Pu7pl3's Posts
Nairaland Forum › Pu7pl3's Profile › Pu7pl3's Posts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 (of 874 pages)
WWE RAW REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS Do Not Boo Birthdays Miz is an awful singer. Lucky for us, he’s a pretty good wrestler. That means Miz can take even the most stereotypical professional sports entertainment wrestling segments, like a birthday celebration for Maryse, and make it work. In fact, Maryse, Edge, and Beth Phoenix all played their parts just as well in Raw’s best story going into the Royal Rumble. For those who missed last week due to football or just living their lives, Maryse hit Beth with a brick. Yes, a brick. Sure, it was wrapped in a leather purse, but it was still a brick. Chaos ensued when Edge and Maryse hit the ring, dispatching members of Miz and Maryse’s security one by one with odes to tag teams of the past. And it was cool. But this was the main event angle on the go home show for the Royal Rumble. I know, I know. “The Rumble sells itself,” is what you’re probably saying to yourself. And maybe they don’t really need to give us a hook other than a bunch of guys on camera saying how much they want to win. But this is a visual medium, people. Show, don’t tell is still the name of the game, and it’s a game WWE used to play really well. What main event star on Raw made it known just how much they want need to win? Kevin Owens is suddenly more interested in the United States Championship, Seth Rollins is fighting for the Universal Championship, Bobby Lashley is squaring off with Brock Lesnar, and Big E is milk carton status as of earlier this month. This speaks to a larger issue within WWE, which is the black hole that is both men’s championship pictures, but in particular, the second-class citizen treatment of the WWE Championship. Does anyone really believe one of the Street Profits, The Mysterios, or the Dirty Dawgz have a shot at winning the main event spot at WrestleMania? Maybe Rey, and that’s only because he’s the cover boy for their (hopefully) rehabilitated video game. But for the most part, it doesn’t compute. WWE spent a lot of last year and the past several months telling us that these championships have permanent residences. What’s worse is not many cats are booked to look like competent competitors for either. There’s nobody to believe in and no one like Steve Austin, Bret Hart, or Shawn Michaels, three men who needed to be the last man standing more than they needed oxygen. Rather than Raw closing with someone out for blood and ready to burn the entire arena down to beat 29 other guys, we got Beth and Edge, posing for the cameras looking ready to partake in a mosh pit. We Need to Talk about Damian Let’s not mince words here: The “Damian” thing isn’t working. I waxed semi-poetic about this several weeks ago, but this week made it clearer than white crystal. Damian Priest defended his U.S. title against Kevin Owens because the latter gave the former his first loss on the main roster last week. The nature of Damian’s “I’m not a killer but don’t push me” character means he gets DQ’d more often than not. WWE solved this once when he wrestled Dolph Ziggler. Shockingly, Priest controlled himself because he knew a DQ meant the end of his championship reign. But then there are matches like this week, where a DQ means he takes the L but keeps the gold. Guess how it ended? And it’s a shame because Priest and KO put on a pretty good contest before the ending. Priest lost it when KO faked another injury, and managed to retain the title. The crowd was on KO’s side the entire time and rightly unleashed the boo birds when the match ended. And no, Damian, they weren’t shouting “Boo-urns.” Priest’s current gimmick means he retains his title damn near every match because someone makes him lose his cool. It’s cheap, renders matches moot, and, at least for one week, got the crowd rooting for the supposed heel. And we still don’t know where the gimmick is going because or why it exists! Whew, okay I’m done now. Carry on with the rest of the recap. The Rest Get Your Weight Up Brock Lesnar doesn’t take Bobby Lashley seriously, doesn’t take the WWE Championship seriously, nor did he take this segment seriously. Lashley and Lesnar partook in a weigh-in. Why? To tell us both men are incredibly large and capable of popping most human heads like grapes. Lesnar’s attire, demeanor, and overall vibe made it very entertaining. Lashley still wants Lesnar to view him as a threat, but it’s just not happening. There’s nothing more to say about Raw’s opening segment. It worked because the people involved made it work, not because the idea of a weigh-in does anything for this match or furthered the story at all. We’re still where we were last week, and the week before that, and the week before that. From Spelling to Sports Entertaining Anything RK-Bro and the Alpha Academy do is a home run. These four cats took something potentially silly—a spelling bee—and made it work. Chad Gable is still on fire as the condescending descendant of Kurt Angle. That very specific character needs egg on their face as revenge for their smarminess, so of course Chad was the weak link in the spelling bee. His reaction to spelling the wrong word correctly, thrown off by Kevin Patricks Irish accent, was priceless. That meant two things: RK-Bro picks the contest for the second leg of this intellectual triathlon, and Randy Orton challenged Gable to a match. And what a match it was. These two work really well together, threw in some psychology, and weren’t afraid to brawl either. We got multiple table spots, several false finishes, and a scooter. Yes, Riddle hit Otis with a scooter. Multiple times no less. In the end, Randy eeked out a win with the RKO, and Riddle challenged the Academy to a scooter race on next week’s Raw. Also? Otis and Gable formally entered themselves into the Rumble. If you missed the match, watch it. Come for the dope RKO and even doper sell by Gable, stay for Otis’ face when the words “scooter race” were uttered. Big Bang Theory So the Vince McMahon and Austin Theory thing is still happening. The downside? The Vince McMahon and Austin Theory thing is still happening. The upside? We got a great match featuring Theory and AJ Styles as a result. Theory wanted to prove himself before Royal Rumble and earn a favorable entry spot. AJ wanted revenge for Austin’s disrespectful acts a week ago during their first encounter. Following Randy Orton and Chad Gable, these two knew they needed to show up and show out. So, yeah, they did that. AJ ended up getting the win as Austin, despite hanging with AJ step for step, did his best to cheat his way to victory. This was a rumble warmup, a showcase for Theory, and a way of getting some momentum back on Styles’ side. Rumble Prep Shocker, but the Street Profits and The Mysterios put on a very good tag match. Who knew, right? This match evolved out of their friendly competition a week ago, and with all four men setting their sights on earning a spot in the WrestleMania main event. Rey Mysterio got the win for his team because of course he did. WWE 2K22 got its trailer debut tonight, and Rey got his flowers as the cover wrestler. Did you really think his team was losing? Or that he wasn’t getting the pin? In typical Royal Rumble fashion. after the match ended, we got a lot of people getting tossed out of the ring. Even the Dirty Dawgz got in on the action. The problem, however, is that none of these cats looked serious. Throwing each other over the ropes felt like it was for laughs rather than seriously wanting to win, essentially, the biggest matches of their careers. More Rumle Prep A six-woman tag match with Carmella, Nikki A.S.H., & Tamina on one side of the ring, and Dana Brooke, Liv Morgan, & Rhea Ripley on the other was all about, you guessed it, the Royal Rumble. This wasn’t a long contest and didn’t really work for me. That’s not indicative of the women, but an indictment of the amount of time they were given. Rhea, who needed wind at her back after the past few weeks, got the submission win for her team. Of course, Nikki A.S.H. got her post match licks in, so Rhea will have vengeance on her mind during the Rumble match. Will Rhea let Nikki distract her from winning the Rumble? To quote Miz, oooooof course. Two Rooms. One Interview Becky Lynch and Doudrop did a one-on-one video interview. No one said anything new so you know how this went. Doudrop wants to make a name for herself and lay claim to the throne. Becky got meta and talked about Doudrop being another name to fill out the card until Becky made her relevant. Cool, cool. If that wasn't enough to make me dock points for this segment, it turns out they were barely 10 feet apart from each other! Doudrop eventually went off camera and it took her no less than 1 minute to get to Becky and throw hands. Why did we even bother with the video interview? All Hail the EST This match...was a thing. My love for Bianca Belair is well-documented, and Queen Zelina is no slouch. That said, this match was a waste of their time. I get it. We need to give Bianca some momentum heading into Royal Rumble. But can’t we accomplish that putting her against someone who isn’t half comic relief half royalty? Zelina can go but right now, she isn’t presented as even a minor threat to someone like Belair. The match proved that point. Analyze This I still really like Alexa. And still really dislike these therapy segments. But it’s not her fault. Alexa is doing all she can to make the best of it and she at least makes it watchable. Bliss’ therapist says she’s making progress, so it shan't be long until she’s live and in person. I can’t get over the lack of build for the actual Rumble itself. Or even the fact that there’s no one positioned as the favorite. Or the fact that the match feels like an afterthought to everything else happening on the show. That said, we got a few good matches this week and a couple entertaining segments. That counts for a lot in my book. If there’s one more thing I would change, it’s that Edge and Beth’s vengeance wasn’t a running story throughout the show. I’m sorry, but if someone hits me with a brick, I’m not waiting until the show is almost over to get my hands on them. A running storyline of Beth and her husband on the prowl for Maryse and her husband, leading to the ultimate showdown during Maryse’s birthday just feels right. As it stands, the angle, much like Raw this week, was just okay. Grade: B- |
Maybe next time you'll learn not to asslick a fraud unprovoked ![]()
|
I'm still trying to process this amount of badluck |
TheHulk616:Guy please I don't want to laugh this evening |
I've not believed this but Maybe Hazard truly brings us badluck when he starts ![]() |
It's been long since we've experienced this kind of badluck, Maybe since Solari...we are playing well but we can't score, Elche's young keeper has turned into prime Casillas, the boy already has 7 saves from this first half alone |
Devvy4:I just hope he knows what the hell he is doing ![]() |
Zyxzzzz:Hazards goal earns him a start her but Isco's goal didn't? What about Ceballos then since we are just handing out starts ![]() |
MJBOLT:Lol |
MJBOLT:Please don't go ahead with this...it makes Infinity war and Endgame look useless |
The Card Counter Tiffany Haddish doesn't know how to do a sex scene |
Katcall:Still the 300 |
10thDentist:Spartans bruh |
ShaqFu:Call their real names, Gerrard Butler and Micheal Fassbender ![]() |
WWE SMACKDOWN REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS Is it just me or was there a subtle hint of something when Roman Reigns held his hand out for the microphone and looked awfully displeased when Jimmy Uso was late delivering it? Missing a certain someone by his side, perhaps? Also notable from the opening segment of Friday Night SmackDown this week — Seth Rollins referred to Jon Moxley not as “Dean Ambrose” but as “Mox.” Let everyone take that to mean all kinds of things, but I’m just going to consider it a step forward for WWE to allow at least some of its on screen talent to act like real human beings sometimes. Meanwhile, I quite liked the story they went with on this show. Of course they would do a celebration for Reigns being champion as long as he has and of course that would break down with Rollins hitting the scene for some sort of shenanigans. Said shenanigans actually made a great deal of sense, though, and advanced the story in a way that, again, made everyone involved look like they use their brains. Hey, it’s noteworthy when WWE so often goes the other direction with its booking of these guys. Rollins decided to challenge The Usos to a tag team match with the stipulation that a win would mean they’re barred from ringside at Royal Rumble. That way he can actually have a singles match for the title, instead of surely falling victim to THAT DAMN NUMBERS GAME. He brought Kevin Owens along with him to help in his quest to achieve this. Reigns, to keep some semblance of control, alpha that he is, added his own stip: a Rollins loss would mean he no longer gets a title shot at all. That’s how you start a show to set up a main event match with high stakes. Later in the night, they delivered on the match in the sense that it was fun and worthy of its placement. It just sucks that it ended with a disqualification, with Reigns knowing The Usos were about to lose and getting a lick in on Rollins to cause a DQ. It wouldn’t be a WWE show without a disqualification in the TV main event, I suppose. Either way, it was a good show storyline that made sense as a way to build to the PPV match. All the Rest Big E showed up to assist Kofi Kingston in his match against Madcap Moss, basically to make a mockery of Moss and Happy Corbin. There wasn’t much to it, just a babyface being smart enough to get one over on the heels after the heels did the same to him. It was satisfying for what it was. As a wise man once said, there’s levels to this game. When Lita returned to SmackDown, she was given a full blown segment with the champion of the women’s division. When Summer Rae returned, she was just hanging out in the crowd in her own hometown, during someone else’s match. Of course, it was during Natalya’s match, who she’s been beefing with on Twitter, so at least they effectively used a returning Legend to make the Royal Rumble more meaningful. Anyway, Aliyah won by disqualification when Nattie couldn’t break a five count. Xia Li showed up at the end of it when Natalya wouldn’t stop, and we were all reminded “The Protector” is still around. The Viking Raiders became top contenders to the SmackDown tag team titles last week but because The Usos have better things to do, the decision was made to simply have Erik & Ivar go over clean with a dominant win over Los Lotharios. This is the kind of thing WWE should be doing in situations like these, so good on them for doing it. Naomi got her rematch with Charlotte Flair this week and I’ll give you two guesses on what went down but you’re only gonna need one — you got it! Sonya Deville interfered and screwed her over once again. I’d give some sort of analysis here if there was any to give but this has become the standard on the blue brand, so much so it’s become routine. Later, Eric Bischoff appeared from nowhere to advise Adam Pearce to go to upper management to get a match booked between Deville and Naomi for next week. Later, it was made official and I’ll assume the same thing happens. Why would I think any different after the past however many months? Sami Zayn’s grand plan to prove he’s better than Johnny Knoxville was to show that he can do Jackass stunts just like him. Except he’s Sami Zayn, so he tried to fake his way through it. Naturally, Knoxville himself showed up, made it real, and zapped Zayn before tossing him out of the ring again. I am almost convinced that Knoxville is actually going to eliminate Zayn in the Royal Rumble this year.Ridge Holland returned to hang out while Sheamus beat up the guy who broke his nose weeks back, Ricochet. There you have it. This was a fairly average show. Grade: C+ |
abduleez1:Me too, I found out around 2019 that it was Zack that directed it |
Thor Ragnarok - 4/10 No real stakes, just vibes |
AnfieldFan:Alright boss |
Raalsalghul:That's why it's important to create a Multiverse so they can say this or that happened on a different earth |
AnfieldFan:And then? |
BankyGee:You sef see am abi
|
Kaycee7:lol, Shebi Gilgamesh was bragging about helping Odin and Thor following him around when he was a kid ![]() The mugus even made superman canon in the MCU ![]()
|
Kaycee7:Nah, it's not it...Vince didn't want him to do this↓
Perhaps he was scared of the backlash it might get but it looks promising to me. |
Gmajor:Also, why didn't any Avenger notice the tremors that 3rd act must have caused and come to investigate? |
WWE RAW REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS Freakin’ All Mighty There must be a better way to feature Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley on Raw. One week before their respective championship matches, pitting them against each other can’t be the brightest idea WWE had. Will it be a quality match? Of course. These two cats know how to tell a story and they’re both at the top of their physical game. But c’mon! The second WWE announced this match, it was clear a DQ was in the cards because neither man can afford an L before Royal Rumble. We know the Uso’s are Roman’s goons and want to do work to make the Tribal Chief proud. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin are scorned lovers with a desire to prove their worth to Bobby Lashley and MVP. It stands to reason all four of those cats want to make life miserable for Seth and Bobby. No argument there and the logic is sound. But why oh why is it a match between the two of them? Put Seth and Bobby in separate matches against different opponents and produce the same ending. Because, yup. the match ended in a DQ. To make matters worse, I don’t know who I’m supposed to cheer for. Seth is clearly a heel, duh, but Bobby isn’t exactly dancing with the angels either. Bobby’s alignment seemingly depends on the week and whatever WWE needs done. So instead of a compelling main event story, I’m watching two guys who I know can’t lose so the only question is how does the match end. And the way it ended wasn’t unique to this particular match. I say this a lot but one issue with Raw is the lack of internal logic. Even if we get a good or great match, the internal reasoning for said match isn’t consistently there. This was one of those times. Cats like Seth and Bobby just deserve better than this. On Raw, Seth is wrestling Bobby for basketball reasons. On SmackDown, he’s sparring with Reigns on the microphone and sinking his teeth into an interesting psychological story playing on their history as a team and as individuals. Funny how that works. The one thing of note, however, is Seth working Lashley’s knee. This knee gave Bobby trouble in the past, so one wonders—that one is me—if this comes back to haunt the All Mighty during his match with Brock Lesnar. And with Cedric and Shelton lurking, Bobby needs to deal with them sooner rather than later because he has to know they’re just itching to ruin his shot at the WWE Championship. Right? The Rest A Spelling Bro-KO Chad Gable is a gem. Cherish him and *ahem* acknowledge him, because he’s finding his groove like a DJ right now. I don’t want to say he’s doing a modern version of Kurt Angle’s early obnoxious character, but I also don’t want to not say it. The similarities are there and it’s working, so let’s enjoy it. Alpha Academy’s graduation ceremony, as part of their tag team championship celebration, was incredible. Mostly because of Chad. But this is wrestling so you know where this is headed: Riddle showed up in graduation regalia, asked for a rematch, and Randy came out to a surprise. Between all that, Alpha Academy granted RK-Bro the rematch under one condition: The former tag champs must defeat Gable and Otis in mental challenge. What’s a mental challenge, you ask? I imagine it’s like an academic decathlon. Or a sped up spelling bee. Or maybe it’s Chad’s version of Squid Game. Either way, there will be blood, tears, and laughs. Brick House My enjoyment of this feud between Edge, Beth Phoenix, Miz and Maryse is known in these parts. While this segment didn’t reinvent the wheel or increase my excitement for their Royal Rumble match, it served its purpose. What purpose? Get the crowd to hate Maryse even more and give Beth more reasons to whoop her ass. I’d say hitting Beth with a brick disguised as a purse is just the thing to make that happen. Maryse was less convincing here than previous weeks. She sounded so disingenuous as opposed to the last two weeks where her face and body language spoke very loudly. The set up was obvious but like I said, the hate for Maryse is strong. It’s simple, effective, and the best build for a match Raw has going for it at the moment. If there’s one big knock on the segment, it’s the commentary. Homegirl hit Beth with a BRICK. And the guys at the booth sold it with the same emotion they would if it were a chair. Stunned First off, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins are hilarious together. The humor comes from the fact we all expect them to turn on each other at the drop of a dime. Seth’s appearance on the KO Show was filled with moments like this, especially when Seth easily offered his “best friend” as a sacrifice to an interrupting Damian Priest. I’m not sure how this translates when the two finally duke it out because none of us buy it. But Seth and KO are pros so they’ll figure it out. But let’s get to the match. Damian Priest. Kevin Owens. United States Championship not on the line. Just a fun spirit of competition match. And unsurprisingly, it was a damn good match. My one knock is there was nothing on the line, no stakes, and as of now serves no purpose, but hey they did the best with what they were given. KO got the W by faking out Damian and the ref, playing them both for fools when he faked a knee injury. Damian dropped his guard and got dropped by a stunner. Ms. Momentum Raw kicked off with the standard back and forth between a champion and her challengers. Doudrop, Bianca Belair, and Liv Morgan all hit the ring with different agendas. Doudrop to warn Becky Lynch about the ills of getting what you ask for, while Bianca and Liv announced their intentions to win this year’s women’s Rumble. Oh and then a relatively quick tag match happened, with Bianca and Liv in one corner, while Becky and Doudrop begrudgingly shared another corner. Becky and Doudrop obviously didn’t get along, engaging in a game of “anything you can do, I can stop you from doing so I can do it.” Becky hit a blind tag early in the match, only for Doudrop to repay the favor. Doudrop broke up Becky’s pin attempt on Liv, dragged Becky back to their corner, tagged herself in, and finished Liv for the 1-2-3. After the way Raw ended last week, it was necessary to get momentum on Doudrop’s side and make her look like actual competition to Ms. Lynch and not an afterthought. With two weeks to go, there’s still a lot of work to do on that front. But we gotta start somewhere, right? Random Tags for Rumble Prep Every man for himself. We say it every year during the Royal Rumble, but it’s better to show instead of tell. The Street Profits and the Mysterios picked up the W over the Dirty Dawgz, Apollo, and Commander Azeez. While celebrating, the Mysterios tossed the Profits out of the ring, only for Rey to show his son just how true that “every man for himself” rule really is. Dominik dropped his guard and got tossed out the ring too. Harmless, fun match that tells the story WWE tells every year but takes a different shape based on the individuals involved: Even the closest tag teams have no alliances when the WrestleMania main event is on the line. Not even blood is thicker than the Mania payday. Poor Finn No glib headline here. Finn Balor took a clean L to Austin Theory this week. Why? Shrug. But if Austin didn’t win, Vince threatened to “beat him” in a very visceral way. I wanted to see it happen because if a man that old can do the things Vince said, that’s more impressive than any wrestling match. It’s hard to get into the match itself when Finn is crash test dummy in this weird thing between Austin and McMahon. And no, it’s nowhere near as compelling or exciting as the last time Vince paired himself with a guy named Austin. To say nothing of the undertones of which WWE clearly isn’t aware. Plus? Vince just looks bad on television and the old man just doesn’t have his fastball anymore. Almost a Match Nikki A.S.H. showed a lot of aggression and beat the pants of Rhea Ripley before their match even started. So, yeah, no match. Just more set up for their eventual clash. Which is a good thing because a match this week feels too soon for them. Omos Over Omos pinned Reggie with one foot. That’s it. Actually, I lied. Omos beat AJ Styles. Let me repeat that: Omos beat AJ Styles. And in the aftermath of that victory, he pinned Wrestle McWrestler (not his actual name) and now Reggie. So what was the point of him beating AJ? This is what happens when one books themselves into a corner. Doll Face I like Alexa Bliss and miss her. But these therapy session segments aren’t the move. The only good thing about them is they’re short and over before they begin. Raw is...average. And that’s OK! This week featured Edge, Beth, Maryse and Miz doing dope work as usual, a fun tag match, a segment that sports entertained me, and a couple good matches. But on the whole, it felt like an average episode of a program that often just clears the bar. Here’s hoping the Royal Rumble go home show is at least putting in an effort for an A. Grade: C |
MJBOLT:This one looks dark, I think this is the first marvel series I'll enjoy |
Konor:It's the deluded ones that always immediately starts calling someone else deluded |
Debroslink:Omo the statement shock me too sef |
Katcall:Ogbeni shift |
samistry:E never still reach o boss |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 (of 874 pages)



