She seems to love having fun now. I’ll give her that.

yeah i can't really be mad at that

Im with Lock Jaw on this one.

Also I think the way Becky is acting now is her current "gimmick" for what that's worth. She wasn't so...I dunno, odd I guess, until this recent change. Not really sure how I feel about it yet because she hasn't done much since this new version started. I'll give it a little more time before I write it off as shit because she has turned things around in the past.

Becky’s old act would have probably been stale had she returned with it. Kind of inspired to give her a bit of an ego. Haven’t seen her perform this week on Raw.

Glad I’m not alone on this. Really pleased to see her back as she adds some credibility to the in-ring stuff, but I can’t stand her “look how weird I am” character.

Also, not a fan of Judgment Day being the name of Edge’s group. Seems lacklustre.

hahaha, that's what they went with? The name of a PPV?




Stupendous.

I think it's a cool name for a group. Beck is doing great.

How do you think she got over in the first place? She always had the swagger, and had already broke through the language barrier long before the shift in tone. A direct result of working so much with Tajiri, I suspect.

Point is, she never needed to go full Nickelodeon.

NEVER go full Nickelodeon.

Vince just assumes his audience has only ever consisted of rednecks with a 3rd grade education.

Sounds like a name the AI would have given a tag team in EWR.

To this point—I was watching David Chase talking about how when he wrote the Sopranos, it was revolutionary because it was one of the first shows written to assume his audience was smart. Not like “smarks,” just people who could fill in blanks and interpret outcomes on their own, without it being spoon fed.

Vince is the exact opposite. Of course, wrestling can’t be high concept, but it can trust its audience a bit more without the constant dumbing down and exposition. 2000 wwf when they actually used storyboards and connected everything did this quite well. Hasn’t been the same since.

Even working that name into a promo sounds pretty bad, doubly so if they are still a faction when Judgement Day rolls around, if that's even still one of their PPV's.


YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND GUILTY BY JUDGEMENT DAY ON JUDGEMENT DAY!!! VERDICTS!!!! EVIDENCE!!!!!! LEGAL STUFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!




Now I want them all to slowly transform into a legal team.

Judgment Day hasn't been a show in years, but I really want it to come back just for this

Something as simple, yet ominous like "The Order" sounds better than fucking Judgment Day.

Who are they feuding with currently? No Mercy? Fully Loaded? Great Balls of Fire?

Armageddon

“Good Friends, Better Enemies” actually seems like a “reluctant partners” team name right down Vince’s alley of not knowing what subtlety is.

I would actually love Vince to tell me his version of subtle storytelling

She got over in the first place because she was in NXT. She always had the swagger, yeah, but dialing it way up let's her connect with a wider audience that isn't just NXT fans who would cheer for vaseline on toast.

She got over because she was BOOKED better in NXT.

The people who will “connect” with her more now because she’s cartoonish are also not likely to pay to see her in a serious wrestling match. And now the people who would have in the past are less likely to because she’s not to be taken seriously.

The thing is that she is to be taken seriously. She is presented as a big threat. Just not an unstoppable jugglenaut like she was in NXT.

oh my god jugglenaut

this is better than Pathetic Wilson

That’s actually not a typo. Royce Jugglenaut is a left tackle for the Winnipeg Bluebombers

This would have been a better PPV to reuse the name of.

Well, that or Great Balls of Fire but that’s a bit of a mouthful. ;)

Too similar to Dark Order.

I mean, it's a blatant ripoff of House of Black, why not just own it.

Bull fucking shit. She got over the same way all great wrestlers get over. Enough charisma to make her a star, but also grounded enough in reality that shes a beleivable personality. She was a badass. Now shes a loony tune.

As for NXT crowds cheering for anything, yes, when you have a large contingent of good, entertaining wrestlers, and they are booked well across the board, the crowd will cheer for it. Imagine that.

Fig making me miss black & gold NXT.

Really though - that was one of the last times I actually felt like pro-wrestling was "can't miss".

We shall have to agree to disagree. Believable personalities are fine and all, but to break up to the next tier you need to have an unbelievable personality. She's still a badass, but just a lot more accessible to a wider fan base because she has taken her character and dialed it up to 11.

You keep saying that. What are you even talking about? Asuka has been at 11 the whole time. Shes oozed charisma and swagger since her debut match. None of that has ever changed. The difference is they replaced her edge with dancing little jigs and spouting english phrases because she thinks theyre funny. Thats not "dialing it up to 11". Thats random bullshit. And yes, its good to have a break from more serious characters, but that should be reserved for people who need that kind of behavior to get over and cant pull off a serious persona. Not someone whos fucking great at it.

Do you have any proof that this change has generated new fan interest in Asuka? And who is this wider audience that whacky Asuka appeals to? Because if theres anyone who became huge asuka fans after the shift in tone, I feel like they could have gained their viewership just as easily by jangling a set of keys in front of the camera.

fignuts is NOT in the mood for this bullshit

There was a fair bit I liked about Asuka in NXT. I liked Regal bringing her in as the hottest free agent. She had a good winning streak. There were some good matches. I knew that when she came up it would be different though. From that dud of a debut with Emma (not Asuka’s fault) to the differences between NXT and main roster WWE. I remember people getting excited for her being up there, and I just remember thinking “Why?”

I guess what I’m saying is: you’re both right. Asuka was a pretty good women’s pro-wrestling presentation in NXT. But I couldn’t see that being adapted to the sports entertainment land of WWE. She’s found her Doink the Clown and it works for her up there, even though it’s not for me.

I mean we’re saying “it works” but by all accounts “creative had nothing for her” for 6 months.

There always needed to be something more to her than “she beats everyone” because once that streak is done, what else do you have if that’s all you’ve built it on? But yeah, too much for me.

I had no problem with Charlotte beating her at Mania in 2018. Honestly, I’d be happy for her to be in a proper tag team with someone. Or being the hired gun for a top heel that eventually turns babyface. Neither the most original idea.

If they had done vignettes explaining who she was, having lots of veterans talk about her career and what she means, you probably could have brought her back without the OTT crap. Made it more “sentimental” she was back.

Ugh, I dunno — I just find it so hard to really care about women’s wrestling in the WWE. They’ve clearly got the best division in the world, but it’ll cycle people in and out. It just doesn’t seem as “important” people are actually booked right as it probably should.

I will not accept bad wrestling just because it (maybe?) expands the fanbase by appealing to invalid space cadets.

I could maybe understand if it was a struggling promotion trying to gain new viewers any way they can. But WWE is a billion dollar coporation, and Asuka changing from the terminator into Daffy Duck is not going to increase their bottom line. Its just going to make me more miserable when trying to watch this shit.

I think they addressed that pretty well in NXT. Deep into her run there, they changed things up and had her acting cocky and arrogant , and heeling it up more. Definitely boosted the longevity of the streak angle.