WWE Raw 9-23-13

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah, pure raw evil Steph is so incredibly good compared to... uh, every version of Steph ever. 

[brandonr4s]

I think we're all in agreement that RVD is terrible, right? It's like he doesn't even understand what wrestling is. He's a very athletic guy with Gumby like flexibility, but not a good pro wrestler.

[Brian Fowler]

"When there's a radio show that wants an interview too early in the morning, well we send them The Miz...

 

and when there's a local supermarket that's opening that needs that extra special promotion...well, Miz, you are our guy!"

 

Come on, that was better than the punch. 

 

But not quite as good as the Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift card.

[RonL21]

Notice how Reigns only did the job for a fellow Samoan.

 

His backstage politics are out of control.

 

Aren't the Usos his Cousins?  I forgot who's son Reigns is.

[J.T.]

 

Notice how Reigns only did the job for a fellow Samoan.

 

His backstage politics are out of control.

 

Aren't the Usos his Cousins?  I forgot who's son Reigns is.

 

 

He's Sika's kid and yeah, the Usos are his cousins.  Matt aka Rosey is his older brother.

[Territorial]

Was it just me or did it seem like they were turning the app heel during Steph/HHH's promo?

 

Like it was a planned "booooooo" line.

 

On the Raw after the PPV, they're going to reveal that the app is really the laptop gm in a mask.

[Reed]

The full McMahon/Levesque wedding apparently being on there guarantees that Triple H's new DVD will be scarier than Insidious, The Exorcist and The Shining combined. Teenage girls will put it on at slumber parties and scream the place down; Wes Craven will look into buying franchise rights. Strict middle-east countries will have it banned.

[Greggulator]

 

For a match filled with logic flaws, that main was pretty fun.  Though RVD selling that thrashing by Orton earlier with taped ribs doing the rolling thunder is grade a retarded.

 

 

 

Didn't he miss the Rolling Thunder, tho? I thought he whiffed on that and then ate the headlock driver.

[Brian Fowler]

I want the Triple H blu-ray for the fact that Taker is in the documentary.

 

I sincerely hope we get a serious Daniel Bryan blu-ray release soonish.

[Reed]

Yeah, pure raw evil Steph is so incredibly good compared to... uh, every version of Steph ever. 

 

Stephanie really can make your skin crawl in a way even Vince never could.

[piranesi]

If only that punch from Show were real....

 

Dean Ambrose can cut a fucking promo. He's got a little Jake Roberts in him.

 

For some reason this moment cracked me up:

 

Ambrose:  "And what happens when our back is against the wall?"

Rollings: "Oh, I don't know, we revolutionize the entire industry!"

 

I'm not actually sure I see the connection, but he said it with such conviction and pride, that those lines ended up sounding like a couple of drunk google guys bragging at a bar in Palo Alto to some girls who really just want to know who's got stock options.

[Just Dave]

To add to his prestigious pedigree, he (Reigns), was also one of my lab group members in Organic Chem....

[Phantom Lord]

You have to admire the WWE if they professionally filmed the wedding for the use in a DVD release someday. In this day and age, it's amazing the marriage has lasted this long.

 

The show was pretty boring in parts. I found rerun of the Royal Pudding episode of South Park (as is with tradition) to be way better than some of the parts of this show. I did like how Triple H and Stephanie were trying to stop the mutiny from the lower ranking men of the locker room. But just looking all those guys you could count off in order who was going down.

 

The Punk/Heyman confrontation and brawl was fun. But man, Ryback is really going to kill someone someday. That press slam into the table was absolutley nasty. Punk looked like he took all of it right on his right kidney or hip. For a guy who doesn't even take asprin, he's gonna be in a world of hurt.

 

The Rhodes brothers attacking The Shield was so awesome. It would have been a billion times better if they were wearing masks. Goldust being in make up was awesome though. If this is one step closer to a Rhodes/Shield bunkhouse match I am all for it.

 

The main event was good and it was helped by a red hot crowd. The Roman Reigns Spear A Thon was great. I did love the brief standoff between him and Pancake Patterson. If they don't screw up O'Neil, he's gonna be a star for them. That might be a match I want to see someday.

 

So with Randy Orton doing his best serial killer impression to Brie Bella, is it a given we'll see Bryan "get hurt" or maybe even Orton giving Brie the Stephanie treatment with a DDT and a kiss (I guess they could get away with that on a PPV). Overall a fun show when the crowd cared.

[Overly Critical Man]

 

So with Randy Orton doing his best serial killer impression to Brie Bella, is it a given we'll see Bryan "get hurt" or maybe even Orton giving Brie the Stephanie treatment with a DDT and a kiss (I guess they could get away with that on a PPV). Overall a fun show when the crowd cared.

This made me want to see Randy get confused and accidentally grab Nikki instead, leading to a perfect lead-in to Orton vs Cena part 2309849230849

[piranesi]

This whole show was very fustrating.

 

Was anyone else feeling fustrated?

 

I get that it's fustrating, but we have to work through the fustration.

 

 

 

 

 

Can someone please explain that word to him?

[Reed]

 

That press slam into the table was absolutley nasty. Punk looked like he took all of it right on his right kidney or hip. For a guy who doesn't even take asprin, he's gonna be in a world of hurt.

 

How Punk can still get function and get through days may be a miracle of modern medicine.

 

I mean, Lance Storm never touched painkillers either. But at least he was smart enough not to frigging kill himself every week and make his life even more difficult.

[Overly Critical Man]

 

 

That press slam into the table was absolutley nasty. Punk looked like he took all of it right on his right kidney or hip. For a guy who doesn't even take asprin, he's gonna be in a world of hurt.

 

How Punk can still get function and get through days may be a miracle of modern medicine.

 

I mean, Lance Storm never touched painkillers either. But at least he was smart enough not to frigging kill himself every week and make his life even more difficult.

 

Yeah, but being Lance Storm must be its own special brand of pain.

[LooseCannon]

 

 

 

Notice how Reigns only did the job for a fellow Samoan.

 

His backstage politics are out of control.

 

Aren't the Usos his Cousins?  I forgot who's son Reigns is.

 

 

He's Sika's kid and yeah, the Usos are his cousins.  Matt aka Rosey is his older brother.

 

 

What is Rosey up to? Any chance he can come back to help "even the odds" for HHH?

 

 

He's 43 and seems to be running a restaurant called Island Boi BBQ located in Milford (hey, I know where that is!).  Obviously, we need a trip report from a forum regular in the Cincinnati area.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

THIS IS CHICAGO AND WHEN WE'RE DOWN THREE TO ONE, WE FIGHT BACK AND...

 

 

Oops. Did he mention anything about Chicago having great fans?

 

 

Or anything about them being loyal?

 

[DreamBroken]

Fun main event, Roman Reigns rules. Really liked the Punk segment and the Rhodes ambush was great. Alberto/Kofi was pretty good too.

[jstout]

 I found rerun of the Royal Pudding episode of South Park (as is with tradition) to be way better than some of the parts of this show.

To be fair, that was a top-shelf episode of South Park.

[kafkonia]

 

 

 

That press slam into the table was absolutley nasty. Punk looked like he took all of it right on his right kidney or hip. For a guy who doesn't even take asprin, he's gonna be in a world of hurt.

 

How Punk can still get function and get through days may be a miracle of modern medicine.

 

I mean, Lance Storm never touched painkillers either. But at least he was smart enough not to frigging kill himself every week and make his life even more difficult.

 

Yeah, but being Lance Storm must be its own special brand of pain.

 

Lance Storm doesn't have feelings. Feelings are a human concept.

[tigertooth]

On fire. Another great show. I missed a few parts because of dog walking duties but they're on fire right now.

 

I loved HHH trying to break up the alliance. That was why there was an 11-on-3 match. The Shield are united and will never be divided. HHH was trying a divide and conquer strategy that backfired on him. The face locker room is 100% behind Daniel Bryan right now. He thought there would be division and played his hand wrong.

 

Totally agree that HHH was trying to break them up, but putting them on the same team with an overwhelming advantage is a very odd way to sow dissension. 

 

I want to split you apart, so here's a common goal you can easily achieve.  Get to it! 

[APO]

Eh, it's easy to explain, though. HHH is kinda playing the long game with the lower-tier faces and the first thing he needed to do was plant the idea in their heads that Bryan's a selfish asshole who's just looking out for himself, doesn't give a damn about them, and is just using them to further his own goals. Sure, they won't believe it coming from Hunter because he's a known scumbag, but Bryan directing the remaining members of the team/getting the final pinfall/being the only one left celebrating will be what starts the seeds of doubt growing. Feeding the Shield to the team is a necessary sacrifice and Hunter's all about the manipulation, so he probably told 'em whatever they wanted to hear to get them to go through with it like with Scott Armstrong and the fast count/forced resignation.

 

Granted, this would work so much better if there wasn't a PPV in two weeks, but maybe you can chalk that up to HHH and Steph having faith that Randy won't fuck up this time.

[MORELOCK]

Don't know where the RVD hate is coming from, I thought him selling his arm on that back cartwheel was a nice touch.

 

Did Rollins legit knock Darren Young out? He had trouble getting him into pin position and it looked like his shin came right down on the neck/face.

 

Harper's beard having bits of grey in it makes him seem like much more of a dangerous backwoods motherfucker.

 

Steph, as others mentioned, has been gold, but I still don't get the point of her towering over/intimidating AJ, who, despite confusion, still seems to be portrayed as a heel.

 

Is "abeyance" the new WWE buzzword? I don't recall hearing "vacant" one time.

 

Serious Miz is much, much more likable than jokey Jericho Miz and he should have been portrayed this way from the initial face turn.

 

Where's Kaitlyn?

 

Superpunk being able to fight off both Ryback and Axel doesn't really sell that PPV match to me at all, and a completely unsurprised Michael Cole yelling "IN HIS HOMETOWN!!!!" as Ryback botched the table throw just took me entirely out of the segment.

 

Why is WWE still running 13 PPVs a year? Everything about Battleground looks thrown together, I can't imagine they do that much better with NoC/Battleground/HiaC than they would with a well-built NoC and HiaC.