Raw Thread - 2/12/18 - Last chance four way match for the Chamber, Bayley v. Banks, and JOHN CENA!

[KIRA]

:lol: Apollo Crews sudden awesomeness

[owenbrown]

REALLY ON THIS FINISH?!

[RP]

Who didnt see that one coming?

[Droford]

Lol double pin

[Tom Guycott]

Wonder if Sonya Devile got 1 named

I kinda feel bad for her. I mean, in the scheme of timing and all.

First she gets her name changed. Then, her entire gimmick was this whole "MMA bully" thing: exactly what Shana Bazler is doing right now, so she's not doing that anymore. And on top of that, Rousey is coming in. At this point, she's just filler.

[Droford]

First ever 7 man elimination chamber

[RP]

Waiting for Vince to come strutting down and tear his quads trying to enter the ring.

[KIRA]

Matts been rebroken

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at RAW abruptly ending with the ref arguing with Balor and Rollins.

[Dark One]

ONE MORE MATCH FOR A SPOT IN THE CHAMBER!

Fuck it, put seven guys in and start three.

[KIRA]

What...no.....this fucking company

[slik]

Good hook for next week!

[Evil Vito]

I feel like fatal four way or fatal five way for the past five years has had that stupid Tower of Doom spot. It's so played out.

[Dark One]

:lol: at RAW abruptly ending with the ref arguing with Balor and Rollins.

At some point in the past six months, they forgot how to end a show memorably.

Feels like half the shows end with shit like a five minute shot of Kane slowly backing through the crowd while Braun stands aimlessly in the ring or this shit. Or ten minutes of Finn and the Club standing arounda fter the Blackout.

[KIRA]

Good hook for next week!

Is it though?

[Evil Vito]

Bray Wyatt still managed to eat a pin in a match involving Apollo Crews.

[owenbrown]

Waiting for Vince to come strutting down and tear his quads trying to enter the ring.

http://i.imgur.com/faTPQtG.gif

[Evil Vito]

ONE MORE MATCH FOR A SPOT IN THE CHAMBER!

Fuck it, put seven guys in and start three.

I actually think this is what they'll do. Miz will interfere in Balor/Rollins or something.

[Tom Guycott]

Nia will always be the immovable object

If they were smart, they'd hold on to that for her coming toe-to-toe with Tamina. Or (not likely) Kharma. Or some other amazonian broad that would be box-office, and warrant a callback to both Gorilla Monsoon AND one of the best calls I ever heard out of JBL. It was some battle royal, and after awhile, Big Daddy V locked eyes and squared up with Mark Henry, and Bradshaw goes "UH-OH!! KING JUST MET KONG!!!"

Then again, they'd just throw that away for no reason, so nevermind.

[Tom Guycott]

Baley once mentioned making an Eddie circa WCW heel turn

I really want that

She should go all the way and use the WCW music, the sneering entrance (and drapes the title over her forearm like a towel when she's champ), a shirt that says "BAYLEY IS MY FAVORITE WRESTLER", and I daresay, gets the mullet.

[Tom Guycott]

My Alexa keeps searching stuff any time they mention Alexa Bliss. That's gotta stop.

I wouldn't be surprised if WWE spins this to "She's the most searched Diva on the roster".

[Tom Guycott]

LOL BRAUN WITH A CELLO

wrong instrument. it just looks like a cello due to his size.

carry on

I don't care if it's a bass, imagining it's a cello is funny

Especially when you can't actually see it. And yes, it's hella funny.

[Tom Guycott]

The Bar still endlessly fighting The Shield

Wondering if that is kind of a placeholder feud until they either call up AoP, Heavy Machinery, or just jump War Machine to the main roster.

[Droford]

If they were smart, they'd hold on to that for her coming toe-to-toe with Tamina. Or (not likely) Kharma. Or some other amazonian broad that would be box-office, and warrant a callback to both Gorilla Monsoon AND one of the best calls I ever heard out of JBL. It was some battle royal, and after awhile, Big Daddy V locked eyes and squared up with Mark Henry, and Bradshaw goes "UH-OH!! KING JUST MET KONG!!!"

Then again, they'd just throw that away for no reason, so nevermind.

Tamina is hurt again

[Droford]

Waiting for Vince to come strutting down and tear his quads trying to enter the ring.

Kurt comes out and breaks his neck?

[Emperor Smeat]

At some point in the past six months, they forgot how to end a show memorably.

Feels like half the shows end with shit like a five minute shot of Kane slowly backing through the crowd while Braun stands aimlessly in the ring or this shit. Or ten minutes of Finn and the Club standing arounda fter the Blackout.

They probably are still debating which new wacky filter or video effect to become the new ending standard for RAW.

Maybe its just something plain like a "The End" text or a popup of Vince laughing at the audience after every show.

[Droford]

First ever 7 man elimination chamber

Kurt Angle obviously reads my posts.

Its true.

[Droford]

TIL (https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7x5hkj/just_shipped_out_elias_guitars/) WWE buys 2 $500 guitars for Elias every week from Guitar Center

[GD]

I was at RAW tonight :D

[Ezra]

Didn't get to watch RAW live so I will give some running thoughts.

I guess Cena believes the only way to Mania is thru EC. OOOH UNDERTAKER REFERENCE? Anywho, with some prodding I am sure he could get his brother in lawn to put him into the smackdown main event. 6 pack challenge? Or just be a dick to Shane...hey shane, I'm staying on RAW if you don't put me in the main event. I also thought the Cena is the underdog in everything was done but maybe not.

Miz I love you. Just wanted you to know.

Axel, if the Rock was still around full time he would probably squeeze Vince's balls to get up the card some. Next time Miz is in Philly or Boston he should so totally rip off Brady's superbowl day outfit.

Did Miz really cross any lines to beat Roman? I mean the miztourage interfered so I guess that crossed a line but the way he hyped it up seemed liked maybe he kidnapped Sable and held her left boob hostage. Big fan of Axel's suit colors.

Oh poor Kurt. I am not sure he can get words out in a full sentence without flubs. I guess I can see why Cena likes RAW he can make any match with any stipulation. Should have made the match for the world title and the main event at mania with Miz having to make him submit to win.

I love you Matt Hardy but you got to get Vince to let you off the leash.

Haha Good Brothers with the perfect amount of fun and cheese with the nerd o meter. Honestly the good brothers have taken their role given to them and made it shine. That is grabbing the brass ring to a degree. Making what should be shit into gold. I kinda hope they dress up as the outsiders with cheesy metal wigs for halloween this year. And shout out to the revival. They are solid and a good addition to the tag division which WWE gave up on a long time ago.

Ronda getting booed already. Wonder where they are tonight? I didn't pay attention. Just a quick announcement at that. Hmmm.

Kurt flubbing a bit again but love the getting in the audience's face a bit.

BURN IT DOWN!

Ok, good addition to Seth's song. Gives him a bit more of a touch of main event level theme music. Song could be updated a bit. I'd be down for CM Punk's nexus music. Nice promo from Seth. Good to see him getting fired up. SIGN POINTING!

Zoned out a bit at the beginning of Bray's promo. Feel so bad for the guy. His character has been raped. He needs to step up #metoo

Sasha's music is so sexy. Although she looks a bit skinny than normal.

WWE BLACK HISTORY MONTH! Why is Seth there? You telling me a white guy doesn't know anything about black folks? Oh there's Alexa too, I see now.

Going full screen for Sasha and Bayley. WHO TURNS HEEL? Man, they have so missed the boat on Bayley. They can still catch it, it's out in the ocean anchored but the anchor gives way more every day. Good match super surprised bayley won. Nia needs a new outfit. It's like they picked the out fit that shows off her body in the worst possible way. That curly hair isn't working for me either.

Not a very good backstage seggie considering how good all 4 of those are. Oh, designed to make Roman look strong...my bad

Crews can't lose.

Ok segment with Bliss and Mickie. Poor Paige. It's not going to be long be Mandy is world champion/total divas star/Real Rose's ET's new diva show. Love the look from Alexa to Mickie after the tag.

Fuck me Cole. Modern day Bob Dylan. Horrible.

FUCK YES PLEASE PLEASE YES FUCKING YES BRAUN STROWMAN

IM NOT FINISHED WITH YOU! GONNA GET THESE HANDS

Oh he can sing to. Give him a blue grass tune to sing kinda like JYD and grab them cakes. That shirt doesn't work for Elias either. Been loving Coach since he has been back.

I guess the selfie point of view camera brings in those hipster. Still love Sheamus' theme song. Sheamus vs. Reigns should be a stiff affair. Maybe. I guess Sheamus is still a bit hurt though. Time for a drink, I am sure I will hear Reigns boos from the kitchen. CMON SHAMIE! :lol: Roman really needs new digs. Well for better or worse I am skipping a bit of this match. Reigns just sucks the fun out of stuff for me. Sheamus' body does look so much like a CAW character from 2k18 that is all oiled up. That knee shot was fucking brill though. Like it was shot straight out of a movie.

always enjoyed Ivory. Be a fucking riot if she shows up to the HOF as the RTC Ivory, condemn everyone for a bit and then turn by ripping her white shirt off.

Hmm my download fucked up and I lost most of this main event. Not sure why you don't job Apollo over Bray but hey it's fucking Bray.

Raw was decent. Held my attention for the most part.

3.3/5

[slik]

I was at RAW tonight :D

Nice!
Did you have fun?
Who do you think got the biggest pop of the night?

[Emperor Smeat]

Good/Bad news regarding this week's numbers. The good being it was higher than last week by 50k and higher than same week last year. The bad being 3rd hour was under 3 million for a Road to Mania show.

Rankings wise, it took the top 3 spots for cable.

In terms of actual ratings, it was slightly down from last week with a 2.13

Monday’s Raw drew an average of 3,105,000 viewers, up from last week’s 3,055,000 viewers ...

Hourly breakdown:

8PM: 3,262,000
9PM: 3,216,000
10PM: 2,837,000

[GD]

Nice!
Did you have fun?
Who do you think got the biggest pop of the night?

Yeah! I had a good time. The biggest reactions were definitely for Cena, Strowman, and Reigns. Rollins was surprisingly very popular. I saw an ungodly amount of people wearing his latest t-shirt. Also, Asuka got a huge reaction for the dark match.

[GD]

Elias generated a lot of heat and I remember it getting very difficult to hear what was going on. The crowd could see Strowman waiting on the stage and lost their collective minds.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Sounded quiet.

[Anybody Thrilla]

You ever think that maybe crowds were louder in the Attitude Era because everyone was drunk?

[Mr. Nerfect]

/Having more fun. Sure.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Maybe people actually watched wrestling because they were all perpetually drunk on a Monday too?

[Anybody Thrilla]

A modern day product aimed at kids probably doesn't have the same rowdiness level.

[Mr. Nerfect]

/Isn't as over.

[GD]

My friend and I were participating in the "John Cena sucks" chants during his entrance and a little kid looked at us with her sad puppy eyes. I couldn't continue after that.

[Lock Jaw]

I definitely heard loud cheers when Elias was in the middle of his thing due to Braun coming out and setting up at the top of the ramp.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think the standard for loud has changed.

[Anybody Thrilla]

That's what the fuck I was saying.

[Mr. Nerfect]

You're apologizing for it. I'm critiquing it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seriously sick of hearing how much "heat" a guy like Jinder Mahal gets, playing a clip and hearing crickets. Or the same with how "hot" a babyface is. It's relative to being in the bubble.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I don't think there's as much of a "noise" correlation as you're letting on. I can watch an entire comedic film and think it's hilarious without ever laughing out loud once, so to speak.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That's pretty common when you're watching something alone. But when you're watching with friends or in a cinema, it's a little different. Sporting and entertainment events are occasions where people can get together and join in some mutual cathartic noise-making. It's not exactly quiet at a concert that attracts younger audiences. I just think the product is cold and not very engaging.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I like to pretend I'm alone when I'm at wrestling shows, as to not be associated with the unwashed masses.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ha, just looking into an NXT crowd makes me agree with you.

[Moose Knuckle]

You ever think that maybe crowds were louder in the Attitude Era because everyone was drunk?

Wait do they not sell alcohol at WWE now? Fuck I planned on getting hammered at wrestlemania so I could at least have an enjoyable time

[GD]

They do sell beer. The lady sitting next to me was sloshed and very "touchy-feely".

[Ruien]

Ryback was able to get legit pops. Until, you know, they decided he should be a jobber.

[#1-norm-fan]

Watching that insane reaction he got when he first got his hands on CM Punk that one night just makes me sad now.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think the bubble was eventually going to burst with Ryback anyway. He wasn't very good. That being said, I kind of miss him a little bit, and I can't believe I'm saying that.

[#1-norm-fan]

Ryback was amazing. He was perfect in his role.

[Mr. Nerfect]

He always felt inorganic to me. Clunky. Like he wasn't up to his push and didn't have the charisma or intensity needed to go along with the look. The booking around him was fucked. By the time they turned him heel he was done.

[Ruien]

Oh he was pushed to soon no doubt but the crowd loved him. He will probably have the last legit pop of WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

He always felt inorganic to me. Clunky. Like he wasn't up to his push and didn't have the charisma or intensity needed to go along with the look. The booking around him was fucked. By the time they turned him heel he was done.

A lot of it had to do with WWE panicking once Cena got hurt and him only filling in for Cena instead of having a legit main event push. He pretty much was like Ziggler post-Survivor Series 2014 for his big push being just smoke and mirrors.

Probably needed another 6 months to a year in the midcard to develop into real long term big star. Turning him heel was a good idea but WWE killed off all its potential by just feeding him to Cena.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Ryback was fucking awesome. Once he got the past the Goldberg chants and started getting himself over he was good to go. The rush into the main event sceneb jobbing him to Punk, the SHIELD, Mark Henry then Cena did him zero good. He never recovered from that.

[Ruien]

Whenever they talk about Braun they probably say "let's not screw him up like Ryback"

[Big Vic]

The debut of the shield was beginning of the end for Ryback.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

My friend and I were participating in the "John Cena sucks" chants during his entrance and a little kid looked at us with her sad puppy eyes. I couldn't continue after that.

LOLOLOL that's amazing

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

ABT I'm sorry man but atmosphere is so important to a wrestling product, drunk or sober, kids or adults.

[#1-norm-fan]

Ryback was fucking awesome. Once he got the past the Goldberg chants and started getting himself over he was good to go. The rush into the main event sceneb jobbing him to Punk, the SHIELD, Mark Henry then Cena did him zero good. He never recovered from that.

I actually always thought the Punk match was perfect. He no longer had to carry the Goldberg "undefeated streak" cross but still looked unbeatable because of how it happened and looked like a badass standing on top of the cell over Punk to end the PPV. Meanwhile it gave him a good, seemless out from the title picture since he could focus on getting his hands on and murdering Brad Maddox for a while instead.

Everything after that though... Jesus...

[Damian Rey 2.0]

The first match yes. That should've been it. But he jobbed to via shenanigans a few times after that that right? It was the beginning of his end. Which is sad because he was legit over.

[Mr. Nerfect]

But the thing is: The Shield were instantly more interesting and appeared to have a much better upside. If you could only push one entity, I don't think there's much disputing that The Shield were the better option. I mean, you could have kept them separate and whatever, but that just highlights the level that Ryback was not at.

Him losing to Mark Henry at WrestleMania 29 was extremely questionable.

[#1-norm-fan]

Ryback's ceiling was WAY higher than Rollins and Ambrose. He was a potential "face of the company" mainstream star. Neither of them have that value. Reigns seemed like he may have had that potential but it didn't really pan out.

The Shield were being booked perfectly though. They could have gone over Cena but they didn't need to go over Ryback. It didn't do much more for them and it did a TON to fuck up Ryback. Especially when you consider The Shield's first loss was to Christian and The Usos on a random Smackdown. lol

[#1-norm-fan]

As far as the Mark Henry loss... What the fuck...

It would be bad enough if they just pushed him to the moon, got the exact response from it they wanted and then some by having even smark crowds fall in love with him, and then reacted by saying "Nah, nevermind" and just burying him.

But they job him clean to Mark Henry AND THEN PUT HIM IN A WORLD TITLE PROGRAM AGAINST JOHN CENA THE VERY NEXT NIGHT.

If there was ever an example needed that WWE doesn't know what the fuck they're doing on a weekly basis anymore, it's that. It's insane how horribly backwards and counterproductive that was.

[Ruien]

But the thing is: The Shield were instantly more interesting and appeared to have a much better upside. If you could only push one entity, I don't think there's much disputing that The Shield were the better option. I mean, you could have kept them separate and whatever, but that just highlights the level that Ryback was not at.

Him losing to Mark Henry at WrestleMania 29 was extremely questionable.

Yes they were more interesting. There were 3 of them and doing things no one else was doing for a long time. But no, there upside wasn't anywhere near Ryback. Ryback should have been the next face of the company for a decade. WWE blew it though.

Ryback was more green than the Shield but that obviously didn't matter to everyone clamoring for THE RYBACK.

[Simple Fan]

fBwi0Qydal4

[Anybody Thrilla]

ABT I'm sorry man but atmosphere is so important to a wrestling product, drunk or sober, kids or adults.

I never said it wasn't. I'm just saying that crowds may have been louder back then for different reasons.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That's true, but only to the point that they scared away those people, lol. It's kind of like when the crowd was chanting "Fire Russo!" and Dixie Carter would (lie and) say that "Vince didn't even write those segments." That's not really the point. The point is that they suck. Crowds have changed, so that's why they're not loud, but that they've changed so much is actually a symptom of suck.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's like the ratings share argument:

"Oh, well there is more stuff on television now, so of course the audience is going to be divided."

Yeah, that's a lot more stuff that people would rather watch over the current product.