I LOVED that Cena was smiling with a bloody mouth. It's arrogant and looks like he was just in a bar fight with a guy who destroyed him but he still wanted more. I like this version of John Cena. I've been liking him more and more since the Rock feud got started in earnest. He seems to have gotten his swagger back a bit.
Am I in Horseville? Because I'm hearing nothing but naysayers!
My fiancee is now a Brodus Clay fan. She's loved Santino Marella since Lord knows when, but now...when Brodus is on TV, she's attentive and laughing. I love it.
She especially loved Santino during the entrance and in the ring, falling down during the fireworks.
Originally posted by John OrquiolaLet me pose this question: How are we regarding Brock Lesnar now? .. is he considered a pro wrestler again? Or is he an MMA fighter who is pro wrestling again? Is he just simply both? .. I see Brock as an MMA fighter first and foremost, who is now back to pro wrestling. At least right now. That's how he's being presented. What about you?
No question that they want to take advantage of Lesnar's cred as a 'legit' MMA fighter, but at the same time they don't want to put it over too hard, since that makes the WWE guys 'illegit' by inference. So maybe they want to position Brock as a legit badass. Reputation/history aside, if you really want to get Brock over as an MMA monster, you'd have to do a worked MMA style in the ring, which I don't think ever works, does it?
Lesnar fighting an MMA ground 'n pound style vs even a brawler like Cena, would still be as ugly as Ali/Inoki to watch, or maybe "Brawl for All"-esque if you're lucky. So you get by this month with a garbage hardcore schmozz where the novelty factor is enough to sell the match, but if Brock is going to do 20 matches over the year, he's going to have to work with his opponents to tell stories in the ring.
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As to the rest of Raw:
King totally broke up Cole with that "Reptile Dysfunction" line. I think the end felt odd because no one had taken Swagger out, so we were expecting him to break up the pin after Clay's boss Fat Man Splash. This is the sort of thing generally used to tease the start of a tag team breakup, but as no one mentioned it, I guess not this time. (Note on Clay: He made "The Funkasaurus" work. He appears to be the first guy in wrestling history(?) to figure out that slamming your arms down makes the splash look 5-times more effective. Man has some skills.)
I like the way they showed Ace ignoring Eve and Miz, who already did what he needed from them - while concentrating on his New Big Thing and other guys who can give him something more. Could be useful when they want to yank the rug out from Johnny.
I don't know if the movie will work, but the Three Stooges actors sure seem like they have the characters down pat. (That said, they should have stuck to pre-taped bits set in the Santinoverse.)
Punk/Jericho is the feud with the back story none of us want to see, used as filler to get to match we do want to see. The last couple of Raws make me wonder if this is match going to be the blowoff, with Jericho going back to Fozzy and WWE Champion Punk moving into being Ace's target #1. If this sobriety angle is the hook to eventually bring Austin together with Punk, it gets redeemed in my eyes.
I don't like that they've gone two weeks without hearing from H, Shawn, or Taker. Makes me think that it wasn't "The End of an Era" after all.
Putting Brock with Cena right away makes me think they are going with the slow-burn heel turn. You can't beat Brock his first match out, and Cena winning a big match like this would just give you the same 'where do you go with Cena now?' question that probably made them decide to put Rock over at WM.
Overall, the show really suffered from the red-hot start that couldn't be maintained.
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