WWE RAW 1/5/15 featuring the Authoritah, non-smoking ambulances, and Ziggy regretting being a Cena Guy

[Lock Jaw]

Remember how much The Usos were jerked around before getting where they are today?

[Innovator]

Where are they?

[NoyaPerez20]

Remember how much The Usos were jerked around before getting where they are today?

Were they shat on by THE WHOLE commentary team in one of their matches?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Cole didn't.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Where are they?

tag team of 2014 and two time tag team champions. Plus one has a hot wife.

[Dark One]

Kinda with Noya on this. No matter how you might feel about Ascension or their promo, it's never a good idea to shit all over someone on commentary in only their second match on the main roster.

Here's the thing, the writing is not their fault, but the guys who wrote this stuff behind the scenes. The fact that the guys who wrote have them mention Demolition and Road Warriors is stupid. Because the moment they wrote that promo they made the Ascension seem like the Warriors wannabes.

The booking of them was horrible. First match on Raw they defeated Miz and Mizdow, and than the next night on Raw they are fighting jobbers. Why? Isn't that some sort of depush for them, going from facing former Tag Team Champions, to facing two jobbers (well, mostly one jobber) the next week? Isn't that contradicting?

And the way they do it with the NXT taping, where the Ascension just keeps on losing, isn't it kind off damaging the Ascension? Because those who watch NXT see this guys get their face smashed by Balor and Itami, and yet we're supposed to believe that on Raw they are this dominating Tag Team?

If it was done right, the Ascension's recording on NXT would've been scrapped. So that way it won't look terrible on them. But instead, the booking, the tapings, the writing, basically everything from the moment they debuted on the main roster was pure terrible. And JBL on commentary basically killed them in front of millions of people who watch Raw live. That was the final nail in the coffin.

Unless, off course, if it turns out to be an APA vs. Ascension build up. Than it would make some sense, but I just don't think that they will bring in Faarooq for one night only to get squashed by Viktor and Konnor. I don't see that happening.

I can agree with these points, and appreciation for the well-developed response.

But, really, if they make it a year, no one's really going to remember this shitty four minute segment (sorry Rollermacka!). If it becomes endemic and happens every single night, then we can jump to BURRRRRIED status.

It may not have been their "fault" to say that, and while it was a dumb segment that was arguably made worse by JBL burying them... It's still stupid as hell to have two guys say they're better than some legendary teams in the business, and then beat up a fat midget in a blue singlet with no name in 30 seconds like it's a big deal. You can try and sell that as a big deal, but it's going to be faceitious and forced.

I can't believe this is still a thing. It was a stupid promo and a stupid reaction. It happened; maybe it'll be their gimmick. Maybe no one will remember it in a month. This isn't like Shockmaster tripping on the set or Mark Henry being the father of a hand. We've seen way worse. Their gimmick isn't dead because JBL rode some stupid comment into the ground. They're going to be more in trouble if they just keep beating up Rollermacka's distraction midgets for two more years with stiff-lite offense.

[Vastardikai]

My big issue with it is this: first off, it's a guy named Konnor talking tough. How intimidating...

secondly, it's not like they can use their remarks to set up a program to get put over by the Road Warriors. I somehow doubt they're going to bury the hatchet with Bill Eadie so that Demolition can job to them.

Third, they should WELCOME comparisons to those two teams, even if they don't compare favorably to them. I mean, Demolition was one of the top teams in the '80s, and rivaled Hogan himself in popularity. Road Warriors were one of the biggest attractions in history of the business.

In essence, don't mention a former attraction to get heat like that unless you're talking about being bigger than they ever were.

[Shisen Kopf]

The whole wwe has been PrettyAwful lately. I rarely watch Raw anymore. Probably gonna watch the Rumble and Rasslemania but after that I may think about dumping the WWE network and get MLB TV instead. Tigers wooooooo!

[XL]

Shame, too. Not really his fault. How do you get over being an "accomplished introvert" with a shitty theme and a losing record and no angles to expand the character?

Pfffffftttt. The dude has been given loads of angles. He was a mostly mute brute who did the bidding of Bray Wyatt, then he had a fascination with Renee for 2 weeks, then he hated bullies and had a genius IQ for 2 weeks. Loads of angles/characteristics.

Seriously, do any of us have any idea what John Cena will do next week or going forward? While not on as huge of a level, this is almost as big of a potential crossroads/major shift for John Cena's character since his loss to The Rock. I sincerely believe Cena's character could get more interesting than it's been in a long time. He's basically gotten the shit beaten out of him for the past 6 months, not had a legitimate big match win in as much time, and now he has screwed over his friends, going to lose at Royal Rumble, and for the first time in his career be in a non-title match 2 years in a row at WrestleMania. There is no way a catchphrase and new t-shirt solve this dilemma for the Cena character.

This might be part of the pessimism; we know - absolutely KNOW - that John "Teflon" Cena won't be affected by any of this. Nothing, NOTHING, sticks when it comes to Cena.

This time could be different but chances are it won't be.

I mean, it's true.

I loved the earlier incarnation of the Ascension, but if they're going to do the same "beat up two random dudes off the street in 30 seconds" schtick for a year that they did in NXT, I couldn't possibly care less if they get buried on commentary. They were built up as this world-beating tag team in NXT, but 90% of their time was just beating up backyard wrestling looking guys. It's not even like THE RYBACK where their offense is impressive. They just punch and kick kind of hard, a lot.

Dunno. They should do what they did on NXT; they need to be established to the wider audience as a dominant team. They will already rush things with The Asension; The Usos have the belts back with the express purpose of dropping them to Konnor/Victor, then what? They've conquered the mountain after a couple months, now what?

[#1-norm-fan]

Seriously, do any of us have any idea what John Cena will do next week or going forward? While not on as huge of a level, this is almost as big of a potential crossroads/major shift for John Cena's character since his loss to The Rock.

Well if this potential lives up to half of the major shift in Cena's character that occurred when he lost to The Rock then WE ARE IN FOR A TREAT!

[#1-norm-fan]

Really, I don't have that much of a problem with the firings outside of it being kind of overdone. But how many times are we supposed to think "this is the beginning of soething huge" and have the guys involved be in the same position a month or two later before it becomes pretty obvious that the writers' ADD will kick in and nothing will come from it. How can you be hopeful in the potential of something WWE does anymore. Fuck potential. I wanna actually SEE some stuff come from potential first before it excites me in the least.

Survivor Series was supposed to be a huge breakthrough moment for Ziggler. It was a couple weeks before the guy that match built up as "Mr. All Heart, Never Say Die" was getting screwed out of matches and losing in 8 minutes on Raw again.

[Corndad]

I'm intrigued how they bring back the "fired" guys. Do you have a stand-in ala The Yes Movement this time lead by Cena taking over the ring?

Does the Authority give them one more chance to try and win Rumble to save their jobs since it's "Best for Business" ? That would at least add another layer to Rumble that lacks stories minus Roman or Bryan.

Sting involved in bringing them back?

When they do come back, especially Dolph and to an extent Ryback, will be over HUGE heading into Mania season. That was my one wish in this whole Survivor Series deal was that Dolph got put over enough to get a big one on one match at Mania. Dude has earned it.

[Vastardikai]

Apart from my joking about the Machines, I'd do it like this:

Have them take part in a triple threat match for their job back and one spot in the Rumble. Whoever wins (read: Ziggler) will celebrate getting their job back, only to find out their spot in the Rumble is... Number 1.

The Ryback should make life just miserable enough for Rusev that Lana DEMANDS that they bring him back just so her charge can take care of him, once and for all.

As for Rowan... fuck him, he sucks.

[erickman]

I'm intrigued how they bring back the "fired" guys. Do you have a stand-in ala The Yes Movement this time lead by Cena taking over the ring?

Does the Authority give them one more chance to try and win Rumble to save their jobs since it's "Best for Business" ? That would at least add another layer to Rumble that lacks stories minus Roman or Bryan.

Sting involved in bringing them back?

When they do come back, especially Dolph and to an extent Ryback, will be over HUGE heading into Mania season. That was my one wish in this whole Survivor Series deal was that Dolph got put over enough to get a big one on one match at Mania. Dude has earned it.

yeah i bet it will be sting they will be part of team sting, if they want to go back wcw wargames have team sting vs team hyman

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I really liked when JBL debuted on Smackdown and Tazz said that he couldn't hold Ted DiBiase's bag.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I get both sides of The Ascension thing. It felt to me like JBL was just trying to make them sound despicable. I think the most annoying thing about them so far is that their NXT history hasn't been mentioned. Why not point out that they are the longest running NXT champions of any sort in that brand's history? Try and use them to get people to get the WWE Network and watch NXT.

I'm not sure how Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback get their jobs back, but the only one I am especially interested in is Dolph Ziggler. I was hoping we'd get Cena vs. Cesaro at this year's WrestleMania, but right now, Cena vs. Ziggler seems like the bigger deal. Maybe Ziggler attacks Cena during the Rumble and costs him his shot at the WWE World Title?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm more interested in Cesaro and Tyson Kidd as a tag team. I would actually like to see them be the heel duo that takes the titles from The Usos.

[Shadrick]

Well if this potential lives up to half of the major shift in Cena's character that occurred when he lost to The Rock then WE ARE IN FOR A TREAT!

legit lol'd