WWE Raw Discussion Thread

[mase]

Yeah pretty shoddy RAW all round to be honest. I knew the Sting buit was gonna be a run-in as soon as it was announced he'd be against the Big Show.

 

[Libertine]

Poor episode, awful crowd.

Cole has the most irritating voice in existence. STINNNGER! SCORPION...! ... SCORPION....! DEATH LOCK!

 

[Christian Slater]

I really liked the Owens and Ryback bit, nice to have continuity and Owens is great on the mic. Ryback was a bit cringy at the start, especially with that Elvis line, but I thought he recovered well and finished off strong.

I'm happy they're sticking with the Ziggler and Rusev angle, it had a bad start but it's getting better.

New Day are still awesome.

I'm not interested in much else they're presenting.

 

[Oaf]

I realised that, leading into Night of Champions, I think that I actually expect every single title to change hands right now. I'm perhaps a bit undecided on the Dudleys and Owens to pick up the tag and US titles, but I'm leaning towards those guys to win rather than New Day and Ryback retain... and I've always seemed to assume that Sting, Cena and Charlotte are due to win. And possibly Sheamus, too/instead...

I get the feeling that we'll see plenty of gold change hands on Sunday.

Now watch everybody retain everything.

 

[Christian Slater]

I realised that, leading into Night of Champions, I think that I actually expect every single title to change hands right now. I'm perhaps a bit undecided on the Dudleys and Owens to pick up the tag and US titles, but I'm leaning towards those guys to win rather than New Day and Ryback retain... and I've always seemed to assume that Sting, Cena and Charlotte are due to win. And possibly Sheamus, too/instead...

I get the feeling that we'll see plenty of gold change hands on Sunday.

Now watch everybody retain everything.

Not impossible by any means, it'd actually be pretty cool.

I expect the New Day to retain through shenanigans, leading to a tag team tables match in the future.

I think Rollins will lose the US title to Cena, to enhance the possibility he'll lose the big one, but he'll retain against Sting.

I could easily see all the others changing, especially the IC title.

 

[kopite]

Xavier Woods playing pink panther on the trombone with Big E creeping up on Darren Young was the funniest thing I've seen on Raw in years!!

I expect New Day to retain, WWE tends to go with the crowd favourite chasing the heel for a bunch of months.

Ryback Owens was awful!! Stop making Ryback talk!! The whole Elvis thing went down like a lead balloon and he just can't do a promo. Luckily Owens was there to make it watchable.

 

[Oaf]

Ryback Owens was awful!! Stop making Ryback talk!! The whole Elvis thing went down like a lead balloon and he just can't do a promo. Luckily Owens was there to make it watchable.

Hm. Sure, the Elvis thing was a bit cringey (though I sort of assumed it was supposed to be) but there was nothing wrong with the rest of what he said. In fact, I quite enjoyed him pointing out the fact that he was given an instant push to the top and fell on his ass, compared to the work Owens has had to do.

 

[Christian Slater]

Hm. Sure, the Elvis thing was a bit cringey (though I sort of assumed it was supposed to be) but there was nothing wrong with the rest of what he said. In fact, I quite enjoyed him pointing out the fact that he was given an instant push to the top and fell on his ass, compared to the work Owens has had to do.

Agreed. It was the anti-Cena promo where Ryback pointed out his good fortune but still managed to point out he'd had adversity. He came across genuinely humble.

 

[Libertine]

Ryback is fine on the mic when he is allowed to be himself. You get the sense they try and script him a bit too much. I remember back in the day when you could clearly see him reading off an autocue backstage, still happens from time to time.

 

[kopite]

I think that's what I didn't like about his promo...Ryback is presented as a badass beast who batters people. Making this monster speak all about his feelings, some self help book, dance like Elvis etc just doesn't click for me. Just let him be himself!

It's like if Brock took the mic and started talking about the love he has for his kids which is why he isn't around much but he still loves the business, reads the bible for inner strength then sings a ballad to show his jokey side...It would be like...what the....

 

[mase]

Not sure why Kane would be masked on Sunday but then not last night on RAW - what was the point of it?

 

[mase]

Although I may have jumped the gun as RAW isn't finished for me yet, maybe it'll play out...

 

[mase]

Yeah, it plays out.

Not sure how I feel about it though...

 

[Stevencc]

"I caught a snake once. I skinned it and drank its blood. It's in a better place now".

 

[Christian Slater]

I enjoyed this Raw. I liked the opening, how it was presented and how it didn't lead to an obvious tag match, playa!

New Day were gold again.

I actually enjoyed Kane for the first time in nearly a decade. I'm not a fan of him getting a prominent role but at least they're giving a story continuity.

Crowd was shit and Cena getting two immediate, clean wins after a loss to anyone is getting really Fucking boring. That goes double for doing it against the champion.Other than that I was entertained.

 

[Libertine]

As much as I'm not interested in Kane vs Rollins, the whole "two sides of Kane" thing is at least a bit more interesting and relatively fresh.

 

[kopite]

For anybody who keeps tabs on TNA, this reminds me so much of a storyline they ran a few years ago with Abyss and his 'brother' Joseph Parks

 

[Stevencc]

For anybody who keeps tabs on TNA, this reminds me so much of a storyline they ran a few years ago with Abyss and his 'brother' Joseph Parks

I thought the same thing actually - it's almost identical.

 

[kopite]

Best thing about Raw tonight was Paige's outburst. About time this three x 3 teams got scrapped and they focused on the title.

 

[mase]

Best thing about Raw tonight was Paige's outburst. About time this three x 3 teams got scrapped and they focused on the title.

This.

 

[Oaf]

Yeah, there was some good stuff to come from Raw. As mentioned, Paiges promo/heel turn can start to make the Divas division interesting again after so much time of just watching 3 teams trading meaningless victories with no long term outcome and while I dreaded this Kane stuff at first, I actually didn't mind it on Raw (though as mentioned, even as somebody who only sort of half ass watched TNA, it did remind me of the Abyss stuff as well ). I actually rate Kane as an actor/performer/speaker so I think he'll keep it interesting. It's just going to be a struggle to remain interested when he steps into the ring...

 

[Luke]

Sin Cara got the action of to a good start botching a move of the ropes, unlike a Sin Cara character to do that!

Wasn't the worst episode in the world, some decent moments.

I'm just hoping New Day are still Champions when Raw hits Manchester in November when I go, they are seriously the best thing going at the moment.

 

[Christian Slater]

It's been reported that Raw hit its lowest rating since '97 on Monday. It's been on a downward slide for a while now, which is why they put Cena back in the main event and have had him decisively beat the champ twice to make sure everyone still knows he's the man. It's not looking good.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

I would not be worried about the Kane thing being a rehash of a TNA story the copy-cat stuff has happened all the time for years since probably the late 80's, the key is of course can they do a decent job with it. Abyss/Parks was a very good storyline for a while, but TNA never could think of a way at all to end the storyline properly or take it to a next stage so that would be WWE's big problem.

Ratings wise is a big worry i've had that worry for 2 years now that i believe myself wrestling will almost not exist in a couple of years but i hope i'm wrong. My worry is that when TNA did its 'Monday night wars' back in January 2010 when really wrestling had its maybe last hype to it, there was 8 million people tuned into wrestling that night over one company or other.........we're now down to about 3.5 million people watching both companies, so 4 and a half million have given up on wrestling.

i just am unsure how or where it can ever come back.

 

[Christian Slater]

It can come back if it's done well. Floating voters aren't going to invest three hours on a Monday to watch really poorly presented television. There's no consistency or logic anymore. Take the fact that Cena has just beaten the champ twice in as many nights, yet Kane, who was a glorified jobber before he was written off, is the number one contender.

Raw is completely unnecessary to watch.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

I wish they'd make it 2 hours again, i don't know how fans can watch 3 hour shows weekly.

 

[Christian Slater]

I agree. It was good as a novelty every now and then but it's a chore permanently. I think it also takes away the special feeling of a PPV, along with the sets being the same for everything bar 'Mania.

The funny thing is I would watch 4 hours of Raw and Smackdown every week because the shows were a continuation of each other and most would end leaving you excited for the next. Now they can't even get Raw to make sense on its own and nothing ever happens.

 

[Leewilson]

WWE is ironically killing itself many years after killing the competition. Wrestling used to be 'special' and I don't say this because I was younger. I think I'd feel the same if I was 26 during the attitude era. It was once or twice a week with short sharp shows and cutting edge storylines. Essentially, WWE have oversaturated their product to cater for the variety of technological advances in recent years but in doing so have lost the soul of the business. Total Divas, Podcasts, Website exclusives, Tough Enough etc. It's too much to be honest and creative just can't cope at all.

3 hour Raws are dire. I don't watch them. I just read the results and playthrough of the show and youtube the best bits the next day. Most of it is filler amongst the 1-2 decent storylines that are advancing but there's even problems with that. Builds have become predictable. You used to tune into Raw or Smackdown to see who was going to get the upper hand in a feud and it genuinely meant something. These days it's just back and forth with the same predictable formula. On the odd occasions they deviate from the script, it's actually entertaining. But 95% of stuff is just rehashed.

The only thing worth watching are the PPVs because you're actually guaranteed decent matches from the talented roster with little filler and you can get behind your favourite.

I don't think I'll go as far as saying that wrestling won't exist in a few years but I think Raws and Smackdowns will eventually end up as online/network shows only for subscribers and your PPVs will be where most casual fans tune in every month for that occasional guilty wrestling pleasure.

 

[kopite]

Reason wrestling viewers are leaving because the adults and teenagers can't be bothered to watch the show anymore. PG is killing it...Attitude era was on the edge and anything could happen. But WWE are so short sighted with Cena merchandise for kids, everything else suffered.

Logic says if you don't get the core product right, you're going to struggle getting them in for all the add ons. Smackdown was a top show in Attitude era not because it was Attitude era but they continued storylines from Raw onto Smackdown. Titles would change hands, mega matches would be made...at one point Smackdown was the number one show when Heyman ran it...But no...Raw has to be number 1 do instead of improving Raw they messed up Smackdown and did everything they could to tell people this is the B show.

It's pathetic how they keep making more and more Monday Night Wars shows...recreate something more watchable for adults instead of showing Medusa drop the women's title in bin, Nash/Hall walking onto Nitro, Austin flooding corporation with beer for the millionth time.

WWE has basically told their loyal fans who made them billions....we are not catering for you anymore but pay some money a month and we'll show you documentaries of the time we did cater for you.

TNA frustrate me so much because at a time when Angle joined them, they had the better roster...and were bringing through guys like AJ, Joe, Roode, Storm etc who were over. But they employ retarded writers, bring in Hogan/Bischoff and give them power and they never recovered.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Reason wrestling viewers are leaving because the adults and teenagers can't be bothered to watch the show anymore. PG is killing it...Attitude era was on the edge and anything could happen. But WWE are so short sighted with Cena merchandise for kids, everything else suffered.

Logic says if you don't get the core product right, you're going to struggle getting them in for all the add ons. Smackdown was a top show in Attitude era not because it was Attitude era but they continued storylines from Raw onto Smackdown. Titles would change hands, mega matches would be made...at one point Smackdown was the number one show when Heyman ran it...But no...Raw has to be number 1 do instead of improving Raw they messed up Smackdown and did everything they could to tell people this is the B show.

It's pathetic how they keep making more and more Monday Night Wars shows...recreate something more watchable for adults instead of showing Medusa drop the women's title in bin, Nash/Hall walking onto Nitro, Austin flooding corporation with beer for the millionth time.

WWE has basically told their loyal fans who made them billions....we are not catering for you anymore but pay some money a month and we'll show you documentaries of the time we did cater for you.

TNA frustrate me so much because at a time when Angle joined them, they had the better roster...and were bringing through guys like AJ, Joe, Roode, Storm etc who were over. But they employ retarded writers, bring in Hogan/Bischoff and give them power and they never recovered.

I do like that line its quite true in a way, but its making them money for now......Still think network isn't viable in the long term as I don't see enough paying all the time, but maybe if what Lee said happened and it all went online which is possible then fans might stick with the payments.

I don't know really, I still think NXT is actually part of the problem, not the solution that WWE fans wish for, but wrestling probably needed a set network of levels to develop wrestlers than they played the indies, then went to TNA for first TV learning, then into WWE when developed....now while NXT fills that void of indie to TV it loses all the individuality that is what makes wrestling good, WWE built Rosters have never worked and its key things are when Wrestlers were mixed from WWE built to NWA/WCW/ECW/Japan/England backgrounds.

I do find it sad though that WWe does at least seem to be trying to do the right things at present in pushing a younger, fresher roster but damage seems to eb done elsewhere to not let it work.