WWE Night of Champions 5/27/23

[mpklub]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bard

Oh, man, what?? I know people have different opinions, but we are on the complete opposite scales here. Have there been lulls of this storyline? A few. Did they drag? Honestly, never. This has been, overall, amazing television. The characters have all shown great charisma and storytelling. Their facial expressions alone from them all have been fantastic! A true divide of blood, the addition of Zayn, the continue build to break it all down. Now it's starting to crumble! I have LOVED this storyline, and by the end of it all, it'll go down as one of the best stories WWE has EVER told. Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

I don't hate it to be clear. I just don't think it's this top level world class storyline.

I would also say I detest Reigns. Like, I have never hated a wrestler more than I hate Reigns. The last ten years of trying to shoehorn him as the top guy despite being rejected by fans until empty arena shows has just made me hate him even more. And not in the "you're a heel you're supposed to hate him kind of way". To me Reigns is the worst face of the company of all time and does not deserve to be in the conversation as one of the best. He's a guy who is probably a decent upper card, pseudo main event guy. But doesn't deserve his spot. I know people like to complain about Super Cena, but I never had a problem with him. I felt he earned that top spot. Reigns never did and was shoe horned into the spot he is in now after years of start and stop pushes because he was totally rejected by fans. The dude somehow managed to get The Rock booed. And the years they have wasted on him....who knows who or what else they could have done to build stars with a roster that has tons of talent but little star power. That lack of star power, in my opinion, is largely due to Vince's love affair with Roman.

Now, I only say that because you need to know how I feel about Reigns to understand why I am lukewarm on this storyline. He just isn't that interesting. It was cool when they brought him back and turned him heel and paired him with Heyman. That was a great twist. The stuff with Jey in 2020 was cool because it was fresh and new and we got to see a guy, Jey, shine as a singles star after the Usos had largely been disregarded as boring tag wrestlers that you couldn't tell apart for years. I really liked that stuff. It has been cool to see the Uso's rise up some, but there is no way they are anything more than midcarders when this is said and done. They aren't going to split them and make them singles stars.They aren't going to be main eventers. I know some think Jey will be, but I just don't see it. If I'm wrong I'm wrong. But that is part of why this is just meh to me. You have this faction that has been about getting Roman over and there will be no other stars coming out of it. And when it's all done Roman will leave and be even more of a part timer and around less. So we spent 3 years with this storyline to protect Roman, because he can't do it on his own, and will have zero new stars come out of it. It feels all for nothing. I do like Solo and think he can be a big player, but I don't quite think he will be elevated enough out of this as I'd like. And that has more to do with him being newer on the roster and the need to establish himself more.

Personally I thought Reigns should have dropped the title to Edge at Wrestlemania a few years ago. If only because we weren't super deep into this ridiculous title reign and it would have been good storytelling for Edge to win back the title he never lost and give him one last run. He could have even lost it back to Reigns at Summerslam that year.

It also seemed like they were building Reigns/McIntyre to be kind of a long standing feud of top guys for this era but then that just stopped and Drew kind of got relegated to whatever he is now. Which is a shame because I think Drew doesn't get enough credit for how good he was as a babyface champion during the pandemic era. He's arguably the best booked babyface champ in years in my opinion, despite all he had working against him. I think Drew/Reigns is money and they've not invested enough in those two versus each other.

The Sami stuff was fine. It didn't draw me in the way it did most. It seems like it has elevated Sami to a certain degree so that's good. But I am not convinced Sami will remain elevated after they lose the tag titles because WWE can be so hit or miss with guys like Sami who get hot for a while. I also think the Riddle/Orton stuff was fun and could have made the Bloodline stuff more enjoyable (for me), but Orton's injury and Riddles personal issues obviously held that back.

I also think Reigns being a part timer hurts the whole thing. He's defended the title like 27 times in 3 years. He's barely on TV and doesn't wrestle much. That hurts the product and the reign. It's probably harder to make this story go on as long as it has if he is there full time, but I think it would be better.

So I don't know. I don't hate it. I do hate Roman Reigns and want him to F-off to Hollywood and go be a Jason Momoa look alike and never come back. I just think the whole storyline has been built off some guys I either dislike or are boring with little charisma and there hasn't been a lot of rub for new guys, or at least not as many as there should be after 3 years of this. I'm glad WWE has taken the time to do some long term storytelling. For me personally though it could be better.

Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to expand on my position. If this story draws more people into wrestling, makes new stars, and all that then it's a good thing. I just am beyond ready for it to be done and for Roman's Reign of terror to be done forever.

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[SmashMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by mpklub

I would also say I detest Reigns. Like, I have never hated a wrestler more than I hate Reigns. The last ten years of trying to shoehorn him as the top guy despite being rejected by fans until empty arena shows has just made me hate him even more. And not in the "you're a heel you're supposed to hate him kind of way". To me Reigns is the worst face of the company of all time and does not deserve to be in the conversation as one of the best. He's a guy who is probably a decent upper card, pseudo main event guy. But doesn't deserve his spot. I know people like to complain about Super Cena, but I never had a problem with him. I felt he earned that top spot. Reigns never did and was shoe horned into the spot he is in now after years of start and stop pushes because he was totally rejected by fans. The dude somehow managed to get The Rock booed. And the years they have wasted on him....who knows who or what else they could have done to build stars with a roster that has tons of talent but little star power. That lack of star power, in my opinion, is largely due to Vince's love affair with Roman.

You don’t like a story in 2023 because of stuff that happened in 2015? Even when the Bloodline started that stuff was at least five years old.

Like or dislike whatever you want, but this reads like you heard the Punk/Cabana podcast and let it taint your view of anything Roman would ever do.

[mpklub]

Quote: Originally Posted by SmashMan

You don’t like a story in 2023 because of stuff that happened in 2015? Even when the Bloodline started that stuff was at least five years old. Like or dislike whatever you want, but this reads like you heard the Punk/Cabana podcast and let it taint your view of anything Roman would ever do.

I just don't like the guy. He doesn't deserve his spot in my opinion. I could elaborate more but I won't because that's another topic in and off itself. Building an entire multi-year storyline around a guy like that doesn't work for me. I already said the stuff in 2020 was good. Back in 2020 I was even talking about how good the Jey/Roman stuff was with friends of mine who like wrestling. But they lost me around Wrestlemania 2021. It's gone on too long and just long past its expiration date. I would have taken a different direction post-Wrestlemania 2021. That was two years ago and it's gotten progressively more boring since then.

I don't listen to wrestling podcasts or any of that stuff so I don't know what that has to do with anything or what your Punk/Cabana comment even means. I simply don't find the majority of personalities the Bloodline storyline is built around to be that good or entertaining. And it's all been built around a guy that I don't like. That's it. Kudos to those that do like it. I'll be glad when the WWE moves on from this era.

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[Bard]

Yeah, with the way it reads. We agree to disagree, and let's move on.

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[mpklub]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bard

Yeah, with the way it reads. We agree to disagree, and let's move on. Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

And that's cool man. I'm not trying to rag on anyone else's taste or pick a fight over it. That's silly. Just expanding and explaining on why I'm not as big of a fan of this storyline.

I get why so many love it. It's just not as high on my list. It sounds like NOC was a good show. I didn't get a chance to watch it because of stuff we had going on.

Like I said, I know many don't agree with me. And that's fine. I'm glad people are really into it. It's good for the health of wrestling. I want wrestling and WWE to do well.

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[SmashMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by mpklub

And that's cool man. I'm not trying to rag on anyone else's taste or pick a fight over it. That's silly. Just expanding and explaining on why I'm not as big of a fan of this storyline.

Right. My reply wasn't meant to start an argument. I'm not trying to convince you to like Reigns or the story or anything else. If you don't like Reigns it makes sense that you wouldn't like a storyline that he's the center of; I was just confused that your reasons why you dislike him/his character are complaints from almost a decade ago.

That's what I meant by letting a decision you made back then taint your view of him now because then you say stuff like this:

Quote:

So we spent 3 years with this storyline to protect Roman, because he can't do it on his own, and will have zero new stars come out of it.

Of the core story the only guy this is true for is Kevin Owens, who has been up and down the card his entire WWE run. Jimmy, Jey, Sami, and Solo are all objectively much bigger stars than they were before being associated with the storyline.

[TheMatrix31]

The story has been really, really good but it is also aided by being really, really good coming off many, many years of no actual long term storytelling---if that makes sense. We're so starved for it.

Corona **** kind of screwed with Drew, unfortunately. He had to carry the show when the show wasn't an actual event. His peak ended up happening at the worst time and yet he saved the product with his performance during that time. Him and Orton were absolutely unbelievable during that run and it was a damn shame. I really hope they can get Drew back into the picture again. He deserves it.

I think Riddle is a joke. Zero give-a-****s about that guy.

I think putting Bryan in that Roman/Edge match didn't make any sense then and still doesn't. Big mistake. I too would have strongly considered having Edge win that one for the reasons posted. Technically he never lost the belt. Would have made a good story. But I'm glad this story and reign has happened. Reigns is just....insanely good. His evolution has been perfect.

I don't think Sami or either Uso have much lasting power as top stars outside of this feud. They've been absolutely stellar during the entire run, but I don't really view them as "top of the card for good" talent. I thought Sami could have been plausible as Roman's opponent solely due to the story being told. That was in that moment in February or whatever. Owens is the only guy out of the set that is top of the card material and yes he's been up and down. At this point, he'll just be one of those great but not transformative types. Which is fine.

The thing about Reigns is that he had so many main events and such before he deserved to be a main eventer. And that really stinks because it hurts his overall career feel to me, but he's been so good lately that it's also hard to remember anything before this run. To be fair, there was a whole lot of "who gives a ****" with all the main events and stories for a lot of years there. It's sad that it had to be part of Reigns' path to actually being an actual main event star but again, I guess it has to do with more things than just Reigns himself.


One final thought and it's something I've been thinking of and shows the importance of such things:

I truly believe that if Reigns didn't have the entrance music he has now, this storyline and his performance and status and all of it wouldn't be *nearly* as excellent. It might be one of the best themes in wrestling history. It's perfect for his role and the moment in time. Perfect for the entrance and the arrogant, slow march. I couldn't even begin to imagine what the outcome would be if he had that garbage ***, genetic *** Shield music still and they tried to pull this off. Wouldn't be believable. Music matters a LOT.