Raw After Mania - April 7th [Mania Spoilers Inside]

Remember folks, to have a really big party, you need lots of little people....and rabbits!

I watched RAW this evening, haven't enjoyed it as much in years.

Thought it was a good Raw. I'll admit to getting fed up with the fans. They were getting mixed up in what they were trying to chant.

But great reaction for Barrett and Paige, who I'm glad to see on the main roster. Goes to show how many watch NXT to know her.

Was trying for ages to figure out who Warrior reminds me of. Think it's Gary Cole.

Confused as to what way Cesaro is going. He's obviously a face but Heyman is supposed to be heel.

Good to see promos for Bo. Problem is there's a good chance he'll get a positive reaction by those who like the NXT character, so they'll have to bring him in against someone like Bryan.
So Leo Kruger was going for how long? Then in comes Adam Rose and within weeks he's coming to the main roster.

DM-ICE wrote: »

The end of RAW was excellent. I love that they are keeping the Shield together for a while longer and that they are back with main eventers.

It's so hard to create interesting faces that fans can really get behind and The Shield are there. Opens a spot for someone like Sheamus to have a much needed heel turn.

It may have gotten past the point where people will care about Sheamus. Bringing him back without any real impact was a serious error. Him and Christian got included in the main event for EC but then completely ignored.

DM-ICE wrote: »

If his character was made anyway interesting I imagine he would be fine, a big lump of a man that is believable as an ass kicker who has proven himself as a monster type when playing a serious persona before. He was presented as important for most of his time in WWE, rarely losing and often dominating. I don't think it would take much at all.

He is not the Miz for example, good for a catchphrase but really not believable as someone who is a threat to anyone as he was never presented as one.

Ryback was presented as the toughest guy in the WWE. Once you give off the impression that he is not the toughest guy and not the most important it is really difficult to convince people that he is. Big Show is another example. They try so hard lately to put him forward as a threat. Nobody is buying it. When he first came through the ring at Valentines Massacre, he was a threat.

Happened Kane too and now the guy (well his character, not the worker who is a real company man) is a joke. If you push Lesnar down to the midcard for a while, convince us all that smaller less important guys have a chance against him, that aura is gone.

For me, it's why the most believable heels are either fresh new guys (Wyatts, Shield) or guys who have been around the block and while they've lost matches, have never really lost that aura or importance (Lesnar, HHH, possibly Batista, we'll see how this run goes)

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

The warrior's segment was a bit random, I was excited last night when they announced it because it didn't make much sense (he had said all he had to at hof), so I thought it was primed for an interruption.

Feels weird talking about this now but yeah was expecting Hogan to come out for one last staredown. Or maybe Miz or someone to come out and get clotheslined. It may be that Warrior didn't want to do it; given what he said during the Hall of Fame about knowing when it's time to retire and so on.

Ridley wrote: »

He's still got it. *clap clap clap-clap-clap*

Maybe now that The Shield are face, he'll defend the thing more often.

WWE is bad these days at giving the mid-card titles exposure. Was hoping that when the WWE and Heavyweight belts were unified the mid-card belts would get more focus (and merged ideally). At least the tag titles currently have a handful of teams gunning for them.

I think it's a conscious decision by WWE to reduce the importance of titles and focus more on soap-opera style storylines; to get away even more from the sporting aspect. They got rid of the World Heavyweight title, which was always the 2nd or 3rd biggest draw at PPVs. The IC titles & US titles haven't been defended much, especially on PPV; and often aren't even mentioned when their holders appear. Nobody really cares about the divas or tag titles either; especially with AJ going on a big losing streak. The only one that is still important is the WWE title.

I think it goes back to Kevin Dunn telling commentators not to use the term "the title has changed hands".

I'm worried the WWE title will be next to go in terms of relevance.

It's strange because WWE have changed strategy recently because of live sport resulting in bigger TV deals; trying to compare themselves to Nascar, etc. You would think titles would be an important part of that new strategy.

Anyone know where i'd be able to watch a replay of this weeks raw? Missed it due to exams...:(

spiralism wrote: »

Anyone know where i'd be able to watch a replay of this weeks raw? Missed it due to exams...:(

EDIT - I just realised I'm actually not allowed do that

Jester252 wrote: »

Dean need to drop the US belt, he is never in a single storyline for a PPV. The inter needs to be placed on a guy like Del Rio to fill in the gap left by the unification.

Oh god no, he will just defend it against Kofi 275 times.

Anyone else, heck give it to Stephanie for the LOL factor.

Delighted to see so many NXT talent making their way up. Kinda gives a new season feel to the show post Mania.

I really like Adam Rose and wish him well. Rusev is impressive, but no-one gets over using the camel clutch. Great to see Paige, but I am a little annoyed the replaced her personality with "spineless rookie".

The main worry I have is for Bo. His heel schtick emerged gradually because he was the John Cena of NXT (pushed heavily as a face despite the crowd not being that into him) and then took that crowd reaction and used it to become a parody of himself. Will the gimmick work so well without the fans seeing and being a part of how the character evolved?