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Raw 4-13-15


MGFanJay

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this show outside of Ziggler/Neville really bugged me. I love that RKO but I don't like the tag champs dropping a handicap match even if it's against the #1 contender.

They've completely made the IC title irrelevant once again and didn't even use Bryan in a match.

The biggest shock was the Naomi heel turn but I don't really get it at all. Or really care. It should have been Charlotte's spot

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The Usos have been off TV since Mania because Jey is hurt, and Jimmy is getting some deserved time off.  So while they're gone, why not give Naomi a personality other than "Jimmy's girl and The Usos' cheerleader'?  And her promo and explanation for what she did were perfect.  Tossing off her cut off Usos shirt after the beatdown was a nice touch

 

Well, why couldn't she do it as a face? Nikki could do with another opponent instead of Paige for what seems like the 50th time. Hell, I like Paige well enough, but it's not like she can't afford to be the main focus of the Divas for a couple of months.

 

 

Because this is more interesting?  Now you've got 3 women who all have issues with each other.  And what Naomi did was heelish, but her promo afterwards made her justified and you couldn't disagree with anything she said, which is the best kind of heel

 

Also on the Diva battle royale, I was glad to see Emma look good and get some cool shine spots out there.  They're rebuilding her on NXT with a gradual heel turn....hope that carries over to the main roster because she's a talented wrestler

 

I thought the show as a whole was really really good.  Lots of wrestling, and the angles were good, and for the most part everything made sense.  The Orton/Seth/Kane stuff was one of those Attitude Era show long builds with various twists and turns in a good way.  The Kane/Seth 'match' was compelling.  Reigns had one of his best promos, and a great beatdown angle by Show.  Also a great setup for the Russian Chain match with Rusev and Cena.  Everything on the show had purpose and direction.  I wish RAW could be more like this every week.

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Plus, for all those complaining about why Naomi has to be a heel, remember, WWE tends to write only heel champ/heel #1 contender, face champ/face #1 contender, face's face buddy, crazy face, crazy heel, a bunch of random heels.  Right now they've got heel champ (Nikki), face #1 contender (Paige), no crazies (that one retired, though Alicia was also previously crazy), and the rest are all heels (Summer Rae still wrestles as one, Rosa is by extension of Fandango, Nattie has been booked more or less as one, Cameron, Alicia, Brie are heels, Emma is face but possibly turning heel) or possibly turning heel.  Naomi probably can't play crazy, and wouldn't fit the role of friend of face if she's trying to take her title, so she's obviously the heel.

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Is Rusev a complete idiot?  You can't use chain against a chain type Pokemon.  Cena's leader of the Chain Gang Gym and is impervious to chain (Thanks Mr OOC). If Rusev really wants that US Title Badge back he's going to have to switch elements behind the refs back.  Maybe Lana cosplays as Pikachu and throws Rusev a Russian Taser.

 

In all seriousness though, a 'Russian Chain' match might be the dumbest stip name I've heard in a while.  Is the chain specifically Russian?  Like deadly galvanised Russian steel?  Or are those dastardly Russian's really known for their brutal chain based combat?

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Heck they even brought up Bruno vs. Ivan last night during the broadcast.

 

I enjoy that the WWE now has THREE known couples where the man is the face and the woman is a heel.

 

Someone is projecting...

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Is Rusev a complete idiot?  You can't use chain against a chain type Pokemon.  Cena's leader of the Chain Gang Gym and is impervious to chain (Thanks Mr OOC). If Rusev really wants that US Title Badge back he's going to have to switch elements behind the refs back.  Maybe Lana cosplays as Pikachu and throws Rusev a Russian Taser.

 

In all seriousness though, a 'Russian Chain' match might be the dumbest stip name I've heard in a while.  Is the chain specifically Russian?  Like deadly galvanised Russian steel?  Or are those dastardly Russian's really known for their brutal chain based combat?

 

Hidden inside the chain is a second slightly smaller chain.

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I can get behind heel Naomi too and really liked her promo because everything she said was true. I'm curious to see how she heels up her move set. 

Steals moves from Female Indy Wrestlers? I'm pretty sure Naomi can do the O-Face.

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I thought that Reigns promo was a real regression back to him grinning a bunch and saying stupid forced shit.

 

The show wasn't so bad, but Show//Reigns and Rollins/Kane/Orton are the worst.  Kudos to Rollins for making some, if very little, of that stuff tolerable.

 

The crowd was great.  Cena was great.  Dolph/Neville was fun, although they need to put him in an actual feud before he gets a losing streak/"you were a big fish in a small pond!" gimmick.  I'm glad the Prime Time Players finally mentioned the Puerto Rican bull fighter thing, even if I'm not totally sold on their new schtick.

 

I think we might be back to Smackdown being the better show.

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Still can't believe I flipped over to King Kong on TCM for 15 minutes and missed FOUR matches.

 

Where to start with Neville? It isn't that they're burying him... but they're not protecting him at all, if that makes sense. He really should've come blazing out of the gate with a bunch of wins and then build to the first big loss... now we're two weeks in and he's already on two losses with no wins over anyone not named "Curtis Axel." Really, REALLY dumb use of him.

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I hated that crowd. They were possibly worse than the post-WM gang, and I didn't know that was possible.

 

The Cena/BNB match was solid, but served no purpose other than to put BNB in front of his home crowd.  Rusev's stipulation was supposed to be shocking because chains are seldom used, but knowing that it's a setup to have Cena break out his Doctor of Thuganomics padlock without turning heel--it's just OK.

 

That Divas Royal was awful until it got down to Naomi/Paige.  Naomi's heel turn was a surprise, but really well done.  And her promo gave her actions real meaning.  She's a heel with a purpose, and that's the best kind. 

 

I guess Rosa Mendes will be fired soon.  She got buried on commentary. Everyone laughed at her.  She's no good in the ring, but that seemed harsh.

 

Heavens, I hope all these Bray Wyatt promos pay off in a big way.  They could, if booked right.  Big if, though.

 

Even with the sketchy booking of his character over the years, I like Kane.  He's still in decent shape and I wouldn't mind seeing him in 1-2 matches every year.  But no way on this earth should he be a main player in 2015.  It's just not good business.  It's obvious that he's going to leave/get thrown out of The Authority and move into some sort of feud with Rollins.  Boring.

 

Reigns-Big Show was actually decent.  I thought Reigns' promo was good.  He interacted with the crowd and seemed a lot more comfortable. The obvious problem with all this is that it involved Big Show.  I agree that this would be 100 times better with Luke Harper going against Reigns.

 

Why does Vince and Hayes insist on booking two of their marketable young stars with guys well past their prime who no one really cares about anymore?  It's self-defeating.

 

But at least Reigns and Rollins get used in a somewhat proper context. Ambrose must have pissed off someone, because he's now in 2-minute matches with Adam Rose.  That's just bad.

 

The Ascension is deader than a 100-year-old corpse.

 

Why do they always insist on jerking around the Tag Team Champions?  I can't stand these sort of matches.  What a waste of time.

 

FANDANGO!  I miss seeing him, he's fun.

 

Harper/Ryback was there.  A clear case of two guys being thrown together so they can earn their paychecks.

 

I don't know what to think of Orton.  He's not bad, on the contrary--he's really good.  He and Rollins seem to have decent chemistry. But Orton is an incubus, stealing energy from whatever ring he enters.  He does everything right, but it's so mundane. And the RKO stipulation is DUMB.  They do know Orton has the head punt in his arsenal, right?

 

Neville is the bee's knees, but I can't figure out their big plan for him.  He's working with the bigger names (Rollins, Ziggler) but it's not going to mean anything if he loses continually.

 

It wasn't a terrible show technically speaking.  Just a boring one.  I see sparks of potential, but those sparks are surrounded by a fire of medicority.  The talent is great, but the writing is really vanilla.

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If Rusev can't have an Uncle Ivan, can we have one of Professor Boris Malenko's sons out there putting the chain stip over? He was the master of the Chain Match, after all...

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Neville will be huge with the kids and move a lot of merch to them. My boy sort of fell out of wrestling after Daniel Bryan was injured and gone for a year, but kind of sort of kept up with it through me. He liked Neville in NXT and is super pumped that he's now on RAW. Bryan being back and Neville now being on RAW is sort of pulling him back in to watching more. Get some of those Neville capes made and put that sweet shirt design in kids sizes at the arenas and those will be selling huge.

 

However, yes, he does need to win. As excited as my kid was with Neville being on RAW, he was pissed when he lost to Rollins last week. Wins and losses still do mean something to the kids, and all the flips and cool moves won't matter if they continue to lead to him losing all his matches. He's established now in the handful of matches he's has against the top of the card. Start giving him some showcase wins over Adam Rose and Bo Dallas, move him to some more competitive wins against Stardust and Kofi Kingston, then move him on to his first feud against Luke Harper or Bad News Barrett. That will get him over and keep him over as a solid mid-card act, and then he can trade wins and losses from there.

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Did anyone else catch Barrett's brief homage to Foley? Does the "bang-bang" followed by the running elbow drop off the apron.

Then I think he realized how legit painful that move is to the hip of someone without both the padding and pain tolerance of Mick Foley and limped for a few seconds after.

EDIT: Apparently he's done it before:

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The Neville/Ziggler match this week would have been the perfect time to run a 15 minute time limit draw where they shake hands and talk "respect" after the match. Alas, no matches get time limits, and now I sound like bitter Jim Ross. Shit.

 

Decent show. Cena/Barrett was a great way to start off the show. Not happy with the tag team champs being forced to lose a handicap match. More Ambrose vs Harper makes me happy. I'll be happier when they finally decide they should team up, since they dress the same anyway, and start killing fools.

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