WWE SummerSlam, Sunday 6th August 2023, 10am AEST

[Ry009]

I am by no means in a place to discuss the merit of the storyline, given that my exposure to WWE is increasingly small. I am constantly stunned though when I do check in and hear either the same story beats occuring or very little actual progression since my last check. There was always a lot of hyperbolic 'this is the greatest thing ever' going around so I guess it was working?

It has seemed to have made the rest of the roster a little aimless, judging by the admittedly little I've seen.

Most of the reactions this year have justified the storyline being up there, but I think it came with the expectation that there would be a pay off and it's the beginning of the end.

To hear Heyman answer "bottom of the third" was the most depressing bit of word salad.

Dunno if Romans continued run was Vince's hard on for big guys, and Cody losing being another petty FU TO AEW.

100% right call on the roster being aimless. To have Seth Rollins verbatim call the new WHC a secondary title, and rip on Roman for being part time kayfabe or not is a bit laughable and concerning.

Think ptrg made a ripper call. It really reeks of nepotism now. His run is hollow with his schedule and hasn't really served anyone well other than himself the past 3 years and made the Usos go from boring to somewhat relevant.

Jey is a good tag wrestler, but he ain't a singles midcarder's arseh*le, let alone a main event one.

WWE kinda killing any chance of people coming over from elsewhere because they'll wonder what's the point? No idea why Drew re-signed either.

 

[Ry009]

And Reigns has been planting seeds for weeks, saying to Jey that the moment his brother was out of the picture, he went straight for the Tribal Chief moniker, Universal Championship and was more focused on being Main Event Jey again.

Kinda makes the whole "we twins" stuff kinda hollow and they're no better than Roman.

It's literally become Days of Our Lives. Just a bunch of self serving flogs trying to be power hungry and selfish. Even the presentation of it is as such with the long promos that easily would be done backstage.

All very cringe now.

All you need to do is make it simple ALA Cody chasing the title his father never got, or MJF being the lonewolf needing a friend. Just basic stories with an ounce of realism that makes the fans get invested and identifying with the story.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

I can see where this is going.

Jey wants to fight Jimmy. Solo gets in the way so Jey fights Solo a few times and is then put on the shelf for 2 months. Jey comes back, eliminates Jimmy from the Rumble. Rikishi comes back, tries to settle the feud, realises it can only be done in a match

WM 40

Jimmy Uso vs Jey Uso - Special Ref - Rikishi

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Most of the reactions this year have justified the storyline being up there, but I think it came with the expectation that there would be a pay off and it's the beginning of the end.

To hear Heyman answer "bottom of the third" was the most depressing bit of word salad.

Dunno if Romans continued run was Vince's hard on for big guys, and Cody losing being another petty FU TO AEW.

100% right call on the roster being aimless. To have Seth Rollins verbatim call the new WHC a secondary title, and rip on Roman for being part time kayfabe or not is a bit laughable and concerning.

Think ptrg made a ripper call. It really reeks of nepotism now. His run is hollow with his schedule and hasn't really served anyone well other than himself the past 3 years and made the Usos go from boring to somewhat relevant.

Jey is a good tag wrestler, but he ain't a singles midcarder's a-hole, let alone a main event one.

WWE kinda killing any chance of people coming over from elsewhere because they'll wonder what's the point? No idea why Drew re-signed either.

Both of them spend too much time on the booze and dont have the fitness or tank to work their size I find.

Jey gets gassed too easy in a one on one so alot of the time he just ends up doing spots where he can lay on his back for 2 minutes etc. If they wanna have a singles match at Wrestlemania both better get working hard

 

[Ry009]

Both of them spend too much time on the booze and dont have the fitness or tank to work their size I find.

Jey gets gassed too easy in a one on one so alot of the time he just ends up doing spots where he can lay on his back for 2 minutes etc. If they wanna have a singles match at Wrestlemania both better get working hard

Yeah the pace of the main event was boringly slow. Even by WWE standards.

 

[The Casey Cat]

Could notice the groan from the crowd when Jimmy interfered. I didn't expect it but still found it lame. Their standing up to Roman and win at MITB was a huge moment. Backing up and pretty much shitting all over it barely a month or two later just isn't good. How and or why should anyone get invested in someone standing up to Reigns when this will happen so quickly after?

Can't be too critical as it's been wildly successful but I'd be surprised if ratings and crowds don't start to drop off. But who knows. If they remain stable or near the current levels then have to give WWE credit for it even if I'm a bit over it and how the matches keep ending the same way.

Otherwise agree with what's already said about the rest. Ricochet and Paul was amazing, Seth v Balor really good, Gunther v Drew solid. Battle Royal was just there and the women's match was awful. The cash in while exciting made no sense. After the last couple of weeks why does Shotzi just sit by and watch it happen? She should have been put out of action again in some way at SD.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Is anyone getting out of the bloodline storyline and maintaining a position other than Roman?

Cody lost momentum like anything, and needed a Lesnar rub to get back to the same spot. Sami and KO haven't been on consecutive PLEs and don't have any storyline going in the tag division. The Usos are about to do a tag team break up fued that no one ever cares about, whoopdedoo. McIntyre went nowhere fast after he lost. Brock meandered around.

Basically the whole storyline is sacrificing the entirety of the heat of the uppercard, and channelling it to Roman exclusively.

 

[Raveneyes]

Cody didn't lose momentum at all. He's as over as ever.
The post Mania plan was obviously Cody vs Brock, and they didn't need the title for that.

The "tribal chief" angle however, just wouldn't have worked without the gold, so the Bloodline would have ended right there at WM.
The WWE weren't done milking that cow just yet, so here we are 4 months later, and Roman looks to be going into Mania as champ again.

Maybe Dwayne will finally be ready this year. He's a busy guy, with this strike ongoing maybe he can focus on getting into WWE shape for the RTWM.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Of course it would have worked without the title, he literally didn't defend the thing on back to back to back pay per views

 

[Raveneyes]

Of course it would have worked without the title, he literally didn't defend the thing on back to back to back pay per views

I personally love the run, and the angst it causes people. Long may he reign (s******). Not long now until he passes Bruno into the 4th longest reign.

 

[Grockadoc]

The bloodline story could have continued if Roman lost to Cody at Wrestlemania.

Roman blames Jimmy and Jey for losing the title, the disrespect storyline played out as it has already with the Uso's turning on Roman.

At MITB, it should have been Solo eat the pin, Roman blame Solo, disrespects Solo for weeks, before attacking him for failing. This leads to it being Roman V Jey at Summerslam in a Lumberjack match with a special guest referee with all surviving members of the Anoa'i family as lumberjacks who support Jey to show Roman how much he had disrespected family and lost the support of the tribe. As the match is about to start, the family announce the Rock as special guest referee.

Jey goes over, Roman takes the extended break he wanted and then when he comes back, starts a feud with the Rock for costing him his family and this carries into 'Mania.

 

[Southerntakeover]

I personally love the run, and the angst it causes people. Long may he reign (sfellow). Not long now until he passes Bruno into the 4th longest reign.

Yeah cool, super edgy and all that.

 

[Southerntakeover]

The bloodline story could have continued if Roman lost to Cody at Wrestlemania.

Roman blames Jimmy and Jey for losing the title, the disrespect storyline played out as it has already with the Uso's turning on Roman.

At MITB, it should have been Solo eat the pin, Roman blame Solo, disrespects Solo for weeks, before attacking him for failing. This leads to it being Roman V Jey at Summerslam in a Lumberjack match with a special guest referee with all surviving members of the Anoa'i family as lumberjacks who support Jey to show Roman how much he had disrespected family and lost the support of the tribe. As the match is about to start, the family announce the Rock as special guest referee.

Jey goes over, Roman takes the extended break he wanted and then when he comes back, starts a feud with the Rock for costing him his family and this carries into 'Mania.

The title actually constrained the story. It meant there was only one way that the summerslam match could end. That he didn't lose it means that everything that happens this year can only be treading water until they do the obvious rematch.

It rendered the story consequenceless.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Also, like, the build up and match itself were confused and left a bad taste in people's mouths. They built up tribal combat to be something, then delivered the exact same match that they always do.

It had no additional weight or consequence. So the whole segment with the gasp "are you sure" reaction makes no sense. Roman stopping Solo from attacking made no sense. None of it made any sense.

It's almost like they were heading towards one path, then threw it in reverse in favour of pointless swerving.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Romans having even more time off (why?) which to me just makes the Jimmy/Jey thing even dumber.

Right now the issue is for WM40 Reigns is going to main event against no one at this point and its going to absolutely suck. Its also at the point where at WM40 Reigns must drop the title. Otherwise the main event will be pointless and remembered for all the wrong reasons

 

[MadMundy]

Romans having even more time off (why?) which to me just makes the Jimmy/Jey thing even dumber.

Right now the issue is for WM40 Reigns is going to main event against no one at this point and its going to absolutely suck. Its also at the point where at WM40 Reigns must drop the title. Otherwise the main event will be pointless and remembered for all the wrong reasons

Reigns is literally on SmackDown this week.

 

[Southerntakeover]

He needs to be there so we can have months of him and solo pulling faces at each other in painfully prolonged will he turn moments, which ultimately result in no material change to the position that existed before Solo was around.

The entire bloodline story is inconsequential narrative wise. Just ways to prolong the title reign.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Reigns is literally on SmackDown this week.

Yes but its to write him off though it seems

 

[Nugett]

Is anyone getting out of the bloodline storyline and maintaining a position other than Roman?

Cody lost momentum like anything, and needed a Lesnar rub to get back to the same spot. Sami and KO haven't been on consecutive PLEs and don't have any storyline going in the tag division. The Usos are about to do a tag team break up fued that no one ever cares about, whoopdedoo. McIntyre went nowhere fast after he lost. Brock meandered around.

Basically the whole storyline is sacrificing the entirety of the heat of the uppercard, and channelling it to Roman exclusively.

It’s been that way with Reigns for the past 10 years. He is a poor 80’s version of Hulk Hogan. Just burries the roster(s) where no one gets elevated by working with him

 

[Raveneyes]

Yeah cool, super edgy and all that.

I've been called many things in my life, but never "super edgy"
It's OK for people to have differing views. There are plenty of fans like me who are enjoying this. You don't have to understand why.
I'd love to see Roman win at WM as well!

Also entertaining are the various melts (not saying you are) on the interwebs. I don't mind casually reading how it "should be booked" from fans as well. Some pearlers out there!

Doubt the WWE are in a hurry to change anything though, considering the record-breaking revenue and viewership from the weekend, and Roman Reigns continuing his 3 year domination of merchandise sales.

 

[mickelboy182]

Doubt the WWE are in a hurry to change anything though, considering the record-breaking revenue and viewership from the weekend, and Roman Reigns continuing his 3 year domination of merchandise sales.

Wrestling fans have the weirdest hard on for shareholder ROI compared to an entertaining and creative product.

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

People need to use their brain cells. There's a reason they created Rollins' belt, Roman's holding onto his for a long, long time.

 

[Raveneyes]

Wrestling fans have the weirdest hard on for shareholder ROI compared to an entertaining and creative product.

I've already stated I'm entertained. Did you miss that part?

 

[Raveneyes]

People need to use their brain cells. There's a reason they created Rollins' belt, Roman's holding onto his for a long, long time.

Will he pass Bruno for 4th longest reign before WM? Not sure on the numbers. Win at Mania and surely he will. Not sure if he'll reach Hogan in 3rd.

Also enjoying Gunther's epic IC run. Surely he goes past Honky Tonk Man.

 

[Cleavy]

Will he pass Bruno for 4th longest reign before WM? Not sure on the numbers. Win at Mania and surely he will. Not sure if he'll reach Hogan in 3rd.

Also enjoying Gunther's epic IC run. Surely he goes past Honky Tonk Man.

Yes.

Might pass Hogan a few months after WM.