Originally posted by John Orquiola...and even more than Vince's ridiculous clowning around when he came out from the back to confront Bret...
Nope, this was the highlight for me. He was so over the top it was a thing of beauty.
JJD's scene leading to the sharpshooter would be so awesome, I would love to see it too. I am hoping the WM booking pans out like it appears it will in terms of matches, I would have to consider watching the PPV.
"As you may have read in Robert Parker's Wine Newsletter, 'Donaghy Estates tastes like the urine of Satan, after a hefty portion of asparagus.'" Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
I am loving CM Punk right now. Back when he turned heel, I said something to the effect of, "I think this will get real boring after the Hardy feud," and for the first few weeks after he lost the title it looked like I was right. But ever since Gallows showed up, he's been fantastic, and I'm loving this stable. I hope they win the tag titles and we get Punk preaching on both shows, especially since it's real hit-or-miss as far as whether I can watch Smackdown each week. WWE has really gotten behind Punk since the heel turn, and he's doing a great job.
The involvement of Batista in Vince/Bret surprised me and kind of disappointed me. Where does this leave Rey Mysterio for Wrestlemania? I was expecting a blowoff between the two of them and was really looking forward to it; I think Batista's heel turn was awesome and I've enjoyed their feud. It's rare for the WWE to allow a friendship to develop for years before one turns heel on the other. Batista as Vince's goon could be interesting, but I thought the whole reason Batista turned his back on Rey and the fans was because the title is the only thing that's important to him? I hope Vince has promised him something worthwhile.
I'm more interested than I've been in Michaels since before the DX crap restarted. I expected Orton to lose in some method that furthered the Legacy breakup, but Michaels getting frustrated is a better option. I'm anxious to see where they are going with this. And what's with Michaels and Orton getting each other and Kofi and Big Show getting each other while HHH and Cena both get jobbers? Although Jack Swagger did look good against Helmsley, but still.
Speaking of Legacy, I was also surprised to see Dibiase qualify for the Elimination Chamber. So far the Legacy split has been handled pretty well, with a nice, long tease.
Sheamus is awesome. I think he's done a great job. That said, I hope he loses at Elimination Chamber because him defending the title at Wrestlemania would be just about the most anticlimactic title match in history. But I don't know where that leaves him otherwise, the only real feud he's had has been with Cena, and I can't imagine they're going to go with Sheamus/Cena. Unfortunately, the oft-rumored HHH/Sheamus for the title looks like the most likely option.
Edge's promo I thought was kind of boring, and I agree with Matt Tracker, who bemoaned Edge's habit of playing with his hair while waiting to attack. It's pretty distracting and not at all intimidating. If we get anything other than Edge/Jericho for the Smackdown title at Wrestlemania, I'll be pretty disappointed.
Big Show/Miz is an interesting team. I like Miz showing more respect to Big Show than Jericho did, it just kind of shows him as a manipulative weasel. And Big Show sure is an idiot. Miz gets better and better each week at every aspect of his performance that doesn't involve wrestling.
Bret Hart getting physical in the ring made me uncomfortable. I don't pretend to know much about Hart's current physical state, but I know that I think he looks incapable of doing just about anything. In particular, when Batista first went after him it looked like it was trying to pick him up for a move, and I quickly changed the channel. I didn't want to see that.
There are a lot of compelling stories coming to a blow right now. I think Wrestlemania is going to be great. I don't think WWE has been this interesting in a long time.
Not a bad Raw (one of the better ones in recent weeks).
William Shattner was pretty irrelevant to the show, though he did have some semi-funny moments with the him singing some of the WWE theme songs and the "Raw Match Negotiator".
The qualifying elimination matches weren't too bad except the DiBiase and Henry match, which ended with an arm-bar drop to the "injured" arm of Mark Henry. The Swagger/ Triple H match was pretty good and Swagger does have good matches which makes me wonder why WWE management has lost faith in Jack Swagger.
Not too surprised to see DiBiase in the chamber because I think this points out to who the WWE may elevate or at the very least, the gradual dissolving of Legacy.
Is HBK going to be a heel? Probably not. HBK is at a point in his career where no matter what he does, he will normally get a positive crowd reaction. The angle of Shawn Michaels being obsessed with Undertaker is getting pretty interesting I dare say.
The ending was good with Bret Hart coming out for the 2nd time within just over a month. Batista did look like he was going for the Batista Bomb but probably remembered it's not the best thing for a stroke victim.
Batista at the end added a little more legitimate heel heat because him turning heel a few months ago with Rey was not that good in my opinion and Batista helping out Vince to "beat" a WWE legend gave him better heel status. I liked the ending because it gave more clues or lingering thoughts of what could be expected in the very near future.
Another thing to mention is, did they edit out Bret saying a** a few times? I watched the youtube version of Raw and youtube to my knowledge doesn't bleep out that word. In any case, it has been awhile for Bret so maybe he forgot the WWE is currently a PG product.
Originally posted by The GameAnother thing to mention is, did they edit out Bret saying a** a few times? I watched the youtube version of Raw and youtube to my knowledge doesn't bleep out that word. In any case, it has been awhile for Bret so maybe he forgot the WWE is currently a PG product.
No bleeping on USA.
Perhaps your YouTube video had a THE SCORE bug in a corner and a bottom line scoreboard with sports scores in it? ;-)
Originally posted by BroncolancheFor a moment, when it looked like Batista was going to power bomb Bret, I thought we were going to witness a live murder on television.
I agree. I couldnt have been more terrified when it looked like Batista was going o Batista-Bomb Bret. The finish cleared some things up, though. It looks like either Cena/Hart vs Batista/Vince in a tag match, or Cena vs Batista with Bret and Vince in the corners. I am looking at it like this: considering the fact that Bret shouldnt be taking any bumps; and that probably prevents him from delivering 90% of his offense(including his fabled 5 moves of DOOM); knowing Bret well enough to know that he would never get in the ring unless he can deliver a decent match; which is kind of hard when you can't take any offense from you opponent and your moveset is limited to punch, kick, sharpshooter (maybe a headlock, and definitely nothing involving running the ropes); I think its safe to say Bret will be in Cena's corner and give Vince his comeuppance after the match. Thats more than ok with me.
So so far you have Cena vs Batista which is as close to a dream match as it gets these days, with Bret and Vince in the corners, making it a dream match for two generations of fans. That will be your show stealing unofficial main event.
Also, you have Shawn, er Psycho Shawn vs either Taker or HHH, which should also be a unofficial show stealing main event caliber match.
Basically, just on the strength of those two matches, Wm26 looks like a definite purchase, and essentially will have 4 main event matches on the one card. Pretty nice.
Originally posted by John OrquiolaThe tease of Bret putting the Sharpshooter on Vince made me salivate. I think that's how this whole thing is gonna end: Vince in the Sharpshooter screaming for his life at the conclusion of the WrestleMania match. I'm so in for that.
I would possibly wet myself if Vince kicked Bret in the gut again only to find Bret brought back that plate he used when Goldberg speared him on Nitro.
There's no way that they use Bret's finest WCW moment, but they really should.
I've been bitching about the WWE for awhile now, but I really like a lot of the direction they appear to be headed in. There's a lot of nice options on the table.
Originally posted by TheBucsFanThe involvement of Batista in Vince/Bret surprised me and kind of disappointed me. Where does this leave Rey Mysterio for Wrestlemania?
If you believe the internets, the rumor is CM Punk vs. Rey in a hair vs. mask match, which totally makes sense currently with Punk shaving his "disciple's" heads. How that transitions in to a feud with Rey is yet to be seen, but I'll be all about Punk getting his head (and beard) shaved at WrestleMania. He's a great enough heel to really make that work
Bret/Vince was really cranked up a gear this week; Vince's promo was devastating,
Good to see the pieces for the next PPV being put into place nice and early. I can see Dibiase and Orton coming to blows in that chamber.
Is HBK going to go to that slightly crazy heel place he found himself in for his match with Hogan? I can see him costing Taker the belt before WM to make the match happen. All this "it wasn't meant to happen this way" stuff he's saying makes me think I'm watching Lost.
More than happy with this one, lots of non-goofy storytelling.
Originally posted by TheBucsFanThe involvement of Batista in Vince/Bret surprised me and kind of disappointed me. Where does this leave Rey Mysterio for Wrestlemania?
If you believe the internets, the rumor is CM Punk vs. Rey in a hair vs. mask match, which totally makes sense currently with Punk shaving his "disciple's" heads. How that transitions in to a feud with Rey is yet to be seen, but I'll be all about Punk getting his head (and beard) shaved at WrestleMania. He's a great enough heel to really make that work
Good show. It had a real feeling of importance to it. Even Seamus wasn't completely useless. The matches were kind of just there, with the intention really to just forward storylines and not put on any great contests, but they all served their purpose. Shawn's stuff is great, be interesting to see where they go with it. They really need to sell it though. It's one thing to have the announcers say he's obsessed but some cameos of people from Shawn's past would really put it over the top, like Marty maybe. Shows up, says he's concerned, has heard Shawn's really struggling, etc.
Big Show's acting was great, and is a reminder that they really don't use him to the full effect. He can really emote, but they just do generic monster promos and whatnot with him. Still gotta feel bad for Kofi's depush. He couldn't have gone into the Chamber weaker. If they do Orton V.S. Ted does that leave Cody out in the cold? I would imagine a three-way. Cody's motivation I suppose would have to be not qualifying for the EC. The ladies segment having no match was strange.
I was kinda worried with the Bret stuff when Batista grabbed him, luckily we got nothing else. Bret and Vince both played their roles well, and Bret seemed way more comfortable on the stick this week. The only crappy segment was Ted's match, but it was with Henry, so I guess that's to be expected. However, the weird spurned lover thing backstage with Orton was all kinds of weird.
The King of the Mountain was a gimmick match they had for the World Title. It was basically a reverse ladder match where you had to hang the title above the ring instead of pull it down. Jarrett won the match to win the title back.