Monday Night Raw Thread, London, 16th April 2012

[AndyUK]

Thought it was a decent show. The Cena/Lesnar stuff was great again, really liking this feud so far. The Lesnar interview was great, was something really different for WWE and definitely gave them the legitimate feel the wanted. Cena's promo about being replaced was really good too.

 

There was quite a bit of wrestling on this show. They do usually try and make an effort to get more wrestling on RAW when they come over here. Even if it wasn't quite as good as their Miami match, Punk and Henry put on another good one. The Jericho stuff afterwards is getting repetitive now though I look forward to seeing them face each other again. Bryan and Kingston was a really good TV match too. Nothing worth writing about other than that, though

 

As for Lord Tensai, I'm not really feeling him. I think the idea of the gimmick is really good and WWE are obviously quite big on him, hence the win over Cena but the execution just isn't there. I just think the look is a bit goofy (laughed hard at the Power Ranger villain comment above as I said that to someone else) and Albert isn't really looking any different in the ring. Always love the green mist though. I don't know, maybe he will grow on me but it's not clicking at the minute.

[King Pitcos]

Not a great Raw. Lord Tensai in the main event is bad news. What a shit match.

 

The Brock Lesnar video was superb. I quite liked the direction the commentators were taking the feud in too, with Cena trying to recover from his loss to Rock.

 

It's strange that Jericho only appears on the big screen most weeks. I know he's in the arenas for the shows as he usually fights Punk in a dark match.

 

That month or so when Ryder was doing well seems like a joke now. I think he's pretty fucked, because he's had his moment in the sun so there's a lot less grassroots support for him than when he wasn't on telly at all. Or maybe there were other plans that got cancelled because of his woeful acting in the Kane storyline.

 

Does anyone here think they could have hired Dave Morales?

Yeah, they should give Cena's job to Spud as well.

[ItsClobberingTime]

I wasn't expecting Lesnar to be there (obviously) but I was surprised at how well the taped spot went down with the live crowd. Shows the quality of it, as usually shit like that is pretty lost on those there.

 

I did like Big Show's dancing.

[Arch Stanton]

Tensai's match was a lot better than his previous squash matches, but only because Cena is the daddy when it comes to getting passable matches out of bigger opponents. The idea that A-Train was transformed into some sort of super-worker in Japan would appear to be absolutely laughable now. I never watched any of his stuff out there but heard good things about it, so I was excited about him coming back to WWE. Everything about him looks crap now though- shit gimmick, shit physique, shit look, shit ring attire, shit moves. We even got a shit promo from him last night too.

 

He still wasn't the shittest thing on the show though. The Jericho/Punk stuff is some of the worst TV in years.

[Devon Malcolm]

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.

 

Have you lost your fucking mind recently or what? You really are on quite a streak of idiocy.

 

Raw was alright. Just in case you forgot they were in London, oh look A BIG RED BUS. FISH AND CHIPS. PUB. SHERLOCK HOLMES. IT'S IN ENGLAND. Why didn't they just drop crumpets on the whole fucking arena while they were at it.

 

Lesnar's promo was the best bit. He's enjoying himself, isn't he? He doesn't care at all but actually that apathy is working because he's just going out there and saying and doing whatever the fuck he wants. He's like a batsman stuck with the tail at 200-9 with 300 runs still needed. Fuck it, I'm just going to have some fun and twat it.

 

Chris Jericho should fuck off now. I was hoping they were going to announce a Loser Leaves WWE match for him but alas not. His promo was pathetic and what's worse is that he gave Punk nothing to work with. Punk looks thoroughly fucking bored with this feud and he's not the only one. For fuck's sake stick him in a proper Mark Henry feud or back with Cena. I agree with Cleetus, by the way, that it wasn't a patch on their Miami match but it was still good.

 

The R-Truth stuff was shit. Release him now, please.

 

I like the Colons (heh, just wrote Colins instead - that works better, I think) but that match was a load of bollocks and absolutely pointless. Nice top though, Rosa, you saucy bloody wench. Cor.

 

Bryan v Kofi was alright but I don't think Bryan did enough as a heel. Pretty hard when you get about the biggest babyface reaction of the night but he needs to be careful or they'll turn him and no-one will care again. The stuff with AJ was gold again. Nice top though, AJ, you sodding lovely bit of stuff. Phwoar.

 

I quite enjoyed Tensai v Cena. At least Tensai didn't look as though he was going to fall over all the time this week. If they're going to bring back someone from Japan to spit green mist at people, though, I would have much preferred Tajiri back.

 

It was alright.

[The Invisible Boy]

Not finished watching Raw yet, just up to Santino's match and the football shirt part as Santino made his entrance was bizzarre.

 

He came on in an Arsenal shirt which didn't really get any response and I thought fair enough he's in London, then he shook his head and revealed a Liverpool shirt which I thought was weird and he got booed, King saying he didn't think they like Liverpool in London, then he revealed a Chelsea one and had a mixed reception and King saying that's not going to work here, it works better than Liverpool there and he even said "Cole does he not realise he's in London"! Then my favourite, he reveals the greatest shirt of the greatest team, Manchester City, got booed for it, weird reaction for the United one then with lots of boos but also a fair amount of cheers too, which made me laugh as it was in London. Then he reveals the England shirt to cheers, it was bizzarre, it was like us going over to America, wearing the shirts of top NFL teams, maybe getting one or two from that state but getting booed and mixed reactions and then revealing a shirt just promoting America in general. Absolutely crazy!

[FLips]

I don't get what was bizarre about it at all. He wore the tops of some big clubs, got mixed reactions for each of them, and then wore one that would get unified cheers as he's a face.

[CleetusVanDamme]

Nice top though, Rosa, you saucy bloody wench. Cor.

 

I knew I forgot to mention something. #1 female in the biz right now.

[NorthSeaTiger]

What is Lawler on? When Santino was pulling off the footie shirts, he said something to the effect of " Why is he wearing a Chelsea top, the're not from London"...is he really that ill-informed?

 

As for rest of the show, the Brock promo was a thing of beuaty. Good to see the style getting slightly more edgy. He comes across as someone who could just fuck you right up just to pass the time. Love it!

[Teedy Kay]

So that was generally a wee bit pants wasn't it?

 

Seems a shame that a show that featured possibly one of the best sit down interviews in AGES (remember when sit downs with JR could fuel a fued?), a cracking little live promo from Cena to retort and put over the all out brawl that is (hopefully) going to ensue at Extreme Rules, two belting matches in Punk/Henry and Bryan/Kingston and a lovely little entrance from Santino was interspersed with utter shite.

 

R-Truth, what the hell happened there? His parading about is just woeful, little Jimmy is a cunt also. It's purpose was to get Truth on telly, make Long look even more of a senile, unfunny, useless sap of a being, and allow the utmost pleasure of getting to see a midget ... DULL! Way to push a ridiculous stereotype down our throats too.

 

Tag team action, I'm hoping, just hoping AW was scouting The Colons (Who obviously should be fueding with The Dicks for true comic value) and a 'Heenan Family' type faction can be formed. The Colons remind me of Los Guererros, only the pair of them are the Chavo of the team. Those titles mean dick all now, Vince's hatred for Tag Teams has worked it's magic, if they mean fuck all, bin them already. It'd be a sad day, especially for someone like me who adores true quality tag team wrestling, but I'd prefer they were gone than treated like this, the lineage is going to mean nothing soon too. Khali falling over was well edited, but still clearly visible, and Big Show laughing was visible too. I just wonder who dreamt this match up, or was it solely; "We're in the UK, they need to see Big Show and Khali do something ... anything!" it's a shit forumla, as the R-Truth pap showed.

 

Jericho is a tool. What makes me sort of chuckle is that he seems to think what he is doing is worth something, is it primarily his idea? He looks like he's enjoying this shit he's putting out week after week. Punk does not, he's given up trying to make anything out of this as previously mentioned in this thread. He's bored of it. I hate WWE for turning Punk into pappy watered down face Punk, instead of rebel Punk that's bad, but we like a bad guy so fuck it face. The mention of his family at "EXTREME NEW RULES" as Jericho put it, made my eyes roll. I'm predicting a moment where Jericho offers up a bottle of Hooch to Daddy Punk, only for Pops to crack it over his skull for Punk to gain the advantage for the win, and REDEMPTION! Meh!

 

Commentary, King is a cock piece, his Stooges joke last week fell on deaf ears, no one cared then Jerry, no one gives two hoots now, oh and congratulations on proposing you knew English Football teams, yet didn't know Chelsea was in London, Dolt! Cole is in desperate need of going to some sort of commentary school where they can teach him the names of moves, or the variations of a move. A few weeks back he called a DDT a Bulldog for Christ's sake, and this week there were too many to mention, but the main one being Albert's finish, how the hell is a two-handed sit-out chokeslam or Chokebomb a powerbomb? In any walk of life how is that so? So the move doesn't have a gimmick name yet, I get that, but he looks like a tool by calling that finish a Powerbomb and calling SO many moves that aren't gimmicked incorrectly. Fuck 'em off and get Regal, Matthews and JR in the seats already.

 

Talking of gimmicked move names, The Yes Lock ... more like The Milking It For All We Can Far Too Early So Are Going To Ruin It Lock. Bryan is going the way of Punk, he'll be turned face, watered down and shoved down our throats, and in a a few months no-one will care. The world loves a bastard, leave him to it. I mean what is with them seeing a cool heel getting cheers so turning them to uber faces and ruining them? Why are they not working on the same premise that let's say some popular face out there is getting constant boos so that must mean he's a heel, so we must turn him. Oh that's right because Cena sells to much merch, and quick flipping of clever cool heels to faces will probably generate an amount of cash through T-Shirt sales, fuck the fact it messes with character build, lets get cash quick.

 

Back to Cole as I forgot, he called a Crossface the STF ... He saw Cena apply a move that resembled his shitty submission finisher, so called it that way, lazy and useless. Does he even know what STF stands for? If there's no Stepover Toehold, how the bejesus is it an STF? And that's the Face of WWE's finisher he's fucking up! I dispair at times I really do.

 

Tensai, watch Ryback and learn, and change your gear, you look like your wearing a tomato skin stretched over your lardy arse.

 

The good bits were great, the not so good bits were awful and there was more of the latter. I'm looking forward to the PPV for Lesnar and the slim hope Bryan beats Seamus in 17 seconds and we have a whole 5 mins of YES! celebration around the ring as a dejected Seaums decides to end it all with a 9mm in the ring, but mainly Lesnar.

[King Pitcos]

Jesus Christ.

[The Whole Show]

The Lesnar video was bloody superb, watched it again at the Smackdown taping last night and it is seriously awesome, really been impressed how Brock has been booked just far.

 

If your on the fence about going to one of the taped shows definately do Raw, while i enjoyed smackdown last night, Raw on the whole has a much better atmosphere, less kids and feels like the A show which it is. Not having to sit through NXT definately helps aswell.

 

Cena promo was good although I did not enjoy his match with Tensia, I always hated Albert and his return has reminded me why.

Tag match was shit, Brodus is becoming pointless and I dont really wanna watch Santino/Otunga again.

I loved the Mark Henry/Punk match, These two IMO have some good chemistry, Liking the CM Drunk anglke aswell and the fish & chips chants were amusing. Bryan was the star of the show bar Lesnar again, the crowd were totally into him and it was like being back in the Raw from Miami crowd, Lovely little match with Kofi aswell, Kofi is becoming seriosuly underated IMO, hes a goood little performer who has regular good matches.

 

I was actually glad they kept the dark match short, having all the guys run in quick sucsession was a good way to end the show.

[simonworden]

The Lesnar video was bloody superb, watched it again at the Smackdown taping last night and it is seriously awesome, really been impressed how Brock has been booked just far.

 

If your on the fence about going to one of the taped shows definately do Raw, while i enjoyed smackdown last night, Raw on the whole has a much better atmosphere, less kids and feels like the A show which it is. Not having to sit through NXT definately helps aswell.

 

Cena promo was good although I did not enjoy his match with Tensia, I always hated Albert and his return has reminded me why.

Tag match was shit, Brodus is becoming pointless and I dont really wanna watch Santino/Otunga again.

I loved the Mark Henry/Punk match, These two IMO have some good chemistry, Liking the CM Drunk anglke aswell and the fish & chips chants were amusing. Bryan was the star of the show bar Lesnar again, the crowd were totally into him and it was like being back in the Raw from Miami crowd, Lovely little match with Kofi aswell, Kofi is becoming seriosuly underated IMO, hes a goood little performer who has regular good matches.

 

I was actually glad they kept the dark match short, having all the guys run in quick sucsession was a good way to end the show.

 

Completely agree, I dont know what causes it especially with an almost non existent brand split but RAW had a much better atmosphere before during and after the show. My theory is that there are 3 elements to this. 1) Lots of Late Teens- 30 Fans go to Raw and SD (As I did) get wasted during and after RAW then come to SD hung over and are therefore quieter. 2) NXT kills any crowed as they plod through it 3) More families go to SD as it is a more time/ channel accessible brand

[Devon Malcolm]

Something I noticed about Raw. They didn't replay the beating that Jericho gave Punk last week, did they? Do you reckon they think they just went a bit far with that and decided to throttle back a bit on that? It was quite a battering for PG, but they do keep showing him twatting the bottle over Punk's head from the week before that.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Did he give him much of a twatting, I just remember a couple of codebreakers and a stupid amount of beer. Like, by the fourth can I was fed up. The sixteenth crate just seemed to be pushing it.

 

Jericho's a prick.