RAW - 10/10/2016

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Trade the cruisers, Neville, Sami, and Cesaro to SD for Orton, Kane, Mr. & Mrs. Miz

[Spritenaut 32]

5 hours ago, NickMD said:

Supposedly they started gaining weight because he wanted them to be bigger. 

Now I'm picturing the cruiserweights sitting together at the table and stuffing their faces with food because Vince told them all to gain 20 pounds  Lol.

[Go2Sleep]

The best part of this show was Michael Cole slapping down Corey's sexist concern trolling about Sasha and Charlotte being in the cell.

I'm not really sure how people think the women's revolution hasn't accomplished anything. No matter how watered down you think the HIAC gimmick is, there isn't a single women's feud in WWE history that's even been close to getting that level of respect from the company. Women have produced top-10-level matches company wide two years in a row now. There are two women's divisions now headed by champions who are way over based largely on their work inside the ring. I know it hasn't turned into AJW yet, but come on. I think people have forgotten what the women's division looked like 3 years ago, let alone 13 years ago.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I might be forgetting some but 2016 might actually have been a better year than 2015.

 

2015:

Charlotte/Becky/Bayley/Sasha  Fatal 4 way

Bayley vs. Sasha NXT Brooklyn

Sasha vs. Becky

Bayley vs. Sasha Iron Man Match

Bayley vs. Nia Jax

Asuka vs. Emma

Sasha vs. Naomi

 

2016:

Bayley vs. Nia Jax II

Bayley vs. Asuka I

Sasha vs. Charlotte RAW

Bayley vs. Asuka II

Sasha/Becky/Charlotte WrestleMania

Bayley vs. Charlotte RAW

Sasha vs. Charlotte SummerSlam

Sasha vs. Charlotte RAW II

Sasha/Bayley/Charlotte  COTC

Backlash 6 Pack Challenge

[Charlie M.]

26 minutes ago, Go2Sleep said:

The best part of this show was Michael Cole slapping down Corey's sexist concern trolling about Sasha and Charlotte being in the cell.

I'm not really sure how people think the women's revolution hasn't accomplished anything. No matter how watered down you think the HIAC gimmick is, there isn't a single women's feud in WWE history that's even been close to getting that level of respect from the company. Women have produced top-10-level matches company wide two years in a row now. There are two women's divisions now headed by champions who are way over based largely on their work inside the ring. I know it hasn't turned into AJW yet, but come on. I think people have forgotten what the women's division looked like 3 years ago, let alone 13 years ago.

I would agree with this but it's mainly because of the talent involved. They've slowly but surely raised the bar to the point where how good you are in the ring is at least part of the conversation when WWE is picking which women to push.

It's probably not where it should be but they used to just pick who was going to be in the PPV match based on whatever was happening on Total Divas.

[Beech27]

My argument--which probably isn't clear at all--is that the revolution angle itself was poorly written; and to the extent that they keep pushing it by name, it detracts from the division's quality. To me, the on-screen revolution angle is different from the very real change that's taken place in how the women are presented. Which is to say, there has been immense progress regarding opportunities and what the talent has done with them. I just wish the cell, for instance, was introduced because the feud deserves it, not because Sasha is written, again and again, to view everything as an opportunity to put the division over. Smackdown has done a much better job of this. Everyone has an angle, and the title is worth fighting for because of personal motivations, unique to each individual. I just wish raw would fully transition to that paradigm--let the talent be revolutionary without telling us all the time that it is, or making them cut promos about it. 

[NikoBaltimore]

If they introduced the cell match like they're soon introducing a No-DQ match for Carmella/Nikki it would be worlds better.  Whenever they announce that match it will be organic because of the feud going on between them and it calls for it.  I'm happy that Sasha/Charlotte are making history and everything, but I wish it was introduced a better way.

[Sublime]

I didn't think any of us where saying that the women's "revolution" is a failure or anything. The main roster women are in a much better place than they were even two years ago. It's mainly that the way that WWE writes and pushes the "revolution" as the main reason for the women on RAW, it detracts from what happens in the ring to a point. The first six months or so of the revolution wasn't doing much for most of the crowd either, especially when Nikki left as she was the most established woman on the roster at the time, but Sasha, Charlotte and Becky did what they did in NXT and got things over in the ring (I'm not trying to discount the other women they all had a part in the advancement but the Mania match was a big deal in really changing the perception of women's wrestling to the masses). And now we're at a point where the women can be booked in real feuds with real characters and given real time for their matches Smackdown just does it way better than Raw. Sasha/Charlotte has been good but it has seemed slapped together with no long term thought or direction, hey just like most of RAW.

[Greggulator]

They had a pretty clear direction that got mixed up because of Sasha's injury. That required a bit of a rewrite that's totally forgivable.

But the plot is pretty simple. Charlotte keeps on sleazing her way to keeping the title. Sasha is the people's champ and has to jump through the hoops Charlotte sets up to get her shot. And now they have a blow-off. 

Pretty clear direction, and they also have "Charlotte doesn't lose on PPV" thing they probably stumbled into once they had to flip the title back. Just another added stake to a feud.

Them pushing the "revolution" might get a little ham-fisted. But the WWE is trying to market a product. That comes with tag lines  and the like. It's branding and just a fact of life in the modern world.