You should treat his word with a hell of a lot more respect than that, because he's almost never wrong. As someone who's been reading the Observer and listening to Figure Four radio for quite a few years now, I can count on one hand the amount of times Meltzer has been wrong about something and still have fingers left-over. He's not a "dirtsheet" writer like these guys like Nick Pagliano are, he's a genuine journalist with better sources and more connections than any other writer in the business.
With all respect due to Meltzer, I haven't follwed his work at all. Which means I don't know how much more reliable he is than any other dirtsheet writer. So I treat him the same as I would any of the other westling writers.
I'm really getting tired of people shitting on Meltzer when the man is the single most reliable source of information in the wrestling industry and has been for about 20 years now.
That may be, but I am keeping him at the level of trust between the official company website and unsourced forum posts. (though he will now be placed at the high end of that section of the spectrum).
Honestly I haven't heard shit about Mattel being involved in this. What does Mattel have to do with this?
Word is that they're the people who objected to it, which of course led to Danielson's release.
This is news to me man, why would Mattel cut all ties with the WWE over this?
It's just the name that seems to have come up as the protestors.
I don't buy that for one second. I doubt the Mattel execs even watch Raw.
Like I say, they just seem to be the company that lodged the protest. At any rate, that's the name that's come up earlier in the thread.
$5 on it contiuing, depite its 'death'.
The entire angle was going to be focused on Wade Barrett and Daniel Bryan because those were the only two guys the WWE felt were ready to carry an angle like this with maybe a third guy like Justin Gabriel getting a rub as well.
Agreed. They were the tallent of the angle. Slater isn't quite there characterwise, Gabriel can't talk, Otunga is green as a leaf, Skip isn't a star, nor are Tarver or Young. THough this means they can focus on Barrett for the time being.
Everyone else was just part of the background for those two. Notice the entire beat down focused on Daniel's beatdown of Cena?
I could have sworn that every other rookie got their shot in too, including several harsh lariats, and three people delivering their finishers. While Danielson's headkicking did steal the show (probably attributable to Danielson knowing exactly how to steal shows) it was by no means the 'focus' of the beatdown.
Without Daniel, all we're left with is Wade Barrett and a group of nobodies. The angle is already dead in the water. Who are we supposed to take seriously in that group? Michael Tarver? Heath Slater?
Tarver is actually capable of being a good heel. See his FCW work. But yes, as of right now, it's Wade Barrett's band of peons. And the people who aren't credible right now can be made so. Have Tarver punch some high ranking people out and hey presto he's more credible.
Without Bryan, the angle is worthless.
I wouldn't go that far. It can still help Barrett considerably, and as I think he's going to be the bigger star of him and Danielson (certainly in the forseeable future) that's more than enough to make it worthy of continuing.
Huh? Bryan was BY FAR the most over person on the NXT roster Remix.
Going by the crowd, that was usually Gabriel to my ear.
I'm not even sure how that's arguable.
It's arguable because I think Gabriel seemed to get the bigger pops throughout NXT.
He's consistently been given by far the most camera time (atleast twice that of Wade Barrett)
Do not confuse spotlight with being over. IIRC, Sheamus was given time in the main event as WWE champion, and didn't start to get over until after he dropped down the card a bit.
he was over as a face before this whole NXT heel turn, and the guy beat The Miz clean in a matter of minutes, something we haven't seen since what, Cena last summer?
Yes he was. Gabriel was more over though. Mostly because he's prettier and does flips.
Not to mention the match with Batista on Raw a few weeks back where Bryan stretched Batista out all over the ring and almost beat one of the biggest stars in the industry in a solid match.
Agreed. Danielson, despite his terrible W/L record was credible to anybody and Creative thought he was a tallent and treated him as such. Not debating that. But there is a difference between being over, and being pushed.
Bryan was BY FAR the biggest "threat" there Remix. If it wasn't for his British accent I actually doubt Barrett would have even made it this far, that and Jericho are literally the only reasons the guy hasn't been a flop.
Disagree. If it wasn't for the fact that Barrett was EASIlLY the best talker on the show, I would agree with you. There is a reason Barrett was FCW colour commentator, and it isn't his accent, size or physique. It's because he is a damn good talker. The fact that he's solid in the ring is icing on the cake. He could retire from the ring tommorow and take kings place on Raw and fit in (and probably do a better job).
Bryan was CLEARLY going to be the star out of that group Remix.
Yes he was. I've never said anything else. In fact, I've gone on record as calling NXT season 1 'the Daniel Bryan show' and 'a vehicle for Daniel Bryan'. In fact, I lemented the fact that if it wasn't for Bryan Danielson he should be the winner. And yet, the plan was changed and Wade Barrett won.
He was the original intended winner for season one incase you've forgotten.
I hadn't. Barrett was the
actual winner though. Presumably because WWE creative decided that while Danielson had the perfect setup for a feud with The Miz over the US championship; Barrett was the only guy who could be a main event level heel straight off the bat. I seem to remember him having a decent match with Cena and having periods of dominance.
Wade will be squashed in a title match and spend the next five years in the midcard most likely, whereas Bryan could have been atleast on the level of someone like a Kofi Kingston or Christian by year's end.
Meltzer apparently thinks that he's being pencilled in for a feud with John Cena over the WWE title over the summer. Unless 'feud' became synonymous with 'squashing' recently, that's not on the cards. I'd also like to say that Barrett is a damn good wrestler and talker, and isn't someone who's going to be a career midcarder. He's like The Miz. Good on the mic, decent in the ring and a future main eventer.
I'm so confident in Barrett's abilities, that if Barrett gets squashed and never gets close to the WWE title I'll change my name to 'Stupid Cunt who was wrong about Wade Barrett'. I'll let you be the judge of whether or not he gets squashed.
And why do you think he was chosen to do those things Remix, instead of Barrett, the "leader"?
The headkicking was imo a stand in for a finisher or a clothesline. The other 3 guys who went from NXT looking like stars (Battett, Otunga and Gabriel) all hit their finishers on him. Submissions don't look good in beatdowns, so a brutal head kick was what was cooked up for him to do major damage. The "YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN ME" was probably adlibed.
Because he was obviously going to be the guy to get the breakout push from this. Like they might as well have written in giant letters on Bryan's forehead "I'M GETTING PUSHED" it was so obvious.
Would he have got a push from the NXT faction? Yes. Was Barrett getting the first push? Also yes. Were they both being positioned as stars? A third yes. Both are going to be big. But Barrett, in my opinion is going to be bigger sooner.
It's lost all of it's steam in one week man.
No it hasn't. It's still got people talking about it (even if some of it is about how it's going to continue), and it's still got the mouthpiece and pushee number 1 Wade Barrett.
It doesn't help that the WWE did absolutely nothing to advance the storyline on NXT or Smackdown this week
Why would they? On NXT they would have overshadowed the second batch (which is detrimental to them), and doing the same again on Smackdown would have been overkill. they kept it in the minds of the fans by showing it again, but they needed to do no more than that.
but now with Bryan, the only person that was actually over
Gabriel disagrees, but go on.
and ready for this kind of push is gone
Barrett disagrees, but go on.
the angle is dead in the water.
I disagree, but go on.
You really think Wade Barrett alone can carry this angle?
He was going to have to on the mic anyway. One of Danielson's few faults is that he is NOT the promocutter that Wade is. He simply is not. All this means is that Wade is going to be the talker and doesn't share the rub with Danielson, who may return just in time for the faction to break up (where he can spearhead the faces)
I don't. And the rest of the NXT guys won't because they're so green RVD might mistake them for a bag of weed and try to smoke them.
That would have been the case with or without Danielson. The only issue is whether or not Barrett can carry the peons without Danielson. I think he's got the charisma to do it, and has the ring skills to benefit from it. He's nowhere near as good as Danielson in the ring. I'd be a fool if I said otherwise but he's good at what he does, and will benefit from having a gang to beat down opposition.
1) Where is this Mattel stuff coming from? First I've heard of it honestly, though I haven't been online much the last few days.
they're the name that seems to have cropped up as the complaining party.
2) Bryan was by far the most over person on NXT. How you could even pretend otherwise is a bit strange.
I was going by how loud I think the crowd was for that person. I think Gabriel tended to outpop Danielson. Otunga also got more heat than Barrett, for what it's worth.
It won't matter, because without Bryan, the angle is dead.
No it isn't.
David Otunga, a star? Why? Because he fucks a celebrity?
No, because he's decently charismatic and has a
damn good look and character. Note how I said after he learns to wrestle. He is the greenest of the green guys, and I've said that on many occasions. However, once he stops being shit he will be an asset.
I'd put more stock in Zach Ryder as a future WWE champion before David Otunga Remix, the guy is atrocious inside of the ring and the only reason he's even made it this far is because of who he's sleeping with.
Note how i said
after he learns to wrestle. Implying that I not only think he is shit, but that he won't be a star until he stops being shit.
Danielson was by far the most talented of the NXT guys. The WWE had solid gold in it's hand, and they threw it out.
In the ring, yes he was. However, the angle will continue without him, and likely end up reaching a similar conclusion without him. That similar conclusion being Barrett becoming WWE champion, and six guys getting sent back to FCW.
And as has been said, Danielson may be back sooner than we expect. he may make it back intime for the dramatic conclusion of the angle, but that's being too optimistic.
