I can understand the logic of 'Mania being the start of the Roman vs. Punk saga with Heyman, while not paying off the Roman/Seth match and having Punk/Rollins 1-1 going forward. They have stadiums to fill. Metlife isn't a small feat for two nights. The culmination will be there. Maybe Seth sneaks the win with Heyman's indecisiveness costing both of his mates, pushing him back into the title race.
That was a very solid show. Cody's promo was outstanding once again. Also really like the Iyo/Bianca/Rhea confrontation. Gable and the mystery luchador angle is fun. Cage match was dope.
I was trying to figure out why I couldn't remember Cody doing a promo and now I remember.
Roman’s surprise appearance was great. My Tribal Chief. The top-end of the Mania card is fire, as the cool kids say.
Love how the company built up Iyo during that confrontation.
AJ vs Logan going to be MOTY candidate, I bet.
My early feeling is that Cody retains at Mania.
Apparently Paul Heyman is helping Bron out backstage. I’d love to see this on-screen (they have teased it) because unlike say Axel or Ryback, there is actual talent that Heyman can mould into greatness.
I wouldn’t be averse that he uses him to stick it to both Punk and Reigns in his slimey way.
I hadn't heard this, but I am intrigued. Bron seems to be doing incredibly well on his own, but having Heyman next to him will only help raise him to the next level.Originally Posted by Badger
And I will agree with you about Ryback, but Axel's problem was not a lack of talent, it was a lack of charisma.
Bron is gifted in both, and he has benefited from working with some very talented performers. It appears we will be getting Bron vs. AJ Styles, which I am down for, but I was also hoping to see Sheamus win that elusive IC title at Mania. There's still plenty of time to make it a 3-way banger, and having Sheamus pin AJ for it would give Bron a reason to demand a rematch.
Sheamus will definitely get it as WWE loves their breaking records but personally I don’t think it’ll be Mania cos he’s not featured in storylines currently and the build would be rushed. I reckon it’ll probably be towards the twilight of his career as a “thank you” and probably happen at a UK/Ireland show.
Can I say that I'm absolutely loving that RAW is on in 15 minutes? I think that's so fucking cool. No more trying to avoid spoilers for international shows.
It's on Netflix and they censor the "Fuck you Cena" chants?
Why on earth did Kaiser move the chair into place
Were they? And plus you have to remember, just because it's Netflix doesn't change anything. They choose not to say "fuck" I mean they said fuck on Peacock not Netflix. They've addressed it a few times even as recent as last Monday. The rating is the same, kids are still watching especially this week as most kids are on Spring Break here in the States.It's on Netflix and they censor the "Fuck you Cena" chants?
I just assumed they would be a little more relaxed about it. They're not going to get fined like they would on USA for example. But again...I get it.
Nothing bleeped out at my end.
Whiny bitch Cena refusing to change his look/theme is a stroke of genius really. Only thing missing really was no mention of Rock’s part.
Cena and Cody stuff was excellent. Balor/Breakker was good as was Penta/Kaiser. Everything else was OK. Penta getting in the IC Title scene makes me happy.
I was watching live and they deffo cut the audio when the 'fuck you Cena' was at it's loudest. Only for a few seconds though. Then stopped, but the chants weren't as loud.Nothing bleeped out at my end.
I hear it's WWE making the cuts, not Netflix. No issue with the cutting of the F word, but the censoring of the middle fingers last week with Rollins and Punk was stupid. As in, if you're going to cut it, don't have them do it in the first place! Like Rock at 'Mania last year yelling 'fuck' throughout parts and the sound being barely audible for long stretches because of it. Just don't do it.
That RVD 'Van Daminator' spot is my biggest bugbear in wrestling. Especially when it takes the aggressor a long time to follow up and connect. Made Kaiser look like a fool. Like RVD used to do most matches.
Great crowd though, as always in Europe.
Last edited by Murphy; March 18th, 2025 at 5:29 AM.
Hmm fair enough, didn’t notice anything that bad at the time although Cole wasn’t censored calling Cena a prick and also Solo got “Fuck you Solo” chants that weren’t edited so it’s inconsistent. Cole did go on Logan Paul’s podcast saying that they still had to be careful what they said.
Deffo inconsistent, but then it is live TV.
Apart from Cody/Cena, I thought this RAW was pretty awful. We all knew the women's match at mania was going to be a three way. We all knew Finn wasn't going to win, etc. The only surprising part is Penta going for the IC title, because Penta quite frankly sucks.
After Cena's entrance, I really liked how he almost left the ring, to make the point that if they wanted to hear him, they'd have to stop the chants. He had given them time to get riled up. The one very minor gripe / nitpick I have about Cena's promo is that at times, it felt hollow as he was delivering it. I mean that in the sense as they tell young performers in promo class, you have to believe it yourself before you can expect the crowd to believe it. I still give it a strong like, as it felt like Cena knew what he wanted to say and he delivered the message, in a very long opening segment with a perfect hot crowd reaction. He was excellent responding to the crowd's "Fuck you Cena!" chant by saying "That was classy, thank you."
But it was his blaming "each and every one of you" that did not feel genuine. The "blame the fans" rationale for a heel turn has been around for ages - Bayley used it as well as anybody I can recall. Cena made it work, but the length of the promo almost felt like he's not getting this much mic time in the ring again until his Hall of Fame induction. Perhaps its the fact that deep down, nobody really believes Cena is not appreciative of how he's been treated by the fans for the past 25 years. But still, kudos to him for accepting a tough assignment, and pulling it off, by getting us to mostly suspend that disbelief so we can enjoy the ride.
Cody's entrance and reply to Cena was executed perfectly. Brief by comparison, and Cena allowed Cody to have the last word.
I was glad that Pat McAfee didn't make it overseas for this, as I felt he very likely would have talked over parts of the segment. Sometimes it's better for the announcers to say nothing, and let the wrestlers do their thing. After, I loved Cole's reaction, especially him calling Cena a prick, because that's the word that got Brad Maddox fired. It felt like an "F-U" to Vince. Wonder what Brad thought of it?
As for the rest of RAW, Penta continues to impress, and Kaiser once again makes everyone look realy good.
Brutus wondered who was in the lucha mask last week. This was amusing, but I hope they don't overdo it making Brutus too dumb.
I liked Balor calling Dirty Dom a snake for his continued thoughts about adding someone to the group, and suggesting Penta.
Ivy and Dakota felt like it was cut short, and they had to go to the distraction finish with LWO coming for Gable earlier than they wanted. But it adds to the story.
The contract signing for Iyo/Bianca was a nice way for Ripley to express her legit gripes against both of them, so adding herself to the match by signing the contract too was a good way to progress to a triple threat, which is what we all have been expecting.
Bron vs Balor was good stuff, even though we all expected the title to stay where it is.
Props to Cena because in this day and age, it's so much harder to convince the crowd you're being "real". The youth will always be easy to convince. With everyone else it has to be one of those situations where it has to make sense and Cena's reasoning makes sense.
I heard something on Nash's podcast where he said someone commented that it would be Shakespearian level if Cena retired as a heel and he was basically a bad guy all along. That everything everyone said about him was right and here is all these years later proving it. He was hypocritical of The Rock, he was a corporate ass kisser, he was more about his brand than being a decent human being despite the Make A Wish stuff. That would be pretty insane. I don't see it happening, but I think it would be a great story to tell.
This was my one gripe as well. Turning it on the fans, that they were at fault. Using that as the narrative doesn't gel with the fact that he might not have 'turned' on Cody had it not been for some intervention or urging of the Rock, to whom Cena had 'sold his soul' to. The complete lack of mention of the Rock by either Cody or Cena in all of this is very conspicuous. It's like whenever the Rock appears, it occurs in a deus ex machina manner or as if in a parallel-yet-nearly-identical WWE continuity as the regular weekly product (as far as 'continuity' and 'WWE' can be used together, YMMV) and, given his questionable availability, they're hesitant to invoke his name (recaps aside) as a stakeholder in the story.
Granted, they may dip back into this later... I'm NOT expecting everything explained all at once..., but the flow from one element of this story to another is like last year when Cody supposedly gave up his WM slot to the Rock, only for them to course-correct at the press conference weeks later. When Rock (and/or Gewirtz) is around, things unfold and go in different directions than the regular weekly shows when HHH is in charge of the narrative. It's like Rock/Gewirtz come in with a germ of an idea, then they write the 'big' moment, but with no framework with how to follow-up on that moment. To watch Elimination Chamber, Rock either colluded previously with Cena (maybe others in the EC match) to make the move against Cody, or Rock pulled some Zemo/Winter Soldier shizz on Cena when he did the throat slash.
Sure, Cena may have longstanding beef with the fanbase for how he's treated... and that's something worthy of exploring if there's a chance this 'heel Cena' thing extends much beyond WM....but how does that dovetail into the Rock 'making the call' at EC and Cena deciding that that was the time to shed his goody-goody image? How exactly did Cena 'sell his soul' to the Rock? Were promises made to Cena similar to the promises Rock made to Cody for his soul? What changed between his announcement of a farewell tour when he was ambivalent about Title #17 and the RR press conference? Am I missing a Rock/Cena interaction in that gap?
Last edited by casselmm47; March 18th, 2025 at 2:36 PM.
What I truly love about wrestling is when I can't guess the next 7-8 steps. There are definitely angles that you can tell are going a certain direction but this isn't one of them. Does everything literally need to be laid out already? Do we even need a detailed explanation before Mania? If WWE's booking has taught us anything is that there are multiple layers to so many different wrestlers and storylines. That's one major benefit of WWE having the history they have. You could literally take this back to Rocky Maivia/Hunter Hearst Helmsley IC title days. Or even the last 14 years since Mania 27 with Rock and Cena planting the seeds.
In the modern era, it's hard to predict and sometimes things sounds awesome and they suck or vice versa. What they can't do is try to get too complex. Do I really need to see all 45 Marvel movies for End Game to be badass? It helps, but sometimes maybe just having seen 5-6 of the movies were good enough lol. I think Mania happening later helps, but we also have to remember it's only mid-March. We have so much time to tell different stories and I hope they keep Cena heel as long as possible.
Jey Uso wrestles like he's totally broken down, which is a shame. Nearly killed himself on that somersault dive over the top rope on Monday.
We need to let that shit go lol. It wasn't even that bad, looked like something Sabu would do. I'm just sick and tired of hearing about Jey Uso not being some great technical wrestler. No shit. He never was, never will be. Doesn't matter. Dude is massively over. At least he didn't get hurt, didn't hurt anyone. You could literally count on maybe 3 fingers how many wrestlers have never botched a move.
That's a good topic, the botchless wrestlers. Bret Hart maybe?
That's probably it to be honest lol. Everyone from Ric Flair and Kurt Angle to Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega have botched plenty of times. And again with Jey it's like, why are we acting like this dude isn't good in the ring? Maybe his specialty is tag wrestling but he's getting the job done. How many decades has the "less is more" formula put fat checks in everyone's pockets? And not because a billionaire has the money to overpay any talent he/she wants.
Jacob Fatu botched a suicide dive a week or two ago. Better halt his push.
All brakes, no gas
Sometimes rarely botching also means that you are never trying shit.
I used to have these huge arguments in the old Divas thread. That was a weird time. People would hate on Trish and Mickie. And then defend the Candice Michelles, Christy Hemmes, etc because they "Didn't botch". I'd be arguing "Mickie had a slight misstep on top rope ddt. Candice....literally did 4 arm locks and some clotheslines. And they didn't look that good". Didn't matter. "She didn't botch" was all they needed.
It was a strange time, where people were somehow Thread Elitists and Stans for the worst wrestlers at the same time.
At least Jey didn’t let it get to him. He owned the mistake and laughed it off.
Reckon Joe Hendry will be his partner next week. Looking forward to the pop because I’ll be part of it.
Last edited by Badger; March 19th, 2025 at 5:54 PM.
If you don't go there in full Jey Uso gear, then you will break the hearts of this thread.At least Jey didn’t let it get to him. He owned the mistake and laughed it off.
Reckon Joe Hendry will be his partner next week. Looking forward to the pop because I’ll be part of it.
I thought the parnter might be Sheamus given Theory/Waller have been doing the "failure after failure" thing for awhile with no follow-up/comeuppance.
Pair of sunglasses and a black shirt and paint them with YEET would be the best I can do there lol.
Either option would be glorious. I was going mainly on location and rumours.
Theory/Waller do get their comeuppance regularly though and will again no doubt. Question on that front is if they will break up or not as they’ve been dragging, teasing that for fuck knows how long. In theory it should be….joke’s too easy that’s gonna get the beatdown and go face. Other than the NXT crowd and he has a punchable smarmy face, it’s difficult at this point to get behind Theory as a face so it’s kind of a catch 22.
I'll take it
You're expecting us to be able to pick you out of the crowd. wearing black, and sunglasses, in a dark room?
YEET!
I liked Cenas promo. Sure there were points I think that could've enhanced it and things that should've been addressed, but I've learnt to wait and see with these things. Last few times I've felt that way they've gone on to do it in coming weeks, so we shall see. It was always going to be more about the burning atmosphere than anything else so all in all I enjoyed it.
With Jey Uso, I've seen on different places a switch on him since the rumble and I don't get it. I think for some elsewhere it was because Cena didn't win mostly and that turned out for the best. The guy is super over, full of charisma and was the unsung hero of the Bloodline story for a long time. Hes long overdue his time at the top. Whether he can sustain that, well, we will see.
My biggest issue in the current story is Gunther. His run has been lackluster and hasn't been what they want it to be. Now I personally think it's because they've just tried to recreate his IC title run in the main event. I can't decide if it's flat because he's not at that level yet, or because he'd just had one monster run and jumping straight into the next is too soon and feels samey. I am not half as interested in seeing him lose as I was last time.
I don't think Jey should be the one to dethrone Gunther. If he does, I can't see him holding the title for too long. Paper champion.
Gunther used to have this interesting dynamic and aura where he’d talk trash like a heel yet was still honourable eg the ring is sacred and only fought back when provoked. Essentially getting by on brute force and skill alone. Ever since becoming World Champ though, I feel he’s lost that aura and devolved into a more chickenshit type of heel relying on sneak attacks and the like. Losing to Cody to that Piper/Bret/sleeper counter which while a nice throwback, Gunther being the tactician he is should’ve known about and been able to counter as many others have in that situation. Also
Also feel he should’ve beat Priest straight up too in their rematch but they fudged it by getting Balor involved.
GUNTHER has also suffered because they haven't used Ludwig Kaiser as his special announcer. I agree that his current run as Raw champ has felt less impressive than his IC reign. But Jey really needs to win. The problem in part is there's too long a time between the Rumble and Mania. Once it became clear Jey was going after GUNTHER, they both have been in a clear holding pattern and we're getting bored waiting, as there's only so many times they can interact they way they've done.
I expect Jey to win at mania, but I am undecided as to whether he loses it faster than Kofi lost after KofiMania.
For me, Gunther's steam died down when he wasn't really wrestling the 2nd half of 2024 and even when he won the title who did he wrestle? Orton? He won KOTR, was gone for 2-3 months, came back and fought predictable outcome matches.
His IC title reign was interesting because it was built on rebuilding the IC title back to what it was 30 years ago. Seth was already doing the workhorse Raw world champion thing.
The biggest problem with Gunther is obvious-his opponents. Where's the Seth Rollins match? Where's the CM Punk match? He should've been involved more with those guys, with Drew....Seriously I'm looking at his record and what's the deal with the inactivity? And when we do see him on tv he's cutting a promo for some reason and then doing nothing. I just don't get why we're doing Gunther v. CM Punk in a steel-cage at a house show but we're doing Gunther v. Otis on Raw.
Keep in mind, Kofi had a 6 month title reign during a time where he really wasn't a main eventer. He wasn't factored into the World title picture that year until he had to be. So if Jey gets a 6 month run, that would be insane. Not because he's not super fucking over, more over than anyone ever expected, but moreso I don't see him as a guy who needs a long run. Mankind didn't, The Rock didn't have but I think 1 title reign that lasted longer than 2 months. If Jey wins and then loses it back a month or two later I'm not negative to it if the story calls for it.
Those are fair points as well. I think it’s a mixture of both things, lack of decent opponents and the way Gunther has beaten them.
Probably having Jey lose to him on SNME is a factor as well. Jey dominates 90% of the match and Gunther beats him with two moves of doom. I think they’re trying to say “Oh so close…can beat him this time!” but I think would’ve worked out better if they just kept them separate until Mania with Gunther still clowning on him in promos.
Honestly this is just the World title version of Sami Zayn v. Gunther. I don't think it'll be Gable/Gunther where Jey loses again at Mania, never getting the W like Chad.
I like the whole thing where Gunther said if Jey chooses him he's going to make his life a living hell. People are too busy trying to figure out why Jey Uso is the problem when Gunther hasn't done shit. He really hasn't and I think like I said a part of that isn't a knock on Jey he's a legit main eventer, but there's more established wrestlers that I think we wanted to see Gunther fight. Roman, Cena, Punk, Rollins, I mean Gunther said what some fans were thinking but yeah I do feel like this is the Sami/Gunther Mania build for the IC title last year.
For the live experience, the crowd and atmosphere were great. Punk and Rhodes of course were the most over and the swearing against Cena was LOUD (though I guess this will have been muted on Netflix). The promo itself was well performed but also agree in that (and not the only thing) felt too similar to last week. Hopefully next week, things can advance beyond yelling at the fans.
I was in the toilet just as the tag match were starting (so had to wait til the end to YEET lol) but there was a lot of chatter throughout the day about Joe Hendry being the mystery tag partner. It was good to see the Usos reuniting although this story does seem more than ever a retread of Sami/Gunther from last year. Not really in love with the purposeful botching they’re doing with Jey to be honest. Theory/Waller got some nice “wanker” chants which interested to know if they were muted too.
Valkyria got a nice reaction and solid match with Raquel. When Bayley made the save, crowd tried to get a “Heeey Bayley” chant going as is often the case over here but think just due to the timing, it wasn’t as loud as it could’ve been.
The New Day promo which showed during the break was funny and I hope they do get a tag title run again soon.
”Grande”/Lee was definitely MOTN and deservedly got the “This is Awesome” chants. That suplex to the floor and Lee’s mask being ripped off in particular got big reactions.
Rhea was by far got the biggest pop of the women, in fact there was a bit of heat that her theme didn’t last longer. They did good but again just not feeling the storyline and they’re just dragging it out a bit with this latest title match for next week instead of making the damn match for Mania.
Chad cut an amusing promo during a break about being too sick to perform.
Punk got a great reaction and like Cena, a well executed promo but still feels like a holding pattern and didn’t have Rollins and Reigns to react. The Shield reference was nicely done though saying he brought them in and looking forward to taking them out.
Main event was good, slightly below Lee/Grande IMO but sets things up for a potential IC title 4 way between Bron, Penta, Balor and Dom. Fans were split between Bron and Penta in terms of overnesd.
So overall another really good and loud live experience (not as hot as Clash of the Castle last year) but still awesome. We could’ve done with a surprise Scottish appearance though from maybe Drew or Hendry. I also agree with some of the criticisms I’ve seen over the lack of progression in some storylines though.
Six man tag match dark post-show between Judgment Day and Mysterio, Punk and Rhodes was fun, mainly for the faces tagging in and out to throw off Carlito and trying to one up each other on pops.
Last edited by Badger; March 25th, 2025 at 7:01 AM.
@Badger Wrestling Twitter thinks the Scots are racist for booing Bianca. You can't make this shit up I hopped on there and it was white dude after white dude playing the race card which was comical at best. It just goes to show the most toxic social media site has to be the one owned by the guy throwing his heart at the saltine squad.
Did they boo the Usos, Penta, or Raquel Gonzalez?
Surely twitter would be delighted with any racism?
Are they black Donald? Fucking racist.
I didn't catch that. Then again I barely look at twitter much anymore. Insane
Jey Uso thinks he is!
Touché.
Badger, hope you had a great time. Did you feel like you got your money's worth?
While the Cena promo was mostly in the same vein as last week, I liked how he touched on how we fans loved to watch him destroying that kid last week. He's doing a great job making us forget that his actions at the Elimination Chamber were directed by the Final Boss.
El Grande Americano is really entertaining. It reminds me of Heenan bringing in the masked Giant Machine back in the day. Gable is killing it, gracias. Lee and El Grande Americano had a terrific match. Since WWE used to be on the cutting edge of technology, I bet they could have fun digitally putting both Gable and El Grande in a group scene, they way they did with Elias' and Ezekiel's family. Something like maybe do a training session with coach Gable and El Grande American showing American Made some moves. And later, show Brutus asking Julius questions about who is under that mask?
Lyra is fun to watch in the ring, but she really needs a proper feud so she can develop a character we can care about. At this point, I am expecting the women's IC title to either be left off the WM card, or defended in a ladder match to get more ladies on the card.
Not surprised that Bron and Penta resulted in a DQ to protect both guys from having to take the L.
well yeah when you barely look at something you might not be seeing it lol.
The 2 major topics on Twitter today are El Grande and Bianca being "targeted" by the Scottish crowd for not being the more over the of the 3 babyfaces lol. The stuff about Gable is actually the funniest. Nothing but white people and then all these Latinos being like, I'm not offended this shit is hilarious.
I log in each day and scroll at some point but shit is such a dumpster fire. I am liking some of the wrestling content on blue sky better.
Thinks he's what? lol Samoan from Cali? Showing your age what are you like 100 now didn't you die? Faked your death and now posting on Rajah again instead of saving us from the last couple Halloween movies!
Every day=barely? I barely go to work then lol. My problem is I engage with idiots sometimes so the algorithm is all fucking negativity under the "FOR YOU" tab lol It's no doubt a dumb-ster fire.
wtf is blue sky
Well I log in but maybe only spend like 10 minutes before I am like nope i am out. Mostly out of habit because at one point I was super active on twitter.
alternative to twitter. not bad. not a dumpster fire
Cena/Cody promo was good but they've gotta do something different than "cena talks for 15 minutes, Cody comes out and talks for 5 minutes, Cena walks away". I want a heated conversation/back-and-forth and for the love of gawd, it's odd they haven't mentioned how Rock fits into this at all.
Really like the Jey/Gunther story a lot and like they factored in last week's botch.
Women's IC Title match was good but agree that Lyra needs more than just good defenses but something with more meat on it. Looks like maybe she'll be defending against Liv at Mania? So that could be just the ticket.
Penta/Bron was very good while it lasted. I hope the IC title multiman is a Ladder Match at Mania.
El Grande Americano stuff is amusing. Was quite surprised to see Lee get his whole-ass mask ripped off.
Instagram is my favorite. People talk stupid shit but it doesn't seem to be as amplified because the comments are so small compared to the picture. So many titties.
I used to scroll instagram all the time but I almost never open it up anymore.
On the whole, we’ll except paying Ł7.90 a pint but that’s par for the course for these things lol. I’ve now done the whole trifecta of Raw, Smackdown and a PLE at the Hydro. This was the weakest of the three but still very much enjoyable.
Woke melts on Twitter doesn’t surprise me, I barely use it.
Cena/Cody feels like the same segment drawn out over 3 weeks. But yesterday felt like how it should've been on day 1. The rumor mill is that The Rock's Moana schedule is fucking up his involvement in Mania but we'll see. I mean I get that most of us don't realize it's not that simple for him to just hop on a plane and do some shit when you're paying 10,000 people to make a movie. The flipside is why put yourself in these positions? We have about 3 weeks left and I'm not counting out The Rock just yet. I feel like he might show up either the week before or at Mania. I don't feel like he's not showing up at all and now apparently Cena is going to be off tv for a few again? Fuck me.
I get heel New Day might need 1 more tag title run but I'm not really feeling it. Never been too high on New Day to begin with. War Raiders are ok but again, another team I've watched for 10 years and never really got super into. Dunne/Bate could've used a win, even if WR came out and caused a distraction maybe sets up a #1 cont match next week or a multi team match at Mania again for the tag titles.
Finn Balor is such a prick lol. I know there are some people who are over the JD stuff but I'm still loving it. Good tag match.
I love Big Jim, dude had a good match with Gunther then bled all over the fuckin place. I realized when Raw was over this was the most "we don't give a fuck let's just do whatever" Raw in a while. They didn't try to censor the crowd, we had cussing, we had an extreme amount of blood. Wild.
Obviously a triple threat for the women's title is going down. It'll be one of the top matches for sure.
No Karrion KrossAJ Styles v. Logan Paul will be insane. I'm not really a fan of Logan Paul but they put him in some pretty good situations with guys like Styles, Rollins, Roman, Rey, where they can showcase him in a way to impresses people.
Now THAT was the promo segment with Cody/Cena that I've been wanting. Back and forth, spicy barbs, they at least brought up Rock, and there was some physicality. Excellent stuff.
Speaking of excellent stuff, the Gunther/Jimmy/Jey stuff was all super fucking good, too. Gunther slathering himself with Jimmy's blood and even having a taste...holy shit, nasty good stuff.
Main event was a good hot match but the stuff with Bianca/Rhea/Iyo isn't the most compelling way of getting to the obvious triple threat.
Nice to see New New Day are getting their title shot (and hopefully, win, unless E shows up to stop it?).
Judgment Day and IC Title stuff is all fine and good. Bron with a DELAYED double suplex was nuts.
AJ/Logan is pretty byt the numbers but I'm sure it'll be a banger match and I do enjoy seeing Paul get ripped on and beat up, so whatevs.
This motherfucker on commentary, and who's hosting the roast of wrestlemania is the same cunt who called Puerto Rico a floating pile of garbage? Great booking lads.
Makes sense though Peter when you realize Triple H and all his stupid family are MAGA losers.
Bayley and Lyra was really good, especially for a face v face match as those rarely work. Lyra has few peers when it comes to her ring work, and Bayley has always been top notch at selling. McAfee was right to call Lyra's offense innovative, as she pulled out a couple of spots that were just fun to watch. Bayley got a good amount of offense in and Lyra's selling was just as impressive here, especially as she sold the back injury throughout the match. Bayley's heel tease by initially refusing to shake hands was consistent with her character for years, but coming back for the hug helped put Lyra over.
I popped for Bert and Otis.
New Day losing a title match to the War Raiders by DQ was marred by the lousy commentary. The War Raiders dominated the match so I figured a post match beat down was coming. While a title rematch is definitely coming, I am not sure New Day deserves a Mania rematch for this. It just feels more like regular TV.
Ludwig Kaiser didn't address his being "in the WrestleMania conversation in the last week" but complained about Pearce not putting the fastest rising superstar in WWE in a match at Mania, and promising serious consequences. I still think he's going to get involved in the GUNTHER / MEJU match, which may give Jimmy a chance to come even the odds at ringside.
Sounds like we will get Kross v AJ next week, which probably means a Logan Paul appearance/interference.
LWO vs. Creeds / El Grande Americano was good stuff. LWO is under rated and I am glad they got to showcase their stuff. El Grande loading the mask with a piece of metal was good storytelling. Gracias!
Jey finally brought some intensity to a promo, and I especially liked how he came out serious, not Yeeting his arms during the long entrance, but he let the crowd do it. Knocking the mic out of GUNTHER's hand right at the start, then the serious promo about having to tell his mother he didn't do anything to protect his brother from the bloodbath last week, ending with the "I ain't scared no more", was sorely needed in this far too long build of their feud.
Rey Mysterio taking on El Grande Americano at Wrestlemania will be wonderful. Part of me feels this is taking the spot that KO / Orton gave up, but it could have been the plan all along. It certainly feels as though LWO and the Creeds will be appearing. Not sure if this is where El Grande Americano is unmasked, because the story has been working so well and these kind of things tend to get dragged on, but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it on the biggest stage of them all.
Bron Breaker's spear on Carlito was one of his all time best. Wow. The camera work made it seem like they nearly missed the right angle because it was so fast.
I was watching live last night... was there a glitch? For a brief moment it looked like there was going to be a Cathy Kelley(?)/Liv/Raquel interview out near the entrance ramp area, but the picture cut and went back to another commercial. Did that segment actually air anywhere?
That segment with Liv was during a commercial break in America. If you pay for no ads you get interviews, entrances or match continuations. Only if you watch live though. I watched replays when they were over seas since I was working during the day for those Raws and that stuff gets cut out for the replays.
Moment of the night for me was that random fan screaming BURN IT DOOOOWN just before Seth spoke. I was in pieces.
Top notch RAW last night.
Women's Title triple threat took unnecessarily long to get made official but the signing segment was solid enough. Bayley/Lyra was great. LWO vs. American Made was a banger. Wilde's off-the-backs jump was my favorite spot of the ngiht next to Bron's big-ass spear later. Loved the Jey/Gunther confrontation. That's probably the storyline I'm enjoying the most and the match I'm looking forward to most. Tony Hinchcliffe can fuck all the way off. Penta/Dom was really good. As previously mentioned, that ramp spear by Breakker was insane. Seth went on a bit too long but the end segment with him and Heyman (and later, Punk) was mostly quite good.
Knowing your twisted ass you probably rage watched that one clip over and over just to pay yourself on the back. Never partake in comedy. You purposely went out of your way to self-trigger and here you are. Dude, you're like 50 by now right? How are you still alive? How has your heart not exploded with so much self-inflicted rage?
What I realized watching Raw is that there is so much going on in WWE right now it's pretty amazing if you can actually follow everything that's happening.
If anyone out there can't see that El Grande is building to a spot where he disappears under the ring, and then pops up (looking somehow different) and quickly loses and then is unmasked as not Chad Gable, but then we get a run of where Gable insists he's proven us all wrong, and then there's a secret filming later where someone catches Chad and fake EGA talking about how they pulled it off.....then I question whether your pay attention at all. And I'm not here to spoon feed you.
Hopefully Fake EGA is Brian Kendrick.
It would be pretty funny seeing someone where it was blatantly obvious just by physique that it wasn't Chad Gable and they were trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes like we're really that dumb. That slight comedy element is what makes Chad Gable so great imo. Can he be serious? Absolutely. Being versatile though gives you longevity. You could slide in and out of anything they give you if you can do it all and look convincing. Gable somehow went from Clay Guida Jr to Kurt Angle Jr in a short amount of time.
Sort of when Owen insisted he wasn't the Blue Blazer and Koko B. Ware did a run in during a Owen match as the Blazer.
I would like to see Sami come back as El Generico and confront EGA.
My question was whether the unmasking of EGA happens at Mania, or if they have this play out for a few more months. Leaning into how dumb entertainment aspect of this could go the way Nash describes, but I think they go a slightly different way.
I fully expect a backstage segment with R-Truth approaching El Grande Americano, and professing how he had figured out the identity of the man behind the mask. Then he'll say "You can't fool me, Otis!" And then Otis shows up, for Truth to say "My Bad!". Next week they can repeat with Omos, then bring back Mark Henry, then Great Khali, Big Show, Hornswoggle, etc.
Gable is willing to do anything, including making himself look foolish, for our entertainment. I am glad he's on TV and he deserves the screen time. I hope they don't kill this off too soon, and I think a Mania mask-reveal would be just that.
Kross killing it on Raw tonight.
At first, I thought the same thing, but then I wondered how much AJ Styles had to do with this. AJ makes everyone look like a million bucks. AJ helped James Ellsworth look terrific. How long has it been since Kross has even had a TV match? And I don't mean to shit on Kross here - the fact that he got to show personality was a huge positive for him here. The backstage spots for so many weeks might have washed the smell of suck away, and it may give us a reason to start caring and letting him entertain us.
Julius Creed got a rare singles match, and he looked great against Rey. Rey makes everyone look terrific, and Creed still feels green, but it sure felt like he's got a good future.
Since Rey and AJ have matches at Mania, and their opponents didn't, anyone who couldn't predict the match outcomes clearly hasn't watched wrestling much. Face wins plus post-match beatdown on the go-home show usually leads to a face win at the PLE.
Bayley v Liv was a lot of fun, with two veteran ladies who got the time to show they understand how to engage a crowd and tell a story. Nice execution on the payback distraction finish.
Penta vs Balor was really good. These two match up so well together, to the point I almost don't want to see Dom and Bron in the fatal fourway. I think I may pick Dirty DomDom to win at Mania, perhaps by pinning Balor, because of the story it will build.
GUNTHER promo was good while Jey's was just okay. GUNTHER giving the slightest impression that he is a little worried about Jey, without coming out and saying so.
I want IYO to retain. Rhea may have the most crowd support. Belair needs a character refresh. With 3 faces, this may be the hardest prediction.
Roman telling the crowd Heyman couldn't hear them, say it louder, as they chanted "You Fucked up!" was masterful. I wish Roman was around a lot more.
Rollins oversold the importance of the triple threat match, as the biggest triple threat ever at Mania. IYO v. Rhea v. Belair is on the same card, and is for a title. Orton v. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan was waaay bigger. Charlotte v. Ronda v. Becky was bigger. And of course, Seth himself cashed in the MITB contract to make the Brock/Roman/Seth match a triple threat match. I am okay with excluding the Edge/Christian v Hardyz v Dudleys triple threat matches, even though they were among the best ever. But Seth saying this is for the future of the industy? After this match, Roman goes back to being a part-timer, as does Punk.
I think the charisma Kross showed with mocking AJ in the corner, the hand kiss Scarlett gave to show her devotion on the outside, the "You sandbaggin' me AJ?" line all examples. Sure AJ is a great dance partner but I thought Kross was really nailing his half too.
Bayley is probably the under appreciated one of the Four Horsewomen, so good.
As one of the OG Liv Morgan marks, reading stuff like this makes me very happy. She deserves all the credit in the world for the progress she’s made.
Bayley has had a heckuva year, and the rumor that she'll be attacked prior to her tag match, leaving Lyra to find another partner concerns me greatly. If this is the actual plan, even if Bayley gives her blessing for Lyra to bring back someone she's had history with,it would suck for Bayley. She was left off the Mania card 2 years ago, had her moment last year cashing in as the Rumble winner, but to be left off after the strong year she's had would definitely suck.
Speaking of getting left off the card, Nia Jax deserves a Mania spot after her much-improved return, but it looks like she will be left off as well.
Yeah I'm not sure what the deal is with Nia Jax. Pretty much up until Chamber she was a key player. I was thinking the same thing about Sami Zayn. How is he not involved in something? I also would've included Solo Sikoa but it seems like he might be sliding in as Orton's opponent but still....The year that guy had as a top heel, and he wasn't even in the plans?
I feel like the Netflix debut took a couple solid Wrestlemania ideas, Solo vs. Roman being one of those.
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