The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[SpursRiot2012]

Well...that was fairly dreadful. I don't think there was a thing on the show that wasn't embarassing, shit or boring.

 

Jesus, really? I watched the Raw after Mania and then didn't watch last week based off general (non-spoilery) reactions to the shows on here and elsewhere. Was kind of hoping it'd be worth watching this week.

[ColinBollocks]

I only watched the Cena/Wyatt opening this morning and I thought it was excellent. Vince must be back on the ching, it was mental.

 

John boy was right to question the fans for what they did to him; maybe Wyatt is winning the war. All going normally, then a choir comes out to sing "Whole World in his hands" - again, fairly normal. Then Bray turns up in his rocking chair with the ring surrounded by the choir kids wearing the sheep mask, the camera pans to Bray who has one of the kids on his lap as he laughs maniacally. I fucking love wresting.

 

The rest of the show may well have been rotten, but the opener was great.

Edited April 29, 2014 by ColinBollocks

[air_raid]

I agree with LaGoosh's assessment. I've been watching Raw every week for the first consistent spell for a long time, and it's been a while since I saw one where everything either didn't make sense or was rubbish. This won't be in the right order, just what I remember.

 

I genuinely thought Cena was turning heel at the beginning of the show. That slightly excited me, but then the whole singing segment dragged on too long. WWE often swings and misses when they try and do "eerie" and this was one of them for me. I also have an irrational hatred of hearing Americans sing "Whole World In His Hands" anyway because at my school we didn't insert the "wide" into the second line so it just sounds very wrong to me. But that's my problem. Cena shit himself at small kids in masks when most weeks he's been regarding Bray with as much as fear as he would Gordon the Gopher.

 

RybAxel getting a title shot made me worried that they would win the belts so I was grateful they didn't, but that's the only positive I took from that match. That they WERE unable to win them in an effective handicap match made them look piss-weak. I was also alarmed when JBL mentioned there had only been three sets of tag team champions in the last year - The Shield, the Rhodes and the Usos - because that means he's already forgotten that it was the Outlaws that the Usos took the title from. Hey, maybe it was intentional and we're all supposed to forget that the Outlaws were back on the scene. Anyhoo, forgettable, RybAxel look like shit, move on.

 

Titus O'Neil attacks Sheamus, gains an unfair advantage... loses to one move once they get in the ring. What exactly was that meant to accomplish? Making Titus look piss-weak? Mission accomplished. Next.

 

I think Rusev would be a lot more convincing if his superkick and then Muso/huge elevated Boss Man Slam deal lead to pinfall victories rather than going for that terrible 80s finisher, the Camel Clutch. It was shit for Hassan and it's shit for him. Also, Lana is a very pretty girl in her normal state but the combination of haircut and makeup she's coming out with on Raw does nothing for me. She looks like one of those girls that tries to compensate for not having that nice a face by wearing too much slap when actually underneath it, she's lovely. I didn't care for the go-home segment that was designed to make us think Truth & Truther have any chance of beating him. I know they've got to sell the PPV match but it was a bit desperate when it's painfully obvious the new monster is going to eat them for lunch. When they did a similar first month for Brock Lesnar, he started out by mowing through the Hardy Boys. Woods and R-Truth are most certainly NOT the Hardy Boys. Rusev should be going one-on-one with someone that actually deserves to get on a PPV and will actually be a credible scalp for him. There will be guys eliminated from the Intercontinental contenders tournament that he could beat, who probably will sit out the show.

 

I didn't actually find much to complain about in the midcard fluff of 3MB v Matadores, other than "Wee-L-C match" being a shite pun.

 

I don't care for the current direction of Cesaro/Heyman v Swagger/Coulter because it's a confusing mess of heel v heel when sticking Heyman with Cesaro is muddying the waters enough already. The fans obviously want to cheer for Cesaro, the whole "Paul Heyman guy" spiel is synonymous with Punk for those that loved and miss him and thus prompts pops when referred to, the "King of Swing" nickname introduced by Heyman refers to Cesaro's most crowd-pleasing babyface spot and Cesaro is programmed against the heel Swagger so it all points to the crowd cheering for Cesaro and therefore Heyman has to be as obnoxious as he can and keep bringing up The Streak to remind everyone how much they actually hate him, and should hate Cesaro by proxy. The biggest factor on TV in the writers trying to reinforce Cesaro being a heel when he was seemingly on the cusp of becoming a fully-fledged babyface... is reminding us that Brock Lesnar pinned The Undertaker at WrestleMania. OK.

 

Cody v Del Rio happened. I wasn't paying attention, except it was 100% to do with Cody losing at 0% with Del Rio winning. So really, they're both losers. Del Rio as discussed in another thread is really spinning his wheels. No interview time following up on Cody's latest loss, so that story's meandering.

 

RVD vs Barrett was OK, slightly ruined by the fact we all knew Barrett was going to win. A shame they couldn't think of anything better for the Intercontinental champ Big E to do than just be stood in the back in his gear watching on a monitor though.

 

Ziggler marking out about that time Wolverine knocked him out was beyond lame, and getting to share the segment with the Hollywood A-lister was weird when juxtaposed to how going-nowhere Dolph is right now, just like when he won that match with (IIRC) Del Rio with distraction from the last actor that appeared on Raw, or when he beat Miz in that "Battle of Cleveland" match in Cleveland - they occasionally do a little bit where you think Ziggler is meant to be a big deal, and he's still getting cheered, but he's the one getting pinned in four-ways or losing in the first round of the tournament to Bad News. Whatever is happening backstage to make management dislike Ziggler, they're letting his on-screen persona suffer for it, and that's bollocks. If someone gets one of the better reactions, they should be in a decent position. If people like Dolph, let him be a big deal, you'll sell t-shirts. Nobody buys his t-shirt if he loses most weeks. I don't really have to comment on the Sandow nonsense except to say they might as well have run a massive ticker across the bottom that read "THE SHOW IS FOR KIDS THESE DAYS, GUYS."

 

With that mention of Miz, I find myself pining for The Awesome Truth. Get them back together, give them both something meaty and give the Usos something fresh.

 

The Bryan/Steph interaction was terribly predictable as was the end result of putting on Paige v Brie with Danny Bry ringside. I generally don't approve of the Bellas being positioned as babyfaces anyway because I've never shook the impression that they're horrible people, but babyface Brie vs Paige who they're trying to establish as the new champion as a babyface had me wondering what reaction, if any, they wanted out of the crowd before the inevitable Kane interruption. Paige is one of the characters I do have an interest in, and her bit of this show was nothing to do with her, and 100% to do with her opponent and the ensuing angle. Everyone sure acted petrified of Kane coming from under the ring, trying to drag Brie through the hole under the ring. I think I know the reason - Brie is secretly afraid of clowns, and everyone knows under the ring is where Doink lives. OK, they've done the best they can to rebuild Kane in a couple of weeks from the disposable filler he was at Mania and the midcarder for life we know he is, into some kind of threat even though nobody will ever think he's taking the title, but it's still nonsense.

 

But then, it's nonsense that Bryan is lumbered with Kane at this point anyway. If only Wyatt had been permitted to beat Cena at WrestleMania, he could have been the ideal challenger for Bryan in a "the future is now" title match (Shield vs Evolution will go on last anyway) and you'd have a challenger that a) had lots of momentum behind him, b) is a completely fresh face at the top and c) that viewers will remember convincingly pinning the new champion as recently as the Rumble. As it is, we have a challenger that a) hasn't won a big match in forever, b) is a completely spent force and c) that viewers will remember the champion convincingly pinning as recently as the Raw after Elimination Chamber.

 

Cena's promo was rubbish for me, it makes me cringe to hear him pander to the crowd while simultaneously acknowledging that plenty of people hate him. He should have told everyone to fuck off long ago instead of bleating about how great their "passion" is. "I thought the Universe had abandoned me!" No, they just hate you. You dick. I don't mind his matches, but the character is a complete buffoon.

 

The Shield/Evolution interaction was good again but the Flair bit was useless. He didn't say anything worth saying then fucked off again. At this point, we don't need pisshead Flair telling us the Shield are good, we already buy that they're good. They've been good for ages. The match was OK but forgettable, the post-match shenanigans were good. The brawl was decent (Rollins throwing himself at Batista was a sight) and even thought the veterans beat The Shield up a bit, we were reminded that they can handle themselves in a fair 3 on 3, but we were denied Hunter taking the big powerbomb. They got that bit spot on, we'll have to wait 'til ~SUNDAY!~ to see if The Shield can come out on top. For a go home segment on a go home show, they at least got that right. It's a good job that Shield vs Evolution feels so must-see for me because the rest of this Raw didn't make me care about what's going on elsewhere right now in the slightest.

 

If I forgot any segment, it's because it was really forgettable, I guess.

[The Invisible Boy]

Haven't seen Raw yet but I came home this afternoon hoping to sit downstairs and watch it whilst having lunch and there has only been one hour and 10 minutes recorded on the planner, due to an upgrade. There's a new layout to the TV Guide and stuff and I'm guessing they implemented that during Raw which messed up my recording, so yeah, nice one Sky. I'll just have to watch Raw online after watching the preshow.

[I Bent My Wookie]

Save your time and don't. It's just as easy to watch the last few minutes of each thing on the youtube channel and not have to waste 3 hours of your life.

[PowerButchi]

Personally I'd prefer if Bray Wyatt was using the super tune Autumn Days if he's going to use something from Come and Praise.

[Big Rob]

I really liked the opening segment and the following tag title match. With the latter, I was really surprised that both teams got full entrances and also the proper introductions for a title match. Ropey name aside, Rybaxel are a fun team and the Usos are both really good and over with most crowds, including this one. In fact, I was digging the hell out of Titus vs Sheamus until it just ended. They had a pretty great match on Main Event last week, and I'm hoping that this is the start of something for Titus, even if it didn't get the best initial push.

 

Everything else, save for little moments like Heyman grabbing Zeb's 'tache and the announcement of the WeeLC match, I wasn't a big fan of.

[Astro Hollywood]

Personally I'd prefer if Bray Wyatt was using the super tune Autumn Days if he's going to use something from Come and Praise.

 

 

"Milk bottle tops and paper bags

 

Iron bedsteads, dirty old rags..."

 

 

"litter on the pavement

 

paper in the park..."

 

 

"Is this what we...."

 

 

*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*

 

 

"Really want to see?"

 

 

*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*

 

 

"NO! NO! NO! NO!"

 

 

"Old plastic bottles, silver foil ,

 

chocolate wrapping , Engine oil..."

 

Well, you get the idea with that.

[PowerButchi]

Cena should combat him with a rousing chorus of "I was cold, I was naked..." aimed at the crowd that has deserted him.

[The Whole Show]

WWE is notoriously poor for a few months after Mania, up until around MITB. Last year I thought was a exception as we have tons of great matches from The Shield/Bryan etc. Gonna be hard to top that this year as nothing apart from the Evolution/Shield feud and Wyatts promos have been excited, oh and Adam Rose- that could be kind of cool next week.

 

I loved the Wyatt/Cena promo and visuals at the beginning, however I thought Cenas promo later in the show kind of made it pointless as 2 hours later he was back in full Cena mode.

 

Really not feeling this Cesaro stuff at the moment, the guy was ready made after Mania, he has Paul bloody Heyman with him which seems a perfect fit, but at the moment and after the Mania momentum it seemed ready made that Cesaro was going to be a face. At the moment he is a pretty lousy tweener IMO.

[Big Rob]

Yeah, the most disappointing thing post-Mania for me is the handling of Cesaro. Granted he's been pretty protected which is great, but the pair don't have the same "click" as Heyman does with Lesnar. It might really take off (the Real Americans took a while for me to get in to as a unit, too) but for the time being it does nothing for me aside from the potential of more Zeb/Heyman interaction. Shame, as Cesaro in the ring is bloody marvelous.

[The Whole Show]

And that entrance music is absolute turd.

[air_raid]

Personally I'd prefer if Bray Wyatt was using the super tune Autumn Days if he's going to use something from Come and Praise.

 

Only if Bad News is permitted to use "If I Had A Hammer."

[DCW]

Pretty meh overall.

 

Thought the opening Cena/Wyatt thing was great,and Bryan,Brie and Steph made the best out of another shitty 'Kane is a demon again' segment.

 

Should have just let Flair swagger out with the lads like the old days instead using him in the completely pointless way they did.

 

Ziggler should really just piss off too,what an annoying cunt.

[Doog]

Argh that opening promo with Wyatt and Cena was perfect. Got me well in the mood for the match....then Cena ruins it with his promo an hour later and it's back to same old same old.

 

Daniel Bryans momentum is gone as well, circumstances have killed him. The next few weeks are massive for him if he's gonna stay at the top. Not looking good.