Raw 12-22-14 - Christmas Show

[Casey]

It's becoming more and more of a chore to watch this show every week. I fucking love WWE, and most of the time I try to find the positives in what they present to us, but it's getting really hard to do that. I'm still going to stick around for the ascension (hah) of Rollins, and people like Bray, Ambrose, Rusev, Da Big Guy, etc. But.... I don't know. It's hard to swallow the pill they keep trying to shove down our throats.

 

I think I'm hitting that point that a lot of wrestling fans eventually hit, when they're just so fed up with the presentation and stuff that they just walk away for awhile. Which is kind of sad, for me, because I've always watched. Maybe 15+ years of nonstop viewing is my limit until things change with the main roster.

 

save_us.hhh

[nate]

Ambrose wins at TTTT.

Making Ambrose the TTTT master. :|

[AxB]

 

Ambrose wins at TTTT.

Making Ambrose the TTTT master. :|

 

 

 

Available from one of those companies that makes bootleg-ish wrestling shirts.

[Patrick B.]

save_us.hhh

 

From the sound of things (storyline-wise), that's the plan.

[Dolfan in NYC]

I remember reading somewhere that NXT male wrestlers get around $40-45k while the divas get paid slightly higher at $50k for "maintenance"...whatever that means.

That might make the WWE the only company - on the entire planet - where women make more than men. 

[Brysynner]

 

I remember reading somewhere that NXT male wrestlers get around $40-45k while the divas get paid slightly higher at $50k for "maintenance"...whatever that means.

That might make the WWE the only company - on the entire planet - where women make more than men. 

 

How hilarious would that be if true? Everyone (rightfully) rips the company for poorly portraying the women on TV but end up paying them more than their male counterparts

[Casey]

Some of the female workers are more talented than their male counterparts, in my opinion. So it's rightfully deserved in my eyes. I'm glad it looks like Natalya is heading for a Divas title program, but I'm concerned that it looks to be centered around Tyson Kidd "being concerned" about Nikki's old leg injury or whatever. Let Nikki and Nattie beat the shit out of each other, they'll have great matches together if given the proper amount of time. Some programs don't need ridiculous storylines to go along with it - just let them fight!

[odessasteps]

Arent they already doing the married couple angle with the miz and one of the usos and his wife?

[Casey]

Yep. But that's less about Naomi, and more about Jimmy Uso and The Miz. I assume this ends with Naomi turning heel and joining Miz, and Sandow turning face.

[Ace]

That Ziggler/Harper match was pretty damn good. Dolph can take one hell of a beating. After tonight and them constantly saying on commentary that ZIGGLER WANTS 2015 TO BE HIS YEAR, Ziggler needs to win the Rumble and face Lesnar. Dolph surviving Brock almost murdering him would make him a mega star.

 

Vince should be forced out of power if he thinks Reigns is the way to go. Reigns might be in another year or so, but the iron is like red hot with Dolph. It's now or never. He was only World Champion so in the WWE's mind that wasn't winning THE BIG ONE.

 

I dvr'ed the last hour after the Piper's Pit thing. These Piper's Pits just seem to get worse and worse.

 

Next week Edge and Christian and all the clips they used were from almost 15 years ago. Can Christian still wrestle or has his officially retired? I guess Edge is still bound to these one a year appearences in his contract or something.

 

Christian is cleared, and Edge has no WWE contract. He's booked by SyFy to promote Haven.

[Spritenaut 32]

Yep. But that's less about Naomi, and more about Jimmy Uso and The Miz. I assume this ends with Naomi turning heel and joining Miz, and Sandow turning face.

 

That's more or less where I think the program should go.  Which probably means Jimmy Uso is turning heel and Sandow is getting released after creative decides he's not over.

[Patrick B.]

And it'll be a double turn with Miz going face since the fans clearly want to cheer him.

[goc]

 

Yep. But that's less about Naomi, and more about Jimmy Uso and The Miz. I assume this ends with Naomi turning heel and joining Miz, and Sandow turning face.

 

That's more or less where I think the program should go.  Which probably means Jimmy Uso is turning heel and Sandow is getting released after creative decides he's not over.

 

Well I mean what the hell do you do with Sandow once he's done being Miz's stunt double? It's got a super short shelf life and I'm not sure how you do anything with Sandow afterwards other than make Sandow the new Santino (who was fucking awesome and I don't care what anyone says Santino was a great character)

[evilwaldo]

You run with it until it stops being over since neither one has anything else.

 

The roster is fairly well compartmentalized with a solid tag division, underrated set of big guys, and main event guys.  Unless you have a six to nine month plan for each one after the breakup just run with it.

[goc]

You run with it until it stops being over since neither one has anything else.

 

The roster is fairly well compartmentalized with a solid tag division, underrated set of big guys, and main event guys.  Unless you have a six to nine month plan for each one after the breakup just run with it.

I'm not disagreeing with any of that. My post is because someone is making a snippy remark about Sandow being released after the Mizdow deal is over. Well, what the fuck else are you gonna do with him? He was most likely on his way to being released before they threw shit at the wall and it stuck.

[The Nature Boy]

Sandow is a perfect example of what is wrong with WWE's booking and how everything is just rushed. Sandow went from an intellectual savior to a modern day Stevie Richards to Miz's stunt double with no real explanation of the character progression. What caused this brilliant man to just snap? Why don't WWE characters have real motivations any more? 

 

As bad as the Attitude Era was, at least the characters seemed to have motivation. Now they just seem to exist as the plot dictates. 

[Tim Evans]

I thought losing the MITB caused him to snap? He was doing the fake shoot stuff on Raw before he became Mizdow.

[Cristobal]

Sandow is a perfect example of what is wrong with WWE's booking and how everything is just rushed. Sandow went from an intellectual savior to a modern day Stevie Richards to Miz's stunt double with no real explanation of the character progression. What caused this brilliant man to just snap? Why don't WWE characters have real motivations any more? 

 

As bad as the Attitude Era was, at least the characters seemed to have motivation. Now they just seem to exist as the plot dictates.

Did they, though? I remember Edge making fun of X-Pac once, saying, "Remember how I used to be into the whole goth thing? Well I've moved on. It's called character progression."

Psuedo-shooty shit aside, was there ever a REASON for Edge and Christian to turn from goths into Tiger Beat fans?

[The Nature Boy]

 

Sandow is a perfect example of what is wrong with WWE's booking and how everything is just rushed. Sandow went from an intellectual savior to a modern day Stevie Richards to Miz's stunt double with no real explanation of the character progression. What caused this brilliant man to just snap? Why don't WWE characters have real motivations any more? 

 

As bad as the Attitude Era was, at least the characters seemed to have motivation. Now they just seem to exist as the plot dictates.

Did they, though? I remember Edge making fun of X-Pac once, saying, "Remember how I used to be into the whole goth thing? Well I've moved on. It's called character progression."

Psuedo-shooty shit aside, was there ever a REASON for Edge and Christian to turn from goths into Tiger Beat fans?

 

 

There was a transition period where they were bland babyfaces before becoming the awesome Edge and Christian of 2000. They feuded with the Hardys when they were replaced in The Brood at least. I always assumed that the cocky, heel E & C of 2000 was just an evolution of their arrogance since they had just won the Tag Team Championship. But I may have just been mentally filling in the blanks at the time.

 

The idea of Sandow having a mental break after losing MITB is a good one, but it seems like WWE has forgotten about it and is just going for cheap laughs at this point. There's a whole host of characters though who are seemingly wandering about with no direction or a VERY weak one (see: Ziggler, Dolph). What is Sheamus's motivation? What was Alberto's before he left? These guys never seem to grow, evolve or strive for more. They seem happy wrestling filler matches on RAW or in Dolph's case, "entertaining." I'm not asking for Attitude-esque over the top reasoning but let's get some 80s World Class/Crockett level stuff with these guys. I just want to know who they are and why I should give a shit. 

[Big Fresh]

 

Sandow is a perfect example of what is wrong with WWE's booking and how everything is just rushed. Sandow went from an intellectual savior to a modern day Stevie Richards to Miz's stunt double with no real explanation of the character progression. What caused this brilliant man to just snap? Why don't WWE characters have real motivations any more? 

 

As bad as the Attitude Era was, at least the characters seemed to have motivation. Now they just seem to exist as the plot dictates.

Did they, though? I remember Edge making fun of X-Pac once, saying, "Remember how I used to be into the whole goth thing? Well I've moved on. It's called character progression."

Psuedo-shooty shit aside, was there ever a REASON for Edge and Christian to turn from goths into Tiger Beat fans?

 

 

The chicks. Duh.

 

[nate]

Not all character evolutions can be "Always pounding ass" one day, Fortune 500 wrestling god the next, sadly.

[The Nature Boy]

That was explained (somewhat)

 

WWE hyped Bradshaw's book about how to make money on the stock market and Heyman basically called Bradshaw out for being a self-made millionaire hanging out and drinking with his buddy. Bradshaw turned on Ron Simmons, became JBL and Simmons got released. 

 

I'm not saying that WWE has ever had great writing or character continuity but we're also in an era now where a lot of shows DO. I'd like to see WWE step their game up.

[Patrick B.]

I just want to know who they are

 

They're fun-loving guys/girls who love to have fun with the WWE Universe, Maggle.

[cwoy2j]

That was explained (somewhat)

 

WWE hyped Bradshaw's book about how to make money on the stock market and Heyman basically called Bradshaw out for being a self-made millionaire hanging out and drinking with his buddy. Bradshaw turned on Ron Simmons, became JBL and Simmons got released. 

 

I'm not saying that WWE has ever had great writing or character continuity but we're also in an era now where a lot of shows DO. I'd like to see WWE step their game up.

 

I don't think he turned on Simmons. They lost some kind of "Loser retires" match and as they're walking out, Heyman caught up with JBL and said that technically, Simmons was the only one who had to retire as he got pinned. Simmons thought JBL was gonna walk out with him but Heyman convinced JBL to stay. I don't recall him attacking Simmons but I might be forgetting something. I do remember JBL looked really weird during this period b/c he was clean-shaven with his blondish hair but still wearing the APA tights.

[cwoy2j]

Here's an account of what happened from wiki

 

 

At WrestleMania XX in 2004, they unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way tag team match.^[37] The gimmick continued on-and-off until the March 18 episode of SmackDown! until losing a tag team "You're Fired" match to Tag Team Champions Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty for the tag team title.^[38]General Manager Paul Heyman, frustrated by an insult by the APA, told Faarooq that if he did not win the aforementioned match, then "You're Fired". After the match, Bradshaw led Faarooq back to Heyman's office to state they had not been fired, but had resigned. Then Heyman cleared up the misunderstanding and pointed out that he said that if they did not win the titles, then he told Faarooq "You're fired." His reason for saying this directly to Faarooq was because it applied only to Faarooq because "WWE Management" still saw a lot of potential in Bradshaw. He left them after telling Bradshaw to think about his own future. Faarooq shouted after Heyman that he was not fired because they (Faarooq and Bradshaw) had quit. Bradshaw, however, hesitated. Faarooq took Bradshaw's hesitation to mean that he would not resign, and so Faarooq promptly disbanded the APA and left. In reality, the WWE had decided to stop using Ron Simmons as an on-air performer. He was initially fired, but he was later re-hired to work behind the scenes in the WWE under various roles.