Raw - 10/22/2018

[Dolfan in NYC 11,745]

No funny title this week. (or any week Dolfan)  Roman Reigns is going into the battle of his life (thread here), the rest of this seems very trivial, but hey, the show must go on. 

Quite a bit of storytelling going on though.  Looks like Braun turned face. Apollo Crews got his papers back to Dragon's Gate. Holy shit ELIAS~ turned!!!

And Dean has finally had enough of Seth's bullshit. Thank god. 

 

[D.Z 3,012]

Damn.

[Rick 1,559]

whole episode was a roller coaster..  didn't know if I was ready for that ending but holy shit what an execution 

[Peck 3,456]

Regardless of how you feel about the taste of that angle tonight(and I can see both sides), that was a hell of an execution and absolutely PHENOMENAL crowd shots. 

[nofuture 3,209]

i don't think Roman's going to want to stop things on his account.  The show goes on and no better spot to turn Ambrose heel.

[Curt McGirt 6,586]

What was the crap on Seth's nose/Dean's mouth? Did one of them throw up a little?

And yeah, that was a hell of a reaction.

[Nice Guy Eddie 17,060]

I was hoping the Ambrose turn would get scrapped because of Roman's situation. I agree with the fan you could hear saying, "Not tonight, Dean." I guess the Authors of Pain are getting the titles of a dead division soon.

Speaking of not tonight, that DX promo and especially the Undertaker/Kane part should have been scrapped. No, I don't want to watch a fake undertaker in a fake cemetery with two fake headstones when another wrestler announces he has leukemia. 

Constantly bringing up Roman's leukemia was really poor taste. I commend Paul E. for being able to go out there. You can tell he was bawling his eyes out. They were red as hell.

[hammerva 3,200]

When you watch the Shield during the end of the Roman Reigns announcement they are all very emotional and Dean is kind of distance looking.   Even on the hug.    Just chalked it up to Dean being Dean.    Well that was wrong 

[FlaeBlazer 227]

I know everybody is loving that turn but in the hypothetical scenario, god forbid that Roman doesn’t pull through or at least never wrestles again, that segment will look REALLY BAD. It’s one thing if Roman got an injury where he’d be out for a while and I’d be fine with it. But cancer is a whole different animal. When a man’s life is legitimately on the line, I’m not okay with using that for heat.

[West Newbury Bad Boy 6,717]

They did a fantastic job pivoting and thrusting story forward tonight.

Anyone but Brock please. 

[Swiftian 1,151]

Really weird show. I personally didn't think it was the right night for the Ambrose turn, but it's wrestling and there's always been an element of exploitation there. The crowd reaction to it was stunning and probably justified them doing it now to be honest. They likely wouldn't have got a better reaction at any other point down the line.

[D.Z 3,012]

I cannot wait for Brock's next run with the title. 

[Craig H 8,876]

Man, despite the really sad opening, that was a hell of an episode of Raw.

[The Green Meanie 1,579]

Does this episode tie the record for number of turns?

Also, was Dean's really a heel turn?

[West Newbury Bad Boy 6,717]

3 minutes ago, The Green Meanie said:

Also, was Dean's really a heel turn?

Does this need to happen every time somebody turns heel? 

[brandonr4s 252]

The turn was done brilliantly.

I genuinely feel sorry for Joe Anoa'i.

Nothing more to add.

[odessasteps 10,037]

4 minutes ago, The Green Meanie said:

Does this episode tie the record for number of turns?

One would expect a show booked by Russo would have the record. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 17,060]

1 minute ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

Does this need to happen every time somebody turns heel? 

Apparently, it does.

[The Green Meanie 1,579]

8 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

Does this need to happen every time somebody turns heel? 

 

5 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Apparently, it does.

I think part of the issue is that these days heel/face turns aren't as well defined as they used to be. I blame the introduction of tweeners.

[piranesi 15,255]

The only thing that bugged me about the WWE using roman's promo over and over was that segment where they were bragging about all the "twitter buzz." Maybe they were trying to say a lot of people care about Roman, but it came off like clueless promotion of the brand like this guy's health struggles are a viral sensation for the brand!

[Casey 3,930]

Why is Dean so mad? Because Rollins replaced him so fast when he got injured? I’m pretty sure that’s Kurt Angle’s fault.

[Nice Guy Eddie 17,060]

They made amends last year. I suspect the turn would have happened last year if Ambrose didn't get injured. 

I want to know what Seth said that set him off so bad.

[Nice Guy Eddie 17,060]

He's going to turn on you guys for the double posting.

If anything, Dean should have beat the shit out of Kurt Angle, then track down Jason Jordan and beat the shit out of him.

[Rick 1,559]

I've been waiting for Dean to turn heel and the inevitable feud with Seth but I hope to god they don't exploit Roman's illness. I think that'd actually make me stop watching. I have a thick skin, you have to watching this stupid shit every week but that would be the last straw. I'm already 90% tuned out anyway. 

[piranesi 15,255]

I think what deserves as much or more credit than how the turn was set up is how good Dean is at playing the emotions of someone who is turning because he is genuinely a dangerously unstable person and because of that it's believable and even a little frightening in a real-world way if you've ever been friends with someone like that.

It also goes to credit how much genuine emotion they managed to build into the shield over the years. But so much of that also goes to Dean for playing up this crazed amount of deluded loyalty he has that is at once childish and a little scary.