WWE Raw 7/5/12 Discussion Thread

[NEWM]

Quite enjoyed the show actually. Paul Heyman was a nicer surprise than I thought it would be. He's the type of guy I didn't think I missed, but I was pleased to see him. As I recall, was he not due to be around for doing stuff for the Punk DVD? Does anybody know if this is a regular spot for him with Brock or not? As the guy to be there for Brock when they're trying to save some of his dates, that makes tons of sense to me. Plus, babyfaces giving him a battering from time to time would be very satisfying. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the booking of Lesnar. Who cares about the same old "HE'S DEAD 'ARD, HE SHOULD RUN THROUGH EVERYBODY!" bullshit for the millionth time, especially when there's a rookie playing that role well on the blue show. Rich bitch diva Brock (who will still absolutely fuck you up, by the way) has much more gas in the tank.Cena/Ace is going to be class I think. I've got ultimate faith in Cena on a bad day, but something tells me Big Johnny is going to deliver big time. Whilst he's leaning towards generic heel GM instead of the excellent cynical buffoon he played in the Punk feud, I like the idea of him being drunk with power and still thirsty for respect. I'm game.Punk/Bryan was fine, and though I still think he's a fat shite, it was good use of Tensai this week. The title match will be alright on the PPV, and to be honest it's just good to see Punk as far away from shit face Jericho as possible.Despite having no real interest in any of the participants, I'm more partial to the World Title Fatal Bore Way over a horrible-sounding Del Rio/Sheamus singles match (which they've now baulked on twice in two PPVs), and I suppose it gives Orton something to do. Shit tits Chris being tucked away in this is good too. Hopefully he's fucking off soon on tour and eats the pin here, but I've no idea how they fix Sheamus. He's really looking like a forced company push instead of an organic one, which is weird considering his post-WWE Title period was when he actually gained that credibility. Not sure how to get out of that either.Divas good again. Beth's got drive, Layla's decent, Kelly Kelly was used minimally. Works for me.Rest of the show was okay, but the Raw midcard's a total wash at this point. If I'm Dolph or The Miz or Kingston, I'd rather be on Smackdown beating jobbers or NXT rocking the world, compared to having to do the same old shite every week. I never ever wanted rid of the brand extension even when it was still on life support, because at least a draft show often provided lightening quick rehabilitation for somebody stale. It's all very fast forward now as the usual suspects wait their turn to fight the other usual suspects or stumble into a one-month title feud. Short of Abraham Washington managing about 40 guys and doing a rebooted Nexus-type idea (which would be fucking rank, like), I've got no clue what you do.Overall, happy with the show though. The important stuff ticks along well, which is really the bread and butter anyway. When the mains are shite, it makes all the other insignificant stuff seem way worse.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I tried. I really tried. But, I simply couldn't watch it without the option of FF'wd.

 

It was like trying to eat custard with your fingers. You haven't got a problem with the custard per se, but you're not making it very easy for yourself.

 

BIG JOHNNY was ace, though. The promo was perfectly written and paced, too. Ostensibly it was just about BIG JOHNNY trying to prove to the WWE universe that he wasn't always a suit and he used to be a big deal, but the subtext was that he didn't really want to fight Cena because of being called an 'idiot' or a 'jackass' but because he's always had a chip on his shoulder and compared himself to the top American wrestlers. Now, he's got his chance to go up against a poster boy of Wrestling in their pomp. He's deluded enough to think he can do it to, BECAUSE HE WILL BRING DOWN A DESTRUCTION THAT NO ONE CAN WITHSTAND.

 

Then CM Punk came out.

 

Meh.

 

Actually, in CM Punk's defence he was really thrown to the wolves. He was their go-to guy when they decided they didn't want/couldn't have Cena on the show because he had other commitments/was selling an injury/failed a piss test. I've never felt as sorry, or seen a guy work as hard, as Punk doing the traditional 'get-angry-get-in-face-deliver-feud-selling-money-line' promo ending having to say the line 'I CAN'T WAIT SEE JOHN CENA KICK YOUR ASS'. Seriously. He had no real reason to be out there with BIG JOHNNY but there he was flogging a feud that he's got balls all to do with. Bless.

 

Also, with Punk, his delivery isn't the problem. Though, like Heyman, I suspect that the timbre of his voice helps immeasurably by just being so perfect for a wrestling promo. That said, the content was arse. When he wasn't flogging a match he wasn't in, he was calling BIG JOHNNY names that he's called him a thousand times before. THEN you've got the commentators driving the fucking 'pipe bomb' tag into the ground by referring to EVERYTHING as such. It's not always a pipe bomb. Sometimes its just a shit, childish insult.

 

This really pissed on the promos pies.

 

Then they showed Big Show in his ill fitting beanie prowling the backstage area like a child roaming around the inners of Legoland feeling cocky as fuck because of how small he made everything look. I went to bed.

 

I watched the Heyman promo this morning. He looks rough as dog shit. It wasn't revolutionary, though, and after each sentence I could predict the next. His delivery carried him through, though. He's a bit hammier then I remember.

 

Of the stuff I missed, the Jericho/ADR/Sheamus/Orton match should be a barrel of laughs. Those promos are going to be ace, aren't they...?

 

'...BEST IN THE WORLD!'

 

'...NO! IT'S MY DESTINY'

 

'...SHUT UP, FELLA, LUCK OF THE IRISH'

 

'...' (insert menacing pout here)

 

'...BEST IN THE WOOOOOORLD'

 

Oh, just fuck off the lot of you. You boring twats.

[Baz Windham]

Heyman promo was good, very good for saying how long it's been and it was a nice little surprise. I didn't think he looked that bad? no worse than he used to anyway. Lesnar stuff still the most interesting stuff on the show, intrigued to see where it goes from here with HHH next week.Rest of the show was average, Fatal four way should be a good match but they are certainly all floundering somewhat. Interesting to see the AW, Mason Ryan etc stuff pan out. Brodus is shit and Albert is shit. When he can't even do the Baldo Bomb you're fucked.You can't expect big stuff every week and this is normally the time of the year when there's a bit of a lull before the crazy summer story, so i'm pretty pleased with what's happened already post WM with Lesnar and everything, certainly better than last year. Over the Limit could be one of those really solid wrestling throuought PPV's without anything major going down, something like Judgment Day 2009.

[Loligan]

Enjoyed the tag match and Paul Heyman's promo. That was about it. Could see the 4 way match coming a mile away but I'm looking forward to it now. Shemus V ADR made me sad just thinking about it. Paul Heyman delivered his promo well. Sorry it wasn't an ECWesque hyperbole special but it is 2012, get over it. Ziggler V Kofi was nice to see, can't recall them wrestling on tv before. Cant stand Brodus Clay anymore. Although while watching it I tried and couldnt for the life of me remember what the hell he was called before Brodus Clay so shows what a job they have done on pushing the character. Doesnt really matter but I hated seeing both world champions pinned on the same show. In the tag match, it worked perfectly to set up the 4 way but in the Punk match it was just not needed. Tensai was rotten yet again.

[d-d-d-dAz]

He's always been Brodus Clay..

[LaGoosh]

WWE need to go back and watch Rikishi and see how you can have a comedy dancing character but at the same time make him serious enough that people buy into him as a serious competitor and actually have people give a shit about them in the long term.

[ColinBollocks]

Brodus selling for the wee lad was awful. Brodus isn't that good at selling anyway, but Brodus doing it for someone like The Miz was rightly greeted with silence. It's hard enough to take The Miz seriously as a threat against someone his size, never mind a big fat bloke like Brodus (who has spent months squashing fools). I liked the little video before the match.Raw felt like one of those shows where they have better stuff planned next week, so WWE give you filler with a couple of decent segments.Even if he looks awful (and smells worse), Heyman was very good during his promo. It's the one thing nobody can argue Heyman isn't quality at. He came across as a sleaze ball agent, perfect.That four-way brawl in Mr. 5*s office was great unintentional comedy. With each passing week Sheamus comes across more and more like a spacker. Del Rio should get the belt.I'm bored of Punk now. I don't know if that's to do with Jericho dragging him down, or Punk being drab. We'll see after D Bryan does his best to make Punk look great. I fear we're getting Tensai after Bryan though.That reads more negative than I expected. I thought Raw was alright.

[paulbrady40]

Paul E was the undeniable highlight of the show, a better crowd would have made it epic, think there was one guy chanting ECW in the whole building

[d-d-d-dAz]

Yeah.

 

You're right.

 

What would have made a segment (designed to put Heyman over as a nobby, uppety hanger-on and sell Brock as a grumpy little mercenary who's took his ball on gone home) is a crowd full of twonks living in the past.

 

That segment had nothing to do with Heyman. The point of Heyman being there wasn't 'LOOK ITS ECW LEGEND PAUL HEYMAN' it was 'BROCKS TOOK HIS BALL, FUCKED OFF WITH IT AND SENT THIS PRICK TO READ FROM A CRUMPLED PIECE OF PAPER'.

 

If anything, fans chanting 'ECW' would have been the worst possible reaction and made negated bringing Heyman back. They'd have been ignoring the whole point of why he was there, and chanting something entirely asinine.

[ColinBollocks]

Again, people forget what the role of a manager is. Heyman wasn't there to get himself over, but the storyline and Lesnar - which he did.That's why Vickie Guerrero is a shite manager. Poor Dolph.

[JLM]

Opening segment was a bit odd. Punk trying to cut Cena's promo for him was very forced and awkward. Lawler sounded pretty stupid defending Big Show's hissy fit at Extreme Rules. He lost fair and square and then assaulted his opponent after the match but he's still the good guy in all of this? Booooo. All of Big Show's stuff was shit this week, particularly the horrendous segment with the dudes from the detective show. Dolph vs Kofi was your solid time filling TV match of the week. Nice to see Dolph win one I guess, but none of these people are going anywhere or doing anything. Fuck off Vickie. Cena promo served its purpose I guess. Divas match was so very short. Layla is pretty good and Beth actually has something to do, so that's good. Props for the Rude Awakening also. Brodus vs Miz was on my TV for a bit. Yes it was. I thought the tag match was very good. Orton might be treading water but I still enjoy his matches for the most part. When he's not stuck with Kane anyway. His match with Swagger last week was great for the time given and he was solid here too. Thought the finish, post match and brawl backstage was all good stuff as well. I'm actually looking forward to that four way whereas Sheamus vs Del Rio held very limited appeal even though I like ADR. lol we have more Facebook mates than UFC. Always love a Paul Heyman promo, and it was a nice little touch of continuity to have him do this.

Rich bitch diva Brock (who will still absolutely fuck you up, by the way) has much more gas in the tank.

100% agree with this. I still think he's being booked to perfection so far, and the stuff they're doing on the dates where he's not appearing has been excellent. They're going to have to continue to be creative in finding ways for him to be in and out of the shows and they're nailing it so far. Main event was decent. I thought Punk made Tensai look better than he has in recent weeks. He's particularly good at getting killed convincingly by big guys. Nothing too horrible but it all felt very missable this week.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I should add that when I say I couldn't watch it without the FF'wd button its because I can't stand all the adverts. If I can fast forward the adverts, i'm fine, but its hard to justify forcing my eyes to stay open when the ratio is never any better than one part wrestling and one part PPI repayments.Had the 'up next' thing been more gripping than Big Show, i'd have stayed with it.The only thing on the programme I usually FF'wd is the Divas.

[Loligan]

He's always been Brodus Clay..

Really? That'll explain it then.

[King Pitcos]

^^^He used to have another wrestling name before he was in WWE, but he's been Brodus Clay since his NXT debut.I thought Raw was fairly shit. I went to bed during the tag match that seemed like it was going to last ages and had fuck all reason for me to care about. Watched the rest of the show on Youtube today and the tag match did accomplish something, so fair play.I'm still intrigued by John vs John, and I still hate Fat Tensai. He couldn't even chokebomb Punk properly, and looked fucking knackered even though he'd been standing outside watching half the match. I really wish they'd make haste in the inevitable admitting defeat and putting him in a comedy tag team.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

So I take it the Lord is winning the belt eventually then?Punk will drop it to Albert, Cena will beat Albert, Lesnar will get his win back from Cena at Survivor Series/Royal Rumble or something and Rock will beat Lesnar? Anyone?