I usually make it a point not to start threads, but that ending got me so pumped I decided to go for it.
It's hard to complain about a RAW that did a pretty decent job of scattering actual stars all over the three hours and actually used them to advance storylines well. I'm sure today's fans don't quite understand just how cool the nWo was, or exactly what made Sting so cool, but it's nice to see the crowd still into them. For one brief segment on RAW, WWE actually had a pretty decent tag division.
I sincerely hope that they’re not trying to build up Big Show as the last guy Reigns has to toss out to win the Rumble, because we’ve now just already seen Reigns toss him out of the ring on free TV. Also, because Big Show has already been that guy in at least two previous Royal Rumbles, as well as was the guy Cesaro dumped out of the ring during the Andre Battle Royal last year.
It’s like every time Brock and Big Show ever wrestled and the announcers kept asking us, every single time, “Can Brock F5 the Big Show?” Yeah, in fact he did it in the same show!
Speaking of which, that was the best Raw ending in a while. I didn’t even care that it had John Cena winning with a rollup. That’s how good it was. Both Sting and Brock were used well and it makes me want to see them somehow cross paths. Can Sting win the Royal Rumble? You know, have him come out at #30 and just beat everyone out of the ring with his baseball bat? I dunno, I mean, I’d like that to happen.
It’s amazing how, when you just put Brock in there with someone fresh like Rollins, how good the dynamic can be.
Of course, next week, WWE won't have all of these Legends to rely on, so it's up to the Royal Rumble to make them all into superstars who can carry a 3-hour show. Good luck, guys!
The first 90 minutes of this show featured one match. It was a good match, that was cut up by two commercial breaks so we could get our twenty minute open. So, I am on the other side of the spectrum on this one.
As far as the Legends go JBL standing up for the nWo just goes to prove the point that at some stage in a wrestlers life all feuds are forgotten and they are all just friends. Does nobody remember the never ending JBL and Austin vs the nWo feud? Also Shawn Michaels showing up just to make a mockery of all things wrestling is shitty. Stay home.
I'm not a Sting guy, but I guess that was cool. The dreaded rollup on Rollins. He fixed his hair at least.
Brock wrecking fools is something I can totally get behind. Brock can make a three hour turd of a show seem okay by doing Brock things in the over run. It's as if he wanted to prove last week's thread thesis How Do You Screw Up All Things Brock?
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoDanial Bryan should be more careful in there.
That's funny, because it seemed to me that he was actually being a lot more careful. He protected himself a lot better on the suicide dive, and he's modified most of his out-of-the-ring spots so that he's not diving onto his head. The only spot where I thought he should have been a little safer was the bump on the apron, which I admittedly thought looked really nasty.
That Legends Panel was interesting, only because the crowd reacted more loudly and positively for Dean Ambrose winning the Rumble than for Daniel Bryan. Also, I have a feeling Shawn was supposed to suggest Roman Reigns.
Let's not talk anymore about wasting Brock's appearances after that burning of one of Sting's appearances. Yes, that one sixty-second Sting appearance accomplished more than Brock's previous two or three appearances combined (not counting last night), but still.
Ambrose Wins! Ambrose Wins! I really hope Bray is facing Taker, because all the jobs done for him is getting stupid. Reigns winning the Rumble seems inevitable. I feel like everyone who was in live attendance sat for that LOTR style opening promo should get a t-shirt. A t-shirt says I survived a Cena/Brock/Authority promo.
I think Reigns may need to stop doing that enter through the crowd thing. His "run-ins" take painfully long as Big Show or whoever just stands there in the ring waiting.
After three hours of legends, let's finish with a main event featuring The Giant and Isaac Yankem. I think both of those debuted in 1995.
A very hot closer only proves what they could have had with Brock all this time. Opposing Cena still can't make a full heel out of a monster managed by Paul Heyman. And Sunday, Philly will love up Paul, even if he gets ten minutes on the mic to insult on the crowd.
And did Sting and Brock share the stage for even a second? That would have made for a nice staredown.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Rollins' "keep it together man, just keep eye contact, don't shit your pants" look with Brock is priceless. Don't know how much that dynamic advances any angle or character, but it's fun to watch. I'm actually kind of interested to see how they get the belt off Brock and what (if) they do with him afterward. It would be easy enough to do "Reigns distraction, Cena pins Rollins" at WM, get the belt off Brock, and then set up a Reigns/Brock feud without needing to saddle him with the belt yet.
What is up with Show taking that F5 bump on his back? Does he usually do it like that? Or did one of them just screw up? It kind of looked like he got twisted up, was going to take the bump weird on his shoulder, and managed to flip all the way around to his back. I'm guessing Show, with his size and age, is pretty easy to injure on a screwed up bump.
Ugh - I'm not thrilled that I'm paying to see a 2015 New Age Outlaws match in person this Sunday.
Is Shawn only going to be goofy "HBShizzle" from now on?
Last night we saw the Roman Reigns that should be out there - a mostly-silent, down-to-business asskicker.
Did anyone else follow the #RAWlternative stream last night? It was almost 4 hours of various indie matches all curated by Beyond Wrestling. I flipped back and forth between that and RAW all night (thanks Chromecast!) and was able to avoid the whole NWO & co. pile-on of the Ascension. Caught the Young Bucks being amazing, some of good ole Brian Kendick, I know Kevin (Owens) Steen was featured in an early match.
I watched #RAWlternative last night. We're three weeks into the new year and I have yet to have any desire to turn on the TV on Monday nights.
Was very cool to see Gary Jay vs. Kyle O'Reilly featured for St. Louis Anarchy, as well as seeing Matt Cage and Christian Rose in a tag match from Dreamwave Wrestling. Saw quite a few people I hadn't seen before or hadn't seen often enough.
If you've only seen diva matches, Athena vs. Mia Yim was a tremendous matchup.
Originally posted by MoeGatesWhat is up with Show taking that F5 bump on his back? Does he usually do it like that?
Big Show doesn't seem to like to take front bumps. His knees are probably not in the best shape. You'll see it most often when he goes for his Vaderbomb. The few times he hits it, he hits it normally, but if his target rolls out of the way he twists in midair so that he lands on his hip instead of his knees and stomach.
Also of note - Wade lost a non-title match, as is his lot in life. Also Cena's newest colors make him look like Sin Cara V.1.
Originally posted by PowerPB13If you've only seen diva matches, Athena vs. Mia Yim was a tremendous matchup.
My stream crapped out during that but I read the announcing was bad. Not as bad as the Kendrick match (or another one, I forget which), which had a jarring amount of F-bombs. I think the only adjective the color guy knew for that Kendrick match was "fucking." I've heard less F-bombs casually dropped on a Kevin Smith podcast. Not being a prude, it just felt *really* jarring for wrestling announcing.
(Not trying to hijack the thread, moderator types.)
Not sure if it was good or bad that Jay-O'Reilly had no commentary. It wasn't really clarified that it was best-of-three-falls except in the YouTube chatroom. Still, I've known Gary Jay since he was a little barnowl so it's cool to see him get some new exposure.
Originally posted by SKLOKAZOIDIt’s amazing how, when you just put Brock in there with someone fresh like Rollins, how good the dynamic can be.
Yep. Exhibit Z of the many ways they've wasted Brock is seeing how much Rollins has gained being in his orbit. The promo Rollins cut on Heyman on Smackdown was really solid work, and Rollins actually face-to-face with Lesnar last night was new and cool and the kind of thing they should have been doing for the last three years. Rollins lost nothing and gained much by standing face-to-face with Brock in the back even while selling fear and by hauling ass out at the end after Brock destroyed the Authority's two strongest allies.
Lesnar is electric, and it's not just his special attraction schedule. He's not the world's greatest promo man, but his reactions to other people talking show how much charisma and knowledge of being an entertainer he inherently has, and when he does talk, it's always must see. That moment last night of Kane and Big Show backing him into the corner was fascinating from a "how do they get him out of this? Oh, right, it's BRRRRROCK LESNAR, he just destroys them" perspective and basically laid out what they should have done from the get-go: have Brock destroy the old guard ASAP to move on to the new stars. Of course Seth Rollins runs away after Brock kills the two biggest guys on the roster dead, but of course Seth Rollins is going to have plans within plans against Brock, and the fact that he's now twice curbstomped Lesnar when given the chance absolutely sells that Rollins is on Brock's level, regardless of what happens at the Rumble. That's promotion!
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoAlso Shawn Michaels showing up just to make a mockery of all things wrestling is shitty. Stay home.
Watching Michaels do Shawn Michaels stuff in 2014 and 2015 is an event unto itself. I guess he's through his redemption tour and back to being Shawn again, and you really get to see where HHH and Nash learned their worst tendencies. Vince loves writing his Looney Tunes characters now, but Michaels is still the king of basically turning to the camera and holding up a picture of a screw and a baseball to undercut whatever is going on. He especially seems to be on a focused mission to just break 'em for Hogan at any and all turns now, though to his credit I guess, he eventually turned it into a usable moment by constantly using Hogan to shield himself from Big Show.
Originally posted by GreymarchI just hope that JBL now finds his stock portfolio erased by the Illuminati.
I want to co-sign on this. JBL becoming paranoid about the Illuminati would make him so much more tolerable on commentary and would be a nice callback to Bradshaw's own destruction of the Shawn Michaels Estate. He should turn on Simmons after after being unable to ignore the pyramids hidden in "APA" and eventually give in and dedicate to managing the Ascension himself.
Originally posted by thecubsfan
Originally posted by Matt Tracker And Sunday, Philly will love up Paul, even if he gets ten minutes on the mic to insult on the crowd.
Will the Philly crowd love him if/when he turns on Brock and goes with Rollins?
(wait, yea, they might. Never mind)
I'm falling in love with my own fantasy booking now, but the framework for Rollins/Heyman has been so explicit so far that I'm super into the Reigns/Heyman swerve now. Specifically, Heyman's life preserver pitch to Rollins about Heyman deciding when the Future starts - obviously meant to tease Rollins/Heyman to both us and Rollins - feels so much like what they should be doing for Reigns instead, since Reigns is the Next Next Big Thing. Plus, a tweener Reigns getting his weaknesses covered by Heyman vs. evil Rollins backed by the Authority vs. the faces would be a smart battleplan for 2015, predicated on the very real notion that the easiest way to get fans to cheer for Reigns is to ask them to potentially boo him instead. Heyman makes Reigns cool again and makes it OK to cheer for him again, especially if he's positioned as the alternative to Rollins and Cena.
Other thoughts: -I like The Vigilante Sting's new jacket. Anytime he manages to merge Sgt. Pepper Sting and Crow Sting, I approve. HHH's highly-visbile spot at the end standing on the table screaming "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!" and then selling the crowd's chants should answer any questions about the current plans for Sting/HHH and WM, and he's still the best non-Cena guy to get a special attraction match out of Sting.
-Ambrose finally getting a win but doing it at the expense of the Intercontinetal champion eating another loss is yet another example of what they're doing wrong with their roster. Did Barrett even get an entrance?
-In the spirit of credit where it's due: as a character and a wrestler, they've done enough damage to him that I really can't care about him anymore, but Big Show probably doesn't get enough credit for his mic skills. I don't care anymore about what he has to say, but he still puts his heart into everything they ask him to do. He's genuinely one of the best people on the roster at delivering whatever motivation and characterization they randomly assign to him, he always listens to and engages with the crowd. It's all the more amazing because he really doesn't need to, given his size and position and time with the company. That's admirable, and a lot of people on the main and NXT roster could do a lot worse than looking to the effort, engagement and style this guy still puts into even the most played-out turn he's handed. Show basically does everything they think they want out of WWE Superstars in terms of delivering scripted speeches, but he still does it like a pro wrestler and makes it seem like it's coming from himself.
Thread ahead: 2014 Wrestling Observer Awards Next thread: Wrestlemania 32 officially announced for Dallas Previous thread: WCW Worldwide: January 12, 1997
Hernandez vs. Eric Young Hernandez wins and faces Homicide at BfG. Abyss vs. Kevin Nash Kevin Nash, but does not collect the bounty. Foley backfires with the interference. Hopefully, it will lead to monster Abyss instead of Eugene Abyss.