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WWE Survivor Series 2016 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
If WWE in 2016 has taught us anything, it’s that content outweighs logic.
After an hour and 51 minute pre-show came a three hour and 26-minute Pay-Per-View for a total of five hours and 27 minutes of air time.
Nothing screamed “filler” like interbranded 10-man elimination tag matches, with little consequences. Three of them, to be exact.
It’s like watching the World Series between two teams you don’t like. There’s no emotional investment besides the ones who’re directly involved.
Luckily, the best build ironically went to Goldberg-Brock Lesnar, the personification of the overhyped “Fantasy Warfare Just Got Real” catchphrase.
In this case, some things should stay fantasy.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 11/15/16: #900
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 11/15/16)
#900
– It was nice to see SmackDown Live’s 900th episode fall during the Survivor Series go-home week. In the realm of tradition and nostalgia for the blue brand, there was also a purpose. The opening video nicely “relived” various highlights from past talent like Eddie Guerrero, King Booker, Edge, JBL, Booker T and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The DX Bus explosion was shown as was the infamous Gore by Rhyno that took Chris Jericho through the original oval set. It seamlessly transitioned into current storylines where we saw hype for the WWE Intercontinental Championship match between Champion Dolph Ziggler and The Miz, the return of Edge in “The Cutting Edge” and a “Date With The Deadman,” The Undertaker. How lovely. Certainly beats Raw.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 11/14/16: On The Same Page
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 11/14/16)
On The Same Page
– With this the go-home show before Survivor Series, we expected to see “strange bedfellows” as the prominent theme, but could only imagine how much of the show it’d consume. Anyways, the opening segment with General Manager Mick Foley, Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, Seth Rollins, WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho, WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens, WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, The Shining Stars, Cesaro, Sheamus, Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Sasha Banks, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte, Bayley, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox was packed, but set the show off right. Steph hyped the appearance of SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan and SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon for later in a “Survivor Series Summit” and addressed how she wanted everyone to work well together or there’d be changes. Foley booked Cesaro/Sheamus against Owens/Reigns. Steph booked Rollins/Strowman/Jericho against ND. Foley booked Banks/Charlotte against Jax/Fox. At least we had stuff to look forward to, but damn.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 11/8/16: Going Chinternational
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 11/8/16)
Going Chinternational
– Since we seen Team Raw get along badly yesterday, this was about where Team SmackDown Live stood. In another edition of a Glasgow, Scotland WWE show, the opening in-ring segment with WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose, James Ellsworth and SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon was fine as the show start. We also might add that the addition of Tom Phillips to commentary to make it a four-man booth is simply overkill. Styles assuming he was team captain fit his personality. Corbin not wanting to be involved fit his “Lone Wolf” character. The Wyatts coming down for blood also fit them. Ambrose/Ellsworth served their purpose as the only babyfaces involved until Shane came down and booked a Six-Man Tag between Ambrose/Corbin/Ellsworth and Wyatt/Orton/Harper to “get some issues out of the way.” It was the same “gotta get on the same page” angle we seen with Team Raw. That said, the idea of Ellsworth as the “mascot” should be fun, especially with Styles’ forever disapproval.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 11/1/16: One Last Chance
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By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 11/1/16)
One Last Chance
– After James Ellsworth cost Dean Ambrose a chance at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship last week after Champion AJ Styles riled him up enough to attack him outside, we were left to wonder how they’d follow up. Would Ambrose pulverize Ellsworth? Ellsworth did a good job as he played a sympathetic pest who expressed sorrow towards Ambrose. The opening in-ring segment with Ellsworth, Styles and Ambrose (we’ll call them the “SmackDown Three”) was a good program advance. It was evident that Styles tried to use Ambrose to get under Ellsworth’s skin and get him to “join the dark side.” Ambrose surprisingly accepted the apology and we got the expected physicality as Styles stood tall to end things.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 10/11/16: Special Lunatic Referee
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 10/11/16)
Special Lunatic Referee
– No Mercy came and went, as the opening video gave us “exclusive” still shots of such highlights as Dolph Ziggler’s career save/WWE Intercontinental Championship win despite countless odds, AJ Styles as he defeated both John Cena and Dean Ambrose to retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship despite that he technically tapped out to both men earlier in the match. Usual glitz and glamour.
WWE No Mercy 2016 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
In an unprecedented period where we had five pro wrestling pay-per-views between Sept. 11 and Oct. 11 between WWE, Ring Of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, we were exhausted by Oct. 9 when No Mercy rolled around.
Luckily, if you look at that nice poster to the side, SmackDown Live had been headlined by the excellent heel duo of WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz/Maryse as he was engaged in a “Title Vs. Career” feud with Dolph Ziggler.
That feud would become synonymous with this show for reasons we’ll explore below.
It also helped that we had a Triple-Threat main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Champion AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and John Cena that actually opened the show for a change.
Cool on the surface, but that brought us to the problem – one disorganized card.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 9/13/16: The Champ That Runs The Camp
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 9/13/16)
The Champ That Runs The Camp
– As we expected, the opening video showed us the biggest highlights of the Backlash Pay-Per-View: Becky Lynch became the first-ever WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, Maryse helped The Miz retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler with a foreign substance spray, Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt played a game of “I can injure you better than you can injure me,” there was a No Holds Barred match, an announce table (not the Spanish one) was broken, Heath Slater received both a WWE SmackDown Live contract and the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships with Rhyno and arguably the biggest news – AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose with a low blow and a Styles Clash to complete his rise to the top with the company’s most coveted prize, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Follow-up shows are always fun. Let’s hope this is one of those episodes.
WWE Backlash 2016 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
Like it or not, WWE’s new 19-a-year Pay-Per-View schedule is upon us.
While six-hour marathons like SummerSlam don’t make it sound delightful, the idea that we could get shows like Backlash gives us hope.
You knew the draft truly set in when we got the first-ever SmackDown Live-Exclusive PPV on Sep. 11.
With some things promised like the crownings of the inaugural WWE SmackDown Women’s and WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions and a few shiners like the WWE Intercontinental Championship match between Champion The Miz and Dolph Ziggler and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Champion Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles, we had much to look forward to.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 9/6/16: Done With That
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 9/6/16)
Done With That
– With Backlash five days away, WWE wasted no time getting its first SmackDown Live-Exclusive Pay-Per-View hyped up and ready to go. The opening in-ring segment with SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Nikki Bella, Alexa Bliss, Natalya and Naomi was a good start to things to hype the Six-Pack Elimination Challenge to crown the inaugural WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion between the ladies, as Bryan stood in the middle of it all. We got to see Lynch talk about her long journey and acknowledge her shortcomings as a kind of motivation. Natalya was a downer who called Lynch “boring,” while Bliss referred to everyone as “whiners” and insulted Bryan for being a “trophy husband.” Carmella got the last words when she bragged about her beatdowns on Bella. Eventually, the heels cornered Lynch and out came Naomi/Bella to back her up. We knew beforehand that we’d see a Six-Woman tag and that was easy to hype right from here.
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