Wrestling Thread 4: The Ruethless Aggression Era • Page 535

I really think the WWE should've went with the womens rumble ending. You know Vince was saying "no way women are headlining TLC, then rumble, AND mania" or some shit like that

but man...you gotta go with it. Becky's moment > "and rollins...okay good night everyone". Go with what's hot.

 

I think a lot of the great moments could've been upped a lot by not having it outside, at least the mania setup will definitely be a lot better.

 

411MANIA | Shane Helms Returning To WWE In Producer Role, Start Date Revealed For Abyss and Sonjay Dutt

 

"we're not competing with WWE at all"

"WE'RE NOT GONNA DO THIS REASONABLE UNDERSTANDABLE THING WWE DID AND HA AUDIENCES ARE ON 90 DAY NON COMPETE CLAUSES LULZ"


aew and the young bucks over the past month in a nutshell

 

May have already been discussed in here, but I think the reason they had the women's rumble go on before the men's rumble was so that Nia could have her moment in the men's rumble. Makes more sense this way because she lost her first opportunity and created a second opportunity for herself in the men's rumble. But I agree, the bigger closing moment is def Becky winning the women's rumble.

 

True...but I'd counter that maybe this isnt the year to do this nia thing if thats the case. Dont rearrange the flow of the show just for nia to get rko'd .

 

Yeah I completely agree with that.

 

Which points to an earlier point I made, which is a bunch of men thought the best way to have a female talent that is hated by the fans get what's coming to her was at the hands of men (one of whom is one of the biggest babyfaces on the roster!). It's one of those things that just points to how off base WWE creative can be with their decision making. I'm uncomfortable with the notion that they thought that was the best route to go.

And not to say I'm totally against women wrestling men at some point in WWE (I have mixed feelings on it, primarily because I don't trust WWE to have the tact or understand the nuances required to make it work without feeling super gross), but this isn't about men fighting women in kayfabe. I'm talking about the backstage mindset and logic used that resulted in this creative decision. It's not like they put Nia out there in the mens Rumble in the same way they did with Chyna or Beth or Kharma, or to put her over as a top draw in the womens division—it was specifically done to get a pop out of the crowd when she got beat down and eliminated. And it worked! So maybe that says more about the fans than WWE...

 

You ok?

 

@Mick nailed it.

 

This is the part I cant fully grasp. Like, putting her out there isnt "punishment" in the sense that she's making history AND got an elimination. On the other hand, she got beat down and eliminated to pop the crowd specifically off the heat she had.

Re-watching that section today, they absolutely should not have had King on commentary for it. And someone on commentary should have been selling the idea that she saw Becky enter the Rumble unannounced and wanted the same spotlight...hell, let her punch Mysterio in the face too, like she did Becky to sell the story.

The storytelling in both Rumbles was actually pretty great overall. Feels weird they didnt hit the same notes with Nia.

 

And it was a fairly big moment to have Nia and Becky square up immediately after Becky entered the Rumble. And then Becky got a great stiff-looking shot in on Nia in the center of the ring AND eliminated her. Isn't that all the revenge needed? A little weird that they double-downed on it, and that's completely ignoring the manner in which they went about it. I would think they would want to draw MORE heat on Nia, which you could have done by having her eliminate Ali, punch out Rey in the way you mentioned, and maybe eliminate one other favorite (or at least hit a finisher on someone like Dolph).

 

i totally understand that way of thinking but i didnt really see it as JUST "lets beat up Nia to get a pop"...that was certainly an aspect of it, but i think she came off looking REALLY strong. I'd have to look back at Chyna and Beth, but that was a truly dominant performance. She was manhandling Rey and was legit 'holding her own'. I came off it actually almost more of a fan of Nia's... now is that the consensus opinion? Not sure. Probably not.

 

Narrator: it wasn't

 

In the actual moment when she was interacting with the guys, I said to @oldjersey that she actually came across as way more comfortable and competent in the ring with the guys than she usually does against the women. I'm sure there's a ton more freedom there to feel like you can really go full-force in the ring facing off against someone like Orton, but even still, Rey and Ali are both probably smaller than someone like Charlotte. She did look good in the moment from a ring-presence perspective, though admittedly it's a pretty small sample size. I do think Nia competing against some of the guys could be well done if they put careful consideration into it. I think it could be a really fun to have Nia feud with Ali post-rumble, and maybe set that up where Nia wants to crush the cruiserweights for whatever reason (maybe in an attempt to shake off whatever lingering feelings she has for Enzo). Something that would keep her out of the title picture without people constantly wondering why she's not in the title picture (lets be honest, given her size, it feels like she should always be in the conversation, even if we dislike her).

On the flip-side, if there are serious concerns about Nia's ability to work safely with the women, maybe rectifying that situation by having her in there with the guys isn't actually helping at all. I think it was an interview I heard once with Gail Kim who said she is super unimpressed by women who wrestle against guys, because in reality it's so much easier for a woman to work a guy versus another female. If Nia can't work well/safely with women, then maybe there needs to be more time spent on perfecting that part of her craft instead of just having her go against dudes.

 

If she shows up and lasted for maybe 10 minutes, threw a couple of people out, no one could eliminate her on their own, then that spot happens to finally get her out it's probably not nearly as big of a debate as it is. Obviously having jbl and king laugh their ass of at her was always gonna be looked at as the offensive idea it was.

 

I can tell you that Chyna looked AWFUL in her Rumble appearance. It lasted <1 minute, she eliminated Mark Henry then instantly got eliminated by Stone Cold. Felt as pointless as Dolph being #30 last year.

Nia definitely looked stronger than her.

 

I guess we'll have to see where they take the story from here.

From my perspective, the Becky stuff was getting her revenge on Nia. The men stuff was them starting to build back sympathy for Nia as a tough character winning to take bumps with the guys. But I get that isn't how most people interpreted it and in retrospect likely isn't what WWE was intending.

 

Dolph being #1 -#30 is pointless any year

 

but man, wouldn't it be cool if this leads to Nia going over Orton at mania?

 

Kind of crazy that with everything Chyna did in her career that she was only ever in ONE Rumble

 

He's supposedly feuding with Batista but that rumor could've been BS


Also Orton would be one of the worst people for her to feud with, maybe that makes it better idk

 

it would be the most interesting thing orton has done in 10 years

 

I wonder if we'll get the EC tag team announcement, probably gonna be Nia&tamina/becky&sasha/iconics/maybe Ronda and natty?