LIVE Raw thoughts - August 4, 2014

11:32 - Mini rant, but I think WWE's emphasis of $9.99 was misguided.  I don't think there's anyone out there who didn't realize what the price of the network was.  The issues, as best as I can tell, is the general understanding of the Over the Top provider and the content in general.  If WWE incessantly pushed the content that most people are watching, I think that would have gone a lot further.

11:22 - On the one hand, those Pedigrees were better than I expected.

11:08 - I actually liked the throwback to the past year's storylines -- mentioning Big Show and the Rhodes family in particular.

11:06 - Are they honestly ending Raw two weeks in a row with Stephanie/Brie?

11:02 - By the way, awesome promo for the Network.  THIS is what they should be doing -- show us what's on, when, and hype it!

10:52 - Love the expression on Ambrose's face when he tore up the contract.

10:49 - Who else expected Zack Ryder to get the "jobber" nod here?  Also, why is Heath Slater's body a completely different shade than his head?

10:35 - Those abrupt Wyatt cuts really lose their impact when they don't go immediately to a commercial break.  It's just not the same when they cut away and then go to the announce team shilling the Network.

10:21 - Bo Dallas vs. R-Truth again?  Considering the size of their roster and the amount of people who can't seem to buy TV time, it's a wonder they can't mix up their midcard a lot more.

10:16 - This isn't an especially easy Raw to review, I gotta say.

9:55 - Personally, I'm impressed that Kane managed to wrestle so many matches (some rather long and physical) wearing a wig.

9:51 - So do Goldust and Cody, like, exclusively fight Rybaxel?

9:45 - Love this Paige/AJ stuff.  Love it.

9:42 - Not that I'd ever complain about a Ziggler win, but this Cesaro stuff is mind boggling.  I mean, he's jobbing clean to Dolph Ziggler, the man who needed a distraction to beat Fandago. And then there will be a rumor that he's actually being set up to face Lesnar.  Mind boggling.  And frustrating.

9:26 - I actually like this use of the WWE App.  Make people think they missed something.  Of course, that's immediately defeated once you do a recap of everything they missed.  But I appreciate the attempt.

9:18 - I don't love the Brie/Stephanie storyline, but I do have to wonder if the manner in which Brie challenged Stephanie being so similar to the way Daniel Bryan challenged Triple H was intentional.  The way they asked for one thing, which was granted, only to follow up with (paraphrasing) "that's not all I want" happened in both instances.  If it was deliberate, bravo to those writers.

9:07 - Not to be the guy who complains about all the gimmick matches, but my issue with the Beat the Clock Challenge -- particularly when two guys are competing -- is that it never touches upon the possibility that both guys lose.  The announcers are doing a good job of reminding viewers that victory isn't a given, but what happens if both guys lose?  It works when multiple people are competing because it's a fairly safe assumption (realistically) that at least one person would win....but it doesn't work as well with two people.

8:59 - Remember how I said the whole Network shilling thing was a thin line?  Well, Lawler is crossing that line.  Yes, the 9.99 line was pretty funny during the Last Man Standing match....but everything since has been brutal.

8:50 - Just think....7 months ago these two were fighting dressed as Santa.

8:48 - Wow, Sandow is practically in regular wrestling attire this week.

8:41 - Incredible video package with John Cena and Brock Lesnar....where both hit their mark and came off looking great.  I had asked this before, but why don't they take more advantage of Lesnar's limited dates?  Why NOT film a bunch of these videos during one of his appearances and show them during the weeks that he's not there live?

8:20 - For what it's worth, I also find Last Man Standing matches exceptionally boring.  There's nothing worse than following up a big, crowd inducing move with 5-10 seconds of just standing around.  The momentum is killed, and for the majority of the match nobody believes they're actually going to hit 10.

8:17 - It feels like we've seen this match -- or variations of this match -- every show for weeks now.

8:09 - Liking the look of Randy Orton and Seth Rollins in black suits.  ANYTHING is better than the standard t-shirt/jeans combo.  I also didn't mind the Authority's WWE Network shilling once it became obvious that they were being ironic.  They've gotta cool it with that, though, and make sure that every single major Superstar isn't coming out and shilling the network as well.  It's a thin line.

7:58 - I'm back!  Yeah, I know it's been a few weeks since I've done my LIVE Raw thoughts, but it's always a little tougher over the summer.  I'm back from a week long vacation and I'm going to give this episode a shot.  Raw has been pretty back and forth lately -- some great episodes, some really tedious ones -- and I'm obviously hoping for the former.  Show begins in about two minutes, let's see what they've got.