Paid Members air_raid Posted August 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2022 Fucking hell, I dont even watch the show but the sight of Elias and his guitar warms my cold dead heart. I can hear the first few bars of Thunderstruck in my head again. I swear, thats one of those instances where one moment in wrestling resonated with me far more than the masses as "fucking amazing." Up there with Bret Hart's interview from Survivor Series 1992 in terms of nobody else talks about it, but I will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUM Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 I’m so glad Miz mentioned how AJ lost the mini tournament and got a title shot anyway as it was my first thought. Shows there is at least some awareness of what they were doing. Wrestling heavy episode but some really good and fresh feeling matches. I remember Triple H saying 3 hours is so hard to book so I like how he’s just firing a super long match in there between two top guys to fill the time. Another good episode and Lashley is looking a huge star again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 Good match between Styles and Lashley but otherwise a somewhat... samey Raw. It didn't feel packed with big stars! Someone was asking about camera cuts. I would say it's improved somewhat. It's a lot closer to AEW in terms of camera cut timings, although they have more handhelds around the ring than AEW I think. I didn't notice any wobbly pull shots on impacts, and although they're still cutting on impacts, they're cutting just BEFORE them which is more readable. They also seem to be making some effort to track wrestlers a bit better - so the handheld operators are keeping say Lashley in centre right, and the hard cam does the same thing so that when they cut, the guy is in the same place on the screen and your eyes don't need to jump around. Obviously it's live so it's not perfect, but it does feel like they've simplified and rationalised. If I had to guess I'd say there was a new live director/operator at the desk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Duke Posted August 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2022 I dislike any reminder that Elias can actually play the guitar. First raw in ages for me, and while I couldn't get through all of it, more of a point about size than quality, I enjoyed what I did see. I particularly liked the way they got to Mcintyre vs Owens. Didn't feel contrived at all, both guys had a point, and they felt passionate and needed to fight. Probably would've had it main event over Theory and Ziggler though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 While it has been nice to have a few surprises, I wouldn't want them to fall into the AEW trap of having too many. So yeah I think the key for me over the last few episodes has been more about stabilising the product and bringing in a more focused approach and a good energy. Obviously 3 hours is still way too long so they'll always be screwed there. Someone somewhere said that they're never going to reinvent everything and actually I'm of the opinion that they shouldn't. WWE is WWE and there's a reason so many people like it and have done for so long. When it's great it's great! It's just about ironing out the kinks and slowly backing off from the bad habits they've accumulated over the years. It doesn't need to become AEW. It just needs to become watchable and I think they'll get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted August 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2022 The Drew promo was great. Most fire I can remember from a WWE babyface in forever. They need to pull the trigger in Cardiff. All that really matters though is if they stick the landing with this Elias vs. Kevin Owens thing. For the longest time it was a great laugh that didn’t really have a logical end point. Not anymore. WWE: The Klumps! Let’s go! A Jeremy Borash produced cinematic match where Kevin Owens fights his way through the hospital and encounters all of Elias’ family members has Match of the Year written all over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2022 12 minutes ago, Supremo said: They need to pull the trigger in Cardiff. I've felt like this for a few weeks. It just dawned on me Roman has been a champion/THE champion for 2 years, and that pay off needs to go to someone you can build the next 9-18 months (depending) around at the top end. Thats not Brock or Rocky and you can't give it to Cody yet. They can time this right for Roman to do it properly for someone else in a way he didn't get the benefit of from Lesnar, and the time's NOW. Not Mania when its become even more stale and the booking of the title switch would be predictable, NOW. When it would be not 100% nailed on but still believable, and exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 They've actually done a stellar job with Drew, rebuilding him after he seemed to get lost and a bit boring. Good babyface booking shocker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted August 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Statto Posted August 17, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 17, 2022 "We're wrestlers in a wrestling ring, let's wrestle!" Way to hammer it home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 For the website...we're wrestlers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nick James Posted August 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 23, 2022 (edited) This Women's tournament is cursed, surely? Not sure if it's a worked injury or not, but having the replacement team for the 'injured' team, now be injured is either poor booking or shitty luck. Spoiler I'm in the minority on here, but I fucking love Johnny Gargano and so pleased he got good pop. Could have done without the playing for chants lark, but glad he's back. Similar to the spoiler above, I'm also in the minority that is a big Edge fan, always have been so to see him get his hometown pop like he did made me smile. It's crazy how far Asuka and Alexa Bliss' stock has fallen to the point that their music doesn't even garner a reaction. Trish looking like she hasn't aged a day and teasing coming out of retirement was great, could do without her coming out of retirement, though. Kevin Owens is the man, isn't he? After all of the shit booking he has gone through, he still comes across as a mega star in waiting and just has an aura about him that you can't teach at a PC. Not sure if it's just me that gotten used to it, but the camera cuts don't seem as prevalent. I'd like to think that Borash is sat in the production truck with a ruler, slapping Dunn's fingers whenever he reaches for the button. I think there are more wrestlers that have hit a Canadian Destroyer than not at this point. The move is so overdone that it's no longer special. It was a spectacle in early TNA when you'd wait specifically for Petey Williams to hit it, now you can see it pretty much once a week and twice on a weekend at small indie shows. Although, I'm sure Petey Williams is a WWE producer now, so would be interested to see if he had any input with this one. Edited August 23, 2022 by Nick James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Nick James said: This Women's tournament is cursed, surely? Not sure if it's a worked injury or not, but having the replacement team for the 'injured' team, now be injured is either poor booking or shitty luck. I'm wondering which one of the two it is also, but bad luck seems more likely to me. I'd imagine they'd be more keen to protect Toxic Attraction than the other team in question, but even so, it would be an odd decision to write them out so quickly. This was another fun show, and in spite of it being 3-hours, Raw is far better than Smackdown at the moment. If they were able to drop that third hour, it would be an even easier watch. that said, it's amazing how different it feels since Triple H took over. I didn't expect him to make so many changes so quickly. I was fully expecting Gargano to turn up in AEW, so it was a nice surprise to see him turn up here. I'm intrigued to see how he's used on the main roster once the Theory feud is over and done with, but I'm also a fan of his on the whole. I'm enjoying Dexter Lumis so far, although I remember him being pretty shitty in ring. Perhaps he improved in NXT, I wasn't watching to know for sure. Kevin Owens seems to be massively benefitting the change in regime. Granted this was Toronto, but he felt like a massive star. I'd kind of thought he was beyond salvage, but now I'm not so sure. Even though it happened before to the point of tedium, there's an absolutely brilliant Reigns/Owens feud to be had in the future, with this version of the character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted August 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Nick James said: It's crazy how far Asuka and Alexa Bliss' stock has fallen to the point that their music doesn't even garner a reaction. I honestly didn't even realize it was Alexa's music so I am not surprised. It is what happens when you keep changing someone's music and the music sounds so generic to boot. Glad Spoiler Johnny G is back in WWE. I genuinely like him, and I have enjoyed him being able to pop up on toy hunt videos with the Major Podcast lot, but I didn't want another WWE wrestler jump to AEW, and I hope now he is back under the new guard he gets a good push. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted August 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted August 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Nick James said: Although, I'm sure Petey Williams is a WWE producer now, so would be interested to see if he had any input with this one. when Petey worked a CHIKARA King of Trios a few years back, he was on two out of three nights of the weekend, and nobody else was allowed to do the move until night three, after he'd left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.