Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - May 18, 2012

Opening Segment - This was a good, solid segment that featured more strong interaction Between CM Punk & Big Johnny. Johnny Ace came out to some great heat and Punk just managed to put a little more on him by laying out JL's hypocrisy in no uncertain terms. The part in which JL asked the fans to "pray" for him was hilarious and only served to get another huge chorus of boos. JL "snapping" under the pressure after Punk had his say and left the ring felt right, given the pressure Big Johnny is under in his match with Cena. Thumbs Up

1. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Darren Young & Titus O'Neil - The match was ok, nothing particularly special about it. O'Neil & Young continue to show good chemistry together and it's good that they didn't get a win here in my opinion. They've only wrestled a few matches as a team, Truth & Kofi are the current tag champs and they have a title match that's actually been given some relevance on the ppv. The champs got the clean win at the 3.5 minute mark after Truth hits his finisher on Young. Not having Young & O'Neil get the win here gives the impression that there's still some work to do for the upstart team before they're ready to be legit contenders for the titles and it gives the champs some momentum heading into the ppv. *3/4

Damien Sandow - More great stuff from Sandow on the mic last night. He's really working hard to get this character over and he's already getting strong heat from the crowds. While this is of little meaning, I like the way he holds the mic. It looks like the snooty way you see some people hold a glass of wine or brandy. It's just a little thing that fits in perfectly with the character he's portraying. You know you're getting great heat when you can barely be heard on the mic over the crowd booing you, as Sandow was getting when he said he wasn't facing Yoshi. Yoshi calling him a chicken and them mocking him seemed kinda goofy, but it produced the desired result. Sandow's attack on Yoshi had a lot of intensity and looked really physical. Afterward, Sandow took a few moments to compose himself and reestablish that pompous serenity of his. More good work from this guy. Thumbs Up

Sheamus & Randy Orton - This was a brief, but solid backstage promo segment from these two. They sold their tension well and it continues to look as though WWE is planning a singles feud between these two in the very near future. Thumbs Up

2. Zack Ryderr vs. Daniel Bryan - Like the tag match, this was on the short side, only about 3 minutes, but it did it's purpose. Bryan looked strong against Ryder and seemed to have an answer/counter for everything Ryder threw at him. Bryan got a great response from the crowd, he's as over as just about anybody on the WWE roster right now. The end comes when Bryan delivers a roundhouse kick to Ryder before locking in the Yes! Lock. Ryder taps but Bryan keeps the hold on a bit longer. A good win for Bryan and some momentum going into the ppv. *3/4

3. CM Punk vs. Kane - Strong match from both guys here. Kane is someone that has gotten his share of hate since his return, but he continues to deliver inside the ring. He & Punk put out a damn good back & forth effort that made both men look strong. Daniel Bryan was out there doing commentary and I like that they didn't try to go over the top with it. He didn't take away from the match and did a good job of putting over Punk's ability and touched on their history a little bit. Kane spent much of the match working on Punk's ribs and Bryan did a good job of keeping people's attention focused on that. Punk plays the role of a gutsy, tough champion well as he took much of Kane's best shots and kept coming back with his own. Punk hit the flying elbow for a great looking spot at one point, with Kane kicking out. Kane takes a roundhouse kick soon after and is knocked outside the ring before Punk hits a suicide dive through the ropes on Kane. Bryan gets up as both guys are on the floor and makes like he was going to hit Punk with the steel chair. He turns around and waffles Kane in the back with it before hightailing it up the ramp. The ref calls for the bell about the 12 minute mark, I'm guessing Punk is disqualified. Punk has the chair in hand and Kane sees it and unloads on him. Kane beats up on Punk on the outside, including several chairshots to the back & ribs. He tosses him into he ring and hits two chokeslams while Bryan looks on from the ramp with a smile on his face. There was some great storytelling going on here and Bryan's facial expressions fit in with the jackal like, opportunistic heel persona he's adopted. Punk is going into the ppv with "injured" ribs, so there's a ready made story heading into the ppv. ***1/4

4. Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes - This has been the one part of the show that I was really disappointed in. I find myself wondering if Cody Rhodes has pissed someone off backstage because he should not have lost this match, especially in 2.5 minutes. Santino is a fun guy, we all get that, but Rhodes is someone that's come much too far to be treated like this. Santino gets the win via the Cobra. I'm hoping that this is just a small part in a bigger picture in which Cody comes out on top. If this was just a one shot match, then it's just a waste. *

5. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton - Great match between Orton & Sheamus, especially the second half of things. All in all, it was a hell of a back & forth effort from both wrestlers that made them both look strong. The match went about 25 minutes, which surprised me a little, but I'm not complaining. Sheamus & Orton were booked to look roughly even here with neither guy ultimately having a huge advantage over the other. They each hit most of their signature spots & moves, but I liked the way that they each managed to avoid taking the finisher of the other. It makes it look as though it might really take their biggest guns to put the other guy down for the win. The end comes with Orton going for the RKO but Sheamus quickly counters with a school boy roll up for the surprising win at the 25 minute mark. Again, it's fun that they didn't pull out the finishers to end this match. Orton lost the match but he lost it in a way that could've happened to anybody, as anybody can find themselves the victim of an unexpected roll up, and it keeps him looking like a top challenger. I figured there'd be some interference from Jericho and/or Del Rio here but I'm glad to see it come about this way. All in all, Sheamus vs. Orton is going to be the money feud going forward after the ppv and it gave Sheamus a huge win over a huge star. Orton shook Sheamus' hand afterward saying "you got me", before delivering an RKO. While it's Orton's nature, it makes me wonder if a heel turn is in the works. ***1/2

Final Thoughts - In my mind, this was the strongest episode of SmackDown! in probably a month or two. There wasn't really any filler on the show as just about everything had a purpose. I'm hoping that the Santino vs. Rhodes situation is part of a bigger picture and will ultimately server a purpose. Other than that, the show was quite good.

The opening segment put more heat on Big Johnny and featured good interaction with CM Punk. The tag match was ok, nothing special, but it gave the champs a win heading into the ppv. Damien Sandow continues to impress me with his work and delivered another great promo before delivering an intense beating to Yoshi Tatsu. Bryan vs. Ryder, again, was nothing specual but it was ok and did it's job of giving Bryan some momentum. Punk vs. Kane was a very good outing for both guys with Bryan playing his role very well. Instigating a post match beating on Punk via Kane was a great touch and Bryan's facial expressions as he watched were spot on. Orton vs. Sheamus was another great match, ultimately better than I expected, with both guys pulling out a damn good back & forth effort. Sheamus getting the clean pin was an added bonus, as was a lack of expected interference. To me, this show felt more like what we're used to from SD! than what we've gotten, overall, for the past few months. It felt like SD! went back to the formula it's used for the past couple of years, as a whole, in which they have a few strong promo segments coupled with a couple of strong 10+ minute matches all while doing a solid job of hyping the upcoming ppv.

Grade: B+

 

[SD619]

SmackDown 18/05/2012

Pros:

1. Excellent match between Sheamus and Orton. The ending sequence was really good and the victory via roll-up made neither man look weak. Their backstage interview segment was good and built up their rivalry and match very well.

2. Decent tag team match. Truth and Kofi winning made sense as they are defending their belts this Sunday.

3. Damien Sandow. You're welcome.

4. Bryan making Ryder tap out helped Bryan's reputation as a submission specialist.

5. Kane beating Punk up leading to his rib injury. Bryan getting involved and his commentary were quite good.

Cons:

1. Where were Jericho and del Rio?

2. Lack of a proper build up between Bryan and Punk.

3. Why is Punk still involved with Johhny? It was the same stuff that Punk has been saying for months.


Overall Grade: B-

 

[MWRedskins]

tonight's show was just ok. the Punk and Bryan thing wasnt bad and it's looking like AJ will be involved really soon in this story, i expect, she will team with Punk, then turn on him likely costing him the title. Cena showed good anger and i didnt hate it, UNTIL the next ppv match was announced. i was hoping for a re-match so Johnny could get his, but instead we see ANOTHER Cena vs. Show match. i dont think this match will be great as it wasnt great in 2009. Jericho's promo was really good, but it just seems that he's all talk and no walk with his matches by the way he's booked (cant win for some reason). the Handicap match wasnt bad, especially when Ziggler was in the ring, but alot of the show didnt make too much sense. if Johnny can fire a WWE wrestler, why doesnt he just fire Cena now??? he did to Big Show, now he cant to Cena??? that's odd, here's hoping that this Show and Cena feud is NOT the main event and i dont think WWE will do that and if they do then they need to really question themselves because while i see why Cena's in the Main Event, i cant see why Big Show vs Cena would be that when we seen this match way too many times.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Last night's Raw was alright, though definitely below usual standards in my view.

I liked the intensity of the Big Show & Cena's promo. When Cena's in a serious mode, he can deliver promos as good as anybody in wrestling and better than most. I also thought Show did a good job of explaining his reasons, briefly, as it's true that nobody tried to help him or intervene on his behalf to even try to help save his job. I'd like to see them expand on that in the coming weeks, like maybe having Show point out that Cena's the WWE's golden boy and how he's in no position to judge Show.

I'm glad to see Punk vs. Bryan is going forward and more good work by both guys on the mic. The match with Kane was alright while it lasted, though much too short, but I'm glad Bryan kept going after Kane instead of just being dominated all over the place. Punk taking a page out of Bryan's book from setting things up the way he did on SD! last week was a fun little game of oneupsmanship. I just wish this would get more attention because it deserves it.

As for wrestling action on the show, definitely on the weak end overall. Way too much filler going on in my view. I hope to never see another Cena vs. Otunga match. I was tempted to just completely change the channel, though it was interesting to see all these heels jump Cena afterward. The Diva match was above average, much better than the usual 30 second fair we get from them. Kelly did a nice job of selling Beth's offense, especially that axe handle to the back of the neck as she was doing her gymnastics bit, although she did botch the Glam Slam a bit. It was nice to see Christian back in the ring, he looked a little rusty, but he'll get his feet back under him. It's hard to get excited about him going against Jinder Mahal. Orton vs. Del Rio was boring to me because I kept expecting interference, though there was some nice work from Jericho on the mic afterward. The main event was a fun match, lots of energy and some surprisingly solid chemistry between the three heels working against Cena & Sheamus.

There was some overall solid storyling progression, though I can understand if some people aren't thrilled about Cena vs. Show. It's going to take up a good amount of time and I think they need to dial back a little on Big Johnny. There was too much filler last night and the show felt like it was dragging at times, which is something they'll definitely have to address if they wanna go to 3 hours and keep people watching. I give last night's show a C.

 

[The Eighties]

I'm not sure they are going to be able to do much with this Cena/Show angle and it took up way too much time last night, 30 minutes at the start and the main event.

Cena's opening promo was solid and he did ask the question of Show's logic that a lot of fans did. Johnny came out and mumbled his response that included a comment about resigning Show on Saturday, something that would mean he had to be fired per the stips given by the board on last weeks Raw, Cole spent the rest of Raw covering for this by saying the agreement had only been verbal.

Big Show's promo had the emotion and intensity required and set up a match with Cena at No Way Out, but heel pushes for Show rarely go the distance in the main event.

Cena vs Otunga was pointless but Sheamus' run-in that almost knocked Ace over was funny and set up the handicap tag match main event.

Orton vs Del Rio was a bit dull, but the run-in from Jericho at the end will no doubt set up a match between the two at the next PPV. Jericho seemed slightly unhinged which I guess may be playing off the stuff on WWE.com talking about his failure to win a belt since returning, I also think it will touch on the punt that led to Jericho's last hiatus.

Daniel Bryan's promo on making Punk tap and Punk's response were quick but on point, leading to a Bryan/Kane match that was solid with Punk entertaining on commentary. The finish was Punk returning the favour to Bryan in a copy of the Punk vs Kane finish on SD. This was good stuff to continue their rivalry but I wish they would get center stage.

Backstage Punk is met by AJ who acts all cute and loony, Punk gives her a hug and tells her to stop crying, which she does immediately, Punk tells her he kinda digs crazy chicks. Fun little bit and it'll be interesting to see how she fits into the Punk/Bryan angle going forward.

Christian vs Mahal was ok, really just a chance to get the new IC champ on TV. Hopefully Christian gets a good run with the belt.

Beth vs Kelly was reasonable just like their other matches, Kelly sold being knocked out from the double axe handle so fully that Beth struggled to perform the Glamslam.

The Main event tag match had a lot of hard work in it and I felt Swaggler really took their chance to impress. The ending was always going to be a shmozz with the heel lumberjacks and it was odd (telling?) to see Punk lead the mid-card charge to help Cena and Sheamus. Cena strides off looking for Show, bumps into Ace and Raw goes off air with him turning into a WMD from Show, who then straightens his clothes and walks off.

This was a Raw that spent 50 minutes in total on an angle I don't think is interesting enough to be the main angle of the flagship show, while the WWE title is relegated to second spot, not great stuff IMO.

 

[themegapowers]

Okay, so I am watching Raw just now, and just before the Orton/Del Rio match when Santino was walking backing back up the ramp and just before Raw cut to commercial, the screen went black and a small white light was in the middle of the screen and then there was an Undertaker gong.

Did anyone else notice this? Was it a production mix up or is it a cryptic message? I think it is far too early for Taker to be appearing. It was only on for a second or so.

 

[The Eighties]

The Sheamus vs Orton match from SD was great and PPV quality, I actually thought their Summerslam match from 2010 was also very good and I hope the plan is for another singles rivalry between them, I just wonder if they'll both remain faces.

Punk vs Kane was also good and Damien Sandow is really making a great impression with his character, I hope he gets a full match soon, he's got future IC champ written all over him.

Right now with Sandow and Cesaro SD have a couple of really good new talents on the show which gives it a lift.

The only real issue with this SD was Santino vs Cody. A champion vs champion match should have been on PPV, but in truth should not be happening at all with Santino as champ. He's a fun act but shouldn't be holding a belt, all this did was make Cody look lame.

 

[SD619]

Okay, so I am watching Raw just now, and just before the Orton/Del Rio match when Santino was walking backing back up the ramp and just before Raw cut to commercial, the screen went black and a small white light was in the middle of the screen and then there was an Undertaker gong.

Did anyone else notice this? Was it a production mix up or is it a cryptic message? I think it is far too early for Taker to be appearing. It was only on for a second or so.

It was an ad for the WM28 DVD.

RAW this week was average.

The promos by Show and Cena were quite good.
The main event was a decent match. The ending was a bit predicate.
There was some advancement to the Punk-Bryan story.
Y2J and Orton seem to be feuding now. I hope this doesn't mean Sheamus vs ADR.
Other than that, nothing of much relevance happened at RAW.

 

[XXJJ]

I think this past Raw showed that WWE desperately needs a bunch of new fresh angles. Their really isn't much going on...

Johnny Ace/Cena/Show angle isn't interesting enough to be taking up that amount of time.

-I liked Jericho attacking Orton. I'm hoping we get a a good feud between these two before Jericho leaves. We might be seeing a little more deranged/crazy Jericho because he is frustrated by all the losing. Thats probably why they have been hyping up that WWE.com article about Jericho lately.

 

[TLK]

Well there's also the HHH/Heyman/Brock storyline which was absent from last night's Raw. Once they begin to truly build that storyline, I'm sure it will get 20 minutes or so of airtime. Then there's the budding angle with AJ/DB/Punk that could get interesting if done correctly. I agree that there needs to be smaller angles involving the midcarders so that entire episodes of Raw aren't being monopolized by Cena/Johnny/Show.

 

[DetectiveZelix]

SD wasnt bad last night. Loved Eve being in charge and making the triple threat match. Loved vicious Bryan killing Kane with the chair almost makes Kane face which I like. I hopded Orton would win but I musnt forget Vince doesnt like face vs face matches. The Big Shows speech was fair as he's another traditional heel betrayed by the fans. The tag match was ok its good to see the Tag Team division still breeding a little life. Rhodes always good on the stick I cant wait to see his and Christians match at NWO. Another thing I enjoyed was Shaemus pulling a tweener move by attacking Del Rio from the back

 

[The Eighties]

I often find SD to be a show that is better than it looks on paper, mainly because it provides good match content that doesn't translate to excitement in words.

Eve looked smokin' as usual in the opening segment and it set the shows through-line in motion. Her mic work was arguably better than the 3 guys wanting the title shot.

The Usos vs O'Neill/Young, Ryback's squash match and Sheamus vs Swagger were all good, Christian vs Hunico was a simple run out for Christian to remove any ring rust and Cody's post match promo set up what should be a fun IC title rivalry.

I had to mention Sandow separately, of all the new guys added over the last 6 months he is the stand out for me, his character is just on and he works it into his matches as well as his fantastic promos. The way he holds the mic like some wine snob is awesome and it's the little details like that and in his ring work that will see a belt on him by the Fall IMO.

Big Show's promo was well delivered and overall worked as far as no one helping him out at the time, but the bit about the fans didn't wash as they were clearly solidly behind him during the firing segment.

The triple threat #1 contenders match was also decent with Daniel Bryan seemingly getting more reaction for his shenanigans than anything else.

 

[JaylisJayP]

Probably the worst Raw in years tonight outside of the Punk segment. Literally the first 17 minutes were ridiculous. Almost entirely recap and Big Show saying nearly the same thing he said on Smackdown, then more recap. Then a worthless match between Del Rio and Santino that brought it to the 24 minute mark of the show. Yeah, good luck with 3 hours. At least there was no Tensai.

It's night's like this that remind me why I dvr the show and don't start watching it until it's about 9:20 CT. I still catch up before it ends.

I will say that the WWE 13 videogame cover is epic. I want a poster of that, just without the W13 logo in the center fucking it up.

 

[AttitudeEra]

I agree with JaylisJayP, this Raw put me to sleep twice literly. I am not one usually to bitch and moan about individual episodes of Raw but this is the 2nd straight Raw that quite frankly wasn't very good. I dont like Cena at all but his presence tonight would have actually helped in the first or final segmentIMO. Big Show as a Giant might work about 2 PPV'S but by SummerSlam he will be back to putting people over. The DB/Punk match was good, I do kind of enjoy Kane being thrown in there too. It keeps him busy and delays a final DB/Punk match for another PPV. Other then DB/Kane/Punk everything else was either pointless, lazy booking by creative or just boring. Where was some progression in the Brock/Heyman/HHH angle. I know we wont see Brock for awhile but Heyman is there, utilize him. Ziggler going on his own has potential but will creative actually book him to the main event level, or will he be stuck in the mid-card with Christian, Rhodes, etc. Hopefully Raw will be better next week!

 

[MayorMcCheese]

I feel like the turning of Big Show heel yet again, surmises WWE perfectly right now.

No. Fresh. Ideas.

The Authority figure feuding with his top draw? been done a million times, and there is no logic to this situation. Atleast when it was Vince and Austin, it was positioned to where Vince played it like he had other top guys equal to SCSA he wanted representing his company as champion.

Throwing together Kofi and Truth reeks of "hey guys we got these two minority dudes, let's put them in a tag team!" even though they are nothing alike and continues to pigeon-hole Kofi in particular as a tag team wrestler.

Ever since Cena beat Brock Lesnar I have felt alot less interested in the product, last week I did not even bother to watch the replays on youtube because just by reading the results I could see it was a terrible show.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan can only hold your interest in a 2 hour show for so long, the storylines are all re-hashes now. I remember when every Monday Night I was excited for RAW, and every once in a while it delivers and we get that feeling back that things are turning around.....but then we end up right back where we are 75 percent of the time....with a show that leaves you with nothing to write home about

 

[JaceEvans]

I disagree

Mostly I think WWE does a good job keeping things fresh as plugging in new stars here and there and delivering fine entertainment. Can things get stale and predictable sometimes,yea. Do they recycle story lines and fueds, yea. But if you look any where else in entertainment you will find the same problem it's just most of everything has already been done and if your like me and I have watched wrestling for 15 years plus you've seen it all as well. Plus were just coming off of wrestlemaina and were in the summer lull where you won't see guys like The Rock and Lesnar on your TV screen. Things will pick up around summerslam I bet.

As far as Kofi and R-truth it's not there fault Evan got suspended and at least there making an effort to showcase the tag titles. I enjoy watching both these guys especially R-truth who I think is a great talent.

 

[rge2010]

I feel like the turning of Big Show heel yet again, surmises WWE perfectly right now.

No. Fresh. Ideas.

The Authority figure feuding with his top draw? been done a million times, and there is no logic to this situation. Atleast when it was Vince and Austin, it was positioned to where Vince played it like he had other top guys equal to SCSA he wanted representing his company as champion.

Throwing together Kofi and Truth reeks of "hey guys we got these two minority dudes, let's put them in a tag team!" even though they are nothing alike and continues to pigeon-hole Kofi in particular as a tag team wrestler.

Ever since Cena beat Brock Lesnar I have felt alot less interested in the product, last week I did not even bother to watch the replays on youtube because just by reading the results I could see it was a terrible show.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan can only hold your interest in a 2 hour show for so long, the storylines are all re-hashes now. I remember when every Monday Night I was excited for RAW, and every once in a while it delivers and we get that feeling back that things are turning around.....but then we end up right back where we are 75 percent of the time....with a show that leaves you with nothing to write home about

Heel turns have been happening for years. It wont ever stop Show was stale, its good to see a character change.

Vince/Austin worked. While Johnny and Cena aint at their level, it is still fairly early days. Its unfair to benchmark against Vince/Austin when it was probably the biggest angle of all time.

Kofi is a tag Wrestler. Had plenty of opportunities in singles - remember his IC run? I dont either. Truth wasnt doing anything. It made sense and yeh, they look good together because they are both black.

 

[dman1373]

its just gotten really boring. The only thing that has been good is bryan vs. punk program and jericho vs orton could have been cool, but everything else is just boring. I kind of tune in to raw and smackdown hoping to watch some good matches and segments but instead get bullshit about cena vs big show. I even like the big show, i think hes good on the mic, but if you put him in there with cena, and johnny ace your in for some trouble.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Its not just Big Show heel turn that has been done before. The Cena/Big Show has been done many times before in 2004, 2009 and now 2012.

And this isn't an excuse that WWE has run out of ideas so they have to recycle old storylines. Till 2008 WWE did have many new and innovative ideas. It just since 2009 that they seem to recycle old ideas again and again.

And Brock Lesnar losing to Cena at Extreme Rules took away most of the momentum that WWE had after Brock's return.

 

[mdj2010]

I hate this 'it's been done before' attitude.

Do you not realise that in al forms of entertainment, we are playing out the same rituals again and again. The greatest stories ever told are from thousands of years ago and they have been recontextualised over and over to fit different societies and cultures.

This is what wrestling does. Repeating a storyline pattern does not make something stale. How is Big Show being a heel even relevant to him playing the heel role previously? How does turning heel even need to be thought of as a lack of ideas? Its going back to something that works and has actually already given more interest to Cena, (because Big Show can work the heel roile so well), has built the idea of a truly dominant force (because he can legitametely punish someone the size of Brodus and can destroy the likes of R-Truth and Kofi kingston) and above all else, has actually regenerated a Big Show character who was, ironically, becoming incredibly stale himself.

Once again, repetition is not a sign of lacking ideas. Its just a proven way of making money and regardless of what you may think, it always has been and always will be about the green.

 

[Johnny Scumm]

I feel like the turning of Big Show heel yet again, surmises WWE perfectly right now.

No. Fresh. Ideas.

Yet at the end of Raw, Big Show was highly interesting.

Throwing together Kofi and Truth reeks of "hey guys we got these two minority dudes, let's put them in a tag team!" even though they are nothing alike and continues to pigeon-hole Kofi in particular as a tag team wrestler.

Really? They're definitely not un-worthy of them and they're making the Tag titles look respectable at last. The feud with Ziggler & Swagger was nice when it happened and now Ziggler's breaking free, I see them bringing the Uso's/Young & Titus back up and making the Titles look good. Plus, Kofi's a great tag team wrestler, it's good for him because he'll never reach the top of the card.

Ever since Cena beat Brock Lesnar I have felt alot less interested in the product, last week I did not even bother to watch the replays on youtube because just by reading the results I could see it was a terrible show.

Why? Granted, Cena beating Lesnar seemed a bit "off", but it doesn't mean you have to stop watching the show.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan can only hold your interest in a 2 hour show for so long, the storylines are all re-hashes now. I remember when every Monday Night I was excited for RAW, and every once in a while it delivers and we get that feeling back that things are turning around.....but then we end up right back where we are 75 percent of the time....with a show that leaves you with nothing to write home about

You can't come up with a brand new storyline every single time you wanna start a feud, you'd send people into work overload. We've just passed Wrestlemania season, things die down for a bit, let's just take the time and watch the WWE, see what happens etc.

Raw & Smackdown cannot be perfect every week, it's impossible and every storyline can't be perfect. If a storyline works, sometimes you can get away with replaying it. Using Cena/Show in a story that Cena/Show done only a few years ago is a silly idea, but if Show stays the way he does, it could work.

I don't think we're at the point of "Stale" at all though.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Stale and toned down, two different things.

Happens every year, WWE go all out heading into Wrestlemania season and post Wrestlemania season they usually continue on that wave of momentum, in recent years mostly ending at the "Backlash" Pay-Per-View which is now of course Extreme Rules, but instead WWE were able to keep the momentum going into Over The Limit. Now that its faded, WWE are regenerating the batteries, like a smart product should.

Big Show has turned heel, Big Show has been a babyface for two years, technically WWE were freshening things up as opposed to making them "stale"; this is like discussing a loaf of bread, I'm not particularly fond. They've brought the IC title into the light again, they've got the Lesnar angle continuing but to make it somewhat realistic they're not shedding too much light on anything as of right now because for one, court cases don't happen in a fortnight and two there are little bits of information throw here and there.

It's the same ol' story - you don't like the product, fuck off and don't watch it. You'll save a lot of energy that way, instead of posting critical summaries with very little substance on an Internet wrestling forum. WWE won't care that you stop watching, one singular person doesn't show in the ratings. And as for your final paragraph, I feel as though you're referencing the "Attitude" Era.

If you take one thing from my entire post, it is this. Attitude Era came, went and is now dead. You don't like it, your problem, you can't do a damn thing about it. If you have issues with the product now, it's a good thing you hadn't a platform in the mid nineties to criticize the product like a keyboard analysist who seemingly knows the ins-and-outs of the business, because it was a helluva' lot worse than it is now, plus it had that "dreaded" "PG" rating. Again, you don't like the product, stop watching, doubt anyone will legitimately give a crap.

 

[Fansince1992]

So far Big Show has really impressed me with this new Heel turn of his. When it all started with him crying in the ring, his acting of that particular segment was really good. Big Show is very unique. He is massive, agreed he got boring as the smiley face, but now his heel persona is shining through.

Now he is starting to build himself into THE Monster/Giant Heel in WWE. In my opinion only Brock Lesnar could match him for this role. To Show's credit against Lesnar, he is way better on the Mic and is way more Passionate about Wrestling than Lesnar will ever be. Big Show was getting loads of heat last night on Raw and he has been heel only 2 weeks. Out of the other Big heels, Tensai gets no reaction, and Kane/Lesnar and Cena has been done recently. Good call to have Big Show face Cena next imo.

I can't see how things are getting stale, Cena has faced 5 different opponents in the last 5 ppvs. Kane - Rock - Lesnar - Lauranitis - Show...At least the main man in the company is fighting a Variety of different men. Rather than calling it stale i'd rather call it a quiet period, building bigger and better storylines will probably occur at the big 4 events, when the likes of The Rock , Brock Lesnar, and Triple H will be on Show.

 

[Workrate]

I thought it was a good Raw in terms of table-setting. Big Show's promo at the top was magnificent (I don't watch Smackdown so if it was the same thing he said there, well, news to me). We also got the set-up for Christian/Rhodes, a Ziggler/Swagger split, a triple threat between Punk/Bryan/Kane (which is good, as adding Kane to that mix helps prolong the Punk/Bryan feud) that included a great one-on-one between the two, a new feud between Orton/Miz, something legitimate even if only for a night for Brodus Clay, a tag title match. I also thought it was nice not having Cena in the building. Remember when the big stars would miss a show here and there to make their presence at other events feel more special? I just thought it was a better all-around show than the previous week(s).

I guess the Del Rio/Santino match was vanilla and the Sheamus/Otunga thing was predictable, but everything else was solid. I'm honestly not sure what people expect every week.

Where was some progression in the Brock/Heyman/HHH angle. I know we wont see Brock for awhile but Heyman is there, utilize him.

So just have Heyman come out and talk every week with no Brock or HHH? Then people would be complaining that his segments are pointless. What could he possibly have to say? Come out and tell us he's officially filed a lawsuit? There's absolutely nothing he can say of value at this point in time. It's better to just keep them all off TV except for a passing mention unless something needs to occur. That match isn't imminent. There's no rush.

 

[Kliq]

I have to comment on this. Just like some people cannot ever be pleased, apparently some cannot ever be disappointed. Last night's show was unwatchable. The past few weeks have been unwatchable. The storylines and matches aren't worth two hours of my time. I gave RAW multiple chances. The History Channel's 'Hatfields and McCoys' was also on last night. I probably watched about 10 minutes total of Raw. Every time I would check back in, Alberto was fighting Santino, CM Punk was interrupting Johnny L., Big Show as throwing a fit. Nothing holding my attention.

I love the WWE, but I wouldn't think twice before calling the current product stale.