Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.
That was one of, if not the single best, John Cena segment I've seen in a really long time. He was serious, put over his opponent and the future of the company and didn't treat it as inevitable that he's going over. That was really creepy from Bray as well. Really great work. I hope Cena doesn't stop this act's momentum on Sunday.
Good match from the Usos vs. Rybaxel. I think there's enough heat for another round if they do things right. The tag team division's in a good place right now. Not that there's no room for improvement!
I hope WWE's gamble with the Network pays off now that some providers are pulling out of showing PPVs.
I don't know what they'll be able to do for Rose's gimmick in arenas.
Interesting promo between Cesaro and Heyman. They're kind of on that line between heel and face with Cesaro. The fans clearly want him as a face.
Huh. It looks like WWE's back to getting behind Titus O'Neil. Well, then again, he has to survive this match.
Yeah, it looks like I jumped the gun with thinking Titus is getting a push. Was there much of a purpose to this one?
Maybe Bo Dallas can turn Titus' career around? I love his gimmick. It's so goofy it works.
What the ffff..... It doesn't feel like Sandow would be a guy to dress like a superhero. That said, I can see him being a fan of Magneto if condescending intellectuals were cool with reading comic books. As far as goofy segments go, I guess that was OK.
I got a kick out of the joke from Heyman. I'm definitely ready for him to shift his focus to Cesaro, though.
Good enough brief match between Cesaro and Swagger. Both guys are talented.
Nice non-reaction from Cena there. He said more with nothing than some people do with long promos.
Good match between Cody and Del Rio. Now, I know Del Rio hasn't been on a roll in seemingly forever and a lot of people want to see Cody pushed (myself included), but I think the match was more of a tool to build the Cody/Goldust feud than anything. If Cody gets a big rub from that feud, it will override the loss here.
I kind of wanted Goldust as the heel in the feud, but I think this works, too. As long as Cody gets over and does great work, I'm fine with it.
Good work from Lana. She adds to Rusev's act.
Rusev's going to so kill Woods and Truth on Sunday. I like watching people get smashed every once in a while, so I'm down with it.
Good for Truth to get some offense in on Rusev as kind of a hope spot before Rusev presumably wins on Sunday. I don't really see how it helps Woods and R-Truth to win then.
Rob Van Dam could be one of the worst promo guys to ever be WWE Champion. He's just really dull and one-dimensional. It was cool to see Zeb ask for his help, though.
>mfw WeeLC match.
WWE's really wacky sometimes.
Good enough tag match between part of 3MB and Los Matadores. I wonder how they feel about playing second fiddle to little people.
Fine post-match to set up Sunday's match.
Good segment between Bryan and Stephanie. I think they've done a pretty great job of stacking the odds against Bryan.
I liked the Divas match before Kane's pyro interrupted it. Paige is finding her way on the main roster so far.
Man. Kane's definitely back to being evil. I don't see much of any way they can believably have Bryan go over clean after the beatings he's taken.
Brie vs. Stephanie would be quite good from a story perspective.
Ehhhh... Cena's promo kind of deflated the previous stuff tonight. His promos can be really bad sometimes.
Good stuff from Barrett. I especially liked the "BNB" reference. I'm always down for throwing RVD under a bus given his reputation in some circles. That said, he still has an audience and is still considered important and a name worth paying attention to.
Uuuuggghhh.... that ending got a little sloppy. I really liked the action, though. I like Big E a good deal, but I'd be open for Bad News Barrett taking the strap on Sunday.
Things are still weird as far as face vs. heel goes in the Cesaro push. That got too complicated, I think. I hope they didn't just do all that to protect RVD in a loss. He can easily rebound from losing to Barrett. He's that talented.
God that was great from The Shield. I'm REALLY looking forward to Sunday.
I'm guessing we get another crazy ending on Sunday. At the very least, I hope they use Ambrose losing the title as a way to build heat instead of it taking away from The Shield's strength. Ambrose definitely doesn't "need" the title anymore, and Del Rio as champ could really shake things up for both Del Rio and the title.
Ahh, that was a pretty cool segment with Evolution. I'm glad they didn't throw the talented younger act under a bus there.
Good main event to set up the bigger match on Sunday. It should be great!
Great post-match. I'm glad they didn't "give away too much" in the buildup to Extreme Rules. This match should be really big.
More wrestling coming up.
Man, I definitely have to feel for Swagger a bit. Really since he's been ECW Champion, he's really been a victim of the same cycle over and over again. He'll be on the main roster, but lose virtually every match to superstars embroiled in other feuds or that are looking to get a push. Then, unannounced, he'll receive a very docile push for a short amount of time and will promptly move back down the ladder right after as if it never happened. I've always thought he's had physical talent, but maybe the reason could be him lacking the promo/personality to be able to receive any sort of extended push. I'd be interested to see his record in the past two to three years on that website you showed me.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely be inclined to agree with your stance on RVD. He's kind of in that same boat as Swagger as a guy who is physically talented and has good in-ring skill, but cannot flourish promo/personality-wise enough to carry out any sort of momentum. Not taking into consideration his age, I think much of the justification for him being billed as a mid-card champion during his career (for the most part) is due to those reasons.
If I was him or Swagger, I would have definitely made more of an attempt to showcase more charisma/personality. I know WWE can be fickle, but it's not like either guy is incapable of solid promo work with increased effort/coaching. Honestly, it may have led to more prominence for both guys at this point. It's just odd to comprehend. What are your thoughts on both of their circumstances?
This article here definitely also sums up my thoughts on the Cesaro situation like we talked about previously in the heel v. face predicament:
ReplyDeletehttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/2044678-wwe-has-wasted-the-cesaro-and-jack-swagger-rivalry
I do think there have to be some people on the roster who are used predominantly to get others over. With Swagger's issues outside the ring around the time of last year's Mania, I think that really hurt his chances of being a top heel. I wish he had gotten longer pushes when he had the chance (I've really liked some of his pushes), but he can be pretty lacking in promos. That's why I think the pairing with Zeb works out for him keeping a consistent spot on TV. That definitely counts for something, I think.
ReplyDeleteHere's Swagger's record on that website: http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=4071&page=4 I use Cagematch a LOT. It's amazing.
I get the feeling sometimes that RVD is just content to be a really great athlete, almost as if he doesn't feel the need to be better at promos. He doesn't strike me as the type to really push to succeed at a high level outside his amazing training regimen. Especially since he left WWE for TNA, he's come across as someone who's "already made it" and isn't motivated enough to be the best he can be. Obviously he can still do amazing things in the ring, but wrestling's just a part-time job for him in some ways.
I wonder sometimes how Swagger feels coming from the legitimate world of a college athlete to being a sports-entertainer. He does seem like a fish out of water with his delivery at times compared to others.
As alluded to with RVD, he probably couldn't care much less as long as the checks clear. I'd imagine he had more freedom for promos and such in TNA and he didn't really do any better there.
As for Cesaro, I mainly see it as a benefit for him to get the rub from Heyman, but there's definitely something really odd regarding the heel/face dynamic. They might be transitioning Heyman back into a face role or stubbornly trying to keep Cesaro heel in the face of fan reactions. There's not much telling.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what they could have done differently with the feud if they still wanted Heyman and RVD to have important roles after Mania. It definitely feels like they threw a number of ideas together into one angle.
I originally shared the same opinion as you in that Swagger should be better off having Colter as a mouthpiece. With the way things have been going in the last six months or so since he lost his No. 1 contender status to the World Heavyweight Title, I've definitely had a change of heart. To me, it's at a point where many fans probably have gotten tired of Colter coming out degrading illegal aliens and may also think WWE may need to switch things up with Swagger. I honestly don't know what can make him gain more favor, but his lack of promo ability definitely has cost him. It's just a bit sad seeing him go out there and lose just about every match.
ReplyDeleteDo you also feel that with how important this title reign is for Daniel Bryan that continuing the Stephanie McMahon feud is a bit of a letdown? I mean, I'm not a huge fan of Stephanie being on air and want to see Bryan get the most out of his title reign, so it kind of brings up the argument in that keeping the Stephanie McMahon feud instead of moving elsewhere isn't really maximizing Bryan's credibility. I know he's facing Kane on Sunday, but it seems with them having numerous matches in the past two months and with the Stephanie/HHH v. Bryan feud going on for months, it's not the best choice. Stephanie just doesn't belong on television in my opinion. What are your thoughts?
I wouldn't object to WWE thinking of changing some things around with Swagger. I do think Zeb's a great mouthpiece, but once the Cesaro feud's over, it's probably time to change something about the pairing. I kind of want Sandow to be Swagger's new partner since he's in a slump as well. I think they could make a good combination and Sandow's a good enough talker to carry them both.
ReplyDeleteIt's commonly said USA Network likes to have the McMahons (and presumably HHH by extension) on TV a good deal, so that's probably part of it. Stephanie and HHH are both incredibly busy behind the scenes, so they'd be forgiven for focusing on that area of things.
That said, I'm totally OK with the Authority feud continuing since Stephanie's presence is being used to breathe new life into Kane's character. While the big battle between HHH and Bryan has been settled, HHH and Stephanie are still in charge of things and there's no reason for them to just disappear while Bryan and The Shield ascend. If anything, they're probably more motivated to get rid of their enemies now. If this keeps going for months on end, I'll probably get tired of it. But for now, there's still life in the feud.
Swagger teaming with Sandow makes sense. It would revive Sandow a bit and give him a more logical chance at success, with the singles division being so loaded with talent and with their only being three singles titles now. I think the whole "superhero" segment on Raw really was the icing on the cake in how devalued Sandow has been since winning the MITB briefcase. A (possible) shot at the tag titles would be a good move, as long as WWE can keep the team relevant enough. It seems like 3MB and Matadores are at the lower end of the tag team totem pole and Real Americans/PTP no longer teaming, so the main competition at this point would be Axel/Ryback, The Usos, and tentatively Goldust/Rhodes. That is substantially easier competition in the tag team division than even four months ago.
ReplyDeleteI also noted Del Rio got upended by Goldust this week. Man, is he taking a fall. Not even six months ago he was World Champion, and now he fails to even be the No. 1 contender for the Intercontinental Title. With the increased amount of singles competitors combined with his fall down the ladder, the future may not bode well for him unless WWE makes a change or switches things up with Del Rio. He's too talented to be slipping this much.
there**
ReplyDeleteYeah, the tag team division could use some work. Hopefully that's a project WWE's going to work on. Titus and Brodus are another duo I'd like to see team up as heels, since they're not really doing much.
ReplyDeleteIt does look like WWE's realized the problem in developmental and is trying to throw together some teams. The tag team division there is pretty bare as well.
There's a story going around that Del Rio's not going to re-sign when his current contract ends. WWE's pretty much in a self-fulfilling prophecy where he's not living up to expectations because they won't get behind him, and they won't get behind him because he's not living up to expectations.
That said, I think they're using him to further the feud between Cody and Goldust, which is clearly a higher priority. I don't think his placement there is a slight on him as much as them wanting to build that feud.