SmackDown Live Live SmackDown Discussion thread, August 11th 2023: Austin Theory defends the US Championship

[Deezy]

“Kofi won a title at Mania”

And then got killed by LOLBrock in 8 seconds and never even got a rematch

Kofi was champion for months.....you act like he was squashed the very next day.

Oh no, he lost a quick one......derpderpderpderp.....Booker T shoulda beat Triple H, Bret Screwed Bret, Sting should've won his Mania match, Streak shouldn't have been broken, Nexus should've beat Cena.......anymore dead horses that need kicking?

 

[Sabretooth]

Kofi was champion for months.....you act like he was squashed the very next day.

Oh no, he lost a quick one......derpderpderpderp.....Booker T shoulda beat Triple H, Bret Screwed Bret, Sting should've won his Mania match, Streak shouldn't have been broken, Nexus should've beat Cena.......anymore dead horses that need kicking?

Can’t change the past. Doesn’t mean it ain’t shitty though

 

[ETE]

Every promotion picks and chooses their top acts.

That's how this works.

You're not wrong.

But WWE in the last 2 decades has been particularly bad at this. The lack of competition means they dont have to appease the fans because there's nowhere else for the fans to turn too, except turning off. So they've stubbornly pushed who they want too push and generally ignored any/everyone that gets organically over.

This matters greatly when it comes to LA Knight. In all likelihood they'll do nothing at all with him, hence why he's just working with comedy jobbers like Hit Row and Miz. No one the WWE actually cares about is being used to put Knight over, and no one credible is putting him over.

LOL all those supposed buried examples like Bryan, Kofi, Becky.....all won titles at Mania.

Also Zack Ryder was a dork character and shouldn't be having credible matches with Randy Orton.

Mat Cardonna is someone you can see against Orton.

He didn't need to have credible matches with Orton though. He just needed to be pushed. The fans were chanting for Zack Ryder during segments featuring The Rock when Ryder wasn't even on the show at all. We just wanted to see Ryder get utilised and pushed, he busted his ass by himself to get over and was punished for it. We just wanted to see the guy get utilised and get to amount to something being so over. Instead WWE kept him off TV for the most part, jobbed him out when he was on TV and then had Cena cuck him and Kane kill him.

And if WWE had of gotten behind him they could have tweaked the character and made him into a more serious Main Event character anyway.

But that said, speaking of dork characters. Seth Rollins current character is the dorkiest character to ever hit the Main Event and most people accept him being at the top of the card endlessly.

Whats your problem with Wrestlers getting organically over? Do you prefer Vince and HHH picking your favourite wrestlers for you and just liking who they want you too like?

so what you are saying is Theory is Drew 2.0

I wouldn't complain if WWE completely gave up on him and turned him into a comedy character.

Its then up to him to hit the Indys and do every steroid he can find and get himself rehired several years down the line.

 

[Comrade Khan]

great point about Rollins

 

[Dale]

You're so far off base with the LA Knight stuff.

 

[Comrade Khan]

is he? until WWE put a title on Knight, he is indeed just spinning his wheels atm. also lol at not addressing his other points and just focusing on that lol

 

[ETE]

You're so far off base with the LA Knight stuff.

How so?

WWE has such a long proven history of not capitalising on people who get organically over like LA Knight has. Thus far they've done nothing with Knight either.

Lets not forget AEW coming along was met with people clamoring to see the likes of Rusev, Dillinger, etc who WWE wouldn't get behind finally get pushed right. And then even Adam Cole, Toni Storm, Keith Lee, etc were met with the same enthusiasm after WWE wouldn't get behind them.

How people can watch the WWE product over the last 20 years and especially the last 10 years and not see that they only push those who they hand pick and ignore those who get over on their own is insane. Like I enjoy Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, but WWE stubbornly ignored the fans for years and years and pushed him like Cena before him.

WWE picks who gets to be successful thesedays, getting over doesn't mean anything.

 

[Comrade Khan]

Just look at Sami Zayn's recent comments if you want a more recent example. He knows he is not and never will be the guy in WWE's eyes no matter how over he gets with the fans. Pretending it's not always been the case is bizarre

 

[Sabretooth]

Savage is completely right with everything he’s said. You’re blind or dumb if you try to say different

 

[Samoa Looch]

We can only wait and see what they'll do with him, but no one should brush people off or blame people for being very cautious, when it comes to situations like the LA Knight one right now, with the track record the WWE has.

I'm actually a wee bit more optimistic about him, since they didn't milk it within 2 weeks, so that's at least a good sign, but that doesn't make me (nor should it make anyone) completely ignore the fact that this can go south very fast, like it did in the past.

 

[Dale]

How so?

WWE has such a long proven history of not capitalising on people who get organically over like LA Knight has. Thus far they've done nothing with Knight either.

Lets not forget AEW coming along was met with people clamoring to see the likes of Rusev, Dillinger, etc who WWE wouldn't get behind finally get pushed right. And then even Adam Cole, Toni Storm, Keith Lee, etc were met with the same enthusiasm after WWE wouldn't get behind them.

How people can watch the WWE product over the last 20 years and especially the last 10 years and not see that they only push those who they hand pick and ignore those who get over on their own is insane. Like I enjoy Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, but WWE stubbornly ignored the fans for years and years and pushed him like Cena before him.

WWE picks who gets to be successful thesedays, getting over doesn't mean anything.

Because you can see the building blocks that they are taking with him now. He's had the momentum building matches against the Hit Row jobbers, Sheamus on SmackDown and the battle royal win at SummerSlam. Now we get to see how he can do on the mic against a proven guy in The Miz, where he isn't just firing off zingers on guys and not getting anything thrown back.

Maybe they go back to their old ways or maybe they don't, I understand the scepticism but I think already putting him alongside missed opportunities of the past is very harsh.

 

[Comrade Khan]

so you went from off base to harsh now and also admitting that he was not wrong to point out history.

I don't think winning a jobber royal is an indication of anything other than the bare minimum and I question feuding with Miz in 2023 as any sort of stepping stone. certainly didn't do shit for Gargano or the last few ppl who feuded with him afaik. it'll be entertaining, sure, but it is by no means an indication of a building block. beating Miz in 2023 means absolutely nothing.

 

[Cwalker]

AJ was in that battle Royal so jobber Royal is kind of harsh

 

[Comrade Khan]

AJ was in that battle Royal so jobber Royal is kind of harsh

it is, but it was a meaningless battle royal with 0 stakes attached. let's not pretend this thing mattered whatsoever just because LA Knight won lol

 

[Cwalker]

But working with Miz or Ziggler or Corbin is like a litmus test.

You can’t work with them/get over with them. You’re not getting over with anybody.

So The Miz shit, I’m not really thinking about. They probably do a one shot on TV. It’s what Knight does after Miz that probably tells you his direction