WWE RAW 2/23 featuring a new HoF Inducton, Drago pleased at Cena's loss, and BROOOOOOOCK LEASNAR

[Droford]

I am JAKKED for HHH/Sting.

What is "what I'd have said if this was 10 years ago"

[James Steele]

What is the point of the Bellas?

[Frank Drebin]

What is the point of the Bellas?

Service the talent

[Jaded-Dragon]

Divas match is up, maybe I should go take a pee brea...... Nevermind, match is over. I guess I should not have taken 10 seconds to decide if I was going to go or not.

[Lock Jaw]

What was the point of Brie's face turn and Paige's heel run?

Brie: No Point

Paige: Actually had a good feud with AJ Lee. Question here is "What is the reason for Paige's face turn"

[James Steele]

Sting will be ready to go. This isn't some fuck off TNA ppv. This is his final match and the biggest match of his entire career in front of 80,000+ people. Sting will find it in him and HHH is fucking gold as the heel in these situations.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Brie: No Point

Paige: Actually had a good feud with AJ Lee. Question here is "What is the reason for Paige's face turn"

Fans love her, AJ isn't there and the Bella Vs. Bella feud was atrocious.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

What was the point of Brie's face turn and Paige's heel run?

Brie Face Run Point: To keep the fans chanting YES! YES! YES! YES! and keeping Daniel Bryan in the hearts and minds of the WWE universe when he was out with injury.

[Emperor Smeat]

:love: Bushwackers

[Mercenary]

Before Demolition....yeah fuck the hof this year

[Corndad]

Can't wait to watch HOF just for this speech. If that's wrong. I don't think I want to be right.

[Droford]

This is even worse than Rikishi going in

[James Steele]

*insert Seth82 post about their time as the extremely violent Sheepherders prior to joining WWF here*

[Jazzy Foot]

I'm liking this year's HoF it's like a throwback to my childhood, Macho Man and Bushwhackers from the Fed Years, Rikishi from the Attitude Era, Madusa supposedly on the way and Arnie with all his big movies from the 80s and 90s.

That's not overlooking Macho Man's WCW years but not sure if WWE are going to make a big deal about that.

Definately a HoF I can "connect" with as I'm sure a lot of fans will.

[Frank Drebin]

Soon everyone will be in the hall of fame and they'll have to create a VIP section with bottle service.

[Corndad]

AxelMania!

[Frank Drebin]

Love Axel's theme

[Corndad]

HAHAHA I love they are still running with this.

[James Steele]

This Axelmania thing could get over huge.

[Droford]

Lol Axelmania shirt

[Jazzy Foot]

Sting will be ready to go. This isn't some fuck off TNA ppv. This is his final match and the biggest match of his entire career in front of 80,000+ people. Sting will find it in him and HHH is fucking gold as the heel in these situations.

I disagree on that point but agree with the latter, it will be the biggest of his career and probs Triple H's too and I'm excited.

[Lock Jaw]

RybAxel reunited

[Frank Drebin]

#steriodguy

[Droford]

Lol if he somehow never gets eliminated from the battle royal either

[James Steele]

I'd Mark out for a Rybaxel reunion.

[Savio]

love axel

[Frank Drebin]

Still have never figured out face Ryback's non-pyro booms....goes in the same boat as the old Sin Cara mood lighting

[Lock Jaw]

Ryback wearing his sexy Ninja Turtle costume

[Emperor Smeat]

Missed opportunity by Axel to insert himself into the WWE title match.

[Corndad]

Rybaxel Explodes!

[Frank Drebin]

Happy 35k posts Lock Jaw

[Droford]

Oh dear..

If that makes you hungry make some noise

[Corndad]

Turn your lip south... and shut your mouth. LOL Kinda love it. Someone print a damn shirt.

[Lock Jaw]

Still weird how they dropped the Ryback/Rusev feud with Ryback getting fired and never picked it up again.

Would rather Ryback be the first to defeat Rusev than John Cena.

[Frank Drebin]

AXEL MANIA!! AXEL MANIA!!

http://31.media.tumblr.com/15d03fe850324d5e51e7857984b7b30e/tumblr_mftgm4MEJK1ry031vo1_250.gif

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Before Demolition....yeah fuck the hof this year

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UHAv0Dhka84" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Frank Drebin]

inno avatar

[Mercenary]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UHAv0Dhka84" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Oh joy cant wait. Will he be alive to accept it?

[Savio]

but what about orton?

[Frank Drebin]

Wondering what the plan is for the MITB case.

[Frank Drebin]

oh god...time to beat the Jon Stewart thing to death

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Did they really just replay that?

[Jazzy Foot]

Wondering what the plan is for the MITB case.

Seth Rollins' tax return forms.

[Frank Drebin]

True. He probably still has W-2's from NXT and all sorts of shit

[Jazzy Foot]

Did WWE mention it in the video? No. Sting may as well have been DEAD for the past 14 years.

No but are WWE really going to give what is strictly speaking a "rival promotion" free publicity on their flagship show?

[Jazzy Foot]

True. He probably still has W-2's from NXT and all sorts of shit

Well it'd be good to see superstars actually use it for what it was made for, come to think about it, has anybody actually ever opened the briefcase?

Did it not used to come with a $1million dollar contract AND a title shot?

[RawRocks]

Well it'd be good to see superstars actually use it for what it was made for, come to think about it, has anybody actually ever opened the briefcase?

Did it not used to come with a $1million dollar contract AND a title shot?

Dean Ambrose did.

[Lock Jaw]

http://i.imgur.com/zAf16ys.gif (http://wrestlingwithtext.com/search/rollins)

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Chappie? Johnny Five is alive and suing your ass.

[Corndad]

Which happens first, Orton turning or Sheamus showing up?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Seems like they are leaning commentary towards Cena/Bryan at Mania.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

That was kindof an F5 by Roman.

[Corndad]

I got a fever and the only prescription... is RKO

[Corndad]

I'm like... Sting LOL

[Savio]

No lesnar tonight huh?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Aww Sabu didn't show up. :(

[Lock Jaw]

Aw man, no Hillbilly Jim

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Sara Del Ray at the intro to WWE 24.

[Jazzy Foot]

I thought with it being Nashville Jeff Jarett might make a surprise return lol

[Jazzy Foot]

When is Tamina coming back?

[#1-norm-fan]

Maybe Orton felt like that one RKO was enough revenge for Rollins curb stomping him multiple times, leaving him concussed and costing him four months of his career and they can be cool with each other again.

... or something.

[Emperor Smeat]

Maybe Jamie Noble took the last sandwich Orton really wanted backstage at catering and this was his way of getting revenge. Showed mercy to Mercury and Rollins since neither went after his sandwich.

Either that or since there are 5 guys in the Authority not counting Triple H, Orton is just going to RKO them one by one until Mania.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Maybe Orton said that he fucked Nidia and Noble was like "what?!" RKO!

[Maluco]

Maybe just overtired watching it, bit hated so much of thay. It all seems so forced, with no real stories picking up any steam at all. Not invested in any of the matches for a host of reasons. Really disappointing build this year.

[Dark One]

Watching the west coast feed, and I just had to share how fucking funny it is that they had started building up the Ascension, only to have them lose to the Prime Time Players via Small Package.

Tremendous.

[#1-norm-fan]

I do prefer the Prime Time Players though. They should have gotten a push when Darren Young suddenly became likable for coming out of the closet. Sure it would have been shamelessly taking advantage of the publicity but... fuck it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was never too on-board with The Prime Time Players -- mainly because I never got past how they were feuding in NXT to the best of my knowledge, and then they suddenly became a tag team. I like the pairing now though. It seems like it would be the pragmatic decision for both guys.

Randy Orton should want to kill Seth Rollins. He should have agreed to stay in The Authority if they gave him Seth Rollins and a WWE World Title match.

[XL]

Orton was so over at the start of the show, but they booked him so that people don't know what to think of him.

I get that you make people wait for the payoff (Rollins getting an RKO) but surely they could have done it with Orton clearly defined as a face, and kept his momentum with the crowd?

Weird move.

[XL]

Also, who produced that Sting package? Surely The Authority have to give the thumbs up for whatever is run on the show? That package should have been a smear campaign against The Icon AKA The Franchise AKA The Vigilante AKA The Man They Call Sting.

Though I did love HHH being all pouty.

[XL]

Another thought;

Am I giving them too much credit to think they laid the foundation for a Reigns heel turn/alignment with Heyman here?

Roman's statement about how Lesnar won't even like him after he beats him/the way he beats him was set up to make it sound like he's saying "I'm gonna beat him do bad", but what if it was foreshadowing a screw job by Heyman? Lesnar really wouldn't like that.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The WWE doesn't seem to be too into making money recently, XL. Brock chasing a heel Roman would make too much.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seriously, wtf did they do to Orton last night? How is his masterclass in revenge meant to mean anything if he is willing to sit on that rage and work with Rollins again? Is he actually going to go "Nah jokes -- I really hate you" the week before WrestleMania?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Curtis Axel has a more clear WrestleMania program than Daniel Bryan.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, R-Truth is actually sort of in a program with Dean Ambrose at the moment. Not knocking Truth -- he's a solid talent and kind of represents what the WWE is looking for in its Superstars -- but it just feels weird.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I wonder if Randy Orton owns pants....

I watched Fastlane with a friend that had never really watched before, and she pointed out that it was weird Orton returned wearing his speedos. But she found him to be the best dressed in the 6-Man.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I want Curtis Axel to #OccupyRAW next week, and have like two fat guys and his sister start chanting "AXE!" and pointing to the sky in the ring.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They have fucked Emma. Like really bad. How can a girl that good be booked so badly in the division where basically everybody gets a turn?

[Mr. Nerfect]

John Cena should win a tournament to become the #1 Contender for the US Title, and prove himself once again, much to Lana and Rusev's chagrin. But would the WWE be able to make everybody else in the tournament look good in losing? Probably not. But the tensions built there could be used to sell the Battle Royal too. Ryback vs. Cena would be a pretty good final.

[drave]

Because she stole stuff from WallyWorld or something.

[Mr. Nerfect]

She's an Australian. You can't fault us for being convicts.

[Mr. Nerfect]

She looks appealing when she wears little clothes and she can wrestle. She's fine as a Diva.

[Ruien]

Did I really just read that Ryback is being in the battle royal? What the fudging hell. How does Rowan and Ryback not beat Big Show and Kane in a tag team match. Why the hell!

[Innovator]

#GiveTruthaChance never trended, but #GiveDivasaChance did

[XL]

Noid's faith in WWE seems to be waning. Who can blame him when "R-Truth is seemingly in a Mania programme with Dean Ambrose" is a reality.

[Mr. Nerfect]

To be honest, given how it was all being booked, I figured that it would be Ziggler & Ryback against Kane & Show...except there is just far more important stuff for the card ahead of it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Noid's faith in WWE seems to be waning. Who can blame him when "R-Truth is seemingly in a Mania programme with Dean Ambrose" is a reality.

R-Truth's a solid talent and all, and he did make a crazily entertaining heel back in 2011; but what was wrong with the Ambrose vs. Barrett story? Oh, that's right -- the WWE basically fudged it at Fastlane.

More and more it feels like what I want to see is just not being offered by the WWE. I've stopped watching RAW and SmackDown regularly. A lot of that has to do with how a lot of the talent I have been interested in have been portrayed over the past few months. Dean Ambrose, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan in particular.

* Dean Ambrose went from the cool and slightly eccentric coordinator of The Shield, to the cool renegade who used whatever fear he had of consequence as a fuel source to keep fighting, to becoming a guy who seemingly forgets the rules of matches these days. Wouldn't it be okay for the WWE to reward the fans of Dean Ambrose, that they want him to have, by tossing him a bone here or there. Couldn't Ambrose have gotten a victory over Rollins in Hell in a Cell, if it truly was meant to be their last encounter, and then have Bray Wyatt attack him? Couldn't Ambrose have won either the TLC Match, the Ambulance Match or both against Bray Wyatt? As a bad guy, can't Wyatt laugh the match off and actually be somehow scarier? Can't Ambrose have a decent run in the Royal Rumble where he actually stands out? Or can't he win the Intercontinental Title when he's been made the clear contender for it?

* The decision to put Cesaro with Paul Heyman was not a bad one. Every other decision surrounding the booking of Cesaro since then has been. Loss after loss. What good is it having a guy win the largest match in WrestleMania history if he can't beat any of those other 30 guys in straight matches over the next year? The guy should be facing John Cena at WrestleMania this year, or something. I'm glad to see him and Tyson Kidd excelling at the tag team thing, but Cesaro should really by higher.

* Daniel Bryan should have won the 2015 Royal Rumble and should be challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania this year. It's that simple.

There's still a lot of good in the WWE. I think Seth Rollins is one of the better characters the WWE has ever had, and I think there are a few who could be up there with him -- Cody Rhodes being one, but he's stuck in face-paint hissing at people and losing all the time. Paige is fucking gorgeous, and she's actually getting good at being able to shine no matter what shit the WWE saddles her with. She made that inexplicable face turn look like a piece of cake. The actual wrestling is good, when it happens. The stories are just weak and paper-thin. A real fucking shame.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I sound so negative. Sorry, guys. I'm hoping something really awesome happens to kick things into WrestleMania gear.

[Mr. Nerfect]

#GiveTruthaChance never trended, but #GiveDivasaChance did

I'm researching that now, and it appears what you say has validity to it. I remember "#TagTitles" trending too. Is that also just bullshit? Does the WWE just make up what they want to appear to be trending?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and Paul Heyman is brilliant. It's just a shame he's only really creatively involved in stuff he's directly working in. I say that because Heyman would have a lot of ideas that could be tapped, but also because the programs he has been involved in have often been repetitive fair with guys who have rich and established histories. Some of the most exciting stuff this year has been Heyman and Seth Rollins mixing it up on the mic, because they don't normally interact.

Imagine the ways Heyman could put over a guy like Dean Ambrose as a threat to him, or Paige as a threat to a female client he had. Money.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm just thinking about how much money a Ronda Rousey vs. Paige match could be if given the NXT serious treatment. The thing is, Ronda Rousey has actually been open about being willing to work for the WWE.

[loopydate]

So I've had a night to digest my live experience last night, and I'm just as annoyed about it today as I was last night. Yes, the live show is more fun than watching it on TV, but when nothing happens, it's every bit as frustrating. The Dolph/BNB match was fun, as was the tag title match. Heyman's promo was, expectedly, great. The video packages were well done.

But with five weeks until WrestleMania and the only story development we got was names for the battle royal? Maybe something happened with the IC scene, but nobody in the audience knew why R-Truth was there, and no explanation was given. No Wyatt live in the arena until the dark match, no Lesnar or Taker at all. A Sheamus highlight package during the PTP entrance, followed by the bait-and-switch of the Ascension coming out to lose. And don't get me started on the Orton/Rollins and Cena/Rusev nonsense.

I said going in that it would take a lot to bring me back into the Universe (I've watched one PPV, one Raw and one SD (both the edited Hulu versions) since the '13 Slammies). Those needs were not met last night, and my days of watching WWE are officially done.

Thank god for NXT and my tapes.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>NXT and the back catalog are the only things keeping me a proper wrestling fan. During Raw last night I had it on in the background while I focused most of my attention on my EWR game and watching a couple of Nitros.

I tune in for the PPVs because they're part of the network, but the TV is completely skippable nowadays.</font>

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>According to PWI Undertaker won't be showing up until WM. Bray Wyatt will be solely responsible for building the match up on his own.</font>

[#1-norm-fan]

Seriously, wtf did they do to Orton last night? How is his masterclass in revenge meant to mean anything if he is willing to sit on that rage and work with Rollins again? Is he actually going to go "Nah jokes -- I really hate you" the week before WrestleMania?

I'm guessing they're going with the story of him actually TRYING to get along with Rollins before finally snapping. Which is fucking stupid. The guy had his skull stomped until he was concussed and had to miss 4 months of his career and he comes back trying to make things work. I feel like they've done similar things somewhat recently with guys who made this big face turn and then the next week, instead of carrying on with the momentum they started to build from it, they say "Oh, no. Maybe he's NOT a face yet..." It's horrible.

Not to mention what a pussy Orton looks like for being cool with the guys who tried to murder him as opposed to immediately looking for blood. That's not the kind of guy people wanna root for.

[Simple Fan]

Yea I was hoping for a RKO fest. Orton is the best when he has no allies and just hears the voices.

[VSG]

<font color=goldenrod>According to PWI Undertaker won't be showing up until WM. Bray Wyatt will be solely responsible for building the match up on his own.</font>

Absolutely ridiculous, if true. Here people are complaining about silent Sting and this makes it look like a heated debate.

[Emperor Smeat]

<font color=goldenrod>According to PWI Undertaker won't be showing up until WM. Bray Wyatt will be solely responsible for building the match up on his own.</font>

Seems like a no win situation for Bray in the end. He's having to do all the work but the reward won't be anywhere as good in the end.

If he loses, character is in worse shape that last year's Mania and all the build up was just to feed Taker's status who's going to disappear again. Ambrose also takes a hit since he was the one who was fed the most to build up Bray.

If he wins, no real payoff unless Taker actually retires for Bray to get a "streak killing" type rub. Taker doing the annual hibernation doesn't really help Bray considering the tone of Bray's promos.

[XL]

<font color=goldenrod>According to PWI Undertaker won't be showing up until WM. Bray Wyatt will be solely responsible for building the match up on his own.</font>

Had a feeling it would go this way.

I'm guessing they're going with the story of him actually TRYING to get along with Rollins before finally snapping. Which is fucking stupid. The guy had his skull stomped until he was concussed and had to miss 4 months of his career and he comes back trying to make things work. I feel like they've done similar things somewhat recently with guys who made this big face turn and then the next week, instead of carrying on with the momentum they started to build from it, they say "Oh, no. Maybe he's NOT a face yet..." It's horrible.

Not to mention what a pussy Orton looks like for being cool with the guys who tried to murder him as opposed to immediately looking for blood. That's not the kind of guy people wanna root for.

Was waiting for some kind of triggered pulled all night. Thought for sure it was gonna come when he got Seth alone in the locker room.

[Jazzy Foot]

<font color=goldenrod>According to PWI Undertaker won't be showing up until WM. Bray Wyatt will be solely responsible for building the match up on his own.</font>

Great move imo. Gives Taker more time to get in shape and get ready for Mania.

[rad dggy dg]

new wrold order should come back and team up with the authority in a big angle called everyone from the 90s finally retires and stops main eventing ppvs

[Jazzy Foot]

Seems like a no win situation for Bray in the end. He's having to do all the work but the reward won't be anywhere as good in the end.

If he loses, character is in worse shape that last year's Mania and all the build up was just to feed Taker's status who's going to disappear again. Ambrose also takes a hit since he was the one who was fed the most to build up Bray.

If he wins, no real payoff unless Taker actually retires for Bray to get a "streak killing" type rub. Taker doing the annual hibernation doesn't really help Bray considering the tone of Bray's promos.

The tone of promos has lead me to believe that this is/was set to be a retirement match for the Undertaker as it would be stupid as you said to have Wyatt lose at two consecutive Manias as it doesn't help build his character, whereas two consecutive losses for the Undertaker would consolidate his retirement. Some say he would never retire on a loss but Flair did right?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm guessing they're going with the story of him actually TRYING to get along with Rollins before finally snapping. Which is fucking stupid. The guy had his skull stomped until he was concussed and had to miss 4 months of his career and he comes back trying to make things work. I feel like they've done similar things somewhat recently with guys who made this big face turn and then the next week, instead of carrying on with the momentum they started to build from it, they say "Oh, no. Maybe he's NOT a face yet..." It's horrible.

Not to mention what a pussy Orton looks like for being cool with the guys who tried to murder him as opposed to immediately looking for blood. That's not the kind of guy people wanna root for.

This seems about right, and it is fucking bullshit. Orton comes back and wants blood. The announcers should have treated it like a ghost had walked into the arena. They thought his career was ended at the hands of Seth Rollins and The Authority, but now he's back!

It makes sense for The Authority to try and win back Orton. He's a mega-star. Sell that valuable nature to Orton, by all means. Orton should have told them to go fuck themselves, or used the business meeting to exploit The Authority and set up Seth Rollins. But to actually act like "Nah, it's cool, I can forget about that" in regards to the attack? What the actual fuck.

When he does snap, it's going to feel real soft. Yes, Orton is a survivor and has teamed with enemies for the sake of his career before. But The Authority tried to rob him of that career. That little detail has now been washed away. A fucking waste.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Orton just no-sold his own hatred.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm on board with the people who are pretty much exclusively really into NXT these days.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I'm on board with the people who are pretty much exclusively really into NXT these days.

I don't want to be exclusively into NXT, but they aren't giving us much to work with here.

[Damian Rey]

What std said. The booking quality of the shows are so different it's almost hard to believe both are ran by the same company.

Tuning into raw is habitual at this point in hopes of being drawn in rather than suckered in.

[loopydate]

Two things I forgot to mention:

1) Natalya was hurting bad after the tag title match. That bump she took off the apron was nasty live.

2) Big Show looks rough. He's still a bump machine for a guy his size, but he was the last one out of the ring each time the Authority came out. He stepped between the ropes instead of over them. He walked really gingerly down the steps each time, too. Weirdest part, though, after the dark main event, he was the last man in the ring. His team lost, but after everybody else had left, they played his music. It was like it was his farewell moment or something.

[Jazzy Foot]

Rock 'n' Roll Buck Zumhofe or whatever his name was.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wow, that is weird. It wouldn't surprise me if Big Show is on his way out. If that's the case, I could see him winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and then retiring.