Monday Night Raw (30/4/12)

[JLM]

Opening segment was great I thought. The heat for it was immense too. Definitely keeps up this aura of all hell breaking loose whenever Brock is around.

 

Miz vs Santino was dull. Layla vs Bellas was too short to be dull. Looks like the reports of the Bellasleaving at the end of their contracts is true as they did a WWE.com backstage segment of Eve firing them.

 

Jericho vs Big Show was decent aside from the finish going a bit awry. I thought it was quite funny that King brought up Jericho's two losses to Punk as the case against him getting this opportunity. Because Miz got his shot based on his recent blistering form, obviously.

 

The lesser spotted JTG in tha house! Lawler on commentary implying that he spoke to JTG about his strategy for the match made me laugh. As if anyone talks to JTG backstage. If you talk to him for too long you probably get released by proxy.

 

Loved the Brock/Cena recap video with the stills and the haunting strings. Great stuff.

 

Orton vs Swagger was great for a four minute match.

 

Tag titles match was decent. Kofi did a great job of getting the crowd into it and his hot tag was excellent. I thought the crowd this week was generally excellent when given a little bit of incentive. Interested to see what happens with Abraham Washington still. Maybe a little heel stale in the midcard or something? I dunno. I like managers so I'm all for it.

 

Kane vs Khali was one for the work rate fappers. I love giants and I like Super heavyweight freak show matches, but Khali is so difficult to watch. It looks like every little movement is sucha struggle for him.

 

Bryan vs Lawler was good fun. King's punches are still some of the best in the business. Punk vs Bryan at Over the Limit should be excellent

 

Closing segment was a bit odd. Tensai remains the least over man in wrestling. Cena vs Laurnatis is actually a more interesting match than Cena vs Tensai, which is pathetic really. I assume it'll turn into a handicap match or something. I noticed a lot less boos for Cena than usual though. Much deserved after Extreme Rules too.

 

Bit of a flat show for the most part, though Extreme Rules was so fucking good that they can have this one.

[Nick James]

Opening segment was good. Brock's facials are just awesome, he looks like he's about to snap at any moment. Big shows line to Triple H 'You got a big set of balls man' made me chuckle. HHH giving Johnny his orders was a good little spark for Johnny going mental on Cena later on in the show.

 

Glad Daniel Bryan won the beat the clock and not Orton, not that Orton doesnt deserve it I would just rather not see another feud with Punk. The build up between Punk/Bryan should give some good viewing.

 

R-truth is back to being fast forward material, he just grates on me now. He was brilliant when heel but as face theres just something that bores me.

 

The closing segment was weird. Was just waiting for Tensai's music to hit as the mystery opponent and i was thinking 'oh for god sake' but then Big Johnny gave us some People Power and swerved to Big Johnny vs Big John. Also, whats with Tensai's crouching while walking thing he did this week? Looked very odd and his little sidekick doing the screeching made me laugh.

 

Not a bad Raw but nothing spectacular.

[quote the raven]

I dont get how we are supposed to buy Albert as a threat to Cena.

 

To be fair i never thought id want Cena to win, however after the asskicking he got from Brock that is just what i wanted and got. I assumed he was legit injured. Take some time off while Brock smashes his way though the roster to the title leading to the rematch.

 

Now im not sure what to think. Cena gets past the baddest man on the planet by the skin of his teeth only to be faced by a fat man in awful trunks with no heat.

 

That said Brock is money.

 

Loved the Brock/Cena recap video with the stills and the haunting strings. Great stuff. +1

[NEWM]

Thought the main event segment was excellent. Was all ready to read the deflation at the Lord Tensai announcement, but they didn't half pull it back with Big Johnny going postal. I'm not exactly sure what the long term goal is (Johnny and Brock dominating Raw, Lauranitis getting put on his arse by Cena and fired by HHH, I dunno), but I thought everybody came out better for it. Albert finally got something resembling heat around him, Cena will be brilliant in the one-armed-man-in-an-ass-kicking-contest role, and it's a suitable follow up to the unfollowupable Extreme Rules main event. Really keen to see this one progress.

 

On a slightly related note, every time Cena is getting a beating, I'm wishing for Rock to make the save. Is that just me? I think there's legs in a Mutual Respect Big Superstar Tag Team with them down the line you know. Storyline mates is where those two should end up, I've changed my mind about Rock/Cena 2 for the Title at next years Wrestlemania.

 

Brock/Triple H came off pretty well for me too. Think an F5 into the Kimura thing might have been better than the fisticuffs, but I can see why they went that way. Brock doing mad shite like that is important, because there was a moment where he looked a finger pointing naughty heel instead of the anomaly he should be. That passed though, and I thought the segment came off well. Assuming they don't want to spunk all their Brock appearances, I'm guessing he's gone for a few weeks now under a suspension or something perhaps? Still, whenever they want to pay it off, I'm totally there for Brock/HHH so that's fine. He'll get to Punk and his WWE Title eventually.

 

Speaking of which, with the two clear headliners not fighting over the belt, I liked that the remaining Raw midcard was given the chance to chase it. Punk/Bryan for the title is new, and I think pretty important to cement D-Bry at that level to keep him competing for the top straps. It will probably act as a backdrop to an AJ/Bryan tale, which is fine with me as Punk's character needs at least a month off a heavy story after his draining programme with Jericho. Much like when HHH and Edge had a bit of a title feud on Smackdown but all the drama was around Edge and Vickie. Some people will whinge about the title being overlooked, but only because they're mongs.

 

I say all that, but they could go with a "I'M THE BESTEST WRESTLER!" "NO YOU'RE NOT, I FUCKING AM!" "WE DID RING OF HONOURS!" "EDDIE GUERRERO AND PAUL HEYMAN AND THAT!" and have an intense 85-minute Iron Man draw. Hopefully they don't though. Bryan and his bird are where it's at here.

 

Not a pulsatingly exciting episode, but some more solid foundations laid I think. They've got some really great momentum to the show since Mania where it counts (the main stuff), and eventually a lower guy's wheels will stop spinning enough to rise up from the treadmill. If I could change one thing, I'd have Randy Orton suffer a career-threatening shoulder injury which puts him out till at least the Rumble. He's unfortunately rather surplus at the moment, and the only obvious thing to do would be turn him heel, but that would be boring as fuck after three or four weeks of slow promos and RKOs to babyfaces. I have no fucking clue how to rehab him, but then I don't even like him so don't really want to. But you know he's got to be there, so where does he fit in?

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, I liked Khali's new gear.

[ColinBollocks]

What a dream card Over The Limit is; three ***** wrestlers and Daniel Bryan. So happy they're giving us Johnny and not Albert.

 

The opening segment and the closing segment were the only things worth checking out. Lesnar v Triple H, please. Cena was fantastic last night, his jokes weren't as shit and he sold like a master for Mr. 5*.

 

That post-Mania Raw has really helped D Bryan, in more ways than one. By the looks of it they were giving us Sheamus v Del Rio (with Bryan working with the midcard), but now the lad is working two straight PPVs for the two big belts. He'll probably drag Punk up a level too, like he did with Sheamus. Punk needs an opponent like this. If D Bryan wins we "YES" (he won't but we'll "YES" anyway).

 

Randy Orton is in an odd position right now. I know he's been suffering from injuries, but he's pissing about doing nothing of note. I'd shove him in a three-way, for the World title or something. Fella is better than what he is getting.

 

Big Show is such a nice chap.

 

The Miz won! He can stay in the midcard though.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Courtesy of pwinsider.com....

 

Brock Lesnar's match with John Cena at Sunday's Extreme Rules pay-per-view got rave reviews from most fans who saw the show, but Lesnar went ballistic backstage after the match and was screaming at WWE officials and ripping apart the locker room.

 

According to PWinsider.com, the huge blow-up took place because of the promo John Cena cut after the match.

 

The original plan was for Cena to be so badly hurt by Lesnar that even though he won, he would be stretchered out, which would keep Lesnar looking strong.

 

 

Lesnar perceived Cena's speech as a double cross by WWE officials and totally lost it backstage.

 

The angle on RAW with Lesnar and Triple H and Lesnar's temporary departure from WWE television was the plan all along, but relations between Lesnar and WWE are not good at the moment.

[LaGoosh]

I'm not suprised he's angry. If that was the plan then what Cena did was insanely unproffessional.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

According to sources that dont give your computer HIV, Lesnar wasnt happy with the finish, but him going mental backstage was a ploy to "work tha boyz!" He should have started cracking heads for real. That would have got them talking.

 

"Alright Miz, mate ... *NUT*"

 

"Brodus, what you looking at ... *FLYING KNEE*"

[ColinBollocks]

He is facing the Suntan Assassin next, so Brock acting like he's pissed at 'officials' makes sense. They'll probably do the whole work-shoot thing, like the Cena match. If not, Triple H is in for a long night.

[Baz Windham]

After that and after Raw, what I don't get is what was Cena's promo all about then? He's not gone anywhere, did he actually think his arm was fucked or something? Plus he also made it sound like he was getting suspended rather than injured.

[Smeg_&_The_Heads]

After that and after Raw, what I don't get is what was Cena's promo all about then? He's not gone anywhere, did he actually think his arm was fucked or something? Plus he also made it sound like he was getting suspended rather than injured.

 

I think Cena thought his arm was really messed up so he would be out for a few months so cut that promo but of course later found it wasn't really that bad after all though he did say he'd be in trouble I guess that was a reference to he wasn't supposed to cut a promo as he was going to get stretchered out.

 

Maybe Cena thought if he was legit injured and would be gone for a few months anyway it would have the same effect of getting stretchered out.

[kickin it wit the kliq]

not seen it yet, but Brock vs Hunter, yes yes, yes,yes,

[LaGoosh]

Bit of fantasy booking, how I'd run Brock's opponents for the rest of the year:

 

beat Triple H

rematch with Cena where he wins

beat Big Show

maybe face and beat Randy Orton

win the title from CM Punk at Royal Rumble

lose the title to The Rock at Wrestlemania and fuck off forever.

[Professor Paul's Bin]

I don't mind Albert, am I the only one? I would prefer him wearing a singlet

 

Raw was alright, I was hoping for Cena to take his vacation and Orton to face Punk at Over The Limit. Swaggers new singlet looked alright but that doesn't hide how bland he is. Lesnar/Triple H feud sounds appealing

 

Oh and gutted the Bellas are gone, they were fit and had proper sexy voices

[LaGoosh]

Jack Swagger would be perfect in a bodyguard supporting role to Dolph Ziggler as a singles wrestler. They really need to push Ziggler, this guy has all the tools.