Hey, this was a pretty stellar show with an awesome crowd.
Reigns and Bryan were both great being dicks to each other. The only reason I didn't fast-forward through the Reigns/Kane match was because Bryan was so good on commentary. That brawl at the end was magical. Reigns snapping and roaring after getting hit with the chair gave me goosebumps. Reigns is getting awesome-er.
I think everyone shone brightly on this go-home show. Fastlane's card is tight, man.
Post-RAW thread only posted 14 hours after the end of the show, and 3 hours after that I'm the first/only reply. Wow.
Was the show that awesome, everyone is still speechless? Maybe the show was so awful no one wants to think about it? Or have we all given up on WWE completely and no one bothered to watch it?
DISCLAIMER: I only caught the weird Primetime Players reunion (Darren Young's "surprise" tag team partner against The Ascension is a nameless [literally!] jobber??) and the second half of the Big Show/DBryan match w/ post-match RReigns mayhem.
Will be watching when I get home from work and I'll probably be giving the extended promo segments the FFWD treatment. It was a chore to get through live viewings of Raw in the past and I'm glad to have cut that proverbial cord in recent months.
I'll never understand why they didn't just hold off on Bryan's return until after the Rumble.
I watched off and on, mostly switching over to Lucha Underground any time it got boring (Oh look, here's a HHH promo ... hey there, luchas!). To be honest not very much interested me. I have no idea what show Mr Shh was watching, but it seems I must have tuned out for it. Bryan was pretty great on commentary, and the brawl at the end was OK. I also did have to shake my head at the audacity of expecting us to believe that tying a guy's hands together, making him hold a pen and then roughly scribbling the guy's signature is an actual binding contract... that's WWE for you, though.
The Triple H-Flair segment was easily the highlight of the show. That was as good as Flair has been on the mic is many years as he didn't jump all over the place and was clear and concise and didn't come off as a old fool as he has many times over the last half decade. Triple H was really good and WWE has done a fantastic job in building Sting up and this is as well as he's been presented since before Starcade when everything went to hell thanks to Hogan. If the goal was to make Reigns and Bryan stupid and extremely unlikable than they have succeeded. Good intense brawl to end the show though. Can they please do something with Luke Harper? Dude is awesome and is just a jobber to the star. Man has Dean Ambroose fallen off the last six months in position on the card and even somewhat in popularity.
I turned it on to see the Rusev/Cena segment and flipped away when I heard the congratulations to NBC for the SNL anniversary show and the segue to Ambrose doing his own Weekend Update backstage. Nope nope nope. I flipped to another channel and didn't go back.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Stellar is a relative term, but there was much more good than bad. Crowd definitely helped.
In no particular order, the good-to-great included:
-Reigns and Bryan acting like dicks while the other tried to have a match. -Bryan's commentary during Reigns/Kane -Reigns' lack of commentary during Bryan/Show -Reigns/Bryan pull-apart brawl -Tyson Kidd acting like a dick (his teaching Nattie how to apply the Sharpshooter was brilliant) -Nattie and Cameron's wrestling exhibition -Anything related to the breakup of the Dust Brothers -HHH losing his cool with Ric Flair -Paige owning her angle with the Bellas -Solid matches between Ziggler/Rollins and Ambrose/Harper -Rusev and Cena pull apart with Rusev selling like a boss and the crowd solidly behind Cena -Barrett/Ambrose "contract signing"...yeah, it was stupid, but both of these guys were great at selling it
What else was there?
-Ambrose's Weekend Update? It lasted 30 seconds. -Mizdow/Barrett? Fine, I'll concede that. -Ascension/Prime Time Players? Came out of nowhere, but if it leads to a full-time PTP reunion, then it's a win.
Originally posted by Mr ShhStellar is a relative term, but there was much more good than bad. Crowd definitely helped.
In no particular order, the good-to-great included:
-Reigns and Bryan acting like dicks while the other tried to have a match. -Bryan's commentary during Reigns/Kane -Reigns' lack of commentary during Bryan/Show -Reigns/Bryan pull-apart brawl -Tyson Kidd acting like a dick (his teaching Nattie how to apply the Sharpshooter was brilliant) -Nattie and Cameron's wrestling exhibition -Anything related to the breakup of the Dust Brothers -HHH losing his cool with Ric Flair -Paige owning her angle with the Bellas -Solid matches between Ziggler/Rollins and Ambrose/Harper -Rusev and Cena pull apart with Rusev selling like a boss and the crowd solidly behind Cena -Barrett/Ambrose "contract signing"...yeah, it was stupid, but both of these guys were great at selling it
What else was there?
-Ambrose's Weekend Update? It lasted 30 seconds. -Mizdow/Barrett? Fine, I'll concede that. -Ascension/Prime Time Players? Came out of nowhere, but if it leads to a full-time PTP reunion, then it's a win.
I agree with everything, especially the parts about Kidd/Nattie. This is going better than anyone could've hoped. I went from not giving a shit about either one and openly hating Nattie to being thoroughly entertained by them.
Daniel Bryan should've been doing commentary while he was rehabbing, a-la Punk. He's far beyond JBL and Book. A heel Bryan and normal Cole could be phenomenal.
Also Stardust everything.
Michael Cole: Can you imagine what's going on in Dusty's head? Me: Oh wow. I just got back. I've seen things.
Edit: The announcing was extra shitty during the New Day/Dusts match, highlighted by Booker's confusion about the definition of brothers. Which was surpassed by Cole's inability to distinguish Kofi Kingston from Xavier Woods. During Black History Month.
Also that was one of Ziggler's better promos. He does better when not scripted. That HHH impression was dead on and the Valentine's Day comment was inside just enough to come off phenomenally.
Originally posted by StefonicsI agree with everything, especially the parts about Kidd/Nattie. This is going better than anyone could've hoped. I went from not giving a shit about either one and openly hating Nattie to being thoroughly entertained by them.
Kidd and Natalya have been absolutely killing it down in NXT for about the last 6 months with possibly the best act in wrestling. I'm really glad they're getting the chance to do it on the big stage of RAW. Their terrible, loveless marriage is an absolute delight wherever they appear.
I thought this was a solid show, which has piqued my interest a little for Fastlane.
Incidentally, does anyone else find it slightly odd that it is constantly referred to as 'WWE Fastlane' by the wrestlers as opposed to just 'Fastlane'? For some reason, it makes the event sound quite heelish, especially when they're quick to add "...on the WWE Network" straight after. Maybe it's just me.
Another musing, is there a particularly high count of 'crazy' characters at the moment? We have Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose and Stardust. Any others? Feels like there's a lack of joined up thinking in the creative departments.
I look forward to seeing where they go with Reigns and Bryan.
I believe that was Tunney's choice, which is to say, Tunney's choice was to screw the pooch on Hogan-Flair. Still, that press conference was a terrific moment. Tunney: Ric Flair's opponent will be... (Sid stands, confident that it's him) Tunney: