I want to be champ. No, I want to be champ. No, I do.

[HeenanGorilla]

What a joke! I watch Raw very rarely. I watch the beginning of Raw very, very rarely. I decided to give it a whirl tonight because it sounded like Extreme Rules was good...and for crying out loud, they are STILL doing this old gag?!?

One by one, the guy who will face Lesnar at SummerSlam and a list of also-rans come down and simply say “I want to face Brock Lesnar”. And then, showing nothing but competence and creativity, they have Kurt Angle, acting like this hasn’t been done a million times, announce that each of these men will be in a match. One of which will start—you ready??—RIGHT NOW!

I have accused WWE of being on autopilot for years but holy hell I never realized it was THIS obvious.

How can today’s fans stand this??

 

[Hyorinmaru]

So you're upset that the Main Event Superstars are all wanting and asking for a shot at the Champion?

With a champ that doesn't even show up whay would you want them to do?

No seriously if you were in charge and faced with this exact situation what would yoy do differently?

They can't have anyone call out the champion to set up a match.

They can't have one of the heels attack Brock Lesnar to set up a match.

They can't do much of anything IF THE CHAMPION ISN'T FUCKING THERE so again I ask you what you would do differently.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

So you're upset that the Main Event Superstars are all wanting and asking for a shot at the Champion?

With a champ that doesn't even show up whay would you want them to do?

No seriously if you were in charge and faced with this exact situation what would yoy do differently?

They can't have anyone call out the champion to set up a match.

They can't have one of the heels attack Brock Lesnar to set up a match.

They can't do much of anything IF THE CHAMPION ISN'T FUCKING THERE so again I ask you what you would do differently.

Yeah, pretty much this.

Main event and upper mid-card guys openly declaring that they want a World Championship match is standard operating procedure. If the OP wants to give WWE shit for this, then you have to do the same for everyone else because everyone else does it at every so often.

Hell, what else can anyone do with an absentee champion? If reports are true, then Vince is purposely keeping Lesnar off WWE TV and ppvs in order to build up heat on Lesnar, which sounds logical as it's been working. The flaw in the slaw, however, is that, reportedly, Vince hopes this will transfer into cheers for Roman Reigns.

Not having a main event champion with a main event championship storyline leaves a big hole when it comes to storylines and it's been showing for a while now. You can't blame all the issues with Raw on Lesnar not being there, but it's still a big problem because it gives guys who're in the main event and upper mid-card nothing of consequence to do. After all, look at what's been the top story for Raw over the past month: a couple of flat personas in Roman Reigns and the Bobby "Smiley" Lashley arguing over who the big dog really is. Could creative have done something more with that? Sure, I've no doubt they could but everyone knows how restrictive Vince is, so it's not like creative could use an idea to put heat into the feud as Vince would probably just shoot it down because he really gets off on this whole "I'm the alpha male. No, I'm the alpha male" shit.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Neither of them will be... for more than a minute or two, that's the point...

Let's say argument sake, they want a new monster heel...which is likely if Brock is departing. They have two candidates in Lashley and Roman... both of whom will likely face Brock at Summerslam due to some shenanigans.

Whoever does beat him, gets taken out in seconds by Braun cashing in - fuelling their heel turn. If it's Roman, which is more likely then they finally have a reason for him to go bad... he got screwed out the title AGAIN..

More interesting is Lashley, with Hogan returning it could be timely to send him down an "angry" path, pissed off... Strowman v Lashley is a match that could sell Mania. Strowman v Heel Reigns could (and he'd get the 5 in a row) but they're setting it all up now.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

It a simple method to start a storyline and at the same time, it keeps lesnar off tv for another week.

What I would love to see next week is either lesnar coming out and destroying both reigns and lashley or just do a no contest so that we can get a triple threat match at summerslam. I feel like lesnar as been better in multi person matches then in one on one matches so it will help the match overall.

Plus I feel that the alpha male stuff is helping reigns. Ever since they gave him a more cocky attitude, a lot more fans have been cheering him. You will never get 100% of the fans cheering for reigns, he pretty much stuck in the cena position for the rest of his career. But they're as been a turning point in his character that made the fans actually stop shitting on his matches before it even start. I look at his match with lashley at extreme rules, you had a 50/50 reaction to him by that I mean you had the classic, let's go Roman, Roman sucks chant that use to be for cena. So Vince must be happy about that because that was his plan all along to have reigns take cena's place which he did.

So I look at this situation right now, they did the whole everybody wants a title match bit which everybody is doing in wrestling not just WWE so I'm not that surprise about this since it always work and it a easy way to see who's you're top contenders and to start a new title program. So I don't get why somebody would complain about this because this is just nit picking and make no sense to complain about this.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Main event and upper mid-card guys openly declaring that they want a World Championship match is standard operating procedure. If the OP wants to give WWE shit for this, then you have to do the same for everyone else because everyone else does it at every so often.

I don't watch anything but WWE and do so sparingly, so I don't have to give shit to anyone else. I'm not even sure who everyone else is.

And you saying that it is standard operating procedure is the exact point I was making. This has been done a million times before; and it's been done whether the champion is absent or not. It shows no creativity.

I was just asking how, as fans, you can not get tired of this same old pattern. But then the guy who responded to me first went all "mark" and asked me all sorts of kayfabe "what would you do if facing that situation?" nonsense...as if WWE wasn't the cause of the situation in the first place.
It's like me saying that the Test/Stephanie wedding angle was lame and him asking me "What would you do if a guy married your fiancé in a drive-thru ceremony?"

It's fine. I got my answer. Today's fans still enjoy this repetitive stuff. It surprises me, that's all.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Well, that is what happens when Champ is not there and anarchy takes over. You have power vacuum where lots of them makes claim how they should replace Champ. Its a pretty straightforward story. Heck, a year ago we had a whole PPV dedicated to who will challenge Lesnar. What I dont get is, why Lashley/Reigns again? They had a match at PPV which Lashley won, if they wanted to do no1 contender they could at least give us something fresh and not a match we got on PPV a week ago(if we count how contender match is next week).

 

[Ceen]

Lashley-Reigns II is bad... It’s a remake and Reigns is gonna go over or maybe it’s finally time for the Heelish turn for Roman
Hope next week Lesnar makes it and Braun can finally cash in. I would love to see him and call Lesnar out, actually it would be a great story.

 

[Greg4WWE]

Well, as others have stated, it's done to move along story lines even if it is old and tired. We already knew damn well Finn Balor or Elias wasn't winning. My biggest problem with this set up is it is obvious who is going to win. If you are going to make 2 3-way matches to determine who faces Brock, why not actually SURPRISE the fans with an Elias pulling an upset? Or hell, even Rollins would have been a surprise over obvious Roman and Obvious Lashley.

So for me, it's not so much the actual story, it's that no one cared about these matches because everyone with a quarter of a brain new that Roman and Bobby were going to win them. They were done to fill up a 3 hour show.

On the flip side, what could have happened since Bobby won at Extreme Rules was to declare Lashley as Brock's opponent at SummerSlam. Have Braun come out and hold up the briefcase and give his devilish grin. I would have had Seth attack McInteyre for costing him the title. Fin Balor and Elias have no business in the ring with Brock so i wouldn't have even involved them, and have Roman go around looking at mad and pissed off ultimately leading to a heel turn or something.

Many diff ways they could have taken this, but Vince is set in stone on getting us to like Roman Reigns. I fear they are gonna give Bobby that same treatment.

 

[wwe fan2009]

I don't watch anything but WWE and do so sparingly, so I don't have to give shit to anyone else. I'm not even sure who everyone else is.

And you saying that it is standard operating procedure is the exact point I was making. This has been done a million times before; and it's been done whether the champion is absent or not. It shows no creativity.

I was just asking how, as fans, you can not get tired of this same old pattern. But then the guy who responded to me first went all "mark" and asked me all sorts of kayfabe "what would you do if facing that situation?" nonsense...as if WWE wasn't the cause of the situation in the first place.
It's like me saying that the Test/Stephanie wedding angle was lame and him asking me "What would you do if a guy married your fiancé in a drive-thru ceremony?"

It's fine. I got my answer. Today's fans still enjoy this repetitive stuff. It surprises me, that's all.

yeah it does get old and the winners were predictable but if you were in charge what are some of the things you would do different to freshen things up and make it interesting .

 

[HeenanGorilla]

yeah it does get old and the winners were predictable but if you were in charge what are some of the things you would do different to freshen things up and make it interesting .

Great question and I would honestly have fun thinking of options. I've also seen some good ideas on this forum in the past. I wish someone would come out and say they want a title shot and be told "no, you haven't earned it" instead of being thrown into some 4-way match or whatever where, like you said, 3 of the 4 usually have no believable chance of winning.

Storylines are missing. I will try to think of an example because I don't want to just crap all over it and not suggest a better way. I just happened upon the show last night and COULD NOT BELIEVE they were doing something that was old and worn out back when I was watching. I really think they are on autopilot, they know it, and they don't care because most viewers come back whether they love it or hate it.

But I will try to provide an idea...

 

[d_henderson1810]

Well, as others have stated, it's done to move along story lines even if it is old and tired. We already knew damn well Finn Balor or Elias wasn't winning. My biggest problem with this set up is it is obvious who is going to win. If you are going to make 2 3-way matches to determine who faces Brock, why not actually SURPRISE the fans with an Elias pulling an upset? Or hell, even Rollins would have been a surprise over obvious Roman and Obvious Lashley.

So for me, it's not so much the actual story, it's that no one cared about these matches because everyone with a quarter of a brain new that Roman and Bobby were going to win them. They were done to fill up a 3 hour show.

On the flip side, what could have happened since Bobby won at Extreme Rules was to declare Lashley as Brock's opponent at SummerSlam. Have Braun come out and hold up the briefcase and give his devilish grin. I would have had Seth attack McInteyre for costing him the title. Fin Balor and Elias have no business in the ring with Brock so i wouldn't have even involved them, and have Roman go around looking at mad and pissed off ultimately leading to a heel turn or something.

Many diff ways they could have taken this, but Vince is set in stone on getting us to like Roman Reigns. I fear they are gonna give Bobby that same treatment.

How you say that because Lashley won, to give him the shot.

Well, I thought they should have done that at "Extreme Rules". I think all matches at "Extreme Rules" should have some stipulation tied to it, and for that match, Roman v Lashley should have been a No.1 Contender's Match at "Extreme Rules". Lashley won, so he gets the shot. This would have been simpler and easier, but they have five weeks of RAW to fill, so they take the long route instead.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

There isn't much they can do with Lesnar not being there. Things should improve when someone takes the title off him.

Of course that's not really an excuse. WWE are the ones who put the title on Lesnar, and they knew the product would suffer with him rarely showing up.

Maybe, just maybe things will get better with a full-time champion.

 

[Radical]

First of all, yes, they are still doing this "I want to be the champ, no, I want to be the champ" set-up they've been doing in WWE for years (even back to the Attitude Era). Sometimes it does just make sense.

BUT, that said, the way it is executed can be done differently and more interestingly.

Just throw in a few fake-outs and surprises, even using the same formula. Like what was suggested, maybe 6 guys come out calling for a shot at the title and the GM says "No, you TWO guys haven't earned it." NOW, you've INSTANTLY given those two guys whether they are babyfaces or heels a storyline, where they can go out each match and try to 'prove' they've earned it. And a bunch of ways that can grow from there for a heel or babyface side of things.

Then, you can say that since Lashley beat Roman then Lashley has EARNED an opportunity to face Lesnar for the title and doesn't have to be in a match, but Roman strongly disagrees and demands a #1 contender match. GM agrees to a #1 contender match but with Lashley as the Special Guest referee. The winner of the match is added to a Triple Threat match at SummerSlam.

Obviously some funny business will go on as Lashley as Guest Ref in a Roman Reigns match: you can have Rollins show up/interfere on McIntyre and Lashley mess with Roman with fast counts on the outside or 'cramps' in his arms during pinning situations. Then have some sort of a finish and whatever it is will probably be pretty interesting and lead to the Triple Threat match at SummerSlam. Still some many weeks to build to it so the match doesn't have to be fully set up just yet.


So, what I'm saying is, the formula of guys declaring their interest in the title is fairly common and I don't think it's ever going away, nor should it ever go away. But the WAY in which it can be tweaked and adjusted can be, so that it isn't quite as predictable and tired.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I don't mind that they have been doing this for what seems like forever. The format usually works rather well and there is a reason they have done it for such a long time to determine the top contender(s). What does bother me is when they waste an episode of Raw doing triple threat matches only for Roman Reigns and Lashley to win them to gain entry into a #1 contendership match when they literally JUST DID a Reigns VS Lashley match at Extreme Rules. Reigns shouldn't even be in the equation since Lashley won at Extreme Rules. Now, had that not been the case then I would have been fine with them going the "you're all going to be in a match to decide a #1 contender" route again. Lashley better win against Reigns (AGAIN) and we better get a full-time Universal Champion.

 

[sMark]

IF THE CHAMPION ISN'T FUCKING THERE

And who is to blame for this? Brock? Think there for a second - Brock gave WWE his terms for a new contract, and WWE laid down and agreed. They had a perfect opportunity to switch the champ at Mania (yeah this was Reigns, but Universal Championship will be there every week on TV), they didn't, Lesnar walked out victorius, Lesnar ended The Streak, basically Lesnar owned WWE all this time, and WWE was scared to do anything about it, giving him all they had, making him a Legend, giving him (i'am sure) huge money and the lighter shedule ever. Lesnar is the winner, WWE is loser and to blame.

 

[sMark]

IF THE CHAMPION ISN'T FUCKING THERE

And who is to blame for this? Brock? Think there for a second - Brock gave WWE his terms for a new contract, and WWE laid down and agreed. They had a perfect opportunity to switch the champ at Mania (yeah this was Reigns, but Universal Championship will be there every week on TV), they didn't, Lesnar walked out victorius, Lesnar ended The Streak, basically Lesnar owned WWE all this time, and WWE was scared to do anything about it, giving him all they had, making him a Legend, giving him (i'am sure) huge money and the lighter shedule ever. Lesnar is the winner, WWE is loser and to blame.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

And who is to blame for this? Brock? Think there for a second - Brock gave WWE his terms for a new contract, and WWE laid down and agreed. They had a perfect opportunity to switch the champ at Mania (yeah this was Reigns, but Universal Championship will be there every week on TV), they didn't, Lesnar walked out victorius, Lesnar ended The Streak, basically Lesnar owned WWE all this time, and WWE was scared to do anything about it, giving him all they had, making him a Legend, giving him (i'am sure) huge money and the lighter shedule ever. Lesnar is the winner, WWE is loser and to blame.

I hate Brock just as much for this bullshit but it has nothing to do with what I actually said.

Congrats on looking like a moron