WWE Network Discussion Thread

[SoundTheAlarm]

Quote: Originally Posted by reyes the roof

I like the idea of trying to elevate the IC title, but I'm not crazy about Cena winning it. I'd rather see guys that are on the verge of becoming regular main eventers like Ambrose and Rollins feuding over the belt. That belt should be a stepping stone in to the main event picture like it was for Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc. I know Rollins and Ambrose just closed a ppv, but that's only because the champion wasn't on the card.

I definitely like this idea more. I miss the days where Rock and HHH had those epic matches over the IC Title. Have guys like Rollins, Ambrose, Cesaro, etc feud back and forth with it.

[Chrisksaint]

I definitely don't get why the IC or US title stopped becoming a stepping stone along the way to greatness. Sure not every champ will be heading to the main event but it helps solidify them and others

[ubernoob]

We're a far cry from where we were when it was Warrior/Hogan with the belts.

[DonkeyJote]

I feel like Ziggler is doing a great job right now.

[Trevelyan]

Do you care about Ziggler/him being pushed, or him holding the title? For me, its the former, which tells me the title means nothing.

[TheMatrix31]

Quote: Originally Posted by SPTO

Why didn't I think of this? Seriously, the IC title hasn't been a thing in YEARS. If they're going to go ahead with feeding Cena to Lesnar than maybe they can have him lose in a somewhat questionable fashion, have him on RAW the next night and put him off TV for a month. Cena then comes back and declares that he's going after the IC title and he has a feud Ziggler (or whoever has it) and once he wins it all he goes on TV the next night and does a "respect the past" spiel and solidifies himself as a true heir to the legends who've held the title. In fact, I'd let Cena hold the belt for an entire year just to keep that title elevated and if Lesnar is still the top guy at least it will keep Cena on top of the card with other guys chasing after the IC belt.

This is where good writing comes into play and where both ideas being floated here in the last few posts come into play.

Have Cena win the IC belt after a story to give it prestige. Say he wants to make this belt what it used to be, yada yada. He goes on and people try to take the belt off him. The IC championship becomes the de-facto world championship on the shows if they're going to be insistent on having this whole ****ty Lesnar-not-around thing happening.

Have Rusev beat Sheamus for the US Title. Gives more ammo to his cause.

Obviously you know where I'm going with this. Rusev has nobody else to challenge him besides the all-American everything-that's-right John Cena and you have Cena/Rusev title-for-title, perhaps even at Wrestlemania. Then you can go both ways. You can merge the titles into one. Cena wins and the IC belt is huge again, Rusev wins and he's got his signature win and keeps going. Imagine Rusev beating Cena at Wrestlemania for his belt. Holy cow. Then you can have Cesaro challenge Rusev. That feud would be bad ***.

Either way, this sort of storyline offers so many things. Storyline cohesion and blending, elevation of young talent, re-establishment of a once-major title, etc. It would help fix so many damn things, if only for a little bit.

If they want the belt to be important, they have to....you know....make it important. Arouse passion and interest. Make people not want to fast-forward through the damn matches. Hell, don't put the damn matches on the damn preshow! I can't believe there's nobody at the company that is there to say "hey, you know, we did things a certain way in the past and things were awesome, how about we figure out a way to use our new talent in a similar way?"

[SPTO]

Great writeup there Matrix. It's funny, a bunch of guys on a message board can figure out a way to push storylines forward AND raise the prestige of a once great title yet the yokels in Stamford can't seem to do it.....Makes one wonder what's REALLY going on?!


Anywho, I've been PVRing and watching the SNMEs that have been showing up on the Networks on (duh!) Saturday nights and I've come to a realization that I can't believe hasn't come to me before. SNME was NOT the greatest show wrestling wise. I think if you really look at workrate+storyline there's about a handful of honestly good matches that were produced on that show but then again that wasn't the main purpose of the show as it was really used to advance storylines and provide a big time feel that you didn't get on the weekly TV at the time.

The thing that really caught my attention though is that there was a very weird vibe in the way the matches were worked. Most of the matches had this weird kinetic energy to them and they felt short (though i'm sure if you timed them the matches had some decent time) so you couldn't really tell a great story. I mean I watched Bret Hart vs Randy Savage earlier this morning and on paper that should be a great match but there was a ton of outside the ring stuff and the psychology of Bret beating up on Savage's busted ankle felt rushed. I'm not sure what it is that caused this kind of kinetic "anything can happen/whoa this is crazy" vibe but it's something that made SNME unique. Maybe the commentary of Vince and Jesse plus the backstage interviews is what makes it feel that way. It's almost like a boxing PPV on steroids and with far less time.

Oh one last thing, Ultimate Warrior gets a lot of flack for his crazy promos but man...Hogan looked like he was at the height of his juicing up at that point in time and his promos were um....Interesting. Hogan was literally bursting out of his seams both physically and mentally in that time period.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by SPTO

Great writeup there Matrix. It's funny, a bunch of guys on a message board can figure out a way to push storylines forward AND raise the prestige of a once great title yet the yokels in Stamford can't seem to do it.....Makes one wonder what's REALLY going on?! Anywho, I've been PVRing and watching the SNMEs that have been showing up on the Networks on (duh!) Saturday nights and I've come to a realization that I can't believe hasn't come to me before. SNME was NOT the greatest show wrestling wise. I think if you really look at workrate+storyline there's about a handful of honestly good matches that were produced on that show but then again that wasn't the main purpose of the show as it was really used to advance storylines and provide a big time feel that you didn't get on the weekly TV at the time. The thing that really caught my attention though is that there was a very weird vibe in the way the matches were worked. Most of the matches had this weird kinetic energy to them and they felt short (though i'm sure if you timed them the matches had some decent time) so you couldn't really tell a great story. I mean I watched Bret Hart vs Randy Savage earlier this morning and on paper that should be a great match but there was a ton of outside the ring stuff and the psychology of Bret beating up on Savage's busted ankle felt rushed. I'm not sure what it is that caused this kind of kinetic "anything can happen/whoa this is crazy" vibe but it's something that made SNME unique. Maybe the commentary of Vince and Jesse plus the backstage interviews is what makes it feel that way. It's almost like a boxing PPV on steroids and with far less time. Oh one last thing, Ultimate Warrior gets a lot of flack for his crazy promos but man...Hogan looked like he was at the height of his juicing up at that point in time and his promos were um....Interesting. Hogan was literally bursting out of his seams both physically and mentally in that time period.

I've been going through SNME chronologically, and was just thinking the same thing. Growing up, I had built these shows up to be so amazing and when you go back and watch now, the matches for the most part are not that great. Like you said, the show was more to advance storylines and to try and get wrestlers over. Still fun to watch to see how things progressed over time, but if you're watching for workrate, you'll be very disappointed in the shows.