WZ Forums Reviews Monday Night Raw (8/25)

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

So let's try something... I'm still totally open to Homepage-Forum column ideas, but I've got to get something out tomorrow, and this seems a simple/fun enough idea to try at least once. I'm gonna throw down a thing that happened on Raw last night, you quote the part you want to talk about, or include the corresponding number, then talk about it. I'll take the "best" submissions and put it together on WZ.

(1) Hall of Fame Panel (Flair, Hogan, Michaels) gives their predictions on Lesnar/Cena II at Night of Champion. Cena comes out, says he's gonna "beat Brock's ass" and leaves.

(2) Rusev def. Jack Swagger by TKO

(3) Cesaro def. RVD to become #1 contender to the US Championship.

(4) Paige def. Natalya. AJ Lee comes out, does the creepy Voldemort hug on Paige, and kisses her hand.

(5) Kane and Seth Rollins do a eulogy for Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns interrupts, cleans house.

(6) Dust Bros def. The Usos by count-out. They sort of turn heel after the match, attacking the champions, after accusing them of feigning injury to retain.

(7) Dolph Ziggler def. Damien MizDow

(8) Jerry Lawler hosts a "discussion" between the Bella Twins. Nikki verbally beats down Brie for 10 minutes, then attacks her.

(9) Roman Reigns def. Kane & Rollins via DQ. Post-match brawl ensues, Rollins escapes, Reigns punches the shit out of Kane.

(10) Los Matadores def. Slater Gator

(11) Bo Dallas def. Kofi Kingston

(12) John Cena def. Bray Wyatt via DQ after basically jobbing out Bray in a squash for 5 minutes.

(13) Cena, Show, Henry def. The Wyatt Family in the main event. Cena hits everyone with finishers after the match.

 

[Lee]

How many pages will this be spread over?

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

At least 38.

 

[Lee]

Glad to see they're cutting down.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Well, you know...budget cuts.

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

Get ready to tune out for the next four months or be infuriated.

As simple as the review needs to be.

 

[The Butcher]

(13) Cena, Show, Henry def. The Wyatt Family in the main event. Cena hits everyone with finishers after the match.

Didn't feel like typing it over again, so here's my two cents on how the match affected 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.

And, should you choose to use it, you can replace the line, "Fire Marshall Bill was the first in the live discussion to express what WWE was going for, and I agreed." with "Thanks to fellow poster Fire Marshall Bill, I can understand that WWE was complimenting Bray Wyatt by saying that he was a credible enough threat for the squash to feel more impactful." It'd make things clearer for the reader, as they wouldn't know what FMB said that I agreed with.

It's been my life's dream to have access to the main page.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I'll probably do the Slater Gator match once my RP is finished.

 

[MrHashasheen]

(5) Kane and Seth Rollins do a eulogy for Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns interrupts, cleans house.

So, Roman Reigns is finally going to tangle with Rollins as part of the Shield Break-Up. Sweet. It'll mean more for him and us to see it happen, and it's got more emotional weight than the feud with Orton (however more significant that was). Only a couple of nitpicks I've got with it though:

Reigns had yet to give a shit. He never ran out for Ambrose to back him up in a brawl, didn't run out last week when he ate the cinderblocks, never even a backstage scene where Ambrose told him he'd handle himself. Hell, he didn't run out for his cousins the Usos when Gold/Star turned heel. So why am I meant to care that he finally decided to stand up for Ambrose? After weeks and months of staying away?

Also Corporate Kane. Do I really need to say anything more than that?

"There's Corporate Kane right there alongside Seth-"

Shut up, Michael Cole. It's Kane. Kane. Don't make him sound as ridiculous as he looks.

 

[Blue Chipper]

I'm not the man for this apparently; the only commentary I can give without thinking too much is "Yea, that happened."

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

Is their a set word count? Mine's a little mouthy. I did Cesaro vs RVD.

Spoiler

Presumably the final match in the long series between the two for the time being, the match didn't get nearly enough time as it warranted, especially considering it was for a United States Championship match against a dormant Sheamus, as well as containing a very sudden and uneccessary ending. Other than that, it was a relatively simplistic 3 and a half minute match, but what I'd like to focus on is the context of the United States Championship.

A lot of wrestlers are very much stuck in mid-card hell at this moment of writing. They can obtain a degree of wins, but not enough to establish any sort of long-term momentum, as WWE is desperate to keep a medium of equality to increase the number of potential contenders, essentially favouring quantity over quality. Whilst there are positives to the idealogy, it also constructs a large negative: The midcard scene is very boring at the moment.

Part of that can be placed on WWE's lack of focus on mid-card storylines save for a quick mention from the commentary team in one of their matches, but I feel a lot of that can be placed on having two midcard titles with exactly the same function. A lot of people have suggested combining the Intercontinental Title with the US Title to increase the prestige of holding the title. That's not necessarily the best option due to the traffic within WWE's midcard today. There is, however a method that satisfies the criteria of increasing interest in the mid-card, making both titles more relevant and maintaining a fairly good flow of traffic.

On the forum, we have a fictional e-federation called WZCW (cheap plug I know, but it's relevant). We have two championships designed for the mid-card to upper-midcard; the Eurasian Title which functions very similarly to a normal mid-card championship. The other is the Elite X Championship, which has a set of very specific rules.

Upon earning the Elite X Championship, you must defend your championship 7 rounds in a row, without any break in between. If you successfully do that, you are stripped of the title and rewarded a World Championship Shot. Another rule is that if you challenge someone for the title and lose, you cannot challenge that person again until they lose the championship or complete the gauntlet.

Now, add about 8 more wins to that to make it 15 weeks, which is just under a third of the year and apply that to WWE. If WWE has a certain wrestler they intend to push for the time being, give them the title. Have them defend it on every Raw and PPV against a different challenger until they reach 15. Want to give it to someone else if something comes up, to promote intrigue or to push another guy? Why not? I understand WWE have the potential to abuse this as it isn't foolproof, but take the example of Cesaro. As opposed to gaining more momentum from winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royale, he instead burnt up and crashed. Had he obtained the title in question, his momentum had the potential to increase with Heyman to the point where he could have challenged Cena at around Battleground time, instead of Cena having a throwaway Fatal Four Way match. Sure, he would have probably lost, but he's now comfortably in an upper-midcard position that he hadn't quite achieved beforehand.

This also helps the other title (which I'd personally like to be the IC Title for old times sake) by focusing more on longevity as opposed to short bursts and allowing individual feuds to formulate more easily with the belt. You then hopefully have a focus both on a long term mid-card feud for the IC Title and the ascension of stars with the new US Title. This is most certainly an improvement on the two stale titles we have at this time.

With all that said, I feel Cesaro takes the belt at Night Of Champions and doesn't really go anywhere on the card with it, very much like the previous holders of the belt (ironically, Ambrose was only elevated with the loss of the belt anyway).

 

[Viola Moonlight]

You forgot to add the Brock Lesnar/Paul Heyman vignette/interview segment, which was the best thing that happened on RAW besides Seth Rollins being an awesome heel character.

---------------------------------------

(1) Hall of Fame Panel (Flair, Hogan, Michaels) gives their predictions on Lesnar/Cena II at Night of Champion. Cena comes out, says he's gonna "beat Brock's ass" and leaves.

They tried to make the usual "Cena addresses the crowd" a little more appeasing by adding nostalgia to the mix. Sure, it's great to see some legends come out and say a few words but the discussions were rendered pointless by Cena coming to say his piece anyway.

Also, why isn't Cena selling the match he had with Brock Lesnar? 8 days removed from the beating of his life and he looks as fresh as a daisy. Rusev & Swagger are still selling their injuries from their match and they just had a competitive match. Dean Ambrose sold the shoulder injury for so long, I forgot how he got injured in the first place.

(4) Paige def. Natalya. AJ Lee comes out, does the creepy Voldemort hug on Paige, and kisses her hand.

I've forgotten why these two are feuding. However, it's better than seeing Eva Marie wrestling so I'll take it. Good to see girls like Natalya get the exposure too.

(8) Jerry Lawler hosts a "discussion" between the Bella Twins. Nikki verbally beats down Brie for 10 minutes, then attacks her.

Is it just me or has Nikki been rapidly improving in the last few months? I've never been a Bella fan but Nikki's been catching my interest (appearances aside) and this promo is a good example.

Although she took a long time to get to the point (wasting some perfectly good material for more promo's later down the line), she cut a good promo. She validated her actions from her perspective, drew heat from the crowd and then attacked the face to remove any sympathy anyone had for Nikki. It was all about Nikki tonight and she followed through. All Brie needed to do was be there and react to everything, further proving to me that Brie requires someone else to make her look good (e.g. Daniel Bryan; Stephanie McMahon).

(12) John Cena def. Bray Wyatt via DQ after basically jobbing out Bray in a squash for 5 minutes.

John Cena received what was dubbed "the beating of a life-time" and he came back, looking as fit as ever, and absolutely man-handled Bray Wyatt, one of the very few men on the roster who should be doing the man-handling. Would it kill Cena to sell the injuries sustained from a match once in a while? What was the point of Lesnar destroying Cena if he comes back 8 days later and does this?

Speaking of pointless, whatever little credibility Jericho helped restore for Bray has been flushed down the toilet. If I were Chris and I came back to help put a specific talent over then saw this, I'd be annoyed, especially if the rubber match has yet to happen.

(13) Cena, Show, Henry def. The Wyatt Family in the main event. Cena hits everyone with finishers after the match.

Nail in the coffin for the Wyatt family. I have no idea how they are going to recover from that beat-down. Harper & Rowan could still continue as a tag team and still be salvageable but Bray has officially become a lost cause. Definitely needs a character reboot after tonight.

After tonight, I just want to see Brock Lesnar tear John Cena limb-from-limb. Whatever efforts the WWE are trying to do to get my support for Cena makes me want to see Cena get absolutely destroyed even more. That's not a good thing to say about a character who has a very noble message to spread and represents all things good.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Sorry I forgot...

(14) The Brock Lesnar pre-recorded video package promoting Lesnar/Cena II at Night of Champions.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

(12) John Cena def. Bray Wyatt via DQ after basically jobbing out Bray in a squash for 5 minutes.

(13) Cena, Show, Henry def. The Wyatt Family in the main event. Cena hits everyone with finishers after the match.

What I posted in another thread, slightly edited since I referenced previous posters and the Raw LD.

This should've been Orton vs Cena. Yes, they were booed like crazy earlier in the year, but Orton can afford the loss without damage and is very credible (though ADR would've been the perfect choice if he wasn't fired). 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. 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. At least in that situation, after being so dominated, they showed Wyatt was still able to come back.

 

[Alastor]

(13) Cena, Show, Henry def. The Wyatt Family in the main event. Cena hits everyone with finishers after the match

heh maybe you guys are thinking the wrong way. Maybe WWE think Bray is already established enough to take the hit. Maybe they think he is already good enough to be the jobber to the stars role. I'll still maintain Orton is not the best option because you don't need a 12 time champion who can still go to get demolished so soon after your flagship 15 time champion just did. Also going over Bray give them an excuse for Cena to AA three guys to show the rage and intensity Cena has now. The image of three AAs on three guys > one AA on one guy.

I think in the LD the general consensus was Del Rio would be our preferred choice. But too bad he's gone.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

So is this still happening?