The main event of Raw, August 25th, 2014

[sanefan_har]

So, last night's main event saw John Cena literally destroy Bray Wyatt, the same way John Cena was beaten at Summerslam. Of course, there was the Harper-Rowan interference, followed by what I call 859 Pounds, Big Show and Mark Henry saving the day and then a 6 man tag match involving these guys.


Now I wouldn't go as far as to say "Cena buried Wyatt! MUAHAHAHA" but this was terribly lazy booking on the part of the WWE. I, personally, could not enjoy the segment, not just because it was a rip-off, but that it copied something that happened just over a week ago.

Did you enjoy this segment? If not, what would you have done instead? Discuss.

 

[J.J.]

No I disliked it. Might as well just been a tag match all along. But I hated to see Bray getting dominated like that, although I guess it was supposed to make Cena look dominate.

 

[kumarjtk]

its perfect booking to look cena dominate against top heel. You guys dont like that bcoz its cena match.

 

[WarroBODFan]

its perfect booking to look cena dominate against top heel. You guys dont like that bcoz its cena match.

No offence to reasonable Cena fans who can debate properly, but it's such a cop out when someone says stuff like that. I couldn't give a rats ass who was in that segment, it was not main event level stuff. Just because your boy Cena was involved, doesn't mean you can use his popularity as an excuse for a segment that some of us didn't like.

I'm not even sure it makes Cena look strong considering the history these two already have. I just think there are much better ways to go about it. I mean hell, have Cena pin the guy clean if they really have no interest in building Bray back up right now. I want to, but I can't look at Wyatt as a top heel right now considering they're not really doing too much with him now.

 

[MartialHorror]

I'm more confused than anything right now with how Raw is booking things. Reigns is feuding with Orton, but it seems like he has been fighting the Miz and Rollins more than the guy whom he is allegedly going to clash with at "Night of the Champions". if Triple H is his opponent, that would make it even weirder.

Wyatt is fighting Jericho or Cena is fighting Lesnar, so...why not have Cena fight Wyatt and have both of their opponents absent in a bizarre way to build up the next PPV? Or at least that's WWE's thinking right now.

With that said, it doesn't piss me off anywhere near as much as its pissing Bray's fanbase off. I'm still wary of Bray as a main event heel, so maybe that is effecting my judgment? Plus, as it has been said, it makes Cena look strong by having him crush a guy he was formerly on equal ground with.

Or does it actually just make the entire roster seem weak? Hard to say! For me, it depends on where they go with it. I am concerned about the Wyatt's though as they've been on a losing streak. Worse, they've been losing to guys who would usually be acting as talent enhancement.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

What an absolute joke. This is exactly why the WWE Network will fail. The fact Cena went in and destroyed Wyatt has now made Wyatt look weaker and done nothing for Cena. It has not encouraged anyone to buy the next PPV; and it certainly won't pursuade people to buy the WWE network for the next 6 months. In fact, I predict a huge drop in subscriptions; and a slight pick up from just before Royal Rumble 2015.

The point is; now Wyatt has been damaged in the main event of Raw; he won't find it easy to recover and become a bigger draw than he was. It is shortsighted and ridiculous.

What Cena should have done is stay off Raw for 3 weeks; returning 1 week before NOTC and gone to take out Lesnar but Lesnar runs off; that would have been enough to build the intrigue for NOTC.

They still need to build the IC and Tag Titles more. When I was a kid those titles used to mean something;and I used to look forwards to each PPV to see at least 2 of the 3 main title matches. This does not happen anymore and it is main events like Raw last night that stop stars from being superstars.

WWE really needs to write some better storylines and they need to do that NOW!

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

There was a long discussion about this the Raw LD. If you want a perspective from several people, look there. We all pretty much agreed Orton would've been a better choice than Wyatt(actually someone brought up ADR as a perfect choice, which he would've been). Either way, it had to be someone who was supposed to appear as normally a legit threat. Considering that Wyatt took Cena to the limit earlier in the year, from that standpoint it makes sense.

That said, too many people missed what was really happening last night (probably the biggest reason Wyatt appeared weak). People clamor for change in John Cena and it was blatantly obvious he had last night. He was cold, powerful and remorseless. He was sending a message to Brock Lesnar, which is why the guy complaining it was too much like their match at SS is an idiot. But if you look at how the story in the ring was playing out, it was more meant as a compliment towards the heel. John Cena needed to dominate someone who would've normally been a legit threat. He needed to show that he can be just as overpowering as Brock Lesnar, by making someone who's normally good, look so bad. Was Wyatt a good choice? Hell no. You don't put someone you're trying to build up in a position like that. But that's on the dumbass who booked Wyatt against Cena.

Personally, I think Wyatt would've looked better if the tag match section of the ME never happened. Cena dominates Wyatt, Wyatt teases that he's about to start coming back, interference, Jericho save, /show. But that's just me. At least in that situation, after being so dominated, they showed Wyatt was still able to come back.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Poor Wyatt....I guess after having your first real feud with THE top guy you can only go downward from there, and downward he went.

As people pointed out. This would have been a perfect match for someone like Del Rio. But what can you do when the guys running the WWE have no clue what talent they got.

This just shows how thin the roster is right now. Really there weren't many top heels he could have went against and show this "new side of him" ( and by new side I'm talking about the anual "I will show you a side of me that you have never seen before" Cena bullshit ). Cena vs Orton would've worked but nobody wants to see that. Cena Vs Wyatt as an advertised wrestlemania rematch is good for bussines. What happened in the match is not.

Basically, basically, Cena showed the side of him that Wyatt was trying his hardest to show the people. But Wyatt ofc lost, because it was a last mand standing match and we all know how I quit and LMS matches go when Cena is involved. ( Wyatt said he was reborn after that feud, yeah reborn into a mid carder ).

So basically one of their top heels who they want to push couldn't do in 3 PPV matches + all the shenanigans between, what Brock Lesnar did in 5 minutes in one match. I know it's Brock Lesnar but booking wise am I the only one seeing something wrong with this in terms of building the future? Seems like they are putting all their eggs into the Roman Empire basket.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Isn't Wyatt still the guy who cares more about exposing Cena as a monster more than wins and losses? Isn't that what Cena became last night? A monster? Remember Wrestlemania, when Bray spent the better part of the match trying to get Cena to embrace his disdain for Cena? Didn't he basically get the Cena he wanted at Wrestlemania?

Bray Wyatt will be fine. It was a one off beating from a desperate man. He gets major points for being the one to bring out the monster in Cena. Hopefully they will cover this in a promo next week. Otherwise, shouldn't most folks be happy that Cena is four weeks from his rematch and already taking Lesnar seriously as opposed to be jokey Cena?

 

[Mustang Sally]

So, last night's main event saw John Cena literally destroy Bray Wyatt....

Well, first of all, Cena didn't literally destroy anyone; as far as I can tell, Bray is still alive.

The rest of it is about making Cena look formidable in the weeks before his important PPV appearance; showing that his spirit hadn't been crushed by the loss to Lesnar. When the Cena-Bray match was announced, I really wondered what WWE wanted to accomplish. On one hand, it might have seemed logical to have Cena "destroy" Bray (not literally) since it would make John look stronger as his rematch with Brock approaches. On the other hand, given all that management has done to build Bray Wyatt as a potent force, do they really want to have it all sacrificed with a crushing loss to Cena in a relatively meaningless setting?

Okay, so the answer was provided by Harper, Rowan, Big Show & Henry.....in essence, the four sides of beef cancelled out one another, leaving Cena and Bray intact, willing to continue the battle......and ready to fight another day, either against each other or different people.

All of it accomplished nothing, yet was exciting and useful.

 

[The Butcher]

Isn't Wyatt still the guy who cares more about exposing Cena as a monster more than wins and losses? Isn't that what Cena became last night? A monster? Remember Wrestlemania, when Bray spent the better part of the match trying to get Cena to embrace his disdain for Cena? Didn't he basically get the Cena he wanted at Wrestlemania?

Bray Wyatt will be fine. It was a one off beating from a desperate man. He gets major points for being the one to bring out the monster in Cena. Hopefully they will cover this in a promo next week. Otherwise, shouldn't most folks be happy that Cena is four weeks from his rematch and already taking Lesnar seriously as opposed to be jokey Cena?

I don't give a fuck about the prestige of the WHC. I don't care what John Cena is doing in October. I am interested in the future of Damien Sandow. I certainly didn't want him to become the next Jack Swagger or Dolph Ziggler level champ. What I care about most is being entertained and although I knew the outcome of the match beforehand, the segment and match still entertained me. It also made me more interested in where things are going with Damien Sandow. He looked very competitive in the match. I assume this means a move up the WWE hierarchy. I think that's a good thing for him and me. Nice job WWE, keep it up.

FFS, stop jinxing guys I like. They made Sandow look like a chump before Cena delivered the killing blow, and it looks very much like history is repeating itself with Wyatt.

Wyatt shouldn't have had that happen to him. We already know Bray can't beat Cena, and WWE should've kept them away from each other after that feud. Having him squash Bray does little for John in the eyes of most fans. Fire Marshall Bill was the first in the live discussion to express what WWE was going for, and I agreed. Most fans didn't get that, though, and even those of us that did don't want it. WWE keeps telling the same story with Cena, and it's sickening. Throwing two guys on the downside of their careers into the mix to help beat up the whole stable just made this instance more retch inducing.

The jobber entrance, the beating, the running away like a coward and getting dragged back down to the ring-- it hurt Wyatt. Not irredeemably, but it did. WWE needs strong heels. WWE needs its under-30 set to start taking over (and granted, they're doing fine by The Shield guys). WWE does not need to remind us that John Cena overcomes the odds, rises above hate, never gives up, etc. etc. We get it, and we want a breather. Give a comedy guy with charisma, skill, and upside a chance to rise above his station and become a serious contender. Give a monster a chance to be a monster. Give us something other than CENAWINSLOL.

 

[L@RISANO]

So, last night's main event saw John Cena literally destroy Bray Wyatt, the same way John Cena was beaten at Summerslam. Of course, there was the Harper-Rowan interference, followed by what I call 859 Pounds, Big Show and Mark Henry saving the day and then a 6 man tag match involving these guys.


Now I wouldn't go as far as to say "Cena buried Wyatt! MUAHAHAHA" but this was terribly lazy booking on the part of the WWE. I, personally, could not enjoy the segment, not just because it was a rip-off, but that it copied something that happened just over a week ago.

Did you enjoy this segment? If not, what would you have done instead? Discuss.

As FMB and the Butcher have alluded to....this topic was discussed at length in the LIVE RAW Discussion thread last night.


The majority were of the opinion that whilst the story being told made sense to show Cena's "Monster" side, the use of Bray Wyatt and his family as sacrficial lambs wasn't exactly "best for business".


Sadly, the absence of viable Top Heels is what probably pushed WWE to have Bray in the role he was last night, but the late change to a 6-man tag, lMO, at least saved some sort of credibility for the guy going forward, if he is to have any chance of being a Top Heel post-Lesnar.


As I said in the LIVE thread, the best option would have been Orton, who actually did beat Cena in their last PPV Singles bout, thus Cena beating Orton to a pulp, wouldn't have hurt an already uninteresting Orton whilst telling the story of the "new Cena" perfectly enough.


As for Bray Wyatt, he has been in virtual limbo since losing to Cena at Payback, and from a personal POV, has been sort of uninspiring since that time. The little gained credibility from defeating Y2J at SummerSlam, was practically undone last night by poor booking, and I feel Bray needs another eye-catching programme soon if he is to ever become a top Main Event player, because his character has taken a huge hit,tbh.

 

[Dream]

My problem with Cena 'destroying' Wyatt is that it was completely unbelievable. Those german suplexes wouldn't have hurt my grandmother. He barely lifted Wyatt off the ground. And he did like three. And then Wyatt kicked out at one.

I understand why they did it. I just don't like that they did it. It makes no sense. Having Lesnar destroy Cena was the absolute best thing they could have done at Summerslam because Lesnar WOULD destroy Cena in real life. He also made it look realistic. Those suplexes were insane at SS. The ones on RAW looked horrible and unpainful.

Why not use someone smaller in size that Cena could have actually thrown around? Plus.. he did like one clothesline and what... 3 suplexes? That wouldn't keep anyone in this thread down for more than 10 seconds.

 

[Mudlup50]

I don't think the opponent was correct but for a storyline it makes sense. Cena was trying to prove to himself that he can be just as good as Lesnar, but also to show that getting hit by 16 suplexes pretty much chalks you up as the loser of the match. I don't even like Cena but from that perspective it makes sense.

Now from Bray's perspective it was horrible >< I want this guy to get over as much as the next guy but he was the wrong pick. Wrong Wrong WRONG! I would've complained less if it was Heath Slater, Randy Orton would've even worked and it would've pushed the Randy is on a losing streak thing harder. Better yet, Jack Swagger. They're trying to push him for not giving up, but he's lost to Rusev 3 out of 3 matches. So thrust Swagger/Jobber to Cena. Again this was just bad opponent selection. I was expecting a weak mentally Cena barely escaping Bray...instead we have Bray looking horrible, the Wyatts looking horrible and by extension, the feud with Jericho looks worse

Bad booking...bad bad booking. Send some higher up guy or some lower guy, Bray is one of the few guys this was gonna hurt.


ALSO...how many times did Cole say Bray Wyatt, Cena's long time rival...they feuded for what 3-4 months? Since when is that long time ><

 

[OYDK]

I hated it simply because of the fact that Bray Wyatt was the one who took the ass whooping. Wyatt already looks incredibly weak after his program with John Cena and his loss to Chris Jericho, and last night obviously did nothing to help Wyatt look like a credible force in the ring. I'm tired of the way Wyatt is being booked. The guy looks like a beast and is top 3 on the mic, but basically everything Wyatt says means nothing because he can't back it up... "John Cena is a shell of his former self... Run " blah blah blah, aaaaand than Wyatt takes the beating. I mean, it could have been ANYBODY else. Miz or even Orton would have made more sense.

Personally, when I realized the route that WWE was taking with that match, I fast forwarded through it... Could not bear to watch it, really. Not much of a main event.

 

[Franchize1990]

My problem with Cena 'destroying' Wyatt is that it was completely unbelievable. Those german suplexes wouldn't have hurt my grandmother. He barely lifted Wyatt off the ground. And he did like three. And then Wyatt kicked out at one.

It's not out of the realm of possibility for Wyatt to kick out at one because Bray was on the way to getting completely decimated but never got to that point due to Harper and Rowan interfering in the match.

I understand why they did it. I just don't like that they did it. It makes no sense. Having Lesnar destroy Cena was the absolute best thing they could have done at Summerslam because Lesnar WOULD destroy Cena in real life. He also made it look realistic.

Having Lesnar dominate Cena at SummerSlam in the fashion that he did was the right move not because "Lesnar would destroy Cena in real life" but to show just how much of a monster Brock Lesnar has been in 2014 and it's going to take a special guy to overcome the guy that is the one in 21-1 and the man to make a 15 time world champion look like an extra for 3MB.

Those suplexes were insane at SS. The ones on RAW looked horrible and unpainful.

Good selling by Cena and bad selling by Wyatt perhaps?

Why not use someone smaller in size that Cena could have actually thrown around?

Because you need a convincing heel closer to the top of the food chain for Cena to "bully" around. Only other viable candidate probably would've been Randy Orton but since their last one-on-one meeting (to my knowledge) at the Rumble went so well whoever was the man in charge of booking 86'd that match off the bat.

Plus.. he did like one clothesline and what... 3 suplexes?

I believe two clotheslines, 5 suplexes (3 German), some kind of spinning back elbow, the running knee to the face, his usual flurry of punches, and then the double leg takedown before the other members of the Wyatt family came in. Not 100% sure that was all the offense he got in but that's a good chunk of it.

That wouldn't keep anyone in this thread down for more than 10 seconds.

Again, it's not like Cena pinned Wyatt for a 3 count after everything was said and done.

As for the main event itself, since they didn't go the Orton route, I didn't mind it. They told the story that they needed to tell. One thing I would've changed about it however is right before Bray took that AA at the end of the night, he has a smile over his face and the camera picks up on him telling Cena "Welcome to the dark side." Somewhat of a tipping of a cap to their 4-5 month feud at the start of the year.

 

[RedRegan1005]

I have nothing against Cena, he bent over at Summerslam and then Lesnar kick him around. I'm point my bullets at WWE booking.

They made one of the worst decisions ever last night! Bray Wyatt is literally one of only two fresh and new heels with any momentum. . . . Atually! Get rid of the IS in my last sentence and add WAS! If they wanted to go with, the "Never Give Up Cenation" route on Monday, I could've lived with it. But put someone out there that could afford the hit. For the first time, sense WWE booked Wyatt terribly against Cena earlier this summer, he had regained momentum after he beat Chris Jericho one on one at Summerslam. Keep him strong up until Night Of Champions. Don't feed him to Cena!!! Cena got whooped by Lesnar, yes I realize this. However, he could get beat down even worse at NoC, and guess what. . . . FANS WOULD STILL TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY!!!!! There was no need to feed Wyatt, or the entire Wyatt family for that matter, to Cena last night. And if they just couldn't help having Cena look weak for another night, pick someone else! WWE is running low on credible heels, not counting Lesnar. In response to Cena getting mowed over by The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar, WWE fed one of their only two credible fresh/young heels to the beast that is so full, its overflowing!

Once again, I have no issue with Cena. He's a company guy, and jumps when WWE says so. Creative called the shots last night, and it left me puzzled and PISSED OFF!!!