BRM Reviews the 3/2/2015 Raw (bad and going nowhere)

[Big Red Machine]

JOHN STEWART & SETH ROLLINS ON THE DAILY SHOW- wow… that was … embarrassing.

OPENING SEGMENT- Bad. It was long and boring. Reigns is back to trying to be funny and failing, and Rollins said that “the whole world” will be watching the post-Mania Raw, and thus he might cash in there instead of Mania. So will the whole world not be watching WrestleMania?

ROLLINS WILL BE HOSTING HIS OWN “DAILY SHOW” LATER TONIGHT- I am shuddering with dread.

ORTON, ROLLINS, & THE STOOGERWEIGHTS BACKSTAGE- boring.
Orton gives Rollins friendly advice. Rollins is needlessly confrontational. JUST TURN HIM ALREADY!

DEAN AMBROSE vs. WADE BARRETT- 5.5/10
It’s been over a week, and no one has made Dean give the belt back. Why doesn’t the Authority (who hate Dean) just tell him that if he doesn’t give the belt back, they’ll fire him?
R-Truth was on commentary. Again. Just like he has been for every Wade Barrett match since Fast Lane. Michael Cole asked him why he gave the IC Title belt back to Dean Ambrose on Smackdown, and Truth replied “why not?” BECAUSE IT’S NOT HIS, TRUTH! THAT’S WHY!”
I am SOOOOO glad I chose to skip Smackdown last week, because I would have flown into a rage and been compelled for write an entire thesis on how just the clips they showed here buried the IC Title (I almost did here, too, but managed to control myself- if they bury it even more on this show, then I’m sure you’ll get the full thing).

Truth will be in the big multi-person IC Title ladder match… but apparently he is afraid of heights. Yup. We’re building this match up with COMEDY.
Truth then steals the title. Again. Just like on Smackdown. Then Luke Harper shows up and intimidates Truth into giving him the title. Yeah. This title is worth so much that R-Truth, a TRAINED WRESTLER, is willing to give it away without a fight.
Then Ambrose beats Barrett again. Why should anyone give a f*ck about this belt if the champion always loses.

MIZ & MIZ-DOW CLIPS FROM SMACKDOWN- eh.

MIZ’S COMMERCIAL PREMIERE- he has gathered all of the undercard wrestlers on the roster to watch his premiere. Why do they care? And if it’s a big deal, why aren’t the main eventers eager to see it?
Anyway, it winds up humiliating Miz, despite Sandow’s warnings. It would have been funny if they didn’t beat the joke into the ground by calling the ED pill “Niagra.” There has to have been a good wrestling-related pun for this out there.
The other problem was that the coordinated laughter from the locker room just sounded so fake. It’s almost amazing. When the screen was just Miz and Miz-Dow with Summer Rae just visible in the corner, starting to crack up but trying to hold it in, it looked so organic… but then when they zoomed out and everyone pointed at Miz and went “AHAHAHAHA!” it immediately felt fake.
Miz slapping Sandow and everything after that was really good.

BRAY WYATT PROMO- eh.
He brought that casket he built with him. Then he set it on fire to convince Taker to face him at WrestleMania. Well… that’s what worked for Kane (although Bray seems to have missed the major point that Taker was INSIDE THE CASKET when Kane set it on fire).

Soo… we in the New York market a commercial for the house show in Brooklyn on Saturday night… and it as advertising (among other things) Wyatt & Rollins vs. Cena… & ORTON. WHOOOPS!

MIX TAG TEAM MATCH: Naomi & the Usos vs. Natalya & the Upper-Cats- 2.25/10
Good… until the stupid finish. Nattie had hurt her leg, so she was on the apron. Tyson, facing down two Usos by himself, tagged her in. Nattie immediately starts to yell at him for this and gets rolled up. The problem here is that Naomi was nowhere in sight went Tyson made the tag, so when he made the tag, it was actually a great strategic move, and Nattie screwed up by getting in the ring when she could have just stood on the apron to buy Tyson or Cesaro time to recover and then tag out to one of them.
What was even the point of this? To make Nattie look like a babyface after she just turned heel last week?

Also, in Tyson’s defense, Nattie faked a leg injury to win a match on Smackdown.

CENA & STEPH SEGMENT- ATROCIOUS!
Cena cut a GREAT babyface promo that seemed to be leading to him wanting to win a bunch of matches to earn a US Title shot and beat Rusev… except then he declared himself to be a participant in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale (which will be abbreviated ATGMBR from here on out) which kind of killed Cena’s promo for me because he isn’t doing what he said and dusting himself off and trying to climb back up the mountain; he is saying that the mountain he just fell off of is too hard, so he’ll go climb that mountain over there instead.
Then things got worse as Steph came out and asked Cena “since when to wrestles just go around declaring themselves as participants in matches?” Wasn’t that what happened with the ATGMBR last year? And with the Royal Rumble most years?
Oh. Wow. Cena made the same exact point as me.
For some reason Steph somehow interpreted Cena calling the ATGMBR a “prize” and putting it over as a big accomplishment as burying it. Then she showed a picture of her young self with Andre and talked about how Andre was her friend, and got all pissed off and emotional and it was really weird because it seems like Steph should be the babyface except that she is being completely irrational about Cena somehow supposedly burying the match. Then Cena called her a bitch for no reason. Then Steph said that because Cena has been an enemy of the Authority, she won’t give him a rematch against Rusev… okay... but that wasn’t what he came out here to ask for. Cena said he shouldn’t be left off of the Mania card, so Steph went on this tirade about how WWE doesn’t need him and she is going to leave him off of WrestleMania- and the smarky crowd pop huge, of course-
And then Curtis Axel came out and was delusional and sucked up to Steph, and we somehow got an “AXELMANIA!” chant. Steph then booked Cena vs. Axel so that Cena could “prove himself.” WHAT?! What can fifteen-time world champion John Cena possibly prove by beating Michael McJobbercutty? Then Steph finished by telling Cena that the only way that he would get a rematch against Rusev at WrestleMania would be if Rusev changed his mind.
I am complete dumbfounded by this whole thing. Why was the ATGMBR even mentioned at all here? If you take it out of the picture, this mostly makes sense, but with it in here, the whole segment felt completely scattered- like someone put the pages of the script in the wrong order and a page with a segment hyping up the ATGMBR got inserted in the middle of Cena and Steph’s US Title segment, but no one noticed.

CURTIS AXEL vs. JOHN CENA- DUD!
Cena squashed him, except they waited around between moves for Axel to flail his arms, so it was horribly boring.

RUSEV PROMO- he came out and announced that he would not give Cena a rematch at WrestleMania… which he had already announced last week.
Then the Russian flag was unfurled behind Cena, and we got an amazing image that I’m sure will be turned into a meme on the wrestling forums of Cena standing there in the ring with the Russian flag proudly hanging in the background.

TRIPLE H & BOOKER T SEGMENT- a long, boring, waste of time, but at least it resulted in Booker T being fired and this removed from commentar-
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
HUNTER YOU F*CKING TROLL!

WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: Nikki Bella(c) (w/Brie Bella) vs. Paige- 2.25/10
Paige is about to win when Brie interferes for the DQ. AJ maker her big return in her home market to make the save.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS AJ & PAIGE- Paige was pointlessly confrontational, but then went out of her way to point out that she has always respected AJ. It didn’t seem like with how needlessly confrontational she was being.
AJ was great here, and uttered the phrase “give Divas a chance” which got a disappointingly small pop.

THE DAILY SHOW WITH SETH ROLLINS- bad.
It apparently took John Stewart two hours to get from his studio to the Prudential Center… which means he obviously took a car because if he had taken the subway to the PATH and walked a few blocks he’d have made it an hour at most.
First Rollins tells the predictably dumb jokes for too long. Then John Stewart comes out and says that Seth hasn’t earned his way to the top like the great wrestlers of the past… except that the things he accused Seth of never having done (fought through injuries, faced “the establishment”) are plain inaccurate.
Rollins is about to throttle Stewart when Randy Orton comes out, which causes a distraction, allowing Stewart to kick Seth in the nuts and run away.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS JOHN STEWART- clearly just WWE trying to get John Stewart on TV as much as possible in the hopes that someone will tune in, see him, and decide to watch the rest of the show.

LUKE HARPER vs. DANIEL BRYAN- 4.75/10 (but about as good as possible, given the time they were given.
Surprisingly, during this match, no one came out to get the IC Title belt.

POST- MATCH SEGMENT- Barrett gets his title back. Then Ambrose steals it from him. Then Harper beat up Ambrose and took the title from him. Then Harper went to go take a nap in the corner, at which point R-Truth apparated to ringside and took the title belt from him. Harper intimidated him, so Truth gave the belt back, but Harper beat Truth up anyway, and Truth has been such a twerp that I popped for this. Harper finally walked off with the bel- no. Wait. Ziggler superkicked him and took the belt.
Daniel Bryan hung out by the announcers’ table and ignored this whole mess of stupidity, but then randomly stole Dolph’s thunder by doing “YES!” chants.

ALUNDRA BLAYZE HOF VIDEO PACKAGE- a great example of propaganda
They had a clip of Heyman saying that her dropping the Women’s Title into a trash can on Nitro “completely changed the perception of women in this industry to this very day,” which is a fantastic example of how to take a statement out of context, because while they wanted this to sound like a positive, it was this event that made Vince totally give up on female wrestlers as athletes.
They also called it “one of the most rebellious acts in sports entertainment history,” which is funny because Alundra herself has spent the past decade or so saying “I didn’t want to do it, but Bischoff made me.”
This whole thing did a very good job of making someone who isn’t Hall of Fame-worthy look like she might be.

ROLLINS, ORTON & THE STOOGES BACKSTAGE- decent.
I particularly liked the way that Orton was a heel, but structured his promo in such a way that he got cheap pops because he will be turning babyface at some point soon.

PAUL HEYMAN PROMO- BEST THING ON THE SHOW BY MILES!

ROMAN REIGNS vs. SETH ROLLINS (w/the Authority)- 6.5/10
Roman Reigns fought the Authority in a match build around the Authority interfering. It’s the same thing that’s been happening for nine months now. Not only did Rollins get the pin, but the ref was actually distracted when he rolled Roman up, so he really had Roman pinned for at least a five count, making Roman look like a chump.
This was all done to build up to Orton’s eventual turn on Seth Rollins… which actually happened MONTHS ago. So they just beat the next face of the company a few weeks before his coronation for the sake of an angle that didn’t even need to be happening because they already built it up perfectly, but, for some inexplicable reason, decided to backtrack.

A bad, boring Raw. It doesn’t feel like they’re building up to WrestleMania at all. It barely feels like they’re building up to a PPV at all.

Also, for the record: I almost went to this show but decided to save up for Summer Slam tickets instead, so the guy with the “Corporate Kane Section” sign is not me.





STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Booker T (about Roman Reigns)- “Do you think he bought a ticket to see Seth Rollins tonight? I don’t think so!”
No, Booker. I don’t think Roman Reigns bought a ticket at all because HE WORKS HERE! Has for years now! HE’S ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST STARS!

[Big Red Machine]

Mike Sempervive said that he loved the show and all of the angles on it, which shows that his puro obsession has completely ruined his brain.

[cero2k]

Mike Sempervive said that he loved the show and all of the angles on it, which shows that his puro obsession has completely ruined his brain.

i was gonna make a comment by comment response, but it's too much.

I for once liked parts of this RAW.

The whole IC title storyline is really attractive to me, they've made me care more about who will end up with the title at WM than any other story in WWE. You ask how can we care about the title when the champ loses all the time, well, you have 5 other guys that are somewhat proven to be better than the champion, so we have an actual race to see who wins the title. we have 1 champ, 4 guys that legit deserve the title shot and have proven to beat the champ, and one huge ass monster. All a bunch of great wrestlers and ladders. There's nothing wrong with this at all. Why doesn't the authority ask everyone to give the title back to Barrett? why would they, it's not kinderganden, making the wrestlers turn it in would make them seem like children playing around. R-Truth is being great now that he's back to crazy R-Truth.

I liked the Steph/Cena thing. Again, i didn't see anything wrong with it. I loved Steph's promo, i'm always in for heels calling out the stupidity or bs that faces say. Cena was his usual positive way and I liked that he in someway was putting over the ARMBAR (Andre Roussimoff Memorial BAttle Royal), and Axel is the greatest thing in WWE right now, he's making something funny and worth watching out of a plothole.

i'm not gonna comment on the rest since i really have no interest in anything else that's going on or i likely just agree with your review points.

[Big Red Machine]

i was gonna make a comment by comment response, but it's too much.

I for once liked parts of this RAW.

The whole IC title storyline is really attractive to me, they've made me care more about who will end up with the title at WM than any other story in WWE. You ask how can we care about the title when the champ loses all the time, well, you have 5 other guys that are somewhat proven to be better than the champion, so we have an actual race to see who wins the title. we have 1 champ, 4 guys that legit deserve the title shot and have proven to beat the champ, and one huge ass monster. All a bunch of great wrestlers and ladders. There's nothing wrong with this at all. Why doesn't the authority ask everyone to give the title back to Barrett? why would they, it's not kinderganden, making the wrestlers turn it in would make them seem like children playing around. R-Truth is being great now that he's back to crazy R-Truth.

Why would they make him give the title back? If I steal your TV, wouldn't you want the cops to catch me and make me give it back? This is a championship belt. It's supposed to be IMPORTANT.

As for the story of the whole thing. the problem is in the way it is being portrayed. If they had done something like have all of these guys trade wins while the belt was being stolen back and forth, they could make an elimination match or something out of it. Or if they had to do a latter match, they could have Steph come out and get fed up with people stealing the belt, and then announce that she will keep the belt until Mania where they will have a ladder match for it (actually, that would be pretty decent if they had set it up with some sort of scenario where multiple guys pin Barrett at the same time in a title match, and the stealing of the belt back and forth is a result of everyone claiming to be the rightful champion).
Instead, what WWE did was announce that Barrett would be "defending the title in a ladder match against multiple opponents"- why? Just for sh*ts and giggles- and then they did this stupid "everyone is stealing the belt now" story as a way to fill in who the "multiple opponents" will be, like there is some rule that if you have physical possession of the belt for more than five minutes, you get a title shot. It feels like the Hardcore Title with 24/7 rules: a big joke.

Oh, and your big scary monster just jobbed in six minutes.

I liked the Steph/Cena thing. Again, i didn't see anything wrong with it. I loved Steph's promo, i'm always in for heels calling out the stupidity or bs that faces say. Cena was his usual positive way and I liked that he in someway was putting over the ARMBAR (Andre Roussimoff Memorial BAttle Royal), and Axel is the greatest thing in WWE right now, he's making something funny and worth watching out of a plothole.

Heels calling out BS? What about Cena? Why is Steph all of a sudden getting very angry about him declaring his participation in the ARMBAR (which is GENIUS, btw) when that's how everyone else does it, and how almost everyone else did it for the rumble, too?

The thing with Axel is that said plothole was closed off the very first time Axel came out to complain, when Ambrose threw him over the top rope and said "Now you're eliminated." Continuing on with it just makes him look like a delusional nutjob.

[cero2k]

Why would they make him give the title back? If I steal your TV, wouldn't you want the cops to catch me and make me give it back? This is a championship belt. It's supposed to be IMPORTANT.

As for the story of the whole thing. the problem is in the way it is being portrayed. If they had done something like have all of these guys trade wins while the belt was being stolen back and forth, they could make an elimination match or something out of it. Or if they had to do a latter match, they could have Steph come out and get fed up with people stealing the belt, and then announce that she will keep the belt until Mania where they will have a ladder match for it (actually, that would be pretty decent if they had set it up with some sort of scenario where multiple guys pin Barrett at the same time in a title match, and the stealing of the belt back and forth is a result of everyone claiming to be the rightful champion).
Instead, what WWE did was announce that Barrett would be "defending the title in a ladder match against multiple opponents"- why? Just for sh*ts and giggles- and then they did this stupid "everyone is stealing the belt now" story as a way to fill in who the "multiple opponents" will be, like there is some rule that if you have physical possession of the belt for more than five minutes, you get a title shot. It feels like the Hardcore Title with 24/7 rules: a big joke.

Oh, and your big scary monster just jobbed in six minutes.

if your brother takes something from you, do you tell the cops or your parents? no, you go and take it yourself. the only failure is that Barrett is not more pissed off about it. Would WWE want to have a WRESTLER in their roster that doesn't have the pants to go and take his title back? Of course not, they don't want wimps. This is actually something i'd like to see, for hunter to give Barrett an ultimatum that if he doesn't get the title back, he's getting stripped of it, but that would make him look face-ish.

aside from Harper, who barely got into the thing and will likely pin him soon, they all have pins on Barrett, so it's not like it's random 'i grab the title and get myself into the match', they all have a good reason to be in the match. Did it have to be a ladder match? no, but why not. And of course they could have done this more serious and all, but this is WWE, what can you expect. Like i mentioned, this is not a typical feud where they all trade wins and we know who has the upper hand, this is just a race between all guys that are worthy for the title over the actual champ, to which point, a ladder match kinda works.

among the pile of shit that WWE sunken themselves into, this is looking promising, if only for the match at WM (which likely will open the show)

Heels calling out BS? What about Cena? Why is Steph all of a sudden getting very angry about him declaring his participation in the ARMBAR (which is GENIUS, btw) when that's how everyone else does it, and how almost everyone else did it for the rumble, too?

The thing with Axel is that said plothole was closed off the very first time Axel came out to complain, when Ambrose threw him over the top rope and said "Now you're eliminated." Continuing on with it just makes him look like a delusional nutjob.

because she's a heel and she's obviously doing it to mess with Cena, but even then, I'm sure you've mention this more than once about why people are allowed to add themselves to matches themselves, and when one finally calls them out, you think it's BS?

yeah, but delusional nutjob is getting him on tv and it's far more entertaining than pretty much anything going on

[Big Red Machine]

Why would they make him give the title back? If I steal your TV, wouldn't you want the cops to catch me and make me give it back? This is a championship belt. It's supposed to be IMPORTANT.

As for the story of the whole thing. the problem is in the way it is being portrayed. If they had done something like have all of these guys trade wins while the belt was being stolen back and forth, they could make an elimination match or something out of it. Or if they had to do a latter match, they could have Steph come out and get fed up with people stealing the belt, and then announce that she will keep the belt until Mania where they will have a ladder match for it (actually, that would be pretty decent if they had set it up with some sort of scenario where multiple guys pin Barrett at the same time in a title match, and the stealing of the belt back and forth is a result of everyone claiming to be the rightful champion).
Instead, what WWE did was announce that Barrett would be "defending the title in a ladder match against multiple opponents"- why? Just for sh*ts and giggles- and then they did this stupid "everyone is stealing the belt now" story as a way to fill in who the "multiple opponents" will be, like there is some rule that if you have physical possession of the belt for more than five minutes, you get a title shot. It feels like the Hardcore Title with 24/7 rules: a big joke.

Oh, and your big scary monster just jobbed in six minutes.

if your brother takes something from you, do you tell the cops or your parents? no, you go and take it yourself. the only failure is that Barrett is not more pissed off about it. Would WWE want to have a WRESTLER in their roster that doesn't have the pants to go and take his title back? Of course not, they don't want wimps. This is actually something i'd like to see, for hunter to give Barrett an ultimatum that if he doesn't get the title back, he's getting stripped of it, but that would make him look face-ish.

But they're not brothers. Wade Barrett doesn't like any of these guys. Harper doesn't like any of them, either.
As for someone complaining to Authority rather than having the balls to try taking it back himself... that's what heels do. There's a reason it's always heels who bring lawyers into things. It's just a heel move, like Rollins, Ambrose, and the MITB briefcase.

Hunter giving Barrett and ultimatum would work, and it would play into your idea that he needs to be a big boy and do it himself. He wouldn't be a babyface being persecuted. He'd be a heel being ordered to grow a pair.

aside from Harper, who barely got into the thing and will likely pin him soon, they all have pins on Barrett, so it's not like it's random 'i grab the title and get myself into the match', they all have a good reason to be in the match. Did it have to be a ladder match? no, but why not. And of course they could have done this more serious and all, but this is WWE, what can you expect. Like i mentioned, this is not a typical feud where they all trade wins and we know who has the upper hand, this is just a race between all guys that are worthy for the title over the actual champ, to which point, a ladder match kinda works.

And Ziggler hasn't pinned Barrett.
As I said, they COULD have done this as feud where guys trade wins. You just trade wins around the big circle of guys.

But my main issue is not with the ladder match itself. It's the way it came about. They didn't build to a big match between these guys, then announce that it would be a ladder match. They announced that Wade would be defending the title in a ladder match against X opponents where X>1... and then they started filling people into the match with their stupid, repetitive comedy angle.
It just screams to me that they had NO plan for this at all before Truth stole the belt on Smackdown. If they had, then Dean would have WON his match at Fast Lane by DQ or count-out so that he would look like he is a rightful champion the way that Bryan and Truth theoretically do for having actually defeated Barrett. Dean didn't win at all. He lost by DQ.
What can I expect from WWE? MINIMUM COMPETENCE would be nice. This is WRESTLE-F*CKING MANIA! Look at New Japan. When you look back on everything did they did from July 2014 until the Dome Show, it's pretty damn clear that they had the important parts of every PPV through the Tokyo Dome all booked out by the time that they finished booking the G1. Even looking at them now, I'm certain that they have things pretty well planned out at least through Dominion (Bullet Club's domination made that clear). By the end of 2014, WWE seems to have had about four matches planned (Cena vs. Rusev, Reigns vs. Lesnar, Sting vs. Triple H, and Rollins vs. Orton) and were hoping for a fifth in Taker vs. Bray, but hadn't had it confirmed. I already have 90% of my WrestleMania matches locked in in my fantasy booking thread. That should tell you something. I've said it before and I'll say it again: WWE has an entire team of people whose job it is to book wrestling for a living. I am a schmoe who does it in my spare time. I should not be more organized than they are!

Heels calling out BS? What about Cena? Why is Steph all of a sudden getting very angry about him declaring his participation in the ARMBAR (which is GENIUS, btw) when that's how everyone else does it, and how almost everyone else did it for the rumble, too?

The thing with Axel is that said plothole was closed off the very first time Axel came out to complain, when Ambrose threw him over the top rope and said "Now you're eliminated." Continuing on with it just makes him look like a delusional nutjob.

because she's a heel and she's obviously doing it to mess with Cena, but even then, I'm sure you've mention this more than once about why people are allowed to add themselves to matches themselves, and when one finally calls them out, you think it's BS?

WWE at least takes the time to "confirm" that these matches have been made official off-screen. What bothers me is when two guys will make their own match and the announcer will immediately treat it as gospel without any sort of confirmation from an Authority figure.
With this particular match, it seems to have been established that this is how you enter the match, so yes, it annoys me that Steph is suddenly calling Cena out for it. I get that Steph is a heel, but I found the whole thing completely confusing (maybe some clarification from the announcers that Steph was full of sh*t would have helped).

yeah, but delusional nutjob is getting him on tv and it's far more entertaining than pretty much anything going on

See... I don't find it entertaining at all. I find it stupid.

[cero2k]

[quote="Big Red Machine"
But they're not brothers. Wade Barrett doesn't like any of these guys. Harper doesn't like any of them, either.
As for someone complaining to Authority rather than having the balls to try taking it back himself... that's what heels do. There's a reason it's always heels who bring lawyers into things. It's just a heel move, like Rollins, Ambrose, and the MITB briefcase.
but he's a grown fighter in a company about fighting, go and take it! and yeah, heels do that, the wimpy scaredcat heels, something that Barrett is not really, so he shouldn't be there being a tattletale.


And Ziggler hasn't pinned Barrett.
As I said, they COULD have done this as feud where guys trade wins. You just trade wins around the big circle of guys.
Ziggler pinned Barrett on Feb 23. and yeah, they could, but it doesn't change anything, for all i know, it's best to keep them for later story after WM, at this point, without trading wins, i could totally see Ziggler, Dragon, and Ambrose walk out champs, if they start trading wins, then you start getting the idea of who's getting pushed over the other.

But my main issue is not with the ladder match itself. It's the way it came about. They didn't build to a big match between these guys, then announce that it would be a ladder match. They announced that Wade would be defending the title in a ladder match against X opponents where X>1... and then they started filling people into the match with their stupid, repetitive comedy angle.
It just screams to me that they had NO plan for this at all before Truth stole the belt on Smackdown. If they had, then Dean would have WON his match at Fast Lane by DQ or count-out so that he would look like he is a rightful champion the way that Bryan and Truth theoretically do for having actually defeated Barrett. Dean didn't win at all. He lost by DQ.
What can I expect from WWE? MINIMUM COMPETENCE would be nice. This is WRESTLE-F*CKING MANIA! Look at New Japan. When you look back on everything did they did from July 2014 until the Dome Show, it's pretty damn clear that they had the important parts of every PPV through the Tokyo Dome all booked out by the time that they finished booking the G1. Even looking at them now, I'm certain that they have things pretty well planned out at least through Dominion (Bullet Club's domination made that clear). By the end of 2014, WWE seems to have had about four matches planned (Cena vs. Rusev, Reigns vs. Lesnar, Sting vs. Triple H, and Rollins vs. Orton) and were hoping for a fifth in Taker vs. Bray, but hadn't had it confirmed. I already have 90% of my WrestleMania matches locked in in my fantasy booking thread. That should tell you something. I've said it before and I'll say it again: WWE has an entire team of people whose job it is to book wrestling for a living. I am a schmoe who does it in my spare time. I should not be more organized than they are!
i'm not defending WWE, i just see the positive in the shit pile. I don't approve how WWE does things, but these guys interacting with each other is making me watch the match



WWE at least takes the time to "confirm" that these matches have been made official off-screen. What bothers me is when two guys will make their own match and the announcer will immediately treat it as gospel without any sort of confirmation from an Authority figure.
With this particular match, it seems to have been established that this is how you enter the match, so yes, it annoys me that Steph is suddenly calling Cena out for it. I get that Steph is a heel, but I found the whole thing completely confusing (maybe some clarification from the announcers that Steph was full of sh*t would have helped).
but steph is not full of shit, she's just using a right she has when she decides to use it, just because they let it pass with the rest of the guys doesn't mean she can't just use it today.

[/quote]

[Big Red Machine]

[quote="Big Red Machine"
But they're not brothers. Wade Barrett doesn't like any of these guys. Harper doesn't like any of them, either.
As for someone complaining to Authority rather than having the balls to try taking it back himself... that's what heels do. There's a reason it's always heels who bring lawyers into things. It's just a heel move, like Rollins, Ambrose, and the MITB briefcase.
but he's a grown fighter in a company about fighting, go and take it! and yeah, heels do that, the wimpy scaredcat heels, something that Barrett is not really, so he shouldn't be there being a tattletale.
I think there's also something to be said for the integrity of the concept that this is a competitive athletic event. If someone stole someone's belt in UFC, the company would order him/her to give it back or else because the championship belongs to the champion and stealing the belt disrespects the company by showing a lack of respect for its referees and their rulings.

And Ziggler hasn't pinned Barrett.
As I said, they COULD have done this as feud where guys trade wins. You just trade wins around the big circle of guys.
Ziggler pinned Barrett on Feb 23. and yeah, they could, but it doesn't change anything, for all i know, it's best to keep them for later story after WM, at this point, without trading wins, i could totally see Ziggler, Dragon, and Ambrose walk out champs, if they start trading wins, then you start getting the idea of who's getting pushed over the other.
Not if you do it so that everyone gets an equal number of wins and an equal number of losses.
As for who will walk out with the belt, I can't see it being anyone but Ambrose, simply because losing would just make him look like crap. He hasn't won a singles match on a PPV since before the Shield broke up. He's supposed to be a top babyface. Dragon being in here is definitely something just thrown in so that they have something for him at Mania. Zigger, too. Harper is probably in here instead of the ARMBAR so that they have another heel and also a big guy. Truth is comedy filler.

But my main issue is not with the ladder match itself. It's the way it came about. They didn't build to a big match between these guys, then announce that it would be a ladder match. They announced that Wade would be defending the title in a ladder match against X opponents where X>1... and then they started filling people into the match with their stupid, repetitive comedy angle.
It just screams to me that they had NO plan for this at all before Truth stole the belt on Smackdown. If they had, then Dean would have WON his match at Fast Lane by DQ or count-out so that he would look like he is a rightful champion the way that Bryan and Truth theoretically do for having actually defeated Barrett. Dean didn't win at all. He lost by DQ.
What can I expect from WWE? MINIMUM COMPETENCE would be nice. This is WRESTLE-F*CKING MANIA! Look at New Japan. When you look back on everything did they did from July 2014 until the Dome Show, it's pretty damn clear that they had the important parts of every PPV through the Tokyo Dome all booked out by the time that they finished booking the G1. Even looking at them now, I'm certain that they have things pretty well planned out at least through Dominion (Bullet Club's domination made that clear). By the end of 2014, WWE seems to have had about four matches planned (Cena vs. Rusev, Reigns vs. Lesnar, Sting vs. Triple H, and Rollins vs. Orton) and were hoping for a fifth in Taker vs. Bray, but hadn't had it confirmed. I already have 90% of my WrestleMania matches locked in in my fantasy booking thread. That should tell you something. I've said it before and I'll say it again: WWE has an entire team of people whose job it is to book wrestling for a living. I am a schmoe who does it in my spare time. I should not be more organized than they are!
i'm not defending WWE, i just see the positive in the shit pile. I don't approve how WWE does things, but these guys interacting with each other is making me watch the match



WWE at least takes the time to "confirm" that these matches have been made official off-screen. What bothers me is when two guys will make their own match and the announcer will immediately treat it as gospel without any sort of confirmation from an Authority figure.
With this particular match, it seems to have been established that this is how you enter the match, so yes, it annoys me that Steph is suddenly calling Cena out for it. I get that Steph is a heel, but I found the whole thing completely confusing (maybe some clarification from the announcers that Steph was full of sh*t would have helped).
but steph is not full of shit, she's just using a right she has when she decides to use it, just because they let it pass with the rest of the guys doesn't mean she can't just use it today.
It doesn't mean that she can't, but selectively enforcing the rules is a heelish thing to do, especially against a babyface you've been feuding with, and that aspect should have been played up, rather than everyone just letting Steph's claim that Cena is somehow insulting the memory of Andre the gentle giant who was friends with a little girl go by as the gospel.

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