Raw-united, And It Feels So Good. - 3/4/2019

[DreamBroken]

Like others, I was fully expecting the "This is Paul Levesque!" moment with all the Richard Fliehr talk and the "this won't be the character but the man" stuff.

Very happy to see Ronda deliver on his promise to 'beat the shit out of Rebecca Quinn next time she saw her'. Didn't care for Ronda having to turn heel cause of this whole cluster, cause I loved her face work/selling but it should be good regardless. Steph suddenly just removing Vince's 60 day suspension was odd. I'm going to absolutely hate when Charlotte has to lose to one-legged Becky who just got her arms destroyed too. Sad that Bayley beats supposed monster Nia easy and clean while Tamina takes out Sasha in 3 minutes.

Shield stuff was fun, getting the band back together one last time. the Revival have felt more like afterthoughts than ever before since they won the titles. Wouldn't be opposed to switching the titles to Black/Ricochet as they seem like the much hotter act.

[RIShane]

If you trust rumours (always a dangerous game), I get the impression that Vince insisting Becky had to win the Rumble but the match still had to be a triple threat is making the route to it more awkward than it should be.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

1 hour ago, DreamBroken said:

Like others, I was fully expecting the "This is Paul Levesque!" moment with all the Richard Fliehr talk and the "this won't be the character but the man" stuff.

Very happy to see Ronda deliver on his promise to 'beat the shit out of Rebecca Quinn next time she saw her'. Didn't care for Ronda having to turn heel cause of this whole cluster, cause I loved her face work/selling but it should be good regardless. Steph suddenly just removing Vince's 60 day suspension was odd. I'm going to absolutely hate when Charlotte has to lose to one-legged Becky who just got her arms destroyed too. Sad that Bayley beats supposed monster Nia easy and clean while Tamina takes out Sasha in 3 minutes.

Shield stuff was fun, getting the band back together one last time. the Revival have felt more like afterthoughts than ever before since they won the titles. Wouldn't be opposed to switching the titles to Black/Ricochet as they seem like the much hotter act.

Oh yeah, The Revival feel like more of an afterthought now. Their title win was just to pacify them, so they wouldn't complain or ask for their releases. I don't think they actually win another match as long while they're champions. I could see a three way match with them vs. Roode/Gable vs. Ricochet/Aleister at Fastlane, most likely on the pre-show.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Just Dave]

So, I believe Roman’s sickness was legit. Not that I think faking cancer is beneath the WWE, but I don’t think Roman would go for that. I also think Dean Ambrose was legitimately leaving st one point. I DO believe that now Roman will ask Dean to stay with the company on the Raw after ‘Mania, and Dean will agree. That gets Roman more over as a babyface if he gets a fan favorite like Dean to stay.

[Brian Fowler]

That main event segment was just off at every step. And every little piece that didn't work quite right hurt it a little more.

I don't understand this long convoluted story to get to the match Sunday or the Triple Threat at Mania. I don't want the Triple Threat, but it wouldn't have been hard to just go with "Becky won the Rumble, but she shouldn't have been allowed in it. Charlotte was the last official competitor. Blah blah ergo match"

I did think Charlotte was great at subtly selling that she was terrified of this version of Ronda, but still wanted to get her cheap shot in if she could. 

Elias, more and more every week, is becoming the ultimate example of that Bruce Prichard "and then the damn bell had to ring" cliche. 

Corbin is dull as dishwater, Lashley seems lost in WWE's booking, and it's dragging Drew down as well. If that really does end up being the last Shield match, it's very much a "not with a bang" scenario.

[AxB]

5 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Corbin, Lashley, and McIntyre are a black hole of suck.

Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley were both really good as the singles ace in Impact. Baron Corbin is a black hole of suck, and two talented, charismatic wrestlers (and Lio Rush) have been caught in his gravity well.

[Jamal]

Ronda’s turn is probably one of the more justified turns that they’ve done. And honestly, everything she said was right. She’s been nothing but a good sport, while Becky has attacked and ridiculed her and the fans have turned on her. So it was awesome seeing her just let loose. I only wished she had used the crutch on her too but using her bare hands just shows how even more dangerous she is. 

So, who behind the scenes hates the Riott Squad? 

Sasha and Tamina was cool for what we got of it. 

[Just Dave]

Shit. I forgot “Legion of Whom?”

 

and now my wife just suggested “Ménage e Blah.” I’m pissed I didn’t think of that...

Edited March 5, 2019 by just drew

[The Natural]

5 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

That main event segment was just off at every step. And every little piece that didn't work quite right hurt it a little more.

I don't understand this long convoluted story to get to the match Sunday or the Triple Threat at Mania. I don't want the Triple Threat, but it wouldn't have been hard to just go with "Becky won the Rumble, but she shouldn't have been allowed in it. Charlotte was the last official competitor. Blah blah ergo match"

That's an example of WWE messing up the simple.

[hammerva]

Ronda beat down in the exclusive and at the end was so sloppy that it makes you think it was somewhat shootish.  Professional but still make a few hits in there just for reminder.   Even Becky near the end was like "come on is that really the best you are going to give me". 

Also it tells you how awful of a fighter she was that you have Becky with a terrible knee "injury" and I don't believe went after it once.  Either Becky legit has a bad knee and it needs to be protected or Ronda is an idiot.  Given how many bridges Becky did to see the arm bar I am going the latter

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by hammerva

[RIPPA]

I don't know what makes me laugh more about this

A) Making sure the main point is to let everyone know that a McMahon was right

or

B) Rousey's music playing over the whole thing

[Jamal]

31 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I don't know what makes me laugh more about this

A) Making sure the main point is to let everyone know that a McMahon was right

or

B) Rousey's music playing over the whole thing

I kept hoping Ronda would interrupt and beat Stephanie up too. Lol 

[Casey]

The main event angle didn't misfire, for my tastes. It was pretty note-perfect. Becky has two heels to overcome now. But that's the thing - two heels isn't necessary, and it just reeks of WWE wanting Charlotte in the match because REASONS. Imagine all of this build ever since the night after the Royal Rumble, but without Charlotte, especially last night. Becky gets suspended because she won't get her knee checked out, keeps interfering at live events and on TV, beating up people, wanting what's hers. Ronda eventually pleads with Stephanie to do the right thing and make the match happen, she won't, so Ronda gives the title back or whatever unless Stephanie makes the match happen. We get to this week, Stephanie has a change of heart because the cash cow isn't doing business, makes the match. Maybe Becky still has to earn her way back into the main event, facing someone (or maybe even Charlotte) at Fastlane - the winner gets the title match. Ronda beats the piss out of Becky after weeks of Becky attacking her and random wrestlers, blasts the fans on the mic.

I'm just really, really confused as to why we need the triple threat, beyond "hey Ronda Rousey is in the main event of WrestleMania, FIRST EVER WOMEN'S MAIN EVENT! She's facing Ric Flair's daughter, free publicity! Oh and the woman that the fans absolutely love in Becky Lynch is here too, I guess". Sure, this storyline is pretty Becky-centric, but you just know in the lead-up to WrestleMania that the lion's share of the media rounds will be done by Ronda or Charlotte because of their names, and Becky will get stuck doing shit like Sam Roberts' podcast or text interviews on Forbes or something.

[Swift]

8 hours ago, just drew said:

Damn. I thought y’all would’ve liked “Authors of Plain” for Corbin, McIntyre, and Lashley. I also had “Mehvolution,” the “Bore Horsemen,” and “Three Man Bland.”

Good stuff! A lot of the fun of watching wrestling with my son is both of us just punning on everything.

This week Rollins introduced his new Beast Slayer t-shirt, and we surmised that he'd next have a Demon Slayer one, then a Monster Slayer one, and finally all the way down to a Heath Slayer.

Last week, when the Authors of Plain were doubling up tables, one of them became Drew Stack Em Higher.

[NikoBaltimore]

I held off on Raw and stuck with Fire Pro and DVR.  So far today I saw the opening segment which was nice.  Dean joining them seems rushed as this could have been built up for a couple weeks.  But with Fastlane Sunday I get why they had to pull the trigger on it.  But if he is going to stick around then the whole thing seems strange.  Depending on how long he sticks around are they just gonna stay Shield for quite a long time?  Or will they do something dumb and send one of them to SD.  Because if the latter is the case then him sticking around is pointless.

As for the rest of the show it sounds like a lot of FF material but I'm not looking forward to the last segment.  Maybe I'll stick with DVR and Smackdown instead and eventually get around to finishing this.

[Pete]

8 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Charlotte continues to be an afterthought in all this.  RAW after they went off the air. 

As she should be. The money is with Ronda/Becky, not Charlotte.

[Godfrey]

I was into the Ronda turn and the promo was great. It made sense and sometimes that’s all you need. On the other hand, I know they’re trying to tell a story but I think they’ve dropped the ball with Becky since the Rumble. I wanted to see killer Becky Lynch kicking everyone’s ass en route challenging the champ in a battle of titans, not an injured cheap shot artist getting beat up every other week. And the story clearly was a miss since the announcement of the (possible) triple threat was met with a big “Yeah, we know.” Way overthought and the other Raw women should be pissed two SDL wrestlers have been monopolizing their airtime. Oh hey, maybe those are the people whose asses Becky should be kicking.

Sucks the tag title match was a wash but Black and Ricochet nailed those twin poses at the end so that was cool. So much talent in that scene right now, I hope we get to see what they can really do.

Hopefully they’re going somewhere with Ruby Riott? 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

So now that Ronda has turned heel and we don't need Charlotte as the officially designated 'heat magnet' for that match, can she, y'know, fuck off, so we can have the Ronda/Becky match that the majority of people want?

[RIShane]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

I'm just really, really confused as to why we need the triple threat, beyond "hey Ronda Rousey is in the main event of WrestleMania, FIRST EVER WOMEN'S MAIN EVENT! She's facing Ric Flair's daughter, free publicity! Oh and the woman that the fans absolutely love in Becky Lynch is here too, I guess". Sure, this storyline is pretty Becky-centric, but you just know in the lead-up to WrestleMania that the lion's share of the media rounds will be done by Ronda or Charlotte because of their names, and Becky will get stuck doing shit like Sam Roberts' podcast or text interviews on Forbes or something.

Though tastes vary, there's quite a few good reasons for a triple threat. Everything from the three-way nature of the story set up by Survivor Series and TLC (Ronda could have tapped Charlotte clean, but didn't, and Ronda could have just pushed Becky off the ladder, but didn't) to it freeing up Becky/Ronda to use weapons to Ronda's tendency to get rattled by hostile crowds requiring protection to Charlotte's skill set and excellent ring chemistry with both women helping ensure a stronger and more memorable match. Two of the best Mania main events (XX, XXX) were triple-threats, and so were the breakthrough match for WWE women's wrestling (WM32) and the match that set up Becky's character change (Summerslam). And that's even besides the sound logic in setting up two women credentialed as Mania main-eventers rather than only one, given the strong possibility Ronda's leaving after Mania.

On the interviews front, its not as simple as only being about their names. Becky tends to use a kayfabe-heavy interview style (see her last Edge & Christian podcast appearance as proof of this, where annoyingly spends about 85% of it in kayfabe) and talks in ways which are great for wrestling fans who know her character and her backstory but can come off as quite confusing for non-fans. Charlotte has a lot of media experience (she's already been doing the heavy lifting on this front, doing Radio Row before the Superbowl, a series of interviews before Elimination Chamber, as well as biweekly media mornings before SDL) and is good at talking to casual journalists, even gracefully handling non-fan interviewers who got Ric's name wrong (one calling him 'Eric Flair') and accidentally assumed her brother Reid was still alive.  On one level its surprising how relatively little media Becky does at the moment--she's got the booking and the merch of a top star but isn't doing the media or PR work of one yet.

[scatterheart]

Man that HHH promo. Bringing up Reid’s death like that is so fucking unnecessary. You could tell the crowd found that icky too. Terrible Raw this week.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

12 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

 

 

These 2 are the biggest nerds going.  Hard to believe Chad Gable carried them and that  guy he was partners with to good matches.  

[Nice Guy Eddie]

7 hours ago, AxB said:

Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley were both really good as the singles ace in Impact. Baron Corbin is a black hole of suck, and two talented, charismatic wrestlers (and Lio Rush) have been caught in his gravity well.

Drew Galloway's indy run was a lot of fun. I loved his work in Evolve; trying to save Evolve from being swallowed by the machine.

Lashley The Destroyer was awesome in Impact. I liked the EC3 feud and the Eddie Edwards feuds a lot. I could have done without America's Top Team, but even that wasn't as bad as how he's being used now.

Corbin has no redeeming qualities. He's not even a heel you want to see get his ass kicked. I just want him to go far, far away and never come back.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[BobbyWhioux]

12 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Authors of Plain was very good. I'm going to rank them.

1. Authors of Plain

2. Three Man Bland

3. Bore Horsemen

4. Mehvolution

Meh On A Mission

the WhyNot Family

The Natural Born Fillers

Inanity

The Curtain Jerk Mafia

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[MonteCarl]

So just to recap Becky's story from the Rumble until now.

Becky faces Asuka for the SDL Women's title and taps cleanly. She comes out later that night taking Lana's spot in the Rumble and ultimately wins the match and thus a title match at Mania. However, Becky's knee is"injured" so they tell her she has to go "get her knee checked out by WWE doctors" to be cleared for her Mania match. Becky doesn't want to as she's scared the McMahon's will screw her out of what she believes she deserves. She slaps HHH and beats up Stephanie to not have her knee looked at. However, Becky finally does get her knee looked at, apologizes to the McMahons, and is put in the main event match that she won at the Rumble. But then Vince takes her out of the match and replaces her with Charlotte and suspends Becky. Becky keeps coming out and interfering over the next couple of weeks and ultimately gets her knee re-injured. Instead of again needing her to be cleared, they now just say she needs to sign a "hold harmless agreement" and she's all good to go? Why go through 8 weeks of build around her knee to end up here? 

Seems like the underlying angle behind this is that Steph is still pissed at Becky, but brought her back (seemingly against her father's wishes) to save face with the company and fans, and to continue to look like she's trying to help and give the fans what they want, she puts Becky in a match with Charlotte so she can get BACK in the match at Mania. However, she knows Becky is injured and in a weakened state and does not expect Becky to be able to win her match with Charlotte, so the company gets Becky out of the way and they get the match they "really want" with Charlotte/Rousey at Mania. It sounded for a second like Cole was starting to explore this angle on commentary before getting drowned out by what was happening in the ring. But, either way, if you look at each beat of this "story" since the Rumble, it has been very convoluted and unnecessarily complex.