wrestling / Columns

Watry Q&A: Eva Marie, WWE Summerslam, Mae Young Classic, More

September 3, 2017 | Posted by Justin Watry

Image Credit: WWE

“I have been reading your stuff on 411mania and nodq.com for the longest time now and I have never felt inclined to email in. The general consensus of you not being most popular is harsh at times but also can be well-founded too. But I still read your stuff because I do enjoy your articles and find your perspective interesting most of the time.

That said, your article about your friend Megan and trip to Wrestlemnaia was the greatest thing you have ever wrote. Forget about the predictions you brag about getting right. This is your crowning piece. Maybe it is because I can relate as going to Wrestlemania is my ultimate dream and it will be happening next year. But I genuinely loved your article.

Thank you for the great stuff.”

Backstory

Last month, the comment section for all my columns disappeared unexpectedly. This month, all is well! Let’s bring on the reader feedback for August 2017…

*No cuss words or insults allowed.*

Who Attacked Breezango?

GaryG: Still going with Harper and Rowan back together

I hope not. Luke Harper is beyond doing nonsense AGAIN! As much as everyone loves to claim the blue brand is the land of opportunity, there sits Tye Dillinger, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sami Zayn, and countless others like Harper. You could even add in guys like Baron Corbin and Rusev if need be (I wouldn’t). Erick Rowan – who cares?

Joey517: Oh, the New Day is stale?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Then get ready for nine years of Bootyo jokes and the usual inside jokes nobody but the three guys even laugh at.

DallasTheGreat28: Wow everyone is dumb here, it’s clearly Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder.

The dumb thing would be having Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley on Smackdown LIVE at all…much less involving them in an actual story line. It appears this whole Fashion Files thing is pointless, which is what I suspected from the beginning. No reason for it but to waste time and allow me two minutes to go grab a beer and make some food.

Eva Marie In WWE

Connie: Another great column Watry, I completely agree with your final analysis. I just wish fans would understand that it wasn’t the women’s fault that they were constantly thrown out there with little/no experience. Most of the time they tried their hardest and a lot of them really improved overtime. They should have been given proper training before being shoved out onto live TV and expected to have a match.

Thanks Connie. The interesting part is Eva Marie WAS perfect in her last role. Pretending to wrestle but not actually doing it. Genius! No sarcasm either. I loved the gimmick and thought it could have gone on for awhile. Sadly, the Wellness suspension did her in at the worst possible time.

Dalinkwent: Difference between Miz and Eva, is Miz clearly wanted to be in the wrestling business because he loved it. While it was clear Eva saw WWE as a stepping stone, just like various other Diva’s WWE gave a big push to based mostly on looks and not ability.

Yeah, we all knew Eva Marie was just using WWE as a stepping stone and truth be told, I don’t have a major problem with that. Guys do it all the time but STILL entertain us and deliver good matches until then. The problem was during her five years here, she didn’t take full advantage of the time and make the most of it. The goal was going to be to move on from the wrestling business at some point regardless. Just too bad it all added up to nothing in the meantime.

WWE Summerslam/NXT Brooklyn III Preview

SpankyHamm: NXT Takeover is a 2 hour movie with a run time of 2 hours.

WWE Summerslam is a 90 minute movie with a run time of 6 hours.

That is a fair comparison. There will still be amazing stuff in that six hour time frame, but the rest drags it all down, while the two hours is non-stop and without fluff. It is something I am currently working on with my debut novel. How to keep my word count up but also not include a whole bunch of filler without purpose. Have to hit it and hit it quick. Then end things without pulling a “Return Of The King” and over stay my welcome.

In the end, NXT Takeover Brooklyn III was awesome, and Summerslam was pretty good. I wrote about why it is unfair to compare WWE to NXT in my review column days later, which brings me that.

WWE Summerslam 2017 Review

Cactus: “NXT is NXT. WWE is WWE.” Thank god for that is all I’ve got to say after this past weekend.

Oh, it was fine. Summerslam had title changes, good action, a few shocking results, and an epic fatal four way Universal Championship bout as the main event. It was cool. Relax. Of course, the show dragged. Anything that is six hours would. Have Game Of Thrones be a weekly show with five hours of programming year round. Then rave about its quality. Then do that with NFL games every single week, over and over and over. Trust me, the quality will suffer, fans will be fatigued, and ratings will flounder.

WWE is its own beast. Unlike anything else in sports or entertainment. There are pluses and minuses to their business model, but the bottom line is the company is still profitable after decades of being in existence. Having NXT there to ‘soften the blow’ every few months is wonderful but doesn’t take away from the efforts elsewhere.

VonBlade: “Braun was a monster as expected. Roman got, by far, the biggest reactions for anything he did, and Samoa Joe was just kinda there.”

How about next time you try actually watching the show.

Ooooh it’s a Watry article. I didn’t notice. Carry on everyone.

Braun Strowman was a monster. Check. Roman Reigns gets the loudest crowd reactions. Check. Samoa Joe WAS just an extra opponent in the match serving no real purpose. Heck, he didn’t even take the pin fall as most expected! Check again. I was right on all three, so feel free to carry on.

Predicting The Mae Young Classic

Chris: Normally Id agree with you, but this is HHH’s tourney and he usually does the right thing when it comes to booking.

In addition, the injury/callup of Asuka will mean there’s a huge opening in the NXT Women’s division. I would not be surprised when Papa Hunter comes out right before the finals and says “The Winner of this match will win not just the Mae Young Classic Trophy, but will also be crowned the new NXT Women’s Champion!”

Kairi wins. Ember Moon attacks Kairi on the following week’s NXT (They can just insert a pre taped thing here) and then you got your title program for Takeover: Houston

Works for me. I wrote my predictions before the Asuka news, but it all still stands. It really does put Ember Moon in a bad spot either way. I wrote about this last week (on another website).

Asuka literally beat everybody and then left. Even the girl who she could not defeat fairly…she defeated her fairly too before exiting. The entire women’s division is in shambles now for NXT. Even if Ember Moon wins a tournament to win a vacant championship, all that proves is she beat a bunch of women who failed against Asuka – just like she did.

Now, say they run with the scenario you suggested. Same thing. Ember Moon can’t beat Asuka but MIGHT be able to dethrone Kairi Sane? That would mean Sane gets a short, irrelevant run as champ. Bad move there for her right out of the gate. I really did feel bad for Moon at NXT Takeover Brooklyn in August.

We can argue the ‘undefeated streak’ being protected all day long for a huge WWE spotlight, but like Paige leaving NXT without dropping the title, it does no favors to the rest of the roster. Can you imagine if Liv Morgan, Billie Kay, and Peyton Royce are also due for a main roster call up? OUCH. Once the Mae Young Classic ends, I better see a lot of new signings and FAST! Starting with Toni Storm?

Josh: I have a bad feeling that Shayna Baszler is going to win the whole thing because the story has been the MMA Four Horsewomen vs. the WWE Four Horsewoman and you know Vince would love to have that at Survivor Series. Shayna is basically being used to court her more famous friend.

Ronda Rousey was interested in WWE and appeared for the company long before Shayna Baszler. She is a legitimate fan. Of course, the MMA/WWE Four Horsemen story line will progress down the road, but I disagree with your final sentence being the main source of motivation.

Xetal: Why are you predicting a tournament when you don’t know who half the competitors even are?

Same reason people fill out NCAA March Madness brackets every year without knowing half the teams.

Qwaar: This is a total nonsense article. All but one of these matches happened. There is no way to trust the weasel Watry here. He already read the spoilers, make no mistake.

Also, who is “THE Brink Kendrick”?

As usual, you are wrong. I did not read the spoilers and have already been proven wrong on a few of the first round matchups. You can have your opinions, but I have facts. Believe it or not, there are folks who enjoy the product and don’t wish to be spoiled five seconds after something is filmed. Try it sometime. You may actually have fun watching professional wrestling, rather than be miserable in the comment section spouting lies.

Fact Or Fiction

First off, shame on everybody for giving me my first victory! Shame on all of you for ruining my four year winless streak. I was not a very happy camper when I saw the voting tally.

Nova: Watry seems less and less annoying. More pretentious than anything else but even then at least he uses logic to say why he believes it to be true. I also appreciate that he’s more and more optimistic with the product in the sense that he wants it to succeed.

I have always made logical points and explained my reasoning. My track record for the past nine years is pretty impressive if you actually take the time to read what I am writing. Also, why would anybody WANT WWE to fail? Seriously, Just some wrestling fans are just so bizarre.

Chillum: Who won this week’s FOF?

Not the readers, surely

This Fact or Fiction column had way more participation (votes) than the weeks before and after other editions, so you are wrong. As noted above with somebody else – you can have your opinion, and I will take the facts.

disgruntledfan: James Ellsworth will try to cash in Carmela’s MITB on Jinder but accidentally hit Nakamura with it allowing Mahal to sneak off with the win: and the SIngh brothers didnt even need to help him this time! Why, because F U -Vince thought it would be funny, thats why!

Good user name. I did write about James Ellsworthless and Carmella a few days ago if you are interested (on another website).

Jack Squat: I can definitely see Nak winning and Brock losing

I’m not surprised. Another fitting user name.

boqueron: Part of me wants the Shield to reunite only to see Roman act as the Judas this time around. I think the heat he would garner if that happened could melt steel.

My money is on Dean Ambrose turning. The dude has needed a refresher since late last year after his bust of a WWE Championship run, #1 pick for Smackdown LIVE…and then falling to the beloved WrestleMania 33 Kickoff Show. Roman Reigns feels like a ‘one off’ reunion come Survivor Series and The Shield. Seth Rollins and Ambrose can do their own thing for awhile. Reigns may join for a bit but is a clearly above them for the next nine months or so. Bigger plans than The Shield.

Also, since it was asked, Fact or Fiction did indeed have six questions but was edited down to five after the initial post went up on the website. Pretty sure I know why that (correct) decision was made, but that is another column for another day.

NRW: The Match

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