The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[Linus]

Spontaneous human combustion? The point is, they do stop. And we are asked to - and comply - suspend our disbelief.

[King Pitcos]

Are you sure you know what your point is here? A referee threatening a disqualification in a no disqualification match is like a referee counting a pin in a no pinfalls match, or someone trying to win the Royal Rumble by submission. That doesn't aid suspension of disbelief, it actively discourages it because the reaction is either laughter or anger at the fuck-up.

 

To make your analogy more accurate, it's actually like removing the red card in football then threatening players with the red card in football because the ref has forgotten it's been removed.

[tiger_rick]

To make your analogy more accurate, it's actually like removing the red card in football then threatening players with the red card in football because the ref has forgotten it's been removed.

"If WCW ran football..."

[Loki]

"Activate... MultiBall!!"

[tiger_rick]

Pretty bland show. I it Christmas? Only they never mentioned it. Cena singing "Let it go" was cringeworthy shit.

 

Interesting reaction to the Reigns-Show match. There were some small chants of "Daniel Bryan" and "Boring". They came across clearly though because you could hear a pin drop when Show was on offence. When Reigns made his comeback the crowd picked up a bit but they had no interest in seeing him selling. It was woeful offence too. At one point Show put on a rest hold that the commentators openly debated whether there must be a choke in there somewhere because it honestly looked like a cuddle. Terrible.

 

Another shit Piper's Pit too. The sooner new legends like The Undertaker get booked for these odd shows the better.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I thought it was a pretty good show, comparing it to how shit Christmas themed wrestling shows usually are. Quality matches in Cena vs. Rollins, Ziggler vs. Harper, and even Ambrose vs. Wyatt somehow brought violence and intensity to a Christmas themed street fight.

 

Reigns vs. Show sounded like the start of the rebellion. They weren't overly negative towards Reigns, as said the "boring" chants were when Show was on offense. He still didn't receive the kind of reception that befits a soon-to-be Wrestlemania main eventer, and the count-out finish was weak, which the announcers basically acknowledged.

 

Paige is the hottest Grinch ever. She needs to be doing something meaningful, she's got the total package. She was loved in Minnesota too.

[quote the raven]

Ambrose is slowy turning into Mick Foley.

 

Clearly the guy dont mind getting hurt, but every match is gimmicked and he ends up taking bumps though tables/chairs/ladders then loses.

 

Also Harper is great

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Reigns has all the potential, but I have absolutely ZERO confidence they have a single clue how to protect him. I remember Batista in 2005, when the people turned him babyface. They seriously couldnt have done anything better than what they did in the build up. They were subtle, they kept his less than steller mic work to little bits, they had Flair and Triple H put the heat on him and they topped it off with a massive angle which did massive numbers because people were desperate to see it. Where as this Roman Reigns thing is like "he's your next star, take him or leave him." I like Reigns and he has a great look, but when you have that amount of flaws in your game you need protecting. You cant script the amount of lame verbage that he is given, you cant have him dulling up a 3 hour Raw wrestling the Big Show. If they fuck this up, then they have nobody to blame but themselves. He should be the easiest person in the world to book.

[ColinBollocks]

It's hard to argue that Vince isn't losing the plot if two years in a row the fans shit on his original creative direction for the 'Mania main event. This is also coming off the TV deal and Network fiasco of this year.

Edited December 23, 2014 by ColinBollocks

[PunkStep]

Yeah, it goes to show how little faith we all have in WWE creatively. We all really like Reigns, we all know he could be the next mega star but we all have this feeling that WWE are going to balls it up. I think we've been burned by the Ryback handling, and that was someone with less going for him than Reigns does.

[LaGoosh]

Yeah 100% spot on. Mad to think that at Elimination Chamber, all The Shield and Bray Wyatt came out as the hottest thing in wrestling in years. It really had a feeling that they were the future and the future was bright. Less than a year later and the only one who has even a bit of shine left around him is Seth Rollins. The others just have this "dead in the water" feel all around them.

[WyattSheepMask]

I wouldn't say that Wyatt is dead in the water, but they need to do something with him to get him back on track. Would it be safe to say that the Cena feud came a little too quickly for him? Obviously we all knew that Cena was winning that feud, but he has just been treading water since then.

 

I reckon there is more mileage in Rollins as a Jeff Hardy daredevil babyface type rather than the chickenshit heel

Edited December 23, 2014 by WyattSheepMask

[melina_mma]

I thought it was a really solid fun show,better than the last ppv.

 

Big Show needs to retire though, he is just so uninteresting now

[neil is brill]

Ziggler is slowly becoming John Cena. How many finishers did he kick out of before he hit his "5 moves of doom" for the win?

 

He kicked out of Harper's Sitdown Powerbomb, Swinging Sideslam on the outside, a massive Superkick, the Suicide Dive and the big Clothesline finisher.

 

Note: This is a tongue in cheek post, for the benefit of pro Ziggler Dem Wans complaining that Cena kicks out of big moves before winning from nowhere. I'm also aware that not all of those moves are Harper's finishers, but they have been for other wrestlers over the years.

[Linus]

Hey, it's Raw! It's that show that's a bit too long!

The show started with Ho-Ho-Hogan in the ring. He nanounced a couple of matches before being interrupted by John Cena's music. How rude. He didn't mind, though.

Cena came down and they jawed for a bit and Cena sang badly and this is a fighting show. Cena says he wants an early Christmas present of Seth Rollins in the ring, which brings out Rollins.

Rollins went on FOREVER about the past and the future and the Authority and if they're trying to make him the world's most tedious and annoying man it's working.

Anyway, Hogan made the fight, and made it for right now! I'm happy he did, because when was the last time we saw Rollins and Cena fight? Okay, they met in an eight-man on Tribute To The Troops last week, but before that? Okay, there was the cage match on last week's Raw, but before that? Okay, there was the Tables match at the PPV the night before, but before that? Okay, they met in a six-man on Raw the other week, but before that? Okay, they met in a handicap match and I think I've belaboured my point.

So, yeah, this was that match. J&J Security interfered a bunch, and Cena did that spot where he AA's the pair of them again. I like that. It wasn't a bad match but it's just stale.

Backstage, some Christmas music was playing and then Kane appeared and said, "Bah, humbug!" Thankfully, this was Kane's only appearance of the night.

After a commercial and Fandango and Jack Swagger is just about joined-in-progress. Now this is a fresh match-up! And Fandango won! Yes, he actually won! I guess that says more about Swagger than Fandango, but still!

Backstage Not Renee interviewed Dolph Ziggler, who built up his re-match with Luke Harper tonight. He stumbled over his lines a bit but he has a likeable quality to him, the scamp.

Adam Rose and the Rosebuds party to the ring for a match with R-Truth. We haven't seen R-Truth since Bray Wyatt magically transformed him into a rocking chair, which Dean Ambrose then smashed, so I'm glad he's okay.

Rose lost control of his senses and danced instead of fighting and R-Truth rolled him yp for the win. Rose was not happy. That Fucking Bunny got in the ring to console him and Rose KILLED him. The crowd chanted, "one more time" so that was awesome. He beat up That Fucking Bunny some more and then growled at the shocked Rosebuds before departing. Hopefully he'll be all business soon.

Edge & Christian are guest-hosting Raw next week. Yay?

Hey, it's Big Show! He's just starting off a feud with Roman Reigns where they've had a couple of confrontations so I can't wait to see how they build this and... oh, he's fighting Roman Reigns.

They did some stuff and the crowd did not care for it. They didn't not care for it, but certainly didn't react like you'd hope they would.

There was a good bit on one of the Wrestling Observer Live radio shows this week, where Todd Martin opined that the crowd will undoubtedly turn on Reigns because - as with Cena - he isn't their guy. He's right. If you look at most of the top babyfaces of the last 30 years they were all created by the fans. Hogan? Heel who got cheered. Hart? Tag team heel got begrudging respect. Austin? Cool heel turned face. And it goes on. The reason that half the crowd have never taken to Cena is he was chosen for them, not by them, and they risk doing that with Reigns when patience may get him over anyway. But I digress.

The match ended when Reigns Superman Punched - ugh - Show over the announcers' table and Show couldn't make the 10-count to give Reigns the win. Nice build, eh?

Backstage Renee talked to Dean Ambrose. He said he'd been a mostly good boy all year - well, he's got Renee, by all accounts, so he's doing something right - and expected a good Christmas. He did a funny that was built all wrong but bless him for trying.

Back in the ring, it's Natalya - with Tyson - versus Brie Bella - with Nikki Bella. Last week Tyson upset Natalya by being concerned for Nikki after she got bumped off the apron. Cole said that Natalya explained it away by claiming Tyson was concerned for Nikki's knee, having had the same injury as her. Remember that.

Anyway, the match was okay, as these things go. Natalya won after Brie small packaged her from the Sharpshooter attempt but Natalya managed to shift her position so Brie's shoulders were down. At first it looked like they'd fucked up but I guess this was intended? What do I know.

After the match, Nikki got up on the paron and Natalya bumped her again and she went down clutching her knee. Natalya posed with Nikki's title belt and Tyson looked a bit odd. DON'T LET 'EM BOOK YOUR MARRIAGE, KIDS!

Oh Christ, it's Los Matadores and Torito is dressed as a reindeer. They're fighing Goldgust and Stardust in what must be a handicap match and I give up. I actually cannot wait for The Ascension - The fucking Ascension, of all people - to arrive, just because it's new fucking tag teams!

The good guys won when the mini pinned the 26-year veteran.

Backstage, Luke Harper did a weird promo about his match with Ziggler. They need to weird him up again, so this was a start.

Hey, it's Dolph Ziggler! He's fighting Luke Harper for the Intercontinental Title. Remember that match against Luke Harper a few weeks ago, when Ziggler lost the title to him because Rollins and his goons beat up Ziggler before the bell and the story was should Dolph even start the match?

Well, Harper beat up Ziggler before the bell and the story was should Dolph start the match. IT WAS THIRTY-FIVE DAYS AGO. FFS. So, yeah, Harper beat Dolph up a bunch and kept beating him up until Ziggler suddenly hit two superkicks and a zig zag for the win. That was the kind of shit that made me hate Dolph before I started to like him. Stop it.

Roddy Piper comes out and introduces his guests for the Piper's Pit segment. I wish they'd do these things on a specially-built set that eventually gets wrecked. That rules.

Anyway, he announced Lana and "RusOv" before the music hit and the very first thing you hear is the proper pronounciation of his name, like the TitanTron has AutoCorrect (TM Stereo Mike). Piper looks old and has a Dad's haircut. Never get old, kids.

So Lana and RusEv come out and Lana buries America and Piper then says he has a gift. Yeah, it was Ryback. How did you guess? Ryback beat up Rusev a bit before Rusev became the smartest man in professional wrestling history by avoiding the meathook clothesline by just rolling out of the ring. Why has no-one else ever done that? Ryback looked angry and a little confused - his default look - as Rusev backed off.

I Duggan'd Tribute To The Troops last week, purely because I wanted to see the Boot Camp match (spoiler: I shouldn't have bothered) and they did a thing where all the Divas where dressed as slutty Santas and had a terrible Battle Royale. Tonight, they had a six-Diva tag match, where they were all dressed as slutty Santas. SHOOT THIS WRITING TEAM.

It was Paige & Cameron & Summer Rae versus Emma & Naomi & Alicia Fox. Why does Alicia Fox get a surname? Anyway, it was shit. You don't need to tell you that. Naomi flipped about a bit, and Paige - who looks alarmingly like a sexy Vampiro - did some acceptable heel stuff, but this sucked. The good gals won. As if you care.

Feuds, eh? They go on forever, it seems, and Miz & Mizdow versus the Usos is currently in what seems like the fifteenth year of it's existence. The only notable thing here - because the ongoing storyline with Naomi really wasn't mentioned at all, oddly - was that they had to black out the screen because (at least I think) Jey Uso's bum crack got all exposed when Miz schoolboyed him for the win.

Okay, it's our main event. It's Dean Ambrose versus Bray Wyatt in a Miracle On 34th Street Fight. This means they'll have their usual match with some Christmas gimmicks thrown in. I'll buy it.

They did a twenty minute match with LOTS of crazy shit. The ring was surrounded by Christmas trees at each corner and after three of them had been used as weapons the crowd chanted, "one more tree!". I liked that.

They did some comedy when Dean unwrapped a present and found a TV monitor which he wisely put down. It wasn't plugged in, however, unlike one of the trees he hit Wyatt with. DOES HE NEVER LEARN?

They did some ladd spots, some chair spots, and some table spots, all of which were better than anything on the PPV because they were Christmassy, too. Oh, they did that Singapore cane in the corner of the ring, too, which worries me with its potential for wrong-going.

Wyatt used the cane to get the win, driving Ambrose toward it and then hitting the Sister Abigail after some part of Ambrose hit the cane. He then came back to do more damage but Ambrose had found a fire extinguisher and sprayed him and then elbow dropped him through a table to send the fans home happy.

This wasn't a Great Show but it wasn't a Bad Show. It was just too long and had too much of the same shit we always see. Bah humbug, eh?