I admit I only watched the second half of the show, but WOW, what a disappointing ending. What on Earth is WWE thinking? Bryan is so over it's RIDICULOUS, he gets the best pop in every arena they take him to, and what do they do? Not only turn him heel, but make him a Wyatt family cult member. At least his last heel run he was out for himself. It's become painfully clear that they have no idea what to do with Bryan and are pretty determined to continue ramming Cena down our throats instead. I mean, who do they have that can generate a pop like the one DB does just by playing his entrance music? Definitely not their golden boy Cena, he gets at best 50% boos even as a face.
Not much else of note, except that the Divas match sucked less than I was expecting (which isn't saying much), and Les-Nar the Barbarian is back. Unless something truly awesome comes of this turn, which I doubt, I may take another hiatus from this horribly-booked mess.
JustinShapiro edit: such a warm welcome for the 1st post that I accidentally pushed the freaking mod delete button on it for a second while transferring my phone from one hand to another! something I have never done once in years and couldn't have happened at a more egregious time. many apologies.
I understand if you don't care for the storyline, but the idea that Bryan is being buried is ridiculous. The dude wrestled for the last thirty or forty minutes of the show in the main event, was shown to be incredibly durable and win despite taking a lot of punishment, to the point that Bray Wyatt had his gang jump Bryan rather than wrestle him fair one on one even after Rowan and Harper softened him up. Bryan left, yes, dejected but with the fans chanting his name as loud as they ever have.
Remember when Shawn Michaels was JBL's slave and kept having to do heelish things? All fans did was wait for him to give in, have enough and kick JBL's head off and they popped like crazy when he did it. I'm not saying this'll play out the same way, but, given that the storyline started about an hour and a half ago, I don't think "wait and see" is a terrible idea.
When the kayfabe storyline is "HHH is holding me down, so I'm forced to join the Wyatt family" and it gets read as HHH actually holding Bryan down and forcing him to join the Wyatt family...I think somebody's jerkin' our chains very deliberately.
"Never piss off a hawk with a blowgun" - Conan O'Brien
I refuse to accept that Bryan in the Wyatts is not him swerving them to finally get his hands on Bray until it becomes impossible not to. To think otherwise, would be ... disappointing. I just hope it's something to kill a few weeks before the Rumble and not as drawn out as HBK as JBL's slave or Cena in(...ish) Nexus.
BROCK SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEK. I think they decided it's cost prohibitive to waste one of Lesnar's PPVs on Extreme Rules. I have no idea how to get from Lesnar vs. Cena/Orton in a title match at the February PPV (?) to Wrestlemania stuff. Or what the Elimination Chamber match would be. RR winner defends his shot would rather undermine the Rumble, but I guess heel matchmakers might try to take it away from certain winners.
Seth Rollins had his self a fine week. I like how CM Punk conquered the Shield the same way Garfield outsmarted the Buddy Bears.
The Randy Orton video was nicely done (Benoit's Leg didn't make the cut this time) but it says something about how nothing doing they were with Orton before the Wellness Redemption Policy was invented when his selected highlights for 2012 were just him posing before a match at Wrestlemania, which he lost. Some day they will find a way to retcon 2012 Sheamus back into Orton.
Summer Rae and Rosa Mendes in the same match was a true Michael Cole mind puzzle. The best part of his mix-up last week was how AJ wasn't even mad at him. She was just disappointed.
I did crack up at Wade Barrett's Fortress of Decorum.
Originally posted by GodEatGodI understand if you don't care for the storyline, but the idea that Bryan is being buried is ridiculous. The dude wrestled for the last thirty or forty minutes of the show in the main event, was shown to be incredibly durable and win despite taking a lot of punishment, to the point that Bray Wyatt had his gang jump Bryan rather than wrestle him fair one on one even after Rowan and Harper softened him up. Bryan left, yes, dejected but with the fans chanting his name as loud as they ever have.
Remember when Shawn Michaels was JBL's slave and kept having to do heelish things? All fans did was wait for him to give in, have enough and kick JBL's head off and they popped like crazy when he did it. I'm not saying this'll play out the same way, but, given that the storyline started about an hour and a half ago, I don't think "wait and see" is a terrible idea.
When the kayfabe storyline is "HHH is holding me down, so I'm forced to join the Wyatt family" and it gets read as HHH actually holding Bryan down and forcing him to join the Wyatt family...I think somebody's jerkin' our chains very deliberately.
I hope you're right, I really do. And in retrospect he did still look strong as hell, conquering two out of three of the Wyatts and then worrying Bray enough to have him get jumped rather than face even a weakened Bryan. I just hope they're not throwing away their biggest pop for little or no payoff, which they've done in the past.
I actually don't remember "Shawn as JBL's slave", that may have been on one of my wrestling hiatuses. I do imagine he'll eventually turn on the Wyatts in some spectacular fashion, I just hope that his current heat with the crowd doesn't start to die out in the middle of it. The fact that he lingered for awhile and even started to 'Hulk out' before losing his rage and slinking away does point towards this not being a long-term heel turn.
And thanks for the welcome, JustinShapiro I'm a long-time lurker, but when there wasn't a RAW thread and I wanted to talk about what just happened I decided I'd start one. Hope it's OK I did so, and with my first post at that.
Well, that show was well on its way to being an amazing show to end the year, and it still is, but the ending angle with the Wyatts is baffling beyond words. I can't imagine this sticks beyond next week (or beyond the PPV, if they decide to run with it for a bit), but it does create an interesting wrinkle for the Bryan character. If he comes out the week after the breakup to address the crowd and say, "I failed, but I vow to never surrender like that again," it could actually end up being really good for him. But yikes, when's the last time a supposed top babyface was that level of defeated?
The rest of the show was pretty aces. Punk/Rollins was not only an awesome opener, but the psychology used by Punk in the opening promo was absolutely brilliant. Playing up the Shield against each other was the plan of a true puppetmaster and Punk played it up to a tee again.
Then there's BROCK! The Mark Henry of a few years ago, when he was a relentless killer, might have stood a chance, but Smiling Babyface Mark didn't have a prayer. Great stuff! As for Brock's title shot in February, I'd have to imagine that this means they're ready to pull the plug on Orton, once and for all, at the Rumble, because a heel/heel Brock/Orton match headlining the February PPV (I'm not so sure they don't pull the plug on the EC concept entirely now or push it back for later) would just be plain weird.
Also, on that note, they have to be trolling their hardcore fanbase by headlining the Rumble PPV with a straight wrestling match between two guys that have main evented PPV's against each other more in the last 7 years than I care to remember. The big twist? This time, it's a WRESTLING match!
Originally posted by JustinShapiroI did crack up at Wade Barrett's Fortress of Decorum.
I know I should feel outraged that they're taking a solid worker with a legit tough guy background and turning him into yet another comedy character. But between the rising podium that just kept going higher and higher (which made him look like a Muppet) and the over-the-top gavel work ("Gavel! Gavel! Gavel!"), I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at Bad News Barrett. I'm not sure that's the reaction they're looking for, but dammit, this schtick is hilarious!
(edited by It's False on 30.12.13 2214)
"Playing guitars. It's hard to sing while playing...guitars."
There was a house show in Toronto at the same time as Raw, so if anyone's wondering where Cena, Orton, Big Show, Kane, AJ, Natalya, the Rhodes Brothers and the rest of them were...
The crowd's not going to stop cheering Daniel Bryan, even if he's surrendered to the Wyatts. Hell, Bryan might be thinking that he's going to use them. Bray is the one who talked about raging against the machine, after all. The machine that's holding Bryan down is clearly Triple H and the Authority. What if this winds up more like a face turn for the Wyatts, however temporary that may be, than a heel turn for Bryan? We might be able to get the Wyatt/Shield match done before the seemingly inevitable Shield breakup if that happens. Then when push comes to shove and it turns out that Bray actually has no intention of helping Bryan, Bryan turns on him and everyone's happy again.
And can you really fault Bryan for giving in there? Where was CM Punk to help him at the end there? Where was Big E Langston to help him? Where was John Cena to help him? (in Toronto) After all the times Bryan's saved other people from Shield and Wyatt and Orton beatdowns, couldn't someone else return the favour? Anyone? Zack Ryder?
Why/how the hell is there a house show on the same night as a live Raw?!?!
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball
Theory A: They're setting up Bryan/Cena/Hogan Vs. The Wyatt Family, or is Hogan has to be wheeled out in an iron lung, Bryan/Cena Vs. Harper & Rowan for the tag title. Theory B: They really are embracing the Troll Era. Taken straight and out of context, this is G.I. Bro-level dumb. If it's a legit thing, it hurts Bryan and the Wyatts.
Originally posted by ChumpstainThere was a house show in Toronto at the same time as Raw, so if anyone's wondering where Cena, Orton, Big Show, Kane, AJ, Natalya, the Rhodes Brothers and the rest of them were...
The crowd's not going to stop cheering Daniel Bryan, even if he's surrendered to the Wyatts. Hell, Bryan might be thinking that he's going to use them. Bray is the one who talked about raging against the machine, after all. The machine that's holding Bryan down is clearly Triple H and the Authority. What if this winds up more like a face turn for the Wyatts, however temporary that may be, than a heel turn for Bryan? We might be able to get the Wyatt/Shield match done before the seemingly inevitable Shield breakup if that happens. Then when push comes to shove and it turns out that Bray actually has no intention of helping Bryan, Bryan turns on him and everyone's happy again.
What's really odd is that I saw an ad for Big Show as the "New Years Baby" last week, and he was apparently absent from this week's RAW ... makes you wonder why they didn't just film RAW in Toronto with their full roster instead of sending most of their big names up North and filming RAW in the States.
That's not a bad idea, actually, Bryan using some of his ginormous face heat to redeem the Wyatts. Maybe after a few six-man tags the big redneck mofos (I forget their names) will start getting some face pop and decide they could stand a little crowd love too. I doubt Bray would put up with that for very long, though, and that would be a good time for Bryan to reveal his cunning plan ... whatever that might be.
I'm sorry, but the last few minutes of the show were just garbage. There was so much to like on the show, and that's how we close it out? That's how we close out the year? Neutering the hottest act in the company? I hope he bounces back from this, and I'm not saying he can't. But we all know that this isn't going anywhere good in the short term, and the longer it goes on, the more damage it does to Daniel Bryan. It's especially bad considering the phenomenal match he and Harper had, which elevated the shit out of Harper and finally made me take him seriously. As Shapiro said, it's disappointing.
Originally posted by It's False
Originally posted by JustinShapiroI did crack up at Wade Barrett's Fortress of Decorum.
I know I should feel outraged that they're taking a solid worker with a legit tough guy background and turning him into yet another comedy character. But between the rising podium that just kept going higher and higher (which made him look like a Muppet) and the over-the-top gavel work ("Gavel! Gavel! Gavel!"), I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at Bad News Barrett. I'm not sure that's the reaction they're looking for, but dammit, this schtick is hilarious!
(edited by It's False on 30.12.13 2214)
On a lighter note, this was great. They gave Barrett this terrible, terrible gimmick that is impossible to ever translate to a wrestling match, and he's just absolutely killing it, putting his back into every segment and somehow topping his previous appearances. Still no way to get this to a match, but Bad News Barrett is hilarious.
If Bryan joins the Family and then starts sowing seeds to their destruction, great. If not, fuck this company. If their Wrestlemania plan is to have Cena vs. The Wyatt family, I am not sure how this is going to play out if Bryan is secretly destroying them. I think we all want Cena vs. Bryan, but not like this. Punk/Shield is their best go to match. Why you have a house show in Toronto on the week of New Years at the same time of Raw is poor scheduling. I am sure none of this is any McMahons' fault. None what so ever.
The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
If the SummerSlam title win was the bouquet of flowers and "I'm sorry" note, the end of tonight's Raw was "Why did you make me hit you?" and "She fell down the stairs".
When I read "wait and see" comments, all I see is: "I can change him. He loves me. He won't hit me again. It's my fault."
Originally posted by PowerPB13When I read "wait and see" comments, all I see is: "I can change him. He loves me. He won't hit me again. It's my fault."
Or people that are halfway familiar with stroytelling in some way shape or form.
As much as I'd like to take the 'wait and see' approach to Bryan joining the Wyatts, I can't help but feel some bad juju about the whole thing. This angle has echoes of the WWE burying the sweet bejesus out of Zack Ryder when he was hot with the live crowds by making him look like a total chumpass.
DDJT knows what's up. Smackdown has had a pretty solid build to Wrestlemaina. If you count Becky/Charlotte/Rousey as a Smackdown match (the majority of the participants are techincally Smackdown) it's got all the matches* with sizzle.