WWE Raw 6-1-15

[Godfrey]

That Owens/Cena promo-off was amazing. I can understand why you might object to working in the child battling cancer, it seems opportunistic and not very classy. But good lord, the rest of that segment was gold. This is maybe the first time I'm interested in Cena the character as opposed to Cena the performer, and I give a lot that credit to Owens as a foil.

[JonnyLaw]

While that promo was great, it suffered from what Austin has complained about with one guy delivering a monologue and then sitting there quietly with mic in hand while the other guy delivers his monologue. As good as it was, it would have been better with more back and forth.

To his credit, Owens did a good job of visually reacting to Cena.

[Patrick B.]

 

Cena promos are automatic FFWD for me, so I'll leave the analysis to others.

You missed the best promo segment, non-Heyman division, of the year to date then.

 

 

I don't know if I can view Cena's promo work in an objective manner any more, so I prefer to just skip it.  Better than getting into an argument about the bits and pieces.  If it works for other people, then cool.  Same deal with Authority and Reigns promo segments.

[Craig H]

CM Punk is the one who had an issue with Alex Riley, not John Cena. Riley's thing with Cena was that he didn't like getting ribbed.

[bink_winkleman]

Caught Raw last night and the highlight was definitely the Cena/Owens promo. Owens was a spectacular heels, Cena gave the most John Cena promo ever John Cena'd, and the whole thing was awesome. The cancer kid thing was awesome. Owens is out there calling Cena a phoney and then Cena SHOWS why he's not a phoney. Complaining about any of it is pure whiny anti-Cena bullshit, as far as I can tell from this thread.

The rest of the show was pretty flat. I like Roman in the Hall/Nash thing with Ambrose, but no real interest in seeing the guy wrestling three singles matches in a night.

And the Lana/Dolph thing is beyond stupid and pointless. New Day are great, though, and Titus seems to finally be emerging. Bryan, on his first appearance on Jericho's podcast, pointed out how a guy like Titus was going to have more trouble finding his niche than the guys that worked the indies because he didn't have any diversity to his style, but I think he's finally finding the in-ring personality he needs.

I think I might be as irrational about the Bellas as some of you are about Cena. I just can't watch that shit. I wish they could actually act so they'd get the fuck off TV already and I could quit fast-forwarding all the divas segments. Either that or have more than one divas match a night so that someone can shine without them.

[Greggulator]

You are not alone in Bella's hatred.

[Patrick B.]

Add the Bellas to my insta-skip list as far as promos go.  At least I can watch their matches because, yes, they've improved quite a bit.

[JCM]

I thought Brie was the robotic one incapable of showing human emotion, but Nikki gave her a run for her money with that backstage promo with Paige. Nikki was doing decent work that match, but all I could think was how much better it would be if Sasha Banks were doing it because at least she would show some personality and play to the audience.

[Go2Sleep]

What's with making the refs look like total dopes with these really obvious "twin magic" finishes that shouldn't confuse anyone? First Xavier/Kofi, now the Bellas who buried the twin magic thing years ago when Nikki got implants and then got their own tv show about different they are. I know wrestling refs are supposed to stupid, but this is pushing the limits of believability.

 

I'm actually curious if it was the same ref... Maybe they can make it a gimmick where wrestlers push the limits until eventually The Big Show is switching out with Heath Slater and the ref counts anyway.

[nate]

Not to mention Cena's problems with Alex Riley and Dolph Ziggler, both of whom could very well be the WWE's 'next big thing'

Invisible penis is invisible.

[Victator]

Riley could have been, he was over when his push started and it ended suddenly. I was watching his matches from that period and there was nothing wrong with his work. 

Dolph is one of the most over guys they have and they were trying to kill him off after his title reign ended with a concussion. Any time he has been pushed as a main eventer, he has been accepted. Really he has shown more as a singles wrestler than Seth Rollins has, who has became a less charismatic Honky Tonk Man.

[bink_winkleman]

Ziggler is #1 on my "If you're gonna push a guy I don't care about...can't it be that guy?" list.

 

Or he would be if I had a list like that.

[turk128]

I think Ziggler's main problem is he's kinda tepid as a face; weak offense and so-so character. He's the proverbial underdog (the fantastic selling helps) and the crowd cheers him for that, probably his biggest positive.

 

I'd love to see a heel run with him but that'll take away from his biggest positive.

 

Unfortunately, Ziggler's windows of opportunity has probably past. I'd rather see the next fresh batch of up-and-comers.

[SirSmUgly]

Ziggler is a terrible offensive wrestler who bumps exceptionally well, kinda like Shawn Michaels's rep around here, except HBK actually has charisma and the ability to work a mic without sounding like a doofus.

 

Riley is awful in the ring. He has no clue what he's doing after he finishes his initial fired-up babyface routine. He can cut a hell of a white-meat babyface promo, however. 

 

If you could blend the two together, you would get a pretty dang good upper-midcard type.

[Godfrey]

Finally finished watching RAW and I actually quite enjoyed Reigns/Wyatt. Reigns' selling and his dynamic with Ambrose are great. I love that Reigns' gimmick has become dude who loves to fight and has a crazy best friend. They've made the main event scene interesting again. Not sure how long it'll last, but for now it's a good ride.

[Matt D]

Cena's granddad went to Harvard, played for the Red Sox and was an Ivy League baseball coach. He was also born in an upper class Boston suburb.

Cena was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Point taken but I also remember him starting out in UPW (thanks Inside Pro Wrestling School)... not sure how that silver spoon translated into him getting a free pass into WWF (like Rock for instance).

The spoon had prototype brand steroids on it.

[Patrick B.]

Considering how the first Raw match between Reigns and Wyatt(several years ago) fell unbelievably flat...this one was pretty good.  Rib psychology helped; it's good to see they've both progressed in that time.  As I said in the SD thread, I like how Reigns is coming up with variations of the dropkick from the floor.