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Manopera! Episode 55: Royal Rumble 2018
*Courtesy Of The Bonesaw*
Check out the latest edition of “Manopera: A Wrestling Symposium,” where PWO’s own Nick joins Hosts Chris Butera and “Spaceman” Frank for a discussion about WWE Royal Rumble 2018 and predictions for WWE WrestleMania 34!
Listen Below:
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 2/21/17: Feel The Blow
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/21/17)
Feel The Blow
– The opening video recapped last week as new WWE Champion Bray Wyatt had to defend against John Cena and AJ Styles. Also shown was Luke Harper’s attack on Wyatt as revenge, which only created another obstacle for the Champ. Sure enough, he battled through and actually pinned Cena to keep his belt. Autocorrect turned that into “belly.” Do with that what you will. Anyways, The “Era Of Wyatt” was set to continue and his influence was so great that even Royal Rumble Winner Randy Orton refused to face him for the belt come WrestleMania 33. What a loyal disciple. In turn, SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan determined that a 10-Man Battle Royale would take place to determine who would face Wyatt at Mania. Simple enough and we’ve got a huge main event on our hands.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 2/14/17: The Era Of Wyatt
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/14/17)
The Era Of Wyatt
– The opening video brought us back to the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View, with highlights of all the matches headed in and the big finishes. The most progressive developments were obviously Luke Harper proving himself in the ring with Randy Orton, Naomi taking home the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship and Bray Wyatt finally being WWE Champion.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
Back in the Pay-Per-View fold after a year’s absence, the infamous Elimination Chamber was all a part of the blue brand’s WrestleMania build.
With Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton in the wings for a Title shot, six of the best would battle it out to see who he’d face, a few in the first Chamber match of their careers.
On a night where a few undercard talents had their moment, other bouts got lost in the shuffle, but as always, SmackDown delivered when it counted.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 2/7/17: The Latest Chapter
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/7/17)
The Latest Chapter
– Announced last week, this was a notable occurrence where the Royal Rumble winner would challenge the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, nine days removed from said Rumble event. Now, enter Randy Orton and Champion John Cena into these roles and you might have a different reaction to that in 2017. Of course, we’ve all seen their past 34,000 encounters between 2006-2011, so this wasn’t any new territory, but the opening video accomplished an almost-impossible task – it made it feel like important history. We guess all that nostalgic footage also helped out. That was the nature of it all and surely, there was lots of footage at the old video library to rummage through for this piece. Give that Production Employee a cookie, dammit.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/31/17: Chamber Music
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 1/31/17)
Chamber Music
– Given that the Royal Rumble was won by a SmackDown guy (that’s Randy Orton, The Wyatt Family-Friendly version in case you didn’t know), the opening video gladly reminded us of all that jazz. WWE took it upon themselves to quote various media outlets with the most generic sentences on planet Earth. We’ll give an example. “That was a Rumble!” – Forbes. No kidding. You’d also be crazy if they didn’t sprinkle in footage of the epic rematch between WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and AJ Styles where history was made and such. However, the Rumble madness is over and thanks to WWE’s killer Pay-Per-View schedule, we’ve got Elimination Chamber in a mere two weeks.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/24/17: Brother Vs. Brother
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 1/24/17)
Brother Vs. Brother
– The General Manager Daniel Bryan/Miz/Maryse backstage segment was another perfect example of chemistry done right. For months, Miz had been at his boss’ head ever since he was criticized in that infamous Talking Smack promo. There was no better way to set up a Lumberjack Match than have Miz boldly claim he “paid all of the locker room’s salaries with star power.” Bryan, apple aside, was all wits, as he used Miz’s statements against him to give him a WWE Intercontinental Championship rematch, but under his rules to prevent outside interference. Welcome to the world of logic. None of that on Raw.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 12/27/16: Wild Card Finals
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 12/27/16)
Wild Card Finals
– The John Cena in-ring promo got things off to an energetic start with the rabid Chicago crowd, a longtime tradition since WrestleMania 22. His banter started on a pandering note, as he played up the Arena’s history, mentioned sports teams and enthusiastically hyped the show. He spoke up the main event before a big “Undertaker” chant broke out (related to rumors of an Undertaker-Cena WrestleMania 33 match) as he instead went a different direction. It took a more intriguing turn as he played up his losses in the year and worked in speculation that he was a “part-timer” now, but he basically was back to be a Champion and boldly challenged whoever won the Triple-Threat WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event for Royal Rumble. The biggest reason? He’s Cena. A bit stuck-up, but it oddly worked. It’s probably the closest thing to a heel Cena we’ll ever get while retaining the “Never Give Up” key to his character. Color us intrigued.
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.
