BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post Reply
User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 20th, '16, 02:57

OPENING SEGMENT-
Roman Reigns comes out to thunderous boos. They even cheered when f*cking STEPH interrupted him. You’d think Vince would get the message and just turn the motherf*cker heel, but no. After every Monday’s failed scheme to get the fans to cheer Roman, Vince turns to the copy of Green Eggs and Ham he keeps by his bedside to reassure himself that no matter how long it takes, eventually the fans will come around and start cheering Roman.
For some reason Mick comes out to interrupt Steph. We are getting Rusev vs. Seth tonight as their punishment for interfering in a match Mick told them not to. Some punishment that is: making the professional wrestlers wrestle each other in a professional wrestling match.
Roman rightly points out that this in no way rectifies the wrong that was done to him, so Foley books him against Rusev for the US Title at Clash of Champions, which rectifies a previous wrong, but still doesn’t give Roman the Universal Title shot he deserves.
Mick is upset that people aren’t taking him at his word and that is bad because everyone from Raw needs to get along because apparently “we are engaged in a fight for our survival against Smackdown Live.” WHAT?! HOW?! Did I miss some major announcement from USA where they said that they only want one WWE show on their network and whichever show is doing worse at the end of year will get axed? Because that is THE ONLY WAY that this statement makes sense (and, of course, that assumes that WWE programming is worth so little that no other network wants it).
Mick says that if Raw doesn’t “win the ratings war” he will be fired. WHAT? Since when? And this mean that if Smackdown loses then Daniel Bryan will be fired? I don’t want either of those things to happen, but it seems like I’m in a lose-lose situation here. That’s depressing.
And if this was a ratings war you’d think each show would brag about beating the other when they win, but that hasn’t ever happened. And if Mick is so concerned about losing, why did he spend so much time last week putting over Smackdown’s Becky Lynch? None of this makes any sense, and none of it ever should have been said except for WWE’s pathological need to equate the concept of “two separate brands” with the idea of an interpromotional war. Either they’re too stupid to remember what day of the week WCW Monday Nitro was on, or they think we’re stupid enough to not realize that this current “war” of theirs is completely imaginary to everyone other than Foley, Steph, Shane, and Bryan, which makes them all look like deluded nutjobs.
Foley finally gets around to booking a rematch of last week’s main event with the same stipulation, which runs into the same problem last week’s did: If Rollins deserves a title shot, then Roman should, too, without having to earn it.
Kevin Owens comes out and is unhappy about this because he beat Roman twice last week. Steph tells him he will have to face Roman tonight, but not to worry because it won’t be for the title. That was out of nowhere. No one ever said it was. Foley says that it will be inside a Steel Cage to prevent interference, which wouldn’t be necessary if Mick had come up with punishment with actual teeth to it.
Rollins comes out… for his match, maybe? He has stare-downs with both Owens and Roman.

STEPH & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- she is upset because Foley has put the champion in a dangerous gimmick match just six days before the first Raw-exclusive PPV of the new brand-split era. She’s got a good point.
Rusev shows up all angry, looking for Foley, so Steph slips off. Rusev complains about Mick’s booking. Foley says he is given Roman the title match that Roman deserves… which is true, except that he is also making Roman earn another title shot that he has already earned. They managed to plug both Holy Foley and Lana’s appearance in the latest WWE Studios movie, which comes out tomorrow, and to do so in a way that only Rusev could made work.

Also, Foley got a phone call from Jericho, which we cut away from for a commercial.

SETH ROLLINS vs. RUSEV (w/Lana)- 6.75/10
This was a good match except that WWE booked a match between the US Champion and #1 contender to the Universal Title, so neither of them could lose, so we got a double count-out. They brawled around on the outside, which was very strange for two guys who aren’t even feuding, but they did everything right to get Seth over as a babyface.

CHARLOTTE, DANA, & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- bad
Dana points out that last week’s finish to the #1 contendership match was actually a double pin. She says this means that there was no winner, and therefore Sasha and Bayley should face off again tonight for the right to lose to Charlotte at the PPV. I was very disappointed because I was hoping Dana would attempt to argue that last week’s finish being a double pin meant that she should be the winner because Sasha and Bayley were both pinned and she wasn’t.
Mick says makes the PPV match a triple threat match, and even though that in no way resembles what Dana said, he credits Dana with the idea. Mick walks off, and Charlotte gets angry and shoves Dana, which would mean a lot more if we hadn’t seen Dana stand up to Charlotte and then turn back heel last week.

WWE FINALLY REALIZED IT IS HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH- the month is already well half over. Also, for some reason they profiled Cesar Chavez instead of doing what they do for African-American History Month and profiling wrestlers.

CRUISERWEIGHT VIDEO PACKAGE- profiles on Cedric Alexander and Brian Kendrick. They were good. They ended with this graphic that simply said that the Cruiserweights would debut tonight, and they left the graphic up there a full thirty seconds, which felt like an eternity.

OWENS & JERICHO BACKSTAGE- Jericho is going to make list of all of the things Foley has done wrong as GM and show it to him.

BRAUN STROWMAN vs. SIN CARA- 0.75/10
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, this Hispanic man representing his Mexican culture will get destroyed by a large white man. I can’t wait for the Women’s History Month video package focusing on that time they implied that Sable was blowing Vince.

SASHA & BAYLEY BACKSTAGE- a segment written about NXT by people who have clearly never watched it.

SASHA BANKS & BAYLEY vs. DANA BROOKE & CHARLOTTE- 7/10
Sasha’s ribs are taped up, so the heels focus on the back of her ribs. The logical finish here would of course be Bayley pin Dana, and it gives the challengers the win with the one who most needs the win getting it, while giving Charlotte yet another reason to be mad at Dana. Instead of this logical finish we got Charlotte pinning Bayley, making Bayley look completely unworthy of the title shot she is about to get.

ROLLINS WALKS INTO STEPH’S LOCKER ROOM (OR MAYBE OFFICE?)- ominous lead-in to a commercial break.

ROLLINS & STEPH IN STEPH’S OFFICE- Rollins doesn’t believe that Steph is telling the truth about not knowing what Hunter was going to do or why he has done it. This led to tension between them. It was a very good segment.

BO DALLAS vs. GARY GRAHAM- squash
Even Cole noted that Graham looks like Michael Hayes’ illegitimate son. Dear Lord this Bo Dallas poetry is death. Why do they even have him do it? They clearly want him to be a killer with these vicious beat-downs of jobbers the same way they are pushing Strowman and Nia… but they have him carrying this idiotic campaign parody sign and reading this goofy poetry and using his goofy inspirational Bo-lieve music. They can’t possibly not realize that these things are getting the way of him getting over.

TJP VIDEO PACKAGE- good

SHEAMUS PROMO- good.

MATCH #6 IN THEIR BEST OF 7 SERIES: Sheamus(3) vs. Cesaro(2)- 7/10
Sheamus works over the back. Cesaro pulls out the win.

FOLEY BOOKS THE 7TH MATCH FOR THE PPV- funny how Mick seems to have no problem Cesaro cheating last week.

CHRIS JERICHO & MICK FOLEY BACKSTAGE- this was terrible and annoying. Even better, on Jericho’s list of things Foley was doing wrong, was “demeans WWE Superstars.” Once again, WWE either has no self-awareness, or they’re just being asshole and rubbing the things we don’t like in our faces, which is a great way to treat the audience that you are desperately hoping doesn’t decide to switch over to the football game.

CHRIS JERICHO READS “THE LIST OF JERICHO”- thankfully this didn’t go too long before Enzo & Cass showed up. Also, thankfully they didn’t just rip off the “Jericho’s list of holds” segment from Nitro, because this would never be as good as that, and it also would have been extremely lazy. They had some back and forth until the Shining Stars came out to try to sell timeshares. They were giving out brochures to fans, which was a good touch. Then New Day came out. Woods plugged a contest on his YouTube channel to give away some iPhones. Really. They said that they would retain the tag titles at the PPV, so Gallows & Anderson came out to cut a promo, and I was shocked we didn’t get Foley coming out here to book a ten-man tag team match.
Jericho tried to leave so Sami Zayn came out to fight him… and then all of the other guys just decided to start fighting for no reason. We went to a commercial break, and when we came back we saw…

CHRIS JERICHO, LUKE GALLOWS, KARL ANDERSON, & THE SHINING STARS vs. SAMI ZAYN, COLIN CASSADY, ENZO AMORE, KOFI KINGSTON, & BIG E. LANGSTON (w/Xavier Woods)- 6/10
I would have much preferred that Sami had not come out and they had Foley r Stpeh book a ten man tag with Xavier wrestling. All Sami needed to do on this show was cut a promo about how Jericho sucker-punched him last week, but now he is going to get his revenge this Sunday on the PPV and we should all pay to see it. Why would you have these guys wrestle before the PPV if you don’t need to? Also, this would give us a week off from that damn trombone.
One of Anderson’s kneepads features a very prominent “BC” which I can only assume stands for “BoyDoISureLoveBeingAPartOfThe Club.”
Enzo & Cass got the win on one of the Shining Stars, which seems to kill off what should have been a perfect opener for Sunday’s PPV.
MORE CRUSIERWEIGHT VIDEO PACKAGES- focus on Gran Metalik and Rich Swann.

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH PROFILE OF EDDIE GUERRERO- there we go. That’s more like it.

MICK FOLEY WASTES TIME THAT COULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO THE FIRST CRUISERWEIGHT MATCH- he says that being a Cruiserweight “is not about size…” which is a stupid thing to say about a division with a very strict weight limit. It would look even sillier when Cole pointed out that Cedric had to lose 22lbs to enter the tournament. Mick also forgot to mention that the #1 contendership was on the line in this match.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Cedric Alexander vs. Gran Metalik vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann- 8/10
Metalik got to cut an inset promo, but it was in Spanish and there were no subtitles. Cedric also cut an inset promo. It was fine. Kendrick also cut one. He seems to be very bad at math.
If Bryan and Kendrick are such great buddies why didn’t Bryan sign Kendrick to Smackdown once he got eliminated from the CWC?
For some completely baffling reason, Kendrick’s Minoru Suzuki-choke finisher is now called “the Captain’s Hook.”
The match got the time it needed and was paced perfectly. Everyone got the chance to shine. Kendrick got the submission victory on Cedric, which was definitely the right call. Cedric’s title shot has a story to tell with it that is not only too short to tell in one segment, but his story is also helped by losing in his first match. Metalik and Swann have both lost to TJP already recently, and for Kendrick’s story, having him win this match and then lose his title shot clean at the PPV sets up perfectly for him to turn fully heel at the apex of his next climb up the ranks of the division.

STEEL CAGE MATCH IN WHICH IF REIGNS WINS I THINK HE GETS A WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE SHOT: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens- 8/10
Awesome match. Roman just barely wins via escaping a second before Owens does.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Rusev attacks Roman, but despite having just wrestled a grueling cage match, Roman beats him up. It takes Owens kicking the door into Roman’s head for Rusev to get an advantage. Rusev locks the door shut and Roman gets beaten up two-on-one. Then Seth Rollins came out, which was good. Then Seth Rollins made the save, which wasn’t. If I were booking this, I would have had Seth climb to the top of the cage but then climb back down because he doesn’t want to get injured before his big title match. This would keep Seth on the ambiguous track he has been on recently, while also playing into the earlier complains from Owens, Steph, and others about this match being booked in the first place.

An enjoyable episode of Raw. It was pretty great in the ring, but I wasn’t thrilled with the booking, especially for a go-home show.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Michael Cole- “Incredible athleticism from Braun Strowman.”
‘Nuff said.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by cero2k » Sep 20th, '16, 11:26

i totally thought i was gonna get to read BRM ranting on how bad the cruiserweight thing was handled
Image

User avatar
KILLdozer
Posts: 5930
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 22:54

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by KILLdozer » Sep 20th, '16, 11:36

Squash everywhere!

Like they're wasn't enough of that with building up monsters in the men AND women's division!

Still though..."Now I know...that only I... can believe in Bo."
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

User avatar
Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Serujuunin » Sep 20th, '16, 19:03

cero2k wrote:i totally thought i was gonna get to read BRM ranting on how bad the cruiserweight thing was handled
There are five guys. FIVE GUYS. I was shouting at my TV just because of that.

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by cero2k » Sep 20th, '16, 19:10

Serujuunin wrote:
cero2k wrote:i totally thought i was gonna get to read BRM ranting on how bad the cruiserweight thing was handled
There are five guys. FIVE GUYS. I was shouting at my TV just because of that.
they kept Noam Dar hidden for some reason, but you're right, i'm guessing they'll add Kalisto, Sin Cara, Neville, and some others later on. Gargano, Ciampa, Aries, Andrade may all eventually join
Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 20th, '16, 19:34

cero2k wrote:
Serujuunin wrote:
cero2k wrote:i totally thought i was gonna get to read BRM ranting on how bad the cruiserweight thing was handled
There are five guys. FIVE GUYS. I was shouting at my TV just because of that.
they kept Noam Dar hidden for some reason, but you're right, i'm guessing they'll add Kalisto, Sin Cara, Neville, and some others later on. Gargano, Ciampa, Aries, Andrade may all eventually join
Exactly. This was a perfect number to start off with.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Serujuunin » Sep 21st, '16, 23:16

Big Red Machine wrote:
cero2k wrote:
Serujuunin wrote: There are five guys. FIVE GUYS. I was shouting at my TV just because of that.
they kept Noam Dar hidden for some reason, but you're right, i'm guessing they'll add Kalisto, Sin Cara, Neville, and some others later on. Gargano, Ciampa, Aries, Andrade may all eventually join
Exactly. This was a perfect number to start off with.
Provided they actually add these guys. But they made it look like this was it. Rather than saying that more would come in the future or something. I just think they missed little things.

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by cero2k » Sep 22nd, '16, 09:07

Serujuunin wrote: Provided they actually add these guys. But they made it look like this was it. Rather than saying that more would come in the future or something. I just think they missed little things.
I'm not surprised they sent Metallik to developmental, where i'm guessing Noam is going to be, or maybe they just randomly debut them next week
Image

User avatar
XIV
Posts: 1802
Joined: Aug 19th, '13, 11:38

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by XIV » Sep 23rd, '16, 02:20

Where the fuck was TJ Perkins?

He is the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Should have given him 2 minutes of TV time somewhere in the show, a promo or something. Video package was fine, but he really should have appeared in person.
Have A Nice Day!

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 23rd, '16, 07:56

XIV wrote:Where the fuck was TJ Perkins?

He is the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Should have given him 2 minutes of TV time somewhere in the show, a promo or something. Video package was fine, but he really should have appeared in person.
TJ' story requires more time to tell than they had on this show. I think the video package was fine. Asking TJ for a promo is... well... even Gabe would rarely let TJ talk for himself, and Gabe used to let a young RODERICK STRONG cut promos. In retrospect, the biggest mistake was insisting on doing the debut this week instead of waiting until next week when you'd have a whole month to build everything up.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by cero2k » Sep 23rd, '16, 10:35

Big Red Machine wrote:
XIV wrote:Where the fuck was TJ Perkins?

He is the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Should have given him 2 minutes of TV time somewhere in the show, a promo or something. Video package was fine, but he really should have appeared in person.
TJ' story requires more time to tell than they had on this show. I think the video package was fine. Asking TJ for a promo is... well... even Gabe would rarely let TJ talk for himself, and Gabe used to let a young RODERICK STRONG cut promos. In retrospect, the biggest mistake was insisting on doing the debut this week instead of waiting until next week when you'd have a whole month to build everything up.
he doesn't have to cut a promo, but if you're doing a no 1 contendership match, to a champion, then you should present both the champ and the title Kendrick is fighting for. They DID do an angle between kendrick and TJP, they could have totally just done than after the match or something
Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 23rd, '16, 11:48

cero2k wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:
XIV wrote:Where the fuck was TJ Perkins?

He is the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Should have given him 2 minutes of TV time somewhere in the show, a promo or something. Video package was fine, but he really should have appeared in person.
TJ' story requires more time to tell than they had on this show. I think the video package was fine. Asking TJ for a promo is... well... even Gabe would rarely let TJ talk for himself, and Gabe used to let a young RODERICK STRONG cut promos. In retrospect, the biggest mistake was insisting on doing the debut this week instead of waiting until next week when you'd have a whole month to build everything up.
he doesn't have to cut a promo, but if you're doing a no 1 contendership match, to a champion, then you should present both the champ and the title Kendrick is fighting for. They DID do an angle between kendrick and TJP, they could have totally just done than after the match or something
That's true (although I think a stare-down or whatever between Kendrick and a guy many people haven't seen before holding a belt they haven't seen before might fall flat).
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by cero2k » Sep 23rd, '16, 14:06

Big Red Machine wrote: That's true (although I think a stare-down or whatever between Kendrick and a guy many people haven't seen before holding a belt they haven't seen before might fall flat).
exactly why they need to put extra effort in presenting the champion to the audience
Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 23rd, '16, 15:09

cero2k wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote: That's true (although I think a stare-down or whatever between Kendrick and a guy many people haven't seen before holding a belt they haven't seen before might fall flat).
exactly why they need to put extra effort in presenting the champion to the audience
Which is why they should have held off on the Cruiserweights debut until next week, so you didn't get a rushed PPV match (and to give the bookers a week and a half to figure out where things are going in that division instead of five days).
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by cero2k » Sep 23rd, '16, 19:30

Big Red Machine wrote:
cero2k wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote: That's true (although I think a stare-down or whatever between Kendrick and a guy many people haven't seen before holding a belt they haven't seen before might fall flat).
exactly why they need to put extra effort in presenting the champion to the audience
Which is why they should have held off on the Cruiserweights debut until next week, so you didn't get a rushed PPV match (and to give the bookers a week and a half to figure out where things are going in that division instead of five days).
i do not disagree with this, hell, have the finals of the CWC AT the ppv and use this raw to present the finalist and sign the contract or something
Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews the 9/19/2016 Raw (very good)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 24th, '16, 19:02

cero2k wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:
cero2k wrote: exactly why they need to put extra effort in presenting the champion to the audience
Which is why they should have held off on the Cruiserweights debut until next week, so you didn't get a rushed PPV match (and to give the bookers a week and a half to figure out where things are going in that division instead of five days).
i do not disagree with this, hell, have the finals of the CWC AT the ppv and use this raw to present the finalist and sign the contract or something
1. Finals on PPV then contract singing on Raw would be WAY too much like Slater on SD.
2. More importantly, the CWC finals needed the CWC setting. It needed the look of the arena, the style of the show, the CWC crowd, and Bryan and Mauro calling the action.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests