RAW: 18 April 2016 - SPOILERS from London

[(BP)]

I want Jericho to keep getting cheap wins over NXT call-ups and  Indy stars until Joe shows up and murders him. 

[Wyld Samurai]

Nattie is still the best in ring worker that they have not named Asuka. She's been an after thought because she's been around so long but is easily the best person to help build up Charlottesville ring and character wise 

[JohnnyJ]

11 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Nattie is still the best in ring worker that they have not named Asuka. She's been an after thought because she's been around so long but is easily the best person to help build up Charlottesville ring and character wise 

Nattie is one of the most uneven workers in the company. She does a lot of things well but her clotheslines look soft. This is a problem because her finisher is a spinning clothesline. She also doesn't work any bodyparts leading up to the sharpshooter and usually puts it on with no build. It makes her matches feel disjointed. 

[Jamal]

46 minutes ago, muhammedboehm said:

Let's also not forget that with such a deep women's roster they (WWE writers) still can't figure out how to have more then one fued going at the same time. They literally had a random 8 women's match just so they could get Becky and Sasha out in front of the crowed on Raw. 

This has always been a problem when the women's roster gets larger. Wish they would work on this. Hell, even TNA would find a way to weave Knockouts in various storylines to keep them active. Looks like they are trying with the Emma/Becky thing, but not having Emma in this tag match, to keep that going, was a glaring error. 

WWE fans have been taught that these multi-women tag matches are worthless. Usually, because the women would only be given 2-3 minutes with introductions. But I thought there was quality work from all of the women in this one.  

I'm glad that Nattie is getting this opportunity. From all accounts, she's a good presence backstage and has played the thankless role of passed over vet for years, while still being able to put together good matches. I actually wish she would sneak out a win over Charlotte so that she can get another chance with the new title, even if it's short, but I know that the smart money is on Sasha right now. 

[Wyld Samurai]

I would think that eventually they'll have a Womens Tag division. 

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

20 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Nattie is still the best in ring worker that they have not named Asuka. She's been an after thought because she's been around so long but is easily the best person to help build up Charlottesville ring and character wise 

Nattie is wildly overrated by fans.  Like Johnny said, she's inconsistent.  The biggest problem I have with her is she thinks she's some athletic wrestler like Edge, but at times looks like she's completely stopped when doing her running moves. 

I don't have a problem with Sami losing to Jericho via some dirty shit, that's how he'll get his underdog persona over.

I'm also not that upset about Owens losing to Ambrose.  It seems to me that Owens is one of those guys that can always be a threat no matter how many times he loses.  He can instantly go into the main event or put somebody over to get that person into the main event.  And the crowd still buys him as a threat.  And they've managed this in less than one year.

Here's what I think will happen at Payback, spoilered because I'm 74% sure this will happen.

Spoiler

Anderson and Gallows will come to ringside for the title match at Payback.  But instead of helping AJ, they will turn on him.  This will lead to them joining the Roman Empire.  Roman said something last night in his promo (that is mysteriously missing from the WWE Youtube clip) about "We are building the Roman Empire".  Is it possible that WWE Creative is that subtle?

 

[caley]

38 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Nattie is still the best in ring worker that they have not named Asuka. She's been an after thought because she's been around so long but is easily the best person to help build up Charlottesville ring and character wise 

I respectfully disagree.  Nattie has always been one of those wrestlers, to me, who feels like they're play-acting at being a wrestler.  Like Jack Swagger, she's a pretty poor actor whose facial expressions and reactions feel forced, like you can see her mentally saying to herself: okay act upset here, now interact with crowd here.  She works hard, but she's still not great.  Sasha, Becky, Charlotte, Paige, Emma, Tamina, maybe even Summer Rae all carry themselves like wrestlers and come across more believably as people in the middle of an athletic contest than Nattie ever has. 

26 minutes ago, Jamal said:

This has always been a problem when the women's roster gets larger. Wish they would work on this. Hell, even TNA would find a way to weave Knockouts in various storylines to keep them active. Looks like they are trying with the Emma/Becky thing, but not having Emma in this tag match, to keep that going, was a glaring error. 

 

They're getting better at it.  Just last week they had Summer Rae call out Sasha, a bit of a build-up for Emma (Her win on Smackdown), as well as the Nattie-Charlotte stuff.  I mean, it's still not great, but it's better than the pre-WM build where they had a completely nonsensical Team Bad and Blonde alliance for no reason that was never spoken of again after the show was over.

[Dolfan in NYC]

Apparently Lillian got edited because she referred to Big Cass as Colin Cassidy.  

[Craig H]

Rippa has to be surprised or happy at the lack of reaction to Sami losing. I think it was the exact opposite of what he was expecting.

[RIPPA]

Well too be fair - I was shocked the thread was barely 2 pages to begin with when I woke.

I have a feeling that a lot of folks passed on watching since they were able to see the spoilers (including myself)

[Craig H]

An unremarkable Raw feels light years ahead of the shit that came before WM.

[The Nature Boy]

2 hours ago, JohnnyJ said:

Jericho over Zayn was certainly disconcerting. It feels like whenever someone gets called up they just can't help themselves but give the guy a few losses in inconsequential matches. Jericho got his big win over Styles and a win over Zayn doesn't do anything for him. Zayn lost last week to Styles and has yet to do much on the main roster to make the audience think he's anything but a punching bag. I just don't see the logic in not protecting him a little bit.  

Whenever a prominent nxt guy gets a call up, there's an adjustment period where I need to accept the booking is no longer going to be as strong and the wrestler will be a lot less interesting. I'm just as bummed that the through the ropes ddt is an every match spot now. 

Cesaro is over for being Cesaro. He's an excellent performer and over because of it. He has a story that is far more interesting than any character they try to give him. Just let him be himself. 

 

Zayn has been competitive against Styles, Jericho, and Cena. Two of those three are former world champions and the other is the #1 contender for the World Championship. The guy isn't out there jobbing to Heath Slater.

[clintthecrippler]

There's also a part of me that is wondering if Zayn losing is meant to play into the build for the Owens match. Owens keeps harping that Zayn doesn't deserve to be here. All of these losses - in his head - proves his point. A promo next week where he comes out bragging that he beat John Cena on his first night in WWE and Zayn has yet to beat anyone would tie it all together.

But yeah, I doubt the writing staff have put that much thought into this to put that easily digestible narrative together.

[JohnnyJ]

15 minutes ago, The Nature Boy said:

 

Zayn has been competitive against Styles, Jericho, and Cena. Two of those three are former world champions and the other is the #1 contender for the World Championship. The guy isn't out there jobbing to Health Slater.

 

Right. But the only result of Jericho going over is ever so slightly nudging  Zayn down the card. Jericho doesn't benefit from the win. Zayn just went toe to toe with Styles last week and came up short so doing it again against Jericho doesn't improve his stock. 

Nxt is the place where you can have a compelling character who is very competitive but can't quite pull off victories against big opponents. On the main roster, that person is treated like a loser and Ziggler aint letting go of that role anytime soon.  

 

[Patrick B.]

Winz and lossez don't matter.  We're telling storiez, bro.  Let it play out and see where it goes.

[JCM]

I'm way more excited for Emma/Becky than Charlotte/Nattie. Are they really just going to copy the entire history of the women's title in NXT on the main roster? The way it's looking Nattie vs Charlotte with Bret and Ric at ringside followed by Sasha vs Charlotte with Sasha eventually winning the belt looks like a lock. I guess we can expect Bayley taking the title off Sasha and Asuka winning it after that lol.

 

People aren't complaining about Sami losing because he has a character(at least he did in NXT) that uses losses to help get the fans behind him even more. The guy is called the underdog from the underground it wouldn't make sense to have him beating everyone in sight, but they do need to start letting him talk more and give him a chance to connect with the casual fans.

AJ and Roman's promo wasn't too bad. I mean it was nothing special, but it wasn't a disaster or anything and I thought the angle was pretty cool. I'm curious to see how they work that match. If they let Roman control it and get heat on AJ that will be pretty telling, but I'm expecting it to be 50/50 back and forth

[The Nature Boy]

3 minutes ago, JohnnyJ said:

 

Right. But the only result of Jericho going over is ever so slightly nudging  Zayn down the card. Jericho doesn't benefit from the win. Zayn just went toe to toe with Styles last week and came up short so doing it again against Jericho doesn't improve his stock. 

Nxt is the place where you can have a compelling character who is very competitive but can't quite pull off victories against big opponents. On the main roster, that person is treated like a loser and Ziggler aint letting go of that role anytime soon.  

 

He also went toe to toe with Cena and almost won. It's kind of his thing to always come up a bit short in the big matches. It's a character and since no one on the show seems to have one, I'll take it. 

The reaction of this board is such that you would think he was dropping falls to the Social Outcasts on a weekly basis. 

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

Food for thought from Enzo:

Now I'm wondering if Enzo and Cass will go by "Team A Cups"

[Spritenaut 32]

2 hours ago, JohnnyJ said:

 and a win over Zayn doesn't do anything for him. 

They're keeping Jericho string for the next Fozzy tour?

That's all I got.

[Stevie Ray Von Erich]

Jericho has been built up more than a lot of people realize. Ambrose's last program was with Lesnar, and while Ambrose lost their match, Lesnar isn't around so it feels like a de facto win. Putting him with Jericho is logical as both are over and at or near the top of the card. That's why the Sami loss is fine, especially given the eye poke that lead to it. Not to mention his underdog character.

Also, Nattie is fine in the ring, but she is terrible at running the ropes.

[Jrag]

Sami layed off because Jericho couldn't stand in the corner and Jericho poked him in the eye for it.  That's a perfect finish to that match.  I'm not sure why anyone is complaining... and what the hell does semi-clean even mean?  If a poke to the eye isn't dirty I don't know what is.

Like it or not, Jericho has been built up pretty well over the last few months.  With Trips and Steph off TV, it's Jericho and Owens as the top heels (and Reigns kind of, but he is more a tweener).  On top of that, Sami losing competitively is sort of his thing.  Why would you want an underdog face winning all the time?

[Jrag]

Two other thoughts:

1. Corbin continues to be a beast.

2. I want a Bubba/Enzo singles match WAY more than I should.

 

 

[(BP)]

I want to see an Enzo/Cass vs The Dudley's match with more time, and I haven't cared about this Dudley's run at all. That was shaping up to be a really good match. 

[JRGoldman]

2 hours ago, Wyld Samurai said:

Nattie is still the best in ring worker that they have not named Asuka. 

This isn't even an opinion, it's just incorrect. It's like saying Earth is the biggest planet not named Mercury. It's wrong on like, multiple levels. 

Nattie can't structure a match that builds to her finish, routine fails at athletic spots she insists on going to, and has horrifically failed multiple times at simple match finishes. Nattie trying to finish a match without screwing something up is like watching Jon Lester try and throw to first base. I know, wrestling is hard, but she is actively bad at it in a way that even mediocre people like Paige and Summer Rae are not. 

[MonteCarl]

I don't understand the logic behind building to a Owens/Zayn match by having both those guys lose clean in separate matches in the same night.

However, Payback is shaping up to continue the tradition of the PPV following Mania to be better than Mania itself. And is this the first time ever that the show after Mania hasn't included at least one or two rematches from Mania?