Jackpot

KOTR 95 is the year of the manager.

 

Savio Vega w/ Razor Ramon.

Yokozuna w/ Mr Fuji

The Roadie w/ Jeff Jarrett

Kama w/ Ted Di Biase

Mable w/ Mo

Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer

 

The coronation of Mable is worth watching just to see him get twatted on the head from something thrown by the crowd. Clocks him right off the head and the whole crowd cheers.

Just been watching the 95 King of the Ring.

 

Dok Hendricks during the Mable/Taker match "if this match ends in a time limit draw then the King of the Ring will be the winner of the Savio Vega, Roadie match" Now that's a top tier winner of the tournament right there!

After the Undertaker, is Carlos Cabrera the longest serving employee currently with WWE? He's been with the company since 1993!

 

He's my outside pick for the 2017 Hall of Fame.

Rusev wipes Reigns out before the show starts. Foley says he'll give it until the last minute to see if Reigns can compete. 

 

Owens, Rollins and Cass are all standing in the ring as Foley makes his way out telling us that the doctors will not clear Reigns to compete but it will still be a Fatal 4 Way with a Samoan in it. 

 

Welcome, Samoa Joe!

I'd love Owens to win the title and Jericho to piggy back it as his own, a bit like Christian on Edge's KOTR victory. But obviously it's gonna be Rollins, again.

I don't think Demolition are a factor in New Day's reign. The lineage of the belts they hold only goes back to 2002, they will now be referred to as the longest reigning tag champs, previously commentators were giving that credit to London & Kendrick

Demolition got mentioned at SummerSlam for being the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history. 

The fella on the left is Diego Costa's brother

Did they use to film any of the old RAWs in front of a green screen audience? Watching RAW 109 on the network (May 1st 95) with King and Vince on commentary and it just doesn't look like the fans behind them are really there. Looks like they have just been projected on a screen.

The best of seven series starting at SummerSlam seems a bit daft, given Cesaro has already beat Sheamus twice in the past couple of weeks. So it is effectively a best of nine. Just to really cheer those up who are already dreading it. 

 

Rusev/Reigns and Balor as the Demon should both have been saved for SummerSlam itself. Although, is this an opportunity for them to get Lana and Rusev away from each other? Rusev couldn't beat Reigns when defending Lana's honour but he could when the US Title is on the line - basically trying to say Rusev cares more about the US Title than he does his wife.

 

Big Show planning to retire some time next year.

 

Is it too simple to say he'll get beat by Shaq at WrestleMania and retire out of embarrassment? 

 

For All he has done I would hope he would end a 20 year Career on a bit of a higher note then being Embarrased at a loss to a former Basetball player, I know he gets a bit of stick around places but he deserves a better send off then that

 

I agree but would still like him to lose to Shaq, just not retire because of it.

 

Have people laugh at him for getting beat by an ex basketball player and that in turn makes him want to prove he can still hack it with the best. So he goes on a tear through the RAW roster from WrestleMania to say SummerSlam, where he finally wins the Universal Title. Then, the following night, have him retire on top of the world. His debut match in WCW he won the belt, his final match in WWE he won the belt. And then set up a tournament to crown the new RAW champion.

Big Show planning to retire some time next year.

 

Is it too simple to say he'll get beat by Shaq at WrestleMania and retire out of embarrassment? 

Vince is 71 in just under two weeks and just after that will be his and Linda's 50th wedding anniversary. 

 

Time to call it a day Vinny.

Pleased they didn't have Puff Daddy come and save New Day. They usually put over non-wrestlers far too much against their own stars, so that was a good point. Anderson and Gallows to take the titles at SummerSlam with Big E out injured, leading to him getting a paddy on when he returns and New Day splitting up?

 

I could see them going for a Fatal 4 Way for the US Title now. Keep the belt on Rusev without Reigns having to take the fall.

 

Whoever coined the phrase JeriKO is boss. They could be a really fun team to watch and hopefully they have a sustained run together.

 

Are leather jackets the thing to wear again in the world of wrestling? Ambrose has been wearing his for a while but now Finn, and this week Charlotte, are getting in on the act. 

Are they trying to get more "attitude"? It seems like a lot of the jokes were of a sexual reference. As well as Lesnar saying fuck, shit and flipping the bird with Orton claiming to be "pissed off". 

Have him cost Lesnar his match against Orton at SummerSlam and let them two go at it in a UFC match at WrestleMania

Let Rusev kick shit out of Reigns after the match, keep him off telly for a few months and bring him back as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble where he eliminates Rusev before being tossed over by three or four of the SmackDown lot.

 

His feud with Rusev culminates in him winning the US Title in his home-state of Florida at WrestleMania 33.

Rusev should win, it'd do both him and the US Title the world of good to go over a man who's held the WWE Title 3 times in the past 12 months. I really hope they don't go down the route of Reigns defending America though just to try and finally get him some cheers.

One little thing I was happy with was Balor not having to wrestle. It was an issue I brought up after last week on who they could throw him in the ring with now that would benefit him so thankfully they didn't just give him a throwaway match that does nothing. 

Enzo & Cass against Owens and Jericho at SummerSlam then? I am looking forward to how Owens and Jericho work as a pairing. 

 

Overall, RAW was another belting show. They seem to have put a real effort into making this "New Era" work.

 

It raises the question of what to do with Balor between now and SummerSlam.

 

 

Do you really want him to be going over the Zayn/Reigns/Rusev for the next few weeks, which will give him credibility but halt their momentum when they need to be building them up as well. Do you give him victories over the next to nothing lot like Dallas/Axel/Sin Cara, which gives increases his momentum but doesn't do a lot for his credibility given he's just beaten Reigns. Do you simply keep him away from the ring for the next few weeks but keep on the show. Or do you go the tried and tested way of putting on great wrestling matches with people with no direction whatsoever at this point with the likes of Jericho/Cesaro/Owens where he'll be made to look great.

 

 

I don't know why you'd have to pick only one of those directions. Mix everything up and I think you'd get all the benefits with little or none of the drawbacks. Maybe next week have play a short clip of Finn's great Raw, really brief backstage interview to get a reaction then have him squash Sin Cara in a short but acrobatic match. The week after, run a Balor hype vid and don't have him wrestle, perhaps run a Rollins/Balor angle. Then run a episode long mini feud with Jericho where Balor wins in the main event. Remember the good old days when Raw had episode long story arcs? We had a more wrestling based version of that with the fatal 4 ways + main event this week, but all the things I listed are ways to keep Balor on the show and fresh without burning through all the great matches without reason. You want to save them for PPVs as much as possible.

 

Finn gets nothing out of a match against somebody like Sin Cara though. When you've just pinned the US champ and former 3 time world champion on the same night, a win over somebody on Sin Cara's level gives you nothing. And an acrobatic match just gives him a higher possibility of injury in a match he doesn't need.

 

I expect him to face off against Cesaro at least once between now and SummerSlam because that's who they tend to put everybody with in order to make them look as good as possible. And if Sheamus was still running with his problems against the New Era stars, then that could be an episode long feud for him. Maybe a contract signing on the go-home show after they unveil the new title .

 

 

Also call ups aside it's quite amazing to think they've done one of the most watchable three hour Raws ever with half the available guys. Cut your roster in half and do a show that still blitzes most other things this year and it's all because you were simply arsed. Which is the only real problem WWE have ever had, really. They can make chicken salad out of any period of PR disasters, injury plagues or creative slumps that they want. We all know the pattern.

 

And even then, there were about 10-15 wrestlers drafted who didn't make it onto the show in any real meaningful way.

 

So it's cut the roster in half, then half it again and produce their best show in god knows how long. 

 

 

For the bit in bold, I really like this. They could certainly use this approach to prevent over-exposure of the undercard. Absolutely have Strowman destroy these skinny dudes on a weekly basis, but perhaps next week have Neville against Bo Dallas or someone else. Give Axel the week off and have him fill another match the week after against anyone but the "usual guys."

 

It raises the question of what to do with Balor between now and SummerSlam.

 

Do you really want him to be going over the Zayn/Reigns/Rusev for the next few weeks, which will give him credibility but halt their momentum when they need to be building them up as well. Do you give him victories over the next to nothing lot like Dallas/Axel/Sin Cara, which gives increases his momentum but doesn't do a lot for his credibility given he's just beaten Reigns. Do you simply keep him away from the ring for the next few weeks but keep on the show. Or do you go the tried and tested way of putting on great wrestling matches with people with no direction whatsoever at this point with the likes of Jericho/Cesaro/Owens where he'll be made to look great.

Also call ups aside it's quite amazing to think they've done one of the most watchable three hour Raws ever with half the available guys. Cut your roster in half and do a show that still blitzes most other things this year and it's all because you were simply arsed. Which is the only real problem WWE have ever had, really. They can make chicken salad out of any period of PR disasters, injury plagues or creative slumps that they want. We all know the pattern.

 

And even then, there were about 10-15 wrestlers drafted who didn't make it onto the show in any real meaningful way.

 

So it's cut the roster in half, then half it again and produce their best show in god knows how long. 

Very, very enjoyable RAW.

 

I did think pushing the New Era and then having a match with Sheamus and Jericho in for their new Universal Title opportunity was a bit off though. Not sure who they could have replaced them with mind as Neville and Strowman were both given matches to help build them back up.

 

 

Was great to see Balor go over, him and Rollins is guaranteed to deliver excellence.

 

Nia Jax and Strowman's squashes did the job they were destined to. Even getting Strowman's opponent to speak before the match was a nice little touch.

 

Sasha and Charlotte delivered again. I like that it was on RAW, gives it the feel again that big title changes will happen on the show in the weeks/months to come to keep fans tuning in. Saying that, I can understand the sentiment to those wanting it kept until SummerSlam.

 

"The Irrelevant" Curtis Axel got a laugh out of me. As did the little segments with the Golden Truth throughout the show - despite not having the faintest interest in Pokemongo. Their involvement in the Shining Stars/Enzo &Cass was enjoyable.

 

Anderson and Gallows' attack on the New Day was very similar to the way they took out the Uso's on their debut. That's the side of them I want to see more of.

 

New set, logo and position of the commentary team gives it all a new feel. Promising start.

Ultimate Warrior, Stone Cold, a ref and British Bulldog fancy dress all at the England/Pakistan cricket game today.