Monday, June 17, 2013

LIVE Raw thoughts - June 17, 2013

11:06 - Wow, what a truly fantastic ending to Raw!  Loved Ziggler's surprise return and the solidification of his face turn (but, again, I'm curious what this means for AJ).  And while not completely unexpected, Brock Lesnar's appearance was a very nice surprise.  And, much like the Mark Henry segment earlier, while we all suspected what Brock was going to do.....we still sat there at the edge of our seats waiting to see what would actually happen.  Ultimately, he hit Punk with the F5 and solidified Punk's face turn as well.  And I am ecstatic to see Brock doing something with someone other than Triple H!

Overall, pretty thrilling Raw that seemed to change the course of the company (and I mean that in a good way).  There were a couple of hiccups -- I could've done without the Sheamus/Rhodes Scholars thing and there was a bit too much McMahon drama and I wish they had done a better job of spotlighting Daniel Bryan (so was the injury real or not?) but overall, really great stuff!

10:42 - So I guess we're not getting that epic John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan match at Money in the Bank?

10:34 - I just noticed....the Sin Cara mood lighting is back.

10:31 - While I've always been a fan of colored straps and customized championships, I am beginning to hope that the Intercontinental Championship returns to its classic black strap.  It seems a little "off" with every other championship on a black strap.  And really, only a handful of guys used the white strap back in the 80's and 90's.  Either that, or change ALL of the titles to a different colored strap.

10:20 - Wait, if he's going to leave one boot in John Cena's ass....then shouldn't he have three boots with him?

10:13 - I'm not over the moon about Mark Henry like many others are, but that was an utterly fantastic performance.  Extremely well done -- few people could have pulled that off.

10:09 - Would you have ever imagined a world where Mark Henry announced his retirement, and the crowd chanted "One More Match"??

10:01 - It's kinda odd.  The crowd wasn't even overwhelmingly anti-Cena.  Why is he baiting them?

9:50 - Hey, if it allows Cesaro to win some matches, I'm all for it.

9:43 - Honestly, I can't remember the last time the McMahon Family Drama has been the most entertaining or interesting part of the show.  I just have zero interest in seeing Triple H and Vince McMahon in a pissing contest.  Or Triple H and Stephanie McMahon intimidating people who fans are expected to pay to see fight.

9:37 - You gotta love this deep analysis the WWE announcers are giving regarding how difficult it is to defeat the same guy twice in a row......just one day after a 2/3 Falls Match.

9:27 - So, to sum it up, every single Diva on the roster is afraid of Stephanie McMahon.

9:24 - I sure hope Stephanie is being purposely ironic right now.  Or that AJ at least calls her out on her hypocrisy.

9:21 - Couldn't be happier to see AJ Lee as Divas Champion.  I am curious, though, what a Ziggler face turn might mean for AJ.

9:12 - Obviously, I really hope Daniel Bryan isn't actually injured.  But if he isn't, what an incredibly lame ending.

9:06 - I know most people were hoping for a 2/3 Falls Match, but the one upside of not doing that match is that, conceivably, Bryan could get a big win over an established star without having to eat a pinfall himself.

8:54 - I know a lot of people had issues with the Shield's "first" defeat happening on Smackdown, but I loved it.  People constantly complain that nothing ever happens on Smackdown (I insinuated such here).  When something significant does happen, you can't complain about it.  Sorry, you can't have it both ways.

8:48 - Could've done without the Triple H segment.  What was the benefit?  To show that Vickie Guerrero DOESN'T have any actual power?

8:46 - That is an epic still photo of Randy Orton.

8:38 - Happy Cody and Sandow won....but Cody still deserves better than this.

8:31 - Glad to see Christian get the win, but what does this mean?  What's his direction and motivation?  If Punk isn't eventually winning the World Heavyweight Championship, I personally would've preferred seeing Christian make his return during the opening segment to challenge Del Rio to a match instead.

8:22 - Solid opener, however I would've gone the full mile and had Punk vs. Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.  Give Punk the win and finally give the World Heavyweight Championship a rub by making the champion a legitimate top star.  It would essentially be a "it was all a dream!" retcon, but perhaps that's what the product needs at the moment.

THRILLED to see Christian return, but I wish it was under more significant circumstances.

8:10 - Loved Punk's specialty gear last night.  Detest his hair and sideburns right now.

8:07 - I haven't done this in a while, but after what sounds like an AWESOME Payback I was actually looking forward to Raw tonight.  I missed the first couple minutes, but it looks like we're right in the midst of an Alberto Del Rio heel turn.

2 comments:

Kyle Litke said...

I have to say that I had one big issue with the Shield's loss on Smackdown, but it had nothing to do with them losing, or it being on SD, or even it being largely unadvertised although they should have pushed the match a little more. I'm annoyed because it wasn't their first loss. If they feel that giving Bryan a win over the Shield would help elevate him and make him look strong while not really hurting the Shield (and I agree)...why in the world did you have Cena beat the Shield 3 on 1 just a couple weeks ago? And I'm sorry, but all the justifications are BS to me. He pinned Rollins clean, then Reigns got DQed because he had to desperately hit a spear as the illegal man due to the fact that Reigns and Ambrose were getting DOMINATED by Cena and it was a desperate attempt to get any offense in. And then Cena had Ambrose in the STF in the center of the ring with Ambrose about to tap when he then got DQed. In what world is that not a win, and in what world is that not John Cena singlehandedly dominating The Shield? Even WWE seems to acknowledge it was a mistake by pretending it never happened mere weeks later. In the long run, it's not a big deal, but it's just another example of the short sighted booking we've been seeing a lot of. Payback (and for the most part, Raw) has been booked much better so maybe something has changed, but who knows.

I will say I am a big fan of Mark Henry, and I'm someone who used to HATE him, using him as a punchline with my friends. I just think Henry looks and wrestles like a legit monster (which many big guys don't do), and WWE was behind him enough to actually give him big CLEAN wins over top guys (at a time when every heel was a chickenshit who could not win clean against random midcarders, let alone top guys). A few years ago I would have laughed in your face if you suggested I'd be rooting for Mark Henry, but I am and I have been for awhile.

That said, I'm still more a fan of Bryan, and I do hope long term he's the guy they're going to be pushing harder. As a face, please, not as a heel...Bryan can be a great heel, but if he's a top heel, he's just going to be a chickenshit again where the only person he looks good against is a guy like Punk (who can make most people look good). Bryan needs a good solid face run where he can get clean wins over top guys and solidify himself as a legitimate top guy. He reminds me of Kurt Angle in that Bryan can play goofy and switch to serious and intense when needed, and back it all up in the ring. Sell him as a legit guy who can wrestle his way to wins against top guys and he can be on that level forever.

Matt Basilo said...

You area absolutely right about the Shield/Cena thing. It's similar to a pet peeve I have, when somebody is undefeated but then they have that person lose a match via DQ. Then suddenly it's, "This person has never been pinned!" Everybody loses in that scenario. The person who got a DQ win isn't even recognized as the person who got the first victory over the undefeated person, and the "undefeated" person now has to go by the less impressive sounding "never been pinned" title. And the person who DOES eventually pin him has a somewhat tainted win, because somebody else really did defeat them. Why paint themselves in that corner when they can make something special happen?