BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 31st, '15, 01:19

OPENING SEGMENT- Long and kind of boring, but at least the outcome was worth it.
Paul calls Lesnar “the most non-P.G. ass-kicker of the P.G. Era.” What a terrible nickname. The fans chant “suplex city,” which made Brock laugh. Heyman said “bitch” multiple times… and somehow this is the segment where his mic DOESN’T get cut.
Heyman claims he can use legal means to have the decision reversed and the title held up. That doesn’t make any sense. Then he says that Brock is invoking his rematch clause tonight. Cool.
Steph comes out and tells the crowd that if they keep chanting for Ronda, she won’t give them their main event. Great heel stuff. She then tells us that Rollins is still on a plane coming back from doing The Today Show, but the match will happen when he gets here.

OH COME ON! Was that stupid set of still photos from WrestleMania really more important than showing us the entrances for both Dolph Ziggler and the new WWE Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan? AND IT’S A TITLE MATCH?! COME ON! How the f*ck was that stupid photo album more important than these entrances? (And the answer for the conspiratorial among us is that they didn’t want to show the gigantic pop they knew the post-Mania Raw crowd was going to give these guys).

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler- 7.5/10
Why are we rushing into this match? We’ve already seen it twice in the past two weeks. Why not give it both some time to breathe and also spend some time building it up for Extreme Rules? You know, maybe have Dolph cut a promo saying that he deserves a title shot because he beat Dragon twice in the past two weeks, then have an interviewer ask Bryan if he thinks he can beat Dolph one-on-one… maybe give Dolph another win over Bryan in a tag match on the go-home show… something to actually BUILD UP A STORY rather than just having JBL quickly read us the booker’s notes for how this match has been set up?
And, of course, to distract us from the match they have Barrett out there on commentary (no entrance for him, either), putting over what I assume will be the build to his rematch (he lost a ladder match rather than actually getting beaten in a title match). Why not have Wade say this in a promo, where all of the attention can be on him, and let us focus all of our attention on the match during the match?

When Ziggler headbutted Bryan in the corner, the entire crowd, as well as me at home, and probably anyone else who saw WrestleMania all went “ooooohhhhh,” because we all remembered the finish of last night’s match. JBL and Booker T both either didn’t remember, or somehow thought it wasn’t worth noting. Either way, it’s bad announcing. I was so happy when Cole picked up on it, but he was the third guy to speak, so my ire had already been raised.
GREAT match… and holy crap that was only twelve minutes?

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Barrett jumps Bryan from behind and then gets saved by… what the f*ck? Is that Sheamus? With a mohawk? And braids and beads in his beard. The good old post-Mania Raw crowd summed up my feelings about this quite perfectly:
“YOU LOOK STUPID!” *clap* *clap* *clap*clap*clap* “YOU LOOK STUPID!” *clap* *clap* *clap*clap*clap*

So Sheamus makes his big return, saving Bryan from Barrett. He holds of Barrett while checking on both Bryan and Ziggler… then turns heel by attacking Bryan and Ziggler. He definitely looked like a dangerous guy here and they really needed another main event level heel, but I really don’t want to see another multi-person feud for the IC Title.

THE ASCENSION & UPPER-CATS (w/Natalya) vs. LUCHA DRAGONS & THE NEW DAY (w/Xavier Woods)- 6.75/10
Three of the four teams don’t get their entrances shown, including the tag champs. Normally an eight-man tag isn’t the best spot to debut a new team, but they actually did a good job of things here, both in showcasing the Lucha Dragons and in creating an issue between the Ascension and the Upper-Cats, and if there is any team in the WWE that can pull a great match out of the Ascension, it’s the Upper-Cats.
Loud “NXT!” chants. Kalisto wows the crowd with cool lucha stuff using Cesaro as a base.

ADRIAN NEVILLE VIDEO PACKAGE- okay

WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Seth Rollins(c) (w/Joey Mercury & Jamie Noble) vs. Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman)- no rating, great segment.
I think we all saw the bait-and-switch coming a million miles away, but this was done very well. Brock goes on a killing spree and thus gets indefinitely suspended, so we have an excuse for why he isn’t cashing in his rematch immediately like you would normally think he would.

RENEE INTERVIEWS STEPH- Brock’s getting fined, too. Steph was great.


Byron Saxton is taking over commentary because Cole, JBL, and Booker were all incapacitated in Brock’s rampage (for which I owe Brock a great deal of thanks).

STARDUST vs. DAMIEN MIZ-DOW- 2.25/10
I’m assuming the fact that Sandow is still being Miz-Dow means they will having some sort of match with the “Miz” names and mannerisms on the line. Miz-Dow won, then got jumped by Miz after the match.

CURTIS AXEL PROMO- dear G-d, do we really still have to put up with this dumb gimmick?

CURTIS AXEL vs. ADRIAN NEVILLE- Great squash.

JOHN CENA PROMO- dull

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: John Cena(c) vs. Dean Ambrose- 8.25/10
HUGE pop for Ambrose. Lawler has now joined Byron. Lots of WOOOOS for Lil’ Naitch.
DO YOUR JOB, REF! Dean’s STF looked a lot like a choke!
Well… that was pretty awesome. I’m amazed they let Dean kick out of the AA.

ORTON & ROLLINS SEGMENT- they set up for an upcoming PPV main event, and also for tonight’s main event… but since when can Seth book matches?

AJ LEE, PAIGE, & NAOMI vs. NATALYA & THE BELLA TWINS- 6.75/10
The crowd does not seem to like the Bella Twin. Nattie does seem to like beating the sh*t out of AJ. This was the best main-roster women’s match in years. I think AJ and Paige had one around this quality on PPV, and AJ and Nattie had a Divas Title match on Main Event early last year, but those are the only two that come to mind for years and years.

RANDY ORTON & RYBACK BACKSTAGE- stuff.

Dragon & Dolph vs. Sheamus & Barrett announced for Smackdown. Also are appearances by Cena, Orton, and Reigns. Aren’t Orton and Reigns always on Smackdown?

RUSEV vs. GOLDUST- extended squash

THE AUTHORITY vs. RANDY ORTON, RYBACK, & ROMAN REIGNS- 6.25/10
Big pop for Roman as the “surprise” partner (“surprise as in unannounced. I’m pretty sure everyone saw it coming, though).
Loud “HOW YOU DOIN’?!” chants. “PLEASE RETIRE!” chants aimed at Big Show. Now we’ve got a wave going… and the camera goes to follow it, which resulted in BRM becoming nauseous. Props to the wrestlers for just letting the fans get the wave out of their systems.
“We are awesome!” chants from the crowd. No. No you’re not. No crowd that chants “we are awesome” is ever actually awesome. This match was really when it felt like the crowd was just out to put themselves over, and that is annoying.

An awesome show from WWE. The real question is can they keep it up next week?
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Chris Everlast
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Chris Everlast » Mar 31st, '15, 07:43

Apparently he's just "Neville" now. Awful.

As for Sheamus' new look, I dig it. Makes me think of ye olde Celtic warriors and the like.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by NWK2000 » Mar 31st, '15, 07:54

Chris Everlast wrote:Apparently he's just "Neville" now. Awful.
I think the new name, and the cape/pyro are all to set up a heel turn, how can you not hate a heel with that look named "Neville"?
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by cero2k » Mar 31st, '15, 08:05

Big Red Machine wrote:
THE AUTHORITY vs. RANDY ORTON, RYBACK, & ROMAN REIGNS- 6.25/10
Big pop for Roman as the “surprise” partner (“surprise as in unannounced. I’m pretty sure everyone saw it coming, though).
Loud “HOW YOU DOIN’?!” chants. “PLEASE RETIRE!” chants aimed at Big Show. Now we’ve got a wave going… and the camera goes to follow it, which resulted in BRM becoming nauseous. Props to the wrestlers for just letting the fans get the wave out of their systems.
“We are awesome!” chants from the crowd. No. No you’re not. No crowd that chants “we are awesome” is ever actually awesome. This match was really when it felt like the crowd was just out to put themselves over, and that is annoying.
well, it was a crap match, same thing we've been watching all year. I excuse the fans in this situation
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 31st, '15, 08:36

Chris Everlast wrote:Apparently he's just "Neville" now. Awful.

As for Sheamus' new look, I dig it. Makes me think of ye olde Celtic warriors and the like.
I kind of warmed up to it as time went along.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 31st, '15, 10:42

Bryan Alvarez, who was there live, says that the crowd was heavily muted, so there were many chants that didn't make it to TV, including Sami Zayn chants and chants of "YOU SUCK CENA!" aimed at Nikki (which I thought was pretty clever. Not quite "Feed Matt Less!" clever, but still clever). This was apparently followed up by "YOU SUCK BRYAN!" and "YOU SUCK TYSON" which are a lot less clever (though the dueling chants for Nikki and Brie would have been funny).

Bryan described this as the point where the crowd went off the rails, and I can see what he means. Strange as it seems, though, the line that bothered me more was when they started chanting at Nattie. IMO chanting something like that at the Bellas (and especially Nikki) is a protest because... well... they're not that good in the ring (certainly worse than some of the women they are pushed over)- not that Brie is bad or anything, but she's not AJ or Paige or Nattie or Naomi... or Alicia Fox... or any of the women in NXT... but I took the Brie chant as a natural and humorous follow-up to the Nikki chant. With Nattie though... she's a good worker and doesn't deserve that sort of disrespectful protest chant?
Anyone else feel this way, or am I just arbitrarily drawing a line?
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 31st, '15, 10:54

Roman was also apparently booed heavily, which the sound guys did a great job of covering up.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by badnewzxl » Mar 31st, '15, 12:06

LOVED the "How u doin?" Chants
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 31st, '15, 12:07

Chris Everlast wrote:Apparently he's just "Neville" now. Awful.
Well...you know WWE logic. He's from Europe, therefore he can't have a first name.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Chris Everlast » Mar 31st, '15, 12:14

Big Red Machine wrote:
Chris Everlast wrote:Apparently he's just "Neville" now. Awful.
Well...you know WWE logic. He's from Europe, therefore he can't have a first name.
Not only that but they took a name that just sounds awful on its own.

"Neville" is the dorky secret identity of a superhero. I'd rather have fucking Mighty Mouse than just Neville.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by cero2k » Mar 31st, '15, 12:17

Big Red Machine wrote:Bryan Alvarez, who was there live, says that the crowd was heavily muted, so there were many chants that didn't make it to TV, including Sami Zayn chants and chants of "YOU SUCK CENA!" aimed at Nikki (which I thought was pretty clever. Not quite "Feed Matt Less!" clever, but still clever). This was apparently followed up by "YOU SUCK BRYAN!" and "YOU SUCK TYSON" which are a lot less clever (though the dueling chants for Nikki and Brie would have been funny).

Bryan described this as the point where the crowd went off the rails, and I can see what he means. Strange as it seems, though, the line that bothered me more was when they started chanting at Nattie. IMO chanting something like that at the Bellas (and especially Nikki) is a protest because... well... they're not that good in the ring (certainly worse than some of the women they are pushed over)- not that Brie is bad or anything, but she's not AJ or Paige or Nattie or Naomi... or Alicia Fox... or any of the women in NXT... but I took the Brie chant as a natural and humorous follow-up to the Nikki chant. With Nattie though... she's a good worker and doesn't deserve that sort of disrespectful protest chant?
Anyone else feel this way, or am I just arbitrarily drawing a line?
yeah, you're arbitrarily drawing a line, none of them should get those chants, while at the same time those smarks are the ones with the #GiveDivasAChance
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 31st, '15, 12:22

cero2k wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:Bryan Alvarez, who was there live, says that the crowd was heavily muted, so there were many chants that didn't make it to TV, including Sami Zayn chants and chants of "YOU SUCK CENA!" aimed at Nikki (which I thought was pretty clever. Not quite "Feed Matt Less!" clever, but still clever). This was apparently followed up by "YOU SUCK BRYAN!" and "YOU SUCK TYSON" which are a lot less clever (though the dueling chants for Nikki and Brie would have been funny).

Bryan described this as the point where the crowd went off the rails, and I can see what he means. Strange as it seems, though, the line that bothered me more was when they started chanting at Nattie. IMO chanting something like that at the Bellas (and especially Nikki) is a protest because... well... they're not that good in the ring (certainly worse than some of the women they are pushed over)- not that Brie is bad or anything, but she's not AJ or Paige or Nattie or Naomi... or Alicia Fox... or any of the women in NXT... but I took the Brie chant as a natural and humorous follow-up to the Nikki chant. With Nattie though... she's a good worker and doesn't deserve that sort of disrespectful protest chant?
Anyone else feel this way, or am I just arbitrarily drawing a line?
yeah, you're arbitrarily drawing a line, none of them should get those chants, while at the same time those smarks are the ones with the #GiveDivasAChance
Maybe this was piped in, but they did seem really hot for the finish and popped big for Paige and AJ and Nattie (especially that suplex).
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/30/2015 Raw (awesome)

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 1st, '15, 17:48

An interesting little comment regarding the "YOU SUCK CENA!" chant that I just read was someone saying that Nikki has in part brought it on herself because it's something she has mentioned multiple times on Total Divas. I don't watch the show so I don't know if this is actually true, but from everything I've heard and the early stuff that I've seen, she does talk about sex an awful lot, so it wouldn't surprise me. If she is allowing herself to be portrayed as nymphomaniacal or as someone who likes giving Cena head (and let's be honest: if she wanted to get stuff changed, she could: she's one of the people they built the show around, and she's John Cena's girlfriend), then it's something she'll have to deal with.
It's not quite like people chanting slut at Lita, but it's close.
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