At 6/15/15 01:13 AM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: I am glad that Big Show beat Ryback , but he should of won the IC belt.

I prefer Ryback as the IC champ. He has a wider move-set in my opinion and has many good years left on him and his potential is constantly growing.

Don't get me wrong, Big Show has history and all, but he is so limited due to his gigantic size. And something of that nature tends to put stress on your body/health/mind when you reach your later years.

All in all it was a fairly weak show. The Cena/Owens and Ambrose/Rollins matches were the only ones that really kept my interest.

The MITB match was okay. Lots of fun spots, but it was one of those matches where I really didn't care who won. The MITB contract REALLY exists as a means for WWE creative to shake up stale storylines. It's pretty obvious they are testing out all the younger talent to see who can hold that top spot. At some point, someone will be taking the belt from Rollins. It's either going to be a new babyface, or a vetran. The new guy may have trouble getting over, or the vetran may be someone the audience is bored of. A quick brogue kick after a grueling match or run-in will result in a title change to a heel that does have some good heat right now. He may lose it within a few weeks, but at least WWE will have been able to change directions and get the audience back. So Shamus winning the suitcase was actually a smart move.

I feel like Ryback is just now starting to take shape as a human character, not just a generic musclebound meathead. I've had a really hard time caring about him so far, but there's a spark there that could turn into something. I can get behind the 'somewhat naive guy with big dreams' way more than the 'big guy with an eating disorder' he's been playing for years. Having him tangled up with Big Show and Miz... I don't get where that's going. I'm not invested at all.

The tag match wasn't too bad. New Day needed a real rivalry that could last. I'm hoping to see the rival with PTP get personal so their rematch feels like there's some bad blood that needs settling. Right now, though, I don't have any enthusiasm for PTP as the champs.

It would take a lot of work to make the Divas division any less interesting, but hey.. they acknowledged Nicky has larger boobs than her sister... so there's that.

I know people are mad that Cena won, but goddamn that match was a clinic in storytelling, botched moves and all. I think Cena winning was pretty much a given since there was nothing else really on the line than pride. The rubber match should be pretty damn good. It'll probably be an "I Quit" match that Cena loses, but only because he's taken away on a stretcher. The story there is that Owens can beat Cena anytime, but he'll never make him give up *groan*.

The main event was also pretty solid for storytelling. It definitely had it's problems, but overall Ambrose looks strong as hell, and more importantly, Rollins is legitimized as a champion. The quasi-tie at the end will probably be the thread they cling to for one more match. A last man standing match maybe? If not, I'm not sure who they would put as the next #1 contender. There's nobody with any real momentum right now, but they got 5 weeks before the next PPV so anything can happen.

At 6/15/15 05:51 PM, PsychoGoldfish wrote: I know people are mad that Cena won, but goddamn that match was a clinic in storytelling, botched moves and all. I think
Cena winning was pretty much a given since there was nothing else really on the line than pride.

I was mad that lame Cena won. KO is the future and lame Cena needs to step aside.

At 6/15/15 06:25 PM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: I was mad that lame Cena won. KO is the future and lame Cena needs to step aside.

I like that Cena won because it adds something here. I doubt this would be the direction that WWE is going with this, but hear me out. Cena is supposed to be the hero, the guy who doesn't step down and just won't stop. He needs a villain. This guy has a potential to be Cena's villain.

If the villain is doing their job right then they will be remembered and praised more than the hero. I use the Sting and Mankind feud as an example.

BORK LAZER

Going to SummerSlam with @Zachary, @Parlux, and @Gobblemeister ayyye

WWE and Brad Maddox take jabs at CM Punk?

At 6/22/15 08:03 AM, Radaketor wrote: WWE and Brad Maddox take jabs at CM Punk?

Wrestlers have mocked each other for years. Remember, fake Diesel and fake Razor Ramon?
http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/551873-exclusive-fake-diesel-fake-razor-fake-delusion-of-power

i used to love rollins, but he's not impressing me at all lately. especially with his title run. He really isn't a compelling character at all and his mic skills still suck donkey dick. Unfortunately. It pains me to say because I want to love him so much but sometimes he makes it hard for me to.

Nevertheless i'm excited for battleground. even though I know wyatt isn't going over reigns in any way, shape or form, it'd be interesting to at least see the finish.

I figured they would give Owens his 15 minutes of fame and put him over at elimination chamber to surge his career and program the audience to see him as a serious talent. And then, they announced the rematch at Money in the Bank. You know where this is going.

Cena uses iPhone i think

I don't see Lesnar taking the belt on Sunday. Think it'll be a clusterfuck match with a completely twisted plot, but even though j&j and kane aren't there, I fail to believe rollins is actually on his own. Think Kane will come back to feud with rollins later this year

#androidnation

I only tune in to see Lesnar injure and almost kill people. Legit

My prediction is Lesnar wins via DQ. They ultimately need to keep Rollins strong, while also keeping Lesnar at the top. I can imagine the match has Seth bash Lesnar with a chair or does something to the referee again. Anyway this will keep Brock as #1 contender and they will have another match with some kind of extreme stipulation that means Rollins could have a legit chance at winning. He won't, because ultimately the Brock has to be the top of the food chain or they are wasting their money on him. Plus, they already have Seth falling out with the Authority for his next major storyline.

Do you guys think Seth can hang for long as a solo star? I wonder if he might be stronger as a babyface. It would be cool to see him play up the 'architect' aspect of his character and create a new faction out of NXT talent.

I know nobody really cares for Cena, but do you guys REALLY want him to drop the belt? Think about it for a minute. The best parts of Raw the past few weeks have easily been seeing Cena put the title up against hungry midcard guys. Seeing Cesaro, in particular, step up has been amazing. The US Open challenge is exactly the kind of vehicle the midcard titles should be for. If Owens wins, that goes away.

And Owens' future is far from over if he loses to Cena. That guy will have a chip on his shoulder and simply NEED to become a champion again. Put in in the IC Title picture, and suddenly THAT belt gets legit as well. I can't be the only person who doesn't give a shit at all about Ryback, the Miz OR the Big Show right now. Owens vs Ryback would actually be a solid draw. Afterwards, Owens could then try to one-up Cena by having his own weekly challenge.

CENAWINS could actually be best for business this one time. He really is at a point in his career where he's ready to put guys over, even if he never loses. You can see him selling more than he ever did before, and even though he's botching a lot, he IS trying to mix up his move set. In fact, if he would just give up the springboard stunner, most of his updates aren't so bad. At some point he will be world champ again, but he will have helped create a new group of stars that can believably beat him, and any matches they have as main events will cement the next generation as legit stars.

Looking over the horizon, it won't be long before Samoa Joe and Finn Balor are moved up too. Balor is really poised to be the next Daniel Bryan I think. And Joe could easily slide into the top card position. Everyone wants to see him and Owens go at it. That would be a great IC bout right there!

Did anyone else actually get an inkling of hope, after Raw, that maybe they are finally going to let the Divas have real matches? On NXT the women have been very impressive in the ring. Paige is already in a position where she can get the Divas title off the Bellas, and now she has some legit talent she can show off her considerable talents with. And there's NO WAY they are making a "Total Diva" out of Charlotte.

At 7/15/15 09:59 AM, Randominator wrote: I only tune in to see Lesnar injure and almost kill people. Legit

Lesnar is a good wrestler, but better at hurting people. Sometimes by accident, and sometimes on purpose. He does have an anger issue that has been seen over the years.

At 7/15/15 09:59 AM, Randominator wrote: I only tune in to see Lesnar injure and almost kill people. Legit

I only tune in to see Bray Wyatt. Watching his promos and character makes me happy.

#androidnation

At 7/15/15 11:56 PM, Piemix wrote:
I only tune in to see Bray Wyatt. Watching his promos and character makes me happy.

Really? I never really got him. I see him as a hill billy Undertaker.

At 7/16/15 12:25 AM, DoctorStrongbad wrote:

At 7/15/15 11:56 PM, Piemix wrote:
I only tune in to see Bray Wyatt. Watching his promos and character makes me happy.

Really? I never really got him. I see him as a hill billy Undertaker.

I can see the parallel but it's slightly different. He's a cultist from the swamps of florida, and his devotion to his unknown cause makes him scary - especially since he's so convincing about it. Also a phenomenal actor.

I can't remember what show it was exactly, I think Survivor Series 2014, but when he started crying in the middle of the match with dean ambrose and pleaded with him on the microphone… man oh man. That guy is brilliant.

#androidnation

Bray is an awesome character. The unfortunate thing is he's just so far out there, I don't think creative truly knows what to do with him. I do feel like the cultist side of his character isn't as strong though as a solo preformer. As the head of the Wyatt family it was much easier to weave stories around him.

Right now he just seems to have thee random people to pick fights with, and after the feud is over nothing really happens. It's like his mission is to somehow turn people to his way of thinking, but it's never worked even once. It was a good angle one or two times, but now it just doesn't feel like he's bringing anything that can shift the WWE Universe.

If I was writing WWE I'd be using him as the means to write off any superstars that are taking time off. Have them go out as real victims like they used to do with Orton and his head punt. Make him feel legitimately dangerous again. Then get him into the title scene, and have HIM be the one that takes the US belt off Cena. His character could totally pervert what that title represents and bring a whole new angle to it.

I think the biggest 'issue' with the Wyatt character is that he isn't really champion material. It has little to do with ability or worth it's just that the character is beyond those kind of motivations and trying to work a title into them is just weird. While it's easy to give the writers crap for being unable to write basic wrestling angles using basic wrestling sense it's not hard to see why creative struggles to write for a character that for all intents and purposes has completely different motivations from everyone else. The Undertaker is similar in that while he did hold the belt numerous times the character never really seemed motivated by that.

I agree that Bray really needs for the Wyatt family to reunite and I hope that creative even allows them to take the spot of The Authority as WWE's top heel stable once the Authority angle is finally over and done with. It'd be cool to see even the formerly villainous Authority characters turn face to try and face the threat Wyatt and his followers pose and they could even give some of the lower card guys a shot at the spotlight by having them be targeted or recruited by Wyatt.

Lesnar better walk out of Battleground champion!

At 7/17/15 04:57 PM, wolfe wrote: Lesnar better walk out of Battleground champion!

I think everybody wants that to happen.

So the Wyatt Family is reunited once again, or at least Luke and Bray.

Very weird ending to the Battleground PPV tonight. While I'm glad that we got to see Undertaker again, I'm still puzzled by the state of the WWE title picture going forward. If Brock is gonna go after Taker now, who is left to fight Rollins for the belt? Ambrose again? Sheamus? Reigns (Unlikely since he needs to get his win back over Bray)?

I guess they want us to watch Raw tomorrow for the answers to all of these questions.

At 7/20/15 12:15 AM, ZJ wrote: Very weird ending to the Battleground PPV tonight. While I'm glad that we got to see Undertaker again, I'm still puzzled by the state of the WWE title picture going forward. If Brock is gonna go after Taker now, who is left to fight Rollins for the belt? Ambrose again? Sheamus? Reigns (Unlikely since he needs to get his win back over Bray)?

I guess they want us to watch Raw tomorrow for the answers to all of these questions.

I was hoping that after Taker took care of Lesnar, Seth could've pinned him, Taker gets mad at Rollins for getting one over Brock and Tombstones him as well then leaves, Sheamus's music hits and he comes down to the ring, cashes in Money in the Bank and wins. Dunno how that would've worked out, though, two cowardly heels fighting over a title?
Kane could come back as a face and feud with Seth.

I can't say that was a good show by any means. I just couldn't give 2 fucks about Orton V Shaemus. The tag team division doesn't seem to have any real storytelling at all. That main event not only made Rollins look weak as hell, but completely derailed Lesnar's momentum as well. I know a lot of you are huge Taker marks, but I just saw an old man well beyond his prime, taking attention away from a hot storyline.

Cena Owens obviously stole the show, with the Divas triple threat in a close second. Reigns Wyatt was good as far as the technical in-ring aspect goes, but there was not a lot of storytelling there. They didn't really connect at all, and that's surprising given that Wyatt is usually so damn good at that.

I think the little segment with Big Show KO'ing the Miz was probably more entertaining than the IC match was going to be, so there was that.

All in all, this was very much a throwaway show. They could have cancelled it and the landscape on Raw tonight would be mostly unchanged.

I do think there's a sliver of hope though, considering Taker is coming back WAY before Mania this year. Lesnar is his motivation for coming back, but they won't draw that out for 7 months. Maybe we'll actually be getting Sting vs Taker this year.

It's pretty obvious they are going to start a Sheild/Wyatt fued, probably as a tag team thing, until Rowan rejoins to tip the scales. Long term, maybe that means the tag division will get some love.

Rollins is probably going to have a couple of guys, like Dolph Ziggler, come out and talk shit about his legitimacy now. I figure somebody who's primed for a push will beat him in a non-title match over the next few weeks to get a new contender. Technically Lesnar DID win the math last night, so he'll be back for another title match too.

Not sure where Kevin Owens goes from here. I was hoping he would spring back as an IC contender, but Ryback's injury may have put the kibosh on that for now. Hopefully they don't waste his momentum with tedious mid-card outings.

At 7/20/15 02:12 PM, PsychoGoldfish wrote: It's pretty obvious they are going to start a Sheild/Wyatt fued, probably as a tag team thing, until Rowan rejoins to tip the scales. Long term, maybe that means the tag division will get some love.

I heard somewhere (maybe Meltzer?) the plan was for Wyatt Family (as in, all three) vs Reigns, Sting and Ambrose for Summerslam, but Rowan is out hurt.

Maybe we'll just see 2 on 2, maybe a new Wyatt member.

I can't believe that they brought back grandpa Undertaker. Seriously?
I would have rather see Sting come back than old man Undertaker.

At 7/20/15 03:09 PM, TheMaster wrote:

At 7/20/15 02:12 PM, PsychoGoldfish wrote: It's pretty obvious they are going to start a Sheild/Wyatt fued, probably as a tag team thing, until Rowan rejoins to tip the scales. Long term, maybe that means the tag division will get some love.

I heard somewhere (maybe Meltzer?) the plan was for Wyatt Family (as in, all three) vs Reigns, Sting and Ambrose for Summerslam, but Rowan is out hurt.

Maybe we'll just see 2 on 2, maybe a new Wyatt member.

Yeah, Rowan's most likely likely gone until Mania. Reuniting the Wyatt family was probably more to do something with Harper than anything about Bray.

At 7/20/15 05:30 PM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: I can't believe that they brought back grandpa Undertaker. Seriously?
I would have rather see Sting come back than old man Undertaker.

Undertaker, 50 years old.
Sting, 56 years old.

Women's matches are now the best part of Raw as well as the best part of NXT.

Neat.

At 7/21/15 05:01 AM, Radaketor wrote:

At 7/20/15 05:30 PM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: I can't believe that they brought back grandpa Undertaker. Seriously?
I would have rather see Sting come back than old man Undertaker.

Undertaker, 50 years old.
Sting, 56 years old.

UnderTaker is lazy and only wants to be on PPV's. Sting works every match he is given. For some some stupid reason, WWE is not using Sting. What's up with that?

At 7/21/15 12:40 PM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: UnderTaker is lazy and only wants to be on PPV's.

Guess you don't remember those matches he and Team Hell No had with The Shield on Raw and Smackdown, and if i'm not mistaken he had one of those matches on MainEvent.

Sting works every match he is given.

You mean that ONE MATCH he had at WRESTLEMANIA?

For some some stupid reason, WWE is not using Sting. What's up with that?

Maybe because he's old.