RAW 13-7-2015

Blue_Dabadee · 14-07-2015 12:27pm

Good RAW. Defiantly check out divas segment and triple threat match.

Mr.Nice Guy · 14-07-2015 1:01pm

As others have said, I would have preferred if they had introduced the NXT women over a number of weeks. It would have prevented that seemingly neverending feud between the Bellas and Paige the last while. At least they've done it now, though.

In other news, Cesaro is phenomenal. Short of firing rainbows out of his arse I don't know what he has to do to get a push.

Ridley · 14-07-2015 1:30pm

rovert wrote: »

That's class

'Tis.

Woulda been neat if Stardust had said something about gravitational collapse and/or black holes getting Adrian Neville in the end.

Maybe Neville could get a rogues gallery. King Barrett? Ascension? Adam Rose?

Lord TSC · 14-07-2015 1:49pm

With Cody, I can't help but think of the rumours about a match with Stephen Amell at Summerslam, and it would tie in with the "comic book villain" vibe they started off on last night....

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Anyway, the thing that got me last night was the confusion between who was face and who was heel during quite a few segments.

Steph is usually THE heel in WWE, but was obviously face when talking down to Team Bella. Cameron/Tamena are usually heels but Sasha was clearly treated like a face in her introduction and her display.

Brock/Heyman are faces, but brought up the Taker's streak again, which gets them booed (They know this cause it happened last week), and linked Taker strongly to Kane, the heel. Though my guess is they want Rollins to be able to claim he's the one who beat the one etc etc.

But then there's what was effectively a face turn for Rusev; just back from injury, he answers the open challange, and is stopped by Kevin Owens. He agrees to a triple threat which is an epic battle and eventually manages the win to get his title shot, which has to happen straight away. Cena jumps in and just pounds him; our "hero" (Cena) is at 100% and seems not only willing but very eager to attack a guy in an unfair match up. They even book a beatdown (which usually the heel issues to the face) with Rusev making the crowd-pleasing come back, and then the screwjob out of winning the match.

I know I've harked on about how I dislike the wonky face/heel booking between Ziggler and Rusev over the last two weeks, but this was an out-and-out example of Rusev being booked in the face role, and Cena being booked as the bad guy.

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Anyway, the triple threat was great and Cesaro has grabbed the ball and ran with it big time over the last three weeks (in spite of the loses). The NXT Divas debut was really enjoyable, in spite of Stephanie (Whose speech came across like "Well, everyone else is letting women be good at sports, I guess we have to as well"). Writing Kane out of the match this week is good as well, and hopefully he's gone for a while...

ERG89 · 14-07-2015 2:06pm

rovert wrote: »

That's class

Dresses like Mister sinister....

But looks a small bit like Apocolypse in that pic

Diabhal Beag · 14-07-2015 5:58pm

Saw that Diva Invasion thing on Youtube. Did Sasha really got no reaction at all like it seems on the the 'puter?

rovert · 14-07-2015 6:37pm

Cody got a lot of grief online for staying Stardust and a heel his wife (Eden) fired back:
http://www.beingbrandirunnels.com/?p=107

A Primal Nut · 14-07-2015 6:56pm

Pretty much stopped watching WWE but I am a big fan of the NXT divas so just watched the divas segment when I heard about it.

It was cool...but I dunno, I have very little confidence that WWE can pull this off. It's like when they take something cool that the fans love but they don't quite understand why the fans love it so and end up making it uncool. If one of these girls ends up in boring 5-minute matches against Nikki Bella then it isn't gonna work. This 3-team tag team match (i assume that's what they are going for on Battleground) feels llike one of those divas matches they do to get a few divas onto the card by throwing them together randomly to the point where they all feel interchangeable.

Their best hope is that the fans stay behind these three women long enough for WWE to figure out how to get it right.

There was also an annoying emphasis on Stephanie and that this is her project so that if it works it can feed the McMahon family ego; in reality if she stays involved the fans may rebel against it if it gives the impression that this is being shoved down people's throats.

Anyway it's early days, and I'm not complaining about the segment itself, but I just don't have confidence that the WWE main roster people can pull this off.

One thing they could do with is having Natalya back and make her Divas Champion with the NXT women having some excellent title matches against her before one eventually prevails. She could be excellent as the talented veteran heel. I know she's home with Tyson Kidd but she said she's available for TV if needed and I'm sure a title run could tempt her back. Remember it was a Natalya-Charlotte match in NXT (the one with Ric and Bret in their corners) which kicked off this new era. Nikka Bella as champion doesn't work so well - she's not going to be having 4-star matches.

CastorTroy · 14-07-2015 7:37pm

Surprised Sasha didn't wear the title like Owens did on his debut, especially when she was introduced as champ.
But great seeing them all up (minus poor Bayley. They turn on her. They leave her. Not fair)

Just hope they get the time on the main roster that they get in NXT.

Was there any reason for bringing them all up at once now? Thought Becky looked the weakest of the new ones just because she sat in the corner for a long time and didn't get too much offence in

Moneymaker · 14-07-2015 8:21pm

Wrestling fans are strange. They berate Cody for coming back as Stardust and not wanting to exploit his fathers death, yet EVERYONE said Rey doing the same with Eddie was totally tasteless(it was of course).

Good show overall.

Randy acting all wacky cracks me up. You can tell he doesnt give a **** and just goes out there and amuses himself. Sheamus booked like a geek again.

Diva's segment was great. Steph being out there was kind of wtf but whatever. Alinging Sasha against Becky, Charlotte and Paige is smart as that means she can have matches against them and she's better as a heel anyway.

Triple threat was awesome. If Cesaro stole the show, Rusev was his getaway driver. Rusev was absolutely class last night. Selling, his endurance and just having a great match. The promo before cracked me up too. He desperately needed a showing like this. The loss didn't hurt Cesaro at all, Rusev really needed that win and he looked awesome against Cena too.

Typical contract signing segment but Seth's total breakdown at the end was great. We've seen before when he's cornered and desperate he becomes absolutely viscous and vile and he cut a hell of a promo.

Agent Coulson · 14-07-2015 8:30pm

So I'm guessing this the answer the WWE came up with to AJ calling out Steph with those tweets back in February.

CastorTroy · 14-07-2015 9:03pm

Hope the thing with Seth doesn't turn into another "Ah, we were only messing with you. Everyone's grand and we're all here to help Seth win" situation

Tugboats · 14-07-2015 9:06pm

Agent Coulson wrote: »

So I'm guessing this the answer the WWE came up with to AJ calling out Steph with those tweets back in February.

I doubt it. Equality in sports is a big topic in America at the moment(being discussed on all the cable news shows) and Steph even mentioned the Us ladies team and Wimbledon in her promo. WWE are jumping on this bandwagon for a while. The bearded virgins will chant nxt and this is awesome until women's wrestling goes back to its deserving 5 minutes per week air time after Summerslam

Andersonisgod · 14-07-2015 9:08pm

Honestly I thought Seth's promo after the Leaner beatdown of Kane was like something they'd do after the cameras had stopped rolling just for the live audience. It didn't hit at all in my opinion.

rovert · 14-07-2015 10:45pm

Ratings still in the toilet:

WWE news: Raw ratings

Raw on Monday did 3.54 million viewers, the second lowest number in the last 17 years not on a holiday or during football season.

The number was expected to be down due to Home Run Derby, which did 7,126,000 viewers.

The Raw numbers did increase by the hour, so that was a good sign.

8 p.m. 3.43 million viewers

9 p.m. 3.51 million viewers

10 p.m. 3.65 million viewers

That WWE Boardroom turmoil story I talked about from my vague understanding is coming out via PWTorch sometime this week. Kevin Dunn has to be sweating.

Itssoeasy · 14-07-2015 11:36pm

Hopefully he is as the TV product to his credit was always better than WCW and it's slick looking now but Kevin Dunn has no business in the wrestling side of things. That's my problem with Kevin Dunn.

A Primal Nut · 14-07-2015 11:48pm

Hmm Kevin Dunn has been there for 30 years through good times and bad. Ratings have been lower than this in the past and he survived. Is there any reason in particular he should suddenly get the boot now? I mean I'm not a defender of him or anything but why would be to blame for this ratings slump anymore than WWE went through in the past with him as producer?

DM_7 · 15-07-2015 1:02pm

The Triple Threat was another fantastic surprise and unexpected treat. Best thing in WWE by far is the recent booking around the US title.

Is a complete contrast to the endless tag matches, that feature no regular tag teams. At least said match featured the horribleness that is Orton V Sheamus and Ryback, Show, Miz in one match.

CastorTroy · 15-07-2015 1:33pm

Isn't defending a title against someone right after they competed in another match a heel thing?

Was thinking about Bayley not being brought up and realised she wouldn't have fit in that segment last night. You have all these divas clearly out to go against the Bellas, then you have Bayley coming in all cheerful. Coming in to help a friend later would be more like her

ERG89 · 15-07-2015 1:35pm

DM_7 wrote: »

Is a complete contrast to the endless tag matches, that feature no regular tag teams. At least said match featured the horribleness that is Orton V Sheamus and Ryback, Show, Miz in one match.

Those two feuds are still not as bad as King Barrett vs. King Truth....kudos to Stephanie btw for not burying the new Diva's while introducing them I always worry when she is holding a mic she is quite reckless at times. Fúck I better watch Raw this week instead of Review a Raw

Bounty Hunter · 15-07-2015 2:57pm

I found it very off that Sasha was alligned with Naomi & Tamina. Obviously it's good to have someone like her to go against the other NXT girls / Paige in matches as people have pointed out but it really just looked like she was with them because of 1 of 3 things and in terms of Kayfabe none of them make sense

a)They are the Tweeners (Bellas = Heel, Paige & Friends face)
b) Their race
c) she just happened to be standing next to them when making it 3 teams of 3 so why not.

there was no storyline reason for her to be with them and I really hope they at least give a basic reason going forward if she is to team with them against the others even if its something as simple as she has her issues with the NXT girls but also wants to show the people currently "running the Divas division" that she is the boss and therefore Tamina/Naomi are the ones she doesn't have issue with and will align herself with so as to do so.

that overly long bit aside I did really enjoy it and they gave it the gravitas it deserved and put the segment itself and the girls over and it was the best the Divas division has looked for ages.

Ridley · 15-07-2015 7:42pm

I thought Banks aligning with Naomi because they're of a similar mindset was fair enough as a reason.

Although what would have happened if Naomi hadn't interrupted proceedings?

RAW 13-7-2015

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