Live WWE TV Discussion Thread

[Powder]

Based on the 4 people in the fatal fourway last night, not from the entire roster, I believe that Drew McIntyre was and is the best option. As stated, Rey and Orton are beyond the title and do not need it to put anyone over, and it is much too soon for Humberto and Ricochet just doesn't resonate with me. Maybe it is his lack of promo ability, but not sure.

And again, it is not "this idea sucks, only my idea works, all other ideas are awful", I am basing this on from what was presented to us by the WWE. I am not pulling who should be the US champion out of my ass, the WWE us gave four (5 if you include Humberto) options, and the most obvious best option, again from what was presented, was for McIntyre to walk out as champion. Every scenario that you can come up with on why Rey is best suited to be champion, can all be accomplished without him being the US Champion.

And my comparison to AEW was about why they have records and standings matter and building towards being a #1 contender. I am not the biggest fan of Jericho being Le Shamp-e-on for the arguments stated, but being a brand new promotion, I understand why they did it. They needed immediate credibility, and Jericho is the only one on the roster who could do that. But once Jericho drops the title, he should never, eeeeeeeeever, be Le Shamp-e-on agane.

[PEN15v2]

I'm not trying to change your mind, but I don't see any logic to why you feel vets can't be champion. And to shut out vets from ever being champion is just limiting your options. It's not smart. There is so much value to Rey being champion right now, and you're choosing to ignore it. Nobody is saying there aren't other options. I agreed that Drew as champ would likely be best. But even if I agree with that, I don't think the best way for him to become champion is in a last minute fatal 4 way. If Drew is to become one of the top guys, you want what he does to matter. And for him to get to the main event through a midcard title, he'll be much better off beating Rey, a legend, as champion in a decisive one-on-one contest.

Drew winning out of nowhere last night won't have anywhere near the same impact if Rey runs with the title for a few months, and then Drew just runs through him.

You can have your own rules about the champion needing to be around every week, but I'll disagree on that too. WWE have poorly booked Brock's title reign, and it's been the same stuff for all the time he's been a part time champion, so I would prefer a weekly champion over Brock in many ways. But I'll always look back to WCW circa 1997. Hogan was there most weeks, but not he wasn't a centerpiece to most Nitros. He was just there to promo with the rest of the NWO behind him, and then wrestle 6-8 PPV main events, and a couple of random TV matches. WCW booked the entire card so perfectly that it didn't matter that Hogan only defended the belt every 2 months, and spent most of his run on top there in PPV celebrity tag matches than actual title defenses.

Basically, there's a way to book the champion not being there every week, but WWE haven't done a good job at it.


In my perfect world, the US and IC titles would be essentially brand specific TV championships. I loved what Cena did with the US Title open challenge. Next week, Rey should give a rematch to AJ, and let them have a main event spot. They could deliver another great TV match, this time in the main event of Raw. IF you want to add something like Falls Count Anywhere, that works for me. But those guys can go, they have chemistry, and it is an exciting match. This is why Rey as champion works for me. No matter who he goes against, it'll be a thrilling contest. I can't say that for Drew yet, despite me preferring his style.
Rey doing a weekly open challenge would be much more interesting than Humberto, Drew, and Ricochet. There's another reason I like his US title win. Also, without Brock there every week, AJ was the other singles champion. 2 heels. Currently, so is Drew, though he had a babyface promo yesterday so who knows. It's nice to balance the face and heel champions.
Rey's character work has often been his weakpoint, but he delivered vs Brock, and did well in his mic work before the fatal 4 way.

Sorry Powder, but it really feels like you would have only accepted 1 of the 6 options we were given to walk out of Raw as US Champ. If you don't see how that sounds like you're not accepting any other options, then we're running around in circles.

[LifeLostInRewind]

My only issue is that Rey Mysterio went from competing for the wwe title against someone he wanted revenge on to basically not even caring and winning the US title in a last minute match. Rey Mysterio himself winning the title doesn't bother me, though.

[Powder]

I am not going to back around in circles, but I want to address 2 of your points.

1. I know it came across that I never wants Vets as champions, and I know you will probably go and find a direct quote where I said that, but what I have definitely repeatedly said was that Vets that are of Rey's status do not need the title. Also, what irks me most about last night, is that we went from a well established, World renown multiple time Champion, of all distinctions of championships, of various promotions and bonafide Hall of Famer, dropping the title to someone who is basically the same guy. It was a parallel move. Who did AJ Styles put over on his way out? No one. That is what gets me. HOFer to HOFer. Why couldn't Styles drop the title to a younger talent putting him over like you want Rey to do? Then have that person feud with Rey. That would have made me feel better about the entire situation. But a vet who doesn't need a title to another vet who definitely doesn't need the title was poor booking.

And 2. Your Hogan reference. Yes Hogan was a 'part timer' as part of the nWo, where he didn't wrestle all that much, but you even said it; he was on TV almost every week. Which means that he was there. Lesnar is not there. Lesnar takes his title and goes home to his seclusion for months at a time. That devalues the title, as it is not seen, defended in a TV match or even in a non-title TV match or put into a tag match as bookers always do to keep the champ wrestling weekly. Hogan as the nWo champ was highly visible, backed by an army, and hard to get to. Lesnar is no where to be seen and the people he is feuding with have to have side feuds to keep them occupied until Lesnar graces us with his presence of his few scheduled dates. Hogan was present. Lesnar is not. That is a huge difference.

[Oliver]

The issue for me is that I would love for there to be this upsurge of young (or younger/less exposed guys - the examples I'm about to name aren't all 20-something 'young stallions' or whatever) people to come through in WWE, the likes of Drew, Ricochet, Murphy, Black, Andrade, Carrillo And His Perfect Cheek Dimples on Raw but I don't think you can just hang the midcard on them - which is where I think the value in the likes of Rey (or Orton, to pick the other option) holding the title, even for a short spell, lies. We're only six months out from Rey last winning the US Title, R-Truth was champion in January, Jeff Hardy had runs last years and Jericho the year before that. There are always these veteran guys slotting into the midcard picture for exactly the reasons listed above - legitimacy of the title, being good educators for younger guys coming up who maybe just have a couple of kinks to iron out that they can help with, and (for want of a better way of putting this) the opportunity to run 'dream'/'passing the torch' matches where the title gets dropped to that up and comer. Rey vs Ricochet, for example - they've never gone one on one on WWE programming, although they have in their history (Ultima Lucha Dos, and once for the shortlived What Culture thing in Leeds, UK), so they have a bit of history of working together but nothing in front of a WWE audience. For some, that would fall into a dream match category.

Now yes, you could run that as just a special attraction match with nothing on the line, but like I said about Andrade - there's then no follow up or real cache for the winner. Especially when you take into account that WWE defaults to 50:50 booking so often that they'd likely have Ricochet beat Rey, then Rey beat Ricochet, then some kind of rubber match, which steadily loses the heat.

I'm actually quite excited to see how this plays out because Rey vs anyone has a great deal of appeal and feels really fresh.

[LifeLostInRewind]

Why don't I remember Rey being US champion before??

[PEN15v2]

Because you binged on lots of rubbing alcohol when Samoa Joe was US Champ?

[LifeLostInRewind]

Because you binged on lots of rubbing alcohol when Samoa Joe was US Champ?

Now that you mention it, I forgot Samoa Joe was US champion, too.

[PEN15v2]

I always blame rubbing alcohol when I forget things. Such as when I forget to purchase more rubbing alcohol.

[Powder]

Just be like Uncle Ned on Family Ties (played by Tom Hanks) and drink Vanilla Extract.

[LifeLostInRewind]

I always blame rubbing alcohol when I forget things. Such as when I forget to purchase more rubbing alcohol.

I have to blame the forgetful title reigns. I can't use alcohol as a scapegoat here

[Powder]

Well the forgetful reigns were as follows and these are all from 2019:

Shinsuke Nakamura for 2 days followed by
R-Truth for 35 days followed by
Samoa Joe for 75 days followed by
Rey Mysterio for 15 days followed by
Samoa Joe for 20 days followed by
Ricochet for 21 days followed by

The first non-forgettable reign on 2019
AJ Styles for 134 days

[LifeLostInRewind]

I forgot R-Truth won the US title. Nakamara losing the title in 2 days was lame.

[PEN15v2]

It's weird how we are at one of the most bland parts of the year (the holidays mean taped shows with barely anything of note, and bad PG Street Fights) can be immediately followed by some of the most exciting times in WWE, with the build up to the Royal Rumble. Usually the first Raw of the new year has a "season premiere" feel to it, such as the return of Bret Hart in 2010. With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if John Morrison makes his re-debut the first week of January.

[Team Farrell]

Good thing nothing odd happened on WWE TV this week.