WWE RAW IN MEMORY OF EMMA IN HONOR OF MENINGITIS 10/23/17

[A.J.K]

Have a feeling Kurt and Shane will be Team Captains.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Kurt angle going to German Suplex every last one of them.

If he doesn't hang himself from his office ceiling fan tonight.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Have a feeling Kurt and Shane will be Team Captains.

Very Astute.

[Evil Vito]

Chad Gable beating the shit out of Jason Jordan made me sad :(

[Tom Guycott]

Emma/Asuka rematch already? Hm. First I've ever heard of an encore performance of a funeral.

[Sepholio]

That was absolutely retarded.

[Loose Cannon]

i don't watch Smackdown. who was the bid dude in the beanie? he looked like Rusev a little. or was that Rusev lol

[Emperor Smeat]

i don't watch Smackdown. who was the bid dude in the beanie? he looked like Rusev a little. or was that Rusev lol

It was but the beanie part is just something he wore recently for a backstage photo with the Usos.

https://i.redd.it/8viycxmg3atz.jpg

[Sepholio]

RAW going to win ALL the matches at Survivor Series.

[Evil Vito]

Considering that last year they had Bayley partake in a 5 on 1 group beatdown of Nikki Bella, I can't say that any of this surprised me.

For whatever reason, WWE just think brand pride should supersede face and heel alignments for a month.

[Loose Cannon]

It was but the beanie part is just something he wore recently for a backstage photo with the Usos.

https://i.redd.it/8viycxmg3atz.jpg

LOL so i guess he's done with the whole Bulgaria gimmick?

[slik]

SD team should be KO, Sami, Nakamura, AJ and RUSEV

[owenbrown]

So how does Daniel Bryan respond to this? Does he denounce Shane or applaud him?

[RP]

OWENBROWN STFU

[Sepholio]

I hope Kurt beats up Daniel Bryan tomorrow night.

[Evil Vito]

Why the invading brand have to automatically be positioned as heels no matter who is there is beyond me. Ludicrous to just have half the roster break character every week for a month over a t-shirt.

I expect Raw to do something similarly dumb before long. Probably will involve Bryan being attacked off camera or something.

[Tom Guycott]

Dang, Book... I was half expecting him to say "Look how he dove into that guitar to get Elias disqualified! What an act of cowardism!"

[Lock Jaw]

Show ending with a close up shot of Kurt Angle looking like he just found out he has another son.

[Dark One]

Drunk Uncle Booker T is a phenomenal addition to the Raw commentary table.
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[Emperor Smeat]

Show ending with a close up shot of Kurt Angle looking like he just found out he has another son.

Shelton Benjamin?

[Tom Guycott]

LOL so i guess he's done with the whole Bulgaria gimmick?

I see what you did there.


Oddly, the pic makes him kinda look like Big John Studd.

[Tom Guycott]

WWE logic

Finn Balor is a 36-year old "kid".

Mickie James is a 38-year old "old lady".

And Kurt Angle went to go live in an undisclosed cave for 11 years until coming back as GM.

[Simple Fan]

Raw under siege was pretty good. Should build to a Shane vs Angle match at Survivor Series. Raw vs Smackdown should be good as well, although I feel like Smackdown will be strong until the almighty Roman Reigns returns and clears the yard.

[Fignuts]

Is Samoa Joe about ready to come back? He'd be a perfect choice for raw's team.

[Tom Guycott]

Joe is likely a "surprise".

Also, smells like Braun being temporarily written off and/or feud with Kane as to not create an unfair advantage for RAW. Just my opinion.

[Ruien]

Considering that last year they had Bayley partake in a 5 on 1 group beatdown of Nikki Bella, I can't say that any of this surprised me.

For whatever reason, WWE just think brand pride should supersede face and heel alignments for a month.

Imo it should. If Harper were to go to the Mets would you not become a fan of his? All about team pride.

[Evil Vito]

Imo it should. If Harper were to go to the Mets would you not become a fan of his? All about team pride.

Except professional wrestling isn't a real sport. Baseball doesn't spend a year building storylines between teammates hating each other only for it to suddenly all stop mattering on game day.

[Ruien]

Yes, it is acting but the concept is the same. Smackdown is 1 team and Raw is the other.

[Loose Cannon]

I love how last nights progression of attacks went Apollo/Titus, crew member, Raw TV screen, make up girls. poor Apollo Crews. is this how Vince sees his value :(

[Evil Vito]

I felt bad for Goldust. Dude had to put his facepaint and full gear on just to be on screen for 5 seconds.

[Evil Vito]

http://extrafabulouscomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/sports.png

This is pretty much how WWE views brand warfare.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It was but the beanie part is just something he wore recently for a backstage photo with the Usos.

https://i.redd.it/8viycxmg3atz.jpg

I've said this before, and my cynicism tells me that history will make me look quite the fool, but about this time last year (a bit earlier actually), it just hit me that Rusev is one of the guys I would build around.

The heel foreigner shit was dumb, but it worked enough to get Rusev in. You could see a babyface trapped in there trying to get out though. I thought that if they just have him stop playing so foreign and presented him as more "rough," then you could have a really good aesthetic for him. That is basically what I had in mind.

I think the Rusev in this photo could be a huge star for WWE. Show him training, hitting the punching bag, doing whatever it is he does to be the most glorious man that he is. Show him relaxing with Lana. There's something there.

[Sepholio]

There is definitely money in Rusev. He bleeds pure energy in the ring and has so much charisma when they let him go. I would definitely want him to be an integral part of my fed if I had one.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've likened him to Stone Cold Steve Austin in my mind. I know that's a lofty comparison, and I don't really mean in terms of talent or style. But when looking at Steve Austin's career, you might have always seen that something was there, but you just knew it was stifled by his environment or whatever. I'd never have guessed that he would have become the biggest star of all-time though.

In Rusev, there's this intangible quality to him that makes me think that if he were allowed to go, he might actually draw people's attention into wrestling. It's his charisma and the mind he seems to have for the simple things, I think. He's been involved in some shit, but he always polishes that turd up as pretty as he can. I get the feeling that there's something "exponential" about him that, if unchained, would make him bigger than it would be reasonable to predict.

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah, Rusev is outstanding but much like Bray Wyatt, booking him as just another one of the 50/50 crowd has killed his character and I don't think there's any fixing it in sight.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think with Rusev, he kind of stands outside it a bit. Where Bray falls down is that he's so invested, and that's a shame. But that's who he is now. Rusev seems more immune to that, just because he does everything with this tinge of "Ah fuck it, this is dumb" comedy. The program with Dolph, the League of Nations -- he outshone everybody in that muck.

50/50 booking will stop him from ever being repaired. There would need to be a major philosophical change within the organization, and that isn't likely to happen. But I think Rusev can be fixed simply by setting him straight. I think Bray has been playing it straight for far too long to be corrected.

[#1-norm-fan]

I actually just read Raw results. None of this shit seems to make sense.

[#1-norm-fan]

And lol @ Kane beating Balor convincingly.

[Anybody Thrilla]

So I thought I heard a bit of a twang in Bliss's voice last night then I looked up where she was from

She has no room to talk

Shut the fuck up. Columbus isn't country. Like, at all.

[DAMN iNATOR]

And lol @ Kane beating Balor convincingly.

Seems like they want to do a Kane v. Braun feud. I'm all for it, if they're willing to put Braun over in the end, especially as a face...it could give him great momentum right before WM 34, and hopefully, IF they wanted to change plans last minute, I daresay I'd love to see a nice, proper build to a Brock v. Braun feud over the Universal Championship.

Let Braun take down The Beast Incarnate if he's going off to UFC again, then Braun can defend against threats other than Roman (maybe even Cena if he's around enough...make potential #17 for him a big time challenge) up until SummerSlam, then give Roman a nice heel rub by winning in some hellish way...if the fans want to boo him they will...srems futile to try to build him as yet another sympathetic babyface or any kind of babyface at this point, regardless of whether or not you want him to carry the "face of the company" mantle for the next 15-20 years or not.

[Vastardikai]

And lol @ Kane beating Balor convincingly.

I'm certain I made a joke a few months ago that, even if Kane died, they'd wheel out his bones and have his bones pin folks who need momentum.

I don't think anyone seriously ever says, "You know what the show is missing right now? Kane!"

And Kane is a good worker and all. And I get that he's a legend. And I get that he should be an attraction. But for someone whose whole gimmick is wrapped around fire, he's been used as a wet blanket for the past few years. In that they put him over whoever is catching fire but isn't supposed to and kills their heat dead.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Agree with the assessment that Kane is more of a wet blanket than a spark, but I do wonder if Kane has got value backstage. He can pull rank and get guys into position for certain things. I don't know how important having locker-room leaders, but Kane's always seemed to carry himself well. That being said, I think he's only back for a month or so anyway.

There's no justification for him beating Balor. There's no justification for him beating anybody in 2017. He had his goodbye run with the big gold belt in 2010, not that you should give the belt to people as a long-service achievement. Kane as a serious threat wasn't working in 2015. In fact, it's rarely worked outside a very brief periods.

I will laugh if this face turn for Strowman is to position him to win the Royal Rumble because Vince has backed off Roman and wants to keep The Shield going.

[#1-norm-fan]

Kane being pushed as a threat for a month, going back to jobbing, being pushed as a threat for a month, going back to jobbing, being pushed as a threat for a month, going back to jobbing... is bad enough.

When you're actually using newer guys that you're currently invested in building up to put him over during one of those "scary Kane" months, it's even worse. So now Kane can look better than a bunch of "up and coming" guys and then job to Braun before suddenly turning inept again and maybe giving Balor his win back. 50/50 booking, man...

[Mr. Nerfect]

And hey, I actually think it may have had an effect on the ratings this week.