LIVE Raw thoughts - October 20, 2014

11:10 - Didn't love Orton pinning Ambrose, but I did enjoy Rollins hitting the curbstomp on Orton.

Absolutely love the main event attention on Rollins and Ambrose, but they NEED to earn some significant and meaningful wins.

11:06 - I'm not really I get the point of the cage lowering, from a kayfabe perspective.  It's not as if anyboyd was trying to interfere OR escape.

10:40 - I love WWE with their "By the Numbers" video packages.

10:27 - "You can't coach strength!" exclaims JBL, infuriating strength coaches across the world.

10:20 - See this is why they've shot themselves in the foot with their recent booking of Dolph Ziggler.  If Ziggler loses, it means he's lost to Rusev, Orton, Rollins, and Cesaro in two or so weeks.  If Ziggler wins, then Cesaro lost to the guy who lost clean to Rusev, Orton, and Rollins.  Neither guy comes out of this looking great.

10:14 - Fun promo that was really strengthened by a rare and unexpected Mick Foley appearance.  Foley thankfully kept it light on the cheap pops and self promotion, and as a result did a great job.  Line of the night also goes to him with his "I also subscribe to the Network for an undisclosed monthly sum" comment.

10:03 - I am so grateful that we have Lawler and JBL here to explain all of Ambrose's puns.

9:52 - How is there still over an hour of this show left?

9:35 - Oh God, is Big Show gonna cry?!?!

9:18 - As I said last week....why are we to be invested in the Natalya/TJ divorce story when we can clearly see they're still together in current WWE storylines?

And by the way, how many times have we seen Big E vs. Rusev?

9:11 - Am I crazy or did Heyman just take the RKO better than Cena did?

9:00 - Gotta admire the "book the match, then create the conflict" philosophy of the Orton/Cena match.

8:57 - Again, I applaud WWE here.  Make people feel like they're missing something special by not subscribing to the WWE Network.

8:45 - Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd here's ANOTHER match we've seen countless times before.  What is this, the third show in as many weeks that we've seen AJ vs. Alicia?

8:32 - The Miz/Sandow pairing is quite possibly the best thing on Raw right now outside of the rise of Ambrose and Rollins.

8:21 - Any acknowledgement about the fact that Sandow and Rhodes used to team?

8:14 - I may be mistaken but didn't we JUST see this match?  Or was that with Ziggler/Cesaro?  For that matter, didn't we JUST see Cena/Ambrose vs. Orton/Rollins/Kane?

8:12 - Is it me or did ending that segment with Kane's music/pyro/lighting extremely random?  He was the only person who didn't speak during the promo and he was a completely afterthought in the story being told.  Why on earth did it end with his music?

8:03 - Don't get me wrong, he wears it well....but I'm not convinced Seth Rollins has an outfit other than black suit with a black button down.

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LIVE Raw thoughts - October 13, 2014

11:07 - Fine enough match.  Gave us the match we REALLY want to see, but Orton vs. Cena seems so out of place.  Out of all four combinations, they seem like the two that have the least amount of issues with each other.  Yet that match belongs in the Cell?

10:57 - In five years, will we see a WWE Network promo hyping up that time Dean Ambrose threw ketchup at the Authority?

10:51 - I can't imagine it will be long before somebody plays that audio backwards and let's us all know what it says.

I will admit to enjoying these Wyatt videos.  Actually, I've always enjoyed the videos more than the actual execution of the character.

10:33 - That segment made me hate everybody involved just a little more.

10:28 - I still get a kick out of this whole Miz/Sandow thing.  I do miss Miz's multicolored attire, though.  His all black look is a little strange considering his "street clothes" have gotten so outrageous.

10:23 - Odd how the Intercontinental and United States Championship feuds have essentially swapped -- yet the original pairings (Dolph/Miz, Sheamus/Cesaro) were far superior.

10:13 - For the life of me, I just CANNOT get into Rusev.

10:09 - Are we expected to be invested in a Tyson/Natalya "divorce" when current WWE television shows us that they're still together?

9:48 - Interesting conundrum:  The combination people most want to see (Rollins vs. Ambrose) would also result in the combination people least want to see (Orton vs. Cena).

9:34 - Has anybody else noticed how often Michael Cole uses the expression, "Misses wildly"?

9:24 - It's funny, when I was trying to think of people who could have filled Ziggler's role and essentially gotten the same impact, I was going to suggest Jack Swagger.

9:17 - A highly competitive, extremely entertaining match where the guy higher up on the card won....but again, what was the point?  Why make Ziggler suffer two clean losses in a row when they finally rehabilitated his image?

9:09 - I still don't think WWE understands what "exclusively" means.

8:52 - So after FINALLY re-establishing Dolph Ziggler as a competitive, winning Superstar, they needlessly fed him to Rusev on Smackdown and now, presumably, they're feeding him to Orton tonight.  What's the point?  What's the gain here?

8:43 - "I guess nobody likes Layla anyway."  Made me laugh.

8:40 - Well that's baffling.  They spend all that time building up the "suspense" of who AJ's partner might be, and then they don't even show her entrance?

8:32 - That was a really fun 20+ minute opening match.  I am confused, though.  For the second PPV in a row, they've given away a marquee match on Raw before the actual show (last time it was Rollins vs. Reigns).  What's the purpose?

8:27 - Geez, WWE is putting more effort into getting this whole "standard bet" thing over than they do putting over half of their roster.

8:06 - Is it me or has WWE taken a HUGE step back with their pink merchandising efforts this year?  For the first year, only Cena's merchandise was turned pink (and that included his t-shirt, hat, and wrist/head bands).  The following year, practically EVERYBODY on the roster had pink merchandise -- everybody from Cena to Daniel Bryan to Christian to Randy Orton to RVD to AJ Lee to Dolph Ziggler to the Miz.  This year, Cena barely even has any pink merchandise.  He's wearing his "Keep Calm" t-shirt (with the same wording as it always has been) which is now gray and pink.  But his hat and wrist/head bands remain the normal red/yellow.

This year's line seems to focus on the Bellas (Support the Twins) who are feuding with each other, Hulk Hogan (who isn't even on TV), and Brock Lesnar (Courage, Conquer, Cure seems to be a variation of Eat, Sleep, Conquer, Repeat), who is the company's biggest heel.  Very odd.

8:01 - During the last few months of Punk's title reign, Raw would kick off with a montage similar to what you'd see on a "previously" clip before a television show.  I quite enjoyed those and I'm happy to see that they've brought that back.  It gives a little direction for the show.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about Dean Ambrose coming out wearing a WWE Authentic Dean Ambrose t-shirt.

7:26 - It's been way too long since I've last updated the blog with one of these LIVE thoughts, so I figured this was as good a time as any to get back on the horse.  In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit to not being that into the current storylines right now (outside of the awesome rise of Ambrose and Rollins), so it's been tough to discuss the show at any substantial length.  But let's see if tonight is the turnaround point.  Check back in about a half hour.

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Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Hello there, bloggers (or is it "bloggees"?)

For the second year in a row, I will be participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on October 19.  Rest assured, I will be pinkified out there.

If you're feeling generous, please consider making a donation to my page.  This is the only time this year that I will be soliciting donations.

Thanks in advance!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/mattbasilo

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