BRM Reviews the 11/26/2018 Raw (I'm not sure how much more of this I can take)

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- meh
We start off with Drew Galloway, Bobby Lashley, Lio Rush, and Baron Corbin in the ring, telling us what they are thankful for. Corbin and Lashley say they’re thankful for not being fat and wimpy like each and every one of us, while Drew is thankful for their ability to beat up Braun Strowman. This leads to a video package, and then Corbin telling that Braun is injured and won’t be back for a while.
We then got footage of Braun getting ready to go in for surgery. He cut an excellent promo on then, saying the standard stuff about getting his revenge when he returns, but when he promised they would “get these hands,” he winced in pain as he tried to make his gesture. But f*cking Ronda can’t sell sh*t after getting her throat Pillmanizered last week.
Going back to the ring, Corbin tells everyone that there is no way Braun will be ready by TLC, and when Braun doesn’t show up, he will be declared winner by forfeit and thus become the permanent GM of Raw. Because of this, he wants to be known as the “General Manager-Elect” even though there was no election, because WWE’s attempts to be relevant to current events will never not be infuriating and stupid.
Corbin says that all of the wrestlers should start trying to get on his good side, at which point the lights went off so that The Drifter could secretly make his entrance on the stage. He made fun of Maverick for peeing his pants and made another “Lio Rush must be a child” joke. Somehow, I always manage to find the latter funny. The Drifter insulted them all and got the fans to actually sing along with a song of his about how “Bobby Lashley sucks.” I’m actually getting some vague rapper-Cena vibes from The Drifter. If only they could teach him to work better.
After a commercial break, we got…

“THE DRIFTER” ELIAS SAMPSON vs. BOBBY LASHLEY (w/Lio Rush, Drew McIntyre, & Baron Corbin)- no rating, frustrating segment
They did stuff for a short amount of time before Elias appeared to have the clean win with a top-rope elbow drop but Lio Rush pulled the referee out of the ring at the very last moment. Unlike what you see pretty much everywhere else, the referee here in WWE did what a referee should do in this situation and disqualified Lashley. Corbin then announced that this was a no DQs match.
Lashley attacked Elias from behind but Elias got control back. He got the best of all of the heels for a few moments and went to get his guitar to hit Lashley with but he got ganged up on by all of the heels. They smashed his guitar, Corbin hit him in the back with a chair, and then they beat the crap out of him. The beating continued for a while (with the only particularly good bit of it being Drew giving Elias an Inverted Alabama Slam into the steps) before Lashley pinned Elias via knee on the chest.
This was a tough segment for me to rate because, while I thought the physical execution was excellent, the way it plays into the larger picture here is very, very, VERY frustrating. You’d think that after we saw something similar happen last week and after Corbin’s declaration tonight that you are either with him or against him, we’d have had some people come out to help Elias. Finn Balor is an obvious one, seeing as how he has been feuding with Corbin for months and is wrestling him later tonight, but why not Seth Rollins? Corbin hate him, too, so surely Seth realizes Corbin will come for him anyway, right? Or use this opportunity to elevate someone like Apollo Crews.
But no. Instead of heroes willing to stand up to authority, we have a locker room full of people who are cowed by Baron Corbin, and their pitch to get us to keep watching is “stay tuned to see if Finn Balor also gets obliterated later.” Bryan Alvarez has been ranting for months about how WWE’s booking is all heat, and I have usually dismissed it as Bryan not having the patience to wait for a payoff, but this segment here was the first time I really like I agreed with him. This didn’t make me want to see Elias get his revenge on the heels in a few weeks. It made me unhappy that yet another babyface is getting an ass-kicking at the hands of the big group of heels. This must be what it felt like to be a WCW fan in the “nWo has long outstayed its welcome” era. At this point the only strong babyface left on Raw is Ronda “the only thing I sell is my oddly specific dislike for younger men who eat avocado toast while wearing certain types of shoes” Rousey, who barely qualifies to me after her comments the past few weeks.


CORBIN FIRES SOMEONE BACKSTAGE- whatever

ALEXA BLISS! SUCKS UP TO BARON CORBIN- This results in Corbin putting her in charge of the women’s division. I’ve already given my feelings on this from a big-picture perspective in the news thread about it, but as for the way they did this… I didn’t like it one bit. Quite frankly, it seems like the sort of thing that Corbin’s desire to keep his job via impressing Steph would not allow him to do. And maybe the story turns out to be Steph using this as part of her justification for giving Alexa control of the entire show and Corbin doing this leads to him losing his power, but if that’s the case then it’s still not really going to do anything for me storyline-wise because it gives me no reason to like Corbin when his power is taken from him, so he only thing that will change is that they have removed Corbin’s easiest tool for getting heat.
Also, while I know that Corbin is a heel, I absolutely DESPISE it when these authority figures insist to us that their schedules are so busy and yet not only are we never shown any evidence of it, but most of the evidence seems to point to the contrary, with most of the matches resulting from talking segments that occur on that week’s show.
We then go back to the announcers, where Renee Young launches into a tirade about how this is total bullsh*t to be giving an “active competitor” an authority role. And Renee is not in any way wrong; it’s just that management doesn’t care because unless they’re making some big history making Divas’/Women’s R/Evolution announcement, the management on Raw and its overseeing corporate superstructure (Vince, main roster Authority Triple H) are heels. And yet, Renee specifically referring to Alexa as an “active competitor” is going to cause kayfabe problems because it opens the can of worms that whatever Alexa will surely do to favor the heels from this point forward, she will not be doing the most obvious and abusive thing for a wrestler with booking power to do, which is giving herself title shots, and the reason for this will never be explained, because they won’t even acknowledge that Alexa is currently injured.
A much better way to do this would be to let people know that Alexa is still injured (you announced that she was injured when she had to pull out of her match against Trish and Lita at Evolution, after all, a and she hasn’t wrestled since) and then you can frame any favoritism she shows as both her trying to get the belt off of Ronda, who she “knows” she can’t beat as well her buttering up the heel of the month in the hopes of said heel repaying Alexa’s favors now with a title shot later, when Alexa is cleared. Instead, WWE went their usual route of not ever acknowledging an injury when they don’t have to, all in order to provide Renee with a talking point for her and Graves to bicker about, even though they could have just waited until Alexa started showing favoritism (which I’m sure will happen by the end of the night) for Renee to bring this up, and also creating something of a plot hole in the process.


DEAN AMBORSE CUTS A PROMO WHILE GETTING A CHECK-UP FROM HIS DOCTOR- He says that Rollins only feels safe inssuing his open challenge tonight because he knows Dean isn’t in the building. He buries the city Raw is in this week by saying he’d never go there ever, and next week’s city by saying he’s only going there after making sure to get his vaccinations, which he is doing right now. One of them requires him to take off his pants, which was ironic because he had said earlier in the promo that he would not “expose [him]self” by being on tonight’s show. This promo was a lot better than I was expecting this to be when WWE was plugging it as “Dean Ambrose’s response from his personal physician” or however they were saying it.

REVIVAL PROMO- After Lucha House Party made their entrance, The Revival cut a promo saying that they lost last week because they were so shocked about what these Lucha House Rules were. They then complained that such things are against “tradition” and thus they don’t like them. How about having them say that they lost because they were at a three-on-two disadvantage!
The Revival complained about everything the Luchadors do, and were cartoonish. They said that they wanted this rematch to teach everyone what traditional tag team wrestling is all about. You’d think this means that it would be a normal match, but JoJo- AFTER introducing both teams, instead of before the introductions begin, like you usually see- then announces that this match, too, will be contested under “Lucha House Rules.” The Revival are appalled by this, so apparently they weren’t even told what the stipulations of this match would be beforehand. It’s hard to get me to care about Corbin or Alexa abusing their power to favor the heels if you’re also got some mysterious force (though in kayfabe, it should be Corbin, right?) that keeps booking matches to favor the babyfaces.

LUCHA HOUSE RULES MATCH: The Revival vs. Lucha House Party- 2/10
Graves said he asked Corbin and Corbin and he had “nothing to do” with this rules change. Unless Graves and Corbin have a psychic connection, this means that both of them knew about that this would be a Lucha House Rules Match, but The Revival- who are competitors in this very match- did not. While Graves was appalled at this ruling, Renee Young- yes, the very same Renee Young who was up in arms several minutes ago about the mere potential of Alexa Bliss! abusing her power to book unfair matches- praised this decision. Renee also ascribed this decision to someone higher up than Corbin. Isn’t Corbin’s job to book the show? So who was this? Steph? Hunter? Vince? Why would any of them do this? They’re all heels!
Renee then started to make comments about “all of these traditionalists who don’t want to move forward.” Oh great. Now I have to hear the Jim Cornette vs. Young Bucks debate in WWE, too. Half way through, Lucha House Party were allowed to compete under real Lucha rules where rolling out of the ring is equivalent to a tag, which was only explained as part of the rules after it happened. After the match (Lucha House Party won) Cole promised that we would “get to the bottom of these Lucha House Rules as we move along.”
WHAT?! NO! YOU F*CKING TELL ME WHAT THE RULES OF THE MATCH ARE BEFORE THE MATCH STARTS! THIS SHOULD NOT BE F*CKING DIFFICULT!

SASHA & BAYLEY EMBARRASS THEMSELVES WHILES SHILLING MERCH- Well… mostly it was Sasha embarrassing herself. Then they both stole sh*t from the merch table. One assumes that new women’s division authority figure Alexa Bliss! will suspend them immediately.

LARS SULLIVAN VIDEO PACKAGE- The announcers put Lars over as the most sought-after free agent in WWE history. Really? More than, say, Cena or Taker or Triple H back in 2002?
Also, if Lars is a free agent, why doesn’t he just wrestle on both shows? He’s the one with the power here. Also, how did Lars get to become a “free agent” while pretty much everyone else’s contract- both in NXT and on the main roster- appears to be static and roll over forever?

WOMEN’S TITLE FEUD SEGMENT-
Nia and Tamina came out , and Nia came out and cut what has to be one of the best promos she has ever cut. I thought she was fantastic here. Ronda eventually came out to interrupt her. Ronda found a way to basically say that Nia got lucky that she injured the right person at the right moment in time, which I thought was a good way to get across the idea that Nia in some ways lucked into her spot while still putting Nia over being dangerous. Ronda offered to defend the title against Nia right now, but Nia declined because reasons.
During Ronda’s promo I had noticed Tamina stealthily slipping into positon behind Ronda… and then she just stood there and did nothing until Nia ended their talking segment by saying something ominous, completely the possibility of a surprise attack. Ronda Rousey’s Friend Natalya came out to even the odds but was immediately jumped from behind by the Riott Squad. Ronda went and savd her good friend Natalya from the Riott Squad, which I believe marks the first time Ronda has done so in this feud despite Ronda being in the building every single week. Some friend she is.
The entire Riott Squad then ran away from a lone Ronda Rousey, and Tamina and Nia just stood in the ring not doing anything. FIVE HEELS against one and a half babyface… and Ronda’s music gets played at the end. This felt more like a token “well, we need to get the Riott Squad vs. Nattie feud on the show” segment than anything actually important, and even worse, it was used as a lame pause button for the Ronda vs. Nia feud so the writers would have a (lame) way out of the situation they had set up for themselves which seemed to demand the two Samoans attacking Ronda, but then not doing so.

DRAKE MAVERICK PROMO- great!
Also, one of the Authors of Pain finished it off with “laugh now. Cry later,” which was a great way to finish it off.

CHARLY CARUSO INTERVIEWS BOBBY ROODE & CHAD GABLE- A fine babyface “we’re going to win the titles” promo.

WWE RAW TAG TEAM TITLES: The Authors of Pain(c) (w/Drake Maverick) vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable- 3/10
Cole informed us that “if Gable and Roode get disqualified, they don’t win the titles.” You know… just in case there was anyone out there who thought you could win the titles by LOSING a championship match.
Drake Maverick stole Bobby Roode’s ring robe, put it on, then went to the back with it. Roode, not being an idiot, did not leave to go chase Maverick because he understands that the wrestling match is the most important thing there is. Kevin Dunn, on the other hand, not only sent a cameraman into a bathroom to follow Maverick, but even CUT AWAY FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH TO SHOW US MAVERICK ADMIRING HIMSELF IN THE MIRROR WHILE WEARING THE ROBE.
We finally cut away from that for some more wrestling, until someone ordered that Drake Maverick in the bathroom be put up on the TitanTron so that Maverick could cut a promo on Roode, then stuff the robe into a toilet and pee on it. This time, however, Roode is distracted… but apparently so was everyone else, because it wasn’t until the camera cut back that the AoP moved to take advantage of this. Bumping Roode into Gable, then hitting him with a powerbomb/neckbreaker combination for the pin.
This segment was a fine example the kernel of a good angle being ruined by WWE’s production and their limited understanding of booking. Stealing Roode’s ring robe and pissing on it is disrespectful, and continues the urine motif of the story (I cannot believe I just typed that), but doing it to cause a distraction during a title match didn’t work at all for several reasons.
Firstly, while Bobby Roode should be unhappy about getting disrespected, having him not chase Maverick when he stole the jacket but then get distracted by him being on it makes no sense. Roode’s whole character is that he is filthy stinkin’ rich. He probably has a million of those robes. If he’s not going to get distracted form his championship match by one getting stolen, then why is he getting distracted by one getting defiled?
Secondly (and thirdly, and fourthly) the WWE presentation style kills any realism or emotion in this. There are the potential kayfabe legal issues of a cameraman following someone into and then broadcasting from a bathroom. But of course no one else is in that bathroom at the time, because while it is a shoot bathroom, it is currently being used as a set for a TV shoot and so no one else is in there, and it’s completely pristine, despite being a public restroom at a sports venue. Then there is how forced putting it up on the Tron feels, and the way that cutting away from the match to show us Maverick posing buries the titles, and the way that AoP waiting until after Maverick finishes his “spot” to attack the distracted Roode made it all feel forced and fake.
The right way to do this angle would have been for Roode & Gable to be wrestling someone else and have Maverick steal the jacket during the match, then later play his recorded (NOT LIVE) video of him pissing on it. Maybe you can even frame it as Maverick getting Corbin to set up an interview with Charly to show them the tape, ostensibly to get their comments on it, but in reality it would be AoP setting an ambush.
(Also, Maverick whistling Roode’s theme while peeing on his robe was hilarious.)

SASHA BANKS, BAYLEY, & ALEXA BLISS! BACKSTAGE- bad
This started with Sasha and Bayley coming off as completely pathetic, talking about how “it was so cool to be a part of” Survivor Series, with “plus, we got the win” thrown in at the end as an afterthought. MAYBE you can get away with the “it was so cool to be a part of something like that” line coming out of your first WrestleMania, but this is just Survivor Series, and it’s the THIRD Survivor Series for both of them. And I don’t remember them gushing like this over any previous Survivor Series. And I also don’t see anyone other than these two talking about how cool and special it was to be a part of this one. It’s just these two, so they come off like pathetic, childish marks. This is doubly frustrating because not only does it make Sasha and Bayley look bad, but the fact that they’re doing with the two women who have been most acknowledged on screen as having been HUGE wrestling fans growing up almost makes it feel like this is how they think all of us behave- or should behave. That if WWE says something is special and magical, we are not to question it, and should consider ourselves fortunate to be able to pay them a mere $9.99 to see it rather than them actually having to earn our money by building it up properly and keeping us happy by providing satisfying finishes.
Anyway, Alexa Bliss! showed up and thanked them for helping Raw win at Survivor Series. That was very nice of her. Alexa also suggested that they should try to get to know each other and become friends. Sasha Banks responded to this by being rude. Yes, I know Alexa set them up two weeks ago, and for no reason at all other than to f*ck with them, but Sasha still managed to come off like an asshole here. Alexa lectured Sasha on her rudeness, then told them that she was giving them the chance to have an “open forum” and answer questions from the WWE Universe. The entire existence of this segment was a mistake, but I’ll get to why that was later on when we get to the “open forum.”

FINN BALOR SELFIE PROMO- meh

Renee Young has suddenly changed her tune on a Alexa Bliss!, making Renee now feel less like a babyface announcer and more like the babyface equivalent of a heel announcer, willing to justify anything and swing her opinions wildly based on the reactions of those she has chosen to side with. Renee then suggested that Alexa might turn out to be “the Pat Summitt of the WWE” which is an idiotic statement because their jobs are nowhere close to the same thing. Pat Summit was a coach, responsible for developing her players and creating effective winning strategies to be implemented by her players on the court. Alexa is an executive. She’s the league commissioner, making sure that the games are scheduled and issuing rulings on any controversies that arise.

EMBER MOON (w/Curt Hawkins) vs. ALICIA FOX (w/Jinder Mahal & the Singh Brothers)- 0.5/10
They had a short match and Fox managed to not f*ck anything up. The babyfaces’ celebration got extremely awkward when Hawkins started unexpectedly grabbing Ember and swinging her around. Despite Ember winning clean with her finisher, it’s the babyface who are retreating up the ramp. This was done so that No Way Jose could come out and Hawkins could act like a buffoon. Renee Young told us that Ember Moon detests dancing, which makes her a babyface to me, but probably makes her a heel to the majority of people, so they should not have booked a segment where Ember was angry at people for dancing and Renee had to point this out to us in case we missed it.

NO WAY JOSE vs. JINDER MAHAL (w/the Singh Brothers)- 2.25/10
The previous match was billed as a “preview” of tomorrow’s Mixed-Match Challenge playoff match between Ember/Hawkins and Jinder/Fox. Ember won that one, so you’d think that the logical thing to do would now be to have Jinder beat Hawkins, the guy on the losing streak so long his employment is kayfabe unjustifiable, to even things out for tomorrow and to remind us that even though Jinder and Fox are both jobbers, Ember’s new partner is such a jobber that her victory is far from the fait accompli it appears to be. Instead, for some reason, we got Jinder vs. No Way Jose, with Fox, but also Hawkins having completely disappeared from ringside.
Jinder won a short match. The announcing during this match was unbearable. Michael Cole claimed that Jinder was looking for “a big win over No Way Jose,” which is an oxymoron. Cole would later say that “No Way Jose understands what a victory here would mean for his career.” Well then perhaps they should have had him cut a promo explaining that so that I might actually care who wins. Renee insisted that Jinder only meditates for five minutes a day and is a fake guru. She has no evidence for this, and everything we’ve seen seems to point to the contrary.

SETH ROLLINS PROMO- He apologizes for being a crazy person last week and says he’s done chasing Dean around, but will kick Dean’s ass whenever the fight comes. The promo was pretty good. Seth then made his open challenge, which was answer by Dolph Ziggler. Unfortunately, this required Dolph to cut a promo first. As usual, Dolph’s promo was painfully overdramatic.

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Seth Rollins(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler- 7.25/10
This was the best thing on this show so far, and even this was disappointing for over twenty minutes between these guys. The announcers kept implying that maybe Seth’s head wasn’t in the game because he was thinking about Ambrose, but Seth never showed that in his work, and he won clean, resulting in Graves then having to bury Ziggler by saying that Seth was only at 90% and still managed to beat Dolph.

SASHA BANKS & BAYLEY OPEN FORUM- bad.
Alexa Bliss! came out to bring out Sasha and Bayley. Whoever has been dressing Alexa in these “business attire over porn top” outfits needs to stop. If she’s still an “active competitor” then the usual t-shirt over ring gear is more than fine. Alexa in these outfits comes off as someone playing an authority figure on TV. When she’s in her ring gear, she comes off as an actual professional wrestler, not a TV character.
Alexa begins to mess with the crowd before having Charly go over to a plant (in a Ronda Rousey shirt, of course) who asks the astounding question of “if either of you could change the Raw women’s division, what would you do?” I’m sorry, but this is not a normal question that a wrestling fan asks, and the fact that it was a perfect set-up for Sasha to again launch an unprovoked verbal assault on Alexa made it feel even more scripted. Alexa gave a wonderfully mocking response, after which Bayley dropped in with the following:
“I actually disagree with you [Sasha]. Alexa, I wouldn’t ship you back to Smackdown… I’d ship you back to HELLLLLLL where you CAME FROM! OHHHHH!”
The wit of Bayley, ladies and gentlemen. Corey Graves accurately called this as “a third grade burn, at best.” Also, I like how the two of them are saying that Alexa sucks when Alexa ended both of their most recent title reigns, and both of their careers have completely nosedived since losing to Alexa.
While Sasha and Bayley were cackling about their supposedly cleverness, they got attacked by Alicia Fox, Mickie James, and Dana Brooke, who is apparently a heel now.
Was this a set-up? Yes. But the problem with this, like with earlier segment, was that the babyfaces were assholes to Alexa when she hadn’t really done anything to them and came off like total dorks, so I had no problem seeing them get what was essentially their comeuppance. If they had just had them answer normal questions like this was a normal thing and not be jerks, then this would have been fine, but all this segment did was make the babyfaces less likable before having the heels try to get heat on them… but the babyfaces cleared the ring anyway. Why even turn Dana heel if you’re just going to immediately bury her like this? I realize she was already buried deep underground, but this felt like it was somehow a new level.

MIXED-MATCH CHALLENGE PROMOS- The second promo here was the first time that they have mentioned that the winning team gets the #30 spots in their respective Royal Rumbles. If they had mentioned this at the outset, maybe people would have actually given a sh*t about it and started watching it.

FINN BALOR vs. BARON CORBIN (& DREW MCINTYRE)- 6.5/10
Cole claimed that choosing Hawkins as Ember Moon’s MMC replacement partner was Braun punishing Ember due to her previously being Balor’s MMC partner. I have no memory of Balor and Moon ever teaming, and neither does Wikipedia. Half way through, Corbin turned this into a handicap match, with McIntyre as his partner.

In a particularly cringe-worthy commentary moment, coming right after Balor had dropkicked Corbin into a chair (which Corbin bounced off of, not landed in), Renee Young shouted “stay in your office, Baron Corbin! Sit down!” Drew showed up and took Balor out right afterwards. Then Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush came out to join in. Lashley looked like the best douchebag ever with his sunglasses on, but then took them off. Lame.
They all beat Balor up and no one came out to help. I don’t even care anymore.

This was a bad, uninteresting, and completely un-fun wrestling show. Maybe check out Nia and Ronda’s promos or the IC Title match or the tag title match angle or Braun’s promo if you really feel compelled, but there really, truly, is no reason to subject yourself to this show. Even I, your intrepid canary in the coal mine that is WWE felt like I should just give up. (And, for those wondering, I did instinctively type “Cole mine” and then caught it later.)
Suffice it to say that you’ll probably be seeing me write something in the next few days about WWE’s main roster in general and Raw in particular (and a few other things floating around, like the injury situation and the new NXT UK talent rules), because I feel quite depressed about this promotion right now, but there is something I want to address about this particular show that has me quite worried for the future. The theme of this particular show seemed to be “heels abusing their authority.” Yes, it’s played out and cliché and we all hate it (until someone manages to do it right and we all mark out for it), but that’s not what I’m going to talk about. What I want to talk about is the question of “where do we go from here?”
Throughout this whole show, Cole and Renee were screaming about how the things Corbin and Alexa were doing were such complete and total bullsh*t. And I don’t disagree with them. But as they continued to protest loudly about how this was all ridiculous and how “somebody needs to put a stop to this!” instead of an amen, the only response that came to mind was a biting “and who, exactly, are you counting on to stop this?” As I noted earlier in this review, the entire power structure right now is heels. And outside of kayfabe, that question translates to “how the hell are they going to write their way out of this?” However they do it, I have no doubt it will be terrible and clumsy, but the part that scares me the most right now is that every week is going to be like this one, with heat segment after heat segment, while Cole and Renee offer up their repetitive-to-the-point-of-obnoxiousness pleas to a non-existent savior. And I so badly don’t want to sit through that.

[KILLdozer]

There's almost no faces left. Pretty sure Strowman comes back and kills them all. The women's situation I have no idea about. Though I was intrigued how someone actually mentioned Sasha was once the super relevant champion...

[KILLdozer]

Ziggler lost to the Superplex Falcon Arrow combination btw. Not even a finisher lol.

Maybe he'll be a 3rd man in the whole Elias/Balor vs The Terrible 3 thing...that or Rollins obviously.

[cero2k]

No one kicks out of the Falcon Arrow.

You know what I'm finding really sucky, that they're kinda building to this group vs group match that could had been perfect for Survivor Series, if SS hadn't become a brand battle gimmick

[Big Red Machine]

There's almost no faces left. Pretty sure Strowman comes back and kills them all. The women's situation I have no idea about. Though I was intrigued how someone actually mentioned Sasha was once the super relevant champion...

Yeah, I noticed this, too. In the past few weeks/months we've lost Braun and Roman to injury (and also Matt Hardy a bit before that), Ambrose and Lashley both turned heel (with Owens, who had just turned babyface, being injured), and the only other guy they turned was The Drifter. I think Bray Wyatt might be the #4 healthy babyface at the moment, and he's not even on TV.

[Big Red Machine]

No one kicks out of the Falcon Arrow.

You know what I'm finding really sucky, that they're kinda building to this group vs group match that could had been perfect for Survivor Series, if SS hadn't become a brand battle gimmick

I hadn't thought of it that way. I was too frustrated with the fact that we just blew off this group vs. group stuff with Shield vs. Anti-Shield in mid-October, and now it's give weeks later and we've already got another heel three-man group including Drew McIntyre.

[KILLdozer]

I've read earlier today that Hardy teased a return on Twitter and is unhappy with Corbin and Bliss. So maybe that's something. Pretty sure it was talks of him being GM instead though.

[KILLdozer]

It's time for more faces and stars. Use. Crews. I suppose even keep O'Neil with him as well if need be. Ziggler could possibly turn. Since him and McIntyre are suddenly and seemingly all together done mysteriously for no reason.

[KILLdozer]

No one kicks out of the Falcon Arrow.

You know what I'm finding really sucky, that they're kinda building to this group vs group match that could had been perfect for Survivor Series, if SS hadn't become a brand battle gimmick

Except for when they do kick out...every single other time it's used.

[NWK2000]

My vote? Stop watching. A show that has the time of a blockbuster movie on the weekly and can't tell a coherent story isn't worth your time or your chi. By no means is this a knock on how you review shows. You're probably the most talented writer of all of us. But like, is that talent really worth being put to use analyzing this?

[Big Red Machine]

My vote? Stop watching. A show that has the time of a blockbuster movie on the weekly and can't tell a coherent story isn't worth your time or your chi. By no means is this a knock on how you review shows. You're probably the most talented writer of all of us. But like, is that talent really worth being put to use analyzing this?

I do ask myself that occasionally, and the answer is that I do enjoy the challenge of figuring how I would do it "better" or how a logic issue could have been resolved, etc. The problem is more when the show is boring than when it is bad.

[KILLdozer]

Maybe we'll actually get more meaningful women's storylines that actually go places when this pays off and gets going though. I see Sasha Banks ending up champion by finally defeating Alexa Bliss.

[KILLdozer]

Wtf is with this new thing of...singing chants? I first noticed it with Keith Lee now they did it with Elias too. I can never really fully understood, and it's always set to the same tune??????

[cero2k]

Wtf is with this new thing of...singing chants? I first noticed it with Keith Lee now they did it with Elias too. I can never really fully understood, and it's always set to the same tune??????

dude, that's been going on for about 5 yrs since the UK scene made them popular

[KILLdozer]

Wtf is with this new thing of...singing chants? I first noticed it with Keith Lee now they did it with Elias too. I can never really fully understood, and it's always set to the same tune??????

dude, that's been going on for about 5 yrs since the UK scene made them popular

Figured one of you hip Indy guys would say that...

[KILLdozer]

Sorry , I've been too busy tearing gyms apart to watch pencil neck geeks in London! HOLLA! IF YOU HEAR ME!

[cero2k]

Sorry , I've been too busy tearing gyms apart to watch pencil neck geeks in London! HOLLA! IF YOU HEAR ME!

don't you just take over all the TVs at the gym with wrestling like the rest of us?

[Big Red Machine]

Sorry , I've been too busy tearing gyms apart to watch pencil neck geeks in London! HOLLA! IF YOU HEAR ME!

don't you just take over all the TVs at the gym with wrestling like the rest of us?

Gym? What kind of mark pays for a gym? I just do cardio via jogging outside. While listening to wrestling podcasts, of course.

[cero2k]

Sorry , I've been too busy tearing gyms apart to watch pencil neck geeks in London! HOLLA! IF YOU HEAR ME!

don't you just take over all the TVs at the gym with wrestling like the rest of us?

Gym? What kind of mark pays for a gym? I just do cardio via jogging outside. While listening to wrestling podcasts, of course.

you don't lift weights during RAW commercials like uncle Meltz?

[Bob-O]

Wtf is with this new thing of...singing chants? I first noticed it with Keith Lee now they did it with Elias too. I can never really fully understood, and it's always set to the same tune??????

Pretty sure it started in Soccer.

In the UK, people are drunk most of the time - ESPECIALLY at sporting events. Drunk people like to sing stuff because it's easier to do than talking in unison, especially when you're shitfaced. I'm guessing beers don't cost $12 a can at the concession stand over there...