want to care!

Nia vs. Alexa would've been interesting, even for just five minutes.

Sasha turning on Bayley would be interesting.

But no. We can't have nice things.

Sasha turning on Bayley literally leaves RAW's babyface women as Bayley, Dana Brooke, and Mickie James.

I'm fine with it dragging on a bit longer until they fix that with maybe a Paige return or something I dunno.
---

Well I got to see the Miztourage win a match
---

TheRock1525 posted...

Sasha turning on Bayley literally leaves RAW's babyface women as Bayley, Dana Brooke, and Mickie James.

That's still more than the number of face tag team wrestlers on RAW!
---

StealThisSheen posted...

TheRock1525 posted...

Sasha turning on Bayley literally leaves RAW's babyface women as Bayley, Dana Brooke, and Mickie James.

That's still more than the number of face tag team wrestlers on RAW!

At least they didn't split Slater/Rhyno like the rumor said.

WE'VE GOT TWO, PEOPLE!
---

TheRock1525 posted...

Sasha turning on Bayley literally leaves RAW's babyface women as Bayley, Dana Brooke, and Mickie James.

I'm fine with it dragging on a bit longer until they fix that with maybe a Paige return or something I dunno.

Face:
Bayley
Dana
Mickie

Heel:
Sasha
Alexa
Nia
Emma
Foxxy

I mean, turn one of the heels to a face and you're not too bad off. You might as well do it with Emma since Sasha absolutely killed her momentum by being careless and now they don't want to do anything with her. Or have Nia turn, I guess.

Either option is preferable to what they've done though.
---

I've been assuming Nia is going to turn for a while now. Look how they push her Twitter account.
---

*Reads Raw Results*

*Historic Women's Gauntlet Match*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfdgiynO9EE
---

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

It's almost like every fan, even casuals, knew this was a terrible idea the second it happened. Like, I don't know what they expected honestly. Why not let them feud with Revival before this? Get Revival over? They never had a program in NXT.

But the only bigger mistake is that you're watching RAW instead of Preacher.

Enzo and Cass very much had a program with the Revival in NXT, though.
---

Flamita announced for BoLA

Flamita will soon be in NXT, Regal's gonna have a boner seeing this guy fly.
---

The Enzo and Cass thing is really too bad. Even my wife liked them and she really cannot stand watching the show with me lol. And here's another thing, I actually liked their promos but these guys are gonna Cryme Time it so bad.
---

eaedwards6400 posted...

The Enzo and Cass thing is really too bad. Even my wife liked them and she really cannot stand watching the show with me lol. And here's another thing, I actually liked their promos but these guys are gonna Cryme Time it so bad.

Which means Enzo will win at the PPV and destroy all the suicide pools
---

Enzo and Cass not working separately just shows the problem with them though - take away the catchphrases and they have nothing. If you kept them together you'd just squeeze out a few more months before people realized how bad they really are and got bored of them anyway.
---

Panthera posted...

Enzo and Cass not working separately just shows the problem with them though - take away the catchphrases and they have nothing. If you kept them together you'd just squeeze out a few more months before people realized how bad they really are and got bored of them anyway.

I don't think that's the issue in itself, since Enzo is great on the mic with catchphrases or not, and Cass is certainly passable in the ring and can improve.

The problem is WWE literally never gave anybody a reason to care about them beyond the catchphrases. They never won anything, and whenever Cass was in a position to look like a big deal (The Royal Rumble), he went out early. WWE literally only gave them "Go out there and say catchphrases."
---

Here's the thing though, I thought their individual promos the last two weeks were decent.
---

HashtagSEP posted...

I don't think that's the issue in itself, since Enzo is great on the mic with catchphrases or not, and Cass is certainly passable in the ring and can improve.

The problem is WWE literally never gave anybody a reason to care about them beyond the catchphrases. They never won anything, and whenever Cass was in a position to look like a big deal (The Royal Rumble), he went out early. WWE literally only gave them "Go out there and say catchphrases."

By "the problem with them" I mean both booking and talent wise. I don't agree Enzo is great though, most times he deviates from catchphrases he gets cringe worthy and awkward fast.
---

I like to compare Rock promos to Enzo promos and realize that Enzo is terrible,
---

Panthera posted...

Enzo and Cass not working separately just shows the problem with them though - take away the catchphrases and they have nothing. If you kept them together you'd just squeeze out a few more months before people realized how bad they really are and got bored of them anyway.

That never happened to their most obvious predecessors, the New Age Outlaws

People love singalongs
---

scarletspeed7 posted...

I like to compare Rock promos to anyone's promos and realize that everyone is terrible

---

I don't know if they are actually feuding or not, but Owens has been great on Twitter the last few days mocking people who are genuinely upset that they changed Nakamura's nickname to "The Artist."
---

Jakyl25 posted...

Panthera posted...

Enzo and Cass not working separately just shows the problem with them though - take away the catchphrases and they have nothing. If you kept them together you'd just squeeze out a few more months before people realized how bad they really are and got bored of them anyway.

That never happened to their most obvious predecessors, the New Age Outlaws

People love singalongs

They ALSO split up the Outlaws for stupid reasons (to try and push "Mr. Ass" as a thing people would care about) and it failed miserably, so yeah.
---

Incoming Mr. Cass
---

WELL I'M A CASS MAN!

*caps*
---

The only issue I have with Sasha is how they treated her during the Charlotte feud. Its like they went out of their way to make fans dislike her.
---

Jakyl25 posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

I like to compare Rock promos to anyone's promos and realize that everyone is terrible

Let's play a game where we name people who have cut better promos than Rocky at some point in time. I'll go first.

Jake Roberts
---

Jakyl25 posted...

Panthera posted...

Enzo and Cass not working separately just shows the problem with them though - take away the catchphrases and they have nothing. If you kept them together you'd just squeeze out a few more months before people realized how bad they really are and got bored of them anyway.

That never happened to their most obvious predecessors, the New Age Outlaws

People love singalongs

I feel like people get bored with guys repeating themselves endlessly faster nowadays than they used to

Maybe I'm just putting my own thoughts onto others too much
---

I still loved their act.
---

scarletspeed7 posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

I like to compare Rock promos to anyone's promos and realize that everyone is terrible

Let's play a game where we name people who have cut better promos than Rocky at some point in time. I'll go first.

Jake Roberts

Define "better."

A lot of Rock promos are utter crap if you write them out. He makes them work through sheer charisma and confidence in even the worst material.

He (very briefly) managed to cut a promo about how CM Punk should be called Cookiepuss and got away with it.
---

scarletspeed7 posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

I like to compare Rock promos to anyone's promos and realize that everyone is terrible

Let's play a game where we name people who have cut better promos than Rocky at some point in time. I'll go first.

Jake Roberts

Paul Heyman
uh...Vince McMahon on a crazy day?
and...oof. Why in god's name would you use Rock as a comparison to Enzo? That's a steep hill.
---

For the record this is my all-time favorite promo

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18saw9_1992-royal-rumble-ric-flair-victory-speech_sport
---