Wrestling WWE

[XPac]

The problem is, WWE is obsessed with their "formula" for how to book things. And they rarely adjust it for anyone. It doesn't matter if the established character doesn't fit that formula, WWE will crowbar them into it anyway.

Asuka is not the kind of character who works in a Daniel Bryan-esque "underdog babyface getting screwed over" role. Also Daniel Bryan was fighting against Triple H and The Authority, who were serious threats. Asuka is up against Carmella, whom no one takes seriously as a threat, and Ellsworth who's a comedy jobber. This should not be so hard for her.

This feud has basically thus far consisted of Asuka suddenly turning into a careless idiot who is constantly outsmarted with ease, and then laid out week after week by freaking Carmella. Asuka wasn't a dumb brute, she was cunning and clever, Carmella should not be getting the better of her so easily.

Also the woman who survived wars with Nikki Cross and kicked out of Ember Moon's Eclipse should also not be getting laid out so easily either. Basically WWE are booking her in the exact opposite way of what made her popular to begin with.

But then Vince and co believe that only heels should be smart and clever, whereas babyfaces are clueless doofuses who never learn. So I'm also not surprised by this, just disappointed

I think the idea is to try and build Carmella up as at least a moderately credible threat. Hence her beating Charlotte and Asuka. If she can beat those two, she can in theory beat anyone.

The problem is that Asuka isn't the underdog... no female on the Smackdown roster right now is likely the favorate against any of the heels. That's precisely why Carmella needs to be built up as a threat.

Plus, if you look at what happened last night Asuka really didn't look that bad. Ellsworth essentialy ran from Asuka, and Carmella cheap shotted her from behind then withdrew while Asuka was recovering. The fact that Ellsworth ran rather than face her in the ring (and this was a guy who wrestled AJ Styles) sells her dominance just as much as her beating Ellsworth IMO. The only reason she didn't win the match again was because he ran... a option he won't have next week.

[Immortal Weapon]

I think the idea is to try and build Carmella up as at least a moderately credible threat. Hence her beating Charlotte and Asuka. If she can beat those two, she can in theory beat anyone.

The problem is that Asuka isn't the underdog... no female on the Smackdown roster right now is likely the favorate against any of the heels. That's precisely why Carmella needs to be built up as a threat.

Plus, if you look at what happened last night Asuka really didn't look that bad. Ellsworth essentialy ran from Asuka, and Carmella cheap shotted her from behind then withdrew while Asuka was recovering. The fact that Ellsworth ran rather than face her in the ring (and this was a guy who wrestled AJ Styles) sells her dominance just as much as her beating Ellsworth IMO. The only reason she didn't win the match again was because he ran... a option he won't have next week.

It looks bad because it protects Ellsworth. The man is a geek and allows himself to be humiliated by Carmella on a weekly basis. There's no need to protect him. Asuka should have killed him in decisive fashion and be done with it.

[XPac]

It looks bad because it protects Ellsworth. The man is a geek and allows himself to be humiliated by Carmella on a weekly basis. There's no need to protect him. Asuka should have killed him in decisive fashion and be done with it.

I don't think Ellsworth running away from Asuka because he's too afraid to face her is really protecting Ellsworth. Really all it does is set up the lumberjack match next week.

She should have killed him but she couldn't because he ran away.... that's the point. Last night doesn't prove Asuka can't beat him... it just proves that Ellsworth perhaps runs a little faster than Asuka.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The WWE has only done one real successful Invasion and that one was a semi-Invasion angle with The Shield and they pretty much made those 3 dominant as a stable for a long time. Anyhow one Invasion often over looked is the NWA invasion of the WWF back in 1998. Which really wasn't good. I mean as I posted earlier it helped the NWA gain new members and bring much needed money to many there , but overall a terrible storyline.

Jim Cornette brought up one funny part of the NWA Invasion.


- In 1998 , Russo & McMahon got him on the phone and pitched the NWA angle and how they wanted him to manage again . So they pitched the New Midnight Express idea and they were gonna place Bart Gunn and Bob Holly into it. Both men weren't being booked at the time and Cornette wasn't so keen on a makeshift team coming together like that. But he wanted to show he could be a team player and work in this direction so he agreed to manage the New Midnight Express.


- It never clicked at all but the final part of what ended his involvement as a manager was the Brawl 4 All tournament. Where they had Bart Gunn vs Bob Holly. Cornette was like , so your breaking the team up ? Russo was like no , no its a shoot man. Its for $10,000 and a shoot. Cornette was like , that makes no darn sense. No tag team partner is gonna fight the other for winning just $10,000 in some tournament. They aren't gonna do that . Jim joked that Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane would never do this .

Finally Jim was like ya know , if this happens I'm not gonna manage the team anymore. I'm done being a manager . If ya need me for something else I'll do it. But I'm gonna go on home. The team didn't last long after it.

[Immortal Weapon]

I don't think Ellsworth running away from Asuka because he's too afraid to face her is really protecting Ellsworth. Really all it does is set up the lumberjack match next week.

She should have killed him but she couldn't because he ran away.... that's the point. Last night doesn't prove Asuka can't beat him... it just proves that Ellsworth perhaps runs a little faster than Asuka.

The running away prolongs the Asuka/Ellsworth mini feud longer than it needs to. It protects Ellsworth in that their match ended in a double countout. That didn't need to happen. I can do without the lumberjack match. Asuka should have killed Ellsworth and move the focus back to Carmella.

[XPac]

The running away prolongs the Asuka/Ellsworth mini feud longer than it needs to. It protects Ellsworth in that their match ended in a double countout. That didn't need to happen. I can do without the lumberjack match. Asuka should have killed Ellsworth and move the focus back to Carmella.

Certainly it didn't need to happen. But they need to fill content between now and the PPV, so they're making use of Ellsworth to further the feud while keeping Carmella and Asuka apart until their actual match.

[titanfan]

Was at Smackdown last night. Murphy vs. Ali at 205 Live won the crowd over and stole the show. Hardy vs. Miz was pretty good too!

The WWE is having a "Women's Evolution" Series on the WWE Network, featuring 40 must-see women's matches.

This is the description for one of the matches that made the cut:


"Superstars 10/14/2010 – What’s Your Favorite Match?: Relive a “stone cold” classic in this battle between Alicia Fox and Melina to see who really is tough enough."

That still gets me to this day.

[Punisher007]

The running away prolongs the Asuka/Ellsworth mini feud longer than it needs to. It protects Ellsworth in that their match ended in a double countout. That didn't need to happen. I can do without the lumberjack match. Asuka should have killed Ellsworth and move the focus back to Carmella.

Also Asuka betting outsmarted and laid out by Carmella constantly does nothing to "help" her. It just makes her look stupid and careless. Also this woman took such punishment in NXT and on Raw that she shouldn't be laid out so easily and so often.

Again Vince and co are dragging her down to being "just another performer."

[Kal-El Summers]

Thinking anything done over the last few weeks has actually protected Ellsworth is sheer delusion.

[XPac]

Thinking anything done over the last few weeks has actually protected Ellsworth is sheer delusion.

At best, all last night proved is that Ellsworth can possibly run slightly faster than Asuka.

Seriously... if any other wrestler on the lockeroom simply ran from a fight because they were too scared of their opponent, would that really be viewed as protection? I think to most, standing your ground and losing comes off better than running away.

[Immortal Weapon]

Thinking anything done over the last few weeks has actually protected Ellsworth is sheer delusion.

Who said weeks? Only this week's episode of Smackdown

[titanfan]

Ellsworth has a bullshit aura of luck. (Multiple wins over Styles, taking out Strowman in Survivor Series, etc) Him temporarily getting the better of Asuka is fine in my book.

She'll squash him in the end.

[XPac]

Ellsworth has a bullshit aura of luck. (Multiple wins over Styles, taking out Strowman in Survivor Series, etc) Him temporarily getting the better of Asuka is fine in my book.

She'll squash him in the end.

I wouldn't even say Ellsworth got the better of her. Carmella did... but Ellsworth got beat up and ran away. The best he can say is that he successfully managed to escape.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Lance Storm discussed the "boring" angle that was done with Steve Austin and what actually was supposed to happen.


- As Lance claims , he was backstage when Austin came up smiling , kid they are strapping rockets to ya. As Austin told him they were gonna push him and use him in an angle with him. That if he needed anything to come and ask for advice. That Steve must have been a fan of his ring work.


- So the boring angle began and he soon was dancing and doing things on TV. All inspired by this Steve Austin situation. He soon has an angle where Jericho , Christian and Test are in ring discussing Austin on a highlight reel segment. It was leading to Survivor Series where Team Jericho vs Team Austin then. Anyhow everyone is dissing Austin and it comes to Storm. Who takes up for Austin who he claims helped him open up and have fun. He takes a beat down til Austin saves him and teams him up with Rob Van Dam later. He then pins Jericho later that night !


- So this was leading to Survivor Series where Storm would have joined as the 5th member of Team Austin and been placed as a mid/upper card face on RAW. Then politics and company decisions impacted him. The original idea for Survivor Series was to place a Randy Orton vs Shawn Michaels match on that card. But they felt that Michaels/Orton should have been a bigger match and the card itself was already stacked. So they had to place them somewhere and save the singles match. Shawn Michaels ended up in Storm's spot on Team Austin.



- As Lance claims after this his character never really moved anywhere as we saw.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Well former ROH wrestler Taeler Hendrix is making a claim that her push was ended because she would not sleep with Jay Lethal.

http://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone...ow-up#/slide/1