If they can't make a kayfabe Steph vs. Shane with HHH turning on his wife (because that's what is best for business) for the company year long feud to end all feuds work then there is no hope for WWE ever again. For me with WWE it's always "what are they waiting for?". I think they know they can always get the ratings back whenever they want with a Cena heel turn and they hold the fans hostage with that. It just never quite gets down to that level and probably never will as long as there is no competition or a complete fan revolt including the kids.
WWE Payback (2016) Thread
- Thread starter jdoggivjc
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If they can't make a kayfabe Steph vs. Shane with HHH turning on his wife (because that's what is best for business) for the company year long feud to end all feuds work then there is no hope for WWE ever again. For me with WWE it's always "what are they waiting for?". I think they know they can always get the ratings back whenever they want with a Cena heel turn and they hold the fans hostage with that. It just never quite gets down to that level and probably never will as long as there is no competition or a complete fan revolt including the kids.
It's not that HHH and Stephanie couldn't put their "televised" part of their marriage on the rocks and have them turn on one another for storyline purposes - it's not like they haven't done that before (15 years ago the irony of them getting divorced on screen as they were getting set to get married in real life), and it's not like they couldn't put on a great show in the process.
But it there are other things you have to consider. When Vince's and Linda's marriage hit the rocks during the Attitide Era, resulting in multiple on-screen affairs for Vince, putting Linda in the insane asylum, backing different rivals to get back at one another, etc, not only were Shane and Stephanie grown up, they were part of the business and even part of the storyline. HHH's and Steph's daughters aren't even teenagers yet. I actually kind of understand the position they are in, having a 7-year old daughter with a second daughter to be born next month. My daughter knows my wife and I love each other more than anything else in this world, and when we fight it doesn't change that fact. However, when we do fight (and it's only been a handful of times over our decade of marriage), it has a profound impact on her. Even though she knows we love each other, we have to make sure we resolve it in front of her, or she's asking mommy and daddy the rest of the evening questions about the family she normally wouldn't even think to ask (as in, is the family ok and such). Not only that, I know for a fact my daughter doesn't understand that not everything she sees on TV is real - she's just not mature enough to understand the concept. Now, HHH's and Stephanie's children are around the same age as mine, so they probably have to deal with similar things. They probably have tried explaining to them over and over what they see with WWE isn't real, but they just aren't old enough to grasp the concept. Now that you understand that situation, do you really think it's the greatest idea to throw HHH's and Stephanie's "televised" marriage on the rocks just for for the entertainment of fans for a few months? I don't think it's necessary to risk putting their children that don't necessarily understand that what they're isn't real through that kind of emotional trauma. It's one thing to have to explain to their daughters "we actually love these guys - mommy didn't really mean it when she slapped Dean Ambrose; daddy didn't really mean it he Pedigreed Roman Reigns; we didn't mean it when we were mean to Nikki Bella and when we fired John Cena." It's entirely another thing when they have to explain to their daughters "no, mommy didn't mean it when she slapped daddy, no daddy didn't mean it when he Pedigreed mommy, no, mommy doesn't have a new boyfriend and he didn't really have to take mommy to the hospital in an ambulance while daddy and his new girlfriend are trying to break into that ambulance with sledgehammers - and no, daddy doesn't have a new girlfriend. No, mommy hasn't filed a restraining order on daddy, and no, mommy and daddy aren't getting divorced." See the kind of problems that kind of a storyline can cause when HHH and Stephanie have kids that young? Some storylines just aren't worth it. To me, as a dad with young daughters, destroying HHH's and Stephanie's "televised" marriage isn't worth the emotional/psychological problems you may inflict upon their kids. Whatever you do to HHH and Stephanie, it has to be as a fully unified, married couple.
Now, if you want to have Stephanie and Shane go at it, I'm all for that. I'm sure all six of those children have a general idea of what Shane and Stephanie used to do to one another and it wasn't real.
I think most of us want to see Cena go on a long overdue heel run. Cena has to be close to being done with his full time career, and even a brief heel run would help him go over as a popular face as he transitions into part timer. The problem is Cena has a certain amount of creative control over his character and he doesn't want to do it. He wants to be a "role model" too badly. That, and neither he nor Vince want to give up that unlimited gravy train of product sales and product endorsements.
Very well said Jdogg. I always keep thinking that by spending all this time being in front of the camera and all travel that comes with it takes a toll of their children. This is a tough business to be a family person with kids. I think that's why you see so many deciding to find a partner within the business (Steph HHH, Naomi and Jimmy Uso, Ambrose and Rene Young just to name a few).
Man I can't wait for Raw next week. Every time I get a free moment I keep thinking about that Enzo and Cass Promo. Apparently they aren't going to be a Smackdown act with sucks as I'd love to see them in Des Moines in may.
Man I can't wait for Raw next week. Every time I get a free moment I keep thinking about that Enzo and Cass Promo. Apparently they aren't going to be a Smackdown act with sucks as I'd love to see them in Des Moines in may.
Every time i get a moment I rewatch that Enzo and Cass promo. Really glad they're bringing Raw back to Detrot July 11. My wife virtually has no excuse to not let me take my daughter to that show.
My boss is into wwe so I asked him what he thought about them. He was kind of indifferent but I told him at least they bring a charisma to the show and that is sorely needed.
Love enzo on the mic...but gotta get used to his look personally.
Pumped to see what these two can do and the pop they can have with the WWE crowd.
Enzo's really good in terms of comedy, The Carmella (their valet) training vignettes were hilarious because Enzo was a huge idiot (like while running on the treadmill, checks out Carmella and he eats the treadmill, another is where he says that Carmella can't wrestle and ends up getting dropkicked by Carmella)
How Carmella got introduced to WWE is more pure Enzo and Cass gold. Marcus Louis and Sylvester LeFort (two guys who recently left NXT and have signed with TNA) attacked Enzo and shaved his beard/hair. This led to a "hair vs. hair" match between Enzo and LeFort. Enzo went to his hairdresser on Staten Island, who at the time was Carmella, to ask her for something that would help him with the match. She ended up brewing something up that would basically immediately remove someone's hair if it touched the hair, but she also told him to be careful with it because it was extremely potent. He immediately proceeded to trip over something which caused him to dump it all over a customer's dog, which lost all of its fur. This led to Carmella being fired from her hairdresser job (not before she was able to whip up another batch for Enzo's match apparently). A ****** off Carmella found Enzo and Cass at the WWE Performance Center and demanded they hook her up with a wrestling gig, which, after a little convincing, happened. Enzo ended up winning the hair vs. hair match, but LeFort ran away, bailing from his tag team partner. Enzo and Cass were able to catch Louis before he could get away as well, and they dumped the mixture all over him, causing him to go completely bald. This ended up leading to a separation between Louis and LeFort, which saw LeFort over the next several episodes to devolve into a bat-**** insane personality.
And yes, both Enzo and Cass are great at the comedy aspect, but ever since the end of the feud with BAMF and throughout the feud with The Revival, they have worked on more serious, aggressive undertones (which we actually saw a bit of during the promo - the whole "we're not here to play games" aspect of it), which has led them to becoming much more dynamic than guys sent out there to light a crowd on fire and get a few laughs in the process.
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The Vignettes start at Takeover Fatal 4 Way, although the first one was introduced just before that to hype the hair vs hair match
NXT 236 8/21/2014 Enzo and Cass are attacked by Louis and LeFort; Enzo's beard gets shaved
NXT 238 9/4/2014 Carmella is introduced to the NXT world as Enzo's hairdresser, and has the hair cream prepped and ready for Enzo. Enzo and Cass are ribbing each other a little too much and a scuffle between the two leads to Enzo dumping it on that dog (and you get a little taste of how much gold Cass also is on the mic - he's much more than just the guy that spells S-A-W-F-T).
NXT TakeOver Fatal 4Way 9/11/2014 Enzo faces LeFort in the hair vs. hair match (among other things - such as a Fatal 4Way match between Zayn, Neville, Kidd, and Breeze)
NXT 241 9/18/2014 Carmella tracks down Enzo and Cass in the NXT Performance Center and tells them that because they cost her her job, she demands that they get her a job as a professional wrestler at NXT
NXT 245 10/16/2014 Carmella makes her in-ring debut against Blue Pants (who is also debuting - and this is pure Cass gold on the mic. This show also has one of Becky Lynch's first televised NXT matches)
I would honestly recommend going from the beginning (well, beginning from what they've got - I guess it used to air on YouTube before they started utilizing the Network).
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Blackjack Mulligan passed away.
http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/695635-wwe-hall-of-famer-blackjack-mulligan-passes-away
http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/695635-wwe-hall-of-famer-blackjack-mulligan-passes-away
This new character they have Roman Reigns playing suits him so much better. Still has a long way to go, but he's going to be a lot more successful being a total doosh.
If the tune is Maryse on the skin flute then I'm in. I could use a Lana/Maryse feud with hair pulling.
