Official Raw thread

[futballiscool]

Oh man.. AJ vs Cena....

 

[RobToxin]

Dolph Ziggler with the Draymond Green strategy! LOL

 

[OregonDucks]

Agree, totally don't get it. Bray could've easily done what UT did and just his feuding with someone elevated him even when UT didn't win. WM had to be embarrassing for them, there was literally no point for that shitty segment wasted.

What should have happened was Bray be the 1 in 21-1...or 22-1...And taker giving the torch to Bray for that little genre of wrestling.

 

[Hitman Hart]

1. Lose to Reigns, with Anderson/Gallows on his side.
2. Tell Anderson/Gallows its time to go their own ways.
3. Get beat by Owens
4. Re-unite with Anderson and Gallows, by beating down Cena.

lol

 

[wildturkey]

Read the recap. Looks like WWE just punted with Game 7 of Dubs/Thunder going down tonight. Wise choice

 

[Judge Fudge]

What did Enzo say at the end of his promo?????????????????????????

 

[Judge Fudge]

Read the recap. Looks like WWE just punted with Game 7 of Dubs/Thunder going down tonight. Wise choice

and game 1 of Lord's Stanley's Cup

 

[Judge Fudge]

and game 1 of Lord's Stanley's Cup

Actually now that I think about it................

They tried the steal the fans who watched game 1 from tuning to game 7.

Cena starting the 2nd hour (the hockey game would have ended at around the beginning of the 2nd hour), Great Main event involving some of the big stars...................

Smart move Vince............

 

[Duffman]

AJ turning was extremely smart when you consider that with Roman as a top face, Cena just came back, Orton is about to return he goes from the #4 face in the company to the #2 heel. He doesn't get moved down the card where he would have as a face.

 

[futballiscool]

I don't mind that they broke them up. But this angle is shit so far. AJ is the defacto face and he blames his friends for the loss. Storyline wise I felt bad for Gallows and Anderson. They're completely in the right and AJ looks like an A-hole...

If the eventual plan is to turn AJ heel, I like the subtlety. I'll give the angle time to play out.

I also can't believe they would gave AJ lose clean to a midcard heel the night after he put on an allworld match. Wrestling being fake and all I try not to get to worked up about W/Ls but if they book AJ like he's just another midcarder that's the one thing that would make me stop watching. I was fine he lost to Reigns. Just have him in big matches and treat him like a star and I'm happy

That's my post from last week. That was actually a well played out angle with great foreshadowing so I'll give the WWE credit.

AJ refused to accept that he lost to Reigns. He blamed his friends. Then he lost clean to someone further down the card making him look like a chump who ran his mouth but couldn't back it up. He was so ridiculously heel-ish last week that the turn made perfect sense.

They've handled AJ really well since his debut.

In an ideal world I'd like to see Cena/AJ fued all the way to Summerslam for the Smackdown title

AJ with the smackdown world title and the Anderson/Gallows with the tag titles and that stable is a real force

 

[OregonDucks]

What was the #Hatch thing? I missed it.

 

[Duffman]

What was the #Hatch thing? I missed it.

Goldberg is in the new WWE video game, it was a teaser for the game.

 

[Hitman Hart]

Meltzer's thoughts on the Styles' and Rollins' heel turn, as well as his thoughts on Reigns as the top babyface:

[To cut Seth off as a babyface] was dumb. They need that kind of guy. To do it for a guy like Reigns who's dying in the role, and the other part of him is that house show sales are going down, they're not terrible but they're on the descent not the ascent.

So all of these things by normal standards of decision making, you go "you know what, he's not the guy, we thought he was the guy but he's not". But they are bound and determined that he's the guy to the point of muting Seth Rollins, turning AJ Styles. I mean I loved the turn, but at most of the house shows AJ Styles was getting the better reaction than Roman Reigns. I mean there were some shows were Roman got better reactions, but generally AJ was getting a better reaction. And on TV it's night and day who's getting better. We can all come up with excuses night and day on why something is gonna work but the litmus test on who's gonna get over is if you give them a chance they get over, and that's it. Everything else, whether it's saying some women will like him or he's got a good body or he has a good promo, all these things are factors but not as important You can learn from it, but to go in there and just say because he's a good looking guy and he can be a role model for the company so he's gonna get over, I mean they've had a year plus and it's just not working. Maybe Seth would be better, and if it didn't work for Seth then you can turn him backheel. This isn't the time for Seth to be heel, and now people are being told to hate him it's just falling flat.

 

[futballiscool]

Meltzer's thoughts on the Styles' and Rollins' heel turn, as well as his thoughts on Reigns as the top babyface:

Obviously Vince is being stubborn with Reigns. They should have turned him heel when the crowd protested the 2015 Royal Rumble. He could have had a dominant heel run, had much less pressure on him when he cut promos and possibly found a confidence and charisma on the mic.Then they could have turned him face if and when the crowd was more willing to accept him in that role. With that said they spent the past year trying to rehabilitate his character so I have no problem with them giving him more than a 2 or 3 month run as a face champion before they cut the chord. On a positive note, he's only 31 years old so barring injury they've pushed him to the extent that they have a reliable top of the card wrestler for the next ten years. Maybe he turns out to be more Orton or a Batista than Cena but I think those are now the worst case scenarios. He's made as a main event level guy.

Rollins is 30. He's going to be over as a face whenever they pull the trigger on a turn. He's also made as a main event level guy for the next ten years. I don't think that it was special when he came back from injury. I think they can turn him whenever they want and it will work out. I don't think there's a rush or a timetable on it.

The one I absolutely disagree with is Styles. In the face role Styles upside was closer to 1987 Steamboat than 2014 Daniel Bryan. That's not intended as an insult as Steamboat's a legend but I don't think Styles was going to headline major PPVs like SS or WM as a babyface in the WWE. He's the best worker in the company but he has limitations on promos. He turns 39 this week and has been in wrestling for over a decade and a half so I don't think there's much upside to improve there. Zayn has a higher upside as a babyface. He has the naturally likeable, underdog DB persona. Styles doesn't have that imo. As part of a faction Styles can be the best viscous heel in the company. I loved the execution of the turn and I love what it means for Styles going forward

 

[anotheridiot]

I think they missed on styles too, but I think ultimately its their stubborn pride knowing this guy topped cards elsewhere and I just dont think they had long term plans for that to happen, so they put him back with the club and gave Cena someone to get beat up by. Look at what they never gave sting. I just dont think its gonna happen.

 

[anotheridiot]

Dixie Carter interested in signing former WWE stars, plans to revamp the TNA roster - Wrestling News

we already heard that Vince is making it difficult for Cody Rhodes to sign elsewhere. Here I thought all this time that when WWE took a wrestler from WCW or NWA, they gave him a new name or put a mask on them. Can Cody Runnels wrestle for TNA or will he don a mask again?

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Cody Runnels can wrestle for whoever he wants since that's his real name. The 'Cody Rhodes' name is copyrighted by WWE and he can't use that without their permission. It's happened to other wrestlers who left WWE and is nothing new. I don't blame Vince for not letting Cody or anyone else use a name the WWE owns. WWE owns the names and can do what they want with them. It's just smart business to me.

 

[Hitman Hart]

Obviously Vince is being stubborn with Reigns. They should have turned him heel when the crowd protested the 2015 Royal Rumble. He could have had a dominant heel run, had much less pressure on him when he cut promos and possibly found a confidence and charisma on the mic.Then they could have turned him face if and when the crowd was more willing to accept him in that role. With that said they spent the past year trying to rehabilitate his character so I have no problem with them giving him more than a 2 or 3 month run as a face champion before they cut the chord. On a positive note, he's only 31 years old so barring injury they've pushed him to the extent that they have a reliable top of the card wrestler for the next ten years. Maybe he turns out to be more Orton or a Batista than Cena but I think those are now the worst case scenarios. He's made as a main event level guy.

Rollins is 30. He's going to be over as a face whenever they pull the trigger on a turn. He's also made as a main event level guy for the next ten years. I don't think that it was special when he came back from injury. I think they can turn him whenever they want and it will work out. I don't think there's a rush or a timetable on it.

The one I absolutely disagree with is Styles. In the face role Styles upside was closer to 1987 Steamboat than 2014 Daniel Bryan. That's not intended as an insult as Steamboat's a legend but I don't think Styles was going to headline major PPVs like SS or WM as a babyface in the WWE. He's the best worker in the company but he has limitations on promos. He turns 39 this week and has been in wrestling for over a decade and a half so I don't think there's much upside to improve there. Zayn has a higher upside as a babyface. He has the naturally likeable, underdog DB persona. Styles doesn't have that imo. As part of a faction Styles can be the best viscous heel in the company. I loved the execution of the turn and I love what it means for Styles going forward

While AJ was in TNA, I always felt that TNA should've fully embraced a Steamboat-like character for AJ. Really make him to be a combinaton of being "phenomenal in the ring" and the God-fearing, family man, outside of it.

Styles has always been much more comfortable on the mic as a heel.

As far as Cody to TNA goes, I don't think TNA is the best alternative to the WWE anymore. ROH's relationship with NJPW, is huge, imo.

 

[wazzu31]

I actually like the AJ turn in a way because it makes you actually want to tune in to see when Balor finally comes into the storyline

 

[anotheridiot]

Cody Runnels can wrestle for whoever he wants since that's his real name. The 'Cody Rhodes' name is copyrighted by WWE and he can't use that without their permission. It's happened to other wrestlers who left WWE and is nothing new. I don't blame Vince for not letting Cody or anyone else use a name the WWE owns. WWE owns the names and can do what they want with them. It's just smart business to me.

Apparently Vince is demanding anyone who was released cannot wrestle elsewhere immediately. There must have been some severance pay given to them if he can force them to stay out for 6 months.