The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[C-Rock]

Also with Christian with him having fairly long periods of time off over the years because of I injuries, I can't imagine a lot of younger or new fans really know who he is or is history in WWE.

[d-d-d-dAz]

D-Bry accused Cena of being in it for the money, and joked about fans hating him. I think it was perfectly logical for Cena to reply with the real reasons he does what he does.

 

Everything Cena said made perfect sense and countered specific objections.

 

I also follow the logic that you need to win titles and stay at the top for years to be classed alongside HBK, Triple H et al. I actually think, more than anything, what made D-Bry look most like a prick was his inferrence that he should be considered in that class based solely on how good he thinks he is.

 

I'm fully Team Cena now.

Edited August 13, 2013 by d-d-d-dAz

[Richard]

That was one of Cena's best promos he's ever done, when he's serious and on point dropping all the jokey shite that he tends to incorporate into his shtick when he's not arsed he's the best in the business on the mic. Within his limitations (and content) on the stick Bryan to his credit played his role like a diamond pressing Cena's buttons along the way.

[Sexy Dad]

Bryan may come across as cocky to consider himself at the level of the multi-time champions but its refreshing for somebody at his level to consider himself to be the best. In recent years; CM Punk has let everyone know he believes that he is the Best in the World. Daniel Bryan is now voicing that he is everything that John Cena is not and in fact a better wrestler than (in his eyes) 'a parody of a wrestler' John Cena.

 

I'd much prefer the up and coming main eventers believe that they're the best rather than say that they have a long way to go to fully earn everybody's respect and rub shoulders with the Hall of Famers that came before them. Everybody shouldn't sound like John Cena. I want a wrestling feud not just 'I like you, I'm going to prove myself'. I think it's the total respect fest that sucks a lot of the excitement out of Cena's feuds at times, such as when it took so long for The Rock to get a rise out of him and CM Punk calling him an ass kisser during his 'pipebomb' and Cena being more concerned that Vince wasn't respecting the first amendment.

Edited August 13, 2013 by thesimonbegz

[d-d-d-dAz]

Has there been any issues with ratings or response to the main event?

 

It seems strange that out of nowhere D-Bry has been relegated to the fifth most important man involved, and Punk/Lesnar are closing the go-home show.

 

*edit* in reply to the above, I think the 'parody' line was awful. Just horrible. Just sheer, prickish nastiness. Whoever came up with that deserves shooting. They've spent years hammering home that Cena works 40 hour days, works hurt, cries for dying kids and sacrificed his personal life for his job. Whether you like someone like that or not, calling them a parody is fucking awful. Just awful.

Edited August 13, 2013 by d-d-d-dAz

[ColinBollocks]

I actually thought the whole segment made D-Bry look a bit of a nasty prick.

Totally. Cena came across as a knob, last week, too. It's been a bizarre build in that regard. I've went from liking both men to thinking they're slight bell ends. Cena the millionaire that has some weird hate of anything but WWE and Bryan the ignorant "wrestler". You can see what they were going for, but it's not really worked, for me.

 

I agree with Ian that they appear to have panicked about Bryan drawing anything, so decided to muddy the water with extra characters and story arcs. Granted, they may be right to do so, but it's killed things a little.

[Duke]

D-Bry accused Cena of being in it for the money, and joked about fans hating him. I think it was perfectly logical for Cena to reply with the real reasons he does what he does.

 

Everything Cena said made perfect sense and countered specific objections.

 

I also follow the logic that you need to win titles and stay at the top for years to be classed alongside HBK, Triple H et al. I actually think, more than anything, what made D-Bry look most like a prick was his inferrence that he should be considered in that class based solely on how good he thinks he is.

 

I'm fully Team Cena now.

Perfectly logical, sure, but not necessarily helpful. Bryan isn't on Cena's level, and I thought the angle of Cena looking past him a bit and giving the "kid a break" without actually taking him seriously is good, it's interesting, but Bryan needs the help and while Cena was completely right in everything he said, it didn't build anything.

 

I dunno, I thought it was really well executed, but for a go home promo I don't think it helped the match

[d-d-d-dAz]

I thought that was mostly because Bryan's script was smug and nasty, and rather than countering Cena with shit like 'after Sunday you will respect me', 'as good as you are, I can beat you' or 'you've been on the top for years, my time is now' he tried to belittle Cena, called him shit, a fame whore, a joke and wasn't even worth the respect it takes to slap someone.

 

That's not how you build a match.

 

If Cenas solidly in the grizzled-veteran-been-there-done-that main event camp, then Bryan needs to be in the you're-good-but-I'm-the-new-shit camp.

 

Playing Bryan as the nasty prick who doesn't even recognise Cenas accomplishments doesn't fit the narrative.

 

*edit* its a shame The Wyatt Family are running out of steam, because that t-shirt (though over designed) is quite glorious.

Edited August 13, 2013 by d-d-d-dAz

[SSJLogan]

A Raw that was only saved by the promos. Didn't think much of the matches. The Natalya/AJ ending was just shocking. Natalya only had the Sharpshooter on for about 5 seconds before letting go. So either AJ was meant to tap straight away or is was meant to be held a little bit longer before she tapped. Either way, they both fucked up. If anything, it hurt Big E as he did diddly in that match.

[King Pitcos]

I thought Raw was alright. The video package he got reminded me that I used to really like shitty Christian. Still little to no interest in him fighting Del Rio.

 

I enjoyed the battle royal a lot. I think battle royals have improved a lot over the last five to ten years. They seem a lot better at exciting elimination teases, and they can throw in athletic/acrobatic guys to do fancy spots. Henry, RVD and Big Show vs The Shield in various combinations is a fun prospect too.

 

The mixed tag, besides the balls-up, just seemed counterproductive at the time. I was sure it was setting up for Big E to do his special on Khali. Natalya winning (twice) took me by surprise. Of course it came out later that that was because she's got a match at SummerSlam, but you'd think AJ and Big E's SummerSlam match was helped by a win more than Nattie's.

 

Didn't care for Punk/Heyman/Lesnar this week. I think the build-up peaked a few weeks ago for me.

 

John Cena's the fucking man, isn't he?

 

As well as cutting one of the promos of the year, he even managed to, essentially, call Miz a shitehawk in the process. I didn't think D-Bry held up his end quite as well but those sort of things aren't his speciality.

 

I actually thought the whole segment made D-Bry look a bit of a nasty prick.

yeah it did. Cena kind of stopped building the feud and B-Dazzle and decided to basically call the fans that boo him pricks. He's right, but the whole monologue made Bryan look like a fapper. I actualyl thought Bryan held up his end really well, but thought the segment was designed to make Cena look like superman and Bryan like an IWC wannabe.

That's the point though, isn't it? They're trying to get Bryan to sell the pay-per-view to the worst kind of wrestling fan, and Cena and Triple H to sell it to everyone else. I really like the conflict they've set up between Bryan and Cena, and I think Triple H's involvement just muddies the waters. They could've kept that idea of Bryan not being on Cena's level and "I AM WORKRATE AND LOVE MUSAWA, MY MOVESET IS BIGGER THAN YOURS" vs "FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS, THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCE IN SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT" thing as the story all along without the McMahon stuff, for my own enjoyment at least. I don't think there's a conspiracy to downplay Bryan, they're just (rightly or wrongly) using this as the platform for the big Triple H-Vince thing that's becoming the main story on Raw. I do think it's dangerous that Bryan as emerging main-event babyface was basically doing the same sort of smug, inside-wanky shit as 2011 CM Punk, which turned off loads of normals. As thrilling as their verbal battle was, I don't think it did Bryan any favours with anyone who doesn't already own "Best of Bryan Danielson" DVDs.

[hallicks]

John Cena's the fucking man, isn't he?

 

Based on last night? No.

 

As well as cutting one of the promos of the year, he even managed to, essentially, call Miz a shitehawk in the process. I didn't think D-Bry held up his end quite as well but those sort of things aren't his speciality.

 

I actually thought the whole segment made D-Bry look a bit of a nasty prick.

 

Indeed. I thought they both came out looking like chumps. Both of their promos were well executed, but the content was, humm....questionable. But where can anyone go after

 

"I make dying children happy."

 

Great, well we can just stop there, thanks. Nothing means fucking anything compared to that, does it? And if we're only in the business of making dying children happy, then he can never lose.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I don't really get your point.

 

Bryan called him 'style over substance', a joke, a money grabber and crap at his job. He even made a joke about people not really liking him anyway. The only response to that is to point out that he's got the work ethic of a mythical beast, and his spare time makes the dreams of sick kids come true. The response is either that, or smack Bryan in his nasty, prickish mouth.

 

Any fault in that segment was a failure in material for Bryan. He was sold down the river, and looked like a bitter, jaded prick.

 

Given the parameters the material set, Cena did an A+ job. He was obviously told the story the writers wanted to tell, the narrative they wanted to establish, and he did a fucking wonderful job with his side of things.

 

The only issue is, and its not the fault of either performer, the story they were given was imbalanced and made Bryan look a bit of a tosser.

 

*edit* I'm giving D-Bry the benefit of the doubt as delivery really wasn't the issue. But if he had any creative input into his side of things, then he's a moron too.

Edited August 13, 2013 by d-d-d-dAz

[King Pitcos]

He was obviously told the story the writers wanted to tell, the narrative they wanted to establish

I wouldn't be so sure of that. Their job is to help elevate Bryan. It serves no purpose to them to have Daniel Bryan just parrot tired old nonsense from The Rock and (a heel/failing babyface) CM Punk, does it? Unless they just think he's bulletproof and can get away with it to add heat to SummerSlam but not be harmed by it like Punk was.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

If the purpose of the go home show was to deflate my interest in the PPV then they done a handy job. What a load of fucking shite.

 

It's not like the Bryan/Cena feud was already diluted enough so now the match itself will be about HHH and WILL HE, WONT HE? Can't we just get past these relics and their stench of attitude era shite? Fuck off. The Miz TV segment was occasionally great and mostly regurgitated shit which is inevitable when your promos go on for 15 weeks. I did laugh at both guys treating the Miz like an absolute pleb. We're supposed to take this guy as the host of Summerslam yeah?

 

As much as I love him character wise I do find the Sandow the wrestler kind of boring to be honest (apart from when he's wrestling Sheamus) and Orton always bores the piss out of me until the last two minutes of a match, so yeah, not the most thrilling match. The Battle royal was good stuff, amazing how ramped up the crowd got at the end. Felt far too important for a spot on the fucking pre show. Congrats to RVD by the way for getting into the US title picture this week after pinning the world champ last week. At least the crap champion got a win this week. It boggles the mind how they can have absolutely fuck all to do with Kofi and Ryback.

 

I love the Uso's. Thank christ them and Big E Langston can brighten the mood sometimes. I quite like the All American team, they've got some cool tag team moves going on.

 

Nice to see the Shield get a little promo on Raw for once. Has the full summerslam line up been confirmed yet? I hope they find space for the bloody Shield when they've got Rio vs Christian and the total divs shite on the card.

 

The Heyman/Brock bit went on forever but I did enjoy the Punk attack. Can't say I'm too excited for this match but it does look interesting.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Mr Butternut Squash

[King Pitcos]

As much as I love him character wise I do find the Sandow the wrestler kind of boring to be honest (apart from when he's wrestling Sheamus) and Orton always bores the piss out of me until the last two minutes of a match, so yeah, not the most thrilling match.

I forgot about that. Rehash of Smackdown a couple of weeks ago, with practically the same finish. Cody messes with briefcase, distracts Sandow, Orton hits RKO.

 

Has the full summerslam line up been confirmed yet?

Punk vs Lesnar

Cena vs Bryan

Kane vs Wyatt

Ziggler & Kaitlyn vs AJ & Big E

Rhodes vs Sandow

Christian vs Del Rio

Natalya vs Brie

 

And RVD vs Ambrose on the kick-off. Seven on the PPV itself should be enough to fill it, but they might throw something else in there. Possibly Henry and Show vs Reigns and Rollins, or a six-man after interference during the pre-show.