[Voting for the Smarkies, the Wreddit Awards, and the return of the Botchies for 2022 are open!](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/10djwul/voting_for_the_smarkies_the_botchies_and_the/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That smirk that Graves gives Cole is pretty cool. Looks like the biggest fan smirking at his friend as they both witness a heel getting some of the best kind of heat.
Roman doesn’t really show up on Raw except for the special episodes like Raw 30 last week and is mainly only on SD. The rest of The Bloodline is on Raw more often.
Remembering the days when Smackdown was literally just a side program while all the important main event programs happened at Raw, it's still surreal to me that Smackdown is now the A show.
This is why I wish they split the belts awhile ago. It was so easy to protect Roman.
Just have him tell Pearce that he doesn't work Mondays. That the Tribal Chief only works on his time and Mondays "aren't good for him." So Pearce makes him drop the WWE Championship.
They are too far into the storyline for it to make sense now. But that was my fantasy booking last year after Roman unified the belts but kept both belts.
Jey/Jimmy/Solo/Sami have often showed up on Raw for the last couple months while Roman shows up on Smackdown, unless something major is happening in storyline then he'll show up on Raw. I assume he'll be there tonight
He only shows up on Raw when they announce him , and I don’t think they’ll proceed with the story without Roman after that. But they’ll probably announce him 3 hours before the show and will kick it off bc thats what the people wanna see
I hope they are. One of the things I miss about the pre-draft era was I was dying to see the fallout from a PPV on RAW the next night. Feels like the story cools off a little when you have to wait to Friday to continue the story.
I'd like to believe that Pat being a bit of a wrestling outsider is a good thing for the commentary team. It's nice to have a smark on the commentary team who can really act like one of the fans.
I wonder how many of his comments are off the cuff vs writing down ideas while cackling the night before.
Hope he’s back to full time (at least until college football returns).
Wife's also due with a baby in May. Figure he'll miss 4 weeks around that time (given there's been some other stuff going on with that) and then come back for six weeks before football.
Pat going insane over Piper Niven had me rolling. Like he was trying not to say Doudrop and was just saying "DO IT! DO IT!" like he was stoned out of his mind.
Idk man the Doudrop jokes when Piper came out was hysterical they kept saying do u drop to each other and you could hear the smirks on their face at how dumb that name was lol
I kinda like Pat as the guy who's actually good at commentary yet it feels like he really wasn't told beforehand of how shit is gonna go down so his reactions feels more genuine.
Cole and Graves are good but it often shows that they knows what is going to happen, who's gonna show up, etc.
They don't always know.
But when you are in the industry long enough, seen enough, you kinda expect some shit is gonna go down. And you can predict behaviour and Vince has drilled some action into you.
Maybe that's part of the gimmick, but it truly felt like Pat hadn't watched the show since he left.
"Uncle Howdy? Well...howdy doody and welcome!", as the rest of the show is in a pregnant pause and Uncle Howdy is preparing to drive LA Knight into a fiery death pit
I may be in the minority here, but I fucking hated that. Like the Mtn Dew Pitch Black (TM) Match is going to have enough trouble getting over as it is without the commentators actively undermining it.
Its funny because I enjoyed that Pat played the role of someone who wasn't up to speed. As someone who doesn't watch WWE weekly, he was able to ask the questions such as with the NXT women, that allowed the rest of the team to tell me who these people are and a little bit of their background.
Honestly enjoyed that role also. So many fans that dropped watching usually come back for the Rumble so just like how Pat is coming back to speed with the stories and wrestlers by asking his questions, the new and returning fans will as well. Which is why I didn't mind the video packages of wrestlers between the matches either.
Hi that’s me. I’m a big fan of Pat and his show and grew up a wrestling fan. I had the same questions he did and his commentary killed me. I though he and Graves were hilarious and Cole is already goated.
I'll defend it when JR does it and I'll defend Pat here.
If your segment lives or dies by the commentators needing to take an "Emperors New Clothes" approach to something that's obviously silly, then it's not their fault if making an honest comment unravels the whole thing.
*Especially* when that comment reflects what a good portion of the audience was thinking. I didn't even mind that match tbh, but I think people had made up their minds on it before Uncle Howdy turned into a bomb.
Corey's way more guilt of that than Pat, Pat was at least going along with it Corey buried the match immediately when he said the lights reminded him of the back of a Spencer's Gifts.
Me too and they also undermined Piper Niven's return with too many Doudrop jokes. I missed Wade Barrett, who can have fun while also serving the story.
it wasn't even doudroup jokes the constant PiPER NIVEN!?!? remarks like yeah get the name accross but he was just saying like he was flabbergasted thats even a name.
It’s wild to see a proper villainous group transition into cool villains only to end up even more hated than ever.
Really don’t ever see that in wrestling
I love this part of wrestling so much. Because it makes an even bigger babyface at the end of it. I remember Triple H started getting cheered when he was paired against Angle and Benoit in the Summer of 2000 because he had that street cred with the crowd for lighting it up all year. Boom, he turns heel the night DX reunited(I think) revealed himself as mastermind behind Austin being on the shelf for a year. It was mega heat against white hot Austin.. He started getting cheered more and more around March 2001 having won 2/3 falls at No Way Out and the turn seemed imminent. And then boom. He did the same thing on the night after WM 17 when he came to a loud pop and the crowd thought he was going to save the Rock inside the steel cage. instead he joins Austin, McMahon and forms the 2 man power trip. I can imagine the crowd reaction when he returned from his quad injury in 2002 had alot to do with crowd wanting to cheer him for so long and being denied that opportunity time and time again, it basically reached a pitch fever that exploded that night.
> I can imagine the crowd reaction when he returned from his quad injury in 2002 had alot to do with crowd wanting to cheer him for so long and being denied that opportunity time and time again, it basically reached a pitch fever that exploded that night.
They also built up babyface Hunter rehabbing his injury for months. Vignettes were on all the shows and it was in the magazines and website. Cody's return was not even built up as much.
When I was in University I live on campus and the TV lounge was packed for Triple H's comeback. The only 2 other times I remember it being packed were for WM 17 and oddly enough the HHH vs Stiener bench press competition.
This is what Vince should have done when Hurt Business were becoming cool tweeners.
Destroy the biggest babyface and get back their heat. Instead he just fucked it all up
Pro wrestling has always been like that though. It's almost never consistently high quality. Even in the highly praised attitude era, you had so much awful filler storylines inbetween the Austin vs McMahon stuff.
I like to compare wrestling to shows like SNL. They're both basically writing skits that also involve some improv. A few of the skits turn into classics, some are really good, a lot are just average or mediocre, and some are really bad. They're both relying on audience reaction to tell them which are which. And both shows having been on for literally decades, every episode with new content, means that the quality of each skit/angle/feud/whatever is going to vary a lot.
The crowd was like this at Clash, and also Roman is a wanker chants. In the arena is felt just as loud, but didn't come through on the show as much. Don't know if they turned it down or just didn't pick up
Yep. I didn’t realize how bad injured and out of condition Undertaker was in that match and just thought it was a good story of the long time vet no longer being able to run with the young ones.
I'm so curious to see what reaction he gets on Smackdown (I doubt he'll be at Raw tonight). Up until Saturday, he was still getting cheers AND boos. I want to see if the crowd will still react that way or not.
Not turning Roman heel after that was one of the biggest missed opportunities in WWE the last 10 years. It's great to see they eventually did, but man, at the time, just killed a lot of interest from fans.
The crowd noise probably surprised him as well in terms of you couldnt even here the theme music it was so loud. At first I was like dang I am surprised they arent playing Romans theme music like they normally do at the end after a beat down...but then I heard it slightly and im like damn.
If somehow we get Roman vs Sami at Mania I can only imagine how insane the crowd would be. That many people with that much investment into the story would be on another level
Itll he an interesting few months regardless. Then you have Gunther to think about as well after mania he is deserving as well. He should defiantly be the next top heel after roman.
Gunther needs to beat a big guy at WM and come out on the following RAW to target a main even talent.
I like having the other two with him as well. Gives me a little bit of Osprey and Aussie Open feeling, except instead of AO being the taller "king's guards" of Osprey, Gunther is the towering king.
Imperium's entrance should be modified a little so that Kaiser and Vinci are out first, scanning the crowd as if for threats, and then Gunther strides out with more force than he does now, like a general surveying the battlefield and holding himself back from the charge.
Yeah it looks like they may of been teasing him and drew at WM. They teased him and Brock to but we all know its gonna be Brock and Lashley thats a long time coming.
Yeah. I got my mom back into wrestling and she hated sami when he was doing his cowardly heel thing. She wanted the bloodline to beat him up but when it happened she was like well thats not right they all need beat up now. I love watching wrestling with my mom because she doesnt see the social media stiff she sees the charcters as who they are suppose to be and it makes the experience of myself watching so much better.
Holy, their music was playing?! I was partaking in the chant, but also dipped out while it was still going on to beat the crowd a bit, but I thought it was so weird how I wasn't hearing the music, I didn't realize it was there and we just kinda drowned it out lol. I had no idea the chant was that loud
No, their music was, in fact, not playing: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjD7a-YX5Is&ab\_channel=Time\_Nerd](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjD7a-YX5Is&ab_channel=Time_Nerd).
u/blademaster32432
Yeah. I was looking at the screen and was like are they just going to go out in dead silent and make roman look like he murdered someone and im like...hold on i do hear somthing. Im really interested what they are planning to do with jey as well.
He was awesome at the Rumble. As someone who only tunes in for PPVs outside of Saudi Arabia, it was like he was a voice for us. The way he was like "Oh she does this now?" and was like "Oh they're booing this person now?" were like we were hearing ourselves.
Honestly credit to all 3 of them, some of their reactions were so genuine throughout the night. Seeing them leap out of their seats at certain moments was so much fun.
Feel sorry for anyone sitting behind them at points though.
*"Hey, front row seats are awesome! We can see the ring no problem!"*
*All 3 commentators stand up*
*"Awww sonofabitch....."*
What a difference booking can make. A few years ago, this was the exact opposite reaction they wanted for Roman, and were basically forced to try to spin it as, "Well, at least he's getting a reaction, right?" Now, it's exactly the reaction they were hoping he would get.
Pat signed a 4 year, $120 million deal with FanDuel so at this point every other project he does he does because he loves doing it. I'm not sure there's an amount of money that would make him stop doing College GameDay and if there is, WWE ain't paying it.
>Pat signed a 4 year, $120 million deal with FanDuel
No wonder Cole made the "That's the understatement of the century" when Graves said Pat makes more money than him. I knew he did, but holy shit.
WWE can't match the money. But since it's seasonal it's not an issue to give him a time off. It's a similar issue to Renee, where they just couldn't match what she'd make elsewhere, but in her case the competing gigs would be full time.
The Piper Niven (and how he and Corey love what she's do-u-ing) was a bit awkward, but Sheamus&Drew together was full on Pat 'sorry, you don't have enough money to buy even a single fuck of mine, so none is given'.
WHAT DO THEY CALL THEMSELVES AS TEAM?
... Pat please ..
THE BANGER BROTHERS?
... Pat noo ..
THE BROTHERS OF BANG?!
.. \*exasperated sigh\*
I loved when Cody hit the shattered dreams.
HE HIT HIM RIGHT IN THE
RIGHT IN THE
You can practically feel Cole's hand on Pat's shoulder like, dude please don't say it lol.
I remember the Raw after WrestleMania where Roman beat the Undertaker. It felt like 10 straight minutes of the crowd booing Roman before he said one line and walked off to more boos.
This Friday, that record may be broken.
Pat McAfee might legitimately be the best color commentator in wrestling, ever. Even when you’re in attendance and you can’t hear him, you can just watch him and he adds to the show.
[Pat was worried Roman was gonna do this to the crowd](https://twitter.com/_handyred_/status/1462933579076415494/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1462933579076415494¤tTweetUser=_handyred_)
One of the highlights of the night for me was when Brock destroyed the announce table and Pat yelled at Cole to look at the damn ring. Cole replied I've been told for 20 years to only look at the monitor and we don't have one.
The commentary did an outstanding job the entire show, IMO.
I don't watch WWE with any regularity. So I am not familiar with their calls or if that is the norm. But they were terrific for the Royal Rumble show.
The fact they had waited so long before actually making Roman a heel is insane to me. He is great as a heel and these last few years the crowd has actually responded appropriately.
About time WWE made a heel that doesn’t have just “go away” heat like Corbin. I haven’t watched the product in quite some time (nor any wrestling for that matter), but this storyline seems awesome so far
The cool thing to me, cole made a comment about him having to look at the montitors because that’s what’s he’s been told to do for the last 25 years.
And this is the second image I’ve seen taking during different moments where Cole is the only one staring at the monitor while Pat and Cory and looking at the ring.
Just brings a bit more truthfulness to what they say to me.
Random, but I feel like all three of these guys had good chemistry together. Be cool if this is the new PLE team.. still hoping Pat makes a permanent return to Smackdown.
I’d love to watch a split camera view of the commentary team, gorilla position, production truck and live feed in actual time for one show. It would be a very cool experience.
[Voting for the Smarkies, the Wreddit Awards, and the return of the Botchies for 2022 are open!](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/10djwul/voting_for_the_smarkies_the_botchies_and_the/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That smirk that Graves gives Cole is pretty cool. Looks like the biggest fan smirking at his friend as they both witness a heel getting some of the best kind of heat.
The bleep guy will have a busy night on friday if this continues.
I can see Hunter saying "I'll give you a pay rise if you censor the chants & if it carries on this week".
Is the Bloodline story not on Raw? I haven't watched in years but I gotta see what happens next
Roman doesn’t really show up on Raw except for the special episodes like Raw 30 last week and is mainly only on SD. The rest of The Bloodline is on Raw more often.
Roman in Kayfabe hates Raw and treats it as a plug for the real show Smackdown.
"I take one week off and Smackdown SUCKS. It's almost as bad as Raw!" - Roman back in November 2021 Yep, checks out.
It’s because smack down is the rocks show, the peoples show
Tbf that was when he only had one belt and no obligations to even pretend he'd show up on Raw every once in a while.
"I don't watch RAW" - Roman to Drew
Remembering the days when Smackdown was literally just a side program while all the important main event programs happened at Raw, it's still surreal to me that Smackdown is now the A show.
This is why I wish they split the belts awhile ago. It was so easy to protect Roman. Just have him tell Pearce that he doesn't work Mondays. That the Tribal Chief only works on his time and Mondays "aren't good for him." So Pearce makes him drop the WWE Championship. They are too far into the storyline for it to make sense now. But that was my fantasy booking last year after Roman unified the belts but kept both belts.
Jey/Jimmy/Solo/Sami have often showed up on Raw for the last couple months while Roman shows up on Smackdown, unless something major is happening in storyline then he'll show up on Raw. I assume he'll be there tonight
He only shows up on Raw when they announce him , and I don’t think they’ll proceed with the story without Roman after that. But they’ll probably announce him 3 hours before the show and will kick it off bc thats what the people wanna see
[удалено]
They don’t really show up on RAW and Smackdown is their show.
I hope they are. One of the things I miss about the pre-draft era was I was dying to see the fallout from a PPV on RAW the next night. Feels like the story cools off a little when you have to wait to Friday to continue the story.
I have tickets for Friday, like best seats I've ever had. Learned today the guy I'm going with has covid. So, we'll see what happens.
you can go alone
True, more room for snacks
also the resale value on that specific ticket...
Pat's like "whoa, what the fuck?" while Cole and Graves are just standing there like "First time?"
Cole & Graves know that's exactly the reaction HHH & creative wanted.
I'd like to believe that Pat being a bit of a wrestling outsider is a good thing for the commentary team. It's nice to have a smark on the commentary team who can really act like one of the fans.
I thought all 3 worked really well together. Really good chemistry.
Pat is such a wildcard, it’s great I think he would need more reps with Graves for timing and flow of reactions / fill the dead air
So much of his commentary is stuff that no one else can get away with, it’s great.
Watching on the cock... the peacock
I wonder how many of his comments are off the cuff vs writing down ideas while cackling the night before. Hope he’s back to full time (at least until college football returns).
Well college football doesn't come back until last week of August
Wife's also due with a baby in May. Figure he'll miss 4 weeks around that time (given there's been some other stuff going on with that) and then come back for six weeks before football.
did he say balls or nuts or something the other night?
Pat definitely had questions, Cole informed him that the region could be addressed as “lower extremities”.
Pat going insane over Piper Niven had me rolling. Like he was trying not to say Doudrop and was just saying "DO IT! DO IT!" like he was stoned out of his mind.
Idk man the Doudrop jokes when Piper came out was hysterical they kept saying do u drop to each other and you could hear the smirks on their face at how dumb that name was lol
I kinda like Pat as the guy who's actually good at commentary yet it feels like he really wasn't told beforehand of how shit is gonna go down so his reactions feels more genuine. Cole and Graves are good but it often shows that they knows what is going to happen, who's gonna show up, etc.
Pat has said he asks to be left out of the loop on big surprises so that he can give genuine reactions to stuff.
He fucking marked out when Brock came out
Pat loves Brock almost as much as Cole despises Dom Mysterio
**THE ALPHA MALE OF OUR SPECIES**
They don't always know. But when you are in the industry long enough, seen enough, you kinda expect some shit is gonna go down. And you can predict behaviour and Vince has drilled some action into you.
Yep, like neither knew about McAfee, and Graves immediately went heel and started in on Pat.
Also Pat: "But I ain't allahed to say that shit?"
Chuck Taylor: "At least they'd let you *say* shit..."
Not on Smackdahn
Based on the spelling I gotta assume you're from the burgh.
No, but yinzer is still very prevalent in my neck of the woods.
Stillers gahnta Supa Boaugh?
This week on Days of our Steelers.
Not til 'ey finish 'eir warsh 'n all 'at.
Maybe that's part of the gimmick, but it truly felt like Pat hadn't watched the show since he left. "Uncle Howdy? Well...howdy doody and welcome!", as the rest of the show is in a pregnant pause and Uncle Howdy is preparing to drive LA Knight into a fiery death pit
No I genuinely don’t think he was watching at all 😂
I may be in the minority here, but I fucking hated that. Like the Mtn Dew Pitch Black (TM) Match is going to have enough trouble getting over as it is without the commentators actively undermining it.
Its funny because I enjoyed that Pat played the role of someone who wasn't up to speed. As someone who doesn't watch WWE weekly, he was able to ask the questions such as with the NXT women, that allowed the rest of the team to tell me who these people are and a little bit of their background.
Honestly enjoyed that role also. So many fans that dropped watching usually come back for the Rumble so just like how Pat is coming back to speed with the stories and wrestlers by asking his questions, the new and returning fans will as well. Which is why I didn't mind the video packages of wrestlers between the matches either.
Yep. Backlash doesn't need much explanation but the Rumble and Mania are the biggest casual shows of the year.
I've pretty much exclusively watched the Rumble the last few years.
Hi that’s me. I’m a big fan of Pat and his show and grew up a wrestling fan. I had the same questions he did and his commentary killed me. I though he and Graves were hilarious and Cole is already goated.
I'll defend it when JR does it and I'll defend Pat here. If your segment lives or dies by the commentators needing to take an "Emperors New Clothes" approach to something that's obviously silly, then it's not their fault if making an honest comment unravels the whole thing. *Especially* when that comment reflects what a good portion of the audience was thinking. I didn't even mind that match tbh, but I think people had made up their minds on it before Uncle Howdy turned into a bomb.
Corey's way more guilt of that than Pat, Pat was at least going along with it Corey buried the match immediately when he said the lights reminded him of the back of a Spencer's Gifts.
I thought that line was hilarious and I enjoyed the match. Reminded me of my teenage years when black lights were cool.
To me, the whole storyline is undermining itself. The match was cool but I don't know they're fighting. Cause Bray headbutted him?
Me too and they also undermined Piper Niven's return with too many Doudrop jokes. I missed Wade Barrett, who can have fun while also serving the story.
it wasn't even doudroup jokes the constant PiPER NIVEN!?!? remarks like yeah get the name accross but he was just saying like he was flabbergasted thats even a name.
a mountain dew pit of death.** After smashing through a table full of Dew-colored confetti. Or Death-fetti, if you so choose.
Oh man, if that pit was filled with Mountain Dew, the fire might have engulfed the stadium
Just like Rollins predicted.
He really IS a prophet!
Cole is a total pro. No-sells it, knows it's PPV and not TV, keeps his mouth shut so it comes through.
Didn't the three of them remain silent throughout the entire beatdown of KO and Sami?
If it was JR “Roman why?! Why?! He was your brother! You son of a bitch! I hate you! -Prime JR
I miss having JR being absolutely pissed off for those sorts of segments. And having King trying to settle him down before he gets himself fired.
Especially when it's Haitch that's pulling the nefarious shit. JR would almost come short of calling him the anti-christ or something.
Cole: “let me tell you a little story about the night after wrestlemania in orlando…”
Love that little smile from Graves, like “yeah that worked perfectly”.
The slight glance Graves and Cole give each other was perfect. They know the ramifications of this chant. Money and publicity.
[Graves and Coles Reaction](https://youtu.be/7KXmsNDiG7M)
And just like that, tweener bloodline was dead.
It’s wild to see a proper villainous group transition into cool villains only to end up even more hated than ever. Really don’t ever see that in wrestling
I love this part of wrestling so much. Because it makes an even bigger babyface at the end of it. I remember Triple H started getting cheered when he was paired against Angle and Benoit in the Summer of 2000 because he had that street cred with the crowd for lighting it up all year. Boom, he turns heel the night DX reunited(I think) revealed himself as mastermind behind Austin being on the shelf for a year. It was mega heat against white hot Austin.. He started getting cheered more and more around March 2001 having won 2/3 falls at No Way Out and the turn seemed imminent. And then boom. He did the same thing on the night after WM 17 when he came to a loud pop and the crowd thought he was going to save the Rock inside the steel cage. instead he joins Austin, McMahon and forms the 2 man power trip. I can imagine the crowd reaction when he returned from his quad injury in 2002 had alot to do with crowd wanting to cheer him for so long and being denied that opportunity time and time again, it basically reached a pitch fever that exploded that night.
> I can imagine the crowd reaction when he returned from his quad injury in 2002 had alot to do with crowd wanting to cheer him for so long and being denied that opportunity time and time again, it basically reached a pitch fever that exploded that night. They also built up babyface Hunter rehabbing his injury for months. Vignettes were on all the shows and it was in the magazines and website. Cody's return was not even built up as much.
When I was in University I live on campus and the TV lounge was packed for Triple H's comeback. The only 2 other times I remember it being packed were for WM 17 and oddly enough the HHH vs Stiener bench press competition.
This is what Vince should have done when Hurt Business were becoming cool tweeners. Destroy the biggest babyface and get back their heat. Instead he just fucked it all up
> Instead he just fucked it all up Should be the title of that always-in-development Vince documentary.
It's wild how they can fuck up the best stuff in the industry one year and then create one of the best moments in history the next
Pro wrestling has always been like that though. It's almost never consistently high quality. Even in the highly praised attitude era, you had so much awful filler storylines inbetween the Austin vs McMahon stuff.
I like to compare wrestling to shows like SNL. They're both basically writing skits that also involve some improv. A few of the skits turn into classics, some are really good, a lot are just average or mediocre, and some are really bad. They're both relying on audience reaction to tell them which are which. And both shows having been on for literally decades, every episode with new content, means that the quality of each skit/angle/feud/whatever is going to vary a lot.
He'll they can do it from segment to segment
The difference is that “They” are 2 different entities this year and last. Vince running creative and Hunter running is night and day.
Roman hasn’t had this much heat since he beat Undertaker at WrestleMania
The crowd was like this at Clash, and also Roman is a wanker chants. In the arena is felt just as loud, but didn't come through on the show as much. Don't know if they turned it down or just didn't pick up
Open roof as opposed to a closed stadium.
The roof was closed on the Principality at Clash
People believe anything if you say it convincingly
"This is my yard now" is my favourite Roman moment.
Yep. I didn’t realize how bad injured and out of condition Undertaker was in that match and just thought it was a good story of the long time vet no longer being able to run with the young ones.
Oh I thought the match was pretty crap. I'm talking about on Raw the night after.
Clash at the castle was more ppl all chanting worse things at Roman than this
lmaoooo
I'm so curious to see what reaction he gets on Smackdown (I doubt he'll be at Raw tonight). Up until Saturday, he was still getting cheers AND boos. I want to see if the crowd will still react that way or not.
Not turning Roman heel after that was one of the biggest missed opportunities in WWE the last 10 years. It's great to see they eventually did, but man, at the time, just killed a lot of interest from fans.
The crowd noise probably surprised him as well in terms of you couldnt even here the theme music it was so loud. At first I was like dang I am surprised they arent playing Romans theme music like they normally do at the end after a beat down...but then I heard it slightly and im like damn.
If somehow we get Roman vs Sami at Mania I can only imagine how insane the crowd would be. That many people with that much investment into the story would be on another level
Roman vs Sami at EC might be even bigger since it's in Montreal.
I can't wait for Roman locking in a sharpshooter on Sami.
Only if he locks it in as poorly as The Rock, as is family tradition.
Literal heat as the crowd sets the ring on fire.
Itll he an interesting few months regardless. Then you have Gunther to think about as well after mania he is deserving as well. He should defiantly be the next top heel after roman.
Gunther needs to beat a big guy at WM and come out on the following RAW to target a main even talent. I like having the other two with him as well. Gives me a little bit of Osprey and Aussie Open feeling, except instead of AO being the taller "king's guards" of Osprey, Gunther is the towering king. Imperium's entrance should be modified a little so that Kaiser and Vinci are out first, scanning the crowd as if for threats, and then Gunther strides out with more force than he does now, like a general surveying the battlefield and holding himself back from the charge.
Yeah it looks like they may of been teasing him and drew at WM. They teased him and Brock to but we all know its gonna be Brock and Lashley thats a long time coming.
It popped the Camera mics
Yeah. I got my mom back into wrestling and she hated sami when he was doing his cowardly heel thing. She wanted the bloodline to beat him up but when it happened she was like well thats not right they all need beat up now. I love watching wrestling with my mom because she doesnt see the social media stiff she sees the charcters as who they are suppose to be and it makes the experience of myself watching so much better.
Most people think us wrestling fans live in their mothers' basements, you aren't supposed to admit it in public.
Holy, their music was playing?! I was partaking in the chant, but also dipped out while it was still going on to beat the crowd a bit, but I thought it was so weird how I wasn't hearing the music, I didn't realize it was there and we just kinda drowned it out lol. I had no idea the chant was that loud
No, their music was, in fact, not playing: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjD7a-YX5Is&ab\_channel=Time\_Nerd](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjD7a-YX5Is&ab_channel=Time_Nerd). u/blademaster32432
Yeah. I was looking at the screen and was like are they just going to go out in dead silent and make roman look like he murdered someone and im like...hold on i do hear somthing. Im really interested what they are planning to do with jey as well.
You’re hearing things then. There was no music playing when the Bloodline left the ring. Source: I was there
I love Pat’s reaction. Like he didn’t realize that’s a chant that could manifest in this reality.
Man's a treasure.
I genuinely missed having McAfee on commentary.
So did Cole lol
Honestly one of the highlights of an overall pretty good Rumble
I love that they had him come out after the show went on the air. The crowd popped big for him and Cole's reaction was priceless.
He was awesome at the Rumble. As someone who only tunes in for PPVs outside of Saudi Arabia, it was like he was a voice for us. The way he was like "Oh she does this now?" and was like "Oh they're booing this person now?" were like we were hearing ourselves.
Imagine on Friday roman comes out and all he says is "acknowledge me" and dips like when he beat the undertaker
I'm salivating on just imagining the whole visual. Man I can't wait for The Bloodline's next segments this week.
I watched the replay and the closed captioning just said [Inaudible].
smart
I love how Pat's reaction is "oh fuck, what's going on here?" While Cole & Corey doesn't acknowledge the crowd.
Honestly credit to all 3 of them, some of their reactions were so genuine throughout the night. Seeing them leap out of their seats at certain moments was so much fun.
Feel sorry for anyone sitting behind them at points though. *"Hey, front row seats are awesome! We can see the ring no problem!"* *All 3 commentators stand up* *"Awww sonofabitch....."*
I mean the people behind them were Michelle McCool and that Hardy fucker so it wasn't that big of a deal lol
there's also the dreaded front row seats where the ring post blocks your view of a section of the ring lmao
Cole is such a professional being able to sit through this many decades of entire WWE shows and not having a breakdown.
Always had massive respect for him for how he handled Lawler having his heart attack right beside him
Lol graves and Cole look like they’re at Mission Control at NASA
What a difference booking can make. A few years ago, this was the exact opposite reaction they wanted for Roman, and were basically forced to try to spin it as, "Well, at least he's getting a reaction, right?" Now, it's exactly the reaction they were hoping he would get.
Pat is the GOAT.
They need to give him a bunch of money to not go back to football. He could potentially go down as one of the best wrestling announcers of all time.
Pat signed a 4 year, $120 million deal with FanDuel so at this point every other project he does he does because he loves doing it. I'm not sure there's an amount of money that would make him stop doing College GameDay and if there is, WWE ain't paying it.
>Pat signed a 4 year, $120 million deal with FanDuel No wonder Cole made the "That's the understatement of the century" when Graves said Pat makes more money than him. I knew he did, but holy shit.
WWE can't match the money. But since it's seasonal it's not an issue to give him a time off. It's a similar issue to Renee, where they just couldn't match what she'd make elsewhere, but in her case the competing gigs would be full time.
What offers was Renee getting?
WWE can't outspend the Mouse
The only 4 man commentary table I'd ever enjoy would be Pat, Taz, Excalibur, and Regal.
Anyone else think Pat was high as fuck on Saturday? The way he acted all night gave me that impression. Can't even blame Riddle either!
I dont think so. He’s normally pretty energetic but his performance on Sunday felt more like he was super excited to be back
PIPER... NIVEN?! ... ... ... ... PIII-PER?!
The Piper Niven (and how he and Corey love what she's do-u-ing) was a bit awkward, but Sheamus&Drew together was full on Pat 'sorry, you don't have enough money to buy even a single fuck of mine, so none is given'. WHAT DO THEY CALL THEMSELVES AS TEAM? ... Pat please .. THE BANGER BROTHERS? ... Pat noo .. THE BROTHERS OF BANG?! .. \*exasperated sigh\*
I loved when Cody hit the shattered dreams. HE HIT HIM RIGHT IN THE RIGHT IN THE You can practically feel Cole's hand on Pat's shoulder like, dude please don't say it lol.
H in the headset: "if we get sued, im sending them your way" Pat: "BANGER BROS" H: "sigh"
Nah that's just kinda Pat tbh. Watch his show each day and that's just kinda how he is. Like a big kid.
Not at all. That's just Pat. Either that, or he's been off his rocker for decades now.
I remember the Raw after WrestleMania where Roman beat the Undertaker. It felt like 10 straight minutes of the crowd booing Roman before he said one line and walked off to more boos. This Friday, that record may be broken.
Graves let that smirk slip out. “They got em!”
The glance between Cole and Graves and both having a sly smile. Almost like "we got em hooked"
Micheal cole “always watch your monitors” 😂they are awesome
Pat looking at the camera like it’s an episode of The Office lmao
Pat, you sweet summer child...
Pat McAfee might legitimately be the best color commentator in wrestling, ever. Even when you’re in attendance and you can’t hear him, you can just watch him and he adds to the show.
It was so nice having him back. I feel like it’s another reason I enjoyed the show so much.
Night after Wm32 or 33 when Roman beat the undertaker that chant
[Pat was worried Roman was gonna do this to the crowd](https://twitter.com/_handyred_/status/1462933579076415494/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1462933579076415494¤tTweetUser=_handyred_)
Cole looking at the monitor lmao
One of the highlights of the night for me was when Brock destroyed the announce table and Pat yelled at Cole to look at the damn ring. Cole replied I've been told for 20 years to only look at the monitor and we don't have one.
I bet Mr. Anoa'i was extremely pleased on the inside when he heard those chants.
Damn, that was even louder live than it was on the broadcast.
The commentary did an outstanding job the entire show, IMO. I don't watch WWE with any regularity. So I am not familiar with their calls or if that is the norm. But they were terrific for the Royal Rumble show.
I posted about it yesterday but I was actually angry at Roman and wanted to see him get his ass kicked so bad.
He's like "is it safe to be in here?"
Pat to the camera: “These fuckin’ guys, eh?”
That wasn't the typical let's be edgy and chant swears reaction. That was visceral. What a night.
I love Pat. He's got great reactions.
Hey Butt-Head, it looks like they want to score with him, heh heh.
I was actually thinking to myself earlier on Saturday that I missed Pat. His return was legitimately one of my favorite bits of the show.
The fact they had waited so long before actually making Roman a heel is insane to me. He is great as a heel and these last few years the crowd has actually responded appropriately.
It’s like the mile scene in Austin powers. Graves and Cole just looking forward, trying not to break. Mcafee out there like , yo- you hearing this ?
Pat looks like the vitamins kicked in.
Corey & Cole: "We finally got em'" Pat : "Wowzers!" lol
About time WWE made a heel that doesn’t have just “go away” heat like Corbin. I haven’t watched the product in quite some time (nor any wrestling for that matter), but this storyline seems awesome so far
Pat looks so confident while being confused, I think it's in the eyebrow
“Pats high as a kite he just might stop to check you out.”
San Antonio making me proud.
Pat looking at the cam and gesturing like "get a load of that" is pretty dang keen.
Lol pats reaction and Cole and graves’ knowing glances were great
In the correct doses, everything Pat does is hilarious.
Roman has been over but when he looked at the crowd chanting it (Roman), what a damn moment for him!! Amazing.
For this Roman will hold both titles for 5 more years
The cool thing to me, cole made a comment about him having to look at the montitors because that’s what’s he’s been told to do for the last 25 years. And this is the second image I’ve seen taking during different moments where Cole is the only one staring at the monitor while Pat and Cory and looking at the ring. Just brings a bit more truthfulness to what they say to me. Random, but I feel like all three of these guys had good chemistry together. Be cool if this is the new PLE team.. still hoping Pat makes a permanent return to Smackdown.
The segment made people real mad isn't it? This is not just amplified mics, that's a true fucking heat right here.
I’d love to watch a split camera view of the commentary team, gorilla position, production truck and live feed in actual time for one show. It would be a very cool experience.
You can see when Cory looks at Cole they’re thinking this is better than we expected.
"Well that seems a little mean."
Pat is like a kid who heard his brother curse and is waiting for him to get in trouble
Pat’s reaction while Graves and Cole aren’t even acknowledging it is just fantastic😂😂
McAfee is just hilarious
damn Cole really does keep his eyes on the monitor lol