Raw 8-12-13 - Summerslam Go-Home Show

[Dolfan in NYC]

*So sayeth Michael Cole, who added that last part in a tone not unlike a teacher warning her students to hush up during a nature film

Was it a nature film about what would happen if a mega earth quake struck California?

No, it was Demolition Man. 

[Craig H]

I would have aced the post-video test if we got to watch Demolition Man in class.

 

"Ooh! I wonder if I can play the accordion too!"

[Dolfan in NYC]

Oh, and HHH's heel turn is so being telegraphed his Maddox Pedigree should've been sponsored by Western Union.  

 

Just stay the fuck out of my main event McMahons.  Jesus.  The two of them are doing fine as "faces who don't respect each other" (Randy's oncoming heel turn is enough overbooking).

 

As it is, the finish is 100% going to be:  Bryan has the match won, HHH pedigrees the fuck out of him, drags Cena's lifeless corpse over, 1, 2, 3.  "I hear voices", RKO, kickout at 2,  Pedigree & RKO,  1, 2, 3. New corporate champ.  Yuck. 

[J.T.]

I would have aced the post-video test if we got to watch Demolition Man in class.

 

"Ooh! I wonder if I can play the accordion too!"

 

What kinda batteries does this goddamn thing run on, HAL?  WHERE THE FUCK IS THE RADIO SHACK~?

[J.T.]

For the "Brock needs to go over" crowd, you know we're probably not going to see him again until Mania-time or thereabouts, right? Just curious what the thinking is.

 

For a guy that is supposed to be a main event monster, Brock is hit and miss in the high profile match category so I think he needs another big win.  I don't think that Punk will lose that much shine by putting Brock over and then send Brock out on an injury angle.  Punk could take some pride in knowing that Brock took the worst of it even in victory. 

 

Sell it by having Punk kick Brock in the stomach a lot and remind everyone in painful detail about Lesnar's battle with diverticulitis in the UFC.

[Overly Critical Man]

Or, you know...have Punk get his skinny fat ass kicked terribly and actually be humbled and act like a fucking human being that needs to overcome adversity instead of an entitled twat Godmode sue that acts like he's above it all and easily dismisses every opponent and cuts promos where he calls himself "the best" 50 times.

It's a character growth moment.

Of course, since he got the upperhand right before the ppv, I'm pretty sure Brock's gonna snap his arm with a kimura.

[Craig H]

I'm expecting something closer to the GAB Vader vs. Sting match, and less Brock vs The Rock. I think Punk eats a ton of damage and keeps getting up until he can't do so any more.

 

How is Brock's new contract structured anyway? He's on a two year deal, so is it still a very limited number of appearances/matches, or will they possibly be able to use him in a run at the WWE Title?

 

And I can't believe there's a chance that we could see Sandow cash in and win at Summerslam and then later take on Cody. The World Title is firmly entrenched as the IC/US title now, and the IC and US titles are sub-Euro and Cruiserweight titles.

[caley]

BTW, there used to be so much talk by Vince Russo etc. about tweeners and shades of grey, is John Cena the best tweener of all-time?  He acts like a face, does the right thing, but says enough silly stuff to keep the smark-types against him.  So, they can use Cena to face main-event heels (Punk and Show last year), upper-card heels (Ryback, Henry) but also returning stars (Rock) and upper-card faces who have to at least appear in a main event (Bryan, Orton).  I mean, he really is the all-purpose tweener world champion, because you can program him against ANYONE and he'll make it work.

[Craig H]

BTW, there used to be so much talk by Vince Russo etc. about tweeners and shades of grey, is John Cena the best tweener of all-time?  He acts like a face, does the right thing, but says enough silly stuff to keep the smark-types against him.  So, they can use Cena to face main-event heels (Punk and Show last year), upper-card heels (Ryback, Henry) but also returning stars (Rock) and upper-card faces who have to at least appear in a main event (Bryan, Orton).  I mean, he really is the all-purpose tweener world champion, because you can program him against ANYONE and he'll make it work.

 

Good point. I never thought about this before, but you're right. Makes even more sense about how reluctant the writing staff is with making any dramatic changes to that character because with what you described, he really is more important that anyone else on the roster with how versatile he is.

[cool arrow]

Assuming the plan for Mania is still Austin with Vince vs. HHH (which incidentally is a terrible idea) I can't wait to see how they turn Vince.

[Big Fresh]

@alexdgreenfield: Loved the @WWEDanielBryan / @JohnCena segment from last night's #Raw. Really clever writing. Both heroes to completely different audiences.

Good point, Alex.

[Craig H]

Assuming the plan for Mania is still Austin with Vince vs. HHH (which incidentally is a terrible idea) I can't wait to see how they turn Vince.

 

Wait, what? What do you mean "still?" This is the first I've seen of such a plan.

[cool arrow]

Assuming the plan for Mania is still Austin with Vince vs. HHH (which incidentally is a terrible idea) I can't wait to see how they turn Vince.

 

Wait, what? What do you mean "still?" This is the first I've seen of such a plan.

 

 

Triple H would be the heel in his feud with Vince McMahon, leading Vince to bring back Steve Austin in a battle for full control of the company appears to be off the books.

This was proposed in booking, but had never been agreed to.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

Assuming the plan for Mania is still Austin with Vince vs. HHH (which incidentally is a terrible idea) I can't wait to see how they turn Vince.

 

Wait, what? What do you mean "still?" This is the first I've seen of such a plan.

 

Meltzer or someone said a couple of months ago they were trying desperately to pay Austin enough to do one more match, to that date, they weren't close.  The apparent idea was Austin (as a proxy for Vince) vs. HHH (as a proxy for Stephanie & himself) for control of the company. 

 

There was much gnashing of teeth at this prospect. 

[Cristobal]

If you're going to bring back Austin for one more match, HHH is about the last person he should be wrestling. Cena, Punk, Bryan, Brock (someone wants revenge for that stunner at Mania XX, maybe) Taker at Mania. Hell, Vince for old time's sake. Or, y'know, put him in with Trips again. Cuz Hunter's desperate to still be relevant.

[Skelemania]

Oh yeah, in my earlier post I forgot to mention the Dean Ambrose promo which was also really good. He might have had the line of the night with the ghost of André the Giant remark. Shame it was all for a YouTube pre-show match. :-/

 

 

I thought ADR had the best match on the show.  Everything he did looked nasty and vicious, the top-rope reverse superplex.  Blame Kofi.  He couldn't even jump high enough to nail his big flying clothesline, and seemed to mistime his boom legdrop.

Wow, really? Like, I mean, ADR wasn't even getting his shoulders off the mat during kickouts & looked to be moving at the speed of molasses. I thought he was legit injured or something. The ref even grabbed his hand to check if he was OK after a boom drop...& I don't think anyone would ever get injured from that super safe crappy leg drop, so I assume something was wrong from previous in the match.

[Harbinger]

Well played, sir!

Why is that my exes bedroom in your sig. Holy shit.

[cool arrow]

I swear, man, we're just friends.

[Craig H]

 

 

Assuming the plan for Mania is still Austin with Vince vs. HHH (which incidentally is a terrible idea) I can't wait to see how they turn Vince.

 

Wait, what? What do you mean "still?" This is the first I've seen of such a plan.

 

Meltzer or someone said a couple of months ago they were trying desperately to pay Austin enough to do one more match, to that date, they weren't close.  The apparent idea was Austin (as a proxy for Vince) vs. HHH (as a proxy for Stephanie & himself) for control of the company. 

 

There was much gnashing of teeth at this prospect. 

 

 

This is...this is so beyond stupid. No way could this have been real. Dave had to have been worked again by someone from the company.

[sydneybrown]

 

 

 

Assuming the plan for Mania is still Austin with Vince vs. HHH (which incidentally is a terrible idea) I can't wait to see how they turn Vince.

 

Wait, what? What do you mean "still?" This is the first I've seen of such a plan.

 

Meltzer or someone said a couple of months ago they were trying desperately to pay Austin enough to do one more match, to that date, they weren't close.  The apparent idea was Austin (as a proxy for Vince) vs. HHH (as a proxy for Stephanie & himself) for control of the company. 

 

There was much gnashing of teeth at this prospect. 

 

 

This is...this is so beyond stupid. No way could this have been real. Dave had to have been worked again by someone from the company.

 

 

I completely believe it. I also believe that Austin would absolutely never agree to do it.  If he ever came back, it would be for a "dream" match scenario like the Rock did, not to wrestle HHH for the 134th time.

[Jiji]

 

This is...this is so beyond stupid. No way could this have been real. Dave had to have been worked again by someone from the company.

 

I don't know. They just put Trips in the main event and he and the McMahons are involved at every turn. They're fucking delusional. Vince's heel shit from the late '90s is going to haunt us until the day he dies, yet Stephanie would still be there.

 

Yeah, thankfully Austin's not as thick as the above.

[Craig H]

 

Yeah, thankfully Austin's not as thick as the above.

 

 

Thank God for Alpha Brain.

[LooseCannon]

Is the idea that they were looking for one last Austin match or is the idea that they wanted to do HHH wrestling Vince's representative for control of the company?  If it is the latter, who can they toss out there as a big enough name that the internet fans won't whine about how HHH is obviously going over?

[Greggulator]

The Ghost of Andre line was so great in how it set-up The Big Show's return (at one point booked as Andre's son a very long time ago). It was great subliminal foreshadowing that set up how scared The Shield was of his return. Nice bit of storytelling.

 

Cena is the greatest tweener of all-time. Most tweeners have a limited shelf life before the crowd moves one way or the other. Cena's the only tweener who has any legs. It makes him the true ace of the company. He can feud with any type of character and make it work. And, despite the "you can't wrestle" chants, have MOTY candidates against pretty much anyone. I don't like the overly, shameless public relations company branding character (I DO IT FOR THE WWE AUDIENCE) but there's enough guys on the roster booked for people like me to have a interest in the promotion as a whole.

 

As far as the McMahon's -- they are huge stars. There's no other way to put it. They get huge live reactions. For casual viewers (the fans they need and want to make regular viewers), they're the biggest stars, other than maybe Cena. There's no Austin or Rock right now behind Cena. They're giving Daniel Bryan facetime against Mr. McMahon, who has a legitimate claim as greatest heel of all-time. And he's also on their reality show.

 

Bryan's a star and they're doing everything they can to make him a superstar since the audience can relate to him so well -- he's a small dude who earned his spot despite everyone always putting him down.I think the strategy works. Put Bryan in the ring against the guys the casual, non-message board fans know. Hopefully he clicks with them and he becomes one of the guys who results in PPV buys.They just have to keep the angle as simple as possible. No "secret agenda" stuff like they did w/ Punk. Just a nice, simple story -- Vince hates Daniel Bryan AND Cena and wants to get the belt off of him into someone who has curried his favor. Randy Orton wins the belt (with the help of The Shield, who are mercenaries who use the justice line as an excuse) despite HHH's best efforts post-match to keep the belt in the hands of a deserving champion.The ONLY thing that makes me hate the McMahon story line is Steph's presence. She's truly awful at her role. I liked her a lot as the conniving, power hungry billionaire's daughter but Steph as "objective executive" is the worst. But HHH and Vince have been fine.

[Ace]

For the "Brock needs to go over" crowd, you know we're probably not going to see him again until Mania-time or thereabouts, right? Just curious what the thinking is.

 

Punk doesn't need the win. Brock's already lost too much and needs to go into WM strong.