Dolfan in NYC Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 THE ROAD~ BEGINS! Cody and Bayley make their choices! Who faces the other champ? Well, there's a little Premium Live Event in a few weeks that will decide who gets to remain in the chamber, and who gets eliminated! Off we go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 Also, important update for all of you Omosapiens: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Kofi/Gunther tonight! I am expecting this to be fantastic. What a great pairing — one the all-time best underdog babyfaces against possibly the best big man technician and a great smug heel on the run of his career. Good build I. The feud, too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 NXT Heatwave 2024 is a PLE this year, on Jul 7. Returning to the ECW days of being a bigger show and reverting back to it's old slotted month from the ECW days. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 overbooking fantasy booking idea if they need to figure out a Rollins match and Punk might not be available an Elimination Chamber match for a shot at Rollins at Wrestlemania use Rumble performances as a way to determine who would work qualifying matches for that match put these 12 into 6 matches to determine who is in the Elimination Chamber match Jey Uso, Dominik, Gunther, Andrade, CM Punk(?), Nakamura, Carmelo Hayes, Finn Balor, Bronson, Drew McIntyre, Ludwig Kaiser, and The Miz. With Bron Breakker as the first alternate is Punk can't go. That group is everybody in the Rumble not on Smackdown who went more than 6 minutes in the Rumble, except for Cody and Damian Priest. I don't watch enough weekly TV to know the most logical storyline pairings for those 12. Also, since last I've heard, Gunther can't travel to Australia, this might be a chance to give somebody a non-title win on Gunther (gasp!) with the idea that person is gonna face Gunther at Wrestlemania in a return match. Unless the idea becomes Gunther vs Kaiser since Gunther had fatherly disappointment at Kaiser for being eliminated on Saturday. Or hell, have Kaiser beat the guy who beat Gunther during EC and then both of them have a reason to be in a match with Gunther and you can get the belt off of Gunther without beating Gunther. Although I guess if Gunther can't leave the US, that might slow down his World Title push for a few months. But maybe a 6 man pairing of Finn, Drew, Nakamura, Jey Uso, The Miz, and Punk. Or the first five and Bron. Or the first 5 and Andrade if you want Bron to work Dominik. Then, I guess if Rollins really can't go at Mania, then the winner of that match is beating Damian Priest to determine a new champion. Got 3 hours a week of Raw to fill. Gotta fill it with something if you don't have Seth working and maybe not Punk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitzkrieg Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 First hour of Raw is commercial free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 They did one of those Fanatics Live deals with Breeze and E hosting yesterday and they had Bayley on and it was nice to see her reveling in her victory. She also appeared to have a bag/purse that was a La Parka head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 They removed Vince's profile off the WWE corporate website. There aren't many Vince yes men left. And now, no biological McMahon family members works for WWE anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dokdoyle Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Looks like we are getting a "Im injured" interview tonight again. CM Punk is confirmed by Meltzer to have a torn tricep and last time this happened was 9 months out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 In AEW, Punk was most useful in fixing the problems with the in-ring style. In WWE, he’s most useful in going nuts and yelling about how Vince is a monster on a live mic, so this might still work out for the best. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 With Punk out of Wrestlemania I'm all for Gunther dropping the IC title between now and then to take the World title off of Seth. With that first hour commercial free I really hope we get Kofi/Gunther during that period. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 I'm curious to see if use Bron tonight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 The injuries really opens up Rhea and Becky to steal the next few months. I am so excited for that feud and match. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 (edited) If CM Punk won the Royal Rumble match, he'd have been the first to miss out on main eventing WrestleMania through injury. It's one of the few things he hasn't done in wrestling. Fortuitous Cody Rhodes got the nod to become the first back to back Royal Rumble winner since Steve Austin in 1997-1998. That's three major surgeries in a row for CM Punk: broken foot and two triceps. Awful timing especially this one with what I've said. Get well soon. I'd go with Seth Rollins vs. Gunther for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL and Gunther wins. Question is whether Gunther goes into the match as WWE Intercontinental Championship or not. Does he win the World Heavyweight Championship and vacates the Intercontinental Championship? I'd rather Gunther lose the Intercontinental Championship first putting someone over for it. A vacation would anticlimactic. Belts should be vacated by injuries only. Edited January 30 by The Natural Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 3 hours ago, Greggulator said: The injuries really opens up Rhea and Becky to steal the next few months. I am so excited for that feud and match. Nope. You're getting Nia and Rhea and you're gonna like it. Anyway, it was great seeing Bayley and Damage CNTRL cower in the corner while Nia went on her killing spree, then immediately powdered when she walked over. Drew shitting on Punk was fun too. He'll end up behind the desk, I imagine, trying not to jump over the desk and into the ring like Macho wanted to years ago. For all the time he did commentary, the only time I remember Punk doing it is in that one Necrobutcher match -- one of the Joe matches, I think -- where there was a bunch of in-jokes, talking shit about Rob Naylor or something. I remember and/or watched nothing of the rest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 (edited) Drew’s promo was so good, made even better by Punk using every trope imaginable beforehand - pointing at the sign, cutting the most Great Value Hard Times promo imaginable, mentioning the local sports team… Then just “I prayed for this…and it happened.” So good. Punk’s was cheeks. Edited January 30 by For Great Justice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 (edited) "I thought you were poison for the locker room" was the best low blow. Just the whole vibe of "I know how you feel, but I STILL don't like you." Really, you can "shoot" all you want, but it's in the delivery. Drew felt like he meant it. Edited January 30 by Curt McGirt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great ML Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 “It was perthonal, daddy…” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 24 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Drew shitting on Punk was fun too. He'll end up behind the desk Way too much exposure for an investment of that size if he’s not gonna be wrestling. Don’t see it happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 So they're gonna keep him under wraps at home instead of getting their money's worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 That Punk/Drew segment is easily the best thign Punk has been involved in since his return. He got the crowd completely invested and behind him just for Drew to come out and be the greatest bastard he could be. It was wonderful and might be Drew's best heel work so far. DIY vs. Finn/Priest was pretty good with them dragging the crowd more and more into the match as it went on. The post match with Truth finally getting beaten down by all of Judgement Day and Miz's failed save was good to see. Awesome Truth vs. Priest/Finn should be good. Shayna/Zoey vs. Chelsea/Piper was fine while it lasted. The Cody segment felt decent but standard until Seth came out. Seth pushing for Cody to challenge him was actually done pretty well. It was impressive seeing Seth get a crowd that was actively chanting no at the idea despite liking both guys to be decently into it by the end. I'd still rather see Cody beat Roman, but they at least did a good job selling the potential of Cody/Seth. Jey/Bronson was a good uphill battle for Jey. Kofi/Gunther was damn good as expected, especially when Kofi finally started to build real momentum. The post match beatdown by Vinci and Kaiser was nice to see. Kabuki Warriors vs. Nattie/Tegan built into something pretty decent. Surprised they are dragging out the obvious coming breakup of Nattie and Tegan, but I also don't think the crowd quite cares enough about them yet for to be a big deal. Was nice to see them immediately follow up the Kabuki Warriors match with Bayley coming down with Io & Dakota ot talk up her grand plans for Damage Ctrl. Dug this getting weaved in with the Rhea/Nia feud. The fear on all of DC's faces as Nia destroyed Rhea was perfect. Presumably we are getting Rhea/Nia at Elimination Chamber. Will be interesting to see what Rhea can get out of a motivated Nia. Becky did well with Nia on New Year's day, but I feel like Rhea can do even better. Sami/Drew was another fine match between them. The finish was reminiscent of what Roman did to Jey in their first title match but just different enough and well executed. Drew continues to be a tremendous bastard. Loved that grin as he walked up the ramp post match. Too long as usual but a fair amount of good matches and segments to make it a worthwhile show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said: So they're gonna keep him under wraps at home instead of getting their money's worth? Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 9 hours ago, Curt McGirt said: For all the time he did commentary, the only time I remember Punk doing it is in that one Necrobutcher match -- one of the Joe matches, I think -- where there was a bunch of in-jokes, talking shit about Rob Naylor or something. I remember and/or watched nothing of the rest It was him/Prazak and Eddie Kingston on commentary for Joe/Necro 1. They didn’t talk shit about Naylor. They were dying at how much he had to be loving the match. I don’t remember a lot of in-jokes. I just remember them losing their shit over the violence of the match. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I have never been a big fan of Drew but he has been really good this past heel turn. Last night’s stuff with Punk was some all-time great heel work. “I prayed for this to happen to you” is one of the funniest heel lines and one me and my friends will be using from now on. DIY/Judgment Day was fantastic. I loved the pre-match walk-and-talk segment. Quick, different presentation. That match had a lot of great build and I thought a bunch of times we were going to see an out-of-nowhere title change. The Cody/Seth stuff was a great curveball. I was not expecting it. I think we might actually get that if we end up with Roman/Rocky. And if that is a thing on the table (excuse me), then they absolutely have to do it and figure out a different story for Cody. You don’t have the biggest movie star in the world in a wrestling match too often. And you still have Cody/Roman for another time, too. Kofi/Gunther was so good. It was just a smart match that followed the simple TV match template — dominant heel does vicious and mean stuff early, babyface sells it like death, babyface makes his miraculous comeback, you get the end. But when you have two of the best to ever do it (and Gunther’s at that level), it’s special. Gunther’s “brutal” stuff actually looks like it does a great job protecting everyone. I’m sure it hurts, but it looks like pretty safe. Kofi is just absolutely great at putting everyone’s stuff over, and he also has the equity from his HOF resume to be able to lose matches and make whoever beats him look better, even when the guy is on the rear of a lifetime. I really liked Becky’s short promo. We are getting there with Becky and Rhea. I also liked Bayley’s promo and the subtle look of wordy from Iyo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuntmanCrowley Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 LAst night's raw was the first one in a long time I watched from front to back and I really enjoyed it. Not enough can be said about how great Drew has been on the mic as of late. I also sort of want them to keep him as the mountain Sami can't climb and keep it in their back pocket for a big moment at a PPV somewhere down the line. We're getting an Awesome Truth tag title run in the future aren't we? Rollins has never been someone I've overall enjoyed. He is like the Young Bucks to me, I enjoy his matches, but i never seek anything out from him. But that promo was fantastic IMO. If they have to pivot to Rock/Roman, he sold that possibility tenfold and Cody's facial expressions did as well. Kofi/Gunther was awesome, DIY/JD was awesome. I thought it was a nice touch that ater Rhea called out all of Judgement Day at the beginning of the show, she was the only one who looked "weak" by the end. Just want to add, I miss Big E. Just a random thought 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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