I gave smack down 40 mins. Man is it a tired format. 3 heel attacks face, 2 roll ups (1 during a distraction!) and Cole grunting over everything. Also apparently orton is still main eventing!

Orton has actually been the best part of WWE this year (and I generally like WWE, so this isn't some damning with faint praise thing).

Thunderdome tonight was pretty weird. The fans just sit there looking kind of bored (I guess not that different from a lot of WWE crowds) and they're back to a silent/dead atmosphere. If they're going to pipe in noise and not have the PC people around, they should at least get some boos/cheers/heat going instead of this light ambient chatter like it's a baseball game.

I'm actually looking forward to Summerslam. I might make the thread and write a short primer since it doesn't seem like the rest of the forum has been keeping up at all.

They had booing and cheering. I thought it was rather cringey but to each his own. It’s a weird time to be a public performer for sure. They still pander during promos as if there is a crowd. Must be habit

Would appreciate the primer. I plan to tune in.

Read somewhere that a lot of the new Bray/Braun stuff has been Alexa's idea. I don't get it. I don't understand why he'd attack her. And if they're doing a double switch, it's not one anyone's clamoring for.

Orton's been okay, but I've always liked him a bit more than most here. Nothing really new from him before. He kicks legends in the head. Actually, I though they made Flair look like an idiot and why would everyone care after he's been ball shotting faces for months?

The Raw Underground stuff is unwatchable.

This new group of goofs running around with bats and cheering is the goofiest thing. First time I saw them I noticed a lot of them were really short. I thought a miniature version of Aces and Eights had arrived. I don't get what their purpose is at all.

I've basically plowed through last two weeks of wrestling in two days since Mets/Yankees was cancelled. Stopped with only SD left to watch NXT Takeover.

Strangely, I think I'm only looking forward to the championship match and....Cole vs McAfee. As much as I hate him, McAfee has actually been entertaining in this feud. I guess they guy can talk and make people hate him.

That Randy punt to Drew was a complete airball, will enjoy the replays of this one all night

Come on RAW, enough with the Haystacks Calhoun references and let Shayna say what she really means about Nia Jax

Has there been a single arm wrestling contest on RAW that wasn't blueboyaids.gif?

I'm actually pretty impressed Shayne even knew who that is.

This Fiend/Braun/Roman triple threat title match is being billed as a NO HOLDS BARRED TRIPLE THREAT MATCH.

Why exactly? Is there such thing as a triple threat match where holds are barred? I was under the impression that all triple threats are no DQ by nature.

Terri vs Sunny.

Chances are they forgot their rules.

They’ll still enforce rope breaks.

Pile drivers have been barred for years. Can't wait to see a few Sunday.

Maybe "You'll Never See It Coming" was the fact that there's a PPV the very next week.

And Shane McMahon's Fake Club has to go. It's the absolute worst thing.

What's the kayfabe story behind Raw Underground anyway?
Is it Shane operating without daddy's permission?

They haven't bothered to give it any explanation at all.

I don't know if I'd say Raw Underground is good, but I feel like I have to support anything that changes up the formula in principle. And I think there is some potential there in terms of making people look like badasses. Shayna looked cool when she took out a bunch of people in there, Ziggler has seemed more legit, some of those big NXT guys have been kind of impressive. I see it as a more exciting version of jobber squashes.

A funny thing on RAW that maybe says something about how I watch WWE: Keith Lee came out, and they changed his music. I went "oh, that's weird and seems not great, oh well. At least he's in this high-profile spot with Orton." Then I looked on Reddit later and they were having like a full-blown meltdown over it and saying Vince doesn't get it etc. I guess I just don't care or am unbothered by stuff like this.

So Reigns is a Heyman guy now.

I...

Really like this...

It's amazing how little I know about anything going on in the E now with With Spandex dead

Ok so Bad Guy Roman is awesome, this Smackdown as a whole was in the top .5% of their weekly shows

I guess Roman is going to completely destroy his cousin to cement his heel turn, but I'd rather see him do it against somebody the audience really likes. I don't think anyone really cares about whichever Uso that was. He really needs to do something dastardly, like beat Otis to a bloody pulp.

Baffled why it took COVID to make Roman heel, he is legit good at it.

I honestly can't remember a better Smackdown (like, ever, obviously the shows blend together a lot). Between the great heel presentation of Reigns, the really effective Sasha/Bayley turn, and a really good main event, it was very good top-to-bottom. I'm really liking the current direction.

Uso came out of nowhere and could have been used and built more prior to this, but it makes a ton of sense as Roman's first cannon fodder opponent.

I'm also a big mark for Sami's heel character so his return has been enjoyable. I was not into Smackdown much for most of this year but right now it has a lot of intriguing stories.

Yea everything tonight absolutely worked for me. I'm absolutely ok with Jey Iso getting that shot because Reigns is obviously not losing that belt yet, so why not have a new opponent for him who they can actually build on his previous interactions and history instead of simply having him be a straight-up bad guy now.

The Sasha/Bayley tag match was fantastic (even NIA JAX had her worker boots on tonight!) And the beatdown after the match had the viciousness that feud deserves.

The Big E tease and subsequent attack by Sheamus is a nice little tease that actually looks like they *gasp* have a long term plan for Big E.

Just a fantastic show all-around. I'm actually looking forward to a main roster WWE show for the first time in years

The Bayley/Sasha turn, while predictable, was so well done. Part of the reason Bayley has kinda sucked (or at least it took her awhile to find her footing as a heel) is bc it never seemed like there was any character or motivation. First she was broody with emo hair and whacky eyelashes, but then when Sasha jumped aboard they brought out an arrogant personality that started to work. And now with her brutalizing Sasha you're accomplishing two things---1) establishing a reason why cocky Bayley is doing despicable things (she thinks Sasha is holding her back and beneath her) and 2) creating a potential babyface star in Sasha. It's too bad this arc happened during COVID bc I actually believe she'd get strong pops if they did her eventual return from injury (& then further down the line going over Bayley to become champ) correctly.

Great stuff.

Despite the build throughout the show, I thought Jey winning the main event was ridiculous as I watched it but, for some reason, I didn't think of the family angle regarding him & Roman and now I'm less down on it. Roman crushed it tonight, so they have to commit to him obliterating Jey at Clash of Champions. Could even do a thing where they bring back an injury Jimmy and have him at ringside and have Roman make him helplessly watch. I also think for a PPV like CoC and Reigns first title defense its actually smart to not waste a feud against a stronger face since its so unlikely Reigns is just gonna drop the belt.

I've been hard on WWE the last 5 years bc most of the time it seems like they aren't even trying to tell a story but this is definitely the early remnants of solid storytelling.