Raw 9-15-14

[Ace]

Giant Machine. Duh.

[Just Dave]

Just watched Roman Reigns' promo. You guys are a tough room, because I didn't see anything wrong with it. It fits his character to be soft-spoken and to the point. 

 

What the hell is going on with the Wyatts? Who are they not paying proper respect to backstage to have been shoved back down the card like they have? They've taken the most interesting character of the last 10 years and made him Papa Shango. 

 

Sheamus just doesn't do it for me. I would rather watch paint dry. Neither does Seth Rollins, and I don't understand the idea that he "carried" Reigns to a good match. I guess I like scary-looking dudes, rather than guys who look like they spend their time bitching about how their favorite post-new wave punkcore band totally sold out with their new album while drinking free-trade coffee and rocking a flat brim. 

 

I dig the Usos. And the Dusts. But the Wyatts would be better tag champs than either of them. Looking forward to seeing how the Ascension gets into the mix. 

 

I didn't hate the show. Seemed a little lame for a go-home show...

[Pete]

Maybe they are going for some Chikara type humor with the "can't tell em apart" stuff, much like no one "KNEW" who the handsome stranger was, and my GAWD! It was Archie~!

 

I eagerly await Naomi stuffing Cameron into a giant paper bag she can't wrestle her way out of.

[ebbie]

Sheamus just doesn't do it for me. I would rather watch paint dry. Neither does Seth Rollins...

A lot of people have been talking how bad the show needs DB and Ambrose, but I think Barrett is needed in the mid card for guys like Sheamus gets the same match over and over a lot. But he at least seemed to enjoy getting the shit kicked out of him by Barrett. Barrett also takes a good ass kicking.

In short, we need more guys who are motivated. Watching the show last night, it seemed most of the roster was in 'who cares?' Mode. Or a weekly BNB segment laughing at us for wasting our time watching this shit

[Sublime]

So what if Cena wins this Sunday by becoming a Paul Heyman guy. There's been a lot of clamoring for a Cena heel turn what if (and its a BIG if) we get a double turn this Sunday? how do you think that would go over? It would be like when Heyman turned on Brock and Big Show became his client and Brock turned face but maybe better.

 

Also on the subject of turns, with the bad feeling some of us have about a Ambrose turn, the only way I could see it not being terrible is if it's Ambrose and Rollins reforming the Shield with a new 3rd guy, Ambrose can say that Rollins helped knock some sense back into him with the cinder block and then it's Reigns vs Shield 2.0 for a while. But really the best thing the WWE can do wiht Dean is keep him face and push him hard, guys a star and connecting with the audience way better than Reigns and really anyone not named Daniel Bryan this year.

[The Nature Boy]

So what if Cena wins this Sunday by becoming a Paul Heyman guy. There's been a lot of clamoring for a Cena heel turn what if (and its a BIG if) we get a double turn this Sunday? how do you think that would go over? It would be like when Heyman turned on Brock and Big Show became his client and Brock turned face but maybe better.

 

Also on the subject of turns, with the bad feeling some of us have about a Ambrose turn, the only way I could see it not being terrible is if it's Ambrose and Rollins reforming the Shield with a new 3rd guy, Ambrose can say that Rollins helped knock some sense back into him with the cinder block and then it's Reigns vs Shield 2.0 for a while. But really the best thing the WWE can do wiht Dean is keep him face and push him hard, guys a star and connecting with the audience way better than Reigns and really anyone not named Daniel Bryan this year.

 

How about just pushing Dean as a loose cannon tweener? A three-way Shield feud could be fun even if it exposes Reigns as not being over as Dean.

[Curt McGirt]

 

In short, we need... a weekly BNB segment laughing at us for wasting our time watching this shit

 

 

Nailed it, at least for the time being

[Greggulator]

A Shield Three Way Dance should be the outcome of The Shield's breakup. It doesn't take a lot of work to get there. Rollins sold out. Dean and Reigns never really liked each other too much. Dean resents Reigns (whom he once called "the prettiest girl at the dance") coming in to play hero when he ate a face of bricks. Done deal with three awesome dudes.

[piranesi]

A Shield Three Way Dance should be the outcome of The Shield's breakup. It doesn't take a lot of work to get there. Rollins sold out. Dean and Reigns never really liked each other too much. Dean resents Reigns (whom he once called "the prettiest girl at the dance") coming in to play hero when he ate a face of bricks. Done deal with three awesome dudes.

 

 

In this scenario, Ambrose, of course, is Tuco.  God damn, I'm already hearing the music.  I wonder if they can make it work, though, with two babyfaces and one heel?  Maybe put Rollins suitcase on the line?

 

Cue The Ecstasy of Gold.

[Ramsey]

You people are all crazy.  I still don't know how you can tell D & R Ziggler apart. 

 

Also, if someone could please tell me who the man on the right is?

Um....he's huge, the Machines were Japanese...it's OBVIOUSLY Baba.

[Craig H]

I thought a little bit ago that my dream Wrestlemania main event at this point is a Shield triple thread for the World Heavyweight Championship.

[muhammedboehm]

Wouldn't a reformed shield have made more sences as Ambrose and Reigns + a 3rd to show that Seth wasn't as important as he made himself out to be?

[piranesi]

If only they are able to shift their booking strategy from "We need to pick a guy and make him the next thing" to "we need to let the story of these three friends play out and see where it takes us."

[Spritenaut 32]

Didn't watch the show (football), but I did flip by between commercials.  Didn't see much to interest me, but I did catch a commercial for the WWE Network that greatly entertained me.  My god, they even sang $9.99 over and over in the refrain.

 

At this point, I think they have to realize how annoyingly cheesy their shills for the network are.  They have to, don't they?  I mean, this is a publicly traded company.  Surely, they'd hire a PR firm to tell them how to properly promote the network, right?

 

On the other hand, I can kinda imagine Vince shooting down everyone else's ideas in meetings and saying, "You know what will make people want to subscribe to the network?  Bats!  Dancing Bats!  And lot s of them!  It worked for the XFL!"

 

I dunno.  Maybe the Network is a big rib on someone (stockholders).

[Curt McGirt]

If they would ever want to do a 3-way with those guys they need to do it OG ECW style with elimination rules so they can pull the rug out from under Rollins and guarantee a face victory (for Ambrose, of course). With the briefcase on the line because the Authority is pissed off that Rollins has been losing.

[Patrick B.]

 

You people are all crazy.  I still don't know how you can tell D & R Ziggler apart. 

 

Also, if someone could please tell me who the man on the right is?

Um....he's huge, the Machines were Japanese...it's OBVIOUSLY Baba.

 

 

Going back to Scott Keith's old review of The Big Event:

"- The Machines (Big & Super) & Capt. Lou Albano v. John Studd & King Kong Bundy & Bobby Heenan. Super Machine is Bill Eadie (Ax), Big Machine is Blackjack Mulligan (Barry Windham’s dad)....Some stuff happens and then the managers get in and put on a better show than the wrestlers! Pandemonium breaks loose, and Giant Machine (Rey Mysterio Jr) comes in illegally and cleans house for the DQ."

So there, it was Rey Jr.

[evilwaldo]

 

 

I hope this leads to Rev. Slick teaching Cameron how to bowl and turn someone over to pin them.

This now has to happen.  Cameron repeatedly trying to pin people on their stomachs.  I'd also be okay with her painting stars on her stomach.  Probably best to leave Kim Chee and the spear and shield out of it, though.

 

 

They had no problem with Seth doing a monkey pose tonight though. That was seriously a legit WTF from me when I was watching.

 

This whole show was a big WTF. Between them doing the whole halftime thing (I mean it's the Eagles and Colts) to pander a ratings pop at a certain time to closing the show with that painful rah rah America thing. It's a shame it can't happen, but as I've said before if this were any other production on earth Vince would have been removed as the show runner a long time ago.

 

Tonight was a prime example of why his vision of television is so bad. Nothing remotely in the show that was worth us watching other than Paul's "turn to the dark side" promo. Of course Cena and his damn moral ethics wouldn't allow for that. We the lowly television viewers are begging for something new and anyone they have that could be new they ruin (see Cesaro) or they just don't know what to do with them.

 

I understand the WWE has to be so much more than a rasslin company. But if they just go back to the status quo of lolcenawins this sunday, they might as well just rebrand themselves as WCW.

 

 

 

I think there are a couple of problems.

 

In terms of booking they lost direction with respect to the mid-card and have been struggling to recover.  I think it started last year when Sandow won the MITB and then got jobbed down to the bottom of the roster.  Then you had the US Championship which was not defended for months and a tag team division that has a few good names but lacks focus.  In fact, you can say that there is a lack of focus across the roster.

 

There is one main storyline which derives the bulk of everyone's attention, The Authority and the people involved, and the rest of the roster.

 

Cesaro is a perfect example.  He moves over to Heyman and then gets turned face and then goes off to drift in limbo.

 

It feels as if there are two strong points, the top of the roster and NXT.  The middle ground is a no mans land where guys just drift without a focus.

 

The only feud that makes sense in the mid card right now is Rusev/Henry.  Everything else seems to be comedy filler bits.

 

I think the problem goes deeper than that.  Cena gets the bulk of the merchandise sales so he gets almost all of the good ideas.  The rest of the roster gets very little attention when it comes to merchandising and new ideas.  

 

The best thing for the product right now is to bring someone in from the outside and let them shift things around in terms of focus on television and merchandise.  

 

When wrestling was huge people cared about what happened every week and tuned in because they made it must see tv every week.  Now it does not feel like that at all.  It feels like they are on cruise control.

 

They have to be consistent across products as well.  If you look at what I posted in the Divas thread about Brie.  Of the Bellas, Cena, and Bryan the way that they are portrayed on Divas in some ways conflicts with Raw.  

 

There appears to be tension between Brie and Bryan except on television Brie is supporting her husband while he is out injured.  Brie should be a more sympathetic character on Divas because that would add to her character on Raw.

 

Nikki and Cena appear to be the perfect couple discussing everything without any major tension.  The problem is Nikki is a heel on Raw.  Her character on Divas is the opposite of Raw.

 

If anything Brie and Bryan should be acting like Cena and NIkki.  A house in the suburbs with a white picket fence out front.  Brie supporting her husband.  They just got married and bought a house.  That sells Brie's face character on Raw.

 

On the other side you have Cena with the mansion and private bus with mirrored ceiling.  

 

Before anyone says reality tv we all know it is scripted reality tv not true reality tv.

 

That is my rant.  The soapbox can go back in the closet.

[muhammedboehm]

And one of the reasons it was must see tv was every segment had a story. I didn't want to miss the next way Jericho was going to put it to who ever. Now it's two guys wrestling for some reason that even the announcers don't know cause there to busy talking about Cena and the network

[NintendoLogic]

Using "triple threat" and "dream match" in the same sentence ought to be grounds for a vacation. Also, a Shield triple threat match would probably be booked like that one Cena/Angle/Michaels triple threat from Taboo Tuesday. Reigns would get taken out early, spend the whole match lying on the outside, and then recover in time to hit the spear at the end and get the pin.

[Rev Ray]

I really want to see Dean win the Money in the Bank case just because he'll be crazy enough to try to cash it in on Brock, even if it was a throw away defense, I think crazy Dean's build up for that match would be fun.

[DreamBroken]

Rollins/Reigns was a pretty good match, had some real cool sequences towards the end. Fun six man tag too, hope the Usos reign continues. Cool to see Henry/Rusev close the show for something different. Also surprised but nice to see Swagger get such a decisive victory over Bo, figured they'd save that for the PPV preshow and have Bo go over, glad Swagger won one.

[BoKnowsWrestling]

My girl friend who never even sees wrestling was like wtf during a network commercial and asked jokingly if I was gonna buy it (of course I did that's why our mediabox hard drive has space now).

[Casey]

I choose to believe RAW's rating tanked (worse since May) because they chose to put the shameless and pandering "USA vs Rusev" angle last. Nothing says WWE more than Vince capitalizing on a fresh war.

[Craig H]

Using "triple threat" and "dream match" in the same sentence ought to be grounds for a vacation. Also, a Shield triple threat match would probably be booked like that one Cena/Angle/Michaels triple threat from Taboo Tuesday. Reigns would get taken out early, spend the whole match lying on the outside, and then recover in time to hit the spear at the end and get the pin.

Why can't a triple threat match with all 3 members of the Shield fighting it out for the World Heavyweight Championship be a dream match?

[piranesi]

EVERY TIME YOU TYPE THOS WORD I GET A BIT MORE ERECTED!!!!!!@11!!@!@!@!