Raw 12-28-15

[Burgundy LaRue]

It's very curious that the fans chanted WE WANT SASHA for months until they got her, then instantly didn't give a shit when she was in long matches on TV. 

 

Not surprising.  They want what they want but when they get it, they don't want it anymore. Hipsters.

[Charlie M.]

For ten years wrestlers disappeared while John Cena did something more important. Tonight, John Cena was the man who disappeared.

[MADCAP]

Plus, she heeled on them.

 

So...how about that Samoan remark though...?

[Burgundy LaRue]

Plus, she heeled on them.

 

So...how about that Samoan remark though...?

 

Ugh.  Just ugh.  Once Vince said that, the segment started to fall apart.  The crowd was garbage tonight, but they were right to start moaning at that garbage.

[Peck]

Roman/Sheamus ends with a Roman pin while Haku simultaneously Tongan Death Grips Vince, right? 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Hey guys remember when Wild Samoan Afa wrestled in 2005?

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Roman/Sheamus ends with a Roman pin while Haku simultaneously Tongan Death Grips Vince, right?

best case scenario

[mattdangerously]

In a sport that asks me to suspend my disbelief quite often, VINCE MCMAHON objecting to ROMAN REIGNS as the face of the WWE is really, really pushing it.

It's not that they object to Reigns--Triple H has said as much--but they want him to play by their twisted standards and he refuses. So if he won't their corporate champion, screw him.

That still doesn't work, though. These types of "face vs corporate heels" stories only work when there's a degree of truth to them. Bryan was a guy they legitimately didn't want on top. Austin, while being a guy they did want on top, was still in many ways the antithesis of what they traditionally wanted in a top guy, so it was still believable that Vince would be at odds with him. There's no reason to believe the Authority wouldn't back Reigns, just like there was no reason to believe Cena wouldn't have their blessing, either.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Here ya go guys. I know some hate it but this is where it's from.

 

[sydneybrown]

Awesome.  Now I get to hear the 10 year-old joke about how Vince is 10 years behind-the-times without them realizing the irony of how fucking old their observation is.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I didn't even think of Chappelle's Show and the Rick James sketch when B.A.D first started the Unity thing. I thought of the Queen Latifah song, "U.N.I.T.Y".

[Charlie M.]

It's probably Team BAD themselves who think it's clever/funny. Remember when Becky did those promos with all the puns? Turns out that's what she thinks is funny.

[DreamBroken]

Liked the main event a lot, almost thought for a bit that Cena was gonna win the title back there. Cool to see Sasha/Becky get some time as well.

[Patrick B.]

Look forward to watching Sasha-Becky.

[caley]

When Vince came out at the end, and the way Cena disappeared during the Reigns-LON stuff made me legitimately think that Vince McMahon was going to say "You're going to be World Champion until next week, when you meet....JOHN CENA" and Cena would appear behind Reigns and give him the AA to massive boos, and I thought "That's a pretty brilliant way to keep Reigns face, have him face Cena" and then Vince announced a match with Sheamus and I went "Oh..."

Also, the "Unity!" stuff is awesome.  BAD are supposed to be heels and kinda annoying, you know.

[Overly Critical Man]

So, it turns out it was the chant that was over and not Sasha.

...just like with Daniel Bryan!

[piranesi]

 and then Vince announced a match with Sheamus and I went "Oh..."

 

 

All I heard him announce in that moment was "A 70-year-old man is going to cut the sleeves off a ref shirt next week so that we can see his guns."

[Cristobal]

That opening segment was dire. It also sower why trying to recreate Austin/McMahon with Roman is doomed to fail: There's no Austin in this feud. When Vince talked about Afa wrestling with a bone through his nose, Roman should've gotten in his face and said "You say one more thing about my family and my fist is going through YOUR nose."

The irony about Cena bitching ADR out for doing nothing with the US title is that the cool part of the open challenge was the guys coming out for it, and the fact that once Cena was it if the equation, Creative no longer have a shit about it.

Watching Sin Cara finish the match with an obviously fucked shoulder was just kinda depressing.

Even leaving the crowd out of it, Sasha-Becky was really rather poor, given the time they got. A lot of sloppy execution, and I don't feel like it got either of them any closer to where they want to be.

Best part of the show: "He's rofling! He's rofling!" "Chortle!"

[piranesi]

Best part of the show: "He's rofling! He's rofling!" "Chortle!"

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXHIBITION!!!!!

[Go2Sleep]

They did a great job getting the Brooklyn police captain over in that first segment. Makes his debut and doesn't take any shit from Steph or Vince and goes over strong to end the segment. That's how you book a star.

 

And the Sasha thing isn't too hard to figure out, it's just that no one wants to say it... Her work on the main roster hasn't been very good. Not that Sasha herself isn't good, mind you, just that there's a very obvious quality gap between her work in NXT and work on the main roster. I know it's tough for everyone here because we all love our NXT, but try if you can to imagine your only exposure to Sasha Banks was the last 5 months of Raw/SD/ppv, and ask yourself if you would be crazy about her, or even care about her at all. This is what the non-we-want-Sasha-chanting portion of the audience is experiencing.

[RIPPA]

See y'all should have realized that Drew Gulak was no one to fuck with.

[Phantom Lord]

I found the whole Vince thing from the start of the show hilarious. When he got arrested I was just thinking "well are they bringing him to the precinct or the house of detention". If they had the guts and followed Vince to the house of detention which is just down the block from The Barclays center (after Vince is processed cause no way he makes bail that quick for grabbing a bunch of cops) they could have re-did the whole Mountie thing. That would have been a whole network special right there. Vince in the slammer.

 

The DVDVR twitter had a gem about by the end of the night Vince has a tear drop tattoo and he's converted to Islam. Vince turning into Antonio Inoki would be amazing.

 

After that the show fell down. Nice to see Owens beat the shit out of Neville. I guess Ambrose must have been in the can or something to wait that long to come help him.

 

Becky/Sasha was a fine match. Don't know what the hell the crowd was chanting boring at. Did it need the usual WWE distraction stuff? No.Other than that it was good. I love Becky so the more Becky the better.

 

This league of nations thing much like the real one Woodrow Wilson tried just isn't working. They need a foreign heel who can really bring some hate. Del Rio can do it in front of the right crowd if he's not constrained. Lana probably could if she were with them. Don't know why she isn't.

 

Next week can Roman overcome even more odds with Vince as a ref. I bet we see Vince eat a superman punch and Roman take the knockout Vince's arm and count 1....2....3. It is 1998.

[BrianS81177]

So what's the deal with Barrett? He's been pretty much a non factor the past few weeks.

[Hoffman]

Sin Cara I dislocated a finger in a match against Del Rio a couple of years ago and the match was stopped.

 

Sin Cara II dislocates his shoulder tonight and keeps on wrestling.

 

If they keep upgrading, Sin Cara V or VI should be at Michael Myers levels of indestructible.

[AxB]

So what's the deal with Barrett? He's been pretty much a non factor the past few weeks.

 

Nerve problem in his neck. He can talk, but he can't bump... if they were having the LoN do heel beatdowns, he could join in with those, but he can't be there to take beatings. And his role in the group is to be the one who takes the beatings, so best to not use him at all.