Monday Night Raw Thread, London, 16th April 2012

[ColinBollocks]

The problem with Tensia is he just doesn't have the charisma required to get that kind of gimmick over. He's a good worker and that, but you need more than that in WWE. It's the reason Umaga worked, again, good worker but he had the required charisma to get past a cartoon gimmick and present himself as a hard case. His post-match of nothing was telling.

 

Interesting where they're going with Cena, King saying he's not been the same since he lost to The Rock. I can see them using this to explain Brock killing Cena at the PPV.

 

Speaking of Brock, that video made some form of liquid run down the inside of my leg. Phenomenal video and the best thing on the show by a trip to the moon and back. I was of the opinion Brock would suffer from WWE scripting all his stuff and watering down the schtick that made him great in UFC, but WWE have gladly proven me wrong. Brock is a proper bloke and I hope he kills everybody!

 

They appear to have taken the hints about the fans wanting D Bryan and are booking him as well as you can ask. Him smacking Piper on Piper's Pit (cheeky) and then them milking the "YES!" chants, followed by him smacking Kofi about - great. He was excellent in his little exchange backstage, such a dick. Arguably, the most consistent performer on the show - certainly the most consistently good promo in WWE.

 

This Punk/Jericho stuff reeks of rubbish Vince Russo/TNA. Throwing all this shit at us and nobody is really invested. It's a shame for Punk that he'll probably move on to a feud with Lord Tensia after Jericho gave a number of sub-par performances.

 

Oh, and Khali and Big Show are mates. This made me happy.

[Chest Rockwell]

Anyone got a link to the Lesnar vid?

 

Don't fancy sitting through RAW to see it after the reviews I'm reading!

 

Cheers!

[d-d-d-dAz]

Was my review not positive enough, Chest-o..?

 

Also, as i've crushed your innocence have this; http://www.wwe.com/videos/in-an-exclusive-...back-t-26015589

[lambyUK]

Anyone got a link to the Lesnar vid?

 

Don't fancy sitting through RAW to see it after the reviews I'm reading!

 

Cheers!

 

 

http://www.wwe.com/videos/in-an-exclusive-...back-t-26015589

 

 

Just seen it myself. Didn't watch Raw, but that is just a thing of beauty. Utterly utterly brilliant.

[Loki]

Sweet. I'm sold.

[patiirc]

I liked the Brock promo, came across well. I like where he is sitting in terms of wrecking everything in his path and not giving a shit about anything but himself. Im not expecting a classic at Extreme Rules, but Iam expecting a war.

 

Just watched the Cena vs Tensai match, which was very nearly Cena getting squashed. Has Albert really become that immobile? It was like watching a man move through mud, very very slowly (senton aside). Its not working for him at the moment and perhaps some big man matches versus Henry or Big Show, may help him look better because, at present it's getting stale very quickly.

[JLM]

Couple of highlights this week but lots of missable stuff.

 

Punk vs. Henry was good once again. The spot going into the break where Henry flung Punk

into the barrier was tremendous. the Jericho stuff afterwards just made me want fish and chips. I'd love to know where Jericho was meant to be broadcasting from. Agreed with Daz about Jericho on all fronts.

 

Santino's entrance was excellent. I've seen so many failed attempts from international entertainers to reference football and have it blow up in their face, so it was nice to see it executed well. Lawler is utterly turd these days isn't he? "Last week on RAW we had the four stooges... The three stooges and David Otunga... because he's John Laurinatis' stooge." Thanks Jerry.

 

Absolutely loved the video package on Brock, particularly the line "I'm not a superstar".

 

Nice to see ZAck Ryder get his long awaited revenge on Kane. lol not really. I do not care about Kane vs Orton at all. Not. At. All.

 

The backstage skit with D-Bry was notable firstly because I sometimes forget Kofi Kingston can actually speak. Also for Bryan being excellent of course. They knew they'd be good for a Yes! chant with a UK crowd. Kofi vs Bryan was another excellent TV match. RAW is consistently turning out a couple of these every week it seems. I also thought AJ watching the monitor backstage was a nice touch. She has been fantastic ever since being paired up with Daniel Bryan and is one of the most convincing actors they have on the roster. THe little smile when she saw him win was perfect. I'd like to see them show a tiny bit of restraint with this, lest it follows the trend of "thing gets over on its own - > WWE embraces it - > WWE runs it into the ground - > thing isn't over any more".

 

Enjoyed Cena's promo. Further put accross what they're going for with Brock, made it clear he was ready to fight him. Simple and effective, and he got a good reaction at the end of it. I'm a little tired of the heel authority figure thing in general, but I can't hate on Big Johnny's shit eating grin after he says people power.

 

I'm waiting to see what Dolph and the Funkasaurus are going to do next as they're both in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment. I'd love to see Dolph get some direction and perhaps get some promo time some time soon.

 

I still find it really funny seeing Otunga in stooge mode when he's wrestled earlier in the show. It really is like two different characters, though he's very good at being both of them. They seem to be teasing the beginnings of Eve and Otunga warring for the chief stooge position. Quite an interesting one as I'd like to see Otunga get his own angle for a bit.

 

Khali and Big Show vs Primo and Epico was the sort of intense and hard fought affair we've come to expect from our fighting tag team champions. You could tell Big Show and Khali were excited that this win might put them in the running for a shot at the belts down the line. I'm certainly excited about it. The Abraham Washington bit was interesting if only because I like real managers who are characters as well as just window dressing and would like to see more of them.

 

I had a horrible feeling they'd have Tensai speak terrible Japanese in his promos. Wrestul-curapu. It's the fact that he doesn't know how to do a good squash match that really sucks though. It's also unfortunate for him that Ryback is over on Smackdown killing real jobbers with real panache and showing him up even worse. That said, I thought his match with Cena at the end wasa little better than his terrible squashes. If they get him involved in the title picture and he ends up being Punk's opponent after Jericho then I think they'll have good matches, but the gimmick is stupid and I agree that he doesn't have anything approaching the physical charisma of an Umaga that can help make a stupid gimmick work.

[Da Stinga]

To whoever was there last night at the O2 - did they announce any main events for tonight?

[JFFC]

To whoever was there last night at the O2 - did they announce any main events for tonight?

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

 

6 man tag

 

Bryan, Rhodes and someone else (think Henry) vs. Shemus, Orton, Show

 

Think thats its, was being announced as I was leaving, def a 6 man though.

 

[Da Stinga]

To whoever was there last night at the O2 - did they announce any main events for tonight?

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

 

6 man tag

 

Bryan, Rhodes and someone else (think Henry) vs. Shemus, Orton, Show

 

Think thats its, was being announced as I was leaving, def a 6 man though.

 

 

Awesome, thanks.

[CleetusVanDamme]

Punk vs Henry was really disappointing, for me. It was alright, like, but it was nothing on the Miami match. The Punk/Jericho stuff afterwards has already been summed up perfectly by d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dazz. Shite.

 

The Bryan vs Kofi match was pretty fun. The "YES!" chants absolutely weren't. And whoever came up with the "Yes-Lock" name needs to be sacked, raped then shot immediately.

 

Both Lesnar's pre-tape and Cena's in-ring promos were ace. Can't wait for their match now. This Brock Lesnar can draw money.

 

The Vickie show was up to the same standards as always.

 

Primo and Epico getting squashed by the Niggaz Wit' Altitude was pointless, but it got my two favourite jolly giants on screen so I'll give it a pass.

 

Lard-Train is awful, still. I did get a laugh out of Sacramento(?) channeling Sonny Onoo on the outside with some vicious kicks. Poor Cena, though, it's times like this I wish he'd throw a hissy-fit backtage and refuse to go along with utter garbage like this. It does nothing for him.

 

 

Quite shit, but better than usual for a UK taping, anyway. Hopefully they'll rebound with the big 3-hour one next week.

[AVM]

Don't suppose they mentioned any of the November dates did they?

[Oliver]

I don't quite understand why they made Zack Ryder look so weak against Kane. Primo and Epico, while I think they're immensely talented, I can understand squashing out. They've never really gauged the audience. But Zack Ryder has in the past! Why aren't they trying to rebuild his momentum?

 

Nice Brock Lesnar vignette.

 

Wicked to see Daniel Bryan's chant get so over. I hated Steve Austin's 'What!' and I can't really pin down why I love this so much. Maybe I just have a double standard. I hope they turn Bryan face and Sheamus heel. The dynamic would be better that way. At the same time, if he did turn face, all the attributes that got him so over may either be dropped or not work out so well.

 

CM Punk looked OK, but I still don't get as excited watching him these days as I did when he first held the company hostage and then punked out Nash, HHH and Vince.

 

Tensai was better tonight than he was in the squash matches. I'd call the whole thing sub par and wouldn't go as far as calling it shit. Thank goodness they transitioned his mist in to the green mist to the face instead of using that utterly naff clear mist which he spat on his hand. Does anyone here think they could have hired Dave Morales? Similar physique, very intense and aggressive. He doesn't quite have the size as A-Train, but I think he might have worked well in this role.

 

All in all fairly steady.

[fye]

Add me to the Lesnar video bandwagon, superb because its different and thats all I need at the moment. I complained about the lack of physicality in the mania build up and said one feud like that is fine but 3 or 4 is too much the same. I need variety and too much of WWE is repetitive from week to week or from match to match. Lesnar is different to everything else going on in every way. His attitude, his promos, his reputation, his vignettes. Its a breath of fresh air and the reason why I have stuck around since Mania

[Up Chuck]

Does anyone here think they could have hired Dave Morales? Similar physique, very intense and aggressive. He doesn't quite have the size as A-Train, but I think he might have worked well in this role.

 

God no. He's far too short to carry it off. He'd get laughed out of the place trying to look all intense but being smaller than the worshipper guy. They don't have a similar physique at all.