WWE Raw 4-4-16 - Post-WrestleMania Raw

[Jiji]

59 minutes ago, Phantom Lord said:

Or those eyes of his. I mean how can anyone hate those eyes.

You mean the blue contact lenses they put on a guy of Samoan heritage?

[Skeeball Wizard]

Gotta wonder how Mojo Rawley feels about Ryder getting the singles "push" (ish) and Blake and Murphy watching all their contemporaries get the call up.

[John from Cincinnati]

Don't worry about Blake and Murphey. That dead wood will float up to the main roster when Alexa gets the call. 

[Norwegian Rudo]

15 minutes ago, Skeeball Wizard said:

Gotta wonder how Mojo Rawley feels about Ryder getting the singles "push" (ish) and Blake and Murphy watching all their contemporaries get the call up.

That was kind of weird as The Hype Bros just started a program with The Revival at the Axxess tapings. Either he'll be doing both, or there is pretty poor communication between departments.

[evilwaldo]

1 hour ago, Jrag said:

You can cut all the backstage NXT stuff out of the equation and HHH is still more interesting.  Roman/AJ could be a fun little feud, but how many more pages would this thread have if we were talking Trips/AJ?

HHH is the most boring and stale character this Century.  There is nothing to the character outside of ego.

[nate]

8 hours ago, bink_winkleman said:

When I first saw this, my wife and I sat there STUNNED...that Cesaro would have such an ill-fitting suit. "When did he start shopping off the rack?" Then, BOOM.

Some bitches can only tear off a t-shirt, psshht!

[peterien]

After catching up on all the goings on from WM weekend, (NXT,Axxess stuff,Stone Cold Podcast,WM32,Raw etc)  my hatred of "Brock Lesnar fan" has grown tenfold.

[SirSmUgly]

The upper brass tells the audience directly in numerous interviews, video packages, etc.,  "We pay attention to the fans. Really the fans and their reactions are what causes us to pick the guys we push."

The fans take this to heart eventually after hearing it so many times. 

They cheer Bryan. 

The brass doesn't react to their cheers post-Summerslam 2014, so the fans vocally wreck up the shows.

The brass changes the booking to make Bryan champ at WM in response.

The crowd assumes that this strategy will work in the future.

So exactly who is the idiot here?

[zev]

I fully expect to find out that the Wyatt face turn was done for sake of an upcoming Hot Pockets commercial.

 

[JustJay]

HHH is a decent character because we know who he is. Some may find him stale but his character is fleshed out. Roman Reigns, who is he? Here is what Cena recently said about Reigns character "If you want to go back to Roman, he is on the cusp of getting that heart truly beating. People know he is very gifted. His in-ring ability is not in question. I don’t care what any critic says. They are just being stupid. He can go. He is an athlete. I don’t really know who he is. Like I said, John Cena is easy: goody-two shoes Superman. Easy. A four-year old kid can tell you that. I don’t necessarily know the heartbeat of Roman Reigns. As soon as that first heartbeat happens, it’s going to challenge me. I’m looking forward to it." You can read more in the interview Cena gave here http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/04/john-cena-interview

[Ultimo Necro]

That main event totally happened in PWG in an alternate universe 2007? Right?

one of my favourite matches this year.

such a good Raw coming off such a terrible Mania.

[Spritenaut 32]

3 hours ago, evilwaldo said:

HHH is the most boring and stale character this Century.  There is nothing to the character outside of ego.

I think you meant to say " I think HHH is the most boring and stale character this Century.  In my opinion, there is nothing to the character outside of ego."

 

Or maybe not.  I don't usually assume my opinion is the definitive last word on... well, anything, so I have a feeling I'm not understanding how this Internet thing is supposed to work.

Personally, I dig Trips and Stephanie heeling it up. 

 

[Brian Fowler]

Trips is great when he's a wrestler.

As just an authority figure, I could easily never see him again. But when he decides to put these young kids in their place and get in the ring, he's incredibly compelling to me.

[APO]

2 hours ago, JustJay said:

HHH is a decent character because we know who he is. Some may find him stale but his character is fleshed out. Roman Reigns, who is he? Here is what Cena recently said about Reigns character "If you want to go back to Roman, he is on the cusp of getting that heart truly beating. People know he is very gifted. His in-ring ability is not in question. I don’t care what any critic says. They are just being stupid. He can go. He is an athlete. I don’t really know who he is. Like I said, John Cena is easy: goody-two shoes Superman. Easy. A four-year old kid can tell you that. I don’t necessarily know the heartbeat of Roman Reigns. As soon as that first heartbeat happens, it’s going to challenge me. I’m looking forward to it." You can read more in the interview Cena gave here http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/04/john-cena-interview

Hunter and Cena benefited from the booking sticking with one direction instead of being wishy-washy and switching to something different every three months.

[Cristobal]

3 hours ago, zev said:

I fully expect to find out that the Wyatt face turn was done for sake of an upcoming Hot Pockets commercial.

 

FOLLOW...THE FLAVOR

[Peck]

In case anyone was still wondering, Meltzer confirmed Zayn deal was an angle. No injury.

[zev]

What are the chances Bubba brings in Velvet Sky as the new Duchess of Dudleyville, and then Enzo and Cass bring in Carmella?

[jstout]

4 minutes ago, zev said:

What are the chances Bubba brings in Velvet Sky as the new Duchess of Dudleyville, and then Enzo and Cass bring in Carmella?

Bubba needs to bring in ODB, putting us possibly one step closer to the holy grail of Cody Deaner~! in the WWE.

And of course everything we post is our opinion, geez, that goes without saying. We shouldn't have to qualify what we say. There's no difference between "Triple H, Stephanie and the whole 'heel authority figure' thing is staler than stale" and saying the same thing with "I think" added to it.

BY THE WAY, THIS IS MY OPINION AGAIN: Problem with what Cena says is it sounds like there can only be one goody two-shoes Superman. But, hell, what is every face, pretty much? They defy the odds, never cheat, and win because of their pure heart. What new spin could Roman add to being a face? The problem is that Roman and Cena are on separate planets when it comes to charisma. Reigns: big, ass-kicker, can't talk to save his life to help establish his character, isn't much besides "big, ass-kicker." He needs a run as a heel with a mouthpiece while he stands in the background and looks menacing. I do kinda like the tweener "I'm better than all you bastards and I fear none of you" thing he did on Monday, though.

 

[Kyuubi]

When people tell me that Roman is gifted and athletic and strong, I don't get it. I don't dislike Roman, but I don't necessary care for him and I don't get why Vince is so big on the guy outside of looks. I say this not as one of those people who hate Roman Reigns simply because he is the chosen one.  I just don't get him in-ring ability wise or character.

When I see Roman in the ring, there is nothing special about him. He is not the strongest, the fastest, the best seller, the best agility, or even have the most charisma. And yeah, he has ring presence, but ring presence can only get you so far when you actually have to perform. Roman Reigns to me is like Sylvester Stallone of action movies, and I am more into Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jet Li and Jackie Chan when to comes to actual physical ability in said action movies. And yeah, wrestling is not just about cool moves, but his moveset is so...basic for lack of a better word. There is no pizazz in his step. They hype you on how strong the guy is and relatively, he really isn't that strong or powerful. Sure, he can throw around guys like AJ, but when you've seen guys like Cesaro, Titus O'Neill, and Big E regularly perform feats of impressive strength...or you've seen Adrian Neville deadlift german suplex guys like Kevin Owens or Chad Gable rolling deadlift german suplex Baron Corbin, I won't be impressed with a basic ass samoan drop or an assisted powerbomb. Then they harp on his athleticism and maybe it is because I do Parkour so nothing really impresses me when it comes to agility, but he is not that astounding compared to Finn Balor who basically vaults over the ring ropes like it is nothing or AJ Styles who makes movement around the ring seem effortless. And maybe that is his appeal, how not astounding he is, but WWE keeps addressing Roman as this Powerhouse when he is no bigger than what the Rock was back in 2001 and the Rock was more about how explosive he was than powerful. 

I guess that breaks my suspension of disbelief when it comes to him other than his overly dramatized superman punch and his nice punches(the man can throw some nice punches and that is 50% of the battle).. I am not going to whine or complain about how he is, but I just don't get it when it comes to him and I've tried to like him.

Then there is his character which is 90% the booking's fault. Before the Shield split, everyone and their mother knew that Roman was the prototypical WWE guy compared to Dean Ambrose and most obviously Seth Rollins. So when the split happened, the Authority chose Seth Rollins, flippy indie guy who is basically exactly what they hated about Daniel Bryan, to be their represented face of the company and it was lost on me. Triple H made this huge stink on how DB was this B+ player and yet they chose Seth Rollins, a guy who resembles DB on every facet. And yeah, it was an interesting twist, but a very contrived one. So Dean Ambrose decides to go on a two year revenge path on Seth Rollins while Roman goes for the title and seeming forgets that his best friend betrayed him and that is where we get the rushing Roman's push idea from. Then they tried to add aspects to his character that do not fit. How is Roman Reigns the anti-establishment guy like Daniel Bryan when everyone can see that he is exactly someone the Authority would want as the face of the company. The man is a terrible babyface and reeks of "I am just better than you." It is impossible to induce any sympathy for the guy when we know that he will eventually get his way while Daniel Bryan, there was some urgency and history in and outside the character that he might be thrown to the backburner. Then there is his promos to which I do not understand why he says so many words when he should just shut the fuck up and be silent badass. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

45 minutes ago, Cristobal said:

FOLLOW...THE FLAVOR

If that's the case, the next member of the Wyatt Family.

[SirSmUgly]

1 hour ago, Vader does my taxes! said:

I think you meant to say " I think HHH is the most boring and stale character this Century.  In my opinion, there is nothing to the character outside of ego."

 

Or maybe not.  I don't usually assume my opinion is the definitive last word on... well, anything, so I have a feeling I'm not understanding how this Internet thing is supposed to work.

Personally, I dig Trips and Stephanie heeling it up. 

 

 

I mean, shouldn't you assume that it's his opinion since, you know, he said it?

He didn't say "Objectively, HHH is blah blah blah."

[Go2Sleep]

You're definitely right about Roman's presentation not matching up with what he can actually do. He's got a power gimmick but can't do any power moves. His one-arm lift powerbomb thing he does every once in a while is embarrassing for a guy who uses Superman imagery. Christ, even when he was in the Shield, Rollins and Ambrose did all the heavy lifting for the powerbomb. They should've transitioned him to being a striker a long time ago, which is something he'd probably be good at. His best moves are the Superman punch and his apron dropkick, but highlighting things Roman is good at and disguising things he isn't good at are two things WWE has shown no interest in doing.

[bink_winkleman]

The hardest I've ever laughed at TNA was when Suicide debuted and Mike Tenay shouted, "It's Suicide from TNA: The Video Game!" 

When I see Roman, I half expect Cole to shout, "It's hashtag Roman Reigns from WWEshop.com!" The dude wears contacts for his action figure. A vest for his merch. He pumps his arm for a video game. There's just nothing about the act that isn't pure corporate pandering. And I am kinda tired of the, "He should have been doing this all along!" whenever he goes strong and silent or gives a different kind of promo. The problem isn't anything that can be changed. It's the whole character. The whole character of Roman Reigns seriously fucking sucks, and none of it can be fixed because the character only exists as a product.

And I say this as a massive Lucha Underground fan who knows how hypocritical and half-baked that sounds.

 

[J.H.]

The things is, Reigns was on fire before his injury that put him on the shelf for a few months in '14. He WAS over with the crowd. But then something happened, they telegrpahed his ascension to the top spot. They turned on him at the Rumble in '15 and that was only made worse by Daniel Bryan coming back on the same show, in the same match. Bryan was who ehe people wanted so when Reigns was shoved down everyone's throat when Bryan was right there the fans revolted. Reigns was not always hated by the crowd. its just the WWE stuck Bryan in the Rumble '15 and that kind of killed any chance Reigns had to get the crowd on his side. Shit go back to Rumble '14 and how over Reigns was eliminating guys left and right AND how people were saying Batista was the wrong guy to win and should have given to Reigns. I can't recall the last time someone was so pushed to be the next guy to the point of it being obvious and when that happens and the fans KNOW its happening, they revolted. It's just so strange

James

 

[piranesi]

7 hours ago, Patrick B. said:

So we're to the point where people are whining about people whining.

Backlash to the backlash to the backlash!!!!!!