RAW - 1.29.18 - The Road to WrestleMania begins

[Savio]

You know it's bad when Mick Foley is the voice of reason.

Hey! I said it first!

[Dark One]

Going to assume there was a beachball again.

[Droford]

Thats realistically how Cena should do the 5ks

[slik]

Cena is acting very heel-ish

[Droford]

LOL CENA WINS

[Lock Jaw]

Finn Balor buried forever

RIP

[Emperor Smeat]

:| Cena beats Balor.

On one hand, took a Super AA to beat Balor and Elias in the Chamber almost guaranteed Cena was going to be in it. On the other hand, stupid to feed Balor again to a Vince favorite.

[slik]

asuka/sasha
balor/cena

both good matches

[Evil Vito]

I bet Balor ends up in the Chamber anyway.

Reigns and Miz will get two of the spots, and Balor will win a Last Chance Battle Royal or something.

[Danny Electric]

Great way to build on Balors momentum from the Rumble and on the big reactions from the crowd. Maybe Vince still doesn't think he is 'over' enough or that's what Cena got him to say whilst he had his cock up his ass.

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cool she’s here....I guess 30 women making history can just be forgotten <a href="https://t.co/fHqMezduEH">https://t.co/fHqMezduEH</a></p>&mdash; Nia Jax (@NiaJaxWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/958191369771765760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Wouldn't be surprised if others in the women's locker room have a similar feeling. The more they make it just about Ronda, the more its going to piss off others who put their sweat & tears into making the Women's Rumble a reality.

[slik]

Nikki Bella was tweeting similar stuff tonight

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wonder what all the 30 other women candid thoughts were too? N <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/firsteverwomensroyalrumble?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#firsteverwomensroyalrumble</a> <a href="https://t.co/42sztg2JWB">https://t.co/42sztg2JWB</a></p>&mdash; Nikki &amp; Brie (@BellaTwins) <a href="https://twitter.com/BellaTwins/status/958160746311045120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The FIRST EVER WOMENS ROYAL RUMBLE???? N <a href="https://t.co/VvST69nEFD">https://t.co/VvST69nEFD</a></p>&mdash; Nikki &amp; Brie (@BellaTwins) <a href="https://twitter.com/BellaTwins/status/958182488257556485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Triple A]

What does "get these hands" mean re: Strowman

[GD]

What does "get these hands" mean re: Strowman

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[Jordan]

I lub Braun

[Big Vic]

What does "get these hands" mean re: Strowman

Your from NYC and you never heard this before?

[Mr. Nerfect]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cool she’s here....I guess 30 women making history can just be forgotten <a href="https://t.co/fHqMezduEH">https://t.co/fHqMezduEH</a></p>&mdash; Nia Jax (@NiaJaxWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/958191369771765760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Wouldn't be surprised if others in the women's locker room have a similar feeling. The more they make it just about Ronda, the more its going to piss off others who put their sweat & tears into making the Women's Rumble a reality.

Maybe they should try being one of the biggest names in combat sports? I'd very happily cut every woman on the Raw roster in order to have one Ronda.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kind of figured the Chamber would definitely include Reigns, Cena, Rollins and Braun. I can imagine Balor & Anderson challenging Sheamus & Cesaro or something.

[Big Vic]

Maybe they should try being one of the biggest names in combat sports? I'd very happily cut every woman on the Raw roster in order to have one Ronda.

And then what would you do with her?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Put her against the people from SmackDown.

[Loose Cannon]

Vince hates the Bullet Club so much.

and do they tell people to post obnoxious shit on twitter? they are coming off like babies.

[Evil Vito]

and do they tell people to post obnoxious shit on twitter? they are coming off like babies.

Nia is in the company because she's cousins with The Rock
Nikki is in the company because she's fucking John Cena

If it were other people posting that stuff I'd probably roll my eyes and think they just can't see the point, but my inclination with those two is that they're working the fans

[Gerard]

Nia is in the company because she's cousins with The Rock


At this point i think anyone with a slightly off white skin tone can be cousins with the rock.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, there's a beautiful irony about someone like Nikki Bella complaining about someone's credentials.

[Big Vic]

At this point i think anyone with a slightly off white skin tone can be cousins with the rock.

Rusev?

[Mr. Nerfect]

He was trained by the Samoans and looks good in a hat. That counts for something, surely.

[Anybody Thrilla]

That really was a great Raw. Holy shit @ Banks v. Asuka.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Nia is in the company because she's cousins with The Rock
Nikki is in the company because she's fucking John Cena

If it were other people posting that stuff I'd probably roll my eyes and think they just can't see the point, but my inclination with those two is that they're working the fans

Might as well mention Brie, too. Brother-in-law of Cena, married to DB. And I still wish I was deaf when I hear her singles theme.

[Gerard]

Rusev?

Second cousin.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

The twitter stuff is in character and approved by the company, is it not?

[Jordan]

The twitter stuff is in character and approved by the company, is it not?

I don't think they have a filter. They a gunning for that worked shoot.

[Emperor Smeat]

Don't think so in regards to WWE's approval. Them being in character or not pretty much varies by person.

Based on past incidents, seems WWE leaves it up to the wrestlers themselves on how they use social media the majority of the time. If WWE gets upset, usually results in some sort of punishment.

[Cool King]

• The new graphics looks alright. I will miss Raw having a "theme" though and I'm sure SmackDown will also have new graphics tonight and it'll be either the exact same as Raw's or pretty close to it.

It would make sense for it to be the same as Raw's though, as it would explain why the Mixed Match Challenge logo is the way it is.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/logopedia/images/a/a8/WWEMMC.png/revision/latest?cb=20171226015431

I don't know how I'd feel though with Raw and SmackDown having the same graphics, stage and announce team placement, which I think Braun tipping over Raw's announce table will be the explanation behind Raw's announce team moving to ringside from now on.

If all that does happen, I'd miss the shows having their own identity. All that would separate them would be red and blue.

• Speaking of announce teams, I'm so glad to have The Coach back and I've missed him. I would really like to see him go back to his heelish ways but then we already have Graves for that kind of stuff but I'm sure he'll find a good combination to work with and settle in quickly.

I'm just glad to see the back of Booker T though.

• While I'm talking about The Coach, announce teams and so on, is Braun Strowman's thing that he just tips things over now and we're suppose to be amazed?

He's tipped over an ambulance, a truck, a metal structure and now a mini-stage. All with really dodgy camera work that's always right behind him. If you see him tip a truck, then you've seen it all really. Nothing can really beat it, unless he tips over an entire arena.

I'm expecting him to tip over the Elimination Chamber or at least part of it.

• I'm kinda not getting why there's always a post match interview after pretty much every match now and why backstage promos are now conducted solo and via mobile phones and social media.

It got annoying quickly, especially when the camera suddenly cuts from the action to show a black screen with the wrestler's name written in a generic Adobe After Effects font.

Cena's promo was a bit much though and he kept shaking the camera/his phone as he was walking and it made me not want to watch. I'm not a fan of the WWE's shaky cameras when they're professional television cameras, so I'm definitely not going to be a fan of shaky mobile phone cameras with lower resolution than what they're being broadcast in.

• I actually liked Elias' song.

Everything about him still reminds me of a late 90's WCW mid-carder though.

• Which member of The Revival thought it was a good idea to put "Just Fists" over their asses?

I'm still not "feeling" The Revival though. There's something about them that makes me genuinely dislike them.

It's probably because they remind me of those snooty wrestling fans who think they're better than you because they know the names of wrestlers from the 70's and when titles changed hands in the 60's and all that.

• Can Sasha not have a match without almost killing herself?

I'm starting to think she may do all that stuff on purpose as a way to get people talking about/to notice her.

• I've always liked Dana Brook but I'm liking her more and more as The Statistician for a variety of reasons. I also thought she did really went in The Royal Rumble.

I'd really like to see her in the ring more though.

• Cena being in the Elimination Chamber is only going to end with him being eliminated by Elias or Elias being eliminated by Cena.

Either way, we're getting Cena/Elias at WrestleMania.

[Jordan]

Dana Brooke is a PAWG

Love Dana

[Anybody Thrilla]

The twitter stuff is in character and approved by the company, is it not?

Let's ask Lio Rush.

[Emperor Smeat]

This week's RAW suffered a massive drop in viewers. Very predictable to happen but on the bright side it was higher than 2 weeks ago for regular episodes and RAW took the #1 spot again for rankings.

Outside of RAW's 25th anniversary, Road to Mania still trending downwards compared to last year for viewers.

Monday’s post-Royal Rumble Raw drew an average of 3,394,000 viewers, expectedly down from last week’s 4,530,000 viewers for the 25th anniversary Raw ...

Hourly breakdown:

8PM: 3,662,000
9PM: 3,461,000
10PM: 3,061,000

[Mr. Nerfect]

That means at least 1 in 4 people went "Yeah, nah" as a response to Raw last week. Cool.

[Loose Cannon]

The twitter stuff is in character and approved by the company, is it not?

do they ever incorporate the twitter stuff into TV? or is this a situation where Nia says something about Ronda and then they never encounter each other on TV?

[Anybody Thrilla]

do they ever incorporate the twitter stuff into TV? or is this a situation where Nia says something about Ronda and then they never encounter each other on TV?

They incorporate the stuff that they choose to incorporate.