We start with AJ showing up to be added to the six man tag between the Shield and MizBar. A great opening borderline MOTYC for the 30 minutes given to it. The good guys win, but we get Kane to destroy everyone. If that wasn't annoying enough, they have Kane job Finn out. Yeah..Finn who last night was in my MOTY got jobbed out to a has been dude in a mask. Fucking stupid.
Another stupid moment was putting Alicia Fox over Bayley and Sasha. Just stupid for the sake of adding comedy to a division that doesn't need it. Mickie James does get the Women's MVP for knocking Alexa out after another one of her Mean Girls promos. This division is wasting some much talent, its not wonder Nia needed a break.
Since Survivor Series is around the corner we get the annual Brand Invasion. Shane leads Smackdown out to destroy the Raw roster while Kurt looks on. Personally, if this doesn't lead to Kurt/Bryan in some way then its a giant failure. Kurt should at least captain Raw.
The best thing minus the six man tag was Paul Heyman, Master Trash Talker. Paul dropped truth bomb after truth bomb. First, that Jinder sucks. Like legit called Smackdown out on having him as champ. Second, he dismissed the entire brand thing since any brand with Brock on it is superior. Third, he seemed to be taking shots at Trump for what he considers fake trash talkers. Lastly, while dismissing the brand war, he made it sorta known that Smackdown was never going to get Brock, because well you are Smackdown. Maybe I read a lot into it, but man did he come out firing on all cylinders.
A bit of a mixed bag Raw. It started off great with the tag match then Kane's old ass showed up to kill off the first hour. Heyman and Mickie were great plus I do love Red vs. Blue even if it makes no sense. Speaking of making no sense, the champion vs. champion matches at SS look God awful. The only one of interest is Shield vs Usos which is good, but Alexa/Nattie, Miz/Corbin and Lesnar/Jinder all suck. It won't shock me to see at least one or two title changes before then to at least give it some juice.
Originally posted by lotjxSince Survivor Series is around the corner we get the annual Brand Invasion. Shane leads Smackdown out to destroy the Raw roster while Kurt looks on. Personally, if this doesn't lead to Kurt/Bryan in some way then its a giant failure. Kurt should at least captain Raw.
This...was just head-scratching and depressing on so many levels. Top SD! faces AJ (who *just* tagged with Dean & Seth) and Nakamura, lovable Tye Dillinger and Chad Gable, the freakin' New Day and the most "white meat" babyface on the main roster Becky Lynch are all of the sudden vicious mindless thugs for Shane. Siccing them on the RAW locker room, attacking Matt Hardy and Finn and Jason Jordan (GABLE attacked JJ!) for no reason? That really bugged me and kinda hurt as a fan of all of them - just such a total betrayal by the creative team of all their characters.
At least someone has some integrity...
I fight for what's right, I don't fight for tyrants. #UnderSiege
Jinder is going to beat Brock and it's going to be so funny.
I read somewhere that Vince wants to create "moments" more than a good show and this show proved it. So Jinder beating Brock would be that type of moment. Wins and loses don't mean anything anyway (Last year, Brock lost to Goldberg in 83 seconds and he seems fine), so I can totally see them jobbing Brock.
Kevin Kelly: "Mr. Austin, would you like to comment on Wade Keller's Take that endorsing the XFL hurts your anti-authority character?"
Steve Austin: "Oh shit, he actually said that? I thought the boys in the back were ribbing me!"
Kelly: "No, he really said that. Did they tell you the part about you sitting in the stands, looking all skeptical?"
Austin: "AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah... oh man that was too much."
This was the entire cruiserweight division all attacking Enzo, WWE desperately trying to create a Moment followed by weeks of storyline awkwardness explaining why Enzo and the heels are friends after. It's Braun getting put in a trash can. WWE 'storyines' are the exact thing they don't want to see in matches: all highspots to get a reaction and nothing making sense all together.
Originally posted by lotjxSince Survivor Series is around the corner we get the annual Brand Invasion. Shane leads Smackdown out to destroy the Raw roster while Kurt looks on. Personally, if this doesn't lead to Kurt/Bryan in some way then its a giant failure. Kurt should at least captain Raw.
This...was just head-scratching and depressing on so many levels. Top SD! faces AJ (who *just* tagged with Dean & Seth) and Nakamura, lovable Tye Dillinger and Chad Gable, the freakin' New Day and the most "white meat" babyface on the main roster Becky Lynch are all of the sudden vicious mindless thugs for Shane. Siccing them on the RAW locker room, attacking Matt Hardy and Finn and Jason Jordan (GABLE attacked JJ!) for no reason? That really bugged me and kinda hurt as a fan of all of them - just such a total betrayal by the creative team of all their characters.
And that's really just the tip of the iceberg as far as things that don't make sense. Why are Roode and Ziggler suddenly working together? Why are the face and heel women working together? Some of these people have beef with each other and no beef with Raw stars. Plus the brand split has existed for like a year and a half and there's been no hostility between the two before. They did have Survivor Series matches last year but they were really just friendly competition.
I did notice KO and Sami weren't there and that was a nice touch since they have zero reason to work with Shane. I'm curious if the WWE creative even thought of that or if KO and Sami had to point out it wouldn't make any sense.
(edited by Quezzy on 24.10.17 0730) Lance's Response:
Originally posted by thecubsfanThis was the entire cruiserweight division all attacking Enzo, WWE desperately trying to create a Moment followed by weeks of storyline awkwardness explaining why Enzo and the heels are friends after. It's Braun getting put in a trash can. WWE 'storyines' are the exact thing they don't want to see in matches: all highspots to get a reaction and nothing making sense all together.
At least "Enzo's paying the other heel cruiserweights with his fat stacks of WWEShop merch cash" is a motivation, rather than "Hey they're all heels." Plus it gave us this:
Originally posted by QuezzyI did notice KO and Sami weren't there and that was a nice touch since they have zero reason to work with Shane. I'm curious if the WWE creative even thought of that or if KO and Sami had to point out it wouldn't make any sense.
This was probably one of my most liked episodes of Raw, with the exception of the decision to job out Balor to Kane.
-The extra AJ match followed up by Kurt thanking Shane for lending out his top guy for 2 nights by asking for him full time?
-Probably the best Enzo promo in months, I had prepared myself for them to go a solid 20+ minutes of him talking, this was a nice change. I did fully appreciate the cheap heat line about Anthony Barr's hit on Rodgers getting crickets.
-I may be in the minority, but I really liked the Smackdown ambush. After Kurt laid out the Champions vs. Champions and the 5 on 5 matches early on, I was lukewarm. The end of Raw completely changed that. I'm okay with it not making sense. I thought Gable attacking Jordan and the women getting in on the action was a nice update. I might have subbed out Shinsuke (who was just kind of in the background for The Usos, as this seemed like it might be more in their wheelhouse.
-Heyman brought his A game. He was holding a microphone, but it may well have been a shovel, because he just straight buried Jinder.
I'm in agreement with having some of the good guy SDLers, like New Day, suddenly becoming ruthless attack dogs that attack two guys while they are in a group of ten. It's like Bayley suddenly attacking people last year, it doesn't work.
Originally posted by DirtyMikeSeaverJinder is going to beat Brock and it's going to be so funny.
Screw it, I WANT Jinder to beat Brock.
RAW was pretty baffling, but I will say that it was the first time in a while I actually watched most of the show and didn't just have it on as background noise. So maybe they are doing something right? I'm pretty sure absurdity is what the kids are into nowdays.
Also, Drew Gulak is the best. I can't believe WWE won't sell me his awesome campaign buttons.
It's the most important meal of the day.
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The problem with having Champion vs Champion matches is this show is not a must see one. It seems like the past few PPVs have been horrible the only thing that saved TLC was two guys getting sick resulting in one amazing match.
Dont say its not worth it, when you can sleep with no fear, that kind of time is worth any thing.- FFX
One of my biggest issues with two world champions is that I've never liked the idea of having two world champions and them never wrestling each other at least once a year. To me, that's like having American League Champions and National League Champions and just going "Great job, teams! You're both the best!"
I'm cool with Champion vs Champion, Raw vs SmackDown for Survivor Series. It fits the theme. I just wish we had better champions. I don't really care about Rollins/Ambrose vs the Usos.
Jinder/Brock, though it has potential to be a trainwreck of a match, should be interesting as long as we get a real finish of some kind. Doesn't even have to be clean.
Really shines a light on all the heel champions we have, though.
Jinder Mahal could have both Singh Brothers, The Great Khali, Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, and the 82nd Airborne interfere on his behalf, and he'd still have no business beating Brock Lesnar. Even though Lesnar half-asses everything these days with his Suplex City era.
"If you're gonna tie my hands up, at least have the manners to stop saying stuff that's just begging for a facepalm." --Bandana, The Order of the Stick
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Originally posted by DirtyMikeSeaverJinder is going to beat Brock and it's going to be so funny.
I read somewhere that Vince wants to create "moments" more than a good show and this show proved it. So Jinder beating Brock would be that type of moment. Wins and loses don't mean anything anyway (Last year, Brock lost to Goldberg in 83 seconds and he seems fine), so I can totally see them jobbing Brock.
Nobody's gonna beat anybody, it'll be a DQ to set up whatever angle's next.
Try doing a search on Kazaa, although you probably won't find much more then a few short clips. *EDIT* If you don't have the program yet, get Kazaa Lite at www.kazaalite.com... It's Kazaa without the spyware and ads :)