Raw 21/04/14 *Spoilers*

TGJD

what were they dqed for!? For **** sake they broke up a pin, since when is that against the rules in a tag match.

Mr.Nice Guy

Very poor Raw. The Daniel Bryan angle did what it was supposed to do and was okay. Sheamus vs Barrett was good. Everything else was totally missable.

Thumbs down.

Ape Lincoln

TGJD wrote: »

what were they dqed for!? For **** sake they broke up a pin, since when is that against the rules in a tag match.

Check the q&a thread. There's been a rule about tag team interference for a few years. Fwiw Harper also chased the ref out of the ring. They needed to do something to sell the cage gimmick at ER I suppose.

Machismo Fan

First hour was rather good, rest of the show was extremely dull.

TGJD

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

Check the q&a thread. There's been a rule about tag team interference for a few years. Fwiw Harper also chased the ref out of the ring. They needed to do something to sell the cage gimmick at ER I suppose.

Really? It is never enforced normally though which is a bit confusing

Blue_Dabadee

Standard episode of RAW. It was not bad nor great.

Lithium93_

Just watched the opening segment from RAW last night......... Was Stephanie McMahon actually playing the face, instead of her normal bitchy heel role?

Agent Coulson

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Just watched the opening segment from RAW last night......... Was Stephanie McMahon actually playing the face, instead of her normal bitchy heel role?

It would have been hard to be a heel and tell Kane to kill and destroy Bryan knowing Bryans father had just died that day.

Moneymaker

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Just watched the opening segment from RAW last night......... Was Stephanie McMahon actually playing the face, instead of her normal bitchy heel role?

Can people really not tell when a person is being disingenuous?

She really went out of her way to "stop" Kane.

Pretty mediocre show in all honesty. Feels like they're just ticking over.

Jester252

I saw it as Step trying to protect her bottom line than Bryan. If Kane injured Bryan, it would be, kayfabe contract, too close to the PPV to strip him of the title due to injury. If Bryan can't compete, there would be no WWE title match at the PPV and buy rate will be down.

rovert

Watched the Youtube highlights of Raw and felt I wasted my time. Wanna see Evolution vs Shield at Extreme Rules though.

The fright Paige's scream gave Little Naitch:


In fairness the lad's must be shot after nearly losing a thumb this weekend.

Rjd2

Moneymaker

That's a nice belt she has on there.

The Volt

Can someone please make a GIF of Heyman doing the swing signal right before he does it on Swagger? :pac:

CSF

Kane is just the worst thing ever. Honestly, almost literally the equivalent of putting a mask on a piece of poo in the hope that people will forget that it's really poo.

Can't understand all the hype and crowd heat for the Wyatts when 2/3 of them are average/below average in the ring.

Rusev looks quite promising, very good monster heel. Not Lesnar good (he isn't physically built to be Lesnar) but should fly up the card if WWE don't completely drop the ball.

Barrett is definitely taking the intercontinental title at Extreme Rules. Poor Big E, the WWE really are bipolar sometimes.

RIP Daniel Bryan's Da. Delighted he got to see his son marry before he had to go.

Moneymaker

Voltwad wrote: »

Can someone please make a GIF of Heyman doing the swing signal right before he does it on Swagger? :pac:

Reddit is the place to go.

rovert

CSF wrote: »

Rusev looks quite promising, very good monster heel. Not Lesnar good (he isn't physically built to be Lesnar) but should fly up the card if WWE don't completely drop the ball.

WWE have never really got MMA/Jiu jitsu/Sambo aka the use of physics/leverage in grappling. Rusev will hit a point where the same old forces will say he is too small to actually matter.

CastorTroy

I didn't see the point in bringing Bryan in just so he could be written out. I know he wanted to appear on the show but you could tell he didn't want to be there

CSF

rovert wrote: »

WWE have never really got MMA/Jiu jitsu/Sambo aka the use of physics/leverage in grappling. Rusev will hit a point where the same old forces will say he is too small to actually matter.

You're probably right but HHH does seen to be a bit more clued in of late at least.

rovert

CastorTroy wrote: »

I didn't see the point in bringing Bryan in just so he could be written out. I know he wanted to appear on the show but you could tell he didn't want to be there

I think his segment was originally written as the final segment of the show. Then the news broke about his Dad and the writers re-jigged it so Bryan could clock off early and presumably rush home.

Ape Lincoln

Plus it was a tough spot as he'd had last week off for the honeymoon. Two weeks in a row with no champ on TV? He's not Hulk Hogan.

GTR63

rovert wrote: »

WWE have never really got MMA/Jiu jitsu/Sambo aka the use of physics/leverage in grappling. Rusev will hit a point where the same old forces will say he is too small to actually matter.

So me Brer is right, g'way with Sylvester Terkay 2.0
I know Heyman wants someone to remember Lesnar beat Taker but it was like he was putting that over as much as Cesaro. It didn't get much heat for Cesaro; who is still a heel yeah?

CSF

GTR63 wrote: »

So me Brer is right, g'way with Sylvester Terkay 2.0
I know Heyman wants someone to remember Lesnar beat Taker but it was like he was putting that over as much as Cesaro. It didn't get much heat for Cesaro; who is still a heel yeah?

Don't think Cesaro is a heel anymore. The Swagger feud indicates not, but nothing has been made particularly clear.

DM_7

CSF wrote: »

Kane is just the worst thing ever. Honestly, almost literally the equivalent of putting a mask on a piece of poo in the hope that people will forget that it's really poo.

Worst think about Kanes involvement is he will make people not care about Bryan by association. I know I just hit fast forward as soon as his music hit.

Lord TSC

I'm kind of surprised at how negative reactions seem to be to this show. I came out of it having thought it was, for typical Raw standards, quite a good show. (Took me 2 hours to finish; longer than usual cause I wasn't skipping through parts).

The Bryan situation isn't ideal, granted, and a serious of unfortunate events are stalling his title run a bit, but I felt that they instantly made me interested in the Bryan/Kane match, a match I was dreading 2 days ago. Masked Kane was made to look a beast and a monster, and an injury will cast doubts in the minds of some that Bryan can win. Bryan/Kane now has a really solid story to it.

Shield/Evolution should be a fantastic match up, and I felt the two promos tonight were great. I really love the dynamic of The Shield; each has their own personality, each is different, but you fully believe that as a trio, they are a cohesive unit. Not sure I'd have had them backing down from the heels so quickly, but they really do come across as such great faces.

Barrett winning was unexpected and followed a pretty good match. I complained last week about being able to map out the whole tournament, and the Sheamus/Wade match caught me off guard. You'd imagine he beats RVD next week and we get Wade winning the IC title, which is great for him...

...and better for Cesaro who shouldn't be dragged down. The teasing of the swing on Zeb will pay off big time on the PPV. Right, he jumps between face and heel, but the set up to his full-face turn is nearly there; the way Heyman constantly talks about Brock can set up Cesaro turning on him, and when Heyman eats the big swing....the crowd will erupt.

Elsewhere...Cody/Goldust are finally getting a story they deserve, Usos vs RybaXel should be a solid match, 4MB vs Los Matadores was good fun, as was Emma vs Layla. Rusev looks a beast (though not sure about a 2 on 1 match at the PPV). The Cena/Wyatt angle moved ploddingly in the right direction, establishing the need for the cage (something which wasn't done before tonight).

Was it a great Raw? No, but I did feel it was fairly solid at establishing and furthering all key stories in an effective and logic way. Good Raw for me.

CSF

Wouldn't be too sure Cody/Goldust will be pushed at all

riffmongous

I thought it was a better than average raw, in that they actually managed to have quite a few stories on the go and hopefully all of them make it to PPV. There was some good matches and some averages ones, but nothing spectacular which I guess might have made the show feel ordinary, but I am happy with the return of the mid card

Edit: Also the officiating in the 3 on 3 tag match was an absolute disgrace :pac:

JP Liz V1

Was hoping Kane would chokeslam Brie, I thought that is why she was out there for the opening segment tbh

DM_7

Maybe it's a post mania lull that made it uninteresting or maybe it's so many irrelevant wrestlers all getting pushed at once that makes it dull.

Seeing Kane v Bryan (again) when Bryan has beaten him plenty of times and we know he will again, Rhodes infighting months after they were relevant, RybAxel winning a couple of matches after being a joke for months, Rusev with another win over irrelevant wrestler, another Santino Emma Fandango Layla match, a tournament held for a title that the holder of wasn't even worthy of being on RAW it's all meh.

I don't even like Cesaro paired with Heyman

While Evolution Shield, Wade winning within a meh tournament, Wytts v Cena and seeing the divas actually look like they fight are great the others who meant shag all are hurting the flow for me

Lord TSC

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Was hoping Kane would chokeslam Brie, I thought that is why she was out there for the opening segment tbh

They'll never have a man hit a woman with a move.

My guess is the plan is if Bryan is off-screen next week, she can be involved in a promo/story in place of him.

Is that the first time the two have been acknowledged on screen together? I'd imagine there'd be a lot of casuals who weren't sure why she was there last night before Steph cut a promo :S