Raw thread - 29/04/13

[Sexy Dad]

Big week for The Shield on Raw this week with an impactful victory in a six man tag team match against John Cena and Team Hell No. Solid end to the match too as Cena buckled under the pressure of delivering an AA to Rollins and was hit with a spear from Reigns followed by the pin. Only problem here, isn't it Ryback that is meant to be threat to the WWE Championship? All we got from the number one contender was an exit from the arena and a return at the end of the show to admire the handy work of his former rivals. Not much momentum for the outing at Extreme Rules, but plenty for the Hounds of Justice.

 

Fandango and Khali's dance contest was something to fill the time, not the hottest crowd for a bit of Fandangoing but that beautiful leg drop from the top rope to finish it off was worth the effort of the segment.

 

A tug of war starring Mark Henry was some more progression to what should be a solid bout between Sheamus and Henry at Extreme Rules.

 

Ziggler vs Kofi....it might have been a classic, but I'm not justifying spending the time watching them two go at it again. Skipped.

 

Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes was really good actually, this was a pay per view quality match and was one of them fairly meaningless matches on Raw which is actually quite entertaining. It was nice to see Orton do his thing in front of a receptive crowd too, worlds apart from the match with Sheamus the night after Wrestlemania.

 

Ricardo vs Colter vs Big E was a bizarre contest and was certainly not what I expected to see to further the World title three way feud. It was fairly fun though and Ricardo deserves Santino's spot as the go-to comedy underdog. Despite, most of Ricardo's comedy being absolute confusion at how he knows to hit wrestling moves when he spends 99% of his time in a suit announcing ADR to the ring.

 

Del Rio vs Cesaro was a class bout and shown what both men can do. I was pleased to hear that the World title match at Extreme Rules is to be a ladder match, definitely injects life in to the match.

 

Some decent stuff to check out this week.

[d-d-d-dAz]

They're using Cena's injury as a lever, to establish the positions of the face and the heel; Cena's happy to fight even when he's hurt, Ryback is now only going to fight when it suits him. It was a good, simple story that played out well throughout the night.

 

Ryback looks pretty good in his leathers, too.

 

The way they're building The Shield, and over emphasising their lack of individual ego and ambition, I think they're going to use the WWE title to split them up.

 

I see them doing something like beating down Cena after he's beat Ryback, then the following night build the main event as 'CENA CONFRONTS THE SHIELD; DOES HE HAVE A PLAN?'. At the end of the evening, have The Shield in the ring waiting for Cena. All night the announcers will build that there are rumours that Cena has a plan to destroy The Shield, and speculating who his partners might be. When it comes down to it, Cena comes out alone and his grand plan is this; he'll offer one member of The Shield a title shot BUT they have to decide amongst themselves who gets it.

 

Show closes with Cena smirking and leaving, and The Shield looking at each other shiftily.

 

From there you can build a story of Cena using the title to put a wedge between The Shield. If they want to throw a curveball, they could make it look like its worked, only for The Shield to swerve everyone and help put the title on Reigns (or one of the other two). Could be a good summer story, with everyone thinking Cena has vanquished The Shield, only for them to regroup stronger. With the title, too. Cena chasing The Shield through Summerslam? I could live with that. Losing at Summerslam could then be the REAL reason they disintegrate.

[nobby]

Up and down show for me this week, the actual Wrestling was solid, the stuff in between was very skippable.

 

The Shield pinning Cena was was a bit of a surprise, but a welcome one, that match while short in length told a really good story, the fact that Cena came in a couple of times, did something brief then tagged out, he sold the ankle really well, delivered a routine kick to the gut then grabbed for it as though it was broken, good stuff.

 

Really liked that Orton/Rhodes match, maybe Orton is indeed ready to be re-elevated, i guess it is down to whether they can trust him, as he is on 2 wellness strikes i believe??

 

The opening to the show left me somewhat confused, but whatever.

 

One thing for sure came out of Raw, not just this week but in general, Cesaro is so under utilised it is scary, the guy is brilliant, i like the way the commentators put him over as a beast also.

[nobby]

From there you can build a story of Cena using the title to put a wedge between The Shield. If they want to throw a curveball, they could make it look like its worked, only for The Shield to swerve everyone and help put the title on Reigns (or one of the other two). Could be a good summer story, with everyone thinking Cena has vanquished The Shield, only for them to regroup stronger. With the title, too. Cena chasing The Shield through Summerslam? I could live with that.

 

I quite like this.

[NEWM]

What I really love about The Sheild is how long they can easily stay unbeaten as a unit. Get those fucking tag belts on them yesterday, and have them run roughshod for as long as possible. They're now totally established as clear cut winners, something WWE has rarely had in place the last few years. You can even afford singles losses because that's not the angle, it's about them as a group.

 

Good Raw, actually. Unspectacular, but enjoyable progression of everything interesting.

[Forrest]

I enjoy seeing managers and non-wrestlers in matches, so I enjoyed that opening match. Amazing to see a World title match being built up with four matches on Raw. I think I'll really enjoy the ladder match. That said, as mentioned before, Kofi and Ziggler could have the match of the century and I still wouldn't care. Ditto Orton against anybody. I'm just sick of his matches. The last minute or so was fun and Randy got a HUGE pop, but I really just hate Orton on TV these days. Shield were fun and Ryback looks like a boss in the leathers, like Goldberg.

 

Not the best, but by no means a bad show.

[UK Kat Von D]

If any of the shield were to win the title it would be Ambrose. He's the evil genius who could manipulate the other two into having his back, leading to a Batista style split for Reigns when he gets sick of playing second fiddle. That would leave Rollins to make the choice on who to side with, initially being with Ambrose but eventually doing the right thing and turning face with Riegns.

 

As for the show I felt it really dragged. Orton and Rhodes was good (the superplex spot was ruined by JBL trying to squeeze in as many cliches as he could before they hit the move. One would have been fine.) If this had been the blow off to a feud then it would have been ever better.

The comedy opener was good but seemed a bit daft for a match which should be billed as important.

The booking of Ryback and Fandango has been pretty much the exact opposite of what they need to be doing. Like why didn't Ryback boot Cena in the ankle when he was getting it taped up? It wasn't long ago that Ryback enjoyed wrestling in handicap matches, now he doesn't want to wrestle at all. I see what they are going between him and Cena with a fighting champ against a guy who fights when the mood takes him, it just doesn't fit Ryback at all

[Professor Paul's Bin]

Don't mean to be a negative nancy but does anybody think there's far too many ladder matches these days? Especially involving Ziggler.

 

Saying that Del Rio and Ziggler in a Ladder match sounds great and will be good. Its a shame Swagger's involved. We all know how well Swagger did in the MITB match...

[UK Kat Von D]

As three former money in the bank winners I think the ladder match makes the most sense really. But I agree there are too many

[King Pitcos]

Don't mean to be a negative nancy but does anybody think there's far too many ladder matches these days? Especially involving Ziggler.

 

Saying that Del Rio and Ziggler in a Ladder match sounds great and will be good. Its a shame Swagger's involved. We all know how well Swagger did in the MITB match...

 

There's no way anyone would care about a triple threat match between those three without something like a ladder involved.

 

I skipped Orton vs Cody because I can't stand either. I wish Orton would just fuck off to TNA. He's in a spot where he is pretty safe and high-profile, so has to win a fair bit, but can't be The Man for various reasons. Everything he's involved with is just dull and devoid of importance. He's too limited to make lemonade out of what he's given, and WWE can't be arsed writing entertaining stuff to his strengths, so he just has decent matches that mean fuck all. And Cody Rhodes is even duller on his own.

 

I did watch Kofi vs Ziggler, and it was fantastic, but it's a shame. They work so well together and their matches would be instant classics if there was some build and preservation to make them seem special... Instead, they're just the best airtime-filling matches around.

 

I'm enjoying the stuff with The Shield lately. I like Ryback's weird staring into space as well. Seems a right nutter/autistic.

 

Where's Miz?

[LWOLeN]

Good matches this week. Orton vs Cody was allright, but I was a bit annoyed by all the calling. Dont wanna be smarky but damn, it was like they were talking loudly on the phone sometimes. I have never seen Cody do a diving disaster kick so I really hated the telegraphed finish.

 

Cesaro vs Del Rio was fun. Even though Ive seen Ziggler vs Kofi 47 times already....I watched it and it was pretty good. Khali on the mic always cracks me up.

 

Main event was done well.

 

Overall pretty decent.

[METAL ON METAL]

I absolutely love the way Reigns does the Spear. Unlike a lot of people who use it, his looks like he gets some power into it. Absolutely loving the way The Shield have been booked, just hope they don't get disbanded any time soon.

 

 

Kaitlyn's admirer/stalker was weird, which usually means Hornswoggle territory.

[SpiritOfTheForest]

Kaitlyn's admirer/stalker was weird, which usually means Hornswoggle territory.

 

I'd be all for that as long as it meant Natalya getting back in to the Divas title scene.

 

It seems that everything the Shield touches turns to gold. WWE really have done a phenomenal job in presenting them as deadly.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Ryback looked beastly in his leathers. Just wish he done something at the end instead of standing there. Orton/Cody was good and was helped by the great crowd this week. I still love the moustache. The good looking guy ruining his face with a horrible bit of fluff, great heel move.

 

It's quite embarrassing watching Ricardo be a pathetic shill for a guy that will never get over.

 

The Shield promo was awkward and disappointing but the match was as good as usual. Love that Ambrose is getting another big singles match on Smackdown.

 

I hope Big E squashing Kofi isn't another thing that leads to nothing and we get a US title feud between them with E eventually turning face. Maybe he's the secret admirer?

 

I don't know what has happened to JBL's announcing over the years, he's as shit as the rest of them. Pretty good show really.

[METAL ON METAL]

I hope Big E squashing Kofi isn't another thing that leads to nothing and we get a US title feud between them with E eventually turning face.

 

I'm expecting Big E vs. Kofi at Extreme Rules.

 

Hopefully ends up with Ziggler, Big E & AJ all having titles - I like it when they do that with groups, sort of like a B-rate version of Evolution.