Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
Gong. No sound will ever mean more to a WWE audience. Not the glass smashing and not the squeal of guitar at the start of ‘Cult of Personality’. Because no matter how successful The Rock or Stone Cold or CM Punk are, they are not The Undertaker and never will be.
I don’t know how but it’s November and WrestleMania season is suddenly on the horizon. Undertaker is popping up on SmackDown and rumours abound of who is being set up with who. One rumour that has been whispered on a regular basis is whether a certain Hulk Hogan will return for the Superbowl of professional wrestling.
Hell in a Cell. Four words that if WWE had their way would send shivers down your spine. It’s meant to be the ultimate feud ender. The one that leaves its participants broken, beaten and begging for psychiatric help; which is why holding a yearly event based around the theme feels weird. We’ll ignore that, though, and instead get on with our review of Raw’s latest PPV.
If you were asked to sit and list horror films that seemed ripe for adaptation on the small screen, well you’d have been quite far down that list before Wolf Creek popped into your mind. While there are certainly horror series a hell of a lot worse than those violent Australian slashers they can hardly be called remarkable. However, maybe it is that which makes it perfect for adaptation.
The build up to No Mercy wasn’t exactly an easy one for WWE’s blue brand. The circus that is the American presidential debate saw them move the main event into the opening slot on the card while Becky Lynch’s injury meant a late change to the Woman’s Title match. For a show which is already quite thin on the ground, SmackDown was suddenly even shorter.
For good or for bad reasons, more eyes are on TNA than have been in a long time. The good nearly all comes from the deranged minds of Matt and Jeff Hardy while the bad comes from the news that a certain McMahon is after the company. Whatever the circumstances, it meant Sunday’s Bound For Glory was the biggest PPV they had held in a long time.
Raw has a tendency to fall a bit flat. On the weekly TV show, I tend to put that down to its mammoth runtime which has both the crowd in the arena and those sitting at home feeling exhausted by the time the main event comes around. It’s just too much wrestling to watch every week, especially when a lot of it is filler. However, on Sunday night that feeling transferred over to Clash of Champions, despite it being a show that had none of that filler.
Continue reading “Clash of Champions and the Problem with Raw”
While Raw has had a pretty solid start to life in the post-brand split WWE, it has been SmackDown that has caught the eye. Even with their limited roster, they have slowly been putting together a weekly television show that is worth watching. However, even the most ardent of fans must have questioned how that tiny roster would manage when asked to carry a PPV by themselves.
If you listen to any of the old-timer’s WWE podcasts, then the odds are you have heard someone lament the death of the heel. How in 2016 no one goes for heat and the current crop of talent are too focused on being cool. It’s a view that in some ways is true but falls down when you present WWE’s new Universal Champion, Kevin Owens.
Six hours. That’s how long you would have to spend in front of your TV if you wanted to watch SummerSlam from start to finish. The biggest party of the summer long outstayed it’s welcome, and WWE certainly didn’t help it.
Ramblings About Wrestling 