15/08 RAW Discussion Thread

[ozzfan]

I laughed so hard I hurt my stomach when Otunga and McgilliHenning came out to that awful new music, with those ridiculous new looks. Velour tracksuits and doo-rags? Brilliant.

 

Actually, that wasn't a doo-rag, that was a backwards baseball cap. Like, woah man, so uber cool dude.

[Swift89]

Edit.

[Reznor]

Didn't really enjoy it at all.

 

Rey/Alberto wasn't up to much, but Rey was almost on one leg, so it was a fair effort considering. Hope it's nothing serious. And Punk/Nash was mildly entertaining, thanks to Punk.

 

The Cena thing was pretty ridiculous imo. There's plenty of things that happen in the WWE world which are as dastardly and heinous as what Alberto done, but you don't see Cena losing it and bursting blood vessels with rage at all them. It was a pretty weak reason to kick off a feud. It was all a bit over the top and disproportionate, you'd expect that kind of rage midway through a big feud that had gotten personal. Still quite glad they appear to be feuding though, hopefully there's a bit more to it than a straightforward Cena win at the next PPV.

[Daaaaaad!]

RAW was a bit crap, it's back to the humdrum now then I see. Pretty shit that we're looking at a Punk/Nash feud but then that's what one would come to expect of WWE. I didn't like the finish to the SummerSlam match even before he came out to attack Punk, but at least that added some intrigue; however if it does lead to where I think it's going to, it'll be boring as hell and quite frankly business-exposing tripe.

 

I'm not looking forward to the people intending to jump on the 'Punk has gone a bit crap' bandwagon now that Nash is back, either.

[d-d-d-dAz]

The negativity is totally disproportionate, if you ask me.

 

The Punk/Nash feud is clearly part of a greater narrative involving Triple H/The McMahons and Punk. This solidifies Punk at the very top of the card, it'd have been far worst if he'd tiddled off to feud with ADR or Miz or R-Truth or someone. They're clearly trying to re-create an Austin style authority/anti-authority arc, and that can't be anything but good for CM Punk.

 

As for ADR/Cena, I genuinely can't understand how people aren't getting that ADR's actions had direct ramifications for Cena, and his beliefs and the regard in which he holds the title. It's pretty simple.

 

I pose a question, if not Nash and the way they're going, how should a) Summerslam have finished and b) where should they be going with Punk now?

 

I ask because i'm genuinely interested, and i'm not usually one to defend the status quo but i'm pretty happy with the direction right now.

[Loki]

I didn't understand what the fuck the storyline was supposed to be with Kevin Nash, or where this means Nash will fit in, or any of that.

 

But it's Kevin Nash. On Raw. This can only be a good thing. If he wrestles on PPV, I might even watch one for the first time since Wrestlemania.

[pizzazz941]

I think the majority were expecting the usual WWE, where everything would be explained on one night and then we'd go forward into the next PPV with another 3 week feud. However, maybe, just maybe, this is a long term plan. Maybe they've learned from last year, dropping the ball with one of the hottest angles in recent memory. While it's probable that this will have fallen flat by NOC, I'm keeping an open mind, and letting last night slide.

[Daaaaaad!]

The negativity is totally disproportionate, if you ask me.

 

The Punk/Nash feud is clearly part of a greater narrative involving Triple H/The McMahons and Punk. This solidifies Punk at the very top of the card, it'd have been far worst if he'd tiddled off to feud with ADR or Miz or R-Truth or someone. They're clearly trying to re-create an Austin style authority/anti-authority arc, and that can't be anything but good for CM Punk.

 

As for ADR/Cena, I genuinely can't understand how people aren't getting that ADR's actions had direct ramifications for Cena, and his beliefs and the regard in which he holds the title. It's pretty simple.

 

I pose a question, if not Nash and the way they're going, how should a) Summerslam have finished and b) where should they be going with Punk now?

 

I ask because i'm genuinely interested, and i'm not usually one to defend the status quo but i'm pretty happy with the direction right now.

If they are doing the antiauthority arc for Punk, why not have the same finish happen the opposite way round? Cena hits the AA but Punk's foot is on the rope so Trips accidentally screws him? Except of course that would mean Cena had to eat the 'bomb from Nash as well as lose immediately to Del Rio, so of course they couldn't do that apparently. I like Cena but why the hell do they keep protecting him at the expense of others that need to get over?

[d-d-d-dAz]

There was a report a while back, it got posted on here to minimal fanfare, which said that WWE were going to try and take a different approach to booking and look more for the long term (inspired by the buzz created by Cena/Rock). As with all 'net news' you take it with a pinch of salt, but I think it seems like that might have been bang on. We have Rock/Cena in the main event booked a year in advance as well as the probability of a Punk/Triple H narrative and maybe even a Daniel Bryan 'boyhood dream' rehash already pencilled in for Wrestlemania already.

 

This is the sort of thing places like this have been begging for years, and now it's here it's getting pissed all over.

 

Some of the criticism's are valid, but some people if you just read between the lines seem annoyed that things aren't being spelt out in the short term (at the detriment of the long term). I for one am really rather enjoying the WWE's foray back into episodic television.

 

If they are doing the antiauthority arc for Punk, why not have the same finish happen the opposite way round? Cena hits the AA but Punk's foot is on the rope so Trips accidentally screws him? Except of course that would mean Cena had to eat the 'bomb from Nash as well as lose immediately to Del Rio, so of course they couldn't do that apparently. I like Cena but why the hell do they keep protecting him at the expense of others that need to get over?

 

Shut up, they haven't done that at all. Punk is the story right now, and is far more over than he was two months ago.

 

And the 'of course that would mean Cena had to eat the 'bomb from Nash' is nonsensical as Nash is clearly tied into the aforementioned antiauthority arc with Punk. The reversed finish of Punk's foot on the ropes completely negates all that comes after.

 

Surely you can see ahead, and that Nash is implicated in the Punk anti-authority role, and having him attack Cena would have complicated the narrative and actually kept Cena from moving on to ADR completely and would have left him involved with the McMahons/HHH/Punk. Actually, this would have kept the spotlight off of Punk, the thing you seem most concerned with. Also, can't you see that HHH/Punk is the bigger story here, which is what this is all built to; having done your reversed finish, Punk/Triple H would have been thrown into an explicit stand-off already, as opposed to the implicit mistrust they are trying to build.

 

Nash would have served no purpose in 'bombing Cena. Your finish would have just left us with Punk screwed and no vehicle for ADR to come out and win. In your scenario we'd have had to have left with the HHH/Punk angle hot shotted; Nash not involved and Cena as champion (or, at least, another vehicle with which to knock Cena down, such as an ADR attack, though that again would have had the spotlighted shifted from Punk and onto ADR/Cena completely). As it is, the PPV finished with the big talking point being Nash/Triple H/CM Punk.

 

Your idea was bad from every angle.

[Mike Castle]

If they are doing the antiauthority arc for Punk, why not have the same finish happen the opposite way round? Cena hits the AA but Punk's foot is on the rope so Trips accidentally screws him? Except of course that would mean Cena had to eat the 'bomb from Nash as well as lose immediately to Del Rio, so of course they couldn't do that apparently. I like Cena but why the hell do they keep protecting him at the expense of others that need to get over?

Okay, how does that lead to the same current situation? Punk has no issue with Nash. Thus no issue with Steph. In fact he only has an issue with HHH at that point. It's a totally different ending which would lead in an entirely different direction. It would actually then be Cena with an axe to grind against Nash and co.

[Daaaaaad!]

Okay, how does that lead to the same current situation?

It doesn't. That's the point.

 

And dAz, you're only speculating here. There might be no bigger picture at all. I'd like to think that wasn't the case but if we have to tolerate more promos like 'you're just some indyriffic midget' (paraphrased, not quoted) and further business-exposing stuff then I'm not looking forward to it. It was shocking when Punk first did it so it worked, and it was okay last week when both he and Cena got into it because it added a different dimension to their feud, but if it starts to become a weekly thing then regardless of who is doing it (Punk, Nash, whomever) it'll become tiresome and possibly confusing

[diamond_dust]

I'm calling it right now, Johnny Ace to be US champ within a year. He's ripping off Ziggler when he 1st debuted. Every time he's on screen, "Hi I'm John Laurenitis Executive Vice ..........." Once he gets his wellness policy suspension out of the way he can actually wrestle then build up to the title.

[d-d-d-dAz]

After what we saw last night, with Nash/Punk interacting; the point being made about Nash/HHH contradicting one another; Punk/Steph interacting; Nash/Johnny Ace interacting and the commentators harping on about 'WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? you really think i'm just speculating. It's pretty clear that this is all one intertwined narrative that they're taking somewhere and Nash was brought back to play a part in that.

 

In your scenario, why is Nash even brought back...?

[iamtheman]

The waffle house wikipedia page

 

notice the first picture on the right when you scroll down

 

[Daaaaaad!]

After what we saw last night, with Nash/Punk interacting; the point being made about Nash/HHH contradicting one another; Punk/Steph interacting; Nash/Johnny Ace interacting and the commentators harping on about 'WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? you really think i'm just speculating. It's pretty clear that this is all one intertwined narrative that they're taking somewhere and Nash was brought back to play a part in that.

 

In your scenario, why is Nash even brought back...?

My 'scenario' isn't even a scenario. It's just a general point about the way they protect Cena - they would never have put him in the same position as Punk, having to make do with a tainted win then getting battered by an old bloke and losing his title two minutes later. If I really wanted to fantasy book I could certainly work it in easily but I have no intention of doing so.

 

You say it's obvious, but a greater conspiracy doesn't make it a good one. We'll find out where it leads, though, so I guess that'll come out in due course.