So John Cena's formally scratched for Sunday's PPV. You'd think they'd take the focus off of him for a night to build up the PPV, right?
Of course not! That would just be silly.
Instead, the other shoe has fallen for AJ. She had to resign as Raw GM, because she was...ahem...fraternizing with a Superstar! So AJ delivers a resignation speech, Paul Heyman comes out and says nothing of note, and Vince McMahon comes out to name the next Raw General Manager Raw Managing Supervisor...Vickie Guerrero! Yes, God help us all, it's ANOTHER round of Authority Figure Vickie Guerrero, because that wasn't fun enough the first three times we had to endure it. Apparently, Vickie got the job after blowing the whistle on AJ, so the Board of Directors gave her the job, despite not having evidence of any kind! Yup, that sure is how things work! And yet, this isn't even the best part!
So who's the Superstar in question that AJ's fraternizing with? Why, it's JOHN CENA, of course! Because of course it is! Just because he's scratched from the PPV main event doesn't mean he still can't be the focus of the show! That would just be silly! Cena says it was just a business dinner and goes around confronting Vince and Vickie to no avail.
This angle makes my head hurt and I'm not about to dissect all the reasons that it does, because really, why even bother? I'll just say "None of this makes me want to buy the PPV" and leave it at that.
Also, John Cena cut a promo on Ryback's behalf, because..............................................................um...let's move on........
As for stuff that actually WILL be on the PPV, they gave away another round of Punk/Sheamus, because why not? It was a Lumberjack Match, which ended in a Punk win after Cesaro, Mahal, and Show-erference. Post-match, The Ryback killed The Punk dead with really kick-ass power moves, including a BONKERS! double choke into a powerbomb!
Team Rhodes Scholars beat Team Luchadore to get into the tag title match. This somehow led into a Matt Striker therapeutic game show. This was about as stupid as it sounds, but Bryan comes REALLY close to saving it with a classic reaction for winning by forfeit.
Justin Gabriel beat Antonio Cesaro clean with the Sternum-Crushing 450 Splash in a non-title match. I'd love to believe that this means they're about to take Gabriel seriously and, in a perfect world, they'll get a nice, long feud. But let's face it. This just means they need someone to feed to Cesaro at the PPV this Sunday and once that's done, they'll forget all about Gabriel and send him back to Jobberville. Again.
Aaaaaaaaaaand that's it. That's all I got. A three-hour show and that's all I can remember. Granted, it was competing against the debate, baseball, or football games, but yikes! This was just a wretched show. They're going to deserve every bit of that sub-2.0 rating that's coming their way.
For the love of God, take us home, Lance Storm!
Is Cena Ryback's manager now? Why is he cutting a promo about a match he isn't in?
I admit, because of the debates, I wasn't paying close attention to RAW. From what I gathered, Vickie Guerrero stole Eve's iPad and used it to take incriminating photos of a business dinner between AJ and John Cena then sent an email to the WWE Board of Directors alleging Cena and AJ were having an affair, forcing AJ to resign as General Manager and Eve and Kaitlyn to have a pull apart brawl backstage that also involved Layla, which was settled on a game show with Team Hell No. I think that's the gist of the show?
Paul Heyman cut the best promo of the night not involving horses and bayonets.
@CMPunk
“@ZackRyder: @CMPunk She played me bro” I got your back.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffP. sure they don't want Ryback cutting promos right now, so why not Cena? Cena put him over huge last week.
My point is that they should just skip that step altogether. Give Ryback someone to squash, give him a quick 2-minute backstage promo saying "I WANT BELT!", and let him toss Punk around for a couple of minutes to build the match.
To their credit, they did two out of three of those things tonight. But the Cena promo just seemed unnecessary.
Big Show won me over just a little bit with that smile after he chokeslammed Sheamus.
I enjoyed parts of the show, but, of late, so much of my enjoyment seems to be the very talented performers making lemonade, while the booking and the angles keep shitting lemons down onto them constantly. I enjoy A.J.'s crazy-face, Bryan over the top celebrating ANY victory, Kane ("I'm a Scorpio"), the ELBOW OF DISDAIN and countless little touches. But the overall direction seems senseless. I fear Vince is going to be blaming performers when, to me, the only people responsible for how bad things are of late are people behind the scenes.
Well, them and John Cena. Because, good gracious, Cena was a huge, huge ass tonight. Whiny and petty and self-centered. By the way, his good health only makes the title seem now openly beneath him, as he's formally just blown off a title shot and handed it to somebody else.
"Never piss off a hawk with a blowgun" - Conan O'Brien
I enjoyed parts of the show, but, of late, so much of my enjoyment seems to be the very talented performers making lemonade, while the booking and the angles keep shitting lemons down onto them constantly. I enjoy A.J.'s crazy-face, Bryan over the top celebrating ANY victory, Kane ("I'm a Scorpio"), the ELBOW OF DISDAIN and countless little touches. But the overall direction seems senseless. I fear Vince is going to be blaming performers when, to me, the only people responsible for how bad things are of late are people behind the scenes.
I agree with this. Especially because last night's show was really pretty exceptional from a wrestling standpoint. Imagine that, wrestling on that wrestling show we all watch! But the tag finals, Bryan/Dolph, Punk/Sheamus, and to a lesser extent Kofi/McGillicutty and Cesaro/Gabriel were all really good matches. I'd have been absolutely thrilled with last night's show if it hadn't actually had any story segments at all.
It is amazing that the best move and promo of the night came from not WWE. The promo that Johnny O mentioned. Suh almost Baned Cutler last night may end up being the most devastating move of the night. Everything last night was a reminder why WWE ranks low in everything. There seemed to be no effort what so ever into the show. It was here, we don't want AJ to be GM anymore, why, because fuck you that is why. Cena has to be involved somehow and Vickie has to be an authority figure, why because fuck you that is why.
WWE's massive problem and has been for some time is logic. Granted, a lot of people will dismiss this as a wrestling show, but when wrestling was good, there was some logic behind everything. There was logic to the NWO wanting to take over WCW. Logic in Vince not wanting Austin to be champ. Logic and reality in Sabu/Tazz. Even the mid card level stuff. There was logic in the DX vs the Corporation. Logic in Jericho/Malenko and logic in Dreamer/Raven. There is zero logic to anything, WWE is doing. AJ having dinner with Cena is not anywhere near close to Vickie being GM while married to Edge. There is no logic in Punk being a heel when a good chunk of the audience is on his side. Nothing makes sense. When stuff doesn't make sense than its unwatchable.
You would think with MNF pulling out all the stops this year, Vince would be ready for this. The schedule is released three months in advance maybe longer and anyone who follows sports knows this. Yet, they seem to go out of their way to make the sure the show is as uninteresting as possible. I am not sure what the ratings will be for this week, but not good is what I am thinking. And Vince can't bust himself out as a ratings bounce, because he was on the show.
(edited by lotjx on 23.10.12 0744) The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
Originally posted by GodEatGodWell, them and John Cena. Because, good gracious, Cena was a huge, huge ass tonight. Whiny and petty and self-centered. By the way, his good health only makes the title seem now openly beneath him, as he's formally just blown off a title shot and handed it to somebody else.
How is he self-centered if he was helping others (talking up Ryback & trying to get AJ her job back)? He didn't try to insert himself into the Punk/Ryback match, either.
Also, the title match was made last week before doctors cleared Cena, so how is that blowing off a title shot?
Didn't Cena ask AJ on a date last week while he in the ring? He initiated this. She got fired. What punishment does he earn?
If RAW needs a GM, why not Cena? It would keep him on TV weekly, let him sell his merchandise, say his goofy promos, continue to push people like Ryback, and stay out of the title picture for a while. He could still deliver the Adjustment to folks who Cross the Boss.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Forgetting Vickie's history, didn't Teddy Long employ a personal sexual plaything who didn't even wrestle for like eight months last year? Didn't Teddy Long have a fiancee on the roster before that? This is a severe double standard, but since it ousts AJ as GM I'm in favor of it, but since it sets her up to go for revenge as an emotionally wounded but resolute babyface in a storyline with John Cena about doing the right thing, I'm against it.
THAT BUSINESS DINNER? The dinner they had about business? Can you imagine what business matters they would've discussed? "John Cena, I would like to book you in matches on Raw." "Agreed." "Pleasure doing business with you, at dinner."
Tenken is right though, there was a lot of good wrestling on this show. The tag finals and Bryan/Ziggler were PPV quality. Nice to see Gabriel get a break too, he and Tyson Kidd and Yoshi Tatsu should form some sort of three-man band.
Originally posted by JustinShapiroForgetting Vickie's history, didn't Teddy Long employ a personal sexual plaything who didn't even wrestle for like eight months last year? Didn't Teddy Long have a fiancee on the roster before that? This is a severe double standard ...
Ehhh, they at least addressed that. AJ said the fraternization alone wasn't reason enough to get fired, but combined with all the other stuff she'd done, she decided to resign when asked.
Originally posted by GodEatGodWell, them and John Cena. Because, good gracious, Cena was a huge, huge ass tonight. Whiny and petty and self-centered. By the way, his good health only makes the title seem now openly beneath him, as he's formally just blown off a title shot and handed it to somebody else.
How is he self-centered if he was helping others (talking up Ryback & trying to get AJ her job back)? He didn't try to insert himself into the Punk/Ryback match, either.
Also, the title match was made last week before doctors cleared Cena, so how is that blowing off a title shot?
Honestly, I felt like he was making that same statement when he handed the shot to Ryback last week. Cena's whole character has been based around fighting through adversity, overcoming odds, 'rising above' and all that jazz, so his passing a title shot on to somebody else seemed to say "hey, I'm kinda hurt and a shot at the WWE title isn't worth putting my arm at risk for". Now that he's medically cleared, it seemed to seal the idea that the title was beneath him. Which, let's be honest, it is, at this point, in WWE-think.
The self-centered comes from simply coming out to talk about a feud that had nothing to do with him. And he didn't feel compelled to stick up for A.J.'s unjust firing until he was directly involved. I'm not saying it isn't natural for him to be interested because his name came up. It is. But it doesn't make him a white knight or a good guy for standing up for A.J.. A good guy would stand up for A.J. being unjustly fired whether he was the rumored superstar or not.
And, I admit, some of it's not so much Cena's direct actions as it is the look on his face, and the tone of his voice and the general atmosphere surrounding him. For a guy who I know, outside of the ring and the WWE, is generally seen as a good, caring, philanthropic individual, it's strange to me how often he seems insincere and hollow when he's doing his actual job. As always, mileages may vary.
"Never piss off a hawk with a blowgun" - Conan O'Brien
Originally posted by lotjxThere is no logic in Punk being a heel when a good chunk of the audience is on his side.(edited by lotjx on 23.10.12 0744)
The only reason they are persisting with a heel turn that no one asked for is because since Wrestlemania, John Cena has been floating around from feud to feud, not doing anything of real importance. This Punk heel turn is a nakedly desperate attempt to try make Cena relevant again.
Originally posted by GodEatGodHonestly, I felt like he was making that same statement when he handed the shot to Ryback last week. Cena's whole character has been based around fighting through adversity, overcoming odds, 'rising above' and all that jazz, so his passing a title shot on to somebody else seemed to say "hey, I'm kinda hurt and a shot at the WWE title isn't worth putting my arm at risk for". Now that he's medically cleared, it seemed to seal the idea that the title was beneath him. Which, let's be honest, it is, at this point, in WWE-think.
Amazing.
People whine when Cena is in the title picture and then whine when he isn't.
As for Raw, I thought it was really good. I didn't like them taking AJ out of the GM role (and, seriously, putting Vickie into it? UGH. Annoying :|) but the rest was good.
Daniel Bryan and Kane's reactions were awesome, though.
The only complaint is that they put TOO much focus on the matches; honestly, I couldn't care less about them.
Originally posted by GodEatGodAnd he didn't feel compelled to stick up for A.J.'s unjust firing until he was directly involved. I'm not saying it isn't natural for him to be interested because his name came up. It is. But it doesn't make him a white knight or a good guy for standing up for A.J.. A good guy would stand up for A.J. being unjustly fired whether he was the rumored superstar or not.
But the very beginning of that AJ/JC backstage segment was Cena saying "let's go get the guy and get his side of the story" - that sure sounds like Cena compelling himself to stick up for AJ's unjust firing even before finding out he was directly involved.
Michael McGillicutty has got to have the least chantable name in wrestling. You can't do anything with it and fans couldn't get behind him if they wanted to. (Michael Mac, maybe?)
Why "Team Rhodes Scholars" instead of just Rhodes Scholars? Are they avoiding confusion with the real thing?
Team Hell No continues to make this show watchable, no matter what other crap goes on. I could watch an hour of Daniel Bryan the emotional rollercoaster. His reactions to everything are priceless- especially compared to the bland guy he used to be.
"I've buried my brother alive...twice" -Kane in anger management
I read this more as "hipster DJ," but I still see your point. I'm sort of willing to let it go until we learn if there's anything more to his character, but as it stands you're absolutely right.